Flowers...con't..

So, my obsession with the Louisa Harding flowers didn't exactly stop at say, one or two projects.  Like I said, they sort of take over your life...like the first time you tried Nutella...that stuff rocks!

This shawl was for my little friend Onesti.  My mother started it as a prayer shawl, and when she was in the hospital at the end of her earthly life, I picked it up with the need to work on something that she had worked on too.  I will never be able to look at this shawl and not think fondly of my mother, and little Onesti got to have two wonderful sets of hands making this for her. 

Onesti's mom was the proud recipient of these beflowered items.  All my designs except the mittens, which are EZ's Curled Tipped Mittens.  Yarn is of unknown stash origin.  

And speaking of mittens......

I am very proud of this design and it will be coming to you soon via Ravelry.  My hubby bugged me for these shooting mittens FOREVER!  I finally gave in and he is the happiest hunter around!  Warm, but you can still pull a trigger...priceless.

Going Back...

So, baby surprise is waiting on buttons and a bath.  So before I indulge you with baby surprise, which by the way went together practically on it's own, I thought I would take you back for a while to some past projects...

This is Rachelle's hat...it is my own design.  Sadly, I do not have a cool ravelry link for you to buy the pattern, but it is coming soon!  The flower is a Louisa Harding design.  I may have mentioned once or twice that I did get to spend some time with Louisa in the south of France (I am totally name dropping and proud of it!) and this is one of the really fun things she contributed to our knitting party.  I kind of went nutso on the flower making...as you will see later.  The yarn is Knit Picks Crayon Boucle in Lime.  Very fun. 

A couple more of my designs and as you can see, I'm flower crazy.  They're just so cute and you can take them off and wear them on a jacket or sweater if you like and so....my obsession with flowers, (excuse the pun).  These are more of my designs.  I never write anything down when I start something like this, but now I have to hold myself to it since I already said I was going to actually write down a pattern and possibly make it available on ravelry.  These are made out of my all time favorite alpaca, Blue Sky Alpaca, bulky 50/50 wool/alpaca.  I could cuddle up with a skein of this stuff every night. If it was butter I'd butter every piece of bread in the house and eat it up..Atkins be damned.

And last flower design of the day, certainly not the least.....

Once again, a gift started with out a pattern and voila!!  Cute red bag.  I did end up felting the straps, because unlike clothing, straps should just not be stretchy.  This is Brown Sheep, the most felt able yarn around.  And again...flowers.  I'm telling you, don't start with these things because one day you're just trying out the flower thing and the next day they are strewn all over your house adorning things like, coffee tables, table runners, every jacket you own.  Thanks Louise for the new addiction, as if I didn't have enough already.  (Note to Terese: I love you very much, but if you don't start using this bag that I slaved over I will steal it from you and use it for a diaper bag.  I'm not joking!)

And just to put my money where my mouth is......

Me and Louisa....looking very cheeky!!

Baby Surprise

 First I want to thank the Yarn Harlot for such a beautiful post on her blog for baby Marlowe.  Inspiring!

That is the first baby surprise and the second is that I finally started my very first baby surprise jacket for the impending arrival of my very own baby Cash.  I am using the most beautiful yarn that I got on vacation with my good friend Amber from a wonderful artist in Estes Park, CO.  Neota Designs produces the most wonderful hand dyed yarns and I haven't ever seen a red quite so deep and rich and beautiful and....red! 

I am anxious to see the whole "surprise" in the jacket and I am only hoping I can figure out how the thing goes together. 

Speaking of my friend Amber...I have been working on some sketches for her upcoming wedding next Sept. I am hoping to make her dress as I have made all of my friends' dresses.  We are in a bit of a tiff, but I am hoping everything will work out OK as it usually does with two women who know each other a little too well.  I was with her when I got the yarn for the baby surprise, and only the two of us would take 12 hours to get home on a 6 hour drive!  Needless to say it involved one of us sleeping, one of us driving and neither of us checking the map....oops!  Our men were very perplexed, but it's pretty much the run of the mill for the two of us.  You're talking away one minute and the next you are three hours out of your way....it happens!  Amber if you are reading this, I love you for who you are and I love getting lost with you! 

And for surprise number three....My main man and I finally got married last weekend!!!  I can't express how truly amazing it was to say those vows to him and recognize our commitment to each other.  My friend Amber also made me the most beautiful hairpiece and I am sorry to say that the picture does it no justice.  I didn't make my dress, as I didn't know what size I would be and happily, I was too busy knitting to really have the creative energy to make anything.  Those of you who know me will understand how rare it is for me to mark an occasion of this magnitude and not make something for myself to wear,  but when everyday you get up and don't know how big your belly is going to be, it can be somewhat intimidating to break out the shears and put them to some expensive fabric!  Instead I had a handmade headpiece and it was amazing...

Busy Bee

I have been a very busy bee the past few weekends...and I have the pictures to prove it!  Not all of it knitting, although I did get quite a bit of knitting done on our vacation. 

This was weekend one.  I am surprised at how long it took me to can just 22 cans of tomatoes.  As soon as I had help it went twice as fast, but bring on soups and stews....I'm ready for you!

Then off on vacation for 5 days of relaxing and fishing.  The weather in Nebraska was cool and I am happy to say I only wore shorts for part of one day.  My favorite weather!  I am a typical knitter in that I always wish I lived in Canada...or Maine...somewhere not so hot!  Maybe someday.

I put that sideways one on there to see if you are paying attention!!  Really though I haven't figured out how to turn them yet...still a good catch though!  And finally some knitting....

This is my Rosamund's Cardigan and I am using a scruptious yarn Elsebeth Lavold Baby Llama in Peony.  I have actually already knit this project to this point one time before, when I realized an error way too far back...ok...the beginning...so I started it over.  Then I experience an enormous brain fart and suddenly my cables didn't look so pretty.  Not to worry, the lovely Max at Gove City Yarns hooked  me up as always and I am now back on track.  The baby blanket is in a stagnated state however, I am sorry to say.  But hopefully as the weather cools off I will come back to eventually. 

I had this whole system rigged up to make one gigantic circular needle, and sadly, almost every time I pick it up something goes wrong.  The last time I lost stitches, it was almost all of them and it was almost more than I could handle.  Where do I get off thinking that I can just make the biggest connective circle of knitting ever known to man and get away with it?  I only have a few more color changes left, so I am not giving up....but if I weren't pregnant, I would be drinking wine to get through it!