Happy Happy Birthday PLUS

First I must thank all the people who kindly wrote notes, either in the comments section or via email, regarding my father. He is back home and we are hopeful that all will be well. For those who do not know he was rushed to the hospital last fall with a brain tumor. He went through surgery and chemotherapy/radiation therapy and it didn’t go away so another surgery. Realistically my dad won’t be around this upcoming holiday season but I sincerely hope that he will be and I am doing my best to spend as much time as possible with him now just in case. Every day is a blessing.

Enough depressing stuff: Happy Birthday Debbie! I know its Debbie’s birthday because we share a birthday and since she doesn’t have a blog or announce such things on the lists we both belong to send her well wishes here :^>

On the knitterly front I have been busy doing work stuff and taking pictures prior to sending stuff away. Other than the surprisingly pretty 9 Scarf-Vest already blogged about ad nauseum we knit 2 things for Classic Elite yarns:

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If you look real carefully you can see the slight jog that happens when you mattress stitch a striped thingie on the man’s sweater. I like to crochet together the seams on striped thingies but it does result in a slightly bulkier seam and my gauge was just a smidge tighter than called for. Not enough to correct by going up a needle size…. maybe 1/8th or so of a stich more per 4″. The scarf on the other hand was a bit looser than called for. Again not enough to correct via needle size and I decided a nice generous scarf was better than a mean little scarf. They didn’t complain and I pointed it out so feh.

I also finished the projects for Alchemy Yarns:

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You guys can keep your Buckets O’Chic I am planning on knitting myself tons of Mare’s magical hats. Actually they are calling them Oregon Coast Hats or something if you are gonna take my advice and knit this dreamy creation. Muy fun. Muy luxe. Muy muy.

I have noticed a few Oregon Coast Hats on Ravelry with the pattern being from a shop or personal pattern.  Mare Joy Smith designed this cap for her grandson and wrote up the pattern for Alchemy yarns of Transformation after I directed Gina, the master dyer, to the project.  I believe it was a free pattern with purchase of yarn.  I have only been looking because I am not sure I have my pattern anymore and was hoping it was available as a download but Alchemy is, alas, no more and it was not published in a book.

Ah I have been doing serious retail therapy. Bought myself some CP Chenille to make the flower washcloths that took the blogging community by storm ummm last year was it? And some Anne sock yarn which I will show you later. I also just purchased a complete set of Aeros, or at least up through a size 9, as a birthday gift from my husband to me. The fact that I have been mentioning the need for new needles and he handed me a cash gorged card last night with specific instructions to purchase them already makes it a gift right? Even tho I ordered them myself? I vote it a fabulous gift that cannot be topped. I hope Debbie’s man is treating her to some fibery goodness as well. And you alls as well. A great fibery day and knitterly evening for all!

The Weekend Report

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New Yarn! Not for me new yarn but new yarn nonetheless. From Classic Elite Yarns Renaissance yarn for a striped man’s pullover. The yarn arrived on Friday but I didn’t get to it until Saturday for swatching and ribbing fun. Friday my husband and I went out and I stayed up way way late. 5 am late. Slept til almost 4 on Saturday. And Saturday the kids struggled with colds and allergies. Ashley is actually home today. This is my way of saying practically no knitting over the weekend. Rather disappointing. I had secretly planned on finishing the 9-Scarf Vest by now. At the very least the knitting of it but nooooooooooo. I am on the 7th scarf.

Thay are much brighter in real life. Despite scarf status they are not TV watching fodder since I need to change yarns and stripe and stitch patterns. I really want to be done because the Artyarns and Alchemy projects are also pay attention things. Small but attention oriented. At least the pullover is pretty brainless.

Hey guess what? I got personal mail as well! This is two weeks in a row that some Maya trickled into my life and more importantly I got a card. I love cards. This one came from Jenny in NJ{no blog} who claimed the Jo Sharp kitlet from me a while ago. She mentioned enjoying the bloggity blog greatly and that made me feel so good. The Maya came from an online buddy ~ Fran. Also blogless. Fran is very sweet to me. She purchased me a copy of the oop Three Cornered Shawls book when another box of it was found and I was broke. Of course I paid her back but it took me a month to get paid during which I would have missed out on the chance to acquire this gem. She also found a copy of AS Charted Knitting Designs and several oop Spin Offs with lace patterns in them for me at a LYS. I pray that one day she will have a desire for something that I can get for her…. I really am blessed by the online knitting community. Anyway here is a picture of the bootie:

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Have a great yarny day and knitterly evening you alls~