Who doesn't need a hug? This pattern is a quick knit with bulky weight yarn, Lion Brand Hometown USA, in the Charlotte Blue colorway. The pattern is HUG by Sarah Pasternak.
I love all the accoutrements that go along with my chosen crafts. The multitude of bejeweled or comical stitchmarkers, and the other inventive implements that can assist in the creative process are frequent purchases of mine for my own pleasure and for gifts.
This Bobble Necklace pattern is free from Lion Brand. It is a very quick crochet project. I sewed on glass beads as an after thought and I think that if I make it again, I will add them as I work. I think that the necklace needs a little weight at the bottom.
While I was incarcerated in the nursing home for rehab from my hip replacement, knitting occurred. It was not easy at first because I was heavily medicated, so there was a lot of frogging too.
Yes, the weekly installment of Tuesday's Temptation is back. Today I would like to direct your attention to Plover Designs. 
Recently, I had to spend some time in a nursing home rehabbing from hip replacement surgery. I can't say enough about the amazing, caring staff who got me through my recovery. I was there for 3 weeks after the first surgery and 4 weeks after the 2nd surgery and I was just a bit cranky towards the end.
I ordered a cocoon pattern and a pixie hat pattern. A big plus is that she gives permission to sell what you knit!!! If you don't knit, she sells some of the items all knit up for you. Rush on over to For A Song and get what you need for the most adorable baby pics ever!
The coin purse I improvised, so I thought I would share the simple pattern for this Easy Peasy Coin Purse. It easily holds coins, cash, debit card and my license. . 
Next, I have some incredible 50/50 SW Merino/Tencel blend in Heather's "Neptune" colorway. It drafts like a dream and has incredible shine that a picture just doesn't do justice.
Check back next Tuesday to see what I have found in my internet travels. 
I have done a little work on the Sasquatch Socks. They are huge and I am a little worried that they may actually be a little too big. I think I will have the apartment manager take home the first one for her husband to try on before I start the second sock. 
I like to make dishcloths to have on hand for last minute gifts, plus they make a great way to practice a new technique, but what to do with the little leftovers? I just make dishcloths for me. I don't care what they look like as long as they will get the job done, so I use multiple colors even if they don't "go" together. The one below is just garter stitch and uses 3 leftover balls of different colors. It was a mindless project while watching a television show that I was engrossed in, so I didn't have to look at what I was knitting.
So, what do you do with your leftover kitchen cotton?
When I started this project, I searched for a good, simple pattern for a sock this large, without any success. So, I have been improvising as I go along, using gauge to determine how many stitches to cast on and simply doing the heel flap, turn and gusset that I like best. I didn't realize that I knew how to knit a sock without a pattern until I just started doing it.
To alleviate the boredom of ribbing, I have started working on a cowl for myself. It is comprised of 7 crochet motifs attached in a circle which then have stitches picked up and knitted in ribbing. Yes, more ribbing. The yarn is Aegean from my friend Loribird's etsy shop, The Wool Room. The pattern is Amiga. Here is the first completed motif.
I will keep you posted on my progress. What are you working on?
The second 2 projects I made were the Crochet Child's Earflap Cap by Candi Jensen. This too, is a very simple project and it will work up very quickly for a last minute gift. After making the first cap, I did make one small change to the pattern for the second one. I changed how I made the ties. Instead of single crocheting back up the chain as the pattern indicates, I slip stitched back up which resulted in a tie that was more firm and symmetrical.
Now I am working on a pair of mittens. I just finished the second mitten this morning and saw that it looked must better than the first, so I frogged the first. I am sure it won't take too long to re-knit it now that my mojo is back. Woohoo!
The next one is the Tenor spindle and it has a few yards of some of my handspun that I plied on it. Neither of these spindles hold as much yarn as any of my other spindles, but it is much more convenient and easy for me to use in my lift chair.
For more information about Spindolyns and to purchase one or many go to http://www.knittinganyway.com/products/spindolyn.htm
I received this wonderful TLE bag, with a Romney Ridge (their in Maine!) calendar, and a Lacy Pillars Socks pattern, all for free! They even included some tootsie rolls. 
This Fiesta Baby Boom yarn in the Coyote colorway was included for free too! It is soft, squooshy and yummy. 
Then, of course, there was the skein of Wollmeise Twin 80/20 that I had ordered in the Hortensie colorway. This picture doesn't do justice to the incredible saturation of color. Larry is holding my 0.95 oz. DIY Bellwether spindle that I have been using to spin some natural pencil rovings that I got at Bartlett Yarns Mill during my field trip. The Wollmeise is resting on the pencil rovings.
Along with the pattern I got their Safe Socks mesh bag. I will be using it not only for my hand knit socks, but also for washing some alpaca fiber that I have, which needs to be cleaned before I can spin it.
Sorry about the fuzzy photo, but this cute little stitch marker was included in my TLE package as a Loopy extra. I love the little surprises that they add to my purchases!
The following purchases are from Knitcellaneous. I just discovered this retailer while searching for inexpensive shawl sticks. Theirs are the least expensive that I could find anywhere, and yet they are a very nice quality! They were only $5.00 USD each. I am very pleased with them. I also got their kitchener stitch dog tag to remind me of how to do it. 
Another little package arrived yesterday from TLE, but I haven't taken pics yet. I think I will wait until the package that I just got e-mail notice about arrives and then take pics all at once.
My father used to work at this mill. We had the opportunity while here, to meet people who used to work with him and hear from them, wonderful stories about his antics. I miss him dearly since he passed, so this was very special for me. It was even more meaningful to me that I got to share it with Mom and my sister.
Larry is resting on a few bags of rovings that happened to jump into the shopping bags with him. They are 8 oz. bags of the mills round rovings in the Blue Loch, Light Laurel and Mountain Laurel colorways. I also brought home 4 oz. of undyed pencil rovings that I forgot to photograph. 
I have been told that the mill plans on making the open house an annual event to take place the first week of August each year, in conjunction with the Maine Fiber Arts Tour. I plan on attending next year and hopefully, I will be better able to move, enabling me to tour the mill.
Then I thought about how I would like to eat it. I decided on a tomato and cheese sandwich. A simple meal that would allow the tomato flavor to shine. I made the sandwich on 12 grain bread with American cheese, mayo and a little pepper. I finished it off with a granny smith apple and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. The tomato was juicy and very flavorful. Nothing like the bland hothouse tomatoes of the supermarket
I apologize to any of you who came here looking for a yarny fiber post and are disappointed, but this was the highlight of my day and I wanted to share. I have been spindling this morning and I will be knitting later, on my Hey Teach. The next post will be back to my yarny endeavors.
