A very long post...

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I would've done this post earlier, but I didn't have access to a camera. So be prepared for a long one.

I just got back from Europe. I went on a 5 (small) country tour. Mostly it was just a tour of Italy though. We went to France, but we didn't even tour Paris. I didn't like it at all. The worst part was the first hotel we stayed in. We toured London by ourselves first, so we stayed in a hotel that was really just a haunted mansion. The phones were fake, the owners were evil, there were bugs in some of the rooms, and channel 4 on the TV was used to spy on people. It sucked.

Of course I knit on the trip, so before we left I got my mom to take me to Walmart to buy this:

A family friend is pregnant right now and the baby is due in September. So I bought some Pound of Love to make a blanket for him. First I tried theSunny Baby Blanket. I frogged it because I only did one row of garter stitch instead of five. I tried to unravel it but I went too far. So here it is, my failed attempt.

So then I started the  Diagonal Baby Blanket from Lion Brand. I didn't like it at all.



Since I've got quite some yarn left over, I'm thinking about making an Owlie Sleep Sack for that baby. But I need size 8 DPNs. Luckily my mom's bringing me to JoAnn's this weekend, mainly to look into classes (I'm pretty sure Secret Mermaid Life's a no go), but it's the perfect opportunity to pick up some yarn for a striped cardigan I'm dying to make because I saw one exactly like it on TV and get me some DPNs which I seriously lack (I don't do circular knitting a lot).

I've bought quite a few things while in Europe too. No yarn though, which totally sucks because apparently, yarn stores and tourism don't mix. I did buy a tote bag in Milan though:



Now I'm using this as a knitting bag.

I also got three I <3 ____ t-shirts. They are Paris, Rome, and Italy in general. They were Jerry, my 16 year old cousin's idea. I really do miss Jerry. He's a great guy. He's really funny, yet his jokes are sometimes just not right. We laughed our butts off listening to his stand up routines. For example there's one where his dad goes into an India-operated McDonald's asking for chow mein. And his jokes always ended with his dad calling him a pig head and threatening to kick his ass. He also gave me some great advice about things like boys and popularity. He was like the big brother I never had. But no the brother I actually do have is four and the worst excuse ever for a sibling.

On the day we left for Europe, I finished that shrug. I slacked off on the end weaving, so there's an odd end sticking out of one of the sleeves. It also pilled a little. I should've used Jiffy instead of Homespun.

And here's the back.