Tuesday's Treasure

I have had a busy week (and it's only Tuesday)! Well, actually, I've been rather busy a lot lately so I hardly ever know what day it is anymore since they all just run right into eachother. I hardly know where to begin! Keep reading though to find a treasure hidden in this post because, well, it's Tuesday!

Saturday my hubby and I spent nearly a whole day first getting to then sitting through our first Alpacas of MN meeting. It is of course all new and we only knew a few people there. Despite not knowing many people, I apparently knew at least two of the right people and managed to get nominated for the Hospitality Commitee. I will be responsible for the Northwest quadrant of Minnesota. I think it will be a good thing so I won't complain. I think it will be a great way to network within the alpaca community without too much commitment :D.

After our trip back from our meeting my hubby and I tortured ourselves with taxes for hours upon hours on end. We now have five different business entities to do taxes for and man is it ever a pain in the you know what! Since we have businesses that are incorporated we need to file by March 15th. I sure could have found something much more enjoyable to spend the rest of my Saturday and my whole Sunday doing!

My son has been terribly sick with the flu. So far he's the only one of six (little kiddos) to come down with it so I am keeping my fingers crossed! I will really be busy if the rest of them get that way too ;-( Good thing my hubby is taking me to Las Vegas in April! Our first vacation in what, four years???

If you hadn't heard yet, I chatted a bit with Denise Layman on her Knitting 911 call in show this past Sunday. I would highly recommend checking her show out! Denise has a great on air presence. She made me feel very comfortable even though she told me I was live and was being recorded. Denise is also a great problem solver and she would love to hear your knitting emergencies! She has a blogtalkradio link on her blog at KnitChat.com with the show she did on Sunday. So, don't be shy, give her a ring on her next show with your knitting emergency, I know she would love to hear from you!

I have a new pattern for you today! Yeah! It was so graciously test knitted up for me by my friend Lisa Anderson. She did a fabulous job! She didn't use a fine gauge loom as I had written in my pattern to use, but rather a small gauge AJAL loom and it turned out well. It is a leaping dolphin!



Leaping Dolphin Dishcloth
By Karen Gielen

Materials:
Knitting Loom: Fine gauge loom or Dishcloth Rake with a minimum of 35 pegs.
Yarn: Approx. 200 yds 100% cotton medium/worsted weight yarn.
Notions: Yarn Needle, Scissors, Crochet hook
Gauge: 16sts and 16 rows=4"

Instructions:
Cast on 35 (clockwise on a round loom or left to right on a single sided rake)
Pattern Notes: To speed knit this cloth e-wrap and knit the knit stitches in the garter stitch on all sides and flat knit within the picture portion of the pattern. Beginning tail weaving tip: On round one, just before you reach the last three to four pegs, take the tail piece and e-wrap pegs clockwise. Continue to knit (counterclockwise) with working yarn to end of round knitting over top loop with the bottom and middle loop (cast on loop and loop from tail). Your tail piece is now automatically woven in!
1. K35
2. P35
3. K35
4. P35
5. K35
6. P35
7. K35
8. P4 K27 P4
9. K35
10. P4 K5 P4 K1 P4 K13 P4
11. K35
12. P4 K6 P3 K1 P3 K14 P4
13. K35
14. P4 K7 P5 K3 P1 K4 P3 K4 P4
15. K35
16. P4 K2 P1 K2 P7 K2 P1 K1 P1 K2 P1 K3 P1 K1 P1 K1 P4
17. K35
18. P4 K1 P1 K1 P2 K2 P4 K1 P2 K1 P1 K1 P2 K1 P2 K2 P1 K2 P4
19. K35
20. P4 K2 P1 K2 P7 K2 P1 K1 P1 K2 P1 K2 P1 K2 P1 K1 P4
21. K35
22. P4 K1 P1 K1 P2 K1 P4 K2 P2 K3 P2 K4 P2 K2 P4
23. K35
24. P4 K6 P4 K17 P4
25. K35
26. P4 K6 P4 K17 P4
27. K35
28. P4 K5 P5 K17 P4
29. K35
30. P4 K5 P6 K2 P1 K13 P4
31. K35
32. P4 K5 P6 K1 P3 K12 P4
33. K35
34. P4 K5 P6 K2 P3 K11 P4
35. K35
36. P4 K5 P11 K11 P4
37. K35
38. P4 K6 P11 K4 P2 K4 P4
39. K35
40. P4 K6 P17 K4 P4
41. K35
42. P4 K7 P15 K5 P4
43. K35
44. P4 K8 P14 K5 P4
45. K35
46. P4 K9 P13 K5 P4
47. K35
48. P4 K10 P12 K5 P4
49. K35
50. P4 K11 P10 K6 P4
51. K35
52. P4 K11 P9 K7 P4
53. K35
54. P4 K10 P4 K13 P4
55. K35
56. P4 K8 P5 K14 P4
57. K35
58. P4 K9 P3 K15 P4
59. K35
60. P4 K27 P4
61. K35
62. P35
63. K35
64. P35
65. K35
66. P35
67. K35
68. P35

Finishing:
Bind off loosely with the crochet method, using one chain stitch in between each loom loop. Weave in ends with yarn needle.

Copyright 2008 Karen Gielen for personal, non-commercial use only. All rights reserved.

Before I go, I want to tell you about a contest you can enter to win an iPod Nano. The only requirements are:

• You have a blog (any type of blog will do)
  
• You can only enter once
  
• You need to blog about this contest before February 8th
  
• You need to post your blog entry on the MoneyBlogger's site
  

Good Luck!