May Swap for Group Eddy

And here is the May swap for group Eddy. This square is of a wool bought on Ebay. I like this pattern, it wasn't so hard to do once I did a few rows. I may just use it again.

May Swap for Group Gauge

Okay, on to the second swap group I joined in the Baker's Dozen group on Ravelry! This lady likes color and so I found in my stash a yarn from the bunch I bought on Ebay from Karl. It's a cotton chenille. I ended up using two strands as I liked the look of the fabric better and it was easier on my fingers (stupid RA!) Here are a few pictures of the square.

Lovely/ugly trees

I have these trees in front of my house. In the early spring they bloom and are really nice. The blooms/flowers are lovely. Unfortunately this only lasts for a few days, a week at most. After that they really are ugly and I'd be more than happy to cut them down. But I thought I might as well show them in all their glory, before they reach their ugly phase.

April Swap for Group Eddy

Wow! Talk about busy! I was invited to join a Ravelry group that was doing a year long swap of 12"x12" squares, either knitted or crocheted. Eddy is the first group I joined. There are 13 of us in the group and every month we all send a square to the member of the month (MoM) based on her preferences of yarn wt, color, etc. So far it's been a lot of fun. One of the reasons I joined is that I think it will encourage me to learn some new stitches, and to practice and improve my knitting skills. I think it's working! The hardest part is picking the yarn and pattern. I'm trying to use yarn from my stash (thought this would be a good stash reducer, also!). These are pictures of the square I made and sent to the May MoM.

New projects galore!

Well, I've gone from doing nothing, to doing quite a lot! Too much? I guess we will find out. I've mentioned before the square swaps which are really great. I've been meeting some very nice people and I'm having a chance to both try new stitches and even use some yarn from my stash (yeah!). I'm also doing a Lion Brand Yarn swap that I'm really excited about, it's one on one and that part is nice. It gives you a chance to get to know someone a little better. I've got a great project in mind for my partner, just waiting for the needles I'll need to arrive in the mail. I'm also working on a special gift (this swap is a recycled theme), I really hope she likes it! But I didn't stop there in my new activities. I've also adopted a soldier! This is something that's pretty important to me as my youngest son Mike is planning to join the Army Airborne after graduating next year and the soldier I've adopted is in an Airborne division. I'm hoping I can really send this soldier a little bit of home while he's over there and maybe raise his spirits once in a while. The group I've joined is called The Strength Behind the Strong, it really is a great honor to support these brave men and women who are risking their lives for America. May they stay safe.