The Petting Zoo

Today has been a bad day for both of the kids. Combine that with a dentist appointment and not much knitting was done.
To tide you over until I make enough progress to bother showing, here are some of the animals we met at the petting zoo this weekend.
There were rabbits,

sheep,

and goats.

Does this guy look familar?

Here's Charlotte's mini version.

Afterward Charlotte played on the playground while Joshua and I took a break.

Happy Memorial Day!

Our trip last week went really well. We had a great time seeing all of the relatives, and they loved seeing the kids. It was the first time Joshua got to see his GA great-grandparents. While out there, I finished knitting Sugar 'N Spice. I'm in the middle of sewing it up now, so I'll post pictures tomorrow.
SP5 is now in full swing. I've already started putting together my person's 1st package. For the benefit of my pal, here's the SP5 questionnaire.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Yes, I've become a yarn snob. I still use Lion brand occasionally, but not as much as I used to.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I crochet and would like to learn to spin one day.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
No

4. How long have you been knitting?
I've been knitting for over four years now.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have an Amazon wish list.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I love spicy smells and kitchen smells- ex. vanilla, pumpkin, brown sugar.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I scrapbook, bead, and make bath products.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like most music; I don't think there is any particular genre I can't stand. I can play MP3s on my computer.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like deep, saturated colors. I prefer an autumn or winter palette to a spring or summer one.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married with a two year old daughter (Charlotte) and a 5 month old son (Joshua). We also have two cats (Ferris and Sloane).

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
To raise two happy and healthy kids, be a good wife, and manage to not lose my identity in the process

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
My favorites right now are Rowan cottons- All Seasons Cotton, Handknit DK, and Cotton Glace. I'd also like to try the Rowan Denim yarn.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I don't like 100% acrylic.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Kid clothes

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Kid clothes

17. What are you knitting right now?
a sweater for Charlotte, a scarf, a bucket hat, and socks for Joshua

18. What do you think about ponchos?
I like them, but I think they'll be out of style before I could make my own.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
circular

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
aluminum

21. Are you a sock knitter?
yes

22. How did you learn to knit?
I taught myself out of a book.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
about a year and a half old

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I like sheep and Winnie the Pooh characters.

25. What is your favorite holiday/season?
autumn

26. Is there anything that you collect?
yarn, books, and UFOs

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
none

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Rowan Junior, The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits, Jaeger JB-29, and Jaeger JM-07

If you've made it this far, here's your reward

Joshua's 5 month mug shot.

BE BACK SOON!

The bags are packed and we're headed to GA to visit family. The Opera Scarf and Sugar 'n Spice are coming with me, so expect full progress reports Monday.

Sophie has been felted, blocked, and finished.

I used 1 skein of Cascade 220 in color 9414 and size 10.5 needles.

Mike bought the second half of my mother's day gift yesterday, the first season of Scrubs. So while we watched the first disk, I started on Jil Eaton's Sugar 'N Spice sweater for Charlotte. The back is finished,

and I'm almost halfway through the front. I'm using the Mission Falls Cotton that was originally purchased for a Fiona purse. After that it was going to be Vera tank for me. Now it's finally settled on becoming a Charlotte sweater. I decided against the stripes and am hoping to knit the whole thing in Skye. However, I know I'm cutting it close on the yarn, so if I run out, look for the sleeves to be knitted in Sea.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

The cake is made.

The presents are wrapped.

Now we just need the guest of honor.

Weekend Projects

After Clapotis, I started making a skinny version of the Opera scarf out of the Blue Sky Alpaca that was left over from Emma's scarf. I worked on it Friday and most of Saturday and this is as far as I've gotten.

This scarf is going so slow; I'm not even a third of the way done. So I cast the scarf aside to work on this:

my first Sophie. The ends are all sewn in, and it'll be felted tomorrow. Look for finished pictures soon.

Finished Clapotis

Here's the finished product.

This is smaller than the original Clapotis- only 4 repeats. I used Sandy's Sock Yarn from Cloverleaf Farms (obtained at last year's MSW) and size 5 needles. I really think it's in the blueberry color way. (I know it's the same color that was in Kristine's shawl kit from Cloverleaf. Kristine, do you remember the color name?)

The Cure for the Blues...

A trip to Barnes and Noble for a tall caramel macchiato and this:

Deja Vu

If you've been looking through the knitting blog community over the past 5 months, you've seen many pictures similar to this one.

I've finally joined the Clapotis party, making one from the Cloverleaf Farms sock yarn I bought at last year's Sheep and Wool. This project has given purpose to one of my latest obsessions:

making stitch markers. Even Mike was amazed at how many markers I needed, and I'm only making a half Clap.

Joshua started eating baby cereal yesterday.

This brings us one step closer to me having reliable enough measurements to start working on my sweaters again.

Look at what was waiting outside our front door this afternoon.

We have lots of adult rabbits running around outside, but this is the first baby we've seen. This little guy was only about the length of a dollar bill.
My MIL came out to visit this weekend, and we had fun hitting the yarn sale Saturday. (Forty percent off of your yarn purchase is enough to make any knitter happy.) Here's what I brought home:

The Cashsoft 4 ply is for the kids' Christmas sweaters, and I'm hoping the Ritratto works out in a sweater for Charlotte's birthday.

Jumping Dress

This is the Jumping Dress pattern from Miss Bea's Playtime. I made the 2-3 year old size and used 5 hanks of Classic Elite Flash instead of the Rowan Handknit DK called for in the pattern. The color is Magenta (#6134). The only alteration I made to the pattern was to lengthen the dress by six rows prior to the armhole shaping. This was a really fast knit; it went from start to finish in under two weeks.

Joshua says "Happy Cinco de Mayo!"

If I had the time and money, this workshop taught by Lynn Vogel, author of The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, would be so much fun to attend. Imagine a whole week of spinning, dyeing, and knitting.
I've been sorting out upcoming projects and have realized that I need an extra skein for one of Charlotte's sweaters. I currently have five skeins in the Lapis (#6192) colorway, dye lot 108759 and need six. Anybody have a spare skein or know where I can buy one?

Weekend Excitement

We kicked off the weekend by attending the opening of the Butterfly House at the Botanical Gardens. They'd received a shipment of butterflies that day, and the worker opened one of the envelopes just for Charlotte. She was very excited to see them fly out, and even got to hold one for a moment before it moved to a plant. Another butterfly was just emerging from its cocoon, so she called that one a "baby butterfly".
As much as she enjoyed seeing the real thing, I think her favorite part was eating her butterfly sucker while we drove to our next destination, The Knitting Zone. Mary, the owner, built the shop off of her driveway. Both the house and the driveway are back in the woods so it was a good thing Mike had written down the address when he got the directions. For a little building, this place stores quite a bit of yarn. She must carry almost every color of every sock yarn out there! And the Noro collection was very impressive. One of the employees told me that the week long sale had left them pretty picked over, so I can't imagine what the place would look like fully stocked. Speaking of the sale, here's what I brought home:

Some Strapaz and Meilenweit sock yarn, all on sale for $1.95 a ball; a ball of Regia Strato on sale for 50% off; 2 Lorna's Laces singles, priced at just $5 each; a ball of Shimmer, and 3 hanks of Artyarns Supermerino marked down 30 and 20% off. (You'll also notice the Denise needles Mike bought me for Mother's Day.) If it wasn't for the sale this weekend at Yarn Expressions I probably would have picked up even more.

After all of that excitement, we topped off the weekend, by finishing Joshua's room.

Now he's been moved permanently out of our room and into his crib.

The Jumping Dress is Nearly Complete!

The Jumping Dress front is now on the blocking board.

Sorry for the confusion last time, but those are pins surrounding the dress, not buttons.

Here's the button for the back of the dress.

Charlotte pulled out every tube of every color of the ladybug buttons the last time we went shopping, so I decided to use one on this project.

Joshua's four month checkup was today. He's now 25 3/4 in and weighs 13 lb 6 oz. The poor guy had to get three shots, so he's feeling pretty crummy.

Hopefully, he'll sleep tonight.

We had lots happen over the weekend; I'll post a recap tomorrow.