New pictures are always fun!

I've been busy with life. High school softball is nearly over for DD2 and now she's starting ASA. This is another league of fastpitch softball. It continues thru the summer. Prom is done now. They had a wonderful time and looked really great. I won't post pics without asking her permission first.
I've been knitting away on Sam the Ram. I have his tail done now. That's the little bump on the Left side of the body. Now, I'll knit around and around until I get to the underbody and legs.



I finished knitting and felting the handbag from the Knitter's book. The handbag just needs handles. Then I'll post that pic too.

I also finished 2 pr of socks for CIC. That's a charity that knits socks, vests and sweaters for orphans in Russia. You can check it out more at the Yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CIC-knit/
I'm still sitting on sleeve island on my FLAK too. I'm beginning to believe those gorilla arms. I did finish the one sleeve and I'm on the final stretch of the second. Then I'll pick up and work down the body. I was feeling that I was falling so far behind on this project. But there are still people starting to swatch...so that made me feel a bit better. Check out the FLAK at the link on the Right of my blog.

Keep knitting!
Dee

Flu and knitting time...

Wondering what I did most of the day yesterday? Well, the family (all 4 others) had the stomach flu all weekend, since Friday. Nasty stuff! But in between caring for the sick and fetching more drinks and doing more of the laundry they were generating....I knit this....

Here are some pics of Sam The Ram in progress. First pic is of the head section of Sam. It's shaped with increases. I'm using Galway 100% wool on a size 3 circular needle with the Magic Loop method. The second pic is of the neck wedge added to the head. This has the start of the aran patterns.

The third pic is of the back strip. This is worked

from the neck sts in a continuing pattern of XO cable. I worked the strip on 2 dpn's because it was easier to handle.

After this strip is completed, I picked up around all the sts and started to work down the body section. I don't have a pic of this yet, because it's not really much longer than this one at the moment.

This is a well written pattern but you do have to be very careful to follow it exactly and count your sts frequently. I've had to back up only a few times to fix things. Usually increases that I missed. But thankfully, the frequent counting caught it quickly and I only had to frog a tiny amount.

DS1 is better today, he went to work. DS2 is still sick, DH is still sick...and poor DD2 is too. She had to miss her band concert yesterday and a softball game today. She's a busy little lady and being sick just isn't in her schedule! I think she's had it the worst of them all. Hopefully, by the end of today, they'll all be on the mend and I won't get it at all. So far so good for me. I think because I work in health care in a nursing home, I'm maybe a little more immune to these things. At least I hope that I am.

Happy knitting to you all and may the bug pass you by.

Dee

Been busy...update of life,spinning! and knitting

I've been away from "blogland" for a while. Sometimes life gets in the way. I'm still knitting away on the FLAK. I've finished one sleeve and I'm nearly 1/2 way down the other. I 'm beginning to think that I've got "gorilla" arms! It seems like I knit and knit...and the sleeve doesn't get any longer. Maybe I've got knitting gremlins who are sneaking in and "tinking" my sleeves???
I'm knitting a new bag for DD2. It's from the Knitter's dozen bags. The pic from the book is shown here. I'm doing the On Pointe Hand bag in ice cream colors. I have both sides finished and I'm working on the bottem gusset.


I've also been learning to spin. I've tried both top and bottem whorl. I like both ways so far. My first yarn is lumpy and bumpy. It's the brown Jacob shown here. This was spun on a Louet bottem whorl and then plied. It's 2 ply but very thick.


Then I spun some white Shetland top on the Louet bottem whorl. This was a mistake yarn that I fixed tho the shop owner said she didn't think it could be fixed. I spun it ok, but when I plied it...I did it backwards. The result was a really curly yarn that wouldn't "stick" together. So DH and MIL helped me pull it apart and I re plied it. This is the finished result. Pretty good if I do say so!

I also started to spin a Blue swirled Merino.
This is wonderfully soft and spins smooth like butter! I'm using top whorl with this roving.
Both the white and the blue are a much better attempt. They are about a sock wt yarn so far as a single. When I ply, I got a sport wt on the white. I expect about the same sport wt with the blue.
I'm also working on Sam The Ram. As if I need more projects! I started him yesterday, this morning I finished the neck wedge. Now that's fast knitting! He's very detailed and you need to count the sts frequently. The pattern so far is well written and easy to follow. There's a yahoo group doing this pattern as a KAL. And if I could get blogger to work...You could see the pic! But I've tried a bunch of times and the pic won't load. Maybe next time....
That's about it for now...happy knitting and spinning.
Dee