I made clothes!

I did it! I sewed my first item of clothing. No, not for me - but for a friend of mine's new baby girl.

I made this cute kimono!



I used this tutorial:

Simple Kimono Wrap (version 2)

It was the first time I've ever done a binding like this and I have to say it wasn't that bad!


I have this cool little bias binding maker thingy that I never used - but now I have! It was really a lot easier than I thought. You just cut your fabric into strips twice as wide as the desired end result - pop the strip into the bias maker and iron it flat as it comes out! And you end up with perfect bias strips!
Love it!




I think I may have to make some more!

Thank God it's Friday!

I can't tell you how happy I am it's the weekend! I had a rough week (or two). I spent the majority of last week sitting in the hospital with hubby. I wasn't sure I wanted to share this edition of John's illness until I knew he was better. It really shook me up.

Last Wednesday I had to take John to the ER for severe stomach cramping and vomiting. He ended up being admitted and getting a million tests done. At first they though he had a blocked or twisted bowel - which is quite serious, especially for a chemo patient. If it had been a twisted or blocked bowel, he would have needed emergency surgery. Receovery from surgery while undergoing chemo is tough to say the least.

Thankfully it wasn't a twisted bowel or a blockage, but just an infection of the small bowel. Two different antibiotic drips, two anti-nausea drips, two pain med drips, three CT scans, countless blood and urine tests and 5 days of hospital bed rest later, he was ok with the exception of a hernia that he developed from all the vomiting! Luckily as well - the doctors think this will go away on it's own since it is a fluid hernia and not a tissue hernia.

I hate hospitals by the way. I highly recommend you don't ever have to stay at one for a prolonged time. My back still hurts from sitting in the uncomfortable chairs! And don't get me started on hospital cafeteria food. I did get a lot of knitting done - which is a huge reason I was able to knit my Olympic Lady Sweater in record time!

I've been rather depressed this week seeing John in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it. Big thank yous to my friends for sending lots of love, emails and phone calls to keep me going. I couldn't do it with out you! I love you guys.



Happy Friday!

Show and Tell Thursday

I wanted to take some "proper" pictures of my Olympic Lady Sweater:



Stats:
Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Size: XL
Yarn: Louet Riverstone - that I kettle dyed
Needles: Addi lace size 9 US
Buttons: Purchased from Joann's
Alterations: I added some extra length to the body and made the sleeves a bit narrower

I just loved the simplicity and beauty of this pattern. I was able to knit it in 17 days after all! I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to knit a first sweater - it was very intiutive and easy to knit.

Gold!

I finished my Olympic Knitting!

May I present my February Lady Sweater:







I won! I started during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and finished tonight during the Closing ceremony.

MASH

Hi all! Sorry I've been MIA for a week or so - I was busy studying for the PMP exam. I took it yesterday morning and I passed! Woohoo!!

I am very excited and relieved - it was a very large study effort and now I'm happy to say that I am a certified Project manager.

Getting back to where I left off - I wanted to show you some pictures of Sarah and my trip Newport, RI.

About the titld - totally random reference...

Do you remember when we were little and we played the MASH game? Masion - Apartment - Shack - House? Well these people obviously did very well on that game...

This place should be called the land of mansions! I swear - everywhere you look there are amazing houses and HUGE mansions.

The first thing we did was walk along the water on the "Cliff Walk". This walk takes takes you along the shore line and gives you a grand view of all the mansions along the coast.






One of the grandest and largest mansions is The Breakers.



This is a massive mansion overlooking the sea.

Here are some additional views of the Cliff walk:









After walking along the sea side for a while, we headed to the front sides of the mansions for a different perspective. Here is The Breakers front gate.





Next door to The Breakers is Salve Regina University. Can you imagine going to school here with these mansions as your neighbors?



After the mansion tour, we took a drive around the island. More amazing homes and beach views were everywhere.






After a quick lunch, we went downtown for some shopping. The marina is so cute!







It was a great day trip and we were lucky to have great weather too. It threatened rain all day - but luckily held off. On the drive home - I made Sarah stop to look at these awesome lotus blossoms.







What an amazing day!



What - you came here for knitting?

OK!

Here's my progress on the February Lady Sweater - my olympic event!



I love it so far - I'm using the yarn I dyed with Sarah. I hope I can finish it before the Olympics are over!

More Rhode Island fun!

When I last left you - we were at Webs! After enjoying the sights at the land of yarn - we decided to dye some of our own! Stacey and Naomi joined us again and Sarah's sister Jeanine came along for the fun too!

We dyed ALOT of yarn! Sarah's backyard was the perfect location for our mini dye studio. She has buckets for soaking the fiber, every color dye you could ever want - and even set up a hot plate AND microwave!!

Just look at our setup!



Here's the loot at the end of the day - Naomi was the queen of the drying rack and set all of our yarn out just so:



We all dyed some great stuff - I'm very excited about the yarn I dyed for my Lady February sweater - it's the cranberry colored one hanging on the fence in the mosaic. I already swatched and got gauge and now I'm ready to cast on!! It will be my Ravelympics project :)

The next day we headed out for our second day at the beach. This time we stayed in Rhode Island and went to Salty Brine State beach. It was a gorgeous beach but very crowded with people as you can see!



Here we are enjoying the sun:




Later that night - Sarah and I went out for fried clams!!!! We went to Iggy's - which we heard was famous for their friend clams. We were definitley not dissappointed!



I got the "clam dinner" which came with clam strips, fries and clam showder. Yum! Unfortunately - I ate it before I remembered to take a picture. Oops!

After we ate - we walked around the beach in Oakland for a bit - it was so beautiful! It was around 7 pm so the beach was deserted - but it sure was pretty.







Since it was such a gorgeous spot - I had to take one of my favorite "at arm's length" pictures of us:



Believe it or not there is still more to come! Next time - I'll show you our tour of Newport!

Hi from vacation!!

Hi all! I'm writing from Sarah's house in Rhode Island! Believe it or not this is my 300th post! It's a big one too - so that's appropriate :)

I am going to try to catch up on all the amazing things I've been up to.

I drove up with Sarah on Thursday night. After getting stuck in some wicked traffic we finally got there around midnight. Friday we drove up to the Cape to go to the beach! I LOOOOOOOOVE Silver beach in Falmouth. It is just so awesome in every way. The water is warm and the beach has lots of shells and things to explore. Sarah and her mom and I sat on the beach, knit and swam all day - it was heaven.





Part of me wished I could be a kid again and collect crabs, minnows and other sea life from the rocks!



After the beach - we went back to Sarah's parents house and sat outside in the backyard:


Isn't it just heavely?

Sarah got us lobsters!


and The Murph and I played ball



Saturday - I got to see Stacey and her sister Naomi and finally met her doggies!



I got to see her HUGE batch of agility trial ribbons


and her newly finshed Phyllo pullover! Go to Stacey's blog to see the pics we took at Sarah's!


After picking up Stacey and Naomi we headed for the Knitting Mecca - WEBS!!! We ate a yummy (if slow) lunch at The Northampton Brewery


Drank some Freaky dog


and then headed for the shop.

Oh My God. There are no words to describe the massive size and selection of this place!

There is a huge shop in front:



and I got to see one of my favorite yoke sweater designs in person:



and then in the back - there is a warehouse stuffed FULL of discounted yarn!



row after row of yarn and cones! What could be better! I got a bunch of cool stuff - pictures later!

Here we are after our shopping - with bags full of goodies...



Did you know there is also a bead store there?




Oh and the highlight of my trip so far?!

Sarah made me a quilt!!


On the way to The Cape, she told me we were going to pick up something for her mom. So we drive like half an hour in the wrong direction and when we get there - I tell her I'll just wait in the car. Why should I go in I think? She goes to the front door and calls out for me to come in, she says the lady needs a minute to get the stuff ready. So I go in and Sarah says - surprise - this is my secret project! I made you a quilt!

I was so surprised!! I love the quilt and she had it machined quilted for me! That is why we had to go pick it up at this woman's house. I love Sarah!!

There is so much more to tell you - but this post is already way too long. So next time there will be more photos of the quilt, pics of our day of dyeing yarn and more beachy photos and who knows what else.

Hope everyone is having a great week!