Patience

I am not a patient person. I peek at my presents, skip to the end of books to see how they end (with the exception of Harry Potter). I managed to talk my hubby into finding out the sex of our 2nd child. I hate to wait. So inevitably, springtime is difficult for me. It is a long process of waiting for many things. But good things come to those who wait.I'll have to wait a bit longer for corn but as you can see - it will be "knee high by the 4th of July". I'll let you know how it tastes - pray for no hail.
And yes, my patience with boring brown has paid off. Here is my Christmas present to my father-in-law:
Pattern: Primavera by natalja
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Bosco
Needle: US 1 (2.5)

I loved the pattern. It was easy to memorize after one row. It looks great!

In My Mind...

Over there on We Do Not Have A Knitting Problem, she created this really cool mosaic of Flickr photos based on a set of questions. You type in your answer into Flickr search engine and choose a photo you like. Here is what I created.




1. rani, 2. Seafood , 3. Minnetonka, 4. green, 5. Gerard Butler, 6. pale ale, 7. Astro Orbiter (Walt Disney World), 8. Molten Chocolate Cake, 9. "Timemachines", 10. family, 11. Knitter, 12. Vasil Ruci (Flamurtari-Barcelona 1:1)

Here's what you do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name? Rani
2. What is your favorite food? Seafood
3. What high school did you go to? Minnetonka
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Gerard Butler
6. Favorite drink? cold pale ale
7. Dream vacation? Disney World with my family
8. Favorite dessert? Molten Chocolate Cake
9. What you want to be when you grow up? a writer
10. What do you love most in life? family
11. One Word to describe you. knitter
12. Your flickr name. krela

FUN!

My Happy Day Socks.

I was inspired by this sweater (Schmeebot)to travel back in time - the the days of Mork and Mindy; roller skates with pom poms; Brady Bunch reruns; Love Boat and Gilligan's Island after school; smelly stickers and grape Bubbalicious gum. I'm sitting under a tree wearing these socks, reading a Judy Blume book. . . a time when rainbows ruled the fashion world of an 11 year old girl.





Knit Picks Sock Blank dyed with Kool-aid for my Happy Day Socks that I want to start soon ... very soon.

Father's Day Weekend

We spent a relaxing weekend on the porch, watching the humming birds, listening to the kids bouncing (and bickering) on the tramp and running after the Prince of Poopness who crashed an outdoor wedding at the neighbors. Yup. We have THAT sort of dog.

On Friday, I went inside for a glass of water and got a phone call from the construction site over yonder.

"Do you own a chocolate lab named Leo?"

OMG. I swear, the dog can smell a lunch box from a mile away. He's going to turn me gray.


Oh, all right. I forgive you.


In the mail:
Knit Picks sock blanks for some summer Kool-aid dying fun.

AND

WOOLGIRL SOCK CLUB SPOILER ALERT:









Dashing Dach Sox - Colorway "FROGGIN"



Baseball season is coming into home plate (bad pun). And we're ready for some lazy, hazy days.

And those warm summer nights.

My Summer Knitting Goals

Summer Goals Contest (thanks Guinifer!):

Row 1 (left to right) Art Scarf, Drop Stitch scarf, Green Socks
Row 2 (left to right) Rivendell Sock, June Socks, Garden Path Socks

and if I finish all of the above . . .

Row 3 (left to right) Funky Sock Monkey, Apres Surf Hoodie, Elizabeth Zimmermann Modular "Tomten" Jacket.

Glory Be!

Our first hot day of summer is here without the humidity. The family enjoyed a joyous weekend of frivolous play and, yes - swimming.

"Was the water warm enough?"

Heck no! These are hardy northern kids who will jump in any lake as soon as the ice is out.

Leo continually flopped himself down in the stinking swamp in the back, there. So we hauled out the old Kmart pool, filled it up and he adopted it as his own backyard oasis.
Good boy. Now, STAY!

I splurged (again) and bought myself my FIRST CHERRY TREE HILL YARN!! This lovely little ditty will be knit to the tune of "Garden Path" by Wendy Knits, thanks to the never-ending inspiration of Neuroknitter.

And for some instant knitting FO gratification, I am whipping out a bunch of these dish cloths for a cousin who is gettin' hitched. I'll throw them in a lasagna pan that I bought them. (it's ok, he doesn't read my blog)

Yarn (Sugar'n Cream)
needles: US 7 but anything will work
Pattern (I think my grandma taught me this): co 4
k2, yo, knit to end of row
k2, yo, knit to end of row
do this until your dish cloth is as wide as you'd like
DECREASE:
k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit to end of row
k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit to end of row
do this until 4 stitches remain, cast off.

So fast and easy.

Nothing like watching the world go by and getting some knitting done.

Brown Socks: Primavera socks in Lonna Grossa Meilenweit Bosco #3518

Pink Socks: Rivendell socks in DKknits Technicolor Dream Toes in "Molly Ringwald"

Finally some colors!!!!!

Springtime has exploded in Minnesota! These are pictures from the arboretum.



This yarn is from my Woolgirl sock club. It's Mama Llama Original Sock 3 ply. (460 yds)

And then, I received my second "Seven Deadly Spins" package. There was too much stuff to photograph, but here's a glimpse of the yarn. There is a pattern for a washcloth and a soap bag to boot. There was also a chocolate sheep, but I ate that as it came out of the package.

Finally, a special news flash!!!!!

Our first pair of socks for our Charity KNITS!! WWHOOOOP WHHOOOP! These children's socks were knitted up by "Gummie" over there on Ravelry. THANKS S!
Hey! If you have any extra bits of sock yarn, why not knit up a pair of toddler/child socks, too! (Please use machine washable wool - these are for little cold feet!)

One more happy spring thing: Remember that picture from an older post of my lupine covered in snow? Well, that old thing is a descendant from the original Lupines that were planted here about 80 years ago. It's THE LAST PLANT!!! So when it came up again this year, I was very relieved.

But even more special; there are several seedlings that just might make it! (If I can keep Prince of Poopness OUT OF THE GARDEN! - if i had a dollar for every time i've yelled that today!!)

So much news, so little time . . .

I'm back with some news! First and foremost,

He
became an IT this week. I would guess he spent about 2 hours feeling sorry for himself and then promptly forgot all about his little appendages. Goodbye Man-Dog. Hello little fella!

Next item: My wonderful hubby thought he'd whisk us all away on a family vacation over Mother's Day (the cabin). And would you take a look at what I woke up to on that very fine day.

No joke.

I took matters into my own hands.

First, I ignored child labor laws and made one little man work to heat up the place,
and the other little man was sent out to catch our dinner,
The dog was pretending to be Batman or Batdog or something useful like that.

So, I got quite a bit of knitting done. What you see here is my first Clapotis. It's my favorite project for the moment. Fairly brainless and loads of fun when you get to drop stitches all the way through the scarf! (Trust me, somehow this works well and it's extremely satisfying). I'm using US size 7 needles with Araucania Ranco Multy yarn.
These socks are going to our charity knit group. Washable wool. If you'd like to knit a pair, check out the blog for this. WE NEED SOCKS!

And here is a funny little scarf I like to call my "Cindy Loo Who" scarf . . . just because. It's a pretty little pattern found HERE.I'll leave you with some spring greens. This little sock is another sock that will head over seas to the charity of choice. These precious socks are woolly warm made with Unique Sheep Super Wool in "Spruce". I think I may have enough for two pairs of children's socks. I LOVE this sock yarn because unlike a lot of superwash hand-dyed, this one FEELS LIKE WOOL! (not too scratchy, though). It's FABULOUSLY SOFTLY WOOLINESS.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who in your own ways, make a child's world a special place to be. This goes out to moms, aunties, gal pals, hubbies, grandmas, grandpas, uncles, teachers ...


Here's an interesting sock club for those of you who need some more enabling!

Cinema Sock Club (there are only a few spots left . . . hurry!!!)

Almost There

Leo, here - finding toys that have been buried under the snow for the last few months.

And Belle, fresh from the tub - stretching out her winter legs in her springtime bare feet and new sweater.

It's not done. I have to sew in the odd bits of yarn and block it to try and make it fit.

But it's popular with the 5-ish crowd.

And it's still cool (temp) enough to wear.

And it matches her pile of sidewalk chalk.