In the Blink of an Eye

Rather a sad day here for me. My son, Michael just left to go back to NYC. We won't see him again until sometime in the spring or summer. It was so wonderful having him here for the 9 days. He liked the two hats I made for him for Christmas and wore them while he was here. It sure didn't seem like 9 days. The whole Christmas thing flew by. After New Years day I'll start to take down and put away all the decorations. It took me about 3 days to put it all up, and probably will take me 2 to get it put away. I'm amazed, actually, how fast time goes by in general. Wasn't it just a bit ago we took the kids up to Traverse City over New Years for skiing? Lots of snow and people. What a blast. I never skiied before that time and was very scared to try. I don't like to fall! After several attempts, I made it down the bunny hill without falling and just snowplowed my way down. Fast enough for me. lol! The kids zoomed by me, taking to it right away.
I've started knitting a baby hat out of Artful Yarns Reality, which is a cabled yarn, not plied. Its for Danny and Stacy Grants little daughter who will be 5 mos old. Her shower is January 12th. The hat turned out too big and I ran out of yarn before finishing. I followed the pattern as written. curses! I frogged the whole thing and started over, going down one needle size and casting on 2 sts less. That should do it. If not, I'll get her a gift instead. I'm not going to make myself crazy over a baby hat.
I got some new yarn, Dream In Color Classy, in the Black Parade colorway. I took a pic of it, but you can't see the color shading in the yarn so I'm not going to post it. Its black/charcoal/blue. Really pretty. I'm going to make Mike a runners scarf. Its a large tube, actually, and you can wear it like a neck gaitor, or a hood or a face covering. It's for running/walking out in the winter weather. Should work out fine, if I ever get it started/finished. I'll get him to model it and a pic taken. I'm also going to make a similar thing for my nephew, Andrew, who is leaving for Iraq. He's not overseas yet, but in Dallas waiting for deployment. It's a helmet liner which is Army approved. It's a balaclava, and it covers your head, leaving just your nose and eyes uncovered. I got some good wool and it shouldn't take long to do. We are all praying for him. He won't be back for about 15 months.
Back to work tomorrow, New Years Eve. Back to the usual stuff.

Deep Breath

Here's the One Row Scarf I mentioned in an earlier post. I really like how its turning out. The color looks more muted than it actually is. I photographed it on my dining room table with a rust colored tablecloth. Also pictured, are a pair of mittens I made for my sister for Christmas. They look great! I love how the yarn made the pattern in them. Its Universal yarn, classic worsted. Nice yarn..washable. I really need to learn how to put the pictures I want to post within the text and not at the top. Its kind of annoying! But, it's better than nothing. I've got a ton of new yarn I want to post here too, but I can't have all the pics at the top of the page. argh!

I made it through Christmas! I had some serious doubts. I actually caught a cold from some dork at work who came to work sick. There were a LOT of people that I work with sick, so its no surprise I was too. Rotten timing! I spent the majority of the time in the kitchen cooking. This was entirely my fault for saying "I'll do it". ha..I'm gonna think twice next year, thats for sure. I'll cook Christmas eve and Christmas day but THAT'S IT. I love to cook and I'm happy when it turns out good and everyone likes it but its a helluva lot of work with planning and shopping. Having a cold didn't make it easier, either.

My sister and her husband left last night for Charlotte, NC and Michael is leaving to drive back to NYC this Sunday. Its so nice having him here! I miss him but I'm very glad he's happy there. I miss all my kids!

I'm off work until New Year's Eve day. I might get a low census day then too and not have to go in. I've been off for a week and its been great!

I've got pics of my granddaughter and other family pics I want to post as well. Stay tuned!!

Moving along with my Loopy Ewe project. I should have it done by mid January, if I keep at it. I have a tendency to shift around to other projects. I have..um..5 active as of now. 2 scarves, one pair of mittens, the Loopy project and a pair of socks. Almost done with my cashmere cable scarf, so maybe I could say 4.5 projects. yeah..that sounds better.

Home Stretch

Well golll-ee. I actually finished all my Christmas knitting. This is really my first year of doing that. It might be my last. I don't think its such a good idea to go nuts with projects for just about EVERYONE in my family that would wear knitted stuff. Next year, I might stick to just my sister, oldest son and daughter. There's just so much I want to knit for myself and can't get to. Maybe I do better when there is a purpose for the FO and a deadline to make. eh...who knows?
I got the bestest gift ever for Christmas! My husband already gave it to me so I could take pics of our granddaughter before she leaves to go back to Iowa on the 23rd. She's not spending Christmas with us this year, so we're having a mini one on the 22nd for her. Its a Canon power shot..something. (Theres numbers that follow.) Its pretty high tech compared to the camera I had. I have to go through the instruction book to figure everything out. Notice I said "book" and not "booklet". Yep..its pretty detailed. All I really want to know is how to take the pic and delete the ones that I don't want. Its got a thing-y to put the little disk in so you can plug it into the port in my computer so I can load the stuff onto Flickr. I gotta get my daughter again to start me up. Once she shows me how, then I can do it. Either her or bf Patrick. Its got a macro thing on it for super close ups, and I gotta figure out how to do that as well.
Had a pretty big snow storm last night and today. We got about 8 or 9 inches, I guess. Very windy so the snow was blowing all over the place. Its stopped as of now and very clear and cold.
In a previous post, I said I bought some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran to make my Irish Hiking scarf. Well, it was that same yarn I used to make Katie's Fetching..and it pills and fuzzes something awful. So, I'm taking it back to Neighborhood Knits and getting something else instead. Its really pretty yarn and I really like it, but not for that project. I doubt I'll use it again for anything. I got some of this from WEBS: http://yarn.com/webs/0/0/0/0-1001-1294-1323/0/0/4452/ Its Di.Ve' Zenith in Cornflower Blue. If I don't find anything at Neighborhood Knits thats what I'm going to use for the scarf. It's half price and I think its beautiful. I read in someones post on Knitty that its a bit splitty. I'll have to see. I'm planning on using rather blunt needles so that should help. As soon as I finish the two scarves that I'm working on now, the double cable scarf in the Cashmere, and the One Row Scarf from the Harlot in Print 127 (which is REALLY pretty) then I'll start the Irish Hiking scarf.
This is my queue: Irish Hiking scarf, Chevron scarf by Joelle Hoverson: STR lightweight in Scottish Highlands and Metamorphic, about 4 pairs of socks: Soxxie in Serengetti, Lornas Laces Shepherd sock in Denim, and one pair in Black Watch, Wollmeise in Dani, and my Loopy Ewe Swap project which I have to finish by February. Yeah, I'd say I have a lot to do. I have no business buying any more yarn. yeah, right. So why do I continue to buy? Because I see gorgeous yarn that I can picture knitted up and it makes me happy! so there. ;)

Yes, its that time of year again for Santa Mom/wife

Uh huh..its that time. Time for absolute craziness which I vow not to get caught up in every year..and I still do. Decorate the house? check. Shop for gifts? check. Plan/shop/cook the food. check..(or about to). Finish my knitted gifts? check almost. Wrap presents? check. Keep house clean? ..well..half check. Be utterly cheerful and not overwhelmed?..um..trying. One solid month of all this planning and implementing..and its over within a 24-36 hour period. Amazing.
I do like Christmas..and I do like being busy. But..geez.
I have my knitted projects that I wanted to get done for gifts, done. tada! There are two extra ones that I really should finish, and will try to, but I'm not going to go nuts finishing them. Once I have a wee bit more time, I have some picture taking to do and posting of things. I have some more yarn to post and a couple finished things to show. I found a free pattern on the Yarn Harlots website for "One Row Scarf". Its really easy! Use worsted weight yarn, size US 8 needles. Cast on 26 stitches, or any multiple of four to make it wider or narrower. I cast on 30 and its about 5 inches wide. Ok..the pattern is : *K2, K into the back of the next stitch, P1*. Repeat between asterisks. Thats it. When you get to the last two stitches in the row, K2. Its a reversible pattern and it looks really nice with yarn that doesnt have a lot of color in it. What I mean is that highly varigated yarn hides the pattern. Ask me how I know. :-(. I tried Malabrigo, which is a worsted weight yarn, in Stonechat. It is black/gray/purple/burgundy and way too busy for this pattern. I frogged it and started over with Print 127, which is a Filatura Di Crosa yarn. Nice color way of muted orange/brown/camel with bits of other colors thrown in. Its different, for sure. Kinda picky-scratchy but I'm hoping once the scarf is finished I can soak it in wool wash so it'll soften up. I've got about 6 inches done and I really love how it looks. I know I keep promising pics and I'll get them up soon.
My son, Michael is coming home for Christmas and getting here on the 21st. Can't wait to see him! My sister and her husband are arriving here from Charlotte, NC on the 21st also. Gonna have a full house and its great! Katie has moved back home, too. We don't have a large family, really..about 11 of us will be here for dinner on the 25th. Just for that alone...that everyone is here at the same time makes all the work worthwhile.

A Week of Busy

I haven't had the chance to post this week because of crazy-bizzi-ness. Mike has been sick for the past two weeks with bronchitis/pneumonia. He can't seem to shake it, but says he feels better a bit every day. His cough is horrendous sounding.
I decided on Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/debbie-bliss-cashmerino-aran for my Irish Hiking scarf. I think I used it once before when I knitted a pair of Fetching http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fetching for my daughter and it fuzzed something awful. I can't even look that up because I don't keep notes on my knitting. tsk tsk. I know I should for just this reason. Anyway, too late now! I like how the yarn looks and it should knit up nicely. I also got the Great Adirondack Soxie yarn in Serengeti. This is some beautiful yarn!! As soon as I get it photographed I'll put it up. I also broke down and finally bought a yarn swift and a ball winder. The swift is from The Knitting Zone and its a table top model rather than the clamp kind. I don't think I have a table edge that would accommodate the clamp. It works great and I have all the yarn that needed to be wound, wound up. I have 4 skeins left that I'm considering trading/swapping/selling. Not sure though. I don't like it as much as I did, and I have a LOT of yarn that is wound that I would rather knit up.
I saw a pretty neat camera today over at Best Buy. Its a Canon Powershot. The digital camera I'm using now is ok..a Fuji. Its like a box..a cube shaped camera and kind of unwieldy. I bought it when Chris was in basic training and that was in 2002 (I think). Takes ok pics I guess but I'd like a new one that is smaller with more features..like a macro for taking close ups.
I got Mikes Christmas present today..which is why I was at Best Buy. I hope he likes it!! and nope..I ain't sayin'.
Almost done with my Christmas knitting. yaaay!!..finally.