Holiday Knitting

We spent the holiday weekend at Lake Palestine again. It is quickly becoming our favorite place on earth. We got to sleep inside this time! Though both little guys ended up in our full size bed, so I actuall think I slept better in the tent last time. Bugs and all! We had jet skis this time, so the older kids were out on them all day and the little guys swam in the cove. My husband fished pretty much up until we left on Monday.

I knitted...not very exciting, but I worked on Dylan's florescent socks. I actually finished them last night and he was wearing them when I woke him up this morning. Mom scores!

In the last couple weeks I also finished up the Zuzu's Petals and blocked it last week. I love it. In fact I'm making another one. So I'll have one and my bestie can have one.

Last thing. I finished Project 3 for Camp Loopy!!! I was starting to think that I was going to have another sweater in my WIPs with no sleeves. But the last week of August I found my motiviation and finished the sleeves in a couple days each. I was off unexpectedly when one of my kiddos broke out in a weird rash. So that day knitting really helped. So I finished with a few days to spare. I haven't blocked it yet. In fact I haven't ever blocked anything this big so I'm a little intimidated. Have you seen that The Loopy Ewe is going to do a Loopy Academy?!?! So it's like Camp Loopy all year long. I am totally sucked in and I'm planning my projects. The time frame is a little easier. There is still 3 projects, but you have 4 months to finish them all.

Reading update: my summer reading bingo challenge ended on Labor Day. I am proud to say that I bingo'ed twice, almost 3 times and read a total of 19 books. Now the whole reason for this challenge was to get my son to read and he read 2 books. I'm not going to call this a fail but I was hoping for more. BUT it is 2 more books than he would have read normally. My husband compared it to having a challenge with Tiger Woods saying "Let's see who can hit more golf balls." I just wish that he enjoyed books more!

My finished books have been Eldest and Artemus Fowl. Both books that I bought for my son and he hasn't read. Eldest was ok but I really likes Artemus Fowl. I'm still plugging along slowly re-reading Gone with the Wind, one part per month along with the Cannon Hand Dyes group in Rav. Next up will be Guests on Earth or Splendour Falls. I haven't decided yet. I am catching up on podcasts right now. I got way behind with all the travel lately.

 

Summer Vacation

I've been out of pocket for a bit and this is why. We spent an amazing week in South Padre Island, TX with a stop off at Sea World in San Antonio. I have never enjoyed my kids so much. We are now beach people. It was perfect. We would get up and have breakfast, get to the beach about 10 and play around until about 1, have a late lunch then go back to our awesome rent house and nap until dinner! Then we'd watch movies together. It was my kind of vacation. I'm sure my husband would have rather been "doing something" but that just isn't restful for me. BUT the beach kept him busy enough I think. We may have found the perfect balance of doing and not doing to make everyone happy!

I got a couple things in the mail right before we left. They are both new to me dyers that I have been wanting to try for quite a while. First was Cannon Hand Dyes. I joined her Gone With the Wind club and this was the first shipment. It represents the red earth of Tara. It was a perfect start. I got mine in her Charlotte

 base which is 100% sw merino. Don't you just love her tag!!!

Then I finally got my hands on some KirbyWirby. This was a pre-order I caught for the #RBF (Google it!) colorway. It's more self striping sock yarn! 

I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would. As I alluded to earlier, I did A LOT of napping. But I did finish a couple things. I finished some child size socks in my rainbow Lollipop yarn. These will go to a birthday girl at the end of the month. I also finished another Sockhead for Fibernymph's Head to Toe KAL. July was head obviously. This one was out of The Cyborg's Craft Room in her Softwear base. Which was really yummy, you would think it was MCN but it's not. Just super soft. The colorway was Impromptu Dance Party!

My last finish was after the trip and I finished it on the very last day for Stash Dash. I'm # 269. I ended up with ALMOST 3k yards. Pretty good I think because most of my projects were completely new. I didn't finish any real WIPs. I just couldn't make myself work on those projects for some reason. But I did finish my second Carson shawl. It's not blocked yet so it will grow a lot. I really liked knitting it, even though it was for the second time. I did the extended border this time
 which I thought was really fun. It went much faster this time because I looked up how to do the twisted stitches without a cable needle.

Speaking of cable needles, I started my Camp Loopy Project #3! I'm doing a Rocky Coast Cardigan in MadTosh Vintage in Tart!! It was a splurge but I think it will be totally worth it. So far it is gorgeous! This is actually an old picture. I'm really almost done with the body. I think I am going to use this one a lot.

My reading wasn't very productive either on the trip but I did finish The Fiery Cross. It was sooo good! I've moved on from The Quick. I'll go back to it later, when I can think more. And I've started Fool Moon. The second in the Dresden Files series. It'll be fun and quick. Which is where my brain is these days. School is starting soon and I can feel the craziness coming!



Alone at Last

I finally got a weekend to myself last weekend. The boys were off doing boy things and I got 24 uninterupted hours to do girlie things. I stayed up late watching TV that I wouldn't subject my kids and husband to and cross stitched. I got my Country Cottage Needleworks March Cottage done and I got some work done on my Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Once Upon a Time Sampler.



I was able to get some stitching done because I finished my Camp Loopy Project #2! And I love it! The pattern really was easy but interesting. It turned out wonderful with the yarn Sweet Georgia Tough Love in the Mist colorway. It's a little tighter than it should be. Probably because I have been gaining weight lately. Something I really am going to work on after vacation next week. Anyway I did not put buttons on it, perhaps I will later. Right now I have been closing it at the top with a small broach that was my great grandmothers. I finished it about a week ago and I've already worn it twice. I am probably going to make another one in a baby size soon. Either as a Christmas or a baby shower gift.

I have also started ANOTHER sockhead hat. This one will probably be a Christmas gift too and I am doing it for Fibernymph's Head to Toe KAL. July is head so this was an obvious choice. The Fam and I are about to leave for vacation soon and this is something I can work on anywhere, even in the car. I do get car sick and headaches if I look down in a moving car. Which means reading, knitting, navigating, even looking back to deal with the kid is out. But I can knit on this with out looking at it! I just hope that I can find WiFi while we are gone so that I can post it in the thread!



I have been lusting after planners this week also. I don't have any new yarn this week. I think this is why I've spent so much time on www.erincondren.com/ and YouTube posts with how people use them. To hold me over until I can afford one I made a trip to Michael's and picked up some colorful markers, stickers, washi tape, etc. I've redecorated my journal to make it more fun and I've started Bullet Journaling. I think this method will meld well with the Erin Condren Planner and I can also used it now in just my lined paper journal. Like I said before I am planning to start working out again when we get back from vacation. I was doing really well and had lost 10 pounds in November. I was almost down to my high school weight, the smallest I'd been since that time also. But I started having galbladder attacks and found out I had gallstones and kidney stones. I had my gallbladder out the week before Thanksgiving and started a new medication for the kidney stones. I lost another 10 pounds during the recovery period, but I am pretty sure that I have gained it all back, maybe more. Since then my life, house, family have become completly chaotic and I have to get everything back together before school starts again. I am hoping that my journal/planner will help and encourage me to do better. I am going to use it to track my workouts, cleaning schedules, bills (also been a problem lately, chaotic life=chaotic spending). I am excited right now, even if it's only in my plain jane journal.

 As for reading, I did finish Between Love & Honor. Ehhhh...it was ok.

I have started 2 new books. I started The Quick first but got the itch for some Outlander so I've switched to The Fiery Cross.

Living at Camping

We spent the weekend camping again. My kids are asking to go constantly and my 4 year old asked my husband if we could live at camping. They have been having a great summer, which is awesome because I only remember being utterly bored during the summer. And couldn't wait for school to start. We spend this weekend at Navarro Mills Lake which is only an hour away from home. It's got a great sandy swimming beach which made us all excited about our trip to South Padre in a couple weeks! Check out my legs in all their bit up glory. The hospital band looking thing is a bug bracelet. I guess it worked a little because I only got 1 bite this weekend!

The boys have one more trip this coming weekend. But the probably aren't going to be camping. They are going to my husband's parents at Lake Whitney for fishing with the cousins. I am sitting this one out and may end up with the house to myself! I got my last Camp Loopy package for Project #3. To the left was an extra that just fell into my cart. It's another Inversable Set by Fibernymph Dyeworks. It will probably end up as some more Stitch Surfers. I love brown and turquoise. They were my wedding colors. 

Now the yarn for Project #3 is Tosh Vintage in the Tart colorway. The prompt for Project #3 is to do an 800 yd project in your favorite color. I love all colors really, as long as they are intense. I'm not so much for pastels. But one of my favorites is a deep red. This yarn is beautiful! I am being a bit ambicious and planning on making a Rocky Coast Cardigan. This has been high in my queue for a really long time but I have never bought yarn specifically for it. I hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew!

Last an update on Project #2, I flew through the skirt of the cardigan since it was mostly stockinette. I added a i-cord binding to the bottom thinking that it wouldn't roll as much. I've almost finished one sleeve. I'll to an i-cord bind off here too. So just the other sleeve to go! I was afraid I would have to finish this on vacation but it looks like I'm going to be able to wear it! It's going to be a nice swimsuit cover up.

I did finish Wolf Hall last week. I'm not sure that I loved it. I usually really like historical fiction, but maybe I've read enough about to Tudors now. I was getting a little bored, knowing already what was going to happen. I'm not sure that I am going to read the second book, Bringing Up the Bodies.



Then I read Loki's Daughter. This was a nice quick romance that also had some historical leanings but was in a completely different time and place, which I really needed.

Continuing on the different settings, now I'm reading Love and Honor. Also historical fiction. It started out slow but I'm about half way through now and I'm enjoying it. I've always been intrigued about Russian history.