The End of Summer

The end of summer is near. Things are about to change in the Lounsberry house. I've taken a full time position at the hospital. Meet your new surgery scheduler. I'll be working 10am-6:30pm M-F. Everyone will be in school all day and then go to the after-school care until Dave picks them up at 5pm. I'm excited to do something new and to have evenings and weekends off.

Soccer is going full steam ahead. Evan is playing on 2 teams. Cece and Will each play and Dave is the coach of Cece's team. We're going to be busy and I'm going to knit a lot. The knitting keeps me from being a complete freak during the soccer games - screaming and yelling needs to be kept to a minimum and knitting helps.

Okay, here's what I've completed since the last post. A February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman. You might remember my previous post about how much trouble I was having. Well, it's done and damn cute too! I made a pair of Saartje's Booties to match. They're cute too. Hopefully, the sweater will fit a baby (yes, again, I knit with not recipient in mind) at the same time the booties will. Judging only with my mother experience, the sweater seems small and the booties big. Here comes my mantra. . . "Oh, Well."




I also finished Cece's room. It was the one thing, other than knitting, that I wanted to accomplish before school started again in the fall. Check these photos out. The handles on the dresser have since been repainted a chocolate brown - it's all complete now. The circles are so cool - they're static decals from Lowe's, 5 for $10. Quite the eye catching detail.





The ISU sweater count is a a mere 2 1/2. I've got to get going on those. That's what I'm going to concentrate on. Never mind all the other things I want to make...

Let's get down to some serious bloggin'

This blog had to be interrupted as Will just got stung by a bee TWICE! . . .




I've just come off of working 10 days in a row - 24hrs this past weekend alone. It may not seem like much for those of you that work 5 days/week, but for this part-timer it's a lot. Just prior to this stretch I was lucky enough to squeeze two vacations in. The first to California (thank you Jane & Pat), and then a family trip to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore.

I've managed to get a little knitting done and a lot of yarn buying in. I've won a contest or two, purchased a few books, and signed up for a knitting class at the LYS. I've completed a few projects and started a few too. I've also got a project in the 'basket' that needs to be started and I haven't touched it! Yes, that would be the ISU sweaters (24?). Anyway, you get the picture.

Here's some more exciting news to those of you that knit. My brother made me a pair of sock blockers. He's amazing, he made them the very day that he got the pattern, AND he made 2 pair. Well, you know that gets a girl's mind spinnin', we've got to sell'em I told him, as I dropped an overstuffed envelope full of patterns in the mailbox. Can't wait to see what he comes up with. He's every bit as talented with a saw as I am with a pair of DPNs. In return I've got a pair of socks in mind for him.

So on with the photos...

This is a captain's hat made with Kool Wool from the stash. It was easy and turned out cute - it's also up for grabs, not spoken for yet.

These socks were part of the car knitting on the way to the Black Hills. They were made with a generic pattern and a 3x1 ribbing. They're heading to Grimes, after they get photogaphed in those new blockers that is.

This was made for my mom. A July 4th gift? Fashioned from self-striping kitchen cotton.

This is the before photo of the Christmas stockings that I made for Claire and Joe. And then the after . . .

This was the Snow Boarder hat for Sarah's birthday - it was a little big and this picture makes it look a little like Pippi Longstocking's hair. The photo doesn't do it justice. At least it will be warm. It's made from Kool Wool (again), and also from the stash closet (which is becoming seriously over-stuffed).

Some of you may recognize this - as the February Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'm back at it. AGAIN. It's been only slightly less of a pain in the butt. I started it while working overnight. I had to do plenty of frogging. I can't for the life of me figure out why this pattern pushes my knitting abilities so. I think it's in the way the pattern, 'pithy' as it my seem, is written. I'm going to finish this little one and show the end product soon. It seems to be quite small - all this trouble for a tiny baby sweater with no recipient in mind. Oh, for the love of the craft.

Here's the LA group. What a great trip. There are far too many highlights to mention, but let me just say . . . a short walk to target, Amy's already at the car, 2215 AAAAAlllma, beautiful wedding, great party, and THANK YOU.