A little knitting update for you on this rainy Saturday. Poor Drew. His scarf has taken a back seat to everything, it seems. Luckily he is understanding. Right now I’m working on a hat for Jolene‘s hat drive. I’ve been looking forward to knitting this because I thought it would be a great chance to take a simple hat and jazz it up with some embroidery or knit flowers — something I’ve been wanting to try for a while. Also, as I was knitting last night it made me realize how lucky I am to have two healthy little boys, and that both my husband and I are healthy. Cancer is so scary, and the patients and their families have to be so strong. I think that I can see myself continuing to knit and donate chemo caps, as just a small way of providing comfort to people who need it. Plus, it really is a reality check for me — a reminder to not sweat the small stuff, you know? Life is too short for that. So yes… I’m enjoying knitting my hat and hopefully I will be able to knit up at least one more. I found some really cute patterns; I’d like the chance to use one of them. And if you’re interested in knitting or crocheting a hat or two, the information is on her blog. Each and every hat will be appreciated!
Category Archives: Knitting & Crochet
Movies and Knitting and Stuff, Oh My
So not too much has been going on around here this week. I’m knitting the most ridiculous things: tiny scarves and hats for wine bottles for a window display. Totally goofy, yet cute and funny at the same time. When they’re done and the window has been decorated, I’ll have to take a picture.
Had a false-alarm this week with a house showing. That was really annoying. Our realtor left a message on Monday that there was going to be a showing Tuesday morning between 11 and 12. Now, that’s a rough time for me to be out with the kids because 1) it’s lunch time and 2) Noah takes a nap right after lunch so he’s also tired around that time. Nevertheless, we busted our butts to make sure the house was clean and, really, it sparkled. It looked so pretty! So you can just imagine how disappointed I was when I returned from grocery shopping with one hungry child and one sleeping child and heard a message from our realtor that the showing never happened. The buyer decided it was too far. Um, hello? This is something that she could have figured out before making the appointment. Has she not heard of the many mapping sites online? So that was very disappointing. But now our house is nice for us. I guess. I’m sure you are all tired of hearing me say this but I am so frustrated. I never in a million years would have thought selling a house would be this hard.
Anyway, last night Drew and I watched “X-Men: The Last Stand.” It was entertaining, but at the same time a little disappointing. I felt there were some holes that could have been patched. And what happened to Nightcrawler? He is completely absent from the movie, without explanation! Good effects in the movie, but the dialogue was eh and the color wash in the Golden Gate Bridge scene was totally weird. I don’t know if there was a reason for it, or if it was a processing error. All in all, it was a let down. But Hugh Jackman was still hot, so that’s a good thing! 🙂
Not much else has been going on. A quiet week over here.
Yarn Raffle for a Good Cause
My friend Holly‘s grandmother passed away in December, and she is raffling off a very special skein of her own handspun yarn in her honor. You may order tickets to benefit Mountain Valley Hospice in Gloversville, NY (they helped Holly’s grandmother and family during her last days). The drawing will be on February 1. You can buy tickets at Miss Hawklet. It’s a good cause and I can personally attest to the amazing quality of Miss Hawklet yarn. I already bought my ticket!
Calorimetry
— Pattern here.
— About half a skein of Patons SWS in Natural Earth
— Size 8 needles
I CO 100 stitches instead of 120 and I think it could be a smidge smaller yet (and I have a huge egg head). Not sure if I like it or not. Well, I love the way it came out, but I’m not sure I like how it looks on me. It does keep my ears nice and warm, though! And I got to use some scrapbooking materials on this — an SEI button (not shown), heh!
Drop Stitch Scarf
C’est finis! Yesterday I finally finished putting the fringe on my drop stitch scarf. I love it! It’s a little scratchy, but that might be because it’s been so warm this December that I’m not used to wearing anything with wool in it.
The details:
— Patons SWS in “Natural Earth”
— Knit on Size 11 Denise needles
— About 48.5 inches long, plus fringe
I still have to finish that Christmas scarf, but I’m going to cast on for Calorimetry, just so I have something to work on when the giftee is around.
What a weekend!!!
Oh my goodness. There is just so much to write about that I am actually going to have to use subheads, I think. Let’s begin, shall we?
She Said Yes!!! And Happy Birthday!!!
Not only was yesterday my little brother’s birthday (well, little… he’s 29!), but it was also a very exciting day because the night before he asked his girlfriend Kathy (Noah’s godmother) to marry him! And she said yes! I am super excited for them (I also got to help pick out the ring a couple weekends ago when we went shopping on Black Friday!). Mike and Kathy are perfect together and I’m so happy that she will officially be part of our family. Yay!
I Got My Purse!
First I just want to tell everyone what a great swap partner Tracy is! She had knit and mailed my original bag at the beginning of November, only to have Fed*Ex lose it en route. I felt terrible for her, but she wanted to reknit the bag. It arrived safely in New York on Saturday, as you can see, and I absolutely love it! It’s just my style, the colors are perfect, and she included some great goodies too — cicular needles, two balls of pretty magenta/dark pink yarn (I see a lacey scarf being made out of this!), a notepad, and a yummy lemon candle.
Tracy, thank you so much for all of your work and effort. I appreciate it so much!
Greatest SP9 Pal!
I have been totally spoiled this weekend. First the purse, and then two packages from my SP9 partner. What an amazing early Christmas present! Two books that had been on my wishlist (I’ve begun flagging projects I can’t wait to start), and five (five!!!) skeins of gorgeous Knit Picks yarn. I have not had a chance to order from them myself, but I’ve heard/read about how great their yarns are and I am so impressed! I can’t stop petting the ball of Panache (a blend of baby alpaca, cashemere, silk, and merino wool). The colors are all gorgeous and I would have picked them out myself. Now I really have motiviation to finish this Irish Hiking Scarf so I can start on fun new projects! Thank you so much! You made a great weekend even better!
Par-tay
Our wine-tasting party yesterday was a lot of fun! There were just a couple of Drew’s friends here, as well as his brother. The food was a hit, we had just the right amount of wine, and everyone had a great time. Plus, there’s camembert leftover, which is always a good thing 🙂
And now it’s back to the old grind. I have kind of a busy week ahead of me (but I guess it’s always busy this time of year, isn’t it?), and I really need to finish up my Christmas cards! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be enclosing photos this year. The family photo we took (the same one in my sidebar), was shot in lo-res mode by accident, and the quality is kind of crappy for prints. I hope no one will be upset. We plan on getting a a portrait taken at an actual studio in February, so our relatives will just have to sit tight for a couple months. OK, I just realized how late it is already and I need to start getting things organized for the day.
Christmasy Cloths
I knit both of these for the Winter Wonderland Dishcloth Swap. The first one is a pattern called “Dish Pan Bubbles” from the January issue of Creative Knitting. I fell in love with this pattern and I like how it turned out, but I have to tell you… those K3TBLs were a bitch. Sorry, but there is no other way to put it. Maybe I was knitting a little tight, but I had a hard time with those.
The other cloth, a snowman pattern, is one I whipped up this afternoon. The pattern is from the Knitted Kitty Dishcloth Group. Easy and straightforward. The one I wanted to do is the reindeer cloth on the group’s home page, but I didn’t have enough brown in my stash. Too bad because it is so freaking cute! I’m hoping to do one more dishcloth for my swap pal, then package them up along with some goodies and hopefully she’ll get it before Christmas.
Knitting Bling
A few weeks ago, my SP9 hostess asked all of us in her group to knit a dishcloth, and she picked four random winners of the people who met the challenge. I was one of them! Last week I got these gorgeous stitch markers in the mail. How pretty are they? Thank you!!!
::Yawn::
It’s kind of a lazy Friday over here: quiet, grey, waiting for rain or thunderstorms or some kind of “weather” to make it’s way. We never did put the Christmas decorations up last weekend, so I think that is going to be this weekend’s priority. I also hope to set up the tripod and get a family photo to include with Christmas cards (which means that I should probably go ahead and buy some cards!) My shopping is basically done. There are a couple things I still have to order online, but I’m not stressing out over anyone’s gifts. I am, however, a little stressed that some of the knitting projects I’m working on will be done in time. Yikes! I might be giving people partially complete-projects and I.O.U.’s.
We’re also having just a couple people over on the 10th (people D. works with) for a wine tasting party-type-thing, so I really need to come up with a pairings menu. Nothing crazy, but still. (He should probably let me know what wines he wants to taste first!) Actually, I think one of the wines is going to be this chamomile infused grappa. I know, sounds odd, right? But it’s really quite amazing, and I’m not a grappa drinker or a fan of chamomile. Once I learned the correct way to taste grappa, it made an enormous difference. You can appreciate something, even though you don’t really care for it, if that makes sense.
The Santa Claus photo-op was a semi-success last weekend. J. was incredibly excited this year and we got a great photo of him with the big guy. N., on the other hand, was absolutely terrified as soon as we got near the North Pole set-up. I am not one to take photos of my screaming child with Santa, so J. went up by himself. I know some people think it’s funny and all, but I don’t like it one bit. It’s not that important, you know? Anyway… The photo of J. is over on Flickr, but if you weren’t on my friends list and didn’t see it, e-mail me or comment and I’ll add you.
I should get some knitting done but I am feeling so lazy today. Maybe another cup of tea will help 🙂
Drat
I had to unravel my Irish Hiking Scarf. Maybe it’s for the best. I was looking through One Skein yesterday and I kind of like the Two Cable Scarf in there a little better. It’s very similar to the Irish Hiking Scarf except the cables aren’t continuous. I’ll look at it again later and decide. Argh.