red, white and blue

When I prepared my snack the other day,something about the arrangement struck me.

Upcoming holiday?
Summer festiveness?
Perhaps subconscious color coordination with current projects?!

in the midnight hour

Oh what a long journey it's been. From fantastic plan to calculation disaster to freestyle adventure it's been, well, quite the saga. This baby even travelled on the plane with me to London (and yes, you can get knitting needles through the security checkpoints, though smuggling them through a nervous passenger does make - despite the all clear for knit accessories I was still fearsome they would confiscate hours of intesive knitting labor).

After a premature bind off, and a second frogging I was feeling a tad discouraged.



Dark days, my friends - dark days.
I almost could not go on.
Just three more inches I told myself. It can be done!

Mustering as much energy as I could, I struggled on, and have (finally!) finished, though not without a few hiccups (or namely some extra 'wings' acquired from over-zealous increasing) that needed some intense problem solving efforts.

Behold! The four-month tube top!



So versatile - it slices, it dices, it coordinates with khaki, and denim!



Whew.
I am amazed that I actually finished it 'in season' and can wear it while the weather is warm and toasty.

like a bee

As often happens during summer, I'm seeing stripes. But no, it's not a bee.





This is knitted in Caron's Simply Soft, and let me tell you it is the softest acrylic yarn I've used. I'm not generally a huge fan of the acrylics, but this one was quite nice and fluffy.

Now that that is finished, perhaps I can finish up that top I've been working on since Spring Break - patience pays!

so retro!

I've been told that I'm a bad knitblogger. It's true.

But here's what's been going on with the projects...

The sleeveless top is still pending. I started binding off, but it was still too short, so I now need to pick up the stitches again and keep going. Grr.
Also, I've been working on a HP scarf. Halfway done!

Now, here's the fun part. Today at the flea market I managed to snag a fun little vintage pattern book for only 50¢. Here are some of the highlights...

A fun skirt and jacket:

(note the pointy cuffs on the sleeves)

A snappy sweater perfect for birdwatching:


Strappy crochet sandals:


There are quite a few more cute patterns - more vests and slippers and little hoods modeled by a balloon with a face painted on it. No lie.

I've also been thinking of fun decorating ideas to snazz up the apartment. I have a great plan (it sounds good in theory at least) to decorate a lampshade with some fabric - we'll just see how that goes.

Also, I may even make a rug!
I pulled out some old Interweave issues for ideas:




Again, I think my ambitions are too great for the free time I have available to me!