Let's put it to a vote

I finished my Thermis neckwarmer, but haven't blocked it yet (I was waiting for our water to not be brown anymore and that will be today!).

I'm having trouble deciding which buttons to use. So, we're putting it to a vote. Please let me know in the comments which ones you like. Majority rules and those will be the ones I use! If you don't like putting comments here, I'll put a thread on the Ravelry page too.

Red, wooden buttons:






Green, square buttons:

Silver buttons:

Brown, wooden buttons:

Thanks for helping!

Two knitting fiascos to fix

When I was making my car seat blanket, I hit a snag. I knit the pattern eight rows too far! I knitted the eyelet pattern instead of just straight knitting and purling to make the border. I really didn't want to rip out and knit eight rows again, so I decided to try to go back and take out just the eyelet pattern (which takes place over 6 of the 8 rows), like dropped stitches, and pick them up as knits....

Here are the eyelets that shouldn't be....



I carefully dropped all five stitches involved and put them on a spare DP....



Then I picked them up one by one with a crochet hook, and brought them up the ladders...



Ta-da!...

I did that about 6 times all the way across the blanket and I'm pretty sure it saved me time. You can't even tell in the finished/blocked product!



Also, what is wrong with this picture?....


...I welded the new ball to the tail! Luckily, a very quick fix. But still.... der.


Customer Show and Tell:

Kathy in her gorgeous February Lady Sweater made with Cascade 220 Heathers:




Mary Jo's adorable baby hats made with assorted yarns:

It's gonna be a long one....

...just warning you. I have a lot to say today.

What's happening at home?

We grilled burgers and look what came up on the toasted bun:

Doesn't it look just like the Honda symbol?

And....

This is evidence of Mandy's i.v. She has pancreatitis! And had to be in the hospital overnight! And now has PRESCRIPTION dog food! Ugh.

And... we have brown water. Called the well guy, who told us to call the water filtration system guy who said we need a filtration system. Ugh.

Please, please, please don't let me have a dental emergency! (root canals, crowns, fillings -- you never know with me.)

What's on and off my needles?
I finished my cousin's car seat blanket that I started on vacation:

She is due next month so I better mail it soon! This is from a pattern in Creative Knitting's May issue and I made it with Encore Colorspun. Fairly simple pattern (although the crochet around the edge seemed a little endless) and it's very cute!

My Citron shawl that I also started on vacation with vacation yarn (String Theory sock yarn - with cashmere. mmmmmmmm.... cashmere.)

My Thermis, made with Debbie Bliss Fez (can't say enough about this yarn - I love it!), for an upcoming class in the fall:

This will be a great class for beginners and more experienced knitters alike! I'm coming up with an interesting class format to cater to both of you...

Started the Mythos pattern for the August knit-a-long:

What? You don't know about the August knit-a-long? For the month of August, we're (whoever wants to) going to knit this:

On Sundays, starting at noon, we'll get together to problem solve and show our progress. Pretty informal, but I thought it would be a fun way to work on a project. Ok, I know you are asking why I'm starting it already and that's so I can be of help to those who decide they want to do this. I know that Jana is going to participate....anyone else? Starts August 1st, which happens to be a Sunday! I'll be posting a thread on Ravelry too.

So, the picture above is my swatch, which they recommend you make by starting the project (which starts with the sleeve) then slip the stitches onto waste yarn to block (which I did). I think I may have to go up a needle size since my row gauge is off (the row gauge apparently counts in this, which is not typically the case!).

What's going on at the shop?
Preparations are in full swing for the Altamont Fair. Jaye Nakamura from Mountain Treddlers Spinning and Weaving Guild organizes the Wool Nook at the fair and she was at yesterday's knit-in to give everyone the low-down on how to enter their knitted/crocheted/spun/woven items into the fair. I've got entry forms here at the shop if you'd like to stop in to get one. You can also go to http://www.altamontfair.com/ to download one. Forms need to be submitted by 7/31 if mailing them in or by 8/7 if applying online.

What is off YOUR needles?:

Jana's very adorable Baby Albert Bunting from the Knit Stitch book, made with Jeanee:

Yvette's shawl (made by Wilna) which she will wear at her son's wedding, now blocked:

So pretty!

Nancy's drop stitch scarf made with Fantasy Naturale:

And her very cute washcloth set, made for a baby out in California:

Ann's wonderful double knit scarf, made for her brother:

Jean's felted clogs made for her grandson, with Lamb's Pride Worsted:

Karen's nesting felted bowls, made with Lamb's Pride:

Wouldn't these be great gifts???? Karen is going to teach a class in how to make these in the fall!

This is Liz in her peasant shawl made from her own handspun yarn!:

And this is her Aeolian Shawl made with laceweight yarn:

Liz is from Peace, Love, Yarn and is the one who dyed the lovely yarns in the basket that is on the table in the shop!

Told you it was going to be long!

Vacation!

So, we went on vacation to Maine! We had beautiful weather and saw some beautiful sights. We didn't love where we stayed but that's what you get for renting a cottage on the internet. Live and learn. On the 10 hour ride there I worked on my Tudor Henley with Rowan Felted Tweed:


And Mandy did this:

When we turned off the main road to go to the cottage we had this road:

(paved)

...which turned into this road:

(dirt)

....and had TONS of these:

(potholes/craters/ravines...any of these would apply). Enough said about where we stayed.

We went to Bar Harbor:

And had some yummy seafood and blueberry soda:

and of course:

...homemade ice cream and chocolates!

At low tide we walked across the sand bar to this island (it's gone during high tide -- the sand bar, not the island):

We went to Acadia National Park and up Cadillac Mountain:

(That's Bar Harbor in the background....waaaaaaay down there.)

And here are Paul's white knuckles on the drive up the mountain:

The road is sometimes very close to the edge and it felt like we were going to fall (neither of us is fond of heights so this could be a slight exaggeration ).

We also went to Schoodic Point and saw all the beautiful rocks and crashing waves:

(sorry, no crashing waves in this pic)

And what would a trip be without yarn shops?

We went to Shirley's Yarns & Crafts:

She had A LOT of yarn. For some reason, before and after we went, I kept referring to it as "Sheila's".

We also went to String Theory:

They have some commercial yarns but mostly focus on their own dyed yarns. I purchased some of their wool/cashmere/nylon blend sock yarn to knit my Citron with. More on that later (I've changed yarns three times for that project).

And finally, we went to The Lilac Lily yarn shop:

A very nice shop! I'll post pics of my purchases later....

All in all, a nice trip - Maine is just beautiful!