Let the Holiday Knitting Begin!!!!

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture, but the regular camera is being cranky.

I Like to Make Things: the Project Linus Blanket

Project Linus Blanket Pattern

I LOVED this project! Sam's sister wanted something to give a co-worker as a baby shower gift, and asked if i would knit something. This pattern came to mind immediately, having seen it in the book Knitting for Peace. Mom-to-be was described to me as "kind of a hippy...and a vegan." So i wanted to keep that in mind choosing a yarn, plus the fact that it is for a baby. Babies that poop, pee, puke, and spit on most everything. So a machine washable yarn it had to be!
Knit Picks to the rescue!!! I went with their Simply Cotton in the worsted weight. I thought this would be a good choice because, yes, it was machine washable, and organic with no dyes used. The yarn knit up soft and squishy, perfect for a baby blanket! I'd heard that some folks had problems with the yarn splitting, but i didn't. Not even with my extra pointy metal needles.
The only problem i had with the pattern was swatching. I couldn't seem to get the lace sequence to come out right. I was working with the pattern out of the Knitting for Peace book, but the link (above) from the Project Linus website explained that it is worked over multiples of eleven plus one. Mystery solved! It's an impressive looking result that is EASY!
One of my favorite knitting projects to date.

the continuing saga of the bathroom

I don't think either Sam nor i ever thought it would take as long as it has to actually re-do things in the house as it has. (did that sentence make any sense? i haven't had enough coffee.)
So back in March Sam started to tear down the wallpaper.



Behind the mirror there was a different square of wallpaper. We both agreed that if this was the paper in the whole bathroom we would have left it.



This past weekend was the grout work. After a first failed attemp at mixing the grout things went well and i think it looks great.



On to painting next!!! Picking the color was MUCH easier than i thought it would be, Sam had his heart set on painting it orange. At first i thought some of the colors he liked were too bright and would look too heavy at the top of the wall. I wanted the tone/hue/value????? (i'm forgetting color theory right now....like i said, not enough coffee). We went with Sherwin Williams Orange Blast. Who knows when we'll actually get around to painting.

Toad in the Hole

Second only to sleeping in, the best part of the weekend is a good greasy breakfast. I decided to tweak things a bit and made 'Toad in the Hole'. Someone (Jimmy D) mentioned that this is also called Bird in a Nest, which makes more sense, but i like the toad thing better. All you need is bread, butter and an egg.







MMMMMM...what more could you want? The correct answer to that question is, of course, bacon...which was on the table, but not pictured here.

Hi...remember me?

Poor blog...i spend so much time tweeting, facebooking and Ravelring(?) that The Bunker gets ignored. I promise to try to change that. So...lets take look around the back yard shall we?
I won't mention the vegetable garden...once again not much luck, so on to te flowers.

The clematis was out of control. It was just a huge mass of tangled dried stems. So back in early April i hacked it down.



Sam was a little worried that it wouldn't have as many flowers....

Two months later....


and this is NOTHING compared to how many flowers are there now!

When we first moved into the Bunker these two sad little lilies popped up. The pink one was so wobbly we had to prop it up....


Well, two years later, we may be in danger of being over run.


It's hard to see in the photo, but the count was 19 flowers on the pink plant and 10 on the white!

First Signs of Spring

No Socks.....



and even better than that...the daffys are coming up!



i know, we haven't seen the last of winter....but just enjoy!

I've been knitting, really I have!

It's the beginning of the gifting season, and once again i'll be trying to make some things.

Thanks to "Knitting on the Edge" by Nicky Epstein, i've learned to make these cool corkscrews!



This was just a test, but they will appear in a future X-mas gift! They are really easy, but make sure you cast on with two needles and keep that tension LOOSE! Otherwise your fingers will hate you!

I spent some of the money I got for my birthday back in October on more yarn to make into gifts! Yummy stuff....

Knit Picks Comfy in Lilac Mist...soft with a little shine!



This is all for one project....
Knit Picks Cadena-Peat
Knit Picks Telemark-Cream
Louet Gems-Crabapple



And finally......Fatty by Dream in Color



the project i have in mind for this yarn is so cute and simple and this yarn is soooo pretty...i think that after the holidays i may be purchasing a few more skeins in different colors and making a couple for myself!