BayAreaKnitter Podcast - Episode 3: Meet Chili our Chinchilla!

Welcome to Episode 3 of my Bayareaknitter Podcast, where I introduce my lovely daughter, Caitlin, and Chili our Chinchilla! This episode is a bit shorter than the last one, but I wanted to get something up this week. Now that the kiddos are out of school, it's a bit of a challenge to find a quiet moment around here. But I'm determined to make it work and to keep podcasting on a regular weekly basis. On a sidenote, I have to apologize for not getting around to announcing the winner from last week's giveaway! It completely slipped my mind until after I had recorded this episode! So, I will be uploading another very short video to announce the lucky winner as soon as possible! Stay tuned! I'll also post the winner here on my next blog post, so check back to see if you won! 

Anyways, click the link below to view this week's episode, and be sure to subscribe to my channel! 

SHOW NOTES:

Knitting needles mentioned: http://www.amibari.jp/english

Baa Baa Black Sheep Project Bag by JustK33pKnittin9 on Etsy & Instagram

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JustK33pKnittin9?ref=search_shop_redirect

Podcast mentioned: http://wolfefarms.blogspot.com/

Dawn of Wolfe Farms is knittinwolf on Instagram

Follow me on IG: Bayareaknitter
Find me on Ravelry: needle2needle
Blog: http://bayareaknitter.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Knittingwith...
Follow me on Twitter: Bayareaknitter

As promised in this episode, here's the photo of Chili in the toy shopping cart. Caitlin has been giving him rides around the house in it! ;)

Chili in the shopping cart!

I've also fallen prey to the mitered square addiction that seems to be going around on all the social media sites! Below you'll see photos of my very first squares. I used fingering weight sock yarn for both. Although I ended up frogging the smaller one and re-knitting it at the larger gauge combined with another yarn to give it a striping effect. I like the fabric better at the 41 stitch gauge on size US 3 needles. My original plan was to make the Sock Yarn Blanket or "Scrappy Happy Blanket" as some people call it. But I'm now thinking it might make a lovely wrap or shawl! We'll see once I get further along. If you'd like to join in on this fun knit, click this link to visit The Heathen Housewife's post "All About the Blankie"! There you'll find instructions on how to knit the squares and then how to attach them all together! Be warned, this is very addicting! 

I cast on 31 stitches and used size US 2 needles for this one.

I cast on 41 stitches and used size US 3 needles for this one. 

Last but not least, I wanted to share my newest design with you! It's a pair of Fingerless Gloves that I designed for Manos del Uruguay yarns and they're named "Cobre". You'll find them on Ravelry by clicking this link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cobre Be sure to "Favorite" them once there!

I designed "Cobre" for Manos del Uruguay.
Pattern available now!

That's all for now, but be sure to check back for my next post... coming real soon!!!

A Road Trip and Some Knitting

Photo I snapped with my cell phone of the beautiful starfish at the Sea Life Aquarium - Carlsbad, CA

I love road trips! Just last week we headed south on a mini family vacation. My children don't go back to school until the 27th, so this made for a nice "end of summer" outing. We decided to visit Universal Studios as well as Lego Land. We spend 3 wonderful, fun filled days theme park hopping! I didn't realize that Lego Land was 3 parks in one. So we purchased the "Resort Hopper" package which included admission to LEGOLAND^® California, SEA LIFE^® Aquarium and LEGOLAND^® Water Park. The kids had loads of fun! But I was in awe of the beautiful Sea Life. My favorites were the starfish (what lovely colors they have) and the stingrays. I was captivated just watching the stingrays glide around. I could have watched them for hours. But children and husband beckoned. They were headed for the Water Park.

Meeting Scooby & Shaggy at Universal Studios Hollywood with my family

And of course no road trip is complete without a little knitting. The drive alone was about 8 hours from our home to Universal Studios in Hollywood. Then another 2 hours from there to Lego Land in Carlsbad, CA. I had planned on knitting a pair of fingerless mitts while my husband drove. But alas, I ended up driving more than half the way there that first day, because he had a headache. By the time he got behind the wheel there wasn't much daylight time left. So needless to say, I didn't complete my set. But I did get in quite a bit of knitting time while standing in lines! We ended up waiting more than an hour to ride some of those rides! But it's amazing how fast the time flew while I was knitting. ;) 
By the end of our trip, my husband was ready to do all of the driving and I was able to complete one mitt and get started on the second one on the way back home.

One mitt completed and the second one was well underway

I just realized how nicely the color of my mitt coordinates with the starfish in the photo above. Coincidence? Maybe that's why the starfish caught my eye. I just love that shade of purple! It's always been my favorite color. :)
It's been a busy summer. Have you taken any road trips? What are you knitting?