Vacationing and a Knitting Slump.

It's been a busy busy month, or over a month since the last time I wrote a blog! We went and spent an entire month with my sister in Walla Walla, Washington and had such a great time. It was very hard to leave! While there I tried to spend as much time off of electronics as possible and we also took all electronics away from the kids, which they were definitely not happy about but made our stay even more fun! I really didn't take too many pictures but here are a few of our fun times...

They love their Aunt Erica! 

In my family we get brain scans for fun thanks to my genius sister lol.

After spending an obscene amount of time in this bookstore my sister casually mentioned that she had an article published in this book and I'm like WHAT!? How did I not know of this before!? She's too modest. Of course I had to make her pose for a photo with it! 

While there I really didn't get too much knitting done, but I did finish a couple things! 

I finished my Pebble Beach shawl, I used The Lemonade Shop yarn in the Sunday Morning colorway. I loved how this turned out and I think I may keep it for myself but I haven't decided yet. 

I also finished this Orange is The New Black mystery knit along. 

Blocking at my sister's house was a challenge so it definitely needs to be reblocked but my mom ended up coming for a short visit while I was there so I just went ahead and gave it to her and she can reblock herself or wear it as it is. It's the perfect Harley Davidson colors and will be great for her to wear on her rides when the weather starts getting a little cooler. I was happy to have this done and to its recipient! 

I also started a test knit and I actually just completed it about a week ago but it's a test knit and I'm not sure if I can put the finished product on my blog yet but here are some abstract photos 

This was quite a time consuming project and with traveling so much I feel like I worked on it forever so have been really glad to have it completed. I used Swan Island Fingering yarn and was really happy with it, very lovely yarn and I love the colors! 

After coming home from being gone for so long I have really struggled finding inspiration for another project. I have been working on some socks I had started but other than that I just haven't had anything really call out to me. I have a sweater on the needles for my sister that I really need to work on so maybe I will get that out. In the mean time I will watch my favorite podcasts for some inspiration, that usually works! 

As soon as we got home we had a visitor which is a rare thing for us living so far away from family! 

Grandpa Steve!! We all had such a great time! Lots of Starbucks too! 

Then we had a birthday as my oldest baby Isabel turned 9 years old! It's hard to believe that I have been a mama for 9 whole years! She has grown up so quickly! 

After all of that I have just been working on doing some organizing and cleaning around our little house and just getting back on our regular routine. I have started to work on getting a curriculum together for Isabel and I'm getting really excited about that! 

Well nap time has just ended so back to work I go! Hopefully my knitting mojo will return in full force right away! Happy end of summer and happy knitting to all! 

Mail, Car Knitting, and Too Many Cast Ons!

Wow! This week has gone by insanely fast! It was Matt's days off and those weeks always tend to go by faster, but my days and weeks just seem to always be gone in a flash. Anyway, this week was a great mail week, I received some amazing things! 

My first set of packages were these, the yarn came from Jimmy Beans Wool and is their June Binge MKAL for the show, Orange is the New Black. I really love that show and as soon as I saw the kal I knew I had to do it, the timing is perfect too because Matt will be working nights so I will be able to put the kids to bed and watch one episode after another while knitting on the pattern. Can't wait!! 

The soap is sock soap from Tuft Woolens in the Russian Flower scent and oh my goodness is smells heavenly, she also sent a sample of her charcoal lime scent and that was just as amazing. When I opened it I realized she had sent me a bath bar instead of sock soap so I contacted her and she said she would immediately send out a sock soap and I could just keep the bath bar, which was so nice of her! I also ordered another bar, so that should be here sometime this week. 

My next package contained this little project bag that I purchased on etsy from KatKnits. It's so cute and funny! 

My next set of packages were stitch markers from little skein in the big wool and seriously they are so adorable. I ordered the Mary Poppins ones and chose the little tin for the packaging and I was so happy when I opened them. They are just perfect. Then I got a skein of Sunday Morning from The Lemonade Shop and it just speaks for itself. The mint color is just so lovely! 

So that was my mail for the week. Lots of fun! 

I didn't seem to have a ton of knitting time but I did complete 1 thing and cast a few things on.

I worked on the In Threes cardigan mostly in the car while we were running errands and while out with Matt on backroads shooting and I actually completed it while we were on a rather long shooting trip.

I just love how it turned out, it is so cute and the yarn is so yummy and squishy. It still needs buttons and blocking, I am planning on doing that this week. I was really pleased with it! 

I cast on 3 things this week which is unusual for me since I really am not one to have a lot of things going at once. I start to get a little stressed out when I have too many projects going at once so this is really pushing it for me! The first thing I cast on was the Nymphalidea shawl which I mentioned in my last blog but I ended up frogging it 

I felt like it just didn't look nice, almost junky looking in a way. So I ripped it all out and cast on the Nurmilintu shawl 

I'm liking it better I guess but it just wasn't holding my interest at all really and then I woke up one morning and decided I really wanted to cast on a sweater and I have yarn for a sweater for my sister so after spending a whole morning poring over patterns I cast on the Sibella Pullover by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

It comes out of this book which I picked up some time ago in Corvallis on a previous trip to visit my mom. I saw the book and the store had a trunk show and so I just had to buy it. It's full of just really great patterns. And I'm using my new project bag for this sweater. 

Here it is so far

I'm using Sublime Cashmerino Silk DK to knit this and it's just heavenly yarn to work with. It feels so lovely and it has beautiful stitch definition. I really love it and I think it's going to turn out fabulous. I hope my sister loves it! 

I'm using my new stitch markers too, isn't Mary Poppins just so cute? 

I actually worked on this today in the car and got quite a bit done. Another long shooting trip. It's really amazing though how much knitting I get done just sitting in the car. 

The next thing I cast on was the Pebble Beach Shawl by Helen Stewart 

I'm using my new Sunday Morning yarn that I mentioned above. The pattern is so fun it's almost addicting. I think this will knit up pretty quickly! 

So that's all for what I'm currently knitting, I need to finish some projects before casting more on other than the Orange is the new black kal which I will be casting on on Friday (YAY) and maybe, just maybe, I will have my Pebble Beach completed by then, or something completed.....we will see! 

In other news this week

 I spent quite a bit of my time in urgent care and laying on my couch in complete misery due to a terrible kidney infection which was absolutely no fun but I think I'm on the mend now thankfully! 

Also I may be having to go on a little bit of a yarn diet for awhile since we will hopefully be moving into a bigger house closer to Matt's work, fingers crossed we are able to get it!! It won't be fun to cut back but it's a very much needed move so I'm really praying it all works out. Hopefully we will find out soon. 

Well that's just about it for my week! It's very late and everyone in my house is sound asleep and I'm really enjoying the silence. Now I just need to decide if I should make a cup of tea and knit or go to bed! 

I hope everyone has a great week and thank you for reading my blog :)

Happy Knitting! 

Blogging!

So after being inspired by so many other blogs and podcasts that I have been watching and reading, I decided to log back into my own blog and wow, I haven't wrote one since before I even had my second baby and she is now 3. I've decided that I would like to start keeping up my blog again if for nothing else than my own personal record. With that being said I will start right in!

I just recently got back home from a quick trip to Oregon for my husband to help my mom move. It was a quick trip that ended with our car breaking down and us having to take my moms car home and leave ours in Oregon to be fixed. This means we will be heading back that way to get our car and move my mom again from storage into her new home. I'm not complaining though because Salem, where my mom lives, and the surrounding area has some amazing yarn stores! On our trip I of course had to pick up some goodies!! 

2 skeins of Madelinetosh tosh sock, a pretty cheep project bag, and some small wool washes to try. 

So wild and beautiful! I got this yarn to make the Nymphalidea shawl and I can't wait to cast that on. 

Right before we left for our trip I joined a kal on Ravelry for the Lattice Shawl by Maria of stitched in Sweden whose podcast I just love! I had my yarn rush shipped so I could get it before we left. However I wasn't able to do much knitting on it while I was gone, but I did do a little and then picked it up and completed it as soon as I got home. It was one of the most lovely things I have ever knit and it just turned out beautiful. It was my first time doing an applied border and I really enjoyed it, the pattern was really great and well written.

I knit this using Madelinetosh merino light in the strawberry rhubarb pie color way, which was the May special color through Jimmy Beans Wool and the ivory is the color way Antler. 

So while I was traveling I started a sock for some easy, mindless car knitting. I am using some beautiful yarn I got from The Yarn At Home Mom. It's really so much fun and it feels so nice! I'm saving this to work on on our way back up to Oregon! 

It's so pretty!! 

After I finished my Lattice shawl I decided to cast on the In Threes cardigan for my middle daughter with some very beautiful Madelinetosh vintage in the color way Holli Festival, I bought a couple months ago. 

It's not the greatest picture but it's really adorable in person and the yarn is so yummy!! I can't wait to get this done and on Emilee! 

Since I have been home I have also gotten some great things in the mail, and much more coming! 

The needles and the yarn are from SimplySockCompany and seriously their shipping was lightening fast! The little mustache packaging is some fun stitch markers from the Stitchstache on etsy, I will open them and include a photo in another blog, they are cute little sheep. 

The yarn is from Hedgehog Fibres in the Teacup colorway and I have really been drooling over it for quite some time now and kept missing their shop updates so when I saw that SimplySockCompany had it I just had to order it. My picture really doesn't do it justice, it is so beautiful and buttery soft. 

There are so many colors in it, I just love it. 

I also got an Addi turbo fixed circular because I am trying out a bunch of different kinds before I settle on an interchangeable set. I already have the knitpicks harmony interchangeable set which is good but not great for me. I love Hiya Hiya and Karbonz, both of which I have used quite a bit and I thought I had settled on the Hiya Hiya interchangeable set but I really wanted to try Addi first. I am planning on knitting the Nurmilintu shawl on them so we will see how that goes. 

I am anxiously awaiting a few more packages and can't wait until they get here!!

Now I better go get some stuff done! 

Happy Knitting!!