My Mom is my enabler.

Mom and I both took the day off work last Friday so we could have some time together. (Something that does not happen often enough since she lives four hours away.) We hit a bunch a yarn, bead, and quilting stores and had a blast. Not surprising, we didn't come away empty handed.





Some highlights include my first purchase of Manos del Uruguay wool for the "Must Have" cardigan in Hip to Knit, orange and brown Brown Sheep Nature Spun for some Knitty Pumpkins, and some holiday sewing patterns.

I have already made three different swatches for the cardigan and none of them are on gauge. Being one to ignore problems rather than deal with them, I have moved on to a sock I had started out of Opal 6ply and left my ball of Manos sitting sadly in the spare bedroom. But I am still looking forward to wearing that sweater, so I'm sure I will pick it up again soon.

Shrugs.

It's a good day - the sun is shining and I had an empty memory card to take photos with. (It's the small things in life, ya know?)

My two most recently finished projects are shrugs based off of this bell sleeve shrug from Beatknit Patterns.



Bernat Denim Style yarn


3/4 sleeve
Red Heart Tweed yarn


The reason I say "based off of" is because I had to improvise with the length of the sleeves on both. With the tweed one, (which is not so rainbow-y colored in real life BTW) I followed the pattern as written and quickly realized that since it was based on arm circumference and not length, I was going to come up short on both yarn and sleevage. The yarn was something I have been holding onto forever and didn't really want to buy any more of. So it became a 3/4 sleeve shrug with crab stitch crocheted cuffs so they wouldn't roll.

On to the next shrug; this time I wanted one that fit correctly. I purchased three balls of Denim Style yarn instead of the two which should be sufficient according to the pattern. I lengthen the back part to get the sleeves long enough to roll slightly at my wrists. Perfect. (I ended up using more than half of the third ball.)

Lesson: This is why it is good to knit tops when you are tall like me (5'10") - since I could have never found a shrug in a store that had long enough sleeves!

Distraction.

Have you ever done Sudoku puzzles? They are very addicting, and great for passing little bits of time at work when there is nothing else to do. Or way too much time when you should be doing something else. Whichever you prefer. The site I linked to above has one of the best tutorials ("solving Sudoku document" in the righthand column) plus a new puzzle to print off every day.


In the world of knitting, I am surprised at how quickly I have gone from having zero projects in progress to too many. I did finish something though, a bell sleeve shrug that is waiting to have its picture taken. I need a sunny day to do so properly, plus I need to make some room on my xD memory card. It has been full for a while but I have been too busy lazy to dump the photos onto my hard drive.

Walk for hope

Last sunday, Mom and I walked in the Especially for You Women's Race against Breast Cancer in Cedar Rapids. It is the 4th year we have been able to take part, since my parents are usually in town that weekend anyways for the Iowa football game. (Gotta love season tickets...) We are part of one of the largest teams, organized by a coworker of mine who has survived breast cancer. Apparently there were over 8,000 participants from 23 states in the walk this year.



The sticker I had on my back.



Mom and I crossing the finish line.
She is wearing her Elliott Sadler hat;
I am in my Noro Silk Garden ribbed beanie.


So what you are you planning to do for Breast Cancer Awareness Month?