Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Perfect Knitting Day

Today is the perfect day for knitting.  It's steadily raining.  I have the windows open so I can listen to the rain.

It's cool enough that a hot cup of coffee is needed.  The Oreos are not needed but taste delicious.

And I have two new projects on the needles.  EZ's Raglan Sweater for my hubby.  We've been together 19 years and this is the first sweater I will knit him.  I'm using Tahki New Tweed and it's working up great.

The other project I started is the Dane Shawl.  This is being made with Stricken Smitten's Smitten Boo (merino/bamboo).  I am in love with her yarn...all of them!  This is a Xmas gift for someone (shhh...secret).  I started this the same time as the sweater to offset the boring stockinette.  The sweater is great mindless TV knitting but when I have quiet time during the day I want a mindful project...and more Oreos.... :)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

FO's

Wow, it's been awhile since there was any knitting on this blog. Well, there has been a lot of knitting, not a lot of show and tell. So here we go.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Needles: US 7 and 8
Mods:  I did k4p2 for the ribbing and I made 3/4 length sleeves

Yarn: Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock Stripe colorway Panther Pride
Needle: US 1.5
Mods: I opted for a standard 2x2 rib for cuff

Yarn: Stricken Smitten Sport colorway Redwood
Needle: US 3
Mods: I did not twist any stitches

 There has also been a few preemie pumpkin hats for charity but I forgot to take a picture before I sent them off.  I'm participating in Single Skein September (started by the podcast Stash and Burn).  So the hats and mitts are part of that and I have an adult hat and scarf on the needles also.  Great way to make you use up those single skeins you didn't have a plan for. 

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Recovery

My last post said you would have to wait to hear what I was thankful for. Well I was supposed to be thankful for my girl's weekend in Vermont. I headed up to Vermont to visit friends. Some knew I was coming and some were surprised. I was attending a bag party Friday night and then we spent the next night at a friends house on the lake where we suprised her with an "adult" party for her birthday. These were all good things and I am thankful to have spent time with everyone, however it was soured by bad news from my house.

The Friday that I arrived in Vermont, one of our dogs Lily took a fall down the stairs. It was a bad fall that resulted in her being paralyzed. A few years ago we had surgery done on her bladder to move it into proper positioning and it was stapled to her abdomen walls. The fall caused the bladder to rip away and caused a lot of internal damage. We had to put her to sleep. She was only 3.

Lily (Dec06-Sept10)

Within one weeks time we had one of our birds die, Lily die, and then the fish died. How the kids survived all this I do not know. DH was amazing, handling everything while I was in Vermont. All attention is now focused on our dog Henry. He is a little lost right now without Lily but we are spoiling him rotten.

Henry

To recover, we all went camping this weekend. Surprising cool mornings sitting around a fire, warm afternoons playing in the lake, and family time teaching the kids to play Euchre. Just what the doctor ordered.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Thankful Thursday

is postponed. You'll have to wait to find out what I'm thankful for on Monday...

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Summer Blues

So this summer I tried not to buy too much yarn but as new store, coupon, or web sale presented itself, I found that I did added 3 sweaters worth of yarn to my stash. Evidently I am entering my blue mood.


The yarn on the left is Malabrigo Worsted in Bobby Blue purchased with a 20% off coupon at one of my local stores, Cozy's. I'm thinking of knitting this into Concur or Subatomic's version of the Shalom Cardigan.

The yarn in the middle is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in colorway Azul. This was purchased at my first ever visit to Knitting Addiction in Kill Devil Hills, NC. I've wanted to touch this yarn for awhile now and once I did I had to buy it. I am hoping it knits up as good as it feels. Also, Knitting Addiction is currently my favorite store in North Carolina. It was huge, had all my favorite yarns and much more, and I wished I could have stayed and hung out awhile. It's a good thing it's 3+ hours from my house or my wallet would always be empty. This yarn I'm hoping to knit into the Lutea-Lace Shoulder Shell.

The last yarn is Malabrigo Worsted (again) in colorway Marine. I have wanted this colorway for quite a while but every time I went to look for it, it was sold out. My luck improved for the Loopy Ewe's anniversary sale. I was hoping to buy the Malabrigo Twist this time but that colorway was there in the Worsted and that was that. This yarn is hopefully going to be knit up into Weezalana's version of the Lion Neck Cardigan.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

RIP - Luna


One of our dear little birds passed away today. She was the noisy one of the two and now the silence is sad. She will be missed.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

August?

Wow! Where did August go? We went to visit family in Michigan the first week and then I blinked and the kids were back to school and it's September. Michigan was the only "real" vacation we took this summer. The heat kept us inside and away from doing our normal summer things in NC but MI was nice to us. Lake Huron was warm, calm, and clear.


The family cabin.
DD#1 Out sailing with her great uncle.

DD#2 Working up the nerve to ride the jet ski alone. Made her dad ride very slow. Too slow for dad. She finally rode alone on 3rd day but never cracked 15mph.

This photo is of a pier in Kitty Hawk, NC. DD#1 and I spent 2 days there while DD#2 was at camp. Very hot but the water was nice and cool. She took this photo and I took the one below of the sunrise...sometime around 6am.


Here's to hoping that we have a long, cool, beautiful autumn.