Actual Knitting!

Don't faint! I know it's been a while - but I actually have knitting to show you!

I dyed this yarn with Sarah two summers ago and I knit the socks in February, but I'm just getting around to showing you now:

These are just plain jane socks - basic top down and comfy.



Stats:
Pattern: Basic top down sock
Yarn: Hand dyed Louet base yarn
Needles: size US 2


I am still not sure if I will get to keep these - my mom had her eyes on them the last time she was over!




But she doesn't have cutes shoes to show them off!!

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!

Beast... and the Beauty!

I ordered some yarn online and I thought it would be fabulous! Unfortunately when I got it - it looked like this:



You could say - Kermit threw up on it and I wouldn't be insulted! Something had to be done.

So - enter my pal Erin and a wonderful night at her studio and you get this!




I had so much fun! A couple other friends were over for wine and conversation while I took up my post at the dye pot...



It was so much fun to see the color change from Kermit ick to beauty!

Here's my sample that I used to make sure I had the right concoction...

I'm cooking yarn spagetti!



(This pic brings a whole new meaning to "yummy yarn!")

Anyway - after it cooled off...



I went home with a fabulous new Box - o yarn!



Just in time for St Patty's Day too!

Just in case you didn't notice the full impact of the before and after - here's a pic to highlight just how much it changed...



Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!

Cape Cod Part I

I had the best weekend! I went to visit Sarah in Cape Cod - Falmouth to be specific. Her parent's place is so cute! I loved it!


Here were my hosts:

The Murph:


and Morgan and Caleb


Oh yeah - Sarah was there too!

I was up there Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and left Sunday. We did so many awesome things - I think the only way I'll be able to fit it all in is to post about one day at a time!

Well - you get one and a half days today...

I arrived Thursday around 5 and was greeted at the airport by Sarah and Stacey! How awesome is that - I got to see Stacey again!

We went out for dinner and had lobster rolls.... mmmmm!!! So good. Unfortunately Stacey couldn't stay long - so we soon headed back to Sarah's place - via a short tour of Providence RI.

All the houses on the Cape are so adorable! I love the wooden shingles and painted trim. They all have the most beautiful manicured lawns too. For example... how cute is her house?!



The back yard was just as great as the front...



I didn't get to meet her parents - but they are gardening masters! They have all kinds of gorgeous flowers everywhere ...



And her dad keeps an extensive Bonsai garden. This is only HALF of his collection...



We got to spend the entire day on Friday in her backyard dying in the sunshine.


Sarah ordered us some Louet yarn and Jaquard dyes. It was so nice to dye quality yarn! There's nothing wrong with Knit Picks - but let me tell you... there is definitely a difference!! Once you dye with Louet - you can never go back!

We ordered double skeins thinking we'd just divide them before we started dying. Then we thought about it for a second... we don't call each other "knitting twins" for no reason... we always seems to love the same colors. So - why not dye the double skeins and then divide them up later? Brilliant!

We loved each other's creations of course. Here are some of our colors:













After our day of dying - Sarah took me out for Clam strips - yum!! I've never had such amazing clams.

Tomorrow.... we travel to Provincetown! Stay tuned!!