You Know It's After the All Stars Break When...

...the Red Sox are playing so terrible that I can't even drag my boyfriend to the bar to watch a game. The view from 6.5 games back isn't pretty. Was 2004 just a dream?

My roomies and I amidst the rioting outside our apartment after the World Series win. Look how happy we were.

The Red Sox parading their World Series trophy around Boston.

"Jeter is playing golf today, THIS IS BETTER."

SwapCloths in Progress

Progress on the Mason-Dixon SwapCloth warshrags for my Super-secret Buddy:


Almost done. I'm contemplating knitting more. Hey, a Super-secret Buddy could never have too many warshrags, right?

A Rude Awakening... And Mom's Birthday Handknits

Today is the third day in a row, the f-ing (I'm trying to keep it clean) Upstairs Neighbors woke me up in the morning. ARGH!!! The last two days, I've woken up at 5:45am to loud stomping/banging that lasted thirty or forty minutes (daily exercise routine?). Today, I got an extra hour of sleep, being woken up at 6:45 to the sounds of a musical my neighbors were playing loud enough to hear conveniently (for them) from anywhere in their apartment. Don't they understand that people live below them? If I don't kill The Upstairs Neighbors, my boyfriend soon will since yesterday I was a major sleep-deprived grouch. Grrrrrrrr.

Today's sunrise

Yesterday's sunrise

Since I'm awake... I've got pictures to show of the kitchen set I knit for my mom. This is what I knit in time for her birthday:


Did you actually expect me, The Procrastinator, to finish something for a deadline? Nah! Here's what I finished knitting yesterday, after the fact (and now must mail to mom):



Project specs:
Yarn: Sugar 'n' Cream cotton, in colors light green, sky blue, and blue-green
Needles: 4mm (size 7) straight needles

Kitty Dishcloths:
Pattern: Found here
Mods: Seed-stitch border instead of garter

Potholders/Dishcloths (whatever my mom wishes to use them as):
Pattern: Mason-Dixon Knitting warshrag pattern
Mods: I cast-on only 33 stitches for a smaller cloth. I used a crochet bind-off and continued with a single crochet chain after BO to create a loop for hanging.

Towels:
Pattern: MDK "Baby Burping Cloth" Pattern
Mods: (Note: I modified this towel after 2 or 3 towel patterns I saw online. It's not my own pattern, per se, just a combination of many others.) I cast on the regular 45 stitches and worked the 2-color pattern for 11.5 inches. The rest is knit in one color. For the towel top, I knit 8 rows of garter stitch. First decreases... Row 1, *K2tog* for the row; Row 2, knit all; Row 3, K1, *K2tog, K1* rep from * for the rest of the row; Row 4, knit all; and Row 5, *K2tog, K1* rep from * until last two stitches, K2tog (11 stitches remain). I knit another 20-30 rows in garter stitch until the loop of the towel top was long enough to fold over the rod of a towel rack. Final decreases (and button hole)... Row 1, K2tog, knit until last two sts, K2tog; Row 2, knit all; Row 3, K2tog, K2, YO, K2tog, K1, K2tog; Row 4, knit all sts; Row 5, knit all sts; Row 6, K2tog, K3, K2tog. Finishing... BO, weave in the loose yarn ends, and slap on a button where you like. The YO is the button hole (some one else had that great idea - I hate knitting buttonholes).

I like these MDK towels much much better than the cat towel - you know the one with the bleach stains? Viewing the glass half-full: the bleach stains led to a better birthday present for mom.

Petals

Inspired by Mason-Dixon Knitting, I searched online for more knit dishcloths and came across this site. Jackpot!


Pattern: Petal dishcloth
Needles: 4mm (size 7) straight needles
Yarn: 1 skein (minus a mere 18 inches of yarn) of Sugar 'n' Cream cotton ombre

I joined my first knit swap - the Mason Dixon SwapCloth. I'm knitting and receiving warshrags. These two dishcloths are going to my secret buddy as a bonus.