Yesterday was a busy day. With all of the rain we had over the weekend the grass has just grown wild. I had to use the brush mower to cut some of the lawn and then rake it up and dump it on the garden. The flower beds needed weeding too, but I can only do so much of that before my hands get tired. So in between the yard work and knitting I made some soap.


I love homemade soap, but I don't make it fancy. For fragrance I used Milk Honey and Oatmeal in the first batch and Plum Spice in the second batch. It smells divine.

I'm making progress on my white sweater, too.

Yesterday, I received an email from TKGA saying that they've been contacted by CBS who is in search of a Domestic Diva. What exactly is their idea of a domestic diva? I'm not sure but I am sure that this show will be just about as ridiculous as all of the other phoney/reality shows that are on television. Isn't it amazing what some people will do for a few moments of fame and money?

I've been busy knitting the back of my white sweater. The Paradiso yarn is a thick and thin cotton, which adds some texture to the plain stockinette stitch.

I've started a very simple short sleeved cardigan using the Paradiso yarn that I bought over a year ago. Here's a pic of the sleeve.


This will be a cute little sweater to wear over the tanks that I have done (or started!) I don't know how long I will be able to keep it white.

I'm not having any trouble working with the cotton yarn. I've read a number of blogs where the knitter's hands became sore from knitting with cotton. So far so good for me.

I've taken an inventory of my UFOs
Bellflower tank need to finish from armholes up
Cabled turtleneck need to finish 2nd sleeve and sew together and knit turtleneck.
Lopi Sweater about 25% complete, probably won't work on it until fall.
Fast Florida Footies one footie 3/4 done
Baby Afghan 1/3 done, probably work on it between projects.
I think this is everything and it doesn't look as bad as I imagined it would.

I don't have any new projects on the needles right now. I've been making more scrubbies and dishcloths for Christmas 2004. I was trying a lacy cardigan pattern using Patons Paradiso 100% cotton, but I don't like the yarn. I might have to relegate it to scrubbies and dishcloths. Since it's white I could dye it with kool-aid which might be fun. It seems like a waste to use it for that, though. Hmm I wonder if I could sell it on ebay?

Have you checked out the Dishcloth Boutique? There are a lot of good patterns here to try for summer knitting including a kitchen towel pattern.

I've been reading the book The Automatic Millionaire. I have no interest in being a millionaire, but I like to read personal finance books. The premise of this book is to have your investments taken automatically out of your paycheck or bank account and over time (along with other good money management techniques) you will be able to retire early. Most of the information in the book I've read in other books. It's a worthwhile read, but I wouldn't buy it--get it at the library.

I'm up to the armholes on Bellflower.


I'm happy with the way the lace pattern turned out, except it does curl a little bit on the bottom edge.

The stockinette stitch has gotten boring, but now that I'm on the armholes, at least I have to pay closer attention to what I'm doing.

The mistake in the scrubbie pattern has been fixed. You can view it at the same address

My little green scrubbie was a quick project, but I think there is an error in the instructions so I had to improvise. Here's what it looks like after binding off.



Then you sew together the cast on and bind off edges, it will be tube shaped.



Then on the open ends you pick up the slipped stitches and pull tight to close up the hole. Here you have a cute little scrubbie.



This is made with kitchen cotton, but I'd like to try it with nylon or something more durable for scrubbing. Tonight I will give it a try on the pots and pans.

I've made some good progress on my bellflower, but no pictures today.

My next fun little project is to make the dishcloth scrubbies from the pattern at Knitting is Fun. I think this will be part of the Christmas presents I'm going to make for my mom and sisters. To go along with it I'm going to make some soap. I love homemade soap!
Did you see the photos of the scrubbies at Super Eggplant?

Yesterday, I drove almost two hours to return a skein of yarn--and buy more of course, only to find the store closed. Apparently, they thought they should have Mother's Day off. So in desperation I went to Michael's and bought some Lion Brand microspun to make this Bellflower tank from Cast On Summer 1999.


I cast on last night and had to rip it out 3 times. The first round starts K2, yo, ssk and that ssk is a pain on the first row. I tried casting on size 6 needles then transferring the stitiches to my size 4 so my stitches would be looser, but that didn't help either. So, on my last attempt for the night, I just knit the first round and started the pattern on row 2. I'm on row 7 and the small change in the pattern isn't noticeable.

Chip says don't forget to stop and smell the roses--or tulips.

Yea! A knitting webring for dog lovers


Chip is happy to hear about it, in his own aloof way.

I finished the shawl a few days ago. I like the way it turned out, but when I look at myself in mirror I feel like I should have gray hair done up in a bun.


Right now I'm working on a baby blanket that I started during the tax season. It's a patchwork design from FCEK. Rather than making individual blocks I'm making strips that I will sew together when I'm done. This was supposed to be done for a baby shower last month, but instead I gave her a gift certificate since the blanket was far from finished. I haven't decided if I will still give her the blanket or just save it for another baby.



It looks kinda funny here, but I hope once it's sewn together and blocked it will be presentable.

I've posted a couple of crochet booklets on ebay.

I have two pattern repeats left to do on the shawl, hopefully I can get those done tonight. Then I'll just have to work the edging, and I'll be done!

Now, I'm starting to look through my patterns to see what I will do next. I like a vest that's in Cast On Summer 2004. I'm still trying to find a pattern for a cardigan sweater that I can use up 7 skeins of white Patons Paradiso.

I'm making good progress on my shawl from Cast On Spring 2004.


The shawl starts from the top, so I have a ways to go, I'm still on my first skein of Homespun. I've had a few problems with getting to the end of the row and having too many stitches, but I'm watching the pattern a little closer and I think I can prevent some of my goof-ups now. One night I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out what I had done wrong.