Fireworks from the 4th of July

These were the best 12 pics out of 45. Thank goodness for digital cameras, huh? I didn’t use a tripod, but I did shoot at a really low speed and just tried to time the shots correctly. Next year there will be a remote release and I’ll use my tripod for some cool shots! The last few pics were towards the end, see the smoke? It was cool because you could smell the black powder.

We almost didn’t get to see the fireworks though due to a late evening thunderstorm with strong winds, lighting and thunder. While we were eating a late dinner, it started blasting the restaurant. Luckily it stopped and we had a great time with some new friends!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy 4th! See ya next week with some more knitting!

PS: Happy Birthday Mom and Aunt Carolyn!!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you and your family have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

I know you all (well most of you) already know just how cool Ravelry is, but have you seen the new and improved Friend Activity tab? This thing is lethal! I think my favorites and queue grew exponentially over the last two days. Now I can see more of what you guys are queuing, favoriting, and stashing! *queue wicked laugh here*

So it’s Thursday, the day before the 4th. My question: how many of you took the day off of work to make this a four day weekend? I almost did, but I decided to wait and take a whole week off when Caveman has his vacation in a couple of weeks. The master bed/bath remodel will commence then. We are getting excited about it, but also nervous too. I think we are going to go shopping this weekend and see if we can’t score a few deals on flooring, lighting, & fans, etc. That’s always to fun part. Hum, shopping. LOL Next will be the packing of our clothes and the few things we have left in that room. We are chanting the, “It will be wonderful when it’s over” mantra right now.

In knitting news, the Salsa Sizzle has been frogged three times. All I can say is the yarn is holding up really well! LOL I’m just not trusting that I will fit into the size 35″, but I do! I cast-on for a between 35″ and 38″ worked the picot hem and am decreasing on the sides to get down to the size 35″ before I start the front and back darts. From that point I’m going to follow the pattern for a while! LOL

I haven’t touched Caveman’s socks again this week but I did get started on the Casablanca stole. It is going to be so pretty!

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday! Happy Knitting!

Well I’ve sat here to 5 mins now trying to come up with something to write. There are a loads of thoughts running through my mind, but nothing of major interest to share with you.

I guess the most prominent thought right now - Caveman’s classes will be finished up later tonight!! Woo-Hoo! At this point he only has one test left in each of his two classes. If he didn’t take either one (like that will happen!), he’d still get a B, so the pressure is definitely off.

I can’t wait to have a couple days off later this week. Next week is going to be rough, but this week I’m taking full advantage of the holiday! Hopefully we will meet a couple of Caveman’s co-workers Friday night to watch the fireworks. I love watching the fireworks display every year.

The 4th of July has always been a special holiday in my family ’cause it marks the beginning of the birthday month. I’ll be hitting the big 33 next Wednesday! Ugh! I’m seriously trying to embrace getting older and I have definitely grown alot during my 3 years of being 30-something. I guess I’m taking it kinda rough though ’cause I haven’t done everything I wanted to do by this point in my life. But who really does everything they wanted to by a certain age? I don’t think Life ever turns out exactly like you want or expect or dream that it will. Moving on…

Caveman & I were talking last night (and despite my melodrama today LOL) this year, but mostly this summer have turned out to be the best yet! It seems like good things happen to me in 5’s, 7’s or 9’s. I was born on 7/9/75 (in case you didn’t do the math earlier - ) and this August will be our 5th anniversary :D! Even with the uncertainty of our job status in October, we are enjoying every moment of our great summer now.

The yarn cakes up top are (starting at the top-left and moving clockwise) Knit Picks Shadow in Redwood Forest, Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Sunlight, Moss, and Autumn. There are two more Moss that were wound after this picture was taken. The Redwood Forest along with the auburn beads is becoming the Casablanca Stole (Ravelry link) and the Sunlight with the cream beads is destined for the Slow Bee Mystery Stole II (Ravelry link) . The Auburn Alpaca Cloud will become an Ice Queen (Ravelry link) or two with the left over auburn beads and I really don’t have any idea what the Moss Alpaca Cloud will be yet. Here’s a link to my yarn swift from yesterday too.

See I told you just loads of randomness! LOL

Sorry for the radio silence lately, but the job is just demanding too much of my time these days! I had a few posts all lined up, on Thursday I was going to show the huge Salsa Sizzle and how I had to frog it. I thought I started with a smaller size, but I actually used the same size I originally knit for the Golden Sizzle. Once I re-ran the numbers I cast on for a smaller size. I plan to try it on in a bit, cause I don’t want to get too far along just to frog again.

Speaking of the Golden Sizzle, I tried it on a few more times and just decided it was too big. I obviously didn’t take into account that the rayon was going to stretch, so it was unnecessary that I made it longer and the arm holes were just too wide. To make a long story short I gifted it to my aunt! She’s happy and so am I because it looks great on her, just like Sizzle should! She’s here and in Nashville this week for the holiday,, so maybe I can talk her into photos later this week.

Here’s what the Salsa Sizzle looked like earlier this morning. I decided not to split the sides this time, so it’s fully in the round but still has the picot hem.

And because it seems today is WIP Monday, here’s the latest shot of the Grey Socks for hubby.

I love these! Plus they fit him great so far! Maybe later this week I can show you some stash enhancement! It just has to get here first and then I have to find time to photograph it!

I hope everyone has a great holiday week! Stay cool and be safe!

This is the start of my Salsa Sizzle. I decided on a picot hem and I plan on doing a picot trim around the top neckline and armholes too. I’m using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Terracotta for this one.

These are the socks I started a couple of months ago for Caveman. After I completed the short-row I just couldn’t decide on a pattern I liked. I finally just made one up. It’s a combination of ribbing and small cables. I plan on doing a short-row heel again, but I may have to rethink that - I just won’t know until I get there.

Hope you guys have a great week!

After he was relieved of his photographer duties, Caveman decided to check out the local ads. This bulletin board has been here for as long as I can remember. We would sometimes check it on our way home, after we picked up the mail from the Post Office next door.

This was my back drop for the Sizzle photo shoot. Thank goodness it was Sunday night and there weren’t that many people out. Of the people that were out, we were getting some pretty odd looks.

Title is my personal spin on my new version of the SOUP!!

Seriously, Thank you all for waiting so patiently (like you had a choice in the matter! LOL). At long last, I can present a finished Sizzle! I almost didn’t get the photos this evening because it started pouring just before we left our house, but when we got to our quaint destination the rain hadn’t gotten to us yet and the sun was still shining! WooHoo!

I love this top!! I’ve wanted to make it forever, ok since I started knitting! Wendy is a great designer and I’ve admired her patterns - again forevah!

Pattern: Sizzle (Ravelry)
Yarn: Rayon Blend I nabbed on eBay!
Needles: Size 6 - Knit Picks Options. I had to go down a needle size to get gauge, so that brings me to the size…
Size: 38″, more on this in a minute.
Mods: I couple, but only because I can’t read! LOL I left off one decrease and one increase because I didn’t do the original increase after the cast-on. (Are you lost yet?) Then I added 12 rows between the increases and decreases for some length. I also went with *my* measurement on when to separate the two fronts and later when to separate the sleeves. I was sort of wondering what size to make, although I knew that I wasn’t a size 38″ but I didn’t want it to be too tight either. Enter rayon yarn in a smaller gauge. There’s really no chance of this top being too tight. It’s swingy and more tunic length than I originally planned, but it’s so cool!

I also discussed with Marjorie that the front of the armholes were gaping open. Luckily a good soak and a little blocking have fixed this issue. The only thing I don’t like is the rayon on yarn wrinkles very easily.

But I’m sure you’re all wondering, would I make it again? You bet - in fact I’ve already cast-on for another in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (that I actually had in the stash!) and I’m doing quite a few mods to it. More details on that to come though….

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We went to the Secret City festival and the Lavender Festival, but I was really disappointed that the new LYS didn’t have more stock available. Oh well maybe next year.

And just because I know you all will get a kick out of these, here’s the link to the outtakes collage.

Have a great week!

So I wasn’t planning on getting a new phone, but there was this sale and we just happened to be driving by, and the car just sort-of pulled into the parking lot, … LOL Anyway, I wound up getting a new phone this weekend and I love it! It’s the LG Chocolate.

It’s red (dark red), it slides open, has a touch dial/screen and will hold loads of music! Plus I can hear better on it and everyone else says I sound better too!

I decide to bake some bread yesterday. I used the same recipe as before, but I let it rise longer and didn’t knead it as much this time. Caveman loves this stuff.

And they don’t call this a knitting blog for nothing!

Sizzle - Although I had hoped to be finished and wearing this sweater by now, it’s still in progress. Turns out picking up stitches takes me a really long time! LOL I already knew that….

You can see the subtle shaping of the darts, I say subtle because in this yarn they just aren’t that noticeable. I need to finish up the arm holes and weave in the ends! I’ve got another busy week ahead (I said month before right?) so I hope to have modeled FO shots this weekend. Ok maybe sooner!

Also Thanks for all the get well wishes this past week, I really appreciated it. I was feeling better late Friday evening so Caveman and I went for a walk. I really think it was just allergies, they’ve been terrible this year!

So if you haven’t found the Nester yet, then you are truly missing out! She is the creator of the Window Mistreatments (I’ll be implementing those after the remodel!) and today she’s started a another new trend - It doesn’t have to be perfect to be Beautiful! So in the spirit of keepin’ it real I present a mosaic of my living/dining/kitchen rooms.

The bookcase is crammed full of books from our flight out of the Master Bedroom, in the next two pictures there is junk everywhere. The kitchen picture highlights the stuff on my kitchen counters (I’m in the process of changing from my super cool knitting bag/purse to a more manageable summer purse), in the dining room there are pants hanging on the chair (mine) and a light jacket I keep handy for breakfast with the dogs, plus papers all over the dining room table.  So there you have it, my crazy keepin’ it real life! It’s not perfect but we like it!