Hello all. We are just trying to stay cool here. It has been unusual high temperatures and very humid outside. Perfect weather to stay inside and dye some yarn. Since my first time dying yarn, I have dyed two more hanks. For both hanks, I tried a stripping sock yarn. The first hank was dyed brown, blue and white.

Of course I loved these colors and tried it again with a pink instead of a blue. I sent this yarn off to a good friend. I hope she likes it.

With all of this yarn, I have a lot of knitting to do. Which makes me pretty excited. 

The weather is perfect to stay inside (in the cool) and knit. Even with this hot weather, we are trying to keep our little guy, Nolan, busy. Last weekend, we enjoyed the local zoo. We went early in the morning to beat the heat. Surprisingly, the zoo was not too busy. We also went to the local pool. My son took a long time to adjust to being in the water. However, after 45 minutes he was totally having a great time and loved it. He started crying when we had to leave. I think it was an overall success. I look forward to their movie nights, of floating in the pool and watching a flick.

My husband and I took a bit of a vacation over the 4th. We are currently enjoying a 5 day stay-at-home vacation. My in-laws came down for a quick visit over the 4th. We went to the fireworks. The next morning we went out for breakfast at The Egg & I and I had my all time favorite, corn beef and hash. It was excellent. Like I said a couple of posts ago, I want to start knitting Christmas presents because I want them all done and under the tree on time. As I go to knit, I will leave you with a couple of pics of the boys. Until next time, keep knitting.

Good day. I just had to post about my new adventures! I decided to try to dye my own yarn! I mean, I am a chemist. Why not put my phd towards my love of yarn and knitting... I would not say my first time was great, but I did learn a lot. I need more organization and a place without dogs. There was a lot of dog hair in the finished product.. YUCK. But overall I enjoyed the process and will try again, soon.

Remember the trip I took to Chicago? I mentioned I bought some beads from a cute store and wanted to make some stitch markers. Here is how they turned out.

I think they turned out pretty cute! As for knitting, I have not done much. These past 2 weeks have been really busy. Last week, daycare was closed. We were lucky enough to have Paul's cousin's daughter, Claire, stay with us for 9 days to help us out. My son, Nolan and Claire have a cute and special relationship. She is so good with him and he just loves her! As a treat, we took them to Gigi Cupcakes.Thank you Claire!!!

Our 5 year anniversary was last weekend. We had a wedding to attend. A long time friend Joe married Jenny on June 16th. We had a great time at their wedding. Congrats Joe and Jenny!

As for this weekend, we had my mom here Saturday. She spent the night and left this morning. It was hard to be in a great mood because, we were suppose to go to Oxford for a wedding of another really close friend, Debra Jo. Unfortunately, two root canals and crowns are not cheap and we had to stay home. My in-laws, who have meet Debra many times when they visited us in Oxford, went in our place. They had a great time and said Debra was a beautiful bride. I am glad they were able to go in our place. Congrats Debra and Josh. We love you both and cannot wait to come and see you soon!

Until next time, keep knitting.

Hello all. Today is a pretty special day. Five years ago today, I married my best friend, Paul.

Good day. The past week/weekend was fun filled and packed full of knitting. First, I went a visited a dear friend in Chicago this past week. My son and I took a 3 day vacation and went to the aquarium, had a Chicago style pizza, Chicago style hot dog and tons of fun. Thank you Suzie for making this visit possible. Nolan and I were in heaven. Here are some photos, okay a lot of photos....

Here is Suzie and Nolan. We are just about to get our first real Chicago style hot dog.

It was delicious!! Here is Nolan at the Shedd aquarium. He was such a good boy and was so happy to see all the different fish.

While I was in Chicago, I wanted to see a few knitting stores. Well, that did not work out quite as I expected. First, I as able to see one store, Knot Just Knits. The store was adorable.

I purchased some sock yarn for a friend. She will love it!

However, my little tike was not in such a good mood and threw the worst fit in the store. That ended the first day of checking out the knitting stores. Since the next day was my last, we really needed to hit the road, I decided to only check out one more store. The store was Knitche in Downer Grove, IL. Downer Grove has the cutest downtown. It was a relaxing to walk around. However,  when we found the place, we realized the Knitche has recently relocated. 

They were closed until July. Oh well. I guess we just have to come back another day. Maybe for Vogue Knitting in the fall?!?!? On the way back to the car I spotted a cute store.

I got a couple of cute beads to make stitch markers. Once they are done I will post pictures :)

Once we got back from Chicago, the weekend was starting in full swing. It was my husband's birthday and we decided to go to a Brewer game. It was a great time with family and friends!!! I love brewer games. We tailgated for hours and just relaxed and chatted. It was a awesome.

Well, what have I been knitting.... I finished my two at a time socks. I love them. They yarn is beautiful.

 I also started another couple of pairs of socks... The badger socks are now just a plain sock and the stripping looks great. Here is a pair I started last weekend. The first sock is complete.

 The color is hard to see but they are blue, green and purple. I think I have found my calling. I love knitting socks. All of you out there reading my blog, what did you do this weekend? I hope it was fun filled. Until next time, Keep Knitting.

Hello all. Well this weekend flew by. We spent yesterday mostly cleaning and playing outside. It was a beautiful spring day. Not too hot and not too cold. I sat outside for hours knitting and having a squirt gun fight with my little man. Yes, little man and no longer a baby. This month Nolan has become more of a little man than I could imagine. Truthfully, its happening a bit fast and I am just trying to enjoy this time with him. This month he gave up the pacifier, talks all the time and sleeps in a big boy bed. Wow! I think he has done enough maturing for a while. Today we took a ride to the Sow's Ear. A local knitting store here in Madison. It was a great time. We sat outside, had a smoothy and relaxed. Nolan played in their outdoor plastic house. He came in and out telling us many stories. He is a bit bossy but I think the new found freedom is just taking over. Everything is a stage.

As for knitting, I have been on a vacation until this weekend. The past month was pretty stressful and draining on the family. We all had a sickness of some sort the whole month. Thankfully May is over and we are back to healthy! I started the owl socks for the 3rd time and showed them off. It was decided that a different pattern was desired by the recipient so I have ripped them and started South Fork socks by Linda Welch.

I also wanted to start something for myself. I started basic socks that were written on Susan B. Anderson's blog. I love the stripping of the yarn. I bought the yarn off of Artfire. Here is the exact link: Emeralds Sapphires and Prince.

I love that yarn and as a newer knitter, I am still trying to pair yarn colors with patterns. With how busy the yarn stripping is, a basic sock was preferred. I think these will be amazing :) I just bought some plain mustard colored sock yarn. I am excited to pick out a complicated pattern for these single color socks. With the amount of socks I am knitting, I think this may be the path I stay on. I love knitting socks. Socks are fun, fast, very different depending on the pattern and yarn. Plus they always turn out so darn cute.

I finally decided to start knitting Christmas gifts now. Yes, now because I want them to be wrapped and under the tree on time. Well that is a pretty big goal but a fun one. 

Here is two new pictures of Nolan. Next weekend we are off to the Brewer game. Many fun pictures to come. 

Socks, socks and more socks!

I just finished the tadpole socks. I love how the yarn stripes completely different for both socks.

These are the first pair of socks I have made in an adult size. I wear them everywhere! I had no idea how much more comfortable knitted socks are than bought socks! Plus they are so warm.
My two at a time socks are coming along nicely. I am about 1/2 inch away from finishing the toe. I will post pictures next time. Finally I started the Owlie sock pattern. I love the magnolia leaf yarn for this pattern. Something about owls makes me think of fall and this yarn is perfect.

But wait, something is wrong. Hummmm........ Oh the owls are upside down!!! Well I bet you can guess what I am restarting today. Oh well! Well, my son is calling! Until next time, keep knitting.

Okay I admit it.... I am a hypocrite!

When I first started this blog (and really getting into knitting) I stated that I did not like the idea of stash yarn or having many projects on needles. Well, now I have quite the collection of stash yarn and projects on needles. I am getting projects done pretty fast and enjoying all of the yarn I have gotten lately so its all good.

I have been slowly making progress on my two-at-a-time socks. I really love the colors and the striping of the yarn.

I really like these socks and cannot wait until they are done! Since they are on size 1 needles it will take a while.
I have finished one of the tadpole socks. I really like the design and the hand painted yarn. The foot is a bit small but it will stretch.

Finally, I started my mother-in-law's birthday present. It probably won't be done until after her birthday but its the thought that counts...

She wanted some socks that were badger colors. I really like these. They have a hint of sparkle in them as well.
Finally, I am going to end with a new picture of me and my little man!

Keep Knitting!