Summer is almost here, what are you knitting?

Now that the warm weather is getting here, many of us knitters put away the wools and wool blends and change over to the cottons and cotton blends to create lighter weight garments and accessories. What are some of the items you like to make during the warmer months?

Me I am getting ready for the my local Farmers Markets. I'm making a wide range of new items and bringing back some of my popular items to sell at the Kent Farmers Market in August and the Auburn International Farmers Market in September.

I'm looking forward to these markets once again. I took a long hiatus from doing summer shows and now I'm back. I've decided to do more items that are geared for the warmer weather, such as baby items in cotton (sun hats and booties), hair/headbands, felted dryer balls, market bags, bottle totes, cotton frisbees, hacky sacks, assorted key chains, baby rattles and bibs, pacifier clips, i-cord bracelets, potholders and dishcloth sets, cup cozies, pocket slippers, kitchen/bath scrubbers, swiffer covers, and baby blocks.

Here are some of my items that I've made so far:

Owl rattles

Crochet headbands

Froggie key chain

Owl key chain

Bunny rattle

Cotton frisbees

Hacky sacks

Felted dryer balls

Pacifier clip

Share some of your warmer weather items I'd love to hear from you and happy knitting!

So Much to Talk About... So Little Time to Write

I know it has been a very long time since I last posted, geez nearly a year has gone by! And so much has happened in that year.

Let's see where to start, I turned 42 in January, yeah for my 40's, just means I'm getting that much closer to retirement and knitting on a full-time basis. In April I celebrated 9 years working at my day job, another milestone for me, I usually get pretty antsy after a couple of years of working in a job and start looking for a new one. But I guess I've gotten tired of the job jumping and am settling down, ah I must be becoming a grown-up!

My son and nephew graduated from high school this past June. I'm hoping Aiden will be starting college classes in the upcoming winter session. My brother came to celebrate the graduations with us. My sister, niece, nephew, and Aiden had a great week catching up with my brother and just having an all around good time together.

Aiden was working for a while last summer, but quit when they stopped giving him steady hours. He recently found another job and gets pretty steady hours each week. He got his first paycheck last week and was happy that he was making his own money again. He got his learner's permit over the summer and has been steadily gearing up to take his driving test soon. It brings me bittersweet joy that my baby boy is growing up and moving forward with his life. I'm looking forward to a new chapter in his life as well as my own - the empty nest is going to be hard to bear I'm sure, but it will get easier as time goes on.

Some sad news to share, we laid to rest our family pet last month, she got really ill a month after my son's graduation and we discovered after several visits to the vet and emergency veterinary hospital that she had a large tumor in her intestines and was a very poor candidate for surgery due to her age and all the weight she lost during the six weeks it took us to finally pinpoint the problem. It was a sad day when I had to break the news to my son that there was nothing more we could do for our Tara-girl. We adopted her from an animal shelter 8 years ago (she was 4 1/2 years old) and I feel our time with her was way too short.  And even though we were saddened by her loss, she will always be in our memories and hearts.

Tara enjoying some zzz's on the loveseat

I also spent the summer working at two different Farmer's Markets. I really enjoyed the comaraderie of the other vendors and the feeling of success when I sold my handmade knit and crochet products. I'm currently gearing up for the Renton Harvest Festival scheduled for October 5th at the Renton Piazza. Then in December I am once again scheduled for the Annual Kent Winter Craft Bazaar on December 6th and 7th.

That's all for now. I'll try to be more diligent about keeping up with my blog this year and in the future, but as you can imagine, life is changing around me and I'm just trying to keep up. Next post, I will take the time to share some of my finished projects and not so finished projects.

Happy knitting!!!


Tara enjoying the road trip to Long Beach, WA - July 2009



Heat Wave?! Not So Much in the Puget Sound

While all over the midwest, southern areas, and eastcoast, there have been record highs and heatwaves; here in the Puget Sound we are experiencing what we would typically experience in the early spring or fall.  Yep, you heard right, we barely have been breaking 70 degrees here. I'm not complaining, as long as its not raining and the sun is out I'm pretty happy, because I have family who live in upstate New York, Texas, and Maryland who are scorching right now.

But I was pretty stoked today, it was finally a warm enough day to actually pull out the patio furniture and the grill, sit outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. I pulled out the furniture and gave them a quick wipe down, because they sit outdoors all year round collecting dust, dirt, and spiders.  I cleaned off the tabletop grill and got to cooking some hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and boneless riblets.

I went into my storage closet and pulled out the patio umbrella I got last year at the end of the summer.  I'm quite proud of this find because I only paid $11.00 for it! Yep, you read right, it was only eleven bucks! Ya see all last summer I searched and searched for a reasonably priced patio umbrella and just couldn't find one. Until I happened to be in Rite Aid picking up a prescription and saw that they were having an end-of-season sale on their patio paraphenalia. I saw an umbrella with a tag that read $49.99 with a sign - 20% off all patio furniture, so I figured what the heck, I'll buy it because it was the cheapest one I'd seen all summer.

Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when the cashier said $11.00. I of course was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly paid my eleven bucks and rushed out of there before they could stop me, saying there was a mistake on the price! I only got to use it for a short time last year before I had to store it away for the winter, but I'm happy to be able to pull it out again!

Here you can see my set-up:

I live in a 86-unit townhouse development, one the main features that drew me to buy in this particular development was the cute little water feature that is right outside my deck.  It was a perfect day to sit outside to enjoy the waterfall.

I often like to sit out here on the weekends, in the mornings with my first cup of coffee of the day and just relax.  Its funny when I first moved here, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the constant running water, but now if the waterfall is shut off for maintenance, I find that I have a hard time getting to sleep without the soothing sound of the running water...weird huh?

After getting the patio cleaned up, furniture set-up, and the food started, I decided to finish up one of the many UFO's I hadn't worked on in a while; the Big Bag from Lion Brand Yarn.

I added a darker brown lining for finishing - had to hand sew it in because I of course wasn't thinking ahead; I sewed the wooden dowels in before I added the lining! I learned my lesson, if I ever make this bag again, I will machine sew the lining before sewing the wooden dowels in.

Brown fabric lining for finishing. Used Lion Brand Wool-Ease
Thick & Quick in Wheat #402

18" w x 12" h x 6" d with 25" handles - It truly is a big bag!

Well that is one more UFO from the neverending WIPs bag that I can put on the finished list.  Still have a few more to go, I'm hoping that I get most of them done this summer.  One other such project is a sockless sock monkey I named Cecil, that I started almost two years ago and poor Cecil is still missing his body and head.

Sockless Sock Monkey Knitting Pattern (Rav link)
by Anita M. Wheeless (Rav link) from her blog: Mumble-Jumble2
Cecil is made using Cascade 220 Tweed and Cascade 220 Wool

 Doesn't he look so pathetic, that he's been hanging out for over a year and I only got this far and haven't finished him yet?  I think Cecil deserves to be finished and when I'm done, maybe he will find a home with my grandniece.

Well the sun has gone down and its starting to get a bit nippy on the patio, so I think its time to go inside.  It was so nice to be able to sit out here and cook on the grill, blog, knit, and just plain relax.

To all you heat wavers out there, try to stay cool and to the knitters, happy summer knitting!

What Are Your Warm Weather Projects?

Warm weather is on its way (hopefully soon) and I was wondering what will you be knitting/crocheting for the warmer weather?

My first warm weather project is the shawl that I want to finish before my sister's birthday in August.  It's made from bamboo and acrylic, which to me is a perfect light-weight yarn for the warmer weather.  In between the baby projects I have been trying to work on this shawl, which is coming along much better than the knitted version I initially started, if you remember from a previous post: A Story About a Shawl.  I can't wait until its finished.  I'm loving it so much, I may have to keep it for myself - just kidding...I will be giving it to my sister.

Some of the wonderful light-weight yarns that are coming out are absolutely lovely, like for instance from Cascade, their Ultra Pima Cotton.  I fell in love with the colors they have available like this one here:

Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton

This picture really doesn't do it justice, here it looks a little reddish pink, but its really this beautiful dark eggplant color with a luster that will look great knitted into a summer pullover, but I've already decided I'm going to knit a shawl out of it for myself. Haven't actually decided on what design I will be using, but I've come across so many lovely designs.  I just would like a little something that I can throw around my shoulders when I'm sitting out on the deck after the sun goes down when I need a little warmth as the coolness of the evening settles around me.  One of my favorites so far is by Emily Ross, the Haruni Shawl, which is a free download on both Ravelry and Knitpicks.
  

Isn't it a beautiful design. It's one of my must haves and one day when I can understand the charts better I'm going to give this bad boy a go!  Wish me luck.

If you haven't decided on a summer project yet, go check out Knitty Spring-Summer 2011 edition, they have some great patterns to choose from like the Julia, a sleeveless pullover - reminiscent of the roman-style tunics made with linen. 

Now many of you know that linen isn't always fun to knit with but after a few washings it becomes quite soft and it is just the right yarn to make this stylish summer must-knit.

Or maybe you can keep cool this summer in more ways than one with this Crochet Summer Top. The lacy top is oh-so-pretty and feminine for the office, parties, or any occasion made from Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton:

Some of the wonderful yarns to choose from are coming out too, bamboo, linen, cotton, silk, and many blends of these yarns just to name a few.  You have so many options to choose from for your warm weather designs, go to to your LYS and check them out!

Like going sleeveless during the hot weather, well it looks like you have a lot to choose from in the sleeveless designs then. Check out DROPS Design's 128-25 Top:

Wow, look at that beautiful textured crochet design along the skirt of this tunic. Don't you just love the warm weather designs?

But if you are like me and don't want to show off the untoned arms (due to months of not working out!), there are some nice lace designs with three-quarter lenghth sleeves that are sure to please. Like this crochet Chevron Lace Cardigan by Milobo, a free download from Without Seams:

Or this knit Lace Cardi by Kennita Tully, a free download from the Coats and Clark website:

So many patterns and not enough time to make them all.  Well I hope you will share what you are making for the soon to be here warm weather and I will keep you posted on what I'm working on! So, drop on by and leave me a comment, would love to hear from you.