FO: Roses!

Third FO reveal Finished June 21st:

I made these roses for my mom. There are three primary reasons for choosing these roses as a project for my mom. 1. My mom is a HUGE supporter of my knitting and has on many occasions gone to the Knitting Bee near my house in Portland, Oregon and purchased for me whatever yarn I need for a particular project. She then sends it half way around the world just so I can knit and be happy. 2. Real roses die after some time where these ones will last forever! 3. My mom is just worth it. I'll get her any kind of rose she wants because she deserves it.



I really love the way they came out (I made six). They are suppose to be felted though but that didn't go so well. I tried to hand felt them by dumping them in boiling water, then shaking them in a tupperware with little metal objects for agitation, then dumping them in ice water only to repeat the process over three times. It didn't work. At all. But my biceps have never looked better! Anyhow plan 2 is to set them loose on my mom's washer/dryer when we get home and see how that works out. I'll keep you posted



So here are the details.

Pattern: Peruvia Roses from Berroco
Yarn: Cascade 220. I have been using up extras from the Pinwheel sweater and twirly skirt and finally finished one of the never ending skeins
Mods: Nope!

Lake Owassa, New Jersey

Directly after we arrived in to the States we headed for my Great Aunt's house on Lake Owassa in New Jersey. It's about an hour and a half drive from New York City into the mountains of New Jersey where there is a channel of lakes along the Appalachian Trail.


Husband and I headed out to the lake with my mom, my sister and her husband and ADORABLE little girl (the one I always knit for) family style, in a mini van. When we arrived we were greeted by all of our extended family which included my mom’s aunt and cousins. We have visited this lake on many occasions so it was great to show Husband where I use to visit during my summers and where I learned to water ski.

All the family was immediately commenting on the strange weather. The clouds, the rain, the chill in the air, they just couldn’t explain how weather like this was occurring in June! They were sorry that we wouldn’t be able to swim and water ski. I on the other hand was thrilled and said as much. I mean it was RAIN! Real live, natural, rain! I couldn’t have been happier. I was honest and said “swimming I can get in Dubai but rain is something else all together.” Seriously people, I’m an Oregonian. I grew up wading through the puddles and UAE’s lack of rain is something that has been hard for me to adjust to. The fact that we got to sit through a proper storm during our first couple of days in the country just meant the trip was off to a better start than I could have hoped for.

Just look at that gorgeous precipitation. And the CLOUDS! I love it!


We were able to get out on to the lake a bit while we were there. We went boating on a pontoon boat (that was a blast and it went way faster than I would have expected)and Husband went kayaking! He kayaks like a pro.


Afterwards we had a big family style barbeque with steak and wild salmon. YUM!

The next morning things cleared up enough to show us just how beautiful the lake can be.


It was a great couple of days in New Jersey. I really enjoyed spending time with all of our family and a getting a couple of quiet days in the mountains. It has to be one of my all time favorite places.

Next up: New York City!

FO: Party Hat

The second reveal completed April 29th:

This pattern just shouted Frieda! to me or rather it shouted I wish I had had that hat when I was 2!

I knit this one during the drives to and from Fujariah. It was a quick knit and loads of fun. Plus after tackling that FLS (i don't want to talk about that) for so long I needed some instant gratification. You may have seen a sneak peek at the U-knitted Amiras blog cause I just couldn't keep this one quiet

Details:
Pattern - Simple Baby Cap with Three Different Toppings (this one has tool topping) from Itty-Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson
Size - 2+ years
Yarn - Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in cream and Cascade 220 in Pink
Mods - No mods I guess... I did add the stripes but that's it and not really a modification to me. I got the tool from Khaladiya.

FO: Twirly Skirt

Here is the first FO reveal finished May 2nd:

The Twirly Skirt is an adorable little pattern that's free on Ravelry. When I saw it I knew I had to knit it for my niece Frieda. I was even able to use stashed Cascade 220 left over from her Pinwheel Sweater.

Isn't it cute? I love the colors and I can't wait to see little Frieda twirling around in it.




Details:
Pattern - Twirly Skirt
Size - 2 years
Yarn - Cascade 220
Mods - I added a picot edging around the bottom just to add a little more girlieness to an already girly skirt. I also knit this in the round because why seam if there's a way to avoid it? The i-cord for the tie did get a bit boring but the effect is totally worth it. Over all LOVE LOVE LOVE! I just wish there was a pattern for this in my size

Yarn diet - over!

So if you have been following my blog for the past 6 months that you know i have been on strict yarn diet. The guidelines were that I could not purchase any yarn for six months. No matter what. No excuses.

My last yarn purchase was December 24th 2008 when I bought some Knit Picks swish. This was about the same time that we were deciding that we would go to the States over the summer. With re-organizing my stash and seeing that I have plenty and I don't need more and deciding to go to the US where I knew that I would want to buy yarn without restrictions (I mean it isn't often I can go hang out in an LYS and touch and smell and coddle yarn) I knew I had to diet. So I made a deal - No yarn for 6 months but no restrictions in the States if and when we got there.

Well today, my friends, all that waiting paid off. After 6 months (well 5 days short but really who's counting) I bought yarn! Beautiful, soft, colorful yarn! 5 skeins of loveliness from Purl Soho in New York. I cant show you what I got yet cause I want to be able to re-live my trip again when I get home and post here what we did the whole time. SO picture then.

I just had to stop by today to tell you that I have finally completed my yarn diet and now, during my travels, you'll see a few of the projects that I finished to help with the de-stashing. Yay! But don't worry I'll try to keep up with the posts while I'm flying all over the place.

P.S. 15 hrs is a LONG time and people should NOT spray perfume on the plane!

200 POSTS!!!

This is so exciting for me! I can't believe I have hit the 200 post mark and my blog is just months shy of being 2 whole years old!

I can't believe I have been able to stick with it this long and I can't believe I actually have that much to talk about.

But I do have something to talk about today! I am just days away from vacation. A much needed vacation home for 3 weeks! I feel like a seven year old waiting for her put-put golf birthday party. I am so excited to go to a land of normal heat where people can complain about it being 85 degrees out and my husband and I can scoff at their inability to handle real heat (lets not talk about when we went there in the winter and nearly froze to death in 50 degree weather). We will see green grass and green trees and real flowers that don't stay alive through artificial watering systems that stretch for miles and miles on end. We can see our families and spend quality time with those we love. We can go to "the lake" or go sailing on "the river". We can eat yummy food like Spaghetti Factory, PF Changs, In-n-Out Burger, NY Pizza (Hey! Don't laugh just cause I plan out what restaurants I'm going to visit and diet for 2 months before hand so I can stuff my face and not feel guilty. You know you do it too).

Anyhoo I'm sure you have gotten the idea that I am quite excited for my trip. But I don't want to leave you with out anything to read for 3 weeks so I came up with a plan. As the time unfolds I will reveal all my secret knitting projects because they will all have been giving to their new owners with in the first couple days of my trip. I'm excited to share them because it has been so hard not to post each and every FO I have completed in the past few weeks.

So stay tuned!

Driving along today...

I saw this

It's not hot

It's scorching

Ok ok I know that I talk about how hot it is here a lot but seriously check out my temperature gauge on my car. This was at 11:15 in the morning which means it got hotter! By the time I was cruising down the highway it got up to 117.

I heard rumors it went way past 117 as the day progressed but I was comfortably knitting away inside the cool Abu Dhabi Mall at Starbucks for the WWKIP day (World Wide Knit In Public Day). I didn't take any pictures because I'm just not good at remembering that kinda thing but if you pop on over to the U-Knitted Amiras Blog you can see big group of UAE knitters knitting in public. It was so much fun. We were knitting in public for 6 hours! Talk about a great day!


This is how Princess feels about the heat...

Driving along...

Today, while driving along the highway, I saw a truck with three, life size, bronze cast camels.

Now I know what my hallway has been missing all this time

Shhh.... don't tell

Look at what I'm knitting away on! They are both top secret.... but I just couldn't keep the pictures from you any more.




If you are just dying to know what they are then head over to my ravelry projects page for all the details!

Sneaky Princess

This is my precious Princess cuddled up into a drawer. But not just any drawer. No Princess couldn't cuddle in just any drawer. It has to be the one (well one of the ones) that houses my knitting stash.

I'm starting to think she has a plan. A plan against my stash.

I'm on to you Princess.





sorry the photo is poor quality but it was taken with a cell phone.

It's Pink and It's Sparkly

I never thought that the Pink Range Rover Sport could be out done.

Well I was wrong. W.R.O.N.G.

Feast you eyes on this pretty


That's a Hummer H3. A hot pink sparkly H3. In the picture it's hard to tell but it's got a hot pink under coat with a sparkly, glittery over coat.

Seriously. Again, what are people thinking when they do this to their ginormous, excessively capable SUVs? I bet the guy that owns this Hummer saw the Hot Pink Range Rover cruising the streets and thought too him self. "Now THAT is nice! I will do that to my hummer.... Only I will make it better. I will make it sparkle."

I wonder what his girlfriend thinks. If he even has one.