I'm so bad at keeping my blog up to date. So lets see...

The socks for Bob are done and two more pairs besides. I ran out of yarn on the toe of the second sock of the first pair, so had to finish that with a different color. He doesn't care, they fit and keep his feet warm. To keep that from happening, I made the leg of the sock 7.5" instead of 8". That gives me a bit of extra yarn for mending, if needed. I have enough yarn for two more pairs for him. One is my project for the Knitting Olympics, I'm on Team DPN. They are going to be out of Opal yarn, in blue with flecks of purple and lime green, with cables.

My granddaughter has decided that her poncho works better as a skirt...So now I need to make her more of them, according to Bob. So we will see, what yarn I can come up with for another one for her.

I got a package in the mail today from a friend. She sent me 3 sets of size 0 needles, 10 needles per set, and 2 sets of 4 size 1 needles. She also sent me two 50 gram skeins of Katia Mississippi 3, a 60% cotton/40% acrylic blend in a lime green and a 100 gram skein of Fortissima Colori 1000 in a gray colorway. The needles were in homemade needle holders, they are cloth with a flap top and tie with ribbon. Each holder can hold up to 3 sets of needles.

Here it is December and I haven't been able to post like I want. So here are updates on all the projects I had on the needles and have started since the last time I posted.

I finally finished the poncho! It took 3 months to knit but is done and ready to go to my granddaughter. I hope she likes it.

Jesse's socks are on hold until he gets time to try them on, so that I can make sure that they fit. He isn't living here at now, as he got a job in another town and can only come over on his day off.

I knitted 3 pairs of slippers this past week. One for me, out of WoolEase Chunky in the charcoal colorway, one for Jenny out of WoolEase Chunky in Walnut with charcoal toes and the third pair was for Sandy out of some Red Heart worsted weight.

I'm trying to work on socks for Bob, but don't feel that good so not getting that far on them. These will be 8" high, so that he can wear them in his work boots. Trying to decide if I want to rib the whole sock or just 3" at the top.

Here are the pics of the flood. The one on the left is looking out the living room windows. The one on the right is looking towards the "park", which we are still working on. There is a pond this side of the orange bucket

I went to Unravel Yarn Shop and Gallery in Las Cruces on Friday. I spent 4 hours there, looking at yarn, fiber and talking to the owners. Bob got me some sock yarn and Jenny some yarn for a poncho. I also bought a lucet with part of my b-day money from my MIL.

While I was there I worked on my "Grab and Go Bag." It is a bag that I designed myself, I wanted something that I could carry a small project in and my wallet, sunglasses, keys and cellphone in. Most of the bag patterns didn't have what I wanted, so I decided to design one that did. Right now the pattern is being test knitted by some friends, when that is done it will be for sale.

On Friday while we were out of town, they got RAIN here. Our yard was flooded and you could hardly see the wet pond. I'll post pics of the flood when I find where they are on the puter.

I have been working on the "park" some more. We decided to make it a dry creek, so that when it rains there will be some place for the water to go. We added more plants to the area and decided where we want grass to be. I have to add some more dirt to finish building up some areas and contouring the land so the water runs where we want it to. We added two dry ponds to the end of the creek as catch basins. Got a water lily for the wet pond at the head of the dry creek.

I have been busy doing yard work, so haven't had time to update my blog. I frogged Jesse's socks, they just weren't working. Restarted them 3 times and gave up, will work on them again later. I did knit myself a pair out of the yarn I got from Wonderland Dyeworks. It is the Peacock colorway and I used a simple lace pattern. They turned out nice. I then knit my oldest DD, Sandy, a pair out of some Cascade Sassy Stripe yarn in purples. They are simple stockinette stitch, which is what she wanted.

I am working on trying to design myself a spindle carrier, so that I can take my spindles with me when I go on trips. I like going to Las Cruces when Bob goes over to get supplies for the yard and house.

Right now we are working on making one area to the south of the house into a small park, with benches, a pond and either a dry creek bed or a actual stream that goes from the upper pond to a lower one then the water would be pumped back to the upper pond.

I haven't updated my blog in a long time, because I haven't been doing anything with my crafts. I did make stuff for the family for Christmas. Then I started a pair of mittens for Bob and socks for Jesse, but they got set aside when I kept making mistakes. I just picked up the mittens the other day and got the hand part done, just have the thumbs left to do. Now to pick up the socks and get them going again.

I want to work on spinning up the fiber for my shawl, so that I can get it knitted before winter. It is some I got in a trade with Alice of Wonderland Dye Works. It is one pound of Cormo in the Spring colorway. I am planning on using a pattern that I found on the internet for it. I have 2 ounces spun, so it will take me awhile to get it all spun. I will update the amount spun as I get it done.

I finished the evolved baby sweater two days ago! I just got time to post about it, there is a pic in the gallery, in the Charity knitting album. I have a Surplice Baby Jacket on the needles now, it is cream, rose cream (a light dusty rose) and dark brown. If it fits my granddaughter and she likes it, I'm going to let her have it, as it is getting a bit cool in the mornings.

I started my MIL's hat and have 4" done and about 5" more to go! I am hoping to have it done by Friday. She will be here Saturday afternoon and I want to be able to give it to her then.

We have been working on weeding the yard. The area north from the front patio and drive to the mid-line of the lot, and from the front edge of the trailer out to the road is DONE! Now to start on the south side that matches that. Then will come the "bird garden" area. We have decided to put a 32' X 24' grass area there with a pond and fountian in it.

I started another Evolved Baby Sweater last night, got the body done, now to cast on and do the bodice. I did a band of colorwork in the body, the main color is a pinky cream with a dark rose pink for the contrasting color. The bodice will be the dark rose pink, as I ran out of the pinky cream.

I am now swatching for my MIL's hat. I spun the yarn 2 years ago and sent her a sample for Christmas. I told her to choose what she wanted me to knit out of it, she decided on a hat. So, now I need to get that done before she gets here to visit on the 25th of September. The yarn is real fine and I'm using a US size 2, I hope that is small enough. The yarn is a single ply of white BFL and a single ply of dusty rose silk.

I finished Jenny's second pair of socks and put pics of both pairs and my bluegrass socks in the gallery this morning. I also added new pics of the house.

We are adding a walkway out to the driveway, as that was 16 out from the patio. Still working on weeding the front yard and getting rid of trash. I have been putting in a few plants in the beds next to the house. There is still a lot to get done and my MIL will be here in less than 2 weeks for a 2 week visit! I was hoping to have the front all done by then, but I don't think that will happen.

I decided not to make a blanket to match the sweater and hat, just can't seem to get one that look right. I also don't have enoungh of the yarn I realized. There might be enough to make something else, but not a blanket or another sweater. I am thinking about which yarn to use for the next sweater and what pattern to use. I was a Wal-Mart last week and they had a book of baby sweaters on sale for $1! Most of the patterns call for sport weight yarn, but I'm thinking that I can use the worsted weight and one of the smaller sizes to make them by.

I got Jenny's socks fixed and now she can wear them. I found some mint green wool yarn that is about the same weight and I'm using that for another pair for her. Then I will take the left overs from both colors and make a third pair. I have the first sock of a pair for Bob up to the point where I need to try it on and make sure it fits, before I go any farther on it. I love the yarn I'm using for his, it is Sockina Colori by Schoeller and Stahl. It was given to me by my friend Maggie in exchange for a coffee mug. :) I have other yarn from her to use for socks for me and Bob, so we are both having fun finding special mugs to send her.

I got 2 ounces of the 16 ounces of Spring spun up, now to get the rest of it done. This is going to make me a shawl to use starting this fall. I'm hoping to get it done before to long as the nights are getting chilly and when I have to get up to take the dog out, I would love to have something to wrap around my shoulders.

I finished the entrelac infants hat from Lorraine Major, that I was working on, to go with the evolved baby sweater. Right now I'm trying to decide what to do about the blanket, that I plan to make to go with them. I was going to use some bias knit squares I have...but they just don't seem to go with the sweater and hat. So I'm thinking about ripping them out and redoing the blanket in either entrelac or just stripes. I would love suggestions on that. Pics of the hat and sweater are in the gallery under Charity Knitting.

Now to decide what my next project will be, another baby set or should I work on the Christmas stocking for the swap on SpeakEasySocks... I also have to work on Bob's socks and finish fixing Jenny's...lots of knitting and then there is the spinning to do. I have to get my MIL's hat done before the end of September when she is coming to visit, so that I can give it to her. I spun the yarn for it two years ago and haven't gotten it knitted yet :(

I got $20 from my MIL for my birthday! I knew what I wanted to get with it, but had to get Bob to let me use his credit card to order it. I wanted a spindle from The Bellwether, by Cascade Spindles called Little Si. He gave me permission to order it last Wednesday and it got here on Saturday evening. The whorl is made out of maple with a birch shaft and it weighs 29 grams/1.02 ounces! She sent me some roving from Crosspatch Creations called Lucy in Starlight to try. I love both the spindle and the fiber. I would love to get more of the fiber to use.

I finished the evolved baby sweater that I was doing, then started an entrelac hat to go with it. I'm having a few problems on the hat, but I will work it out. I got Jenny's socks done, then realized that the leg was going to be to tight for her to wear them. So I had to rip the legs out and redo them. I have one redone and will get to the other one tomorrow. I started swatching for socks for Bob and had to go down to a US 00, so will wait a bit and see if I can relax enough to be able to use a US 0, for them as that is the smallest I have in circs, since I like doing his 2s2c as they are so large.

Starting on Wednesday, last week, for 4 days straight we worked on the walks around the house. We got the framing, fill and roadbase done. The topsoil is in the flower beds and half the walks are completely done with rock. We have the front and back patio areas and the walk going around the north end of the house to put rock in. Jenny and I got half the front patio done this morning, but it is a large area and we are still tired from all the hard work. Planted the Trumpet vine on the north end of the front wall, purple fountian grass in the bed south of the front patio and the other vine I had on the south wall of the house. I put pictures of what we have gotten done in my gallery.

Bob let me bid on some daylilies on ebay over the weekend and I won 5 of the 6 I wanted. We are going to make the daylily bed out away from the southeast corner of the house, so that I can enjoy it from where my swing is or any of the windows in my bedroom. I will post pics of them when I get the bed made and the plants in. They won't bloom until next spring, but this will allow them to get settled in before winter.

I was working on the Dumb Baby Sweater and discovered I had made several major mistakes. :( I was getting frustrated with it already and that just made me decide to rip it all out and do something else with the yarn. I decided to do another Evolved Sweater with it, with the pink as the main color and stripes of cream and green in the body and then half the front in cream, the other half in green and the back in pink. I'll see how this works and post pics as soon as I get it done.

We are slowly getting the walks and patios laid out and filled in. The ground is uneven, so we are having to use fill to even it out before we put down the road base. Once that is in and packed, it will be easier to keep the house cleaner as we won't be tracking in so much mud. I put my swing back in place this morning, now to just put the landscape timbers in place and fill in the low spots, so I can get the roadbase around it.

We have decided to put a trellis wall along the south side of the trailer with climbing plants on it just outside of the walk. That will give some shade to that side of the trailer and help to keep it cooler. We have Yellow Trumpet Vine and Bougainvilea to go on it and want to get Honeysuckle. They are all plants that will attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I will also put a hummingbird feeder at the back end of it so that it will not be able to be seen from where the other one is.

We spent the weekend on starting to layout and level walks and patios around the house. We are using landscape timbers for the frame and then filling them with roadbase, a rock/sand mixture that packs down and forms a hard base, then we will put fancy rock on top. Between the walks and the trailer, we are planning on planting beds for flowers and cacti. I posted pics of what we have done to the gallery.

I also worked on the bird garden a bit, hauling more of the debris away and dug a hole to put the birdbath in. I'm doing an in ground birdbath as a lot of the birds here are ground birds. I'm using a large terra cotta saucer for a flower pot as the birdbath, sinking it into the ground and putting rocks in and around it, to make it look like a small seep. I will be putting some roadbase in the hole under it, as that will prevent it from sinking into the ground.

I recieved a package from a friend this weekend with yarn for socks for my SO. He has picked out the one he wants me to start with and wants them long enough to wear under his workboots for this winter. I need to get to work on them, as I have enough yarn for 5 pairs and he wears a men's size 12 shoe, with the leg needing to be 6" above the heel. That is a lot of knitting with fingering weight yarn, but he is well worth the work. :)

I finished the sleeves on the Dumb Baby Sweater. Got the body back on the needle and started working on it again. I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend, so that I can have the needles to start a Christmas stocking. I'm wanting to try beaded knitting on the stocking, I'm thinking about a simple star pattern for it.

I have the Silja socks cast on and started working up the toes of them. I'm doing the 2s2c, so that I can get them done and get back to mine. I have so much yarn to knit into socks for me, by the time I get it all done, I'll have a pair for each day of the week, with extras :) Some are commercial yarns, but some will be out of handspun.

I haven't felt up to spinning lately, but got my Nina spindle fixed. The hook came out and got lost. My son found it half way across the house from where I was at when it happened. My SO glued it in with super glue, I'm hoping it will stay this time.

I finished my socks out of the Bluegrass colorway of Wildfoote last night. I still have to take pics of them to put in the gallery. I started a pair out of Silja for my daughter, right now I'm working on the gauge swatch for them. I am working on the sleeves on the baby sweater, I found out that I wouldn't have enough of the pink I was working with, so I'm using cream that matches it. If that isn't enough to finish the sweater, I do have some light green also of that yarn. These are all from a box of acrylic I found in my stuff, while reorganizing for the move.

This is a cute sweater and I am learning how to do buttonbands and buttonholes, with it. That is one reason I wanted to do it, so that I could learn skills that I don't have. When I finish it, I might make the matching hat and booties.

Last night I cast on the Dumb Baby Sweater from _Knitting in Plain English_ by Maggie Righetti. It is one of the intermediate lessons. I am down to the second buttonhole already and I think it will be a cute little sweater for some little girl. All the baby sweaters I'm knitting are going to charity, as none of my grandkids need them right now. It doesn't get cold enough here until late October or early November for sweaters and jackets.

I turned the heel of my sock and working my way up the leg, I'm hoping to have it finished by Saturday night. I will then cast on a pair for my one daughter, who is needing socks to wear. She has some blue Silja, that she bought herself for socks, but doesn't have the skill to knit them.

I finished the evolved baby sweater, you can see pics of it in my gallery. Since that is finished, I decided to start working on my socks again. I had the first one almost done, so finished it and started the second one. I am working on the heel of it, so should be done by the end of the week, if life doesn't get in the way.
 
I got all the debris pulled out from under the mesquite trees in the front yard, now to just get it all out of the road and in the vacant lot. We trimmed up the trees, taking out dead branches and ones the are/would rub others to make them healther. Soon I will be able to plant the Red Bird of Paradise, Caesalpina pulcherrima. It is an arid climate plant with real pretty blooms and will help attract humming birds and butterflies to the garden. I'm collecting rocks from the area, to use for a pond. The one area of it will be 1-2" deep for the birds and butterflies to use, then I will have a deeper area that will have a fountian. I will use one of the rubber pond liners for the shallow area, but haven't decided how we will build the deeper area.
 
 

Yesterday I started knitting the Evolved Sweater by Ethel-Sherry. I got up to the underarms last night. I posted pic in my gallery in the knitting folder. I am now ready to do the sleeves and upper body. The pattern is a free one for members of knitbabysurprise a Yahoo! Group.

I also finished spinning up the Aurora colorway of fiber from Wonderland Dyeworks, this week. I have made it into a 2-ply yarn for socks.

I am getting settled into my new home and loving it. There is still a lot to do on the yard and inside the house to make it ours.

I just got back online, after being off for a week, to move into a new place. I am still trying to get unpacked, but love the new place.

We had been raising some ducklings and the second night in the new place, something killed them :( It was a sad way to start the day, but it ended on a brighter note. My SO and I went to the Humane Society and choose out a puppy to adopt. The one we choose is an Aussie X, we think with either Border Collie or Shetland Sheepdog, maybe even Collie.

We named her Sparkles as her personality sparkles. She is a sable and white and is quite cute. You can see pics of her at the gallery.She is thought to be between 3 and 4 months old and is partially house broken. I want to clicker train her, as she is sweet, gentle and very sensitive to our moods. She wants to please us. I can't see using the older harsher methods with her.