I am groovin’ on this pattern! Now that the initial trauma of the K7tog instructions are behind me, I am really enjoying this project. From yesterday’s comments, I am surmising that I am not the only one to have never seen let alone knit 7 together. The exact instructions for the K7tog are these:

K7tog and leave these sts on the needle, yo, knit the same 7 sts tog again and leave them on the needle, yo, knit the same 7 sts tog once more and slip sts from needle – 7 sts dec’d to 5.

So you can see that you are not just simply knitting them together, but are further messing around with them. If you plan to make this project, here are my two most helpful tips: the instructions advise you to purl this cluster of 7 sts loosely on the previous row. Crucial! This combined with pointier needles (which I picked up at Granny’s yesterday) have made the K7 easier to deal with. I started this project using my Addi’s but have switched over to Susan Bates Quicksilvers. The tips are pointier and a bit longer. I am also enjoying the woosh woosh sound they are making! Here is a close up of the result.

Would you like to see what else I got at Granny’s? It really isn’t all that much considering how much time I sat there yapping away with Kathleen and Granny.

The Blizzard is to make another Elf Hat. I think that project will be much cuter in something closer to the yarn that is called for. The pattern uses Cascade Magnum on 15’s and the Blizzard also uses 15’s. It is incredibly soft and cozy.

Granny surprised me with a Mother’s Day gift of the needles – check out the glittery tips on the addi dpns! Nothing says Mother’s Day like glittery tips. It’s not enough I am knitting an elf hat, now I will be stylin with disco needles! I ♥ Granny.

And here is a closer look at the button I picked up. It is so cool and smooth to the touch that I may just carry it around with me all day!

of course, that sounds like I am going somewhere today ….. with the exception of picking up D#2 after school and taking her to the bookstore, I am staying put.

gotta knit that lace!

I cast on for Evelyn Clark’s Trellis Scarf using some Zephry from my stash. Last night I became absolutely desparate to knit some lace. I really really wanted to cast on for Cheryl Oberle’s Irish Diamond Shawl, but I don’t have enough yardage for that one. It turns out someone I know wants to get that one on the needles too, as well as some bloggless friends of mine ….. do I smell a knit along?

But back to the trellis scarf – I am 18 rows into this (because of crazy pattern searching, knitting did not commence until 10 pm) and am loving it. Does anyone know if Evelyn Clark is married? if not, I loverhersomuch, I want to marry her. Her patterns are fantastic – not a bomb in the bunch.

A few of you have inquired about Spencer and his ‘poo’ status ……. His poo status is sterling. He is churning them out. However, he seems to have not quite gotten his appetite back. We have not been giving him grain since the colic, but he has been having hay and outdoor grazing. Well, the outdoor grazing he loves, but the hay not so much. For reasons that you need to go to vet school to understand, the hay thing is important …. they want to see lots of hay munching before he can go back on grain. The vet is coming back today to have another look.

Elf Cap from Handknit Holidays using Brora Softspun

This was a quick project. It called for Cascade Magnum, but I used yarn from my stash held double. I like it, D#2 likes it. But I do want to try another one using the Cascade. Which will mean buying size 15 double pointeds! egads.

We had a pretty low key weekend around here. Took a road trip on Saturday to see a horse show, hung out and got odd jobs accomplished yesterday. I didn’t even make it to our local Sheep to Shawl Festival! Today I am going to visit with Kathleen and see all of her recent house construction.

Did I tell you that D#1 will not be coming home this summer? Her finals finished on Saturday and her summer job on campus begins on Wednesday. Originally she had applied for a RA position in a summer program for high school students that runs at the college. That job would have run the length of the program, which I think was five weeks or so. She did not get that job, but instead got another one which involves assisting in organizing, running and setting up for all of the summer programs on campus. Therefore this job takes up much more of the summer. She has requested a weekend or two off, but really won’t be home except for two weeks in August.

believe it or not, I am pretty good with all of this. It will be great for her – more independant living and $$ earning. And it will also mean no negotiating new living together terms for the newly independant daughter home from college. It is so easy to live with your newly independant college aged daughter when she doesn’t actually come home.

I will never forget my first summer home from college. …. I was going out to meet some friends, and my mother calls out “have fun and be home by 11”. ??? I believe I actually laughed out loud.