I cast on 17 sts only and used 2 on each side for border and then followed the pattern as written. It worked out beautifully. The yarn is Valley Yarns Cotton something or other in the Opal colorway that I got from Webs some time ago (the cone had eleventybilliontrillion yards for like $3!!!). I dunno how much yardage I used. I know that I did 25 pattern repeats and called it a day! It was fast, easy ad cute.

For Esmie’s teacher, a while back I made the Branching Out scarf, heavily modified! HA! I used some Italian lace merino I got from School Products. I couldn’t seem to get into that Branching Out pattern AT ALL!!! So, I did it part of the way and then gartered myself over to the other side and then did Branching Out again to match the first end! VI-OLA! A scarf! HEH!

Waddya guys think? Think they’ll like them?

I put them each in a little box with a note and 2 bars of soap chosen by the girls and the girls drew and wrote all over the boxes. I hope the teachers enjoy their gift.

I also finished my Sangria skirt. MAAAN is this thing KAH-YUTE!!! Wait til ya’ll see it! I won’t take pictures of it until I wear it for it’s intended use and venue so it will have a special unveiling hopefully next week.  (I just have to knit 8 feet of I-cord for the drawstring and it’s ALL SET!) 

I finished a sock yesterday as I waited all day in EFFIN Family Court again – literally, 9 am to 5:45 pm all for NOTHING as we didn’t see the Judge cuz of my stupid a$$ attorney and we have been adjourned to October 23rd. I’m so pissed. I eventually cried myself a river later that evening when I felt I was gonna burst and then Tano came in and almost cried too cuz he finally saw me and we are just all so sick of this shit and just want it to be over. We composed ourselves and continued to present a brave, strong front to the kids. Poor kids. I feel so bad that they are in the middle of all this bullshit. We do try to not mention TWFKAM or the whole case in front of them or to them and it’s been working somewhat. But behind closed doors….

Enough of that.

This Friday is the release of Clue #1 in the Mystery Stole KAL and I can’t WAIT!! It seems that I’ll have enough of the Pale Khaki Malabrigo to do the entire stole in that one yarn. I still haven’t chosen the beads for it, tho.

What color beads do you guys recommend for that color yarn?

Pattern: Lillian Top
Source: Delicious Stitches
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay in Red
Cost: $3.38 per skein (used 6 2/3 skeins, about 730 yds); total cost = $22.75 –
Size: Large
Needles: Size 5 and 6 Addi Turbos
Started: June 1, 2007
Finished: June 10, 2007
Notes: I would not do 5 lace repeats for the body. I find this to be too long. If I make it again, I would only do a total of 4 repeats of the lace pattern. Also, I would start the armhole section sooner as I have large arms.

Next up is the Cap Sleeve Turtleneck. I also enjoyed this pattern except I decided a turtleneck in this heat….NAAAAH! LOL

Pattern: Cap Sleeve Turtleneck
Source: Karabella Yarns pattern from Kpixie
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Coral
Cost: $3.60 per skein (used about 5 1/3 skeins); total cost about $18 –
Size: 40″ Bust
Needles: Size 3 and 5 Addi Turbos
Started: May 7, 2007
Finished: June 2, 2007

With completing the Cap Sleeve Turtleneck, I completed Round 5 of my Yarn Diet. So as a treat I bought myself something really special….I wasn’t planning on buying it yet but Karen talked me into it today!!! ENABLER!!!!! This week’s YPF will be all about that. (Hey, Cristi, wouldya mind sharing with me how to get those FLLLLY close-ups???! Couldya, wouldya, thanks, luv ya!!!)

A couple of days ago, I emailed Anne Hanson from KnitSpot and asked her advice on something I wanted to make. I was thinking of a nice large shawl to use almost like a sarong over my bathing suit this summer. She recommended a couple of her patterns but she mentioned she had a cute little lace skirt PERFECT as a cover-up, Sangria. Of course, once I saw her pattern, I jumped and bought it. I cast on last night using Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Terra Cotta. So far so good. No pix yet because I’m not that far along.

I am sending out soap orders hopefully by Friday. I haven’t had a chance to run to the post office with the training at work so they’re a tad delayed but I’ll add a treat as “thanks” for your patience!!

Esmie turned 9 last Tuesday and I promised her a sleepover. She invited 3 friends from school and 1 outside of school and plus the neighbors. I ended up having 5 girls plus my 2, plus 3 boys (but they were here for Alex! LOL). Only 3 of the 5 girls spent the night but the others still got to participate in everything before hand. I wanted this to be something simple: cake and pizza and chips and movies etc.

Well, I realized that I’d forgotten to get them little giftie things for them to take home. Spur of the moment, I decided something better! Let them make their own body products!!! As you all know, or not, who knows, LOL, I still make products for my own personal use from my Rosi G. collection. I needed something simple for the girls to make so they made lip balms and sugar body scrubs (a simpler version of that from my store). They enjoyed making their own stuff so much. I may have to hire them as helpers when I open my store back up! Plus I gave them soaps for them and their mothers. I then found some folded up gift boxes I was saving for who-knows-what and had them put them together, gave them stickers (aka Avery Labels!) and some crayons and markers for them to decorate their boxes. All of this killed about over two hours!!!

We then sang happy birthday and cut the cake – it was near 11 pm by now. So the girls got into their pj’s, two of them left with their mom and the rest settled down on the floor to watch a movie. They were restless (sugar after a certain time = no sleep!).

So after the movie Esmie pulled out her knitting. The two eldest girls immediately said OOOOH KNITTING!!! By this time I was exhausted and in my OWN pj’s knitting on Chloe and watching the girls play. I gave each of the two girls some yarn and needles and Esmie taught them to knit! Check these out! The girls took to them right away as young minds tend to do and they were happily knitting until about 2 am when I said ok that’s ENOUGH!!! Put the needles down! (said she that was still sitting there knitting her damn self!).

I got them to settle down for the night but they didn’t fall to sleep until almost 3 am (!). I was sooo tired the next day but was able to hussle up about eleventeen pancakes and sets of scrambled eggs for 11 people. They had a nice brunch and then got busy playing again. I took out some of my costume jewelry for them to play dressup. Everyone was gone by 5 pm. (!) I’d told the parents 2 pm and was a bit upset that the girls hadn’t been picked up on time (what’s up with that!!!!) but I didn’t want to ruin the weekend by getting all pissed so I just put in another movie and took out my knitting again.

Mental note: do NOT attempt to start a new lace project while watching a bunch of girls. Just because they’re girls does not mean that they’ll be still and sweet.

Speaking of: I finished my Flower Basket Shawl on Friday evening. I just need to block it and then I’ll do an unveiling. This completes Round 4 of the Yarn Diet. For the treat: Briar Rose’s Wistful for Anne’s Glory Morning Wrap. I haven’t received it yet, but when I do it will definitely be featured in a YPF episode. Sunday, I cast on for Eunny Jang’s Print o’ the Wave stole in Schaeffer Trenna. I think this is going to be a beautiful summer wrap. I’m two repeats in and will post pictures in progress soon.

As for soaps, I was reading all of your replies with a smile and decided to choose four recipients of soap. The random number generator chose Ebony (who funnily enough said she never wins anything! LOL), Bezzie, Stacey, and Megan.

Email me your snail mail addy’s to soapy DOT knitter AT gmail DOT com and I’ll send you out some lovely soaps. Also in the email let me know which of the three you’d like (Moment of Peace, Vanilla Chamomille or Oatmeal, Milk & Honey. As for the rest, don’t worry, I’m sure to be holding these more often, including a drawing for some sugar scrub I need to make.  Also, for anyone interested, I’m willing to swap soap and stuff for yarn and books! 

OOOH, and Chante also let me know that my post about parenting was featured in the current Yarnival! YAY ME!