knitting + sewing =

This!!I finally finished sewing the pillow I made for Cindy and Camilo. I made the knitted part a slipcover so it can be taken off and washed as needed. It's not a "standard" size so I couldn't use a pillow form. I had to sew a pillow and then stuff it so it was a little more work than I had originally planned on but I'm happy I did it that way. Here's the back.My camera can't take a close up of the fabric without it being blurry, which is too bad. It's really pretty up close and actually has a fair amount of blue in it. It took just under 2 skeins of knitpicks merino style in the color frost and comes out to be about 13 x 17 inches.

It's going to be really hard to part with this pillow. I want to keep it! Cindy will love it, though, and I even found a great quote about love and trees (I can't remember it right now) that I'm going to write on the back.

Also for their wedding gift, I'm knitting some pretty heart lace using Mandarin Petit cotton. It's so soft! Lastnight I told Mike he had to feel it. He did to humor me and I could tell he wasn't excited to touch my yarn but then he exlaimed, "Wow, that is really soft!" I'm going to sew it onto some pillowcases like the ones in Weekend Knitting. I don't know if I'll have these done by their wedding since it's just over a week away! I can't believe we leave for El Salvador on Tuesday! I'm so excited but I have lots of packing and trip planning to do before then.

I don't think I'll be needing these inEl Salvador. I finished them because I went camping in the mountains last weekend and I needed some warm clothes. I finished the second one while I was sitting by the campfire just as the last of the light was leaving the sky. It was perfect timing and as soon as it got chilly that 1st night, I got to wear them!
It's a great pattern. I totally recommend it! You can find it for free here. The only modification I made was to extend the cable pattern all the way to the top instead of ending with a few rows of plain ribbing. I used Lamb's Pride worsted and used less than 1 skein!

Do you notice the green in the picture? That's my new backyard!! It no longer looks like this. Our baby grass grew up and it's a real lawn now!

Lasly, I'll leave you with a pretty purple picture. This is lettuce that I got from the farm last week. It's the prettiest lettuce ever and it tased really good too.