The Quiet Knitter

One Milo

2009-04-17T10:07:00.002-04:00

I have one Milo done. It fits perfectly except for the toe which is a little too pointy for me. I'm knitting them in Paton's Kroy. I just barely had enough in one skein to finish this sock. I like the pattern a lot. Very pretty. Maybe I will put them aside for someone's gift later in the year. They are almost too pretty for me to wear.

Milo

2009-04-10T09:30:00.002-04:00

My newest project is Milo from cookie a's Sock Innovation. I'm knitting it in Paton's Kroy. It is a fun knit. I love her patterns. Here is the front of the leg:
Here is the back of the leg with an X and O cable:
I'm ready to start the heel now.

Trying Something New

2009-04-06T10:47:00.003-04:00

I'm trying something new. I have a new computer and camera so why not a new layout? My old blog is so outdated that I should start over anyway. Here is the Whisper Cardigan from IK Spring 2009.

This is the Striped Pullover from Knitting Noro by Jane Ellison. a very easy knit.

Cate

2008-10-14T11:56:00.002-04:00

Cate
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

Here is my new favorite project; Cate from Kim Hargreaves' Thrown Together Collection. I am knitting her in Rowan Kid Classic which is one of my favorite yarns. I am finishing the back now. I also dug out some sock yarn which matches Cate perfectly so I will have a sweater and a pair of socks to wear next month. What fun!

CC Done

2008-10-06T10:42:00.003-04:00

I finally finished my Cabled Cardigan from Karabella. The knitting was done awhile ago but I couldn't get the yoke to look right when I sewed it on. It must have taken me 5 tries before I got it. I ended up slip stitching it on from the inside so that the cast off edge showed. I am very happy with the finished result. And it fits beautifully.

I couldn't find a shirt or blouse I liked with it since I was in a rush yesterday. I can see from my recent pictures that I have let my wardrobe go in the last couple of years. I need to do some clothes shopping! So ignore the sloppy jeans and shirt and look at how the sleeves are just the right length for a change. Yeah!

The last two weeks I have been pretty sick fighting off a flu or virus so I haven't been knitting as much as I'd like. My blog also needs to get cleaned up and my Ravelry updated. So much to do!

Interesting Times

2008-09-30T08:02:00.003-04:00

What interesting times we are living in. I have been reading every scrap of news about everything going on in our country and the world and I have to say I have no idea what will happen next! We have a very interesting viewpoint in our family since I grew up in a suburb of Detroit where jobs were lost by the thousands, became a strong liberal, moved to a very conservative area in PA and will be moving to the NYC area in a couple of years. I love reading The Economist and usually agree with their viewpoints but even they didn't think that the bailout would fail. Being from the Midwest, I always felt that my future was dependent on me not on someone rescuing me so it is hard for me to sympathize with Wall street. TOOMA is an economist and even he is saying the world will go on. So it should be interesting to see what happens next. I am knitting away when I have a chance. Here is another finished sweater;
This is Cressida from RYC Classic Woman. I knit it in a medium in soft luxe. Easy knit but lots of finishing which I hate. I got two new books in the mail yesterday, Rowan's Organic Wool Collection and Kim Hargreaves' Thrown Together. I haven't decided which sweater to make first. I also have another sweater done, sewn together and it just needs a few tweaks. I'm making up for lost time.

Lopi Love

2008-09-25T09:15:00.004-04:00

In August I had a sudden urge to do some color work so I got out my lopi. This sweater took about 2 weeks to do. Thats why I love Lopi sweaters, they are quick and easy to knit with no finishing involved. This sweater is from their Lopi Book 82228, No 6. I knit it in a medium but it is a little large on me. Probably should have done a small. I have one more finished sweater and a sweater that needs to be sewn together and then I am all caught up!

Hampstead

2008-09-17T12:41:00.004-04:00

I finished this sweater from Jaeger Handknits Book 8 in August. It is knit out of Jaeger Chamonix a yummy blend of merino wool and angora. I bought the yarn a long time ago and I think Jaeger discontinued it at some point, which is a shame. This design is called Hampstead.

I also finished some socks I started a year or two ago and forgot about. They are knit in some kind of Regia. Tooma was kind enough to model them for me even though they are a little small for him.

I have two more sweaters to take photos of and then I will post what I am trying to finish next.

Tangled Yoke Update

2008-09-14T19:26:00.002-04:00

Back to school finally. We've been traveling a lot this summer so I haven't had time to update my blog (plus I'm lazy). I realized I never updated my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.
It is from IK Fall 2007, designed by Eunny Jang and knit in Rowan Felted Tweed. I knit a larger size than usual so that I could wear it over turtlenecks as a jacket alternative. It is very light and feels great paired with jeans.

Here is a yoke detail photo:
I have a couple of other sweaters finished but I don't have pictures of everything. I'll post them a little at a time.

Alex

2008-06-03T15:31:00.003-04:00

This is the second sweater I made from my Emu superwash dk. It is Alex from Rowan 31. Quite the easy knit. I have wanted to make this sweater for a long time but I was going to make it in cotton. When I saw how much Emu I had left over after making my vest, I figured why not make it out of wool. I'm hot all the time in the winter so this will make a nice sweater to wear when it is not too cold. I have another picture of it on Ravelry but I can't get all my pictures to work today. This one shows the sweater better anyway.
On another note, I have gotten more options for my daughter's fall schedule so all is well. I should be able to relax and knit more in the near future so I am feeling pretty perky! I need to finish my Tangled Yoke Cardigan, all it needs is the front button bands and some buttons so I hope to do that soon. I made my cardigan large so that I could wear it over other shirts and I really like it. I have 3 fall sweaters to put away now. By the time summer is done I should have a whole new sweater wardrobe, haha.

First Sweater

2008-06-02T13:03:00.001-04:00

Catriona
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I found a ton of Emu superwash dk that I had stashed a long time ago and decided to make this little vest out of it. It was a fun knit because the cables kept me interested, but there were no sleeves to distract me. The pattern is from Debbie Bliss Rialto book. I will be making more sweaters from this book since I like almost every pattern. Too bad she still doesn't chart her patterns. I love her designs I just find it easier to follow charted rather than written instructions.

The fight over MD's fall schedule continues so I have been very busy with that. Nothing is ever easy. I thought it was all set up in February but they decided to change their policies at the last moment. Nothing like getting a mommy angry. The emails have been flying as well as phone calls. Finals week and here we are arguing, what a pain! So, thought I would take a little break. Another sweater post tomorrow or Wednesday.

MIA

2008-05-29T09:35:00.002-04:00

Hi to anyone still out there. Life has been hectic and I have had a lot of computer issues and photo issues so have not been able to post. I have lost all of my photos so I have to start over. But I'm not going to let it get me down! I am using a different computer until I figure out whether to buy a new one, so I have lost all my contact info also. Sigh. I have two new sweaters done and I will post them when I get a chance to take pictures. Until then I will be trying to sort everything out.

Spring At Last

2008-03-20T15:13:00.003-04:00

When last we spoke, I was working on my Tangled Cardigan sweater and planning on wearing it for Valentine's Day. Well it never got completely finished. This winter has been hard. The furnace has blown, we had a car accident, trees fell over on neighbor's houses, I sprained a wrist etc etc. I don't know anyone that had a good winter. But today is the first day of spring so things have to get better! I dug out a sock I had started knitting over a year ago....

I have a pretty cross stitch picture almost done....
And I finished a huge afghan for my daughter out of Berocco Air. This isn't the best picture but I didn't want to take it off her bed. Happy Spring!

Diversified

2008-02-05T13:06:00.001-05:00

I've been working on several projects all at one time and I think that it is slowing me down. If I would just stick with one project I think it would go faster but there is so much to do and so little time! I am trying to finish my Tangled Yoke Cardigan first since I wanted it done by next week. I am working on the yoke now.

I try to take a little time to work on my Nordic Stockings but they haven't grown much.

And once in awhile I do a little sewing...

Working Towards Valentine's Day

2008-01-24T09:58:00.001-05:00

Every year I make a red sweater to wear on Valentines Day. This year I started two! One is Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan out of Ik Fall 2007. It's knit in Rowan's felted tweed in a dark red. I have the body done and I'm now working on the first sleeve. It is an easy knit for when I need something mindless.
My other red sweater is Karabella's Cabled Cardigan which I am knitting in Lambs Pride superwash. It is also a deep red. This one I decided to knit it in one piece up to the armholes to make it a little easier to finish.
I'm still working on the Nordic Stockings also. Here is the back of the stocking with two repeats of the pattern. Cool huh?

Piecework"s Norwegian Socks

2008-01-18T08:38:00.001-05:00

Piecework's Norwegian Socks
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I started a new project this week; Piecework's Norwegian Socks. It has been a long time since I did color work so my stitches are a little tight but I am loving the pattern. These are a free download from Piecework Magazine and Nordic Fiber Arts is kitting up the yarn. They got it to me in 2-3 days. Love the whole project! Unfortunately, I am off to the city this week-end and won't return till Tuesday so no knitting on my socks. Ever since I had some yarn and needles taken from me at the airport, I only travel with projects I don't love. While I am gone I am going to search for a new project to leave there. I have no plans, I'm just going to see what hits me. Have a good week-end everyone!

First Sweater of 2008

2008-01-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

TOOMA's sweater is done. My first FO for 2008 though it should have been my last FO of 2007. This is the Collared Jacket designed by Wendy Baker in Scottish Highland Knits. It was knit in navy Peace Fleece with a touch of Rowanspun Aran Hardy for pocket linings. I was worried it would be too small but it fits TOOMA perfectly! It is not fine enough to wear to work but it is perfect for hanging out at home or as a jacket outside in cool but not cold weather. I'd give this project an A+. I think I ran into a couple of little mistakes in the pattern but nothing hard to figure out. It would make an easy first knit. I just got the yarn yesterday for a new project but I need to find my camera before I can post it. Yesterday MD was competing in the National Vocabulary Challenge for our region and I put the camera down somewhere and can't find it! But speaking of the NVC, what a neat idea, and what a hoot it was watching the high school kids compete. I hope she can go back next year. I love doing crossword puzzles so I love words that are strange and boy did they have strange and wonderful words! Back to knitting, I'll put up some pictures of all my projects later in the week.

Jumping Around

2008-01-09T11:49:00.001-05:00

TOOMA and I took a well-deserved 2 week break from everything at Christmas time and so I haven't even looked at my blog since my last post. I finished knitting TOOMA's sweater but never got around to seaming it. I am going to make myself start tonight! I want to get it done by this week-end so he can pick out some buttons. I hope it fits; it looks small. I also finished the peplum on Silver Belle. I stopped at 11 inches even though many knitters are making theirs longer. I was just so bored with it I couldn't take it another minute. I started one sleeve and c0uldn't face doing that either! I am going to start the second sleeve and do both of them together until it is time to co for the yoke.

Being fickle lately, I also started two new projects (well, really three but I might frog the last one). I'll leave those till later so I have something to talk about!

2007-12-24T11:20:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to track Santa!

Gathered Pullover

2007-12-18T06:33:00.001-05:00

Gathered Pullover
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I thought I'd put up a final photo of the finished Gathered Pullover byHana Jason from IK winter 2007. She is knit in Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb in Charcoal. This was the recommended yarn for the pattern. It was an easy knit and the pattern was well-written. I read some discussion on where the gathers were placed but I think it fits beautifully. Wouldn't change a thing, and how often does that happen? All in all I'd give this project an A+.

More Socks

2007-12-14T08:40:00.001-05:00

kafffe regia
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I finished TOOMA's Kaffe Fassett landscape socks. The toes are different because I ran out of yarn! I really like the colors of these socks and they washed up wonderfully. They're all ready to wear now just in time for the winter storm coming our way this week-end.

Super Quick Project

2007-12-11T09:14:00.000-05:00

I knit this little vest in two days! The pattern is from Erika Knight's Classic Knits book and the yarn is Rowan Big Wool Fusion. I have more pictures on Ravelry (my name is tandemknitter).

Ready to Finish

2007-12-06T08:52:00.001-05:00

Gathered Pullover
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I have everything done on this sweater but the neck edging and sewing the sleeves in. I'm going to block her a little and then finish her up in the next week. Can't wait to add her to my wardrobe.

Week-end Getaway

2007-12-03T08:48:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my week-end in the city. First we went to a Christmas Party at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston NJ. That was just a wonderful party, great food lots of nice people and a great atmosphere. Saturday we went into the city which was a mistake. What a zoo. Here is what Rockefeller Center looked like. Then we took an invigorating (because it was freezing) walk through Central Park to get away from all the crowds.
Lastly we went to see the Rembrandt Exhibit at the Metropolitan Musem. The crowds weren't quite as bad there so we were able to enjoy that quite a bit. Now I'm back to my little house where all is quiet. I don't know which I enjoy more, the quiet or all the things to do in NYC. I do know I won't go back there on a week-end before Christmas again. I haven't seen that many tourists since we went to San Francisco. Now to get back to catching up.

Detour

2007-11-29T09:06:00.001-05:00

Gathered Pullover
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I have put everything aside to work on this sweater. It is the gathered pullover designed by Hana Jason from IK winter 2007. I am knitting it in Top of the Lamb sport in charcoal. I love how it is turning out! There has been some discussion out there about how it fits but I love it. Must work for my figure. I was planning on updating everything in the past week but I've just been too busy. Maybe after Christmas when drivers ed is over and the holidays are over. For now, I am off to the city for the week-end. Maybe I will take some pictures since there will be no knitting done over the week-end. Have a good week-end.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAUGHTER IN THE WORLD!!

2007-11-19T12:49:00.000-05:00

Twice in One Week!

2007-11-15T12:08:00.000-05:00

No pictures here today. I am trying to catch up with Ravelry today. I posted a couple of my projects there (you can find me under tandemknitter) and then spent time cruising around. Wonderful stuff! I feel so guilty for letting everything and everyone go. Won't let it happen again.

The Best Intentions

2007-11-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

I had the best of intentions when I said a month ago that I was going to catch up but life has just been too hectic. I should explain more about what is going on here I suppose. Last summer TOOMA took a job in the NYC area. It is a wonderful job but it of course entailed us moving. Well after much soul-searching and investigating we decided to let our daughter finish high school here and then move as empty nesters in a couple of years. So we have set up two households and we go back and forth on the week-ends. It means I have very little time for anything. When I do have time I want to knit rather than blog. So that is why I have been neglecting this poor little blog. In time I hope to have things organized better so that I am not always trying to catch up! I have been knitting a little bit and sewing also. TOOMA's new company has been very supportive and we are looking forward to a new house in a new part of the country as well as getting rid of a lot of baggage. I am hoping to whittle my stash down before the move (mainly because it is so embarrassing). I may end up selling some of it just so I don't have to move it! For now, I have been working on TOOMA's sweater and a pair of socks to match. I also have been sewing off and on and have made a wool skirt for myself with an invisible zipper and fully-lined. It still needs to be hemmed but I am very proud of myself! I also went on a road trip with some friends last week and bought this really neat Vera Bradley basket! Doesn't it look neat with yarn in it? Now I have to get stuff ready for MD b'day and also thanksgiving so I'm not sure how much blogging I will get done. Teachers are threatening to strike here in which case we will pack up and spend part of each week in NYC seeing the sights! I should be looking at where we would like to move but I have more fun just taking the train into the city. So I will try to blog but not sure how much I will get done. Life remains interesting.

Catching Up

2007-10-10T08:34:00.000-04:00

This time of year is always busy for us here but this year we have been busier than usual. This past week-end was Homecoming for MD so there was a parade, and football game and then the big dance. I was really busy getting things ready. After that there was a surprise birthday party and sleep-over for a friend of MD and then yesterday was her apprenticeship so I was down in the city with her for the day. Sometimes I feel like I am living my life through her's! Because of all the teen-age activity going on I am undergoing knitting withdrawal. I need to knit more!. I have about 10 rows of the peplum on Silver Belle done and I continue to knit on TOOMA's jacket. I have some green that I am going to line his pockets with to make it pretty. I got my Vogue knitting yesterday and fell in love with this sweater. I ordered the pattern from Angel Yarns in the UK.

I have to find more time to knit! I also want to get Vogue's new sock knitting book which has some neat patterns in it. Has anyone out there tried any of the patterns? I am so far behind in blogdom I have no idea what is going on anymore. Right now I must go buy some food. We have been living on sandwiches. In the next week or so I hope to catch up on everything!

Toys

2007-10-02T11:29:00.000-04:00

I joined a new KAL last week, the Silver Belle KAL. I bought the yarn for it back in August but hadn't gotten a chance to start knitting. I chanced upon the KAL when I was visiting Liz's blog (Hi Liz). Well it was a great excuse to start a new project, so off I went. Last night I took a good look at my knitting and realized I had set the darn thing up wrong. 428 stitches down the drain! So I am ripping Silver Belle out to start over. Instead of knitting pics, here are some new toys. A pink hippo to store some things in and some needle tubes for my beloved DP's.
This week is MD's homecoming so I will be pretty busy the rest of the week. We tend to leave everything to the last minute. No point in saying I will get anything done cause I know I won't. Maybe next week!

Troubles and More Troubles

2007-09-26T10:45:00.001-04:00

Some sweaters are just more trouble than others. Take this one for instance. Do you see the stripe running through the middle of it? What the heck happened there? This is the third time I have had trouble with Debbie Bliss yarn. You would think with the price you pay for Debbie Bliss it wouldn't have these problems. So I unraveled and reknit it and now both fronts look ok but the back is not as long as the front. I don't think I can blame that on Debbie! So I will have to rip it open and knit another inch or so. I work on this sweater a little bit and then I put it away when my temper gets the better of me!

Monday Morning

2007-09-24T10:11:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone had a good week-end. I am still trying to remember all my

blogging tricks so it takes me twice as long to do the simplest things. I did get my Rowan Tie Shrug done and photographed. We were having lovely summer weather so I was quite warm while taking these photos! Specs are: Sarah Dallas' Tie Shrug from Scottish Highland Knits. Knit double in Rowanspun 4 ply color Bramble. I have my Debbie Bliss jacket almost done but I have run into a major problem which I will write about later in the week. Since TOOMA isn't home during the week I also started a jacket for him so this winter he will feel wrapped up in love. Life continues to be interesting at our house.

Next Two Projects

2007-09-20T08:49:00.000-04:00

I thought I would do a quick update on my next two projects. This brown rectangle is the tie shrug from Sarah Dallas' Scottish Highland Knits. I just have to knit on the two tie ends and it will be finished. I am knitting it in some Rowanspun 4 ply that I had stashed away. It is knit with the yarn double on nos. 13 and 8. The bands are where it is knit on no 8 needles which gives it a "tight" look. I might get it done this week-end.

My second project is a cross stitch picture of two of my favorite things, cats and books. I used to do a lot of cross stitch but gave it up over time. TOOMA is going to be gone during the week this year so I decided to go back to my cross stitch. This design is by Anagram Diffusion, one of my favorite designers and is called Livres Chat Rouge. It is very simple to stitch so it is a good way for me to get back in the groove!

Back To Blogging

2007-09-19T11:24:00.001-04:00

Linen Drape Shell-1
Originally uploaded by pghjan2

I've been gone so long that I have forgotten how to blog! I have to see who is still out there and catch up on everything. Life has been very interesting to say the least but it has been so chaotic I don't even know where to begin. I have been knitting a little bit. I got this shell done except for the seaming on the sides. I was all set to do it and then my hard drive crashed and took all my pictures etc with it. I had knit some gifts this summer but the pictures are all gone. This shell is from IK Spring 2002 and is knit it Rowan Linen Drape. Its very comfy. I have lots of other projects going that I will have to post pictures of. First I have so much catching up to do! Its good to be back!

2007-07-09T15:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am still alive just not blogging much. I don't want to bore everyone with what is going on in my life but this has not been a tranquil summer. Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my shawl. I go through periods when I knit mixed with weeks I don't knit at all.

I finished my daughter's Spiral Boot Socks and here she is modelling them for me. The pattern is from Ik Summer 2007 and the designer is Veronik Avery. On a scale from 1-10 with ten being very good, I would rate this pattern a 10. I had no difficulties with it at all! And I didn't get bored which is always a plus in my book! The yarn used was Reynolds soft sea wool which is a pleasure to knit with but I am wondering if it is going to pill a lot. The only other complaint I got from MD was that they are not staying up well! I am going to sew some thin elastic into the edging on top so they will stay up. All in all a very satisfactory project.

Summer Shawl

2007-06-27T10:39:00.001-04:00

My Estonian Garden Shawl is all done and blocked. This is such a summery shawl it just makes you think of parties in the back yard where ladies drink iced tea and eat tiny sandwiches. The Lily of the Valley lace border is very pretty and the bobbles weren't too difficult to make so all in all I would say it was a satisfactory project. I knit it out of Aaustermann Pharao, which is a light weight (fingering) cotton. I have never made a shawl out of cotton yarn before so this was a first for me. It feels very slippery to me compared to the wool yarns I usually knit my shawls out of. I can see where this would be an advantage in the kind of heat we are having now, but then, how often do you need a shawl when it is 95 degrees in the shade? I guess what I am saying is that I am not sure how much she will get used, but she is a pretty shawl to lay around in.

Beautiful Weather

2007-06-23T16:18:00.000-04:00

We are having beautiful weather here in W. PA so I took my knitting outside. I have one border done on my Estonian Garden Shawl.
Now I am carefully taking out the provisional cast-on and picking up the stitches to do the opposite border and then she will be all done! Maybe by the end of the week she will be ready to block. If the weather holds up I will wash her and block her outside on a sheet because she is turning out to be a looong shawl.I still haven't started the other Spiral Boot sock. I am so close to finishing this shawl that I don't feel like putting her down right now. Maybe I will finish the socks in July....

New Neatness

2007-06-19T12:27:00.000-04:00

While I was gone I got my invite to Ravelry! What a neat site!!! I have only added a couple of projects to my wip notebook but I plan on putting everything, including my stash, on the site. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. Since I've been playing with my notebook, I haven't gotten as much knitting done as I hoped. I have about 10 more repeats of the flower pattern on my Estonian Garden Shawl before I can start the border. It is getting very boring! And I haven't even started the second sock of my Spiral Boot Sock. This might be the second month in a row that I don't have a pair of socks to show for the Sock a Month KAL. Oh well. I can live with it. Now back to Ravelry!

Back Home

2007-06-18T10:58:00.000-04:00

We have just gotten back from Kill Devil Hills North Carolina where we went for a much needed vacation from stress. We had a cute little condo right on the beach. Some days the surf was very high and we would watch the surfers. Other days it was just quiet and peaceful and we would watch the toddlers play in the surf. All in all, it was a very satisfactory trip. Now its back to real life. I have mountains of laundry and I have to catch up with what everyone is knitting! I'll post a picture of my lace later in the week after I've caught up a bit!

Blogging Pause

2007-06-08T08:56:00.000-04:00

We are taking off for the beach for a much-needed break! See you at the end of the month!

Bumpy Ride

2007-05-31T09:42:00.000-04:00

First let me thank everyone that has left me a comment on my Arctic Diamonds Shawl. If I haven't gotten back to you I will and if I get back to you twice just consider me wacky. Life has become even more stressful here in the past month with lots of upheavals and life changes so I have been very distracted. We are taking a lot of gambles with our life-style right now and so it could either turn our really good or we could crash and burn. In a couple of months the dust should settle but in the meantime it is nail-biting time here. I don't want to go into detail because I am very superstitious and I am afraid I will jinx everything if I talk about it. And why is it that whenever I am going through a stressful time, every mechanical thing around me breaks down? So far this week it is TOOMA's truck, the whole-house fan, TOOMA's cell phone, my camera, of course my computer, and lastly the dryer. Life is a bumpy ride right now!
I started another lace shawl as a present to myself for putting up with everything. It is the Estonian Garden Shawl being knit in some yellow cotton yarn. This shawl starts with a provisional cast on and then you work one side from the middle out to the end. When you're done with the left side, you unravel the cast-on and work the right from the middle out. That is what that funky looking cast-on edge is.

I also managed to finish one of the spiral boot socks for MD. It fits her perfectly but she asked me to sew in some elastic to make sure they stay up. These would look very cute with some wellies like Veronic Avery suggests. And they are very comfy. Now I just need to finish the other one.

I will post more pictures when I get something more interesting to show! Once again, thank you for all the nice comments! They really cheer me up.

Arctic Diamonds Stole

2007-05-23T08:24:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are pictures of my finished Arctic Lace Stole designed by Donna Druchunas in the Winter 2006 Interweave knits. She was knit out of Davidson hand-dyed yarn bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool a couple of years ago. I added one repeat in the pattern to make her a little longer so instead of 21"x 58" she is 26"x 66". Can you tell it was windy on Saturday?

Twice Tagged!

2007-05-22T09:06:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged twice. Once by Luni and once by Liz.

Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment to tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Except on Luni's blog it only needs to be 7 things about yourself instead of 8.

I am a pretty boring person but here goes:

1. I have a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University that I never used because I decided I hated the field when I got out of school.

2. I hate talking on the phone, as did my father, and as does my daughter. Must be a heredity thing.

3. I can read freaky fast but it never has gotten me anywhere!

4. I can sew just about anything. I make fabulous halloween costumes. My daughter was embarrassed by this as were my sons because their costumes were always so much better than anyone elses. All they ever wanted was a simple store-bought costume like everyone else.

5. When I first became pregnant with my daughter, before I had any idea I was in fact pregnant, I had a long dream about having a baby girl. We had decided to stop having children after our two boys so what a suprise it was to find out a month later I had in fact been pregnant when I had the dream and yes, it was a girl. I was so happy! That just goes to show that your body knows what is going on before your mind does, and that if you listen to it you can learn a lot.

6. The only time I was ever in the newspaper or on television, was when I was in a demonstration against the wearing of fur. I wore a fake fur coat to make my point and had people throw things at me because they thought it was real fur!

7. When my family is not with me I can still always tell when something bad is happening to them. I get this funny feeling I know I have to listen to.

8. I am fascinated with insects, and in fact had a job in grad school in the aquatic entomology department where I identified a new sub-species of caddis fly. I also get a kick out of spiders and all other arachnids.

There, I thought of 8 things. Now I have to tag someone

Annie for all her lovely work on Love Knitting

Peg at Wool in My Soup, my favorite blog name

Mandella at Tarty Crafty I love reading about her bike and her sock knitting

Adrienne at Real Life I love reading about her kids.

And now I must go. So many people have all ready been tagged and I'm sure if you haven't you will be!

Pedalling Around Pittsburgh

2007-05-21T08:22:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning TOOMA and I rode our tandem in Pedal Pittsburgh. Here we are in all our geekiness. It was cold and rainy so I have on 2 t-shirts, 1 sweatshirt and two pairs of shorts, not to mention my geeky hiking socks that are warmer than my biking socks. We had a good time even though we did get wet and the scenery along the rivers was beautiful. I took lots of pictures as we pedalled but I didn't realize my camera had gotten wet and the shutter never opened all the way. So I have many many pictures like this:

I was afraid I had ruined my brand new camera but I think it is ok now that it has dried out. I lost even more pictures because the memory card got wet also. So much for camera bags that claim they are water-proof! I will know better next time. I have pictures of my arctic lace shawl that I will post tomorrow or Wednesday. Till then hope everyone has a good week.

I've Got The Blues

2007-05-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

Blue projects that is. Here are two that I am currently working on. The large blue is the cover jacket from Debbie Bliss' Wish You Were Here, with the back and left front almost done. The lighter blue is the Veronic Avery Spiral Boot Socks from the latest IK. I am knitting these in the recommended yarn; Reynolds Sea Wool and loving it. It is very soft and a pleasure to knit with. The cotton cashmere from Debbie Bliss feels like cotton, ho hum. I was hoping to have pictures of my completed Arctic Lace Stole but the weather has not cooperated. It has been rainy and cool, not the kind of weather to take lace pictures. I am hoping that over the week-end I can get some sunny weather to photograph in. On Sunday we are riding our tandem in Pedal Pittsburgh so next week I should have a lot of interesting pictures. I know nothing about architecture but I love riding through neighborhoods and learning new things. It should be a lot of fun!

Nei

2007-05-15T11:08:00.000-04:00

This post is all about Nei, my son's cat. She lives with us but my son thinks she is still his. She is the biggest fan of my knitting. My knitting basket is pretty empty right now because I have just finished two big projects. Nei thinks that this means she can take over the basket as her own personal bed. I kicked her out of the basket and she went straight to my Arctic Diamond Shawl which needs to be washed and blocked. She is just daring me to kick her off of that too. Later in the week I should have finished photos of the shawl. Can't wait to see how it blocks out!

Busy Week

2007-05-10T09:07:00.000-04:00

This has been a busy productive week for me. I think that means next week I will be a slug. I never have two productive weeks in a row it seems. I am trying a new area for my veggie garden in the hopes that the deer won't find it this year. I dug out an area of our lawn near our patio thinking maybe the deer won't want to come that close to us humans. It took forever but I now have four baby tomato plants all planted. Doesn't sound like much but believe me it was labor intensive.

I started a new sweater; the cover sweater from Debbie Bliss's Wish You Were Here in a pretty shade of slate-blue cotton cashmere. I got the back done this week. There really isn't anything interesting to show since it is just boring st. stitch.

I also managed to cut and sew 80 quilt blocks for my mystery quilt group which meets on Friday. I have 20 more to get done today. I am doing it in shades of blue and green; nice calming colors.

Lastly, I have been reading a new book. I don't remember where I first heard about this book but I knew I had to have it. It is called Selbuvotter by Terri Shea. It relates the history of Selbuvotter mittens and gloves in Norway, how they were first invented and their rise and fall in popularity. Ms. Shea then went on to develope patterns from the gloves and mittens she was allowed to study as an intern at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle WA.She has the most beautiful glove patterns in her book! I am definitely going to have to knit some! Here are two of my favorite patterns from the book.

Back To Knitting

2007-05-06T11:52:00.000-04:00

My little break from knitting and blogging was good for me! I spent some time with friends and TOOMA as well as MD. It gave me a chance to breathe a little. I got the little bit of yarn I needed to finish my Debbie Bliss cotton dk jacket form Debbie Bliss Home. We are renting a condo on the beach for a week in June and I wanted a jacket to wrap up in on cool mornings and evenings. I made this one big on purpose so it can go over anything. Sorry it looks a little wrinkled I had it scrunched up on the sofa and the cats were laying all over it. I was happy because even though the yarn I bought was a different dye-lot it seems to have blended in well enough to not notice. I think it will be perfect for the beach! Now I need to catch up on what everyone else is up to out there.

Learning to Weave

2007-05-02T09:03:00.001-04:00

Weaving2
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

Since my last post TOOMA and I have gotten our son from college, moved him home, then picked up everything and moved him back into a house near campus. Now we have two sons living in houses, in the same general area but not together. I took some time out from moving activities to try a new craft. Arlene of the Weavers Guild of Pittsburgh has been giving "Learn to Weave Classes" at her house in order to drum up interest in the Weaver's Guild. She lives less than a mile away from me in a beautiful house on 9 acres. She and her housemate Kati were the nicest hostesses. Arlene has the most wonderful studio for her looms and her spinning wheels, and a separate room just for paper making. She and her housemate Kati are multi-talented. Her house is like a candy shop for spinners and weavers. Arlene taught me several types of weaving on a little box loom and then was generous enough to send us all home with tons of yarn and the needles etc to work at home. This is what I have accomplished so far. Not much! But its fun and just the break from knitting that I needed. As you can see, my weaving is very amateurish so I have a long way to go. Isn't it fun to try something new once in a while!

And Then There Were Two

2007-04-27T09:26:00.001-04:00

Mermaid 3
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have not been very inspired to knit lately so I almost forgot to finish my Mermaid Socks in time for the April Sock a Month KAL. Annie reminded me with her blog entry. Here they are in all their beauty. You will notice the toes are not identical. If you could see the heels you would know that they also are different. I had to cut the yarn in several places to make the two socks match since the color bands were not the same width throughout the ball. If I had been making them for myself I would have given up long before the second sock was done but I figured I owed it to MD to try to match most of the sock. By the time I got to the toe I was done with matching. These are Lucy Neatby's Mermaid Socks from Cool Socks, Warm Feet, knit in Regia cotton surf. I did a wavy cuff instead of a sideways cuff. I figured it would be more comfortable.
Angie and I have been talking about knitting mojo. Mine seems to have left me. I just don't feel like knitting much lately, I would rather spend my time reading. I think it is partly the nicer weather and partly the fact that we are at a stressful time in our lives where TOOMA and I must make some hard decisions about what we want to do next. It is calming to me to read and get away from everyday stress. Also, like Angie said, there is stress in blogging because you feel the need to constantly keep up! I would rather read other blogs than blog myself and lately it seems I only have time to do one or the other. Is anyone else out there feeling the same way? Is blogging and keeping up too much? Does it make our knitting less fun and more work and therefore ruin the whole process for us? What do you think?

Where I Live

2007-04-24T10:14:00.000-04:00

WARNING: There is no knitting content in this entry, but lots of pictures to make up for it! Bells asked if I could share some pictures of where I live. Being a lazy girl I thought sure, I'll take pictures of where I walk every morning. I have a ritual every day; I take MD to school and then a friend and I walk at a local cemetery less than a mile from my house. Its a large cemetery so I can walk for 45-60 minutes without doing the same loop. Most days the sun is just coming up when we start walking.
You can see across part of the Butler Valley from the cemetery since it is up on a hill. This is what it looked like this morning with the mist.

There is a creek that runs down this valley into the Allegheney River. Every spring it floods and about every 10 years there is a bad flood with a lot of damage. Right before we moved here 7 people died in flash flooding so we knew to buy our house on high ground. We thought that was bad until we got hit with the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in Sept. 2004. We got 9 inches of rain and a wall of water roared down the valleys. What devastation! We saw household debris in the tops of trees, whole foundations of buildings completely gone leaving holes large enough for a car to drive through, bridges washed out, roads and railroads washed out, and all the houses that were lost! And even worse, our kids were at school and the schools were flooding. MD had water above her ankles in her classroom. I managed to get her home before the roads closed completely but it was a near thing. Now they are buying up all those houses in the valley so families are never hit like that again. I'll never forget that day.

But enough of that. If you have hills you have valleys and valleys flood. Fact of life. I love cemeteries, always have since I was a kid. When we were little my mother would get rid of us sometimes by telling us to go find Granpa's grave because it was lost. She would get time to visit with Grandma while we read all the gravestones. I'm sure she knew where Granpa was but we thought it a great mystery! Since then I have loved graveyards, the older the better. Our local cemetery is only 100+ years old but families moved some of the graves and markers from older cemeteries out to ours so that we have quite a few from the early to middle 1800's. Here are some of my favorites. The first is a smart looking family plot where everything looks like new. It's all in German so I'm not sure what it all says but it looks very nice except for the grass that died around all of their graves. And it only died around their graves, no one elses. Freaky huh?

Next is a short simple one. Just his name and dates and "born in Germany". I love it!

Next is one that is a pretty common style for the old part. It lists the whole family and all the children who died. None of them made it to 5 years old. I don't know how the mothers took it.

Lastly one of my favorites, Charles who was wounded in the Battle of Argonne Forest and later died in a hospital in France. Someone still keeps his grave up and remembers him.

That's it for today. Maybe I'll get some knitting done this week and have something to post by Friday. We can only hope!

Edwardian Jacket

2007-04-21T14:06:00.000-04:00

We are having beautiful weather this week-end so TOOMA did a photo shoot. This is the Edwardian Jacket from Debbie Bliss Simply Soft knit in Cashmerino Astrakhon. Of course I made the sleeves too long again. Time for me to knit short sleeves I think. This sweater is very, very warm so it is getting put away for the summer. It is very soft and comfy so I'm sure I will wear it next fall and winter. For now its finally time to enjoy the warm weather. It's amazing how much the sun can affect your mood. Tomorrow we are getting out the tandem from winter hibernation and going for a ride. Yeah!

Flying Time

2007-04-20T08:43:00.001-04:00

Artic Diamonds
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

This week has flown by and I feel like I have little to show for it. Spring has arrived again, we'll see how long it lasts this time. With spring comes all the outdoor chores and less computer time. My computer is also an issue since it has been acting up on me. To send group emails out can take me 30 minutes sometimes. My computer literate family tells me this computer should just be junked but I hate giving up on things. TOOMA finally took matters into his own hands and is slowly transferring my stuff over to a new hard drive and processor. But surfing the web has not been easy lately since my computer keeps stopping and starting on its own and going into death spirals that never end. It doesn't upset me that much but it sure does upset the boys in this family. Seems that they actually expect computers to work! Anyway, thank you everyone for the nice wishes! There are so many nice people I have met out there. If I haven't stopped by lately, its because my computer won't let me. As to my health, I am waiting for my last blood test to come back and then I am going to go in and talk to my dr about the medication she put me on. I have started running again and I am hoping that it helps me to feel better. I don't know that I will run the Boston Marathon like TOOMA but I do like to get out and run a little 5 or 10K race. I am very slow so I run for the feeling of accomplishment and well-being and also for the t-shirts you get!
Knitting hmmm.... I finished my Debbie Bliss Edwardian Jacket but haven't had time for a photo shoot yet. I have worked on my lace a little bit here and there but it doesn't seem to grow much. This picture is with 4 of the 5 repeats done. Even though each repeat is 64 rows, I don't think 5 repeats will be long enough for me so I plan on doing at least one extra repeat of the pattern. At least when you have a 64 row repeat you don't get bored with it! I haven't had a chance to start my second mermaid sock, but thank you for all the nice comments! Isn't it a cute sock for a teen-ager? And its cotton too! Now I am going to try and post this and hope it goes well. This week-end I am hoping I can start using the new computer! Have a wonderful week-end!

Little Mermaid

2007-04-16T08:28:00.000-04:00

I planned on learning to weave this week-end but alas, I felt terrible on Saturday. I don't know if I have a virus or if it is the medication my Dr put me on. So I knit on my lace a bit and also made a Mermaid Sock for MD. This is knit from Regia's cotton surf. Isn't it cute? I've been meaning to try this pattern for a long time but never got around to it. Now that I have tried it I think there will be more than one pair of Mermaids in my future.

TOOMA is in Boston today to run the Boston Marathon! The weather is horrible with the Nor-easter that blew in so I am going to spend the morning checking his split times. I wanted to go with him but couldn't get out of my obligations. Now I'm thinking it was a good thing I didn't go. This might be the last time he runs the marathon. It is getting to be too much work and after a day like today I bet he'll think twice before he does it again. So good luck to all those runners out there braving the awful weather!

Daffodil Socks

2007-04-12T10:36:00.001-04:00

Daffodil Socks
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

My daffodil socks are done. I think of them as my "pointy-toed" socks because of the toe in this pattern. The last time I knit this pattern I changed the toe but forgot to do the same this time. Here are the specs; Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Daffodil, Madder Sock Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.
I am working on my Artic Diamond Stole now. I'd really like to get it finished in the near future. My yarn never came for my Debbie Bliss DK jacket. I contacted the vendor and they said "oops, we should have told you that we ran out of that color". I wonder when they were planning on telling me? So that seller is crossed off my list! I find knitting my lace calms me down so I am just going to work on that for awhile.

Debbie Bliss Edwardian Jacket

2007-04-10T10:15:00.001-04:00

Debbie Bliss Edwardian Jacket
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I still haven't recieved the yarn to finish my Debbie Bliss cotton dk cardigan so I have been working on finishing another Debbie Bliss project that I started a while ago. It is the Debbie Bliss Edwardian Jacket from Simply Soft. It is knit out of Cashmerino Astrakhan, a textured yarn. I love the way this yarn feels against the skin but it has not been fun to knit with, and seaming has been a nightmare. I still have to carefully seam the sleeves and then sew them in as well as finish the collar and sew it in. Then I have to find some buttons. I am thinking some little silver balls but I'm not sure. The buttonholes are tiny and there are quite a few of them. Any suggestions would be welcome!
Here are my results from a little personality quiz I got off of Rositta's Blog:

You Are An INFJ

The Protector

You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.
Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.
You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.
You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them.

You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

What's Your Personality Type?

I guess I agree with most of it but I refuse to believe I am stubborn! Go try it out and see what you think.

Happy Easter!!

2007-04-08T11:18:00.000-04:00

It's time to eat more Frango Mints!

Daffodils Continue

2007-04-06T16:23:00.001-04:00

Daffodil
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have one of the daffodil socks done. It has an interesting pooling effect on the foot. I am using the Madder Sock Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks and I had forgotten how pointed and long the toe is in this pattern. It seems to go on forever. The leg is also longer on these socks than what I usually knit but I still had plenty of sock yarn left over. It is cold and snowy here so it is nice to knit something that reminds me of spring. I still haven't recieved the rest of my yarn for my Debbie Bliss cardigan so it is still sitting. I did sign up for a weaving workshop next week-end. I have always wanted to learn to weave but never had the chance. While I was at the quilting store today I got a pamphlet about the Weaving Guild in this area and it turns out that the woman who runs it lives less than a mile from my house. How funny is that! I can't wait to try something new!

Daffodils

2007-04-02T08:46:00.000-04:00

I started some spring socks yesterday for Project Spectrum. The colors for April and May are green, yellow, and pink. These are being knit out of Lorna's Laces in the madder rib pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I took a picture of them next to the daffodils from my garden because the color is called... you guessed it; Daffodil. It is very pretty and colorful yarn, and so far; no knots!

I have also been working on my Debbie Bliss Cotton DK jacket from DB Home. I am just about out of yarn and the sleeves are not done. Sigh. What really hurts is that I bought two extra skeins of yarn so I wouldn't have this problem. And of course the yarn is now discontinued. I found some online to order and I am hoping it won't look too different. If the yarn does not match well I will do the old fix of knitting one row with each skein for awhile and then switch over to the new skein. What a pain!

This is not the first time this has happened to me with a DB pattern. Which is why I thought 2 extra skeins would be enough. I am finding the whole situation very annoying. I think I will go with my gut feelings from now on when knitting her patterns and order what I think I need not what she says I need. Until I get the yarn the sweater will just have to sit and wait.

Blogger is being very stange this morning and I am having a hard time getting anything to work. So I will hopefully just leave you with a picture of a mama deer and her baby crossing the street a couple houses down from us. I need to learn how to use my new camera better. They were just staring at us in the middle of the street but of course when I went to take a picture they took off.

Happy Monday!

Thursday Is For Books

2007-03-29T08:36:00.000-04:00

Since I had time this morning I thought I'd play Booking Through Thursday. Deb asked:"Where do you do most of your reading? Your favorite spot? ". I have two favorite spots depending on the time of day and the weather.

When the weather is chilly or at night I like to read in a chair I actually bought for TOOMA. It is warm and cushy. The only problem with it is that you can easily fall asleep in it no matter what time of day. It can also be very hard to climb out of.

My second favorite spot is this sofa in the family room. If it is warm or sunny I like to sit in here. It is where most of our books are located so you would think I would read in here more, but when it is chilly I find the leather sofa cold and slippery. When it is too hot, the sofa feels sticky. There is a heating and cooling vent right behind the sofa that takes care of some of the climate problems but not all. TOOMA does not agree with me, he loves to sit in here. Go figure.

Go stop on by BTT and add a link to your favorite places to read.

Easter Socks

2007-03-28T09:08:00.001-04:00

Easter Socks
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I finished my Madtini Socks last night. The colors really remind me of Easter. They are knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Somerset on size 2 DPs. As I said before, the pattern is very pretty but they don't fit my feet very well so I will gift them to someone or give them to charity when there is a call for knitted goods.
I just got out my Easter things from the attic. I am very late this year. When we lived in Milwaukee I had a 3 foot tall Easter egg tree in a huge ceramic pot that I filled with hand-blown and decorated Easter eggs that I had collected. One day I came home to find it smashed on the floor with all the eggs crushed and one very shameful looking cat. Since then I don't go overboard with the Easter decorations, just a few things here and there. I will leave the socks in the tree for awhile and see if anyone notices.

New Toy

2007-03-27T08:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much time to knit lately with one thing and another but I have been having fun. Yesterday was my birthday so it was party time. TOOMA stayed home from work and the boys came home from school so we had a wonderful family party. It's always fun when all five of us get together, though sadly it isn't as often as we would like. One of the presents my boys got me was a new camera. I was going to take some artsy outdoor shots but thunderstorms cropped up this morning so I had to go with animals and knitting. I have been playing around with it to try and figure out what all the buttons and menu selections do. I'm not usually very good at reading directions. I always just grab things and go without reading the directions but I promised TOOMA and the boys that this time I would actually try to read them. The pictures are much clearer with this camera and the shutter speed is quicker. The close-ups of my lace knitting are much better I think. I am sure to have a lot of fun with it! At some point I will finish my other Madtini sock. I decided to take Mimi's and Rositta's advice and just finish them. I think I know someone they would be a perfect gift for. I am getting disgusted with the yarn because both hanks had a lot of knots. I think 3-4 knots per skein is too many considering I am nowhere close to finishing off the skein. There could be a couple more knots in my left-overs. I hate knots in sock yarn! I am off to play somemore. Maybe tonight I will knit.

Orphan Sock

2007-03-25T11:00:00.001-04:00

Finally One Done
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have one little orphan sock from the last round of Sock Madness. The competition started Thursday night and as usual when TOOMA is out of town, everything went haywire. Instead of knitting I ended up down in the basement trying to figure out why our hot water heater wasn't working. Add to that a bunch of other drama going on in our lives right now and you don't get a recipe for knitting. Friday I managed to finish one sock but there was no catching up since my competitor had all ready finished both of hers. I like the way these socks look knitted and I love the yarn (Lorna's Laces Sport) but I don't like the way they look when worn. They aren't very comfortable to me either. So, should I rip the whole sock out and reknit another pattern? Or should I finish the other sock and gift it to someone else and hope they like it better than me? I have to say that a lot of the knitters really liked these socks so it could just be me being picky. The last pair of socks I knitted for Sock Madness will never see the light of day since I did such a poor job on them. I guess I'm just not cut out for speed knitting on a required pattern. What to do, what to do....

Sunrise Circle Seamed and Hemmed

2007-03-22T09:09:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy this week but I managed to finish my Sunrise Circle Jacket just in time to put it away for next fall. Spring weather has finally arrived and it will be too warm to wear a heavy wool sweater. If I had gotten it done in time for St. Patrick's Day like I had planned it would have been perfect since it was cold and damp. I will wrap it up and have a new sweater for next October instead. MD was kind enough to take some pictures last night. I decided as I said earlier to only put on one button and it seems to work fine.

Here are the specs again: Sunrise Circle Cardigan by Kate Gilbert. A free download from Interweave Knits. I used 6 skeins of Rowan Magpie Tweed Aran. The sweater ended up being large on me and the sleeves too long but I just rolled them up and MD says they look fine. By only having one button I was able to pull the sweater tighter to give it a more fitted look. I need to start making my sweaters in smaller sizes. I think my arms must be shrinking as I get older! Now it is time to get ready for another round of Sock Madness which starts tonight. Wish me and Mamm a good luck!

Monday

2007-03-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

Somehow Monday just says it all. This is going to be a long week. Rather than whine lets talk knitting. I have been working on seaming the Sunrise Circle Jacket a little at a time. This picture is pretty true to color. I still have a sleeve seam to sew and all of the hemming to do. It is not as fitted as I would like it to be so I am going to wrap it tight and only put one big button on it when I am done hemming.

I have wanted a spring jacket to throw on over jeans so I started one from Debbie Bliss Home. The front and back are worked as one piece up to the armholes and the shaping on the front is done with short rows. I thought I'd put a picture up since you can't really see the shaping well on my knitting. It is knit out of Debbie Bliss cotton dk. The yarn is ok, nothing special. I don't usually like knitting out of cotton because it just doesn't feel as nice as wool and also because I don't think cotton wears well. The cotton sweaters I have made in the past have tended to stretch out of shape after a couple of washings. But I thought I'd give Debbie a try and see if her yarn wears better. I have small hands and this big hunk of cotton is getting very heavy so I will be glad when I reach the armholes!

Sock Madn ess starts up again on Thursday so I want to get a lot done before then. TOOMA is out of town this week, he'll be in sunny Orlando the lucky guy, so it'll just be me and MD. I love Florida, my parents lived there for 20 years, so I am trying not to be grumpy about being left behind. But its hard when there is still snow on the ground here :( I may just have to buy something :)

Back To Winter

2007-03-16T13:25:00.000-04:00

We had spring for maybe four days and now its back to winter. Bleh! I can't believe it's snowing again !I wasn't even going to post today since I have the end of the winter blues but I am hoping that it will inspire me to seam together my Sunrise Cardigan. It is presently sitting on my dining room table patiently waiting for me to notice it. I don't go into the dining room often so its easy for me to put it out of my mind. There are miles of hems to do on this jacket on top of all the seaming, and I hate seaming. So maybe having it stare at me on the blog will embarrass me enough to do something. We can only hope. In the meantime, I started another project for spring. I'll post pictures next week.

Wildlife Wednesday

2007-03-14T10:46:00.000-04:00

When I was in Middle School the one thing I really wanted to be was a wildlife biologist. Reality hit in College when it was pointed out to us how many students were majoring in the program, compared to how many job openings there were in the real world. I changed my major but I never really changed my interests. One reason I enjoy living here in Western PA is all the wildlife we get in our little backyard compared to what we got in our Midwest home. Every morning I drop MD off at school and then walk with a friend through a neighborhood cemetery. We see deer on a daily basis. Monday we saw five deer walking across the path and they all stopped to watch us, almost like big friendly dogs, before they silently loped off. With the sun coming up and the deer running through the trees it was truly beautiful. On a less lovely note, whole flocks of wild turkey roam around our neighborhood and can be quite pesky. The same can be said of the Canadian Geese that never leave in the winter and can become a real nuisance. Then there are the majestic Red-Tailed Hawks that nest in our pine trees in the spring and scare our cats to death with their calls, and the woodchuck that lives under our shed and is constantly digging under our paving stones. There are rabbits of course, deer that eat everything in my garden, racoons that come up from the stream at the end of our property, and really ugly rats that live down there. But today I saw something new. I was working out on my treadmill when an opossum walked right past the window as slow as can be. He must have heard me on the treadmill but never glanced in my direction. I ran to get the camera but he was gone. He/she was a pretty big opossum too. So I looked up everything I could find on them and it turns out that they are very good for your garden because they like to eat insect pests. I am going to try to make my backyard an Opussum Sanctuary so that I can study my little guy. What fun! No cats or dogs will be allowed in because they tend to kill the possums.

On a math note; Happy π Day! Today is also Albert Einstein's birthday which somehow seems appropriate. Our school district always celebrates Pi day in math class no matter how old the students. I find that charming. So MD set off for school with a package of oreos to share with her class because they are round of course.

Lastly, my book reading is disappointing MD. I am really trying to get through The Princess of Cleves but I found two infinitely better books that I had to read. They are; The Firemaker and The Fourth Sacrifice both by Peter May. I highly recommend them. They are both mysteries that take place in Beijing and involve an American doctor and a Chinese cop. The difference in the two cultures is a constant source of irritation between the two and comparisons between the two cultures are a subplot in both books. May's descriptions of Beijing and its people made me want to visit it for myself, and meet these interesting people. What I really liked about his writing style was that it was never biased towards one culture or the other. It was more matter-of-fact. Here are the good things about this culture and here are the good things about that one. He leaves it to the characters to decide which is best and lets them battle it out without taking sides. Since I have never been to Beijing I don't know if his portrayal is accurate, but I enjoyed reading these books so much that I intend to read as many Peter May books as I can get my hands on!

Knitting? What knitting? I did make it into the next round of Sock Madness. My division still isn't closed so I guess there was no reason for me to rush the way I did. I have been gardening instead of knitting so I will sign off with a picture of my crocus that have finally started to bloom almost a month late. Happy Spring!

What I Did This Week-End

2007-03-12T08:57:00.000-04:00

So I thought about getting up early on Saturday morning to start my socks for Sock Madness but then I thought "Am I nuts giving up my week-end sleep?". So I rolled out of bed at 10:00 am and printed out the pattern. I started knitting on them around 11:00 am and had got through one of the heels by 2:00 PM. Then I made a big mistake and started reading all the comments that had been posted to Flickr about the pattern and how many stripe repeats there should be etc. It sounded like we had to have 5 repeats on the leg and I only had four so I ripped back, added a stripe repeat and then re-knit the heel. And yes, it probably would have been quicker to rip out the ribbing and add a stripe repeat that way but I wasn't thinking. So I finished the first sock on Saturday and the second Sunday night at 7:00PM. Turns out that I didn't have to rip out the heel, four stripe repeats are ok. But they are done and I am totally sick of them! If I go on in the competition I will have to decide if I am more interested in winning or having a pair of socks I will ever wear because these are so sloppily done that they will never grace my feet! The jog in the back from the stripes is pretty sloppy and I have stitches that are not even from when my fingers were giving out. So how did I come out in the competition? I know that I wasn't close to being first, and I'm not sure if I was eliminated or not (there are some very speedy knitters out there) but it was fun to compete and I give Hillary and Felicia a lot of credit for organizing this and putting up with all the knitter's comments and complaints. Would I do it again? If I had the time. For now, my fingers need a break!

March Madness

2007-03-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

Its been one of those weeks that you just wish would end. I had been looking forward to having MS home for spring break and all the fun things we could do. Unfortunately, he came home last week not feeling well. So I spent the week-end trying to get him in to see a good doctor. This week was spent seeing drs and setting up appointments to try and figure out what was wrong with him before he went back to University. Yesterday; his birthday, he spent in out-patient surgery having a "procedure" done. Poor kid! What a way to spend spring break. Good news is that they know what is wrong with him and how to fix it. And, I now know more good specialists to see if we need them. But we are exhausted here. It's really stressful when someone you love is sick and you can't make them feel better, or even tell them what it is. I'd rather be sick then have one of the family sick. And I thought I was done with doctors for a month! Another reason I didn't get any knitting or blogging done this week is because I burned off the tips of a bunch of fingers. We have a smooth top stove so you don't always know when it is hot. I put my hand down right on a burner. Stupid Stupid! I spent an evening with my hand in an ice bath and slept with it in an ice bag. Blisters are just now beginning to form on some of the fingers. I've never burned myself that badly before. So no knitting done but I did wind up some sock yarn for Sock Madness which starts tomorrow. The blue and orange is what I'm starting with but I thought what the heck, I'm winding up yarn I'll just keep going in case I'm one of the top 16. Though I have to tell you that with my fingers burned I'm not sure how I will do.

The other thing MD and I have been busy doing is setting up another reading project for ourselves. She found a list of 1001 Book You Should Read Before You Die and we have been picking books off the list to read. We hope to get through all of them. Some of course we have all-ready read and some we have but most of them will be new reads for me. She did a lot of tracking down and ordering from the library and we now have 11 books to read from the list. I believe she has read 3 of them this week but I am only on my first from the list; The Princess of Cleves by Madame De Lafayette. I think I am going to start a little blog about our reading in the future some time since we spend so much time in this family talking about books. But for now I must get my fingers in shape for tomorrow! Wish me Luck!

And Even More Socks

2007-03-06T07:05:00.000-05:00

I got another pair of socks done yesterday. These are knit with Opal Royal yarn on size 2 DPs. TOOMA was trying to get a picture yesterday of just the socks but Nei kept barging in wanting attention. Finally, I went into the other room and had MD take a picture while TOOMA went off and did something else. You can't see that these are "Disco" socks in the pictures but they have little flecks of silver running through the yarn. They also work for Project Spectrum since they are grey, blue and white. I think I will put them away until next winter and gift them to someone. Now I am going to work on my Shrek Cardigan.

Little Bits of Lace

2007-03-04T12:57:00.001-05:00

Artic Diamonds Detail
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I love to knit lace but there really isn't much to show while your knitting. Until it's blocked lace doesn't look like much, especially if you are knitting with variegated yarn. I now have 3 pattern repeats of my Arctic Diamonds Stole done so it should be more than half-way done but it doesn't look very big. I always have this problem when knitting lace; I want to knit more than the pattern says because I never believe it will block out as big as they say it will. It has caused me to knit several very large shawls. And because an old dog doesn't learn new tricks, I am once again thinking "just a little extra won't hurt, and I have so much yarn to use up...". Add to that the fact that I really do like knitting lace patterns so I don't usually get bored with them and this is a 64 row pattern repeat, and you have the formula for another oversized shawl. Since there isn't much to see, I took a photo of the lace pattern detail to show you.

March 1st, Time To Play Bookin Through Thursday

2007-03-01T08:33:00.000-05:00

Its March first so spring must be around the corner. That's enough to lift anyone's spirits. Haven't got much knitting done here, MS is coming home for spring break tonight and that entailed moving out all the stuff we were storing in his room! We've gotten into some bad habits around here. This week is also my quilting meet-up and I always leave my quilting till the last minute so this is what I've been doing...

Since there is no knitting content today lets go to my second love which is books and play:

BOOKIN THROUGH THURSDAY

The questions today:

1. How many books would you say you read in an average month?
2. In a year?
3. Over the last five years?
4. The last 10?

In an average week I read 3-5 books. So lets say 4 books/week times 4.5 weeks equals 18 books/month. Its probably more like 20-25/month.

That makes it 216/year.

Over the last 5 years... I used to read more books but I'm finding it harder to find books I really like so lets add five for each preceding year and you get a total of 1130.

Double that and round up because I read more when I was doing Battle of the Books and other competitions with the boys and you get 2300 books.

We are fast readers here and we have a serious book problem, they are everywhere and we will read almost anything so this could be a low estimate. Now ask me how many of those books were good books, or even how many of them I remember and that would be a different story!

New Collection

2007-02-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

Kim Hargreaves has her new spring collection out if you are interested.

Green Goodness

2007-02-26T09:24:00.000-05:00

I have been a slug over the week-end just sitting around and knitting. It has been very nice. The only time I left the house was to go out to Trader Joe's for supplies. I have watched all of the Jericho episodes on On-Demand and caught up on all the other television shows I watch (which are very few). I don't watch a lot of prime-time television so I'm not sure why I started watching this show, but once I started watching it I couldn't stop. While I watched TV I knit up the left sleeve and front of my Sunrise Jacket. I think it is all going to fit together. The cats love this yarn and will take any chance they get to sleep on it. The minute I put it down Ashes is there trying to get a good patch to sleep on. Here she is ignoring my command to get off so I can take a picture. Cats are so funny, they know what you want them to do but refuse to do it. She just turns her back on me and waits for me to leave. Oh well. Since I have been knitting so many socks again, I joined Sock Madness. I figure it will give me something to do with all my sock yarn. Sock Madness starts March 10 so I am hoping to get most of this done before then. This week for the first time in months I don't have a Drs appointment or a medical test of any kind! In fact, I don't have to see a Dr for over a month. It has made me giddy! Happy Monday.

Friday At Last!

2007-02-23T07:34:00.000-05:00

This has been a very long week and I am glad it is finally over. I have been knitting in-between Drs. appointments and birthday celebrations. I have been in a sock knitting mood for the first time in several months so I finished another sock. It is knit from the generic pattern I have in my head using Opal Royal sock yarn. I picked this up 2-3 years ago to knit for MD but then she asked me to stop knitting her socks because she had too many. You can't tell from the picture but it has tiny silver specks knit into it.

I have also been knitting on my Arctic Diamonds Stole . This is the stole with two repeats done. I have a very hard time taking good pictures of lace before it is blocked. I am using some hand-dyed fingering weight wool that I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool a couple of years ago. I always fall in love with the way variegated wool looks when it is in a hank but when it is knitted up I am always disappointed with it. This stole will be pretty but I think I would like it better in a solid color. When I go to MSW this year I am not going to allow myself to buy any variegated yarn unless it is for socks!

Lastly, I have knit miles and miles of green for the back of my Sunrise Circle Jacket. Raglan sweaters always look very long to me and this is no exception. I keep checking my gauge and it is very close to what it should be so it must just look long. I am knitting it out of Rowanspun Aran which is one of my favorite aran weight yarns. I love the tweedy look of it and its softness. When Rowan discontinued this yarn line I bought up a bunch in different colors for future projects but it is very hard for me to knit with it. I always feel that I should save it for a special project since I won't be able to buy it anymore. I can be such a dweeb some times. It is snowing again so I think I am going to use that as an exuse to stay home today and knit. Happy Friday!

Sashiko

2007-02-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

Sashiko has interested me for the past few years. The simplicity of the patterns as well as their geometric designs have always appealed to me. I picked up the supplies for this little pillow at a quilt show. It seems that Sashiko is now "trendy". I can understand why stitchers have become interested in Sashiko since it takes very little skill or time to finish a project such as this pillow. I did most of the stitching in one night. I plan on doing a few more little pillows to put on our bed and then I plan on branching out. I ordered two Sashiko books that I have been coveting for a long time, from Yes Asia, which BTW has free shipping if you are willing to wait. And, since this little gem is blue and white, it goes right along with Project Spectrum.

More Socks!

2007-02-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

I got a second pair of socks done this month. It is the Child's French Sock pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks; my favorite sock book. I knit them in Socka yarn that I won from Laura at the Red Sweater KAL way back in December on her Birthday! I meant to get them done much sooner but I kept getting distracted. They are my new favorite socks, very comfy and pretty too. I have been getting many requests for hand-knit socks from my friends since they come in handy in this weather, but I am getting sick of knitting them. I am going back to my lace knitting and also have started a new project; The Sunrise Circle Jacket from Interweaves Knits. I would put the link up but it's not working on my computer for some reason so here is the link to the KAL. I have been meaning to knit this for a long time and finally decided it would make a neat St. Paddy's Day jacket. I will post a picture of both projects later in the week. It is snowing again and cloudy once more. The snow was pretty for awhile but now I am sick of it and want it to be spring!

Wonderful Wednesday

2007-02-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we woke up to a winter wonderland with ice covering all the trees and streets. It had been snowing for two days so everything looked like it was covered in glitter. I know it is bad news for my trees but it was lovely. The ice put all three of us in a good mood for various reasons. MD school was closed for the second day in a row so she was in a good mood. TOOMA had an excuse to take a day off, and what's more, he didn't have anything that had to be done, so he stayed home. I was in a good mood because I was home with two of my favorite people and also, the snow always makes me feel like I'm back home in Michigan. So we were three happy people yesterday morning.

By noon we had eaten all of our candy and drunk most of our coffee so we were ready to venture out. We decided to go out for lunch so we bundled up and took off in TOOMA's SUV. The roads weren't too bad but noone else was out and about so we headed over to The Cheesecake Factory. Usually there is an hour to an hour and a half wait to get in for lunch when we stop by but yesterday we walked in and got a booth. We had a lovely lunch and then slipped and slided home.

When we arrived home there was a little package waiting for me in the mail. The yarn to finish TOOMA's Valentine Socks had arrived! I sat right down and finished the toe of the second sock and then wove in all the ends. By that time the sun had gone behind more clouds so my picture is not great. I was going to take another a better picture today but TOOMA wore them to work. For jinxed socks they came out pretty good! The pattern is Gentleman's Socks (in Railway Stitch) from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I knit them in Paton's Kroy yarn on size 0 DPs. I put a little edging on the cuff of the sock to add a little spice. They are a substantial sock not one of your namby pamby socks. They feel thick and cozy, perfect for the weather around here. I am going to send them over to Project Spectrum as my first entry for Feb. and March. I have another pair of socks and a sewing project I am also working on for Project Spectrum. These socks will also be my first entry for the Sock a Month KAL 3. TOOMA has asked that his socks be a little louder and more colorful. Dangerous to ask for things like that. When I get my current socks done I am going to start looking for some out-of-this-world sock yarn. If anyone knows of something brilliant and loud let me know. I believe I am allowed to buy yarn if it is for a gift hehe. So all in all I had a very satisfactory Wednesday. Too bad all Wednesdays can't be like that!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

2007-02-14T10:42:00.000-05:00

Sock Jinx

2007-02-11T14:33:00.001-05:00

Gentleman's Socks
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

Have you ever had one of those projects that just feels jinxed from the getgo? These socks have been driving me crazy. I have had to unravel each sock 3-4 times and then after all that, one sock still has a major error knit into it. There are so many mistakes in this one pair of socks that I am almost embarrassed to give them to TOOMA. Which I was going to do on Valentines Day but I RAN OUT OF YARN. I can't believe it. If they were for me I would just put any old yarn on the toe and be done with it but they are not for me and TOOMA tends to show the people at work his socks I knit him so I had to order another skein. I am so frustrated with these socks. And none of it is Nancy Bush's fault it is all mine. In the past year I have been having a lot of medical problems which tends to be stressful. When I'm stressed I get absent-minded so I have been knitting easy pieces for about the past year. Just when I thought things were getting better, I found a swelling under my arm so it was back to all the specialists. The past month I have been sitting in Drs. offices waiting for them to tell me what is wrong with me this time, knitting on my sock. And swearing at my sock. The good news is that I don't have breast cancer. The bad news is these socks. I thought about taking them apart and doing them over but than I thought; they chronicle what I was experiencing while I was knitting them. They are full of stress and anxiety and frustration, and it will take longer to finish them than I hoped but in the end everything will be ok. I'm sure TOOMA won't mind.

Noro Bag

2007-02-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

I finished the Noro bag for MD today. Just as I thought, it was the finishing that took a long time not the knitting. I knit it out of Noro Silk Garden Color 208 which is the same color that is used for the Casual Bag on the cover of Knit by Janine Flew. I changed just about everything else about the bag though. First, MD didn't want a pattern on the bag so it is plain st. stitch. Next, we didn't want a knit handle because unless you felt them, knit handles tend to stretch and stretch over time so we bought leather handles for it. I was very pleased that we could find leather handles in a dark green that matched the yarn perfectly at my local quilt store, The Quilt Company. While we were there MD also pickd out some fabric that she liked which I used for lining the bag (see picture of lining). I put in a couple of pockets so she would have a place to stash her little stuff like her cell phone and keys. I am very happy with how it turned out. As you can see from the picture, the handles turned out to be a very good length for MD. I don't think I would change anything except how large a toggle button I bought and also, I think I would like it better with the eyelet pattern knitted in to give it a little bit of character. I am thinking about making one of these bags in a different color for myself. It would make a very nice summer bag for travel since it is lies flat. Now its back to socks.

Christmas Mitts

2007-02-04T23:02:00.001-05:00

XMAS MITTS
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I promised my ES that I would make him some mitts because his hands get cold when he is keyboarding in the winter. And trust me, it has been very cold here the past few weeks. I had hoped to get them done by Christmas but it didn't happen. I sat down this week-end and got them done. Thanks to my hand models TOOMA and MD. Now I am going to pack them up in a Valentines Box I am getting ready for him. Sorry I forgot to add the link to the pattern page for the Wristers.

New Month Two New Projects

2007-02-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

I started two new projects this week. One is a bag knit in Noro Silk Garden and the other is a pair of socks for TOOMA. I had thought the Silk Garden might work for Project Spectrum but the minute I took it out and really looked at it I realized the colors were all wrong. MD had asked me to knit this bag out of the book Knit by Janine Flew in the same colorway that was used in the book but to leave out the eyelet pattern. As happens so often with Noro yarn (in my experience), my colorway doesn't look like the book's colorway. My yarn has thicker stripes of color and also much more green in it. I asked MD if she wanted me to try and match the stripes but she just wants it random so I am basically knitting a rectangle that I will sew together and line with some pretty batik fabric. It will take me longer to line the bag than it will to knit it I'm sure.

I also started a pair of socks for TOOMA out of Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. These are the Gentleman's socks and I am knitting them out of Paton's Kroy. I have never used Kroy before and I am hoping I have enough yarn to finish. These socks will work for Project Spectrum even though that is not why I am knitting them. TOOMA wears the socks I knit for him every week in the winter. He truly appreciates them which can't be said for a lot of people. The reason I don't knit him more socks is because it takes so much longer than knitting socks for women. That makes me feel guilty so I decided that as a true act of love I would knit him a pair of socks for Valentines Day. Putting a definite due date on the finished item should help me finish them ( I hope). It just happens that they are grey and so fit into Project Spectrum. Its always nice when things work out that way.

P.S. The new Rowan Magazine for Spring 2007 is up on their website. Go check it out.

Yearning For Spring

2007-01-31T17:23:00.001-05:00

Spring Flowers
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have had the winter blues lately so everywhere I go I pick up some spring flowers. I have quite a few to spread around the house now and a picture to brighten up my blog with.

No Knitting Today

2007-01-31T09:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was going to get started on Project Spectrum, and I was going to do some of my quilting, and I was going to work on my spring cross stitch. I had a whole free day to do what I wanted in. But instead I found a piece of fabric I had been meaning to re-cover the cushion on a chair with and I thought, how long could that take? Well, it took me forever. Then when I was done I decided I had to move my book-case full of knitting books and a few of my favorite paperbacks and pretty soon the day was gone. But now I have a newly covered chair to use with my vanity/desk in our bedroom and all my knitting books are right there within reach just in case I need to get up in the middle of the night to read one. I think I am getting eccentric in my old age.

Veering Off Course

2007-01-29T08:02:00.001-05:00

Knitting For Peace
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I wasn't going to start anything new until I got one of my current projects completed but I couldn't help myself. I saw this messenger bag In the current issue of Knit It and figured I'd give it a go with some of the green candide I had left over from my Rebecca cable sweater. It only took me a week to get it knitted and felted. I scanned the "Knitting for Peace" logo in as they suggested and then used iron-on transfer paper to get the little patch on to fabric. I may end up taking that logo off the bag, haven't made up my mind yet. MD is thinking of using it for a book bag because it has a nice wide handle. The yarn in front of the bag is for Project Spectrum which starts on Thursday. Until then I am going to work on some of my old projects and not let myself get distracted again. I should be able to make it three days without starting something new.

Winter Blahs

2007-01-24T12:03:00.001-05:00

Half of Debbie Bliss
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

Not much is getting done around here on any front including knitting. I've got too many projects going and I don't feel like finishing anything. The weather has been grey, grey, grey! The only thing I have for show and tell this week is half of a Debbie Bliss sweater. I hope next week brings a change of weather and spirits!

A Long Forgotten Beauty

2007-01-20T11:26:00.001-05:00

Amy Vest, Jo Sharp Book 2
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have been trying to clean out my clutter and either finish my UFO's or get rid of them. This has been sitting around for years in my basket. I knit the vest quickly but then stalled out on the plaid stitching. Last week I made myself finish it because I like the vest a lot it was just all that stitching and then weaving in ends. I am very proud of myself for finishing it! Here are the specs: Amy Vest from Jo Sharp Book 2, knit in Silkroad Aran Tweed. In my gallery there is a stitch detail photo.

A Little Bit of Lace

2007-01-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

I have been knitting a little bit at a time on my Artic Diamonds Stole designed by Donna Druchuans that is in the Winter 2006 IK. This is one 64 row pattern repeat done. Doesn't look like much does it? I am going to love it when it is done and blocked but it does not make for exciting blog viewing. I was "talking" to Bells, and it dawned on me that I am knitting "out of season". I am knitting lace and socks which are my usual summertime knit projects. I should be knitting heavy sweaters now. I'll blame it on global warming like I blame everything else. But I do have another FO that I need to get photos of in the daylight. I should be able to accomplish that this week-end. It is snowing again so I am going to stay home most of this week-end and try to catch up on all the things I should be doing. Maybe even start a new project ;-)

Booking Through Thursday Playalong

2007-01-18T08:32:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd playalong with Laura today and do Booking Through Thursday. Here are the rules for today: The Page 123 Meme
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Include the title and the author's name.

Here are my answers:
1. War and Peace
2. and 3. Anna Mikhailovna left him, and when she returned he was fast asleep , his head on his arm. Next morning Anna Mikhailovna said to Pierre: "Oui mon cher, it is a great loss for us all not to speak of you. But God will sustain you; you are young, and you are now, I trust, the possessor of an immense fortune."
4. From War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

I have to admit I am not reading War and Peace right now, MD was. But I have read it. And I also have to admit I was tempted to cheat and find another book with a more interesting group of sentences but I didn't.

Is It Winter Yet?

2007-01-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

It's snowing today for the first time in a long time. And it is actually supposed to stay cold for the next week. How strange. I took this photo to show how green my plants are even though it is the middle of winter. They never stopped growing and my spring bulbs have all come out. I don't know what this cold snap will do to them. Poor garden!

While my garden may be doomed this year, my knitting is coming along just fine. I have the first of the French Child's Socks done from Knitting Vintage Socks. I always enjoy knitting Nancy Bush patterns because they are so well written and I usually learn something new. These socks have a very pretty heel as well as a neat rib pattern on the cuff. MD was kind enough to model them under the Ott light. I tried to take another picture directly under the light to show the pattern better but I'm afraid it will take more than an Ott light to show off this pattern. I am trying to decide whether to buy some sock blockers or not. I never use them but maybe I should.

TCC Action Shots

2007-01-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

It was raining outside so the photo shoot had to be under the skylight to maximize the light. Here she is front, back and a gratuitous cat shot because Nei always has to be the center of the attention. Specifics one last time: Travelling Cables Cardigan from Karabella using Nature Spun worsted weight.

Still Fuzzy

2007-01-11T09:24:00.001-05:00

French Child's Sock
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have started on my red socks using Nancy Bush's French Sock pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is Stahl's Socka in a deep wine red. This picture is pretty true to color. I won this yarn from Laura of the Red Sweater KAL. Thank you Laura! Unfortunately, I have another head cold so I am still fuzzy from cold pills. MD and I have had one cold after another this winter. I blame it on the warm weather. In fact, she has been absent from school so much this semester that her school sent me a truancy letter! This is my third child and I had never gotten a letter like that before. I freaked out and called the school right away. Turns out that now if you miss 12 days of school you can no longer graduate to the next grade no matter what your grades are. MD is in the gifted class and makes straight A's but it didn't matter, she was getting close to 12 days. So I called the Dr and had her fax over a report on her health. What a pain! We are both so tired of having running noses and sore throats, it makes everything hard, including my knitting. This is a simple pattern but I keep making mistakes that I have to go back and redo. I'm not going to work on any bigger projects until I feel better. Hopefully next week we will feel more like ourselves around here.

Steamed and Seamed

2007-01-08T19:28:00.000-05:00

My Travelling Cables Cardigan is all steamed and seamed. I was so glad to get it done that I didn't want to wait for daylight or for someone else to be around to take a picture of her. She is knit out of Nature Spun, and the pattern is from Karabella. She was fun to knit but I made several mistakes that I blame on being sick with a head cold. A fuzzy head is not good for clear thinking when reading patterns. So, I did the moss stitch the way I am used to doing it instead of their way which is double moss stitch in my book;-) Then I didn't do a great job on the button holes so I bought big buttons. I did a three-needle bind-off for the collar and then sewed it down. It fit perfectly. Then I mattress stitched the body together. I'm not really happy with my sewing and if I was in a better mood I would probably take the sleeves apart and do them again. Instead, I will give her a bath and see if it helps even her out. Nothing like a bath and a stretch to make things look nice.

A note about the color; she is a Christmas Red, not pink at all. Maybe this week-end I will be able to take a picture of her outside so you can see the real color. Here she looks more pink than she is in real life. I included a picture of the buttons to show off the pretty celtic looking cable pattern on them. And for some reason the buttons look gold to me in this picture rather than silver. I guess I shouldn't try to take pictures in artificial light.

Now its on to finishing up some of my other many projects that I started before Christmas!

Yarn Addiction

2007-01-06T12:12:00.000-05:00

After careful thought I have decided to join the:

For those of you that don't know the rules, here they are:
. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Trading stash is allowed.
5. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

I figure if things get really bad here I can ask TOOMA to gift me with yarn or take up spinning.
As for TCC, she is still not seamed. This week has been very hectic and the week-end will be very busy also. I am hoping to get her done next week. And no I haven't started the red socks either. Not a very good knitting week!

First FO On The First

2007-01-02T11:38:00.000-05:00

I finished my first FO on the First of 2007. Well............ actually I finished knitting my Travelling Cables Cardigan on the first but it is waiting to be blocked and seamed, so I am only stretching the truth a little. I finished most of it while watching Dexter on ON-DEMAND. My daughter and eldest son and I pulled an all-nighter on New Years Eve watching all the episodes of the first season. TOOMA gave up around 1:00 am so he has to catch up. It is a very interesting show. Back to knitting- I probably won't get this seamed until next week sometime since this week is so busy for me. But I have a lot of other projects to work on and some family requests to start so I will have more knitterly news later in the week- I hope. Stay Tuned....

2006-12-31T10:58:00.000-05:00

Christmas Knitting

2006-12-27T12:23:00.000-05:00

Travelling Cables Front
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was very nice except for the fact that I came down with a terrible cold on Christmas Eve. Since I couldn't do much else I did manage to finish the front of my Travelling Cables Cardigan. I didn't do that great a job on the buttonholes. I don't think I should knit when I am sick. Now I am working on the sleeves which will probably take forever. I am always tempted to start a new project when I am knitting sleeves since I hate them so much. But I am going to be strong and make myself finish them. I also have been thinking of following Wendy's example and only knit from my stash for a good portion of 2007. I'm just not sure if I can stick to that resolution. Luckily I have a few more days to think about that. Later in the week I will show you pictures of the lovely book TOOMA gifted me with. For now I am going to go rest some more.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2006-12-24T09:36:00.000-05:00

TOMTENS

2006-12-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Some Christmas Tomtens, pattern here: http://www.saartjeknits.nl/patterns/Korknisse.html