Leaving the nest...

I know that I've posted about this before.... but today it came true....

The hubby & I are now the proud parents of a United States Marine. Or will be once he graduates boot camp. Our USMC Recruit left this afternoon on a bus headed for Paris Island, SC.

There were some tears on our part, he was excited & a bit nervous being the first time he's left home. He's all grown up now. We are very proud of him, but we're gonna miss him terribly!! I have a few cards, but I think I need to stop somewhere & purchase myself some real stationary for all the letter writing I'm gonna be doing over the summer. And believe me, he will appreciate the letters even though he won't have much time for writing them back. I still remember how wonderful it was to get letters from family & friends when I was in his position...

Now if I can just figure out what to do with myself this evening.... I'm feeling a bit at loose ends at the moment. I don't much feel like knitting or reading or napping. Nervous energy I suppose.

Hope everyone has a good week this week!!

UPDATE! - I heard from our recruit just a short time ago. It was about 10 seconds of him reading/yelling the script they gave him. He is there safe & sound. He didn't sound upset though, so that's a good sign. I'll keep my fingers crossed, say a few extra prayers & hope to get a letter from him soon...

Friends & Finished Projects

I signed up for a dishcloth swap on one of my Ravely groups & got partnered up with the ever amazing Grace.

I got my wonderful package from Grace this weekend. And what a great package!!She sent 2 wonderful cloths, 2 scrubbies, a pretty card, wonderful lip butter (tastes as good at it feels!), a funny "I'd rather be knitting" notepad, an Elephant Poo Poo paper notepad (how funny is that? Paper made from elephant poo! It's not stinky though. LOL), an adorable angel made from dish towels & a hot pad (it's a shame to undo it, so cute!), and a gorgeous handmade bracelet. Did you make that bracelet Grace? I forgot to ask you. It's just lovely!!

Thanks so much Grace, I love everything!! It was an amazing package & just made my whole weekend. :) Dontcha just love a great swap partner? And I knew that my friend Grace would be just that.


Here are a couple of my most recent finished projects. I sent these to Grace in her package.

Another couple great patterns from Harvest Moon Designs. The first one is the Sunshine in the Valleys cloth. Loved this pattern!! I can see more of these in my future.This second one is the Tiki Time cloth. I love the end result of this one too.

These cute little scrubbies were knit from acrylic yarn using the Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi pattern. These were quick & fun to make.

We also had some of our out of town friends come in for a visit this weekend. So we spent Saturday on the bike riding around in the nice weather. Luckily we dodged any rain showers in the area. We ate a wonderful dinner at Crab Catchers restaurant, sitting on the deck by the waterway. Enjoying friends we don't see often enough, a few beers, shrimp burgers, good music, and the salty breeze coming off the waterway. Sometimes I forget what a wonderful place we live at here on the coast. Lots of laughs were shared & we got home really late. So today has been a lazy day for the most part.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Gone Fishin!

It's not every day that your boss offers to take your shift so you can go fishing in his tournament.... that is exactly what happened last Friday! So while my boss took my morning shift at the Ocean Isle Fishing Center... I went fishing in the Far Out Shoot Out tournament with his brother & a couple fellow employees.

We left the dock at 5am Friday morning, took a 3 hour boat ride out to the gulf stream, and proceeded to catch a bunch of dolphin fish (mahi mahi), a yellowfin tuna, a couple of barracudas & a few small albacore. A few rain showers did get us, as you can see me wearing my rain jacket in this photo with one of the dolphins that I caught. But overall it was a wonderful day out on the ocean. And we also won the tuna division of the tournament for the largest tuna, our yellowfin weighed in at 27.95 lbs.

If you want to check out more of the fishing happenings you can find them here.

The Cluprit Revealed

Been super, super busy here. Lots going on at work, lots going on at home. I think I'll break this up in a couple of posts for ya.

First, here is the thumb injury project revealed! The Lace Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2008. Knit in elann.com Lara cotton yarn.

I knitted this project for elann.com. It turned out to be a beautiful sweater, but boy was it a challenging project! I was running a little behind getting it done on my deadline, so I was knitting like mad for several evenings with those little size 3 needles.... and there you have the cause of the thumb injury. The end result was well worth it! I really don't think I would have ever completed this sweater if I didn't "have" to for elann. I'm so glad I did though. I think it is my most wonderful knitted project so far. :)

You have to go check out the elann.com website!! They have my sweater featured on the front page of the website right now, how about that!? And on the page for the Lara yarn, which I really loved & will find another project to knit with.

WoW & "Stuff"

Sorry it's been so long between posts lately.... I just keep running out of time. Never enough to get everything done that I want to get done. A product of the busy season here I suppose. At least I hope it is! If it's not, I'm in big trouble! LOL I do know that this schedule I have at work at the moment is dragging me down.... I hate closing the shop! While I don't like getting up in the mornings, I'd much rather go on in to work in the mornings & have my evenings free. I just don't seem to get anything done when I have to close.....anyhoo

I've got a new photo of the princess Jasmine for WoW finally. She still wasn't very cooperative but here ya go.Nope, sorry Mommy, still not loving the camera.....

Don't forget to check out the other kittys over at the WoW official site.

Here is something that I accomplished over the past weekend. The hubby had started complaining that the comforter was getting too hot. So I got the summer weight bedspread & accessories out & changed everything out. Lots of washing & ironing going on. Plus some dusting & cleaning. Ick! That wasn't any fun! But I love the change in the bedroom. Nice & colorful, cheerful. Hard to see the photos real good cause of the sun coming in the windows, but the curtains match the roses in the spread. And the hubby was pleased, said that it was cozy & not too hot anymore. It was a win/win situation. :)

And check out these cuties!! I got this several weeks ago & have been meaning to post about them, aren't they great?! I've got hand carved stamps of my lobster & sheep stitch markers! I mean really, how adorable is that?! I entered a contest over at Kata's blog & won the stitch markers & the animal print magnetic pattern marker (being put to good use). Then we made a little trade for the stamps. And I couldn't be more pleased with them. She can make just about anything into a stamp, & does custom orders obviously. Check out Kata's etsy shop Oddish Creations. Thanks so much Kata!! I love all of it & I've even been stamping my packages as they go out in the mail! :)Hope everyone has a good week, what's left.... I'm still here, just a little stressed & short on time.

I'm addicted!

Nothing real exciting going on here... I haven't been feeling good the past couple of days. I went to the Dr. yesterday & he said that I'm either getting a Spring cold or I'm having "tick" symptoms. UGH! I've been running a low fever off & on, feeling achey in all of my joints, & generally run down. I'm on antibiotics, vitamin B12 (which I learned will help with healing, & help my thumb heal faster), vitamin D, & a multi-vitamin. He thinks I really need the vitamins, make sure I take them this time (I'm not good at taking my vitamins LOL)

Anyhoo... while vegging on the sofa I got a few more bracelets done. I'm so addicted to this quick little project! After not being able to pick up a hook or needle for several weeks, it's nice to have so many finished projects so quickly. :) If you want more info about them you can check out my Ravelry projects page.

These were all done with the Beaded Flamboyance crochet pattern by Lisa Gentry.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Actual Projects! Woohoo!

How was everyone's weekend? We had a nice weekend, full of warm sunny weather. The hubby was turned loose in the yard with a chain saw, luckily he survived with everything still attached. A lot of the bushes, pampas grass & weed trees weren't so lucky though. :) My sinuses weren't so lucky either. Although it was nice to open the windows, air out the house for a while & get out in the sun. It was worth the stopped up nose & itchy eyes for a few days.

And I got the front porch all washed off (lots of pollen), some pretty impatiens planted in the pots, house plants relocated out on the porch, etc... It'll be a nice place to knit or spin in the evenings until the spring breezes die down & the mosquito's show up enforce.

I did wake up with one of those dang deer ticks on my back this morning, that was pretty icky. Especially since I'm terrified of insects of any kind... not a good way to wake up on a Monday morning...

Okay, on to the projects....

Here is my finished Merino/Angora yarn. I'm very pleased with this, I ended up with 290 yards of 2ply yarn. I'll have to try out my WIP tool & see just what I have as far as weight...

And here are 2 actual finished projects!! This is the crocheted Beaded Flamboyance bracelet by Lisa Gentry. The pattern can be lengthened to an anklet or a necklace. It was super quick & super easy! Just the right little project to get me back in the swing of things. I did both of them this weekend. I don't want to overdo with the thumb just yet, it's still a little sore. But I was dying to knit or crochet something!I hope everyone has a great week, and I hope everyone gets a little warm sunshine....

Been a while...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. Nothing real exciting going on. Tourist season has officially begun here. We had one heck of an Easter Weekend at work. I'm glad to see so many people coming to the beach this year... but boy am I tired! I think it's gonna take a little while to get back into the swing of the busy season again. :)

What's been going on besides a lot of work?

I got a package from Robin, I won a prize on her blogiversary contest. Yay! I like surprises. She sent some wonderful handmade soap, and a flip flop stitch marker that she made, 2 cute sheepies, a note pad, a nature CD, and the Knitting for Good book. Thanks so much Robin! Your package made my day. :)

And look at my super thin singles!! I've still been spinning away since the thumb is still not up to par for knitting/crochet. This is my Merino/Angora that I've had for a while & was waiting until I learned how to spin better before I attempted it. This is some nice stuff, really soft & it has a nice soft fuzz to it. I'm in the process of plying it now. I'll post finished photos hopefully this weekend! This is my thinnest yarn yet! I'm very pleased even though I still need to work on my consistency. My goal is to be able to spin an entire skein of yarn with very little difference in thickness.

Here we have my Gypsyknits (from Kathy) BFL roving ready to go next. I want to try navajo plying with this. I've been practicing & I think I've got it down now. My other Robin friend showed me how to do the navajo plying last fall & I've been wanting to give it a try. :)Hope everyone has had a good week, one day left before I get a WHOLE weekend off! Yay!

More fibery goodness

Remember this? I purchased this French Angora rabbit fur last year at a fiber festival. I happened to think about it when a few people on one of my groups started talking about angora fiber. I asked them what I needed to do with this in order to spin it, I had so little of it, only 1 oz.

Anyhoo... One of the ladies in the group, Roo with Moonwood Farms, volunteered to blend it for me with her new drum carder. And she turned it into these lovely batts. What we have here are 3 batts of 50% alpaca, 33% angora (my bunny fur), 17% milk, and just a tiny bit of gold glitz in there. And I can't tell you just how soft these are!!She also sent along these little samples. The one in the bag is some of the milk fiber. I had no idea what milk fiber was. I know now that it's extremely soft. I also learned that milk fiber is a green product, it's PH is 6.8 which is the same to human skin. Milk fiber contains seventeen amino-acids and natural anti-bacterial rate is above eighty percent. So milk fiber has sanitarian function. That's just so cool. Thank you so much Roo for blending my angora for me & turning it into such lovely spinning batts! And for the samples, it's all wonderful & I can hardly wait to get it on my spinning wheel. :)

And the spinning marathon continues... I finished up my green yarn. This is my 100% wool from The Flying Ewe. I plied them together & like the result. I think the lighter green keeps the other one from being too dark.I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! It went by way too fast for me.

Finished & WIP

I just had to take another photo of this huge, gorgeous skein of handspun yarn!! It's soft & squishy, I love it!! I should have put my hand or something in the photo so you can see just how large this skein is, amazing. LOL Thanks again Chan, it's been the Christmas present that just keeps on givin! Now I just have to pick out some kind of pattern for it.

So the thumb is still sore & tingly.... and I'm spinning yarn like crazy. I feel lost in the evenings without being able to knit or crochet. Needless to say I'm gonna have tons of yarn to knit with if the darn thumb ever quits hurting. However I'm probably going to be out of fiber. he he

I had 2 oz. of each of these greens. It's 100% wool from The Flying Ewe. I'm in the process of plying these 2 together. I'll get better photos without the flash after I get it all finished up.

Hope everyone has had a good week. I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to the weekend!