After loading up the Happy Camper with yummy snack foods, beverages and meat for the grill, my family headed out for a fishing trip over the Memorial Day weekend.  Our destination was an RV park in Cotter, AR and we've stayed there now a total of 3 times.  We met up with my parents and parked side by side.  According to the town's painted water tower, it is the Fishing Capitol of the USA.  Or maybe it said it was the Trout Capitol but really that may be a stretch.  Warning: the photo below may offend vegetarians or those who don't like to see what dinner looks like before it comes to the table.

Rainbow Trout

Thanks to a friend of my father, the folks were able to fish from a boat instead of from a dock or the river bank.  We cooked these fishies up the same night they were caught.  Very tasty.  All was well for a hungry folk.  But wait!  Not quite yet.

Here's my grown-up-kid-for-a-husband showing off his Ice Cream desert.  Now all is well.  Thanks to the local Ice Cream truck.  It played 2 tunes: the Sting and La Cockaroacha (I know that's not how it's spelled but that's what the song is about, I think) until you wanted to melt your brains with a blow torch. 

Since I'm not one to sit still with a rod in my hand and wait for a fish to find the end of the line-literally-I brought along my knitting.  I'd rather have those needles in my hands any day.  Luckily, these arrived in the mail before leaving town:

Betcha can guess where I got these pics from, thanks to that Look Inside! arrow (good ol' Amazon.com).  Oh, to have the time to lounge around and read these things.  Here's my newest project:

It's the Yin Yang Bolero from Knit One, Crochet Two in their Ty-Dy yarn.  The colors in the photo are a bit off.  It is a very easy knit.  It's in garter stitch throughout with increasing and decreasing at the front center.  There are no shoulder seams as the two front pieces continue on and merge together for the back.  There are only the side seams to sew.  And no edgings to add.  So far I've used the same skein for each side.  I may be able to finish this using only 4 balls total--thanks to the fact that each one is 100 gms.  I'm seriously considering joining the next skein in the middle of the row since I don't want a join to mess up the nice way the edges are turning out.  I think I can camouflage it well enough.  Here's a closeup:

I love it when my camera cooperates.  This is really close to the actual color of one side. 

I wanted to mention that there is now an Argosy KAL, thanks to Katie, she of the many exclamation points (!!!).  Join us for all things Argosy.

~Inner Monologue: If I were to name my own city, it would be Flippin.  That name, however, is taken.  I've been there, bought cheap gas there, ate a sandwich there.  Love that name for a city!~

I've been putting this off long enough and I must comply to list those 7 things about me that you are just dying to know.  Time to get it over with so I can get rid of the guilt.  Put on your safety helmet, this is gonna be dangerous (sarcasm):

1.  My average body temperature is one degree above normal (99.6 degrees).  I guess you could say I'm hot blooded.

2.  I've never broken any bones - knock wood.

3.  I have an extremely hard time remembering names so if we ever meet, you're gonna need a name tag.  Sorry.  It's not your fault, its all mine.  With repetition, I'll remember it eventually.

4.  I must always be wearing lip gloss, lipstick or chapstick on my lips.  I like the slimey, slick feeling, even when sleeping. 

5.  My favorite colors are orange and green, sometimes together but not always.

6.  I don't like the sound of my own voice.

7.  I would rather listen than talk, especially in groups (see #6).  Don't be offended if you meet me somewhere and I do a lot of smiling instead of conversation.  That's one reason why I like blogging and email. 

It's done and now we can be best friends, right?  Anyway, I've decided not to tag any others.  I may be jinxed or called a poor sport but I'm that way.  Plus, everyone I would have tagged have already done their lists.  I suppose I'm the last one to do it.  On to knitting...

Pattern: Hey Mickey from Knitty Spring '07   Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (Bubblegum and Pineapple, now discontinued colors)  Needles: #6 (4 mm)

I think this skirt is sooooo cute!  It was an easy knit and the pattern is very clearly written (thanks Jacque).  I'm giving it to my friend's daughter and hopefully I'll get some photos of her wearing it soon.  When I blocked it I decided to flair out the bottom a bit but leave the top part of the pleats pulled in.  The drawstring is a plain old crochet chain using the 2 colors of yarn together.  I've got a big tub of Cotton Ease, from when they discontinued it, full of the original mostly bright colors but I'm really feeling the need to get some of the new more muted colors that they currently have.

This is not a pretty picture.  It should be pretty though once its finished and mega blocked.  I took a lace knitting class at my LYS recently and the project we did/are doing is the Charlotte's Web Shawl in Koigu KPPPM.  I'm using 5 different colors and trying to blend them as I go.

This photo shows the colors a little more true.  I'd say I'm about 1/2 way done.  I'm planning to get a lot more done this Memorial Day weekend.  My gang is going to take a short trip in the Happy Camper and do some fishing.  I don't fish so I'll be sitting on the bank, hopefully in the shade, with my sticks in hand.  If the weather is anything like it has been for the last week, I'll need to bring a sweater.  Normally we should be having upper 80/lower 90 deg temps but instead we're in the 60-70's.  I love it but this is the weekend when most people are wanting to swim and its just too cold for that.

*Warning: Bad photos ahead.  Proceed with caution.*

Free Pattern: Friday Scarf in Magknits May Issue  Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (color ?)   Needles: US #3 (3.5 mm)

That's my first self portrait up there, taken in the mirror with all the personal bits (my head) removed to keep my identity safe (really, its because I'm self conscience).  Its a bad photo.  Even with my new camera.  As my son would say with sarcasm, I have skills.  Skills that need improvement.  But enough about me.  Here's some more photos of the Koigu version:

This photos shows how it looks nice on both sides.  Please overlook the fact that my tension is uneven.  I knit looser on the right side rows therefore causing the reverse stockinette side to look like there is a space between every two rows.  Yeah, I know, I can fix that by using a smaller needle in my right hand but I'm trying to train myself to just knit tighter in one direction.  Or looser in the other.  I may just give up and live with reality.  And use the smaller needle like a good girl.

Yes, you too can have a Push Me Pull You snake in a gorgeous colorway.  Or maybe an inch worm.  All it needs is a tongue and some eyes.  I guess you could make up 2 of these scarves, sew them together and stuff it to make your own fake snake.  Sssssssssss... 

It's not something fancy and it's certainly not the most difficult but this cup cozy is my most used and useful knitted item that I've made.  I use it more than I wear my favorites socks.  And this is the time of year that they are an essential part of my daily life.  There is so much humidity where I live at this time of year that unless you want to grow your own mini pond, you have to have something absorbent to catch the dripping moisture around cold drinks.  I'm thinking about keeping one in my purse.  So many times I've had to improvise on the road with paper napkins wrapped around my To-Go cups but if I could just reach into my purse and pull one of these brutes out--well, problem solved! 

This is the only one I've made with a furry yarn.  Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "That fur stuff again, haven't we seen enough of it?"  Go ahead and think that.  I so happen to love these two colors together and I like that it looks like grass is growing out of it, like through the crack in a sidewalk.  Or like really hairy mold growing on bubblegum.

If you are so inclined to make some of these cozies for yourself but don't want to come up with your pattern (you could since it is so easy), go here for the pattern.  Keep in mind that the instructions do not show the fur version.  For that, you'll have to use your imagination (or just work a single row of the fur yarn every 6th row).  Then you too can enjoy a slip-free grip from drips.

Free Pattern: Rosella Wrap   Yarn: KnitPicks Totem (discontinued) and Habu Textiles Gima Cotton (KnitPicks Shine worsted should work fine as a replacement for Totem)   Needles: #9 (5.5mm)  

I know you've seen this before in another posting and I know that redundancy is boring but this time there's a free pattern attached to the madness.  I should have named it the "Wrap that wants to be a curtain".  I was seriously (no really, I was) considering making this up for a Dining room valance but those plans have been shelved.  I'll tell you why.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned that I like the color orange.  I do.  And I know there are not that many of us orange lovers out there.  But I had found some orange Gima cotton and placed the order for 3 skeins.  Yay-I thought!  This neat little package arrived from Loop (great service and friendly folks, BTW):

This is what was inside:

So you're wondering what the problem is?  The colors from 2 different websites, both called "Orange", looked like "Orange Peel" orange on my monitor.  Perfect for my valance idea.  Turns out its more of an apricot or peach color.  Not perfect for my valance idea.  I now have more stuff to stash--not necessarily a bad thing but still little disappointing.  The moral of this story is that you really don't know what the color will be when ordering online unless you have a color card (love ya for this, KnitPicks!).  The oddball khaki color on top? -- don't ask.

Recently, through the miracle of online searches and being just plain nosy, I've came across another knitter, Jacque, who I have a lot in common with.  We both have had our designs in Knitty (her's & mine) and in Magknits (her's should be in July & mine).  And we both have patterns in the Shokay Design Circle.  She's currently busy churning out patterns/designs like a mad-woman and just yesterday posted a Free pattern called Roman.  Check it out.

~Inner monologue:  Sounds like a bunch of shameless self-promotion goin' on!~

Free Pattern: Nubbins Nouveau Dishcloth    Yarn:  Peaches n' Creme or Sugar and Cream 100% cotton    Needles:  US #7 (4.5mm)

This is a variation of the original Nubbins dishcloth.  It is composed of 4 sections and although it may look like it, it is not Intarsia.  I repeat, it is not Intarsia.  First the foundation rows are worked.  Then ¾ of the stitches are put on a holder and one of the color block strips is begun.  As one strip is finished, the live stitches at the top are placed on a second holder and the next strip is begun in a similar manner and attached to the previous strip as it is worked.  After all 4 strips are worked, anchor rows are worked across all of the held live stitches and then bound off.  Oh, and in the mean time, Nubbins are created on the edges.  Maybe it sounds difficult, but it is so easy you want to knock your noggin.

I'm still trying to kick a nasty cough so this was a project that was easy enough to do in between my lung hacking.  Guess that was too graphic - sorry.  I want you to feel my pain, share it with me, join in on the fun...umm, yeah.  The doc says he thinks its just drainage from allergies.  So now I'm in the process of trying to dry myself to a crisp.  I'm so desperate to make this noise and embarrassment go away.

The new May issue of Magknits is up and I'm giddy because my Friday Scarf pattern is in it!  Here you see my two nieces modeling them.

Click on the photos here to see larger versions for more detail.

I've made up another version of this scarf using one skein of Koigu KPPPM and I'll post about it later.  Seems I've come down with a cold and I'm dragging the ground today.  I think I must have gotten it from the many knitters in blogland who have been sick lately.  We've all heard of computer viruses after all.

Edited 10April2008:  The Magknits website no longer exists.  I've changed the link to the pattern so you can now access it through my blog.