Before you throw something at me...

I have FOs! I swear! Summers are so freakin' busy around here, with DH being home from school and trying to cram as much as possible into the days before he has to leave us and go back. Hurricane Ella and I spent 10 days down in Florida (before Hurricane Ernesto hit - I think Ella did more damage to my parents' house than Ernesto did!) and then were down the shore for 4 days for Labor Day. But now we're back, football season has started, which means I go back into football widowhood (those ladies out there with football fans got nuthin' on me! DH is a coach, so football season starts in early August and continues through November, with games, practices, scrimmages, scouting, etc. Little cards with plays sketched on them, breaking down videos at all hours, watching coaching DVDs, grass-stained socks, Sharpie markers going through my wash...it never ends! And while that leaves me wrangling a toddler ALL DAY LONG, it also leaves me plenty of time to knit and spin!) I was pretty productive while in Florida and since I've gotten back. Here's some FOs I have...

Up at the top there are legwarmers and a hat for Ella knit on the fly from yarn I got from this Etsy seller. It's Merino and Falklands wool yarn plied with strips of blue, pink, and white paisley fabric! SO cute and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make something for Ella out of it. Totally random cast-on and everything, the legwarmers are just knit tubes, and I threaded two of the scraps of fabric through the tops to hold them up a little better if the ribbing doesn't work (she's a VERY ACTIVE toddler!)

This is a baby surprise jacket from EZ. I used 2 200-yard skeins of handpainted lambswool yarn from Blue Ridge Yarns that I got at MDSW. I actually ran out of yarn and had to cut the pattern short 3 rows, and then seam the shoulders with a beige acrylic yarn I had on hand. So we squeaked by on that one, let me tell you! But what a great, easy, fun knit! I will definitely be knitting this for my girlfriend's new little boy for Christmas.


This is a pair of cabled socks I knit out of Trekking XXL 108 (I think!) I love how the Trekking doesn't match - they're like kissing cousin socks instead of identical twins. Don't look at the right toe, please don't! No! Damn...ok, so I was knitting the toe as from the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook (get thee this book!) and read the directions wrong (plus just didn't get the natural way a sock would decrease - along the OUTSIDE of the foot!) so I decreased in the wrong place, meaning my decreases happen at the middle of the foot instead of the outside edge of the foot. I HATE frogging, especially with decreases and such, so I just left it. It's not uncomfortable, and I figure no one's really going to see it but me. Ok, I'm lazy and just wanted the damned thing done! I finished the first sock in Florida in April, and the second one finally the beginning of August. SSS? So? Actually, I've got some of the new circs from Knitpicks and am going to teach myself to knit 2 socks on 2 circs.
This is the Celtic Cap that I knit for myself out of Classic Elite Skye Tweed yarn that I picked up from my LYS. I LOVE this yarn, and I love this hat. I started it with the picot edging, but don't like the way it's the knit side up against the purl side of the pattern, so I am leaving it a rolled edge with the holes. Who cares? It covers my ears and keeps me warm! I would probably knit this again on smaller needles...oh, wait, I am! I am knitting one for my MIL, she picked an acrylic that blends from a greenish to a bluish to a white and back again - I can't remember the brand, but it's knitting up nicer than I thought it would. I'm about halfway done with it.