WARNING....Long, rambling post!

As the title states....this is a long "catch up for the past few weeks" post..... I hope I don't put anyone to sleep with it!

One of the craft stores I visit (more often than my hubby would like) is having "March Madness" sales, and while I was looking around yesterday, I found myself in the yarn aisles.....considering giving knitting a go, again. 
My last knitting project was over 3 years ago, when I knit a baby blanket while pregnant with my daughter Kella.  It was definitely a beginner project, with no pattern and just going back and forth until I ran out of yarn.  I have knitted before, wayyyy back in High School.....but I haven't really gotten the hang of it.  

I figured I'd give it another shot, so I found a pattern online and bought myself some yarn and some needles (all on sale...in case hubs is reading!).   So there I sat last night, trying to remember which hand holds what and trying to figure out what YO, ST, K and P all meant!   After working on it for a few hours, here's how far I got:

I think the toughest part was that first row...either I'm doing the cast on wrong or I'm not pulling the yarn enough or something...I did that first row over and over about ten times!   Stay tuned to see if it actually turns into something! :)

Let's see...what else have I been up to.....  Oh yes, my son has an "Erupting Volcano" due this week, so we worked on it over the weekend.  I think he did a great job!

We'll pour some baking soda into each volcano and he has some red dyed vinegar to pour in.  He's so excited to take it to class!

I was also able to complete a lap quilt for a wonderful friend of mine this past week.  I used a charm pack of fabric and made pinwheels.  I love how it turned out and can't wait to send it to her!

I know this week is our WIPocalypse update week, but I'm going to post my progress on Coral anyway.  Maybe I'll get a bit more done between now and March's Full Moon date!!

The darker colors in her wings has been my favorite to stitch....I love how they create the contouring and depth!

Of course, because Michele at Heaven and Earth Designs went and had a Leap Day sale...I had to buy, right?  And buying new charts gives me the itch to kit up and start new ones :)   Over the weekend I kitted up Please My Wings Take Me Away, here's a picture from the HAED site:

This will be my first "black and white" piece and I'm exicted to get started.  Calling it a black and white is sort of funny to me, because there is actually no black or white floss used at all.....there are shades of gray and light blues and of course, the dreaded metallic sparkly floss.  There are only 10 colors in this work!

I also kitted up my first Little House Needleworks piece!!  I'm so excited about this piece because I won it from Bekca at The Stitching Lion.  Winning a piece from a bloggy friend makes it extra special to me, so I can't wait to get it done!  I'm thinking of finishing it as a pillow...not sure yet.  Bekca also sent me some scented DMC floss!  We don't have this in the states, so I felt spoiled when I recieved it!!  Why don't we get this fun stuff over here?

    
After winning 2 wonderful giveaways, I'm ready to have another one myself!!  I have a girl's day planned for this weekend, with a stop at our local cross stitch shop.  I'll be on the look out for some cute items and I'll start my giveaway next week!


-lesli