Happy Easter Everyone!

Things are beginning to turn green....even my grandaughter.

Mr. C. thought it might be fun to help his sister paint.

So, he opened the jar of paint for her.

Madness ensued.

Fortunately, it's non-toxic!

There is knitting going on. I'm making another basketweave wrap in cornflower blue. I know, I know... another wrap. There's just something about knowing that, no matter what, it will fit.

Ha ha.

What to say....

I'm not sure how to keep a knitting blog interesting when all the projects you are in the middle of are a secret. When you just know the recipient of a gift that you are making visits the blog on occasion, you're not going to plaster photos of your progress all over the place for them to see.

I will just say that lace is continuing to kick my butt. SOOOOO frustrating. I wish I had a dollar for everytime I come to the end of a row and do not have the appropriate number of stitches. I'd have enough money to pay people to knit lace for me.

The link below is the blog of one of the yarn shops in Charlottesville, VA that I visit on occasion. Check out the felted flowers. So cool.

The Needle Lady Blog

On the family front, Clare is turning into a little monkey. She loves to climb onto and jump off of the furniture.... and she isn't even walking yet so it's a little scary. Hard to believe she'll be one in May. Gratuitous grandchildren photo to follow. (of course)

COLIN AND CLARE ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I'm Hooked!

Castle

ABC Monday 10:00PM

One episode and I'm completely hooked.

Next Monday can't come fast enough.

Finally... A New Finished Object

The yellow wrap is Aran weight 100% wool from Kraemer Yarns.

I loved it and had to have it.

I have no clue what I will ever wear this with other than jeans.

It doesn't go with anything I own.

Other than the fact that I think I "over" blocked it, I like it.

Do you think I have a "Wrap" problem?

And, truthfully, this pile is missing a few.

I start to think that I should be knitting other things, but I do wear

these all the time.

And, of course, I'm always knitting socks too.

I can't remember the name of the sock yarn pictured below because I lost the band

to it a long time ago.

But as you can see, it's a pooling mess. These are Catie's Christmas socks for this year.

She picked the yarn in a cute yarn shop in Charlottesville. But I don't think this is what she had in mind for the end result.

Below is a stash busting project for Clare.

My daughter says she loves these little socks but can't keep them on her feet.

So, the next pair will have some yarn overs so I can wind some ribbon through

to tie a bow to keep them on her little feet.

60 Minutes

Chesley Sullenberger

After watching "60 Minutes" last night, I've decided that I want to marry this guy. Oh, wait, that's right, I'm already married! :-)

Check out the article in the link below, and tell me those aren't the luckiest 155 people alive to have had him in the pilot's seat that day.

Chesley Sullenberger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Those people were obviously living right.

Cate's Wrap

4 skeins of Rowan Big Wool

size 15 needles

32 stitches (I think)

Sheeeee likes it!

Frenzied Knitting

My latest project. I can't put it down.

Every now and then you get a project like this. One that you

can't stop working on for no particular reason. It's for me, and I don't have any special

occasion to wear it, but you would think by the way I'm working on it that I need it tomorrow. It's just fun and easy.

I made up the pattern, but you can see the design is a take on a pattern I did before

pictured below. The one below was featured on the monthly web magazine called

Magknits.com and it was a free pattern. That site is no longer up so I don't know where you

would find it now. Ravelry features it but the link leads nowhere.

It's called Trellis and Vine by Sauniell N. Connally and it's a lot of fun to make.

A great pattern for beginning knitters to learn a few new "moves".

Anyhow, my version is in aran weight as opposed to DK and it will be larger and warmer which is what I like. The yarn is Kraemer Yarns Naturally Nazareth and I'm liking it alot.

Check it out, then order it here.

(In case the links are not highlighted, click on the words "Kraemer Yarns"

and the word "here" to link to the yarn and the shop. I've noticed the

highlight function doesn't work well with these fancy templates.)

New Year, New Projects

This is the second pair of socks I made for Clare. This is some left over sock yarn and the other pair was also a stash-busting accomplishment. My daughter tells me they are difficult to keep on her feet. Maybe the next pair should include some yarn-overs (holes) with an i-cord lace strung through to keep them on. I'll work on that.

I made a simple stockinette stitch wrap for Catie (daughter # 2) and sent it off to Charlottesville without thinking to take a photo. She is charged with sending one to me soon. It's cute, and it was made with Rowan "Big Wool". It knit up in three nights on size 15 needles. I made up the pattern but there wasn't a whole lot of magic to it. Knit a row, purl a row. I blocked the heck out of it so hopefully it won't roll. We'll see.

Below is a scarfette for Kelly. (daughter # 1) I made this pattern up too. Hopefully if I ever want to duplicate this stuff I can remember what I did. I didn't write any of it down.

Don't ask me why Blogger turned this photo sideways. I can't figure out why Blogger does most of what it does. Anyhow, it's done in Manos del Uruguay that I bought at Purl Soho in NYC. Two strands held together on size 10.5 needles. It should be very warm around the neck. Also a stash-busting accomplishment. (yay!) It's currently on the blocking board and I'll get a better photo of it after I sew on the buttons. And, for those of you who were wondering..... yes, I do know that cables are best left for solid colors. But I was in cable-y mood! What can I say?

Right now, I'm working on a rectangular cable wrap of my own design out of a pretty yellow aran wool. (I have to admit that I just re-worked s few small things from another pattern that I already did) Photo to come.

The diet is going ok. I'm still grumpy. I like sweet stuff. I like Starbucks coffee drinks that are a calorie nightmare, I like wine. Oh, I love salty snacks too. Ugh. Thank God I still have knitting.

It's the little things....

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the year. It was good. Some are good and some are bad, but this one was good.

We got a lovely new grandaughter. Her brother adores her. He did right from the start.

My husband got a new job that makes him happy.

I had a bad year selling real estate but you'll have this from time to time as the market re-adjusts. It's bad when it happens but it's normal. (Well, usually it's normal anyhow)

We started some long awaited projects on our house which made me feel much better because those much needed repairs kept me up at night worrying.

In retrospect if I had to say what I'd like to change about the year it would be that I was so preoccupied with work and family that I let some things slip with friends and didn't do some of the things that I really enjoy doing for myself. I couldn't find the time to go to knitting night. (ONCE A MONTH!) I rarely called my friends on the phone to say hello. I forgot most birthday cards.

I think I got lazy. It was easier with everything else that was going on to just ignore the things that weren't vital to daily existence.

I have a friend who is amazing. She never forgets anything. And she works full time and pretty much takes care of her Dad since her mother died a few years ago. But I can guarantee you that she doesn't have one friend who doesn't hear from her in some way at least every other week. It might be an email or a voice mail or a quick phone call but you hear from her.

I want to try to be a better friend this year. I want to try to be a better communicator in general. My New Years Resolution is to be more thoughtful. That's it in a nutshell.

I need to be more thoughtful.

Below is another one of my Christmas presents. My (very thoughtful) daughter and son-in-law took Clare for a professional portrait in the baptism gown I made for her. I can't stop looking at it.

Christmas and 2009 Knitting Resolutions

Could this be a subtle hint??

I believe my Christmas present says, "Put the knitting down and get some excercise."

Point taken.

Last year at this time, when taking stock of my year in knitting, I resolved to use up my stash in 2008. I didn't. This coming year, I will make a concentrated effort to do just that. I have some beautiful yarn, most purchased with a particular project in mind and some purchased just because I liked the looks of it. In reality, it's wasteful. So I will try. Really. I will. I could make Clare 30 pairs of socks with left over sock yarn and I'd still have some left over.

I'm not sure why I didn't photograph all of the Christmas projects I completed. I think I was out in left field somewhere for the last two months but I will make an effort to get back on track.

The beaded scarf turned out well even though I screwed up the pattern. Michael's fingerless gloves were a hit. I think the girls liked their socks. Denny liked his cashmere scarf even though I think it's flimsy. Something that cost that much to make shouldn't be so non-substantial. Give me 100% merino any day. Lesson learned.

So, I just want to say Happy New Year to all of my knitting friends near and far. May 2009 be a great year for everyone!

(Gratuitous grandchildren photo to follow)

Charlottesville, VA

I just got back from a week in the beautiful

city of Charlottesville, VA.

The countryside is beautiful even in the winter.

And the weather is mild. Much warmer than here.

We saw John Grisham sitting at his desk at the window in

his office. (that was sort of exciting!)

We even got some shopping in at the Downtown Mall pictured

below.

And, of course, we had to hit "The Needle Lady"

Incredible inventory.

Cate had to drag me out of there.

Thanks to this little vacation (of sorts), the Christmas knitting is just about complete.

Colin's sweater is finished. A scarf is finished.

Fingerless gloves are nearly finished.

The blocking board comes out tonight.

It will be good to get back to more leisurely knitting!

A Rant

Times are tough. According to what I've been reading in Time and Newsweek, they're going to get tougher. When times are tough, that means that times are really tough for charitable organizations. When you have to cut back, I would think that one of the first places you look is the money that you give away. So I feel sorry now for the people responsible for raising money for charitable organizations.

Having said that, here's the rant: I'm tired of every checkout person in just about every store I walk into asking me if I want to give a dollar to this charity or that organization. At lunch time, it was for an organization I never even heard of. And, it was the second person today who asked me. The first was at the supermarket before work, and, yes, I gave a dollar to .... wow.. I can't even remember now what I gave it for. But I did recognize that organization. The second time I was asked was at Taco Bell and I have no idea what that money would have supported.

I usually say yes. But it annoys me. It's the principle. If I chose to come into a store to purchase something, they should have the courtesy not to ask me for more money.

I'm not cheap, I'm not stingy, and I'm not a great big grouch. But I prefer to choose who gets my donations. I have pet causes. I can't help it. I'd rather the MS Society get all this money I'm forking over at the checkout counter. Or the food bank. Sure, I know I can say no, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who do indeed say no. But I do not like being put in that position when I go into a store in good faith to do business.

On the one hand, I'm glad they raise a lot of money from people like me who can't say no. People need the money. On the other hand, it still annoys the hell out of me.

Ugh. I'm so conflicted!

Yo! Family!

I want this book for Christmas!!!

Does anyone have it? Is it good?

Holiday Knitting

Jade Sapphire 100% Cashmere scarf

Complete!

I would love to have made this a little longer.

But I have more money in it than I should to begin with!

I came up with this stitch on my own for this scarf. Not that it is anything

out of the ordinary. If I had it to over again, I wouldn't have made it so wide and

I would have used bigger needles. It's a 100% merino DK on size 5's. It's a little stiff.

Look below how the front and back differs.

The back is pretty cool.

Below is Colin's sweater.. all finished but the neck.

I'm not sure why Blogger decided to upload this photo

on it's side. ???

The yarn doesn't look very attractive in this photo, but

actually, it is a very pretty green with colorful specks.

So, at this point I still have two pairs of socks and another scarf to complete.

Every year I swear I'm not going to stress myself out like this, and every year

I do it all over again!

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Well, not really. Just trains. We took Colin and Clare to a model railroad exhibit. He LOVED the trains. He especially liked watching them come out of the tunnels. It was also a craft show with tons of nice things. I didn't buy anything. I would have liked to have gone back by myself to walk around and think without the distraction of the kids but that didn't happen.

On the knitting front, I'm working like crazy on a lot of small projects for Christmas gifts. I have many more projects in my head (including sewing projects) than I will have the time to complete so I'm trying to prioritize. It's not easy!

And it begins....

Scary

Scarier

Happy Halloween!!!

No children were cooked for this holiday display.

:-)

Lunch

I stopped at Wendy's at lunch time for one of their new flavor dipped chicken sandwiches ...shown here:

It's waaaay better than fast food.™ It's Wendy's.® - Wendys.com

I got the buffalo chicken type. Looks good, huh? It was.

But I have to tell you this. Do NOT get one of these if you can't

A. sit it down on a huge sheet of that paper like the kind that you roll out from a huge roll for picnic tables. It's the only way that it can be cleaned up adequately.

B. wash your hands and face with soap and running water and reapply your makeup.

C. power wash the immediate area after you're finished.

It was the messiest sandwich I ever ate. Ever.

But put on your hazmat suit and I think you've got something here.

Three Projects and a Wedding....

I did something I've always been tempted to do. I bought two skeins of 100% Cashmere.

I'm usually not so extravagant.

And the worst part is, I have no idea what it will be.

I'm waiting for it to speak to me. (but I'm really picturing something

around my neck!)

Below is an easy sweater for Colin.

A simple raglan pullover for Christmas.

It's Donegal Tweed Homespun by Tahki. 100% wool.

I know....not the best choice for a kid.

But I saw the yarn in a shop at the beach and it just said, "Ireland" to me.

So I bought it.

The third project is a Halloween sewing project for Colin
and I've been sworn to secrecy.
So look for that next week.

And Congratulations to my nephew Clark and his lovely bride, Annie.
Great wedding, great weekend.