A Summer of Knitting and Reading - What Fun!

I'm unemployed! Due to downsizing at my company, I no longer have a job. However, I am getting a nice severance package and will be able to collect unemployment. What timing! I can enjoy the summer to read and knit. Since I commuted an hour to work, this came at a great time because of the price of gas. I am loving it!

The great thing about being home right now is spending time with my puppy Maggie. She is a terror and needs to have me home to give her the attention she needs. She is 5 months old today. Happy Birthday Maggie May:

She needs a hair cut and bath badly, but next week she gets to visit the groomer.

I have been knitting more. Right now I have been knitting dishcloths. Here is the May Mid-month dishcloth:

I really like how this pattern turned out. I used Sugar and Cream Violet Veil Ombre.

I also completed the Dafodil dishcloth from my monthly dishcloth group:

I loved working with the yellow Sugar and Cream yarn.

Here is the mid-month Dishcloth from April:

I had trouble with both the April and May mid-month dishcloths. You would think I would learn. The yarn overs kill me! Inevitably I forget to do a yarn over and as a result don't have enough stitches. Then I have to frog back and reknit. The trick is finding what row I frogged back to. Luckily I can read the stitches and have no trouble determining where I'm at. The May Mid-Month Dishcloth was the worst. I must have frogged that cloth 5-6 times.

Knitting and Reading

I can't believe it's been over a month since I have posted. Where has the time gone? I know, Maggie is taking a lot of my time. She needs a lot of love and attention. Soon she will be getting a lot of it since I am losing my job and will be home with her full time. I am counting the days to relaxing, knitting, reading and doing whatever!

I haven't gotten much knitting done, but I have finished these two dishcloths:

One is the Mid-Month KAL for my monthly dishcloth group (this is from February):

This is another from March:

Here is another in progress from April (I know, I know, I'm a little behind):

Not being able to knit hasn't stopped me from buying yarn. I got my Socks that Rock club yarn:

Then I got a skien of laceweight yarn in Cherry Blossom from Sundara. I just love this yarn.

I couldn't pass up trying to make a crocheted afghan once I saw the blogging group on the web for the book 200 Ripple Stitches:

Here is the book:

I am making the soft waves pattern in the colors below:

The yarn is from Patons called Canadiana.

While I haven't been knitting too much, I have been reading. I finished the book The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs and A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton. Both are great reads and I couldn't put them down.

I am currently reading Hey Good Looking by Fern Michaels. Once finished with that, I will read Back to Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber.

I should be posting more soon once I am done working. May 15th is my last day, so I only have one more full week of work. Then it's sleep in time and enjoy the summer! What timing!