It's the last step that always gets me...

 Though it has been looking like I haven't been working on anything, I really have been.  I got a little crazy with head bands and made three of them over the span of a week.  The two outer ones are knit and the middle was crocheted.

 

The one on the right has a Daisy Stitch pattern, the middle was just a remake of a knitted pattern but done in single crochet, and the one on the left was a yo, k2tog lace I kind of did on the fly.

Here is a picture of the other side of the crochet headband.  I think it is so cool how the colors came out on it.  I had a hard time stopping the middle area.  I just wanted to keep going.

They are all missing something however.  They have all been blocked, which is usually the step that takes me the longest to do.  They are all missing buttons though.  Kind of hard to use a headband with no way to secure it onto your head, am I right?  I have a few other things that just need that one last (and usually) easy step to be finished.  Not sure why this is so hard.

I have been very addicted to making these though.  They are about 1.5" across the hoop part.  I have them listed on Etsy but I am posting here for another reason.  If I get enough followers someday I hope to have sales on items and then just donate money to one charity or another. 

I know these won't keep anyone warm, but I hope they will make someone feel special.  I made them for the TAPS event.  My phone has been getting more and more cranky about taking pictures, so the colors are a bit odd in the picture.

In other news, I am going on a trip in May.  The hubby, some friends, and I are going to Germany.  I am a bit nervous, I've never been anywhere where some form of English wasn't the main language.  I do, at least, have my passport for it.  It is a long(ish) story where my first one never showed-up and then drama ensued.

I have been planning the hardest part of the trip.  What will I bring to work on?  There is a long list of what the things need to have and not have.  Things need to be interesting enough that I have fun working on it, but not so complicated that I need to set aside a good chunk of time to work on it.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

• Body of a pretty simple baby blanket I am half designing in my head.  The outer edge will have lace and lots of stitches, but the main body will be easy to pick-up and put back down.  This will be good while waiting for things or traveling from point A to B.
• A lace shawl for the longer down times.  Not sure how many long down times there will be during the trip, but I know there will be one at the beginning and one at the end.  Though it is only an eight hour plane ride to get there...it is still an eight hour plane ride.  I have the yarn and needles for Skywalker already packet.  I already have a few modifications for it in mind because I might not have enough yarn.
• Probably also the stuff for a pair of some type of fingerless mitts.  They are just fun to make and don't really need a reason to happen.

At some point I need to start figuring out other things I will need...like weather/activity appropriate clothing.  I still have a few weeks for that part.

For now I will be wishing everyone a Happy Easter and finally casting on that baby surprise jacket I have had planned for a while.  First the needles went into hiding, then I put the yarn in some unknown location, but then after finding both of those at the same time the pattern is no where to be seen.  I found the pattern when looking for notes I made about a shawl I wanted to design.  While the notes are still on the missing list, the baby sweater pattern is not.