This is the scarf that never ends...

At least, that's how I felt when I was knitting it....but then I was out of yarn and I wished it was longer! Oops. The scarf is a birthday gift for my mommy, a week or so late. Who wants a scarf in July, I wonder? :D

The yarn is 50/50 wool/alpaca from Lonesome Stone Fiber in Granby, Colorado. The colorway is called "Shades of Raspberry." It was a nice soft but sturdy yarn to knit with and I enjoyed it! I did a Google search for "one skein scarf patterns" and came up with this pattern:

CO 30 stitches, size 10 needles
K first and last st of every row
Row 1: P across
Row 2: K2tog across
Row 3: K1, M1 across

Repeat until yarn is gone. BO. Ta-DA!

The photos are of course all washed out, since my D-100 is in the shop. Sniff sniff. :( I need some yarn photography tips too, lol. At least I can get it to sit still easily. Although it doesn't smile. ;)

I must be off now to finish packing and get the girls in the car to Minot to Grandma's. Watch for pictures next week of the much-anticipated "Dora cake" party!!

Guest Blogger, Annie's Mom in Minnesota: Annie needs an alpaca!

Disclaimer: No, I don't really need an alpaca. My mom just thinks I do. I think I have enough things to clean up after as it is. ;) Here's her commentary on a visit to an alpaca farm.

The Minnesota Valley Photography Club was invited for a private tour of Rose Crest Alpacas, in Webster, Minnesota, this week. They had two babies and seven other wonderful alpacas that we were allowed to photograph and get acquainted with. Kathy, the owner, gave a great presentation about alpacas, which are much smaller than llamas and incredibly soft and cute. Kathy let us browse through her store of "everything alpaca." She has new shipments of yarn spun from her own animals that is just amazingly soft and gorgeous. I'm such a beginning knitter that I had no idea what to buy. So, I guess I must go back. Visit her store or email her for information on the wonderful natural-colored yarn that she has in stock now.

Mom

Victoria, the daughter's owner, and her alpaca

Double the fun!

Wow, I can't believe Evelyn is still asleep. It's 9:02 am. Crazy kiddo! But anyway, that means I have time for one more post, then hopefully she's up soon so she can have breakfast and we can go out for a walk.

These soakers I knit for a Diaper Pin mama with adorable twin girls. The twins are not that old, but unfortunately the soakers look HUGE to me. I have no idea why, seeing as my gauge was right on each time I checked. Ugh. I have loosened up considerably as a knitter, these were knit on 6s for the body and 4s for the waistband. They are from the Radiant Twist pattern, which I think you can buy on her Etsy cart. The yarn is 100PureWool in the "Blush" colorway, which of course I can't find on the website anymore. They've taken a lot of their colorways down for some reason. It was so fun to knit with, because it is sooooo buttery soft. This yarn is their new 3-ply merino; the 1-ply merino is known to be amazingly soft but also prone to felting and pills like crazy. I'm hoping the 3-ply is a bit better. I have 2 skeins of "Shades of Violet" for fall longies for Evelyn to knit sometime. As of right now, I only have 2 projects on the needles! Whoa! :D

Birthday present for me!

Okay, a very early birthday present. Joann.com often has 40% off on one item coupons, and I saw one online a couple of weeks ago, and just had to snatch up a ball winder. I don't have a swift yet, those are even more expensive, especially the collapsing ones that I want. But no worries - Olivia is quite proficient at winding and mommy can be the swift! She has already wound 5 balls with me and she often asks "Mommy I wanna make sumpin'!" which means she wants to wind a ball. ;) I'm gonna run out of yarn for her soon! She does get "tired" in the middle, which I figure just means she's bored, so sometimes she'll bail in the middle of winding. Little stinker!

The instructions were clearly written by someone who does not speak English as their first language. They're absolutely hilarious! These are direct quotes. I couldn't possibly make this stuff up.

"For setting yarn guide up: Thrust it in over a boss positioned at the reverse side of base until clicking."
"Fit bobbin in bobbin holder in a right position."
"After winding yarns up: 1) Take the wound ball out of bobbin after picking the first end of yarns up. 2) Alternatively take the wound ball with bobbin out of bobbin holder, detouching the bobbin by turning it to the right."

Okay then! Clear as mud?! I want to know what the "boss positioned" is! Luckily it's quite self-explanatory to use, because the directions aren't much help!

The family that knits together...

Is very close-knit? ;) Sorry, I could resist the pun!!

A few pictures from our Colorado vacation of the knitters. My cousin Melanie is knitting an old-fashioned sweater (the pattern is very old~ from the 30s? I forget.) with alpaca something-or-another, my grandma is reading my Debbie Bliss book to help me understand the sweater pattern I've started, and in the second picture my aunt and grandma are helping me to wind the alpaca farm wool into balls. My cousin Nicholas, in the background, is not knitting. ;) Yet! Hehe. My aunt Laurie has not been bitten by the knitting bug, either. Hrmph! Not pictured are two of my favorite knitters, my mom and my sister!

Soaker for Josh

5 minutes left to post! I should probably get going NOW, as I don't have Olivia dressed or myself dressed for that matter....oh well. Small town makes for short driving time to the doctor's office. ;)

Here is a soaker I did for a Diaper Pin mommy friend of mine Elissa. She and her two kiddos live in Arizona and I bet her son, Josh, wears nothing but a diaper a lot of the time! I thought I'd try out the new Radiant Twist soaker pattern for him. Well, I liked the pattern a lot, but I didn't read it quite right....ugh. I put the short rows on the side instead of the back. Oops. Elissa has shown me pictures and says it still fits, but I'm sure it would be better if the short rows were RIGHT. Urgh! Oh well. Live and learn!

Here is the "sneak peek" picture I sent her:


Artistic mountain-in-background photos!



With that, my time is up, and it's time to get moving! Thanks for looking!

Finished Belladonna Shorties

Lots of posts from me today. :) I have exactly 11 more minutes before I need to wake up Evelyn and feed her breakfast before her 15-month appointment (and shots :( ). Let's see how many posts I can catch up on, haha!

Here are some shorties I finished while the girls were at Grandma and Grandma's bed, breakfast and Ruby house:

They are knit with hand-dyed BFL (Blue-faced Leicester) wool from Michelle at Belladonna Designs in her "Strawberries and Lime" colorway. I did her pattern as well, but with an elastic waist and slightly different gusset. They are a tad big, my gauge was a little too loose (oops) but perhaps they will fit next summer as well. Or Olivia could wear them! They are soooo soft and I am happy with how they turned out!