Down to the wire

Tivoli is almost done. I have 2 more increase rounds and I plan to add a seed stitch border. I'm working hard to finish tonight, because I'm back to work tomorrow.
I'm already contemplating my next project, ummm no it's not on the up next list, I should change that name to the thinking about it list. Up next will be either a minisweater for my daughter or a wrap or shawl. I'm also working on some ankle socks. I'm having trouble with the short row heel, so I have to do some frogging.
Branching out is coming along, but since I have to really concentrate when I work on it, I try to do 2 full repeats a day in the early morning, when my brain is still fresh.
Yesterday I went with some friends from work to the Indian casino. I'm not much of a gambler so I took my knitting with me. After a couple of hours, I took it out, sat and knit for a while. Let me tell you, I received some interesting looks from the other gamblers, umm patrons. I almost left my knitting at home, I'm so glad I didn't.
Well I'm off to dinner, and back to work tomorrow, which means not as much knitting time or blog posting/reading time.

Gasp!!

I said earlier that I did a little shopping yesterday. Well... I went to my local Joanne's with the intention of getting a few skeins of cotton ease in red.
This is what I walked out with.

Today, I never made it to SS admin. There was a major accident on the fwy near my house which closed the fwy for most of the day. This in turn, caused major traffic on the main streets in my nice lil city, so I went yarn store hopping. I intended to make a trip into LA, but I got a later start than I planned. Instead I went to 5 Orange county yarn stores. Here's my loot from all of the stops. I did restrain myself.

Now, It is official, I am placing myself on a yarn diet. I have so much stash, it's really ridiculous and I'll buy most of my yarns online, unless I just have to have something that day. Online shopping is so much easier.

Tomorrow, is a stay home and knit and gardening day. Here my latest progress on Tivoli. Bad pic but oh well..

Day 3

Day 2 involved lots of yarn purchases. I know I said I was going to look, but who can just look. Pics to come later.
Tivoli is moving along I'm to the waist decreases. I'm not that sure about the fit, and I can't stand the curling. I'm thinking about adding a row of single crochet and a seed stitch hem.

I'm off to the Social security office, no I'm not old enough to receive it. My lovely daughter lost her SS card, fortunately somewhere in our house, but we can't seem to find it. So, I'm off to apply for a duplicate.

Today's shopping expedition is home depot and lowes, then back home for knitting and maybe a movie or speed zone with the kids.

Pics of all later tonight.

Vacation Day 2

Day one went very well. I spent the morning shopping for school supplies, uniforms, and food. I hit up Costco, Target and Mervyns, 4 hours later... gasp 600 dollars gone. Oh well it had to be done. Unfortunately, not one skein of yarn or knitting accessory to be had. Well, I'll make up for it today.

I'd planned to take the kids to the movies, they had other plans. Here are my lil ones and my neice, frolicking in the pool.





Actually it worked out well. The spent the afernoon in the pool.
I spent the afternoon here knitting on tivoli.

It's my brand new patio room. My hubby covered and enclosed our patio, because I whined that I hated getting out of the spa in the evening because it was too cold outside. He's such a sweetie.

Plans for today... A visit to the dentist, cleaning time, then a visit to a LYS just to look....

One final thing, if anyone is still looking for Cotton ease, my local Joanne's still has tons of it. I resisted adding to my stash, although I'm thinking about getting some in red.

Monday morning: What to do???

Today is the first official day of my vacation. I took one week off to relax, knit and spend time with the kids. My hubby didn't take time off, so we are on our own. When I say kids, I really mean my little one's, although they are not that little any more. They are 13,and 11. My older two are 18 & 19 and if you have teenagers, you know they want to spend time with their friends.
I did get a lot of knitting time in over the weekend. Tivoli is coming along and I started Branching out. I've wanted to knit a lace project, specifically the 2 lace scarves and flower basket shawl, but I thought I should start with something smaller with an easier pattern to get the hang of it. So far it's coming along nicely. I do have one brewing issue, my hands are very sore. I'm taking motrin and tylenol to help with the pain in hopes that I can continue knitting. I guess my hands are not used to so much knitting... bummer. I guess I'll have to pull out my stash of romance novels if the pain gets worse.
I'm planning my yarn store trek on Wed or Thurs. Many stores are closed to day and I want to hit as many as possible when I go. So, this morning I think I'll do some school uniform and supplies shopping. I'll take the kids to see Charlie and the choc factory later, and then come home relax and knit. Yea that sounds like a good plan.

Here's my progress on Tivoli and Branching out.

I heart bloglines

I'm so glad I discovered bloglines, because, my name is Shar and I'm a blogaholic. I spend so much time each day reading and searching out blogs to read and FO's to salivate over. Now that I've signed up with bloglines, it's so easy to check to see if the blogs I've read have new post. I don't waste time going through the list on my favorites bar. This in turns gives me more time to actually knit.

I'm excited to be taking the next week off from work. I want to see how much I could actually knit if I did not work full time. I hope to finish Tivoli, and to work on tempting, as well as some small projects as well. I want to try to knit socks on 2 circulars. I bought the book and I plan to buy another size 3 circs so I'm ready to go. I have so much sock yarn, it's time to start using it.

I also plan to go on a yarn escapade one day next week. I live approx 40 miles east of LA and I want to drive into the city and hit as many yarn stores as I can. I love to see how different stores set up their displays and touch, hold, and covet yarns that I don't find in my LYS.

Tivoli is going well so far, hopefully I'll have finished pics soon.

Another FO, unfortunately not tempting

I finished my daughter's, Sophie, take a look. This was her creation and she loves it. I've found out I am so out of practice sewing. I bought a new sewing machine just to sew linings in the felted purses I've made, but, I need a lot more practice. I really need to rip this out and do it again, but she's happy with it.






I've decided to rip tempting back and do the sleeves again. It's been an agonizing decision, but I know I won't be happy with it trying to make it work.

In the meantime, I've started the Tivoli shirt in Knit pick shine. So far it's going well. If only I had more time to knit and I didn't read so many blogs each day. I try to knit at least a half hour doing my lunch time and 1- 2hours each day after work. It's just not enough time or I need to increase my speed. I'm going to work on knitting continental to try to increase my speed and to help decrease some of the soreness in my right hand. If I knit too many days consecutively, my little finger aches. Does this happen to anyone else?

Late night on the internet results

Exibit #1 Elann.com
Exibit#2 Knit Picks

Exibit #3 Local Joanne's

Exibit #4 2 patterns from knitting pure and simple

Exibit #5 A FO! cotton chenille washcloth from a new skein of cotton chenille

New projects on the Horizon

I am itching to start 2 new projects. After reading blog after blog, I want to knit Tivoli. It looks like a quick knit and I need a quick successful knit right now. Tempting is frustrating me. The 2x2 ribbing takes so long to knit a few inches and I so want to be done, but I'm having trouble connecting the sleeves. I've done the 3 needle bind off and I have 2 holes on each side of the underarm seams. WAAAA, I'm not sure how it happened, all of my stitches lined up perfectly, well almost, but I still have the loose stitches from the body that I don't know how to fix. I'm thinking about ripping back, but I will have to talk myself into that. There has got to be a way to fix it without RIPPING!




!AHHH, so instead of thinking about what to do I decided to make the flower chenille washcloths from weekend knitting, however, the knitting gods were against it.
This is what I ending up with.

I just do not have the patience or the desire to untangle this mess. I will be making another trip to my LYS to buy some more of this cotton chenille today. Before the weekend is over I WILL have a finished project if I have to knit all night. Speaking of all night, it's not good to be a frustrated knitter and trolling the internet. I ending up on Elann and knit picks and I bought a boatload of yarn and knit knacks the other night. If my yarn arrives today, I will cast on for Tivoli.

Tempting is taunting me

I am so close to finishing. I've attached the sleeves and I have about 5 more inches until the eyelets. It's so hard to be so close to finishing and to not have the time to do it. We had a major bar-b-que last weekend, and I was so busy with cleaning and prep, then cooking and cleaning after the party. I was off work four days, and I was only able to knit a few hours on Monday. I so want to start my next project, that is if I could decide what that next project is. I have about 5 potential projects on my unofficial to do list (in my mind), as well as those that I have yarn and patterns for waiting in my yarn chest. Hmmm what to do??

I want to do one of these lace projects, but I'm kinda afraid of the patterns.

I will take the pattern to my local stitch and bitch meeting tonight for moral support.