There's Some Smocking Going On

I am oh-so-close to being done. I love how the smocking for the yoke is turning out... a bit slow, but still lovely.

Just a Warm Up for Stitches

Over the weekend a bunch of us hauled up to The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair. I can say that I stayed on budget (big win!) and I'm very pleased with my purchases.



Caricia is the lace pattern to the right that is calling to me and I don't know if I'll be able to resist casting-on. The Highlighter Tape will help with the lace charts and I loved finding the cashmere lace at the Stitch Sisterz booth. The leather strap was from the Homestead Heirlooms booth and I'm hoping it will go with a knitted purse pattern I have. The Cast-On Magazine was new to me so I had to get that...

I didn't get much, as this is just a warm up to Stitches which takes place in just a few short weeks. I do need to build up my stamina as the fair was slightly daunting. The rest of the weekend I spend napping and knitting. If I'm to survive a full weekend of fiber love then I better start some sort of regimen.

In other big news...



Sleeves are being connected to the body on Coraline. Hoot!

And the Beat Goes On....

and the sleeve goes on....



After my last post I actually pulled out the measuring tape and oh boy was I really short. I then double checked my number and gauge. Hum. Funny how going from flat knitting to in-the-round can dramatically change your gauge.

So, that meant more knitting on the first sleeve before casting-on for the second. I'm getting really anxious to get these done because the fun part is all in the yoke.

Little Additions

Thank goodness that those booties were done because over the holiday weekend we had a little addition enter into the family. Baby LP came into the world July 3rd at 5:18am at 6 lbs 15.5 oz and 19 inch long.



Seeing this little peanut just reminds me of my own son who was also that small not too long ago and to look at him now at 6 ft 4 inches... it's amazing how fast they grow. sigh.

I was also excited to see this little guy sporting the new booties on Sunday for our little BBQ.



Oh, how I love babies. It's funny how seeing him wearing these made me want to raid my stash and cast-on for something super cute to go with these booties!



Miss Mac was also excited to see the new baby.



She held him for a very long time. Even feeding him a bottle when he started to cry. She was gentle and loving... I could see that twinkle in her eye that she would love to be a mommy some day. That is when I burst out with "You wait until after collage to go having babies okay?!" She turned to me and said. "okay mommy."

Some knitting has been done this week...



One Coraline sleeve is ready to be placed on a stitch holders and I'll be casting-on for the second sleeve this weekend.

Single Sleeve

I'm a big fan of doing two sleeves at the same time.



Coraline sleeves are done in the round, which can be a toss up to doing two at a time. No purling verses second sleeve syndrome. At least I have no real shaping issues with these... so no worries about them being exact.

The i-cord cast-on is kinda fiddly, but yet interesting enough that I'm glad it was a different cuff then others I've done.

So... more miles and miles of knitting before attaching the sleeves to the body. I think that means I need some good movie rentals to push through this.