New Years On the Brain....

Well, we are on our way to Christmas. And while there are many a knitting project for me to finish, I have been finding myself searching with an idea for a specific pattern on Ravelry and coming up with nothing like it in the results. And if I am lucky to find something even close to resembling what I want to knit, it end up changing it with a bunch of modifications.

I have been making up my own patterns and keeping them to myself for awhile now. Hats seem to be my go-to for the past 6 months or so. They work up fast and I can always hand them out. I seem to like your basic, everyday slouch, but with twists. The Boys usually end up with one on the way out to the bus stop. I would love to knit and sell, but do not have the time to do so. Plus, the colors of yarn are harder to find when someone wants something particular. 

I find myself dreaming up new patterns to make and then revising them in my head over and over during the day. Now that Fall is nearing its end and Winter is coming up, I find a few of my favorite things coming in flurries of thought. Snowflakes, snowmen, pine trees, and stars seem to be the starring roles for the knitwear in my dreams on my loved ones and friends. It may sound silly and all, but I feel that this is happening for a reason. However, these dreams may be because I literally curl up with my knitting next to my pillow.... My husband has gotten poked by my knitting if it rolls during the night. He's such an awesome sport with all of my yarn. He just gets me. 

Even when I find myself awake, I am constantly seeing cables and charts everywhere I go. I may even be counting the stitches on your sweater as I walk with you. Not even joking on that one. 

Especially, while hiking or standing outside. I took these photos on my phone while hiking with my son's Cub Scout group a couple of weeks ago. I keep staring at them and thinking of the different patterns held within. 

Here are some more photos I took of past projects over at our uncle's house on Thanksgiving.

The Butterscotch-colored hat is the Arosa Slouchy Lace Hat by Kristin Jones. 

 This is a Knit Night Hat, by Judy Marples, that I knit about a year ago.

This is the beginning of a Gingerbread Hat, by Angela Whisnant, for Jake. 

Kind of crazy that knitting for me started as a New Year's resolution for 2014. Now that I've been knitting for around two years non-stop, I find myself wondering if I should start designing knitting patterns. I hope to start publishing some of my patterns one day. Something has been telling me to go for it, but I am always hesitant because my pattern might look too similar to something someone else has made out there. Even if it is something I made up and took care to test out myself.

What gifts are you up to making for Christmas?
Anything fun and interesting?
These gifts do not have to be made of yarn....

I feel like we all need a bit of whimsy and fun knit back into our lives now and again.

WAKH KAL (We All Knit Here Knit-A-Long)

Last week, I started my first KAL (Knit-A-Long) with a hat pattern from We All Knit Here.
The hat pattern is called the "Arosa Slouchy Lace Hat". There was a voting process and this hat pattern won. I voted for it myself. The WAKH KAL started on last Monday and ended this past Sunday. This KAL lasted seven days; which was perfect for this KAL with the super bulky yarn, large knitting needles, and a spare fifteen minutes each day. I overachieved and finished my Arosa / Buttercup on Thursday night; and started another on Sunday night and finished up the next morning. The second one is a gift to be mailed off to a family member.

If you are looking to learn to knit or even already know how, check out her facebook group named "We All Knit Here". She has created an amazing community there as a closed group for those who want to learn as a hobby, for fun, or as a form of therapy. She has videos on youtube with very simple (and S-L-O-W) directions for newbies. It's almost like learning to knit from an old, dear friend. I highly recommend checking out her page. I found Kristin's blog on the first of August. She has pulled a bunch of "Lone Knitters" together with this community. I say "Lone Knitters" because there are those of us that are not always able to connect with a LYS (Local Yarn Shop) during their hours due to work, kids, or busyness. I absolutely adore this little community she has put together. She's super easy to understand and helpful if you are having problems with any knitting project.

Here are the photos I took of my KAL project:

Lion Brand Quick & Thick Butterscotch

Here are the stages in which the first three days went along. 

This is Barnaby, my Little Black Sheep modeling with my hat.

(He's a tape measure from Lantern Moon and one of my favorite knitting accessories)

Thank you, Kristin for putting this WAKH KAL on and creating an awesome online community!!!!

Hope everyone has a good night!!!!

Pre-July 4th Celebrations!!!!

We had a phenomenal weekend and I decided to document it and make this my first ever post.
Do not know why, but I have had a bit of the writer's block as I like to tell my stories through photos usually. This blog will be about whatever strikes my fancy as the type under my blog name says. I love to spend time with my family, knit, and crochet. I am a newbie Catholic and love our Church. We are very happy to have found a home there to become closer to God.
Well, without further ado, here is our weekend....

Thursday night we went to Chili's. They now have these little touch screen displays that you can play games on for $1.99.  We ended up playing Trivia and Life that night. We thought that game of LIFE was never going to end!!!! Our game scores are as you can see above. Bob was Jacob, Mary was Tyler, I was Rachel, and Chris was John. Food was delicious as always and so was my Watermelon margarita!!!! :)

Friday morning, we headed out to Nantasket Beach for the day with Dunkin's in hand!!!! 

Here are a few photos from the day of fun we had. 

Here I am in my (day before) Fourth of July glory, lol. 

This young man with his cheeks stuffed to the max with Munchkins is my oldest, Ty, 

aka My Mini-Me. 

He always makes me laugh. 

This little chap avoiding the camera is my youngest, Jake, 

aka Chris's Mini-Me. 

He might have had one too many photos taken growing up. :)

A quick photo of Chris and I. 

Notice how he is driving, so that I can play with my yarn in the passenger seat. :)

Here is my latest project, almost off the needles. 

The pattern name is Albatross from Melissa Schaschwary. 

I found the pattern, for free, on Ravelry.com. 

This will be my first completed knit sweater, once I knit the sleeves. 

I did try it on at the beach and got a few looks from the fellow beach-goers.

IT FITS!!!! :) 

  

This is the front of Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA. 

The parking is $10 per car. 

The guys trying to find a spot, while enjoying the view of the water. 

We ended up going much further down the beach to find rocks to sit on. 

The tide was coming in at this point and the water usually comes all the way up to the rocks at the bottom of the wall their leaning on. 

There were jellyfish everywhere!!!! P.S. If you stepped on the tops of them and screamed like a girl you were joining the majority of the crowd, lol. They were all over in the water. You usually do not see them as much at this beach. Chris and I went to Tybee Island in May a few years back and there were thousands of them as it was mating season. I wonder if the water temperature had something to do with all of the jellyfish we saw at Nantasket that day. 

I found this little starfish stranded on the beach with his fifth arm barely hanging on. 

We took a few photos and then placed him back into the water. 

Well, that was the end of the majority of the photos we took that day. 

We ended up spending about 9 hours or so at our favorite beach. 

I will add yesterday's post later on with all of the photos we took at Willows Arcade in Salem, MA.

Have a good, restful Sunday!!!! :)