That was fun!

All my worrying was for nothing. The class went fine. The ladies were all very nice. There were a few frustrating moments but for the most part everything was good and we had fun. I was way over-prepared, but better that than under-prepared! I'm looking forward to next week. Meanwhile I need to knit 70 rows on my Adult Surprise Jacket as my own "homework" so we can start the increases next week. I knit for about 7 hours yesterday and only got 30 rows done. They are some LONG rows, and I'm putting in lots of stripes, so it's pretty time-consuming. Looking good though.

Yikes!

Tomorrow I teach my first 2 classes at the yarn store. I'm hoping that I'm prepared and that my students are easy going enough to "go with the flow" as I gain my first experiences as a teacher. I spent a good amount of time yesterday printing out some handouts and I hope that all goes well. I'm feeling thankful that my classes (as of Friday) both had only 3 students so I can kind of ease into this without too much stress. The classes are from 11-1 and 6-8 tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Kool Aid Klogs

Here is a pair of Fiber Trends Felted Clogs that my sister, Diane, knit for my niece. She used more of the Kool- Aid-dyed yarn that I sent her.

I love the Fun Fur cuff! I had sent her a pair of these clogs a while back (in a more tame camel/grey combo) and she decided to knit a couple pairs for her kids. She did a big pair for Jared, and this her the second pair, for Melissa. I think she did a great job. I love this pattern....I must, since I've knit 15 clogs already! (one is at the yarn store as a sample, in case you're wondering who it is that has 3 feet)

Funky!

This morning's creation

Pretty?

Ok, yes, I'm supposed to be working on the veil. But I sat down at my beading table and the strand of teal/pink assorted beads I bought a couple of weeks ago was screaming at me to make a bracelet. I just love how it turned out. I added the vintage pink beads from my stash, and all the other glass beads are different from each other. You like?

Here Comes The Bride

Wow, I've got weddings on my mind. First of all, my daughter's boyfriend proposed to her during their trip to Cancun about 10 days ago. I knew this was coming, but now reality has hit and I'm going to be "Mother of the Bride" !! It's going to be a crazy, whirlwind year...but it's going to be fun!

Also, this week my project is going to be making a bridal veil for my niece, Kelly. Her wedding to Brian is Oct. 1. I met with her last night and together we picked out what I need to create for her, what I'm hoping will be exactly what she had in mind , and that she'll know how much love I'm putting into it. I think it's going to be lovely. Let's see how long it takes me to put all those crystal rhinestones in place! LOL Of course after it's done I'll be posting a picture or two.

Over already?

Wow, this holiday weekend went by WAY too fast. I had plans to get SO much done while my hubby was camping with the kids. Well, I did get a fair bit done, but my ideas and reality didn't quite mesh.

I spent Saturday evening knitting a hat to match the Baby Surprise. I did get some beading orders finished up so I can get paid for those, made some more beaded stitch markers ....and last night when my eyes couldn't take any more beading, I played around with combining some Kool Aid colors to get something a little less NEON BRIGHT and more fall colors. I had some success and ended up with a burnt orange, and 2 shades of brown which I really like.

The baby shower was nice yesterday. The Baby Surprise Jacket and matching hat got rave reviews. Everyone loved the colors. Lots of OOooooohs and AAaaaahhhhs.

It's been really hot this weekend, and I attribute that to the fact that hubby closed the pool for the season on Friday. Happens every time. We had such a lousy summer, swim-wise. I think I got in the pool 3 times the whole year. In fact, I commented the other day that I swam more in 6 days in Alaska than I did all summer here. Go figger. Speaking of Alaska....I wanna go back! Wahhhhh!

Feeling Lucky!

Yesterday was my lucky day! First of all, I decided to hit some thrift stores when I was making a run to JoAnn's for some buttons. My theory is "you just never know what you might find!" What I found was a bag full of 100% wool tapestry yarn, natural color, in 3/4 oz. skeins. There were 13 of them in this bag. What else was in the bag was the original receipt for this yarn, which was 14 skeins at $2.10 each. So about $30.00 worth. Ok, one skein was missing from that original purchase, but how much did I pay for this bag of yarn? A whopping $1.99. It's not a huge amount of yarn, just over 9 oz. but the fact that they are already in small skeins will let me dye them without having to unwind, weigh, etc. I see a dyeing/felting project in my future!

Reason #2 yesterday was my lucky day....I had gone to Susan's blog because I love to read knitting blogs, and she was having a contest to celebrate the re-write of her Picasso Sock Pattern. She was asking people to post, in her comments section, their favorite knitting tips. First prize was a copy of her pattern and the yarn to knit them. While I didn't win first place, she decided to offer 2 more people a copy of her pattern and I was one of them! WOO HOO! Thanks Susan, you made my day! My tip was to use the Russian Join to join a new piece of yarn when you run out, are changing colors, etc.

more of nature's beauty

Don't you just love it when Mother Nature sends you a little surprise like this? This sunflower just popped up in my perennial garden next to the side porch.

Baby Surprise for Class

Store Sample

I knit this Baby Surprise in 2 days! It was some intensive knitting ...thank goodness the kids had gone back to school and I could just sit and knit. And because this is the store sample to advertise the class I am teaching, I could tell hubby "I'm working" and he couldn't complain about the dust bunnies or the frozen pizza we had for dinner.

I am leaving the seams open when I deliver it to the store this morning. That way customers can play with it and see if they can get it to fold into a sweater. I also didn't do anything with the neckline, because I will use it to show some options during the class. Either a simple crochet edge, a knit-on collar or hood, etc.

Oh, and speaking of classes, I am now going to be teaching a class for the felted clogs too, starting in November. Since I've knit 13 of them already, I think I will feel very comfortable doing that class. Plus I'll have already taught the Baby Surprise classes by that point and will have that experience under my belt. I'm still kind of nervous, but SO excited to have this opportunity!

By the way, this one was knit with Shepherd Colour 4 Me 8 ply washable wool. I used 4 skeins total...each one was 90m/50gr. Size 6 needles. The sweater is approximately 19" around the body when overlapped to button, or if it is going to be butted together, it would be about 20-1/2" around.