Yarn Along

Can you see me??

Most current WIP... my first lace project...

Oh, I'm much too shy to want to be in the picture Mommy

Shy.... right!

Socks for Pop (grandfather) and Alex's socks (my first socks!)... As well as my "reading" which consists of purging several years of parenting magazines that I never had a chance to read as they arrived...

My first extremely messed up attempt at socks.. "based" off the pattern my Kelly of Creating a Family Home Raindrop Toddler Socks

Word to the wise... when you're learning to knit socks and want to do the same sections at a time... and are using self striping or variegated yarn, do NOT work from the outside and inside of the same skein......

Infant sweaters for charity...

I played around with the pattern because the original pattern all in garter stitch was really boring for me... that may have been a mistake...

My first sweater for the charity collecting these sweaters... It seemed so boxy and came out unevenly, so I did all the rest in a mixture of stockinette and garter... hopefully they'll be good enough to use...

Another shot of the first sweater...  my seaming skills are lacking.. this was the first time I added sleeves to anything and it seems mattress stitch and I are not best of friends.... yet!

Scarves for a local winter clothing drive... I made several of them too wide... but I figure at least they can be doubled over or be pulled up around someone's ears...

Some of my knit squares for Knit A Square

New (to us) cloth diapers..... for a family with a potty trained little boy??  Hmmm..... :-)

I love my drying rack, but I really wish we had a yard and the ability to line dry...

I ... and apparently my son Alex are joining in with Ginny of Small Thing's Yarn Along again for the first time in a very long time! 

We've had several "WE'RE MOVING!" moments in the last few months... most recently last week... so please excuse the mess in the background of many of my photos.... We can just pretend that I live in a perfectly neat home on a normal basis!  Right? We are NOT moving from our apartment right now.  We came very, very close, but our realtor decided to lie to my (and my husband's) face on several occasions in trying to push us into a home... and I decided that among many other reasons I did not wish to work with her and we will not be going forward with purchasing a home until our lease is up in the late spring/early summer of 2013.  We have several... time constraints upcoming in our life in a very short amount of time, one of which you may have an inkling about....  Any ideas what it might be?  Those last two pictures plus my extended absence may just give you a hint. 

Reading: Right now I'm in the process of reading through some parenting magazines that have filled... well.. more than an entire shelf when all was said and done (I've cancelled all of my paid subscriptions.) I really don't know why I let myself even be talked into ordering the magazine in the first place... I guess as a first time parent I thought I was going to need tips and input... but to be honest, reading through them, there isn't much that I really find all that helpful... I tore out a few craft ideas and had some good laughs over the pages that had quotes of amusing things their children have said... but beyond that...  I realize how different I am from the parents that are being targeted in these magazines.  I don't like seeing all the "stuff" they advertize and try to convince you that you need for your child.  And of course there's just all the waste involved with receiving a paper magazine.  It looks like I will have at least 1 shopping bag full of magazines when I'm done reading through... I've made a few posts through my mom's group seeing if someone's school or scout group could use them for crafting, but so far no luck.  As much as I enjoy arts and crafts and I'm sure I could "eventually" use them all... we really need to clean them out.  I suppose at "worst" they'll go into the recycling bin... but I'd like for them to be re-purposed if possible.. I always worry they wont be able to be recycled due to the type of glossy paper they're printed on. 

Knitting: Well, obviously I haven't joined in on Yarn Along for quite some time... so there have been many, many projects.. especially in the winter when it wasn't so blistering hot.

I've picked up a market bag that I've attempted on many, many different occasions and have always had to rip out and start over.... It's my first ever lace project.. and I'm having such a difficult time dealing with those giant needles and keeping track of all the stitches (especially the looser yarn overs that when I'm trying to count hang funny and convince me they don't belong there.)  I'm following this pattern on Ravelry from Bernat.

I FINALLY after over a year finished Alex's Raindrop Socks from Kelly over at Creating a Family Home's blog...  I happen to know Kelly from my mom's group back in PA and can't begin to thank her enough for all the hand holding (via email) from her to get me through them.  I completely messed the pattern up.. but they came out sock shaped and usable, which is the most important thing.  Alex loves them and was SO excited to finally have them.  As I mentioned in the caption... if you're learning to knit socks and want to do a pair side by side... and they only require one skein of yarn.... if it's a variegated or self striping yarn... don't go from both the inside and outside of your skein if you want them to be striped/variegated in an even pattern! 

Onto my second pair of socks.. this time a giant pair of men's socks for my dad's birthday in October.  I'm using the Basic Ribbed Sock pattern by Kate Atherley.  I have to have my husband to try them on so I can guarentee they're close to the right size... and then I can move onto the toe portion!  I would be beyond thrilled if I could finish these socks by the end of the month and have them wrapped and ready for my dad's October birthday! 

I've also done quite a bit of charity knitting.. info on several of the projects are included in my photo captions.  If anyone has any questions about getting involved with any of the charity projects I'm working on I'd be happy to share any information with you, so don't hesitate to ask!  After my current wips are out of the way I'll probably have a few updates about each charity project individually, but my plans don't always go as ... well.... planned, so if you're interested in getting involved, just ask!