Monica: I spent last weekend with Carolyn and had lots of fun. My camera broke again before I came back to Chicago and I haven’t replaced it yet so I didn’t take any pictures when I was out and about with her. I was still trying to get over a horrible cold so I wanted to wallow in my sickness but she got me outside and we stared at the beautiful Lake Michigan. (This is where I’d show you a picture of the Lake that I would’ve taken with my camera.)

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Gail. She wanted to go to the Japanese grocery store to pick up some Japanese pottery for her mom. On the way there we drive by a forest preserve where there are always some elk standing near the fence so you can see them up close. I borrowed my sister’s camera but decided that we’d get pictures on the way back.

That was a big mistake. They were as far away from the fence as they could possibly be. The elk butts are way over on the upper left of this picture. Gail and I also stopped at the bookstore to see if they had any craft books that we wanted to get. Of course we found several but settled on one.

Doesn’t that tea cozy look like it would involve quilting?

And that project too?


And maybe those too? Neither one of us knows how to quilt. So we both picked out a book that involves quilting and is in Japanese. Which neither of us know either. Stay tuned!

Last week I worked on a baby sweater.

Pattern: Helena
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Orangeade (is there anything else to use?)

Normally I would’ve knitted the February Baby Sweater but I didn’t have the book with me so I used Ravelry’s search feature and decided on this pattern. I followed the pattern for the most part except I used worsted weight instead of dk weight yarn so I knit the smallest size. Instead of picking up stitches for the front bands I just added 3 stitches on each end to make a garter stitch border. For the ties I just picked up stitches and knit them according to the pattern. And I knit a garter stitch border for the bottom instead of the picot hem. This was all because I was too lazy to do extra stuff and not because there was anything wrong with the pattern.

Okay off to enjoy my Sunday…having bbq pork & wonton noodle soup for lunch. Yum! I just realized that I told you what I was eating for lunch. Charlie’s family is always telling us their meals and it drives me crazy. Like in an email they’ll say “meatloaf for dinner” unprompted. Whenever we talk on the phone they ask what we ate or what we are eating. Of course I’ve taken up this habit now and announce my meals to friends and will eventually just walk up to random strangers and tell them what I ate. I’m sure they will walk very quickly away.

Filed under: Baby Items, FOs, sewing by Monica