Off on the First Leg Of My Summer Vacation

Hi All! I am leaving tomorrow for McAlester, OK! Tiny Tiny town with the nearest Yarn shop about 60 miles away! I am still going to ask my hubby to take me there. Anyway, I am taking tons of knitting, movies and audiobooks and reading materials. It should be a very relaxing time. It will be great just to get away and spend time with my mother-in-law. So, when I get back I should have lots to share about progress on my knitting projects. Hopefully I will finish the summer tank and the squares. My goal is eight squares.



Tank: finished back and progress on the front:



4.5 out of eight squares:



You can see the patterns on the squares better on this one:




Not as much going this weekend as last, but I did go to my monthly knitting guild meeting. Here I am during the Show and Share portion of our time together:



You know, I usually hate taking pictures. But I am forcing myself to do it this year. I figure that I will not live forever and one day, someone is going to want to see pictures of me. So, I am doing it. I look at this picture and am so proud of myself for taking it and posting it. I am also proud because I have lost about 15 pounds since May 1! So, even though I still have a lot more to lose, I can see in this picture that I have made obvious progress. You know how it is. It takes a longer time for you to see yourself change that for others to see it. People who know me have been commenting about my weight loss, but this week was the first time that I could really see it! I have been doing the southbeach diet and it truly works well for me.

Alright, I am off. See you all when I get back!

Ravelry! I am In!!!!!

USERNAME: pettiskimknits

I am excited to see how this all works!

Weekend in Review

Well, my hubby and I had a great weekend. It was one of those weekends that was full of peace and relaxation and really enjoying one another. We live in Southern California. There are pluses and minuses to living here. One of the greatest things about living here is the beautiful weather. This weekend was very very nice. The other great thing about this place is that there is always something cool to do. In the summer, there are tons of free concerts to go to. When I got off work on Friday my husband picked me up from work. Usually, I feel super tired after work and what I want to do is go home and sit on the couch and read, watch tv and/or knit. My husband is a teacher so he is off in the summer. He spends his days pursuing his passion: screen writing. Usually after work I am all tapped out, but he is all reved up. But at the start of this weekend I was feeling energetic so we went to The Grove and ate at the Farmers Market.





We got to eat outside and listen to some free music by The Front Porch Band. It was great, very relaxing. Saturday, a friend and I went out to a lawn sale in Malibu. The drive was great and Malibu is beautiful. Plus, I got a great needlework book for $5.00!





Saturday Evening, we packed up our bags with books and my knitting and headed down to Plaua Del Rey. We sat out on the beach in our chairs and read and I knitted and we watched the Sunset. We had a couple of sandwiches and our evening was golden!

On Sunday, we went to see our friends renew their wedding vows in celebration of their 20th Wedding anniversary! THe ceremony was beautiful.

The weekend was perfect......until............we went grocery shopping. The shopping part was great. It was only about the 2nd time that we actually shopped together in our 5.5 years of marriage. But, we did not fight and we got everything we needed, including my new favorite healthy dessert: sugar free popsicles! So, what went wrong?

When we got into the car to go home, the car was DEAD! And guess who had not renewed their AAA membership? thats right! US! Well, we decided to remain calm. We prayed, called AAA anyway and they allowed us, on a Sunday evening, to renew our membership over the phone and they sent us some help! The guy was there in less than half an hour! He gave us a jump and we got home just in time to put my popsicles in the freezer! They survived and we survived. Guess what I did while waiting on the AAA guy? KNITTED!!!!!!!! Check out my progress:

Me knitting in Playa Del Rey, on the beach!:



The Sunset:



oops, a little bit of my husband's arm got in the picture!

Oh, forgot to mention that on Thursday night, we went to one of the many outdoor malls to enjoy another free concert:



Thanks for Stopping by!

Thought this was cute

LOLA

I remember the days when my knitting would look like this though I was not knitting on a rollercoaster! In fact, my socks have looked like this recently.

Sewing?

So, I am wanting to really learn how to sew. Since I taught myself to knit, I think I can teach myself to sew. So far, no dice. I have 3, count 'em, 3 sewing UFOs. Last night I was trying to sew an "easy" top. Well, it ain't sew easy! Anyway, I am looking for a class, but I they are a little hard to find. Plus, if I can teach myself, why pay? What do you think? Can I teach myself to sew from a book?

Evan

Read about Alisson's baby on her blog and if you can, go to her Ebay Store: Supercrafty and help her raise the money to help her child:

Alisson's Baby.

Maybe I will not give up on socks afterall!

I think I have figured out working with dpns. I am attempting allison's ankle sock from blue blog patterns.

Here is where I am so far:



I am turning the heel using the wrap method. Its challenging but I think I will get it. I think the key for me is good lighting and energy. I had been attempting the socks after a hard day's work in the evening. The lighting in my place is dim. Notice I take most of my pics outside! Old, tired eyes coupled with dim lighting is not a good combination when trying to make your first pair of socks. So, I got some sleep and tried it again in the daylight and its going well. I might need a few prayers from you guys to get through the turning of the heel!

Here is progress photos on my other projects.

Square# 4:



Summer Tank:



Thanks for stopping by and wish me luck!

Amanda's Contest

Sorry I don't know how to make links. So paste this into your browser for contest details

http://nhknittingmama.blogspot.com/