KnittingNutter

Happy 4th of July to all my American knitting friends.

We're back from our first long weekend at the cabin and it was glorious! The weather was beautiful. We spent time on the lake, we walked in the forest and I had a relaxing time knitting on the porch.

Before I show you my progress, I have a winner to choose. Thanks to all that entered the coffee versus tea contest. You gave me lots of chuckles. In my not so scientific study and with a small sample size, I would say knitters are leaning towards coffee, more than tea.

I have picked an impartial judge for selecting the winner in the shape of my husband. Drum roll please... And the winner is: Rhoda of Left-handed Knitting in a World of Right-handers (I love that blog name, especially as I'm a lefty myself).

With the contest over, I have a couple of new buttons to announce. First, Kathleen of Quail Hill Knits awarded me one of her "Rockin' Girl Bloggers". Thanks Kathleen, I'm honoured and my blog is proudly wearing the button.

I've also added the Shawl KAL Summer 2007 button to the blog. The button was created by Liz of Knitting Pretty for the group organized by Carrie of the Barefoot Cobbler. Very pretty Liz.

Finally onto some knitting projects, starting with the finished cardigan for my daughter who turns 4 tomorrow:

It's a Dale pattern and the yarn, Knit Picks Andean Silk in Cornflower.

And the hiking socks for hubby. Thanks to all of you that sent me your advice - the result: a basic 2x2 rib sock.

Nearly done. Once finished, I can get back to the shawl - my fingers are itching to get back to this addictive knit.

Phew! I'm, all partied out. The only thing keeping me going now is the sugar high I'm on. If it wasn't for that I think I'd be curled up in a little heap, fast asleep. We had my daughter's 4th birthday party in our back yard yesterday afternoon.

Can you tell she loves Dora?

And today, was her friend's birthday party. Her parents are very clever - they had a gymnastics party - lots of fun and it exhausted the kids.

In knitting news, I've finished the socks for hubby's birthday. Thick hiking socks were on the menu and, thanks to many of your advice, I made simple 2x2 rib socks. They turned out pretty good, I have to say.

And, I've stolen a few hours to continue on my shawl. I love this pattern. YarnHarlot, if you are out there and reading this, I adore your pattern. It's fun and keeps me on my toes.

Now I'm off to report my progress to The Barefoot Cobbler - our Shawl KAL Summer 2007 leader...

We're off to see the cabin. The wonderful house by the lake! (Set to the tune of "We're off to see the wizard")... Sorry, too giddy for a Wednesday...

It's waiting for us and we're off tomorrow morning. It's blistering hot and will get warmer this weekend, so I'm taking the lace shawl with me to knit in the shade of the porch and lots of patterns. It's time to start planning for Fall birthdays - my mum and niece, among them.

Thanks to Becky C and Helen (of Troy) I have some great direction for the poncho my mom is requesting. As goes for my niece, she wants a pink cardigan. So, if you've seen any cute patterns for 3 year old cardigans, please throw them my way.

I love it when you've finished off projects and can get stuck into some new ones. That's exactly what I did up at the cabin last weekend. Surrounded by books of patterns and designs, I got started.

But first, my shawl progress. I had a bit of a set back last night - had to frog four rows, but I frogged it and then knit the four rows again before I went to sleep. Today, it's like nothing ever happened - just a bad dream:

Now, onto the really fun stuff. I've been deliberating over the poncho for my mum and have decided to make her a rectangular shawl with button holes down the front to make a poncho. Sort of like this:

I'm going to do double-ended button holes, so that she can opt out of the buttons or include them at her own whim.

As for patterns, I'm going to knit this border along the top of the shawl:

And this pattern for the rest of the shawl:

As goes for yarn, I've ordered KnitPicks Worsted Weight yarn called Wool of the Andes in Evergreen. With leaves on it, the shawl just had to be green.

And as I was in the mood for shopping, I also ordered Merino Style pink yarn from KnitPicks for my niece's cardigan. I picked this pattern:

It's from the pattern book: Patons Classics, Indigo Days

And for little ol' me - yarn for a simple Norwegian sweater in KnitPick's Sport Weight Yarn called Telemark. Instead of the browns and reads, I'm going with blues and whites.

The pattern book is Look to Norway by Sandnes Uldvarefabrik - oh yeah, the real stuff!

I'm sitting in knitting limbo. The yarn from KnitPicks for my next three project has not arrived as yet - I always blame Canada Post, because the good people at KnitPicks literally dispatch my order within one day and then it takes about 10 days to arrive! What's with that?! They're just across the border from me in Washington State - I'm in BC.

My shawl is nearly done, and it's dragging out - knitting hundreds of stitches in a row takes time. I don't think I've ever had that many stitches cast on before. I'll post once I'm finished - 7 rows to go!

What if I finish the shawl before the new yarn arrives? Horror! No knitting?

I came home yesterday from a very long day at work to see the most beautiful soft package. The yarn has arrived! And in good time too - the shawl is so close to being finished - I just have the cast-off left to do. Phew!

We're off to the cabin for 10 days, so I'll be taking my new projects on the road. I'll hopefully come back with a slew of show and tell.