Monsta Party!

Yesterday, my mom and I babysat my nephew.  He's a totally adorable 5 year old kid who, predictably, is totally unpredictable.  Friday happened to be a totally awesome day for him at our house.  He got here at 10, and went outside for a while, until my mom got too hot (myself being too lamed up with the fun breathing problems to go outside), and they came back in.  Of course he needed something to do, so out came the monsters.

I have this insane pile of monsters/animals sitting on the tv stand.  There are about 10 of them living up there, and when the nephew comes, he has to play with them.  All of them.  So he gets them all, and piles them on the couch, and does whatever he does when they hang out together.  When his mom came to get him, I asked him to clean up.  This was his version of cleaning up:

I don't know what I like more about this picture, the dragon looking like he's yelling "Don't come it!", the monkey looking like she's had waaaaaaaaay too much to drink, or all of the others lounging there like they won't be able to get up for the next ten years.  Thanks, buddy.

 

Latest Critters

Monster knitting is what happens when you have asthma, allergies you can't take meds for until you've been retested, and 95+ weather.  Mostly I've been feeling too much like crap to move off the couch.  Yeah.

My swap partner received her monster, so I can finally post some pictures:

He's a rockin' rockstar!!  I made the necklace with shells I picked up on vacation.  His vest is felt with eyelash sewn around the edges.  His body is one strand of orange yarn, and his head is orange yarn and pink fun fur held together.  I love him!

I also made a dragon this week.  Sparky:

His eyes are felt, and his wings are two pieces of felt sewn together with embroidery floss.  The spines on the tail/back are Lorna's Laces Zombie BBQ yarn.  The main color is Shibui Merino Worsted in Chinese Red.  He is so cute; I just love the expression on his face, and how he looks like he wants to give everyone a great big hug.

Shawls and Monsters

I didn't get a chance to knit a lot during May and the first part of June.  Now that summer vacation hit early this year, I've been catching up on some major knitting projects.  The two projects I did manage to get done during May are 2 shawls, Summer Flies and Damson. 
Summer Flies is a semi-circular shawl I knitted in Malabrigo Cotton, a beautiful organic cotton yarn in a worsted weight.  I like the color shift from a natural cotton color to gray within the yarn.  It used up most of the yardage.

Damson is a small shawl with faroese-type shaping so it stays put when you wear it.  I did mine in Malabrigo Sock, colorway Persia, and the edging is done in KnitPicks Stroll, color black.  Even though I was supposed to be able to do it with one skein, I ran out of yarn and had to edge in black.  Still, I think it turned out pretty well. 

I managed to get some monster knitting done, too.  One of them I still can't post, until I'm sure my swap partner received her package.  The other monster I did was my cute little Stealth Murray, who I'm giving to a family friend tonight.  He's made of awesome camo colors, with tan and black eyes, a purple mouth.  I love the crazy expression on his face.

New Pattern Available

I just made my Squiggy pattern available to download on Ravelry!  Happy Knitting!!!!!! 

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

I just got home from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  It was amazingly awesome, again.  I like to look at all the different kinds of sheep, and some of them let you pet them. 

And then there's the yarn.

This year, I think I went a wee bit nuts-o, although 2 of them are gifts.  My lovely purchases:

Creatively Dyed Yarn Calypso Queen in Midsummer

Creatively Dyed Yarn Beaches in Ibiza

Miss Babs Northumbria BFL in Picture Perfect

Miss Babs Yummy Monochrome in Nori

The Verdant Gryphon Bugga! in Cotton Stainer

The Verdant Gryphon Mithril in The Depths of the Sea

Maple Creek Farm Fredericksburg in Summer Fun

Using Yarn Scraps

I have a lot of sock yarn scraps.  Not as many as some people, because I tend to get bored knitting socks, but I have a lot.  At first, I thought about doing one of those sock yarn blankets, but then I looked at people's projects, and saw that they took insane amounts of time, like 2 years!! 

2 years?!?  If I get bored knitting the 2nd sock, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to work on a sock yarn blanket for 2 years.  I did like the idea of mitred squares, though, so I started knitting up my scraps into a stole.  I have enough scraps to do that without begging other people for their leftovers, too, which is nice.  I have 25 squares done, in a nice block of 5 x 5 squares.  I like picking up stitches for each square as I go along, too, cutting out the insanely awful task of sewing them together.  I think I'm using about 15 different yarns, so it's diverse, but not too crazy.  Some of the scraps have quite a bit of yarn left, too.

The other reason I picked the mitred square stole is that I am absolutely, beyond a doubt, terrified of hexipuffs.  I can't think of anything more terrifying than knitting an insane amount of hexipuffs, tying them together, then sleeping under that blanket only to have the whole thing fall apart, and hexipuffs going everywhere.  It just doesn't seem like a sturdy idea to me.  Also, I like not having to knit tiny things in round.

So I continue to truck away on my stole, with plans to block it and then back it with black velvet or velour to make a nice, thick, warm winter wrap. 

Knitting ADD

Ugh, I'm having knitting ADD today.  I have a few projects going:  a zombie monster, a scrappy wrap/blanket, and a pair of socks.  I'm just having trouble sticking to a project I actually want to be knitting right now. 

Yesterday, I bought some really nice, yummy cotton with a little bit of elastic in it, and made a spring beret.  It's a really nice.  I love the yarn.  It's Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Twist, in colors Cornsilk and Ketchup.  I wanted to make a hat I could wear in the summer, since my head gets really hot in the sunlight. 

But I finished the hat this morning, and since then, I haven't been able to decide what kind of new project to start.  Tried knitting the pair of socks, but they are going to be too big, and I don't feel like continuing, since I don't know anyone they would fit, or least anyone I would want to give them to.  This is why I don't knit with Opal.  I don't feel like working on the scrap blanket, because I have to pick up stitches for that, and I don't want to do fiddly little knitting, which is also why I don't want to work on the zombie. 

I do have a lot of yarn, but most of it needs to be skeined up.  I don't want to do that either.  Ugh.