Knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on, and on, and on, and on.......

Thanks to you all for the kitchener advice. Of course you were all correct and that's what I did. I believe I could now graft in my sleep. Here is the finished shrug. I love the Lotus Blossom lace pattern. It's just so pretty.A close up of the non-kitchenered arm. OK, so I made a teensy twisting mistake at the beginning of my grafting, so sue me ;0)

Now if only the garment would fit me, it'd be perfect. I used all the yarn I had, so there's no way of making it longer. Some small girl is about to get lucky!

No, what to cast on next?????????????

Opinions Please...

This is my Lotus Blossom Shrug. I knit 2 lace pattern repeats for the 'arms'. I'm almost finished the second repeat on the second 'arm'. But now I'm wondering the best way to attach it to the main piece.I knit the first arm, below, then separated for the body and continued in stockinette. I have thought of two possibilities.
1. A three needle bind off on the last (knit) row of the lace repeat - this could make a bulky seam which visibly doesn't match the other side.
or
2. Kitchener the two pieces together - that's a whole 100 stitches though.

Any other thoughts or opinions would be gratefully accepted. This could make FO status this weekend :0)

Happy Friday.

Jen's Baby Surprise Ensemble

When my friend Jen saw the Baby Surprise Jacket I made for Ms Mary, she asked me to make one for her sister, whose first girl is due in July. I loved making Mary's so much that of course I jumped at the chance to make another.

I sent Jen a link to the Blue Moon website and asked her to pick a colour she liked. She decided on Little Bunny Foo Foo. I think that is perfect for a girl. I love girls in brown and pink.And look at the pretty buttons I found at Joann's for less than $2 for 4. They look frosted like seaglass and really make the pink in the yarn pop.

When I ordered the yarn, I got two skeins, as I wanted to surprise Jen with a couple of extra, matching 'creations'.

Here are the first - Mary Janes. I made up the pattern myself, although both sole and toe shaping were inspired by the Christine's Baby Booties pattern I made for Ethan a little while back. I'll put the pattern at the end of this post.

This little pretty is the Twist Flower from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers. Again, with the button to match it to everything else.

And the flower was to decorate the hat, which again, I just made the pattern for (see below).

And this is the whole ensemble. I swear I could die from the cuteness. My photos do not do this project justice.

The whole ensemble is made in Socks That Rock Heavyweight on 4mm needles and the jacket is, of course, Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise.

Hat Pattern, worked in the round:

Cast on 76 stitches.

6 rows of 2x2 rib

3 inches of stockinette

3 needle bind off (yay, no seaming)

Mary Jane Pattern:

Cast on 10 stitches.

Knit 36 rows (18 ridges).

Pick up 18 sts along each edge, while starting to work in the round.
Garter stitch 11 rows

Work on front 10 stitches back and forth - as you are doing that, K2tog (1 from the 10, plus the one next to it) at beginning of each row, or end of each row for left or right foot. This forms the front of the foot.
Leaving 3 stitches between front of foot and placement of strap, bind off leaving 4 stitches for strap.

Work strap back and forth in garter st until it stretches across to other side of shoe.

Make button hole K1, yo, k2tog, k1

Knit 3 more rows.

Bind off.

R.I.Pea

Remember how well the peas were doing? Well, we came back from our holiday to find them all dried out. Don't know what happened there - the rest of the plants in the pot are just fine. Oh well, we tried. All fodder for the compost bin.And what we thought was the ear of corn, wasn't. But we came home to this hairy monster and that really IS an ear of corn.

And to make up for the expired peas, we have our first tomato flower. Yay!

And just for Hubbs, cause she keeps threatening to read my blog (hope you can work out the comments, lovely :0) ), here's a piccy of my new Crocs. Are they not way cuter than the Birkos?

And this last one's for everyone. The boys rockin' out at our local indoor playground.

Jaywalkers Finished!!!!

They've only been 8 months in the making, but finally, FINALLY, they're finished. Big sigh of relief. I don't know why I had such a funk with these socks. The pattern is really simple. The yarn is really pretty. The striping came out a bit strange - they seem to be closer together on one. And the yarn pooled seriously on the foot section. I guess I'll wear these with closed shoes :0)Pattern: Jaywalkers
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lighweight - Mystic Kelp

Speaking of funky. I had a real job putting the Jaywalkers on for the above photo. And here's why.......
I fell down the stairs (well, the last step of the stairs) outside our holiday apartment, the morning we were leaving. It hurts like a mofo. I had it xrayed yesterday and nothing's broken. They gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my way with some antibiotics. Yuk.

The rest of our vacation was lots of fun. The cousins just loved being together. We didn't make many trips out, but spent a LOT of time in the pool or at the beach. My boys are like little fish now - thanks to the month of swim lessons at the YMCA we took in April.

This is one trip we did make, to a petting farm. My boys went on their first pony ride. :0)

One evening we had family portraits taken on the beach. We all wore white shirts and khakis

I loved the name of our local grocery store - Piggly Wiggly. Ha!

Corn, people, CORN!!!

Much excitement this morning at Casa Disco. I looked out the window at the crops and thought the corn was looking a bit pointy on top. Indeed it freaking was. We has corn!!!!! Maybe I'm being premature, but I seriously think this thing will turn into an ear.And it doesn't end there. We also have peas. Real live peapods (not the plural) on our pea plants. See?

OK, the boys don't look too psyched, but that's just because I was trying to position them for the photo. Actually, they're kind of jumping up and down excited :0)

I didn't knit a stitch yesterday, not one. But I did put this basket of pretty yarns together. I was inspired by my visit to Irishgirlie a couple of months ago. She has a basket full of her favourite yarns. Very pretty and longer lasting than a bouquet of flowers.

Today I'll be preparing for our trip - we're leaving tomorrow afternoon. Over the holiday week, I'll be trying to finish my second Jaywalker sock - I already turned the heel and am starting the foot decreases. I'll start working on a BSJ, commissioned by my friend Jen. She chose STR in Little Bunny Foo Foo - it arrived yesterday and is going to be so pretty for her first niece, due in July.

I also see at least one rockin' sock monkey being made next week - thanks so much Irishgirlie for thinking of me at Sock Camp and getting me a copy of the pattern :0)