A switching of projects...

So, the trouble I ran into with mesh bag #1 has sort of put my motivation for mesh bag #2 on hold. I hate to say that, but it has. Not to mention my roommate is a wiz at sewing and she's started making canvas grocery bags and let's face it... they take so much less time to make! That doesn't mean I've given up on bag #2, it just means I need to find my inspiration again.

In the mean time, I've been inspired to work on the new Va Va Voom. I had the back completed the last time I mentioned it. Now I have the front finished.Don't ask me what motivated me to pick this one up other than the fact that it's a great fall sweater and fall is here! I'd like to at least wear it once this season... that remains to be seen. Wish me luck!

Being Green

Recently I've become a little obsessed with being green. It was only a matter of time before this spilled over into my knitting. There I was, happily knitting along on a scarf when I happened upon a blog post of a friend of mine from Colorado... She was talking about thinking green, etc. and for whatever reason, it kick started something in me to want to knit some reusable grocery bags.

While I was at the yard sale awhile back there were a couple of cones of cotton yarn that I picked up. I figured they'd be perfect! So I started a bag... Within about three days I was finished. I completely made up the pattern myself.I crocheted around the inside of the handles to reinforce them. And right before I crocheted up the bottom of the bag, my roommate pointed out that it looked like a tank top... Well if that's not an invitation to try it on, I don't know what is.Perhaps I will be designing tank tops next....

Anyway, back to the current bag... Everything looked like it had gone perfectly to plan... until I sewed up the bottom and tried putting things in it. I don't know if you'd believe the amount of stretch this thing has. And I'm talking vertical stretch...If I was to put anything heavy into it, I'd be dragging it along behind me in the grocery store.

So I'm back to square one. I've cast on a new bag with a few modifications to hopefully counteract the stretching. I also plan on making it quite a bit shorter. We'll see how bag number 2 turns out!

RAVELRY!!!

I've finally gotten my Ravelry invite!!! Woohoo! I've only just started updating, etc. so bare with me. Come on over and say hi!


*an actual knitting post soon to come

Trouble with fairies...

Has anyone ever heard of the contact lens fairy? Probably not, because it's not one of those nice fairies that leaves a quarter under your pillow after you lose a tooth. The contact lens fairy is little more than a thief. It steals your contact lenses in the middle of the night, dries them out on its hearth and uses them as clear bowls. My friends, I've been hit by the contact lens fairy and what's worse, it was my last pair.

This would explain why I'm wearing my glasses in this picture to model my sister's finished scarf...Don't get me wrong, I do like my glasses, it's just that I have no prescription sunglasses and they sort of make the bridge of my nose hurt a little by the end of the day.

But really, I'm making up this story to help explain the loss of my contacts when I have absolutely no idea how it happened. I went to put them in one morning and they weren't it my case...they weren't in my eyes either. I have a bit of a bathroom routine when it comes to brushing teeth, washing my face, taking out or putting in my contacts... I just can't explain why they are missing. I hope I'm not losing my mind.

In other news, I went up to my old roommates apartment to pick up my cat, Ludo. He didn't really like the drive back too much so he wedged himself between me and my seat...After awhile he calmed down and moved to my lap where he stayed until we got home. It's been interesting introducing him to my current roommate's cat. I kept him in my room without letting him or the other cat even see each other for a few days. That way they could get the scent of each other and become comfortable with that first. Then it was just little supervised meetings, first for a few minutes, then for an hour, then for the day and now they're chasing each other and playing.

I tell you, there's nothing better than having two cats who get along. I've had cats who hate each other and barely tolerated each other. The screams were horrible. But I'd say that Ludo's settling in nicely...I sure did miss my baby!

A fabulous time with big sis

I'm finally back and I have no more trips in my immediate future. I do love to travel, but sometimes, road trips just aren't as fun unless there's someone in the car with you!

The time spent at my sister's was fantastic. I may not have ever mentioned this, but my sister is actually my half-sister. We never lived in the same house so essentially we didn't grow up together. She's also thirteen years older than I am which has, in the past, made it difficult for us to relate. Now that I'm older, the sisterly bond that's somehow eluded us has been growing by leaps and bounds. I can't even express how happy that makes me.

During my time there, we went to the salon, had long talks over tea, I even helped her with her homework! She's going back to school for her masters in teaching. Now that my nephews are older and more independent, she's decided to pursue her career that's been on hold for the past 13 years. I'm so happy for her because she's fantastic with kids and I really think teaching is perfect for her.

We also had fun going on outings with my nephews. We went to the beach to fly kites and explore the beach for sea creatures.Here's my oldest nephew (he's 13, does that make me feel old?....ummmm....a little) with a starfish we found.Here she is with two of the boys, discovering all the crawly things in the tide pools.

Sometime during the trip, she showed me the most recent picture she had of the two of us. It was taken at her wedding... in 1991... I was 10. I'd say a new picture was in order.
One afternoon while we were there, she took me to a yarn shop that a friend of hers goes to. It was my birthday present from her. Go to the yarn shop and pick whatever you want. That's what she told me! Woohoo! I ended up getting three skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran to make myself a scarf. My sister liked the yarn so much she got herself three skeins as well... so that I could knit her a scarf!

In fact, I'm nearly finished and I only started it a few days ago!You just gotta love the speed of a seed-stitch scarf on size 10.5 needles!