Bridal Shower Recap

Over the weekend, we celebrated my friend Katie's bridal shower.  It was a lovely affair and well worth all of the planning and table decoration making.  The food was good, company great, and everyone had a fabulous time.  I thought I'd share a few picture so you could see all of the craftiness in action.  I would have had a few more but guests started to arrive, so enjoy!

The tables all set up.  There were photos of the couple, flowers, placecards, and a game - we played '2 Truths and a Lie.'

View of the room at the restaurant as we finished setting up.

The all important cake!  It was lemon with raspberry filling and matched her colors: black & white.

Welcome sign and the 'bouquet' of ribbons after she unwrapped everyone's gifts.

The bride, Katie, (left) and me (right) at the end of the shower. 

 We had a great time and I'm looking forward to her next one in Idaho next month.

PS - I hope to get some crafting/knitting for me done this week!

Making favors

Before I head into work today, I tried to finish up the favors for K's wedding shower.  Sneak peak:

Less than a week to go!  I'm about 50% done with last minute stuff and I hope all goes well on Saturday.

Starting Honeytree

Last weekend, I started the Honeytree Vest. 

As you can see, I haven't made it very far.  In fact....it's kind of boring me.  While I full expect to enjoy the finished object, right now, there is a lot of monotonous knitting going on. 

      Knit to end.  Purl back. 
      Knit to end. Purl back. 
      Knit to end. Purl back. 

See what I mean?  This week I got distracted and ended up watching all of Season 3 of Downton Abbey.  I might need to start a second project to take the edge off.

Off and running...

I'm off to a Stampin Up card workshop at my demonstrator's house in a few minutes, when I remembered that I haven't shared a homemade card in weeks!  I've mailed off most of the ones we made last month, but thought I would share these:

  

Both great designs and in spring-y colors!  I can't wait for the weather to warm up.  In the mean time, I made a set of these last week to be used after the shower:

I love mail

I exchange weekly letters with several friends and pen pals and I always enjoy having something special in my mailbox when I come home from work.  My pen pal Sharon sent this cute tea wallets to me this week. 

Isn't the sheep fabric cute?  The one with owls is for my mother.  I adore them and have added mine to my knitting bag - thank you Sharon!

I've decided what's next on the needles: the Honeytree Vest by Tanis Lavallee.  I have 5 skeins of The Plucky Knitter's Primo Worsted in a one hit wonder khaki color that I'm going to use.  I think it will make a good layering piece for work and casual days.  Lots of winding to do!

Molly Hat

I finished the Molly hat this week and it is a delectable pattern.  Fun, entertaining, and the end result looks great with the cable traveling all the way up through the crown.  I'd highly recommend the pattern.  It's a free pattern from Erin Ruth on Ravelry. 

There are two separate repeats to keep track of - the texture and the cable - so I found it helpful to take the time to write the entire pattern out to keep it easier to keep track.  I did several modifications on this:

• Cast on 92 stitches; Increase row to 121 stitches as states in pattern
• To keep track of the 3 row texture pattern and the 8 row cable pattern, I wrote out the entire pattern line for line. I ended up do 6 cable repeats before starting the decrease section.
• I moved the cable in the pattern over - 24 stitches from where originally indicated in order to have the start point not quite as noticeable. (I had do to a little fiddling on the decreases but was easily able to maintain the texture pattern.)

Yarn is Dream in Color's Special Cashmere Edition worsted in the colorway Lipstick Lava from The Loopy Ewe.  I ended up using 195 yards of a 210 yarn skein, so I am glad I didn't make the initial cable repeats longer before I started the decreases.

Card Change

Changing out some of the cards today:

 

What's on your weekend to do list?

Royal Mail

When was the last time you could say you received a letter in the mail that made you run! (not walk) to open it?  Today, I did: 

 

Did you catch that?  That's right my friends, mail from Buckingham Palace.  A few weeks before Christmas, I wrote a letter of congratulations to Her Majesty, The Queen on Her Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in 2012.  I received a letter of thanks and a souvenir program in return - simply lovely photographs from throughout her reign.  This is one letter to save!

Pallisades

The Pallisades socks are done!  They're the second pair of socks I've completed on the sock machine.  My 'sock recipe' is still not perfect, but I'm getting there and these were ten times easier to complete than the Summer Moss ones.

I ended up using close to 225 yards of The Plucky Knitter's MCN Fingering (wonderful to work with) - which is a lot less yarn that I would have used if I had knit these by hand.  A few things I've learned:

1. Tension.  It is a lot different on the machine.  Normally, I am a tight/very tight hand knitter.  With the machine, it forces me to rethink the tension.  I set the vcam higher on this pair, which made the stitches slightly smaller, and therefore changed my gauge a bit.  They are still a bit too loose but not much.
2. Loose stitches on heels and toes.  Although you can't see it in the photos too much, the stitches near the heels and toes are a bit loose when I am increasing.  I've watched a few YouTube videos and I have some tricks up my sleeve for the next pair.
3. Weights.  On the machine, you keep the stitches on the needle by attaching weights to the sock in progress to keep them from riding up on the needles.  When I ordered weights, I ordered a set of three for the heel when I really think I need a set of 4 to keep weight more evenly distributed across all of the live, working stitches.  One more weight is currently on the way, and when it arrives, I think I'll try another pair then.

It's been a learning experience and I think I still have a bit more to go...