Bricklayer Knits

FO: A Cowl'd and Frosty Morning

2011-11-15T05:56:00.001-08:00

I finally have a finished project! Not on the needles, not in a bag, but all done and finished.

Pattern: Cowl'd and Frosty Morning (Rav Link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky in Stonechat

I LOVE this pattern, and will probably make another in a different color. It only took me a couple of days and if I had sat down and worked on it for a couple of straight hours, I could have done it in one day.

I've always been in love with the Stonechat colorway and I finally found a good use for it! This cowl is soft and I like the way it falls. Its just the right diameter around my neck so I don't feel like I'm being strangled, but it still keeps me warm. I'd highly recommend this quick knit!

Bad blogger!!

2010-06-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I have THREE WIPs to show! But not today :) Maybe tomorrow...

In other news, I have decided to start another blog. I was thinking, this blog is called Bricklayer KNITS, it is a KNITTING blog, and I don't think people come here to read about my running, eating, etc. So I started another blog for that. Head over to Hit The Bricks for those adventures, if you are so inclined. I've only been at that one for a week or so, and it still needs some work. Otherwise, stay tuned for knitting content over here.

Hope all is well :)

-Michelle

A call to arms

2010-04-07T08:39:00.001-07:00

Please check out this site!!! Thousands of women are doing it, it feels so good!

FO: Beckett's Comfy Blanket

2010-03-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Finally! I couldn't show you this FO because the recipient's mom is a reader of the blog. I gave him this blanket today!!!!

Its the Bunny Hop Blanket (Rav link), named so because the original blanket was made with Bunny Hop yarn. I used Berrocco Comfort, which is my favorite yarn to make baby blankets out of... its so soft, and machine washable! All my new-mom friends love that ;)

I love that it looks great on either side.

I used three skeins of Comfort, almost exactly. This blanket was super easy to make. I took a little break from it during the Olympics when I was working on my Knitting Olympics project. And then Mr. Beckett came early! So I hustled to get it done. It was still a little late (he is 6 weeks old!), but better late than never! The pattern calls for 6 repeats of the diamond pattern... but I did 4. I remember my friend telling me once that she likes baby blankets a little on the smaller side, so they can be carried around and used as security blankets when the kids get a little bigger.

Brady also likes this blanket, which says to me that I may need to make him a blankie of his own...

So exciting that Beckett decided to take his blanky on the road with him today!

I'm working on another baby blanket right now! I know a LOT of new moms and moms-to-be. Its so fun and exciting!!!

No knitting today...

2010-03-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

I do have an FO that I can't show just yet.

I have a running FO that I am proud to show off, though! This past Sunday was the final race in the Wild Rover Series that I worked hard to be able to complete. The weather was awful... 40s and rainy. But I reminded myself that I ran in the half-marathon in the same weather, and this was only 5 miles. Honestly... if I hadn't run the previous two races, I may have bailed. Doesn't it look like I'm having fun?

The prize was this 3 piece medal... one piece for each race.

This is what I was training and strengthening my leg for! That last race was only 5 miles... but felt like a huge accomplishment. I was happy just to finish, to be honest. I was even happier to see that I finished two seconds faster than I did last year, and that was in gorgeous weather! The verdict is in, I run better in the rain and the snow! A special THANK YOU to my good friend Shaine and her boyfriend Tommy for braving the rain and coming to meet me at the finish line. Support means so much!

The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat.

2010-03-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Well, one out of two ain't bad.

I was going for two medals this past Sunday. In my last post, I shared my goal for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, to finish the Darkwood Cardigan. I had 17 days to do so. Now, I'm sure that there were times in those 17 days that I could have been knitting and wasn't, but I knew I had no plans for Friday night and Saturday during the day and was planning on using that time as catch-up. Until...

We had a little repeat performance of New Hampshire weather damage on Thursday. A crazy wind storm blew through the Granite State and parts of Massachusetts, leaving almost 300,000 without power in NH and over 100,000 in Mass. We did not have power from Thursday night til Monday afternoon! Luckily, we borrowed a small generator from a friend, but it was literally only hooked up to the burner so we could heat the house and shower. We didn't even have any light! So try as I might... I did not finish the cardigan. So sad. I still have the hood, weaving in ends, and buttons to do. I actually debated staying up late to finish on Sunday night, and then realized that I never got any buttons! So aggrevating! So, I cut my losses and went to sleep. But as you can see... I REALLY tried... *sigh*

Knitting with a headlamp!

Onto better news... the OTHER medal I was shooting for was the finisher's medal for the first leg of the Wild Rover Series!! This series is so fun. You run three weeks in a row, 3, 4, and 5 miles, respectively. They all begin and end at Irish bars. The shirts are great, the food is great, and everyone's attitude is happy and fun! At the end of each race, you get a medal, and those three medals come together to form one BIG medal! So fun, right? Two years ago I ran the first and third races. Last year I ran the second and third. So this year I said self... you are getting all three of those medals! My biggest concern was not finishing, since I have been battling IT Band Syndrome. But thanks to my good friend and trainer, I have been working on rolling, stretching, and strengthening my legs to make them strong enough to run again! No pain! I was even able to cross the finish line in a dead out sprint against another girl who tried to pass me... and failed. :) Me with my hardware below, 4 miles this Sunday, I hope its just as successful!

And hopefully I can show off my new cardigan before the weather gets too warm to wear it...

New!!

2010-02-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

First new thing is a new baby in my life! My friend Kelly had her baby, Beckett this week! I got to meet him last night and he is just gorgeous. Congrats to Kelly and Scott!

Here's me and Beckett :)

Its always so exciting to have a new baby around!

Ok the other new thing is my crazy idea to join the Knitting Olympics! This is different from Ravelympics, which I didn't get around to in time. Knitting Olympics is on the Yarn Harlot's site, the post is here. Cast on during opening ceremonies, finish before closing ceremonies, and the project has to be something that's a challenge for you. I have chosen to knit the Darkwood Cardigan (Rav link). I bought the yarn for this during the summer, printed the pattern, got the needles... just haven't gotten around to knitting it. I think the project itself will be fine, but the challenge will be working on it enough to have it done in 17 days!!!

Watching the dog show...

2010-02-06T05:05:00.001-08:00

Its going to be a great day...

2010-02-04T06:10:00.001-08:00

Happy Thursday!

I left for work early enough today to stop and get coffee/oatmeal at my favorite nation-wide coffee chain. I decided to go in instead of waiting in the looooong drive thru line. After I paid I walked over to wait for my chai and a pleasant girl saw me and said "I like your hat"

And after I thanked her she said "I bet you made it... I saw you at the register and said 'Hey, that's the Amanda Hat'".

You can't imagine how excited I was, as this has never, ever happened to me! So then I commented on her scarf, which was the Prismatic Scarf and she told me she made an Amanda hat to go with it. I told her it also goes well with the Shifting Sands Scarf, as I made a set for my friend, and we chatted about patterns that show off variegated yarns, Ravelympics, and knit groups. Then she grabbed her latte and left.

I love how a hat that took me all of 5 hours to make can spark a conversation between two knitters to make the time waiting for coffee to pass that much quicker. Its going to be a good day!

And here is a better pic of my Amanda Hat:

Pattern: Amanda Hat by Gina House\

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, I believe in Azul Bolita

I made this hat on the train to and from New York from 1/1 to 1/2 of this year. This poor yarn wanted to be the Koolhaas hat so badly, but it was never meant to be... I think it looks great as an Amanda, though :) I am trying to decide what to do with the rest of the skein now, possibly a matching cowl, since as we know, Mmmmmalabrigo is SO soft.

Just another Sunday night

2010-01-31T15:29:00.001-08:00

Finding comfort in some Comfort

A WIP and a conversation with my favorite non-knitter

2010-01-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, my wonderful husband got me these, which I had asked him for months ago. He always pays attention and its always a pleasant surprise:

He has no idea what "frogged" or "ripped" means to a knitter, but he tries to use them in conversation with me. On Sunday, I was working on my sweater (see below) and we had this conversation:

M: You know what? I am SO excited that this sweater fits me so far.
E: Yep, otherwise you'd have to frog it.
M: Oh my God! You know what that means now!
E: Honey I don't really, I...
M: Do you know why they call it frogged? Because you rip something out and the noise is something like "rip-it, rip-it"... y'know, like "ribbit, ribbit", like a frog.
E: Ok, that's weird. So, when you frog something do you call it a lilly pad?
M: No, but that's a great idea. We say we send it to the frog pond.
E: Uh-huh
M: Just ripping a few rows is just called ripping. And when you just have to take some stitches out and you un-knit them, you call it "tink-ing", because "tink" is "knit" backwards, get it?
E: You lost me.

So I may end up calling frogged projects Lilly Pads now, because Erm made it up and its cute.

But I WON'T be frogging THIS:

Its the Textured Tunic with Side Buttons from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. I love this pattern, I love this book, I love this yarn. I love everything about this sweater so far. I love that it FITS. After the Rusted Root incident, I learned that although its a pain to do, its a good idea to take things off the needles and try them on. It also gave me an idea of where to do my decreases for my waist, which I've done. Now I'm ready to increase for my hips. I can't wait to get this one done!!!! This picture here is closer to the true color. My apologies for those messy yarn baskets!

A needle in a haystack...

2010-01-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

...or a bobby pin in my bag!

Happy New Year! Looking at other peoples' blogs, it seems like a lot of people had a rough 2009! Here's to a happy, healthy 2010!!!

We started off the new year by heading down to New York City for a great dinner and a show at the Blue Note Jazz Club to see Chris Botti! We took the train, which gave me plenty of time to knit, of course. I took my nice bright blue Malabrigo with me and the pattern for the Amanda Hat (Rav link). I tried to make the Koolhaas Hat (Rl) with it, but after two or three unsuccessful attempts, I decided to cut my losses and try something else. How liberating.

At the end of the hat, I realized I did not have any tapestry needles with me to weave in my ends! I really wanted to wear my hat off the train because it was snowing in Boston, so I had to use my MacGyver skills and figure something out. I rummaged around in my purse and found my new tool:

That's a bobby pin. Don't leave home without it.

I'm alive!

2009-12-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Long break from the blog! Warning: long race recap followed by cute baby/knitting pic at the end.

The last post was made before I ran my half marathon, which I'm happy to say I ran and finished in the time I wanted to! It was slow, but I did it. About halfway through, it started raining, and that rain eventually turned to sleet... and then snow. It was a freak October snowstorm up here, which made finishing that race even better! The bad thing was the injury I limped away with. During training, I broke the cardinal rule of "Don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% per week". Toward the end of my training, I noticed my right knee hurting after my long runs. I would ice it and move on, not thinking much of it.

Around mile 6 of the race, it started to feel a little sore. I told my cousin/running buddy but said it would be ok... just a dull pain. At mile 8, I could tell she was dying to run faster, and the knee was hurting more, so I told her to go on without me. The rest of the race was excruciating. I stopped to walk thinking a rest would be good, but then when I tried to run again, it got worse. So I figured, no walking, just hurry up, run, and finish.

At mile 10, I felt a slight snapping sensation on the side of my right knee and stumbled a little. I had to limp over to the sidewalk and slow way down and take a break. And then... I started to cry. I had been waiting three years to run a half marathon. My legs felt great, I wasn't hungry, I had tons of energy. I ate properly in the days leading up to and the morning of the race and now... I really thought I wasn't going to finish. I think if there had been a first aid tent between miles 10 and 13, I wouldn't have finished, so I'm glad there wasn't one. I walked over the bridge I was on and took my last GU at the end of it.

The real weather (read:sleet) started around mile 11. I think I've mentioned before that I actually enjoy running in rain or snow... it motivates me to go faster and distracts me from any pain I may be in. So all my power went toward breathing and motoring along with my busted knee (probably not the smartest thing to do?) to finish the race. As I ran over the final bridge I started hearing the always-welcome "You can do it! Almost there!" and I thought wow, I really am almost there...

So I cross the bridge and the crowd petered out as I ran a quieter section of the race. I noticed that up ahead there was scaffolding and rails and what not, so I figured that must be the end and I was so relieved. I ran into the "chute" (for lack of a better word) and saw the arch up ahead that looked like the finish. I ran toward it and it dumped me out into a huge minor league BASEBALL FIELD that I had to run all the way around to finish at home plate. I thought... what a sick joke! I headed left and around the outside of the field and in my last 100 yards, I really did start to cry again. I'm not ashamed, many runners cry. This time, I cried out of a mix of sheer pain and pride and joy. With one final push I sprinted/hobbled across the finish line and ducked my head to receive the beautiful medal I had worked so hard for. It was one of my proudest moments, ever.

With my mylar blanket wrapped around me, I found my cousin and we set out to find our way back to my car... except I wasn't moving very quickly. Actually, if you have ever seen the show House, I was walking exactly like Dr. House. I could not bend my right leg at all. She went ahead with the keys and I eventually met up with her and we went back to stretch and ice. When I got home, I immediately hopped online to look up what the heck could have happened to my poor knee. Between my research and a personal trainer-friend, I found out that I was suffering from Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Its a common running injury and can be caused by improper training, or weak hip abductor muscles, or a handful of other things. For the next couple of days I had pain that ran from my right hip all the way down to my knee and crossed in front and down my shin. I thought we were going to have to amputate. Too scared to run or do anything else, I avoided all exercise... until today! I did a light speed interval workout for just 25 minutes on the treadmill. I felt good at first and then... the knee pain came back. I'm so sad! I can't give up running, its out of the question! So, I guess I will have to find out what exercises to do to strengthen up the rest of my leg so I can get that full marathon in before I hit my next major milestone... (forty).

I learned two very important things from this race...

1. Listen to your body when it talks to you. It knows more about it than you do.

2. Research your race route! You don't want to think you're done only to be dumped into a huge baseball field!!!

In other news, I have no in-process knitting pictures today. Maybe tomorrow. What I DO have is a picture of the Super-Natural Stripes Sweater from the end of my last post. I was really nervous it wasn't going to fit! But... this picture tells a different story... Toren in my sweater, and his first time in jeans! So cute :) I was very happy to get these pictures!!!

Big hiatus = big post

2009-10-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

I'm very into talking in equations today.

I can't believe its been almost two months since I posted! But, I've been quite busy. Here it is, in a nutshell.

I went to Italy with my husband and his family, to see his family. His Dad moved here from Italy to marry his mom, and all the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, etc are still over there. The family farm is still working! We went to Rome for a couple of days, then headed out to the country where we ate and ate and ate and ate. I also worked on the farm one day, pureeing tomatoes for sauce that was sold at the market the next day. It was a really cool trip. I loved Rome, but it was a great experience to be out in the country where the "real" Italians live. Here are some pics:

Me and Erm at the Fountain of Trevi

One of many statue people in Rome

St. Peter's Basilica

View from our hotel room in the country

Italian Family :)

Me and my father-in-law, getting the tomatoes ready

The open market

Me & Erm at the Amalfi Coast

Making friends at the horse farm

Cappucino... only 1 Euro!

I have hundreds of pictures! It was a great trip. I feel so lucky and blessed to have gone to Europe twice in the past year, and now we've caught the travel bug. But no more big trips on the horizon!

I also celebrated my 31st birthday, which I don't have any pictures of. I was spoiled this year. I was taken out to dinner by friends, Erm took me to a French restaurant the night of my birthday and then to Salem, MA the next day (which I've been wanting to do for awhile!). While in Salem I went to Seed Stitch Fine Yarn which is a MUST if you are ever in the area. The owner helped me patiently while I deliberated over yarn and a pattern, and they have a great selection!

We also went to Block Island with friends and rented a house for a couple of nights.

A pretty view from driving around the island

The girls

The guys (I feel like Cat Deely)

Me and Erm before leaving the house

I also have had more time to knit lately, believe it or not. In September I went to Fawn's baby shower and was able to give her this adorable sweater:

I completely forgot to take a good picture, so this was on my lap, in the car, outside the shower

Pattern: Super-Natural Stripes, courtesy of f.pea (f.pea is Fawn Pea... how perfect is that?)

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton, 1 ball each: Sand, Sky, and Expresso

Mods: None.

I could be having a gauge problem. Once again, this sweater came out very small. It may fit the baby when he's first born, but I don't think it will fit him for long. I think I'm going to start using a larger needle or knitting the next size up for baby things. Until I figure it out, I'll stick to baby blankets :)

And that's it... for now. I have many things on the needles, a poncho patiently waiting to be blocked, and new yarn waiting to be cast on. I am running the Lowell Sun Half Marathon tomorrow and its supposed to be 45 and rainy!!! Please pray for a dry day in Lowell tomorrow!!!

Coquette Lace Tube Top

2009-08-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

I bring you... an FO:

Coquette Lace Tube Top from "Fitted Knits"(Ravelry link), by Stefanie Japel.

Used 3 skeins of Cascade Pima Tencel in black, and some of another yarn with tencel (can't find the ball band!)

Mods: Everyone who knits with this yarn points out that it stretches. I knitted the smallest size and went down a needle size. I used some white grosgrain ribbon through the top eyelets to help hold it up. May add straps.

I love the lace on this top, I love its cuteness, and its comfortable when I first put it on. However, even with the ribbon tied tight to help keep it up, I still had to change out of it after a few hours because it was falling down! This yarn stretches more than I would have imagined. I think this can be solved by adding straps, but I was really hoping to avoid that. However... I want to be able to wear it!

I ran my last race of the summer on Tuesday night. It was 94 degrees and humid and miserable. My cousin and I brought our tank tops in a bag of ice water and changed into them right before the race, which helped for the first mile and a half or so. But it was still so hot! However, it didn't stop me from this:

That's me, signing up for the Lowell Sun Half Marathon! I'm ready to take the next step in my racing. I'm a little nervous about finding time to train, but I think I'll be ok. Its only a half marathon, after all!!

A week of firsts

2009-08-10T05:03:00.001-07:00

This week was a week of firsts for me. I made my first project on a sewing machine (picture to come later).

I finished my first shawl, and also my first project with mohair! I cannot believe how warm this shawl is, its so light and airy that I was curious if it would just be for show, but its definitely warm!

Pattern is Aunt Phebe's Comfort Shawl. VERY easy. I wish I had made it a little bigger, but I have yarn left over and may make another one as a gift.

Made with about 1 1/2 skeins of Marvelous Mohair in the Dead Squirrel Color

Mods: None. This pattern is so easy and quick as it is, I didn't have time to think about making changes to it.

Another first, I ran in my first bikini race! I did NOT run in a full bikini. Charlotte and I ran in bathing suit tops and running shorts, and even then, my bathing suit top was a very sporty top and actually felt like a sports bra, so it wasn't too bad for me. There were people who were in full bikinis though, and some guys in speedos! I ran an awful time, which was a letdown after my incredible race a few weeks ago, but it was fun... despite being 86 degrees and humid. It was one of those runs where I pray for rain. I won't flash a bunch of pictures for you, except this one, which I laugh at every time I look at it. I think I was fixing my shuffle, but it looks like someone slapped me in the face!

Yesterday I finished my Coquette Tube Top, but it needs to be blocked before I'm ready to show it off. I knitted a bunch of it at the lake on Saturday with Erm's family. So I leave you with another first... my first time knitting on the water.

My first love

2009-08-03T04:39:00.001-07:00

Other than my husband and family and friends, my first love is animals. A few weeks ago, you can imagine how happy I was to pick these two up to babysit for a few days

You may recognize Cody from earlier posts. We babysit him all the time and he always settles right in. Our new guest was his sister, Roxie. Her usual babysitter was off with Mom and Dad, so we offered to take her. I'm not sure there could be two more different dogs. Cody is mellow, snuggly and obedient. Roxie is spirited and always the first in line for attention or anything that may fall on the floor. We had lots of laughs with these two for three nights and were sad to see them go!

Joey getting in the mix

Best friends

Octavious is safe if he stays in the office

Roxie enjoys sunning herself

We returned them to their Mom and Dad a short few days later, but Cody will be back in just two weeks!! Can't wait!

Mozarthuys Cowl

2009-07-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

When I was on my honeymoon, I was determined to buy yarn from overseas. When we were in Bruges, I found a yarn store that was a little cramped, but the lady who worked there was very sweet. The yarn I bought was actually from Spain, but... still from overseas. I only bought one hank of it and it was super bulky and I knew it would be a scarf or a cowl. After knitting one cowl that didn't work out so well, I found the pattern for it. This is Marian (Ravelry link). But since I bought the yarn in Bruges and it will always remind me of Bruges, I'm calling it my Mozarthuys Cowl, after our favorite restaurant there.

Pattern: Marian by Jane Richmond

Yarn: Katia Nordic Print
Mods: The directions say to cast on 45 stitches and use size 19 needles. I cast on 40 stitches and used 15s. The result is a much smaller cowl than what its supposed to be... but I think I like it better this way. Also, you're supposed to twist the first stitch after you cast on to create the twist in the cowl. I think I twisted it twice instead of just once. No biggie.

This yarn was great to work with, not too splitty. Its very soft and will definitely keep me warm under my coats this winter!

The short sleeved polo goes well with the cowl

Its my first cowl and I'm very excited about it!

This was Erm's idea

Not enough time!

2009-07-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Where have I been?? I don't even know!

Real quick, because we're busy getting ready for a wedding this weekend. This past weekend we went on our annual sailing trip.

We sailed from Salem to Gloucester for lunch and back! Best sailing day we've ever had. Perfect weather, perfect lunch, and perfect company.

I also tried my hand at a minted pea soup:

which was not very good. Those onions and peas are from our CSA and are delicious! And the mint is from our mint plant that Farmer Erm takes care of and is also delicious! But... the soup wasn't minty enough for me. And I think that to get me out of the mindset that pea soup is supposed to be warm and comforting it should be pretty minty and summery. So this soup... not a hit. Back to the drawing board.

I also ran a PR (personal record) this week! Running in the rain agrees with me, I guess. Between that and some tips I got from my personal-trainer-friend, I shaved 13 seconds off of my time and finally passed a milestone I've been trying to reach since I started running two years ago!!!

The good news is that in all my busy-ness, I am finding time to start AND finish small projects. The bad news is that I don't have a picture of the cowl I finished on Wednesday. Next post shall be about the cowl!

Have a great weekend!

I love quick hits

2009-07-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't win the contest. So sad.

However, nothing picks me up like a quick FO, even if its just a baby hat! My third Baby Cables hat!

A friend who has a baby boy who looks dangerously like Adam Lambert is the recipient of this hat. I need to come up with a baby hat pattern of my own that I can make and sell. I started this one on Sunday afternoon and finished it Monday night. I showed it to Erm this morning, his reaction was "you finished that already?". Ahhhh...

And my longer term project is a shawl for me. I bought this yarn awhile ago, its one of the only yarns I've ever bought with no idea for what I'd do with it, just because I loved it. I thought it looked like a dead squirrel, Erm thought it looked like potatoes. Anyway... I went nuts looking for a shawl to knit with it and came up with this pattern... I can't remember where it is to link it, but it strikes me as pretty basic. Funny coincidence, now that its knitting up, I think a friend of mine has this shawl someone knit for her in a greenish/blueish/brownish yarn. Mine is just brown. I'm SUPER excited, as this pattern is easy and I can tell this shawl is going to be the right balance of warm and not too warm and go with a lot of my fall clothes, because I wear a lot of browns.

I think I finally found the perfect pattern for this yarn!

CONTEST

2009-07-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

As I was browsing my blogs this morning I came across another contest! Wandering Cat Studio is having a contest with awesome prizes here!

It ends tomorrow so hurry up!

Excitement and confusuion in knitting land...

2009-07-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

First of all… I am only 6 inches of ribbing away from being done with my Coquette Lace Tube Top! As exciting as that is… its more exciting that I tried it on, and it fits! I can’t wait for it to be done. No pictures yet, I don’t want to jinx it.

Secondly, I used the gift card that Erm gave me for Christmas (can you believe that I’ve had it for 6 months and not used it yet?) and went to Knit Pickings and bought the pattern and some of the yarn to start the Great American Afghan. I pretty much copied the colors from the pattern, but they didn’t have the exact colorways, so I matched the best I could. I love them all, especially all together.

Each square measures 12” x 12” and highlights a different technique, stitch, etc. I’m really excited to learn some new things and have a great afghan.

Lastly, I am at a loss. The yarn I bought to finish Erm’s socks is very pretty, but not what I normally buy. It’s a variegated tealish color. I thought I knew what I was going to make with it, but after one pattern repeat, I don’t think I want to do the whole sock in that pattern. The yarn isn’t quite as light as in the picture, but gives a good idea.

I am looking for a cuff-down, non-lace pattern that will look good with this yarn. I’ve been looking since I got it. Its my new quest. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll make something up.

Arrivals

2009-07-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

First of all, my new camera is here!!! We came back from a cookout on Friday and it was waiting at my door. I got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8. I love it! It was quite reasonably priced on Amazon and while I was a bit nervous about dull pictures, I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Another thing that finally arrived is SUMMER in the Northeast. We only had 2 days that it was above 80 in June, and it was the second rainiest June on record! The forecast had more bad weather this weekend, but it was beautiful on Saturday and Sunday!!!

Saturday we spent a bunch of time weeding in our front yard. Yes, I was weeding on a national holiday. Just like our forefathers wanted. Then we decided to get our CSA vegetables. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is pretty cool. You sign up at the beginning of the season for your "shares" of the farm's vegetables, fruits, eggs, livestock, dairy, etc. Some farms have more options than others. This was our first year, so we just did the vegetable share, and the herb and fresh flower share. Every week you go to the farm and pick up your share from whatever they've harvested that week/day. I love it so far. We're actually having a tough time eating all of our vegetables, we get a LOT. And most of the time, its been harvested within 25 minutes of us getting there... doesn't get much fresher than that!

So we walk into the farm and look at the board:

YES. Pick your own peas!

Farmer Erm picking peas

Really, really fresh peas

And then we went to visit the farm animals.

Just call me the Goat Whisperer

And then we got our harvested vegetables and went home and had a relaxing night. With salad, of course.

Yesterday we visited two more farms. This was totally not planned to be a farm filled weekend, it just ended up that way. After our adventures with the in-laws, we went to buy some patio furniture! We have been in our house for almost 4 years and have no patio furniture. It was time to bite the bullet. No pictures of said furniture, because what the furniture sits on is embarrassingly in need of a power washing. But we set it up and put out some snacks and ended the weekend relaxing and enjoying our backyard in the beautiful weather...

I'm not the only crafty one in the family!

2009-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Not having a camera is really killing my blogging! I have so many things to be taking pictures of. Luckily, I ordered a new one and it is on its way!

I do have pictures to share that were taken by someone else, though. Last night I ran the second race of the Good Times Series with my cousin Charlotte. Charlotte has really hopped on the running bandwagon and she's pretty good at it! We enjoy running races. Its fun for us to do together and when there's a lot of people, its a blast. This series has 8 races, each with a different theme.

Last night was Classic TShirt Night. Everyone was encouraged to wear a classic race shirt from the past. Well we didn't have any, so we made our own! Actually, Charlotte made them, me and my creative husband contributed the ideas. Next up, we'll be ruling the world. There were awards for oldest race shirt, shirt from a race the farthest away, most colorful, and best homemade shirt... guess who won that one??

The back said "HIT THE BRICKS"... get it?

Fittingly enough, we won t-shirt frames! I'll be framing this bad boy once those letters are ironed on and it is returned to me.

And... I ran my best 5K time ever! Between that and the tshirts, it was a really exciting night! We're thinking of running next week's race. And the one after that... and the one after that...

Finally!

2009-06-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Erm's Birthday Socks have been renamed the Busted Toe Socks!

Friday Erm picked me up at work and we headed down to the MGM Grand at Foxwoods for the night! I don't have any pics because... no camera. And my phone was dying so I couldn't even take crappy phone pics. We checked into our room and got dressed and went down to grab a bite to eat before the Earth Wind & Fire and Chicago concert! This weekend was Erm's birthday present. The show was GREAT! Then we hit the blackjack tables which was also great :)

Saturday morning we got room service breakfast and got on the road to drive up to Kennebunkport, Maine. We love it up there, its so relaxing and there are lots of great restaurants to sit outside and enjoy the ocean at. We usually stay right in Kennebunkport, but this time we stayed at the Kennebunk Inn, which we cannot recommend enough! The staff was so friendly and helpful, our suite was HUGE and a steal for the price, and the restaurant was delicious. Erm's best friend and his fiance joined us for this leg of the trip, as a surprise for Erm, and they stayed with us at the Inn. He was so happy and surprised to see them!

Yesterday we had brunch at Federal Jacks, one of our favorite places in Kennebunkport. We also had lunch there the day before. Its a brewpub where they have Shipyard beer, which is just fantastic. The brunch blew us away, we stuffed ourselves and got on the road to see Erm's family and mine, and then finally got home last night to settle in and get ready for the week.

On the car ride from Connecticut to Maine, I finally finished those socks! Here they are, phone pictures and all:

Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks (Ravelry Link) by Jennifer Appleby

Size: Men's 12

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid in Slate, 420 yds; Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select Semi Solids, Slate (just to finish the toe)

The second sock also boasts the best toe I have kitchnered yet. :) The crappy phone picture doesn't do it justice. I'll take a better one when I have a camera!

Lesson Learned

2009-06-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

So! After the dreaded Rusted Root disaster, I needed a quick hit to get my knitting mojo back. The other night my mom and I went to Yarn and Fiber in Derry NH so she could find some yarn she was looking for. It sometimes feels like cheating when I visit another LYS, but this was the first time in over a year I've been somewhere other than Knit Pickings (who is having a HUGE sale right now) around here, so I didn't feel TOO bad.

While there, I laid eyes on the Great American Afghan and fell in love... if it weren't for my Sock Yarn Blankie, I would be buying all supplies for this RIGHTNOW but I need to keep myself in check. (although there is that sale at KP...)

They had a sample of it at the store and its GORGEOUS! I get all choked up when I look at it... it makes me think of Christmas, and being up north, and fireplaces, and movies, and Christmas, and chilly days, and tea, and Christmas...

My mom didn't find the yarn she was looking for, but it was great to check out the shop! And, I got more yarn to finish Erm's Original Birthday Socks! (Pic of the first one here). Only problem is that is a variegated yarn, and the socks are solid. Its the same color, Slate, but the new yarn is all different shades of it. Its actually very pretty and I will be using the majority of the skein for myself. BUT, I finished those two pattern repeats and have started toe decreases, so hooray! Erm says he doesn't mind having a different colored toe on one of them. I think it will add a bit of whimsy to these socks.

I plan on finishing these socks in the car tonight. This is Birthday Surprise weekend for Erm! Lots of car time. We're spanning 4 of the six New England states this weekend, doing all sorts of fun stuff. Maybe I'll have crappy phone pictures on Monday!

After these socks are done (tonight), I need to start a new project. Yes, I can start my new pair of socks for me. But... I have had my eye on the Coquette Lace Tube Top (Ravelry link) from Fitted Knits. I figure I can't be gun-shy about starting new projects, either. I packed my knitting bag with both circulars, the book and yarn needed to start this project. Here's my dilemma... everyone on Ravelry says this cute top knits up way too big. I think we know that's not a problem for me, however, I'm trying to figure out the best way to overcome it. The pattern calls for a 5 for the ribbing and a 7 for the body of the top. I brought a 5 and a 6. I also am going to knit it about 4 inches too small. And I think I'll add some waist shaping. I know one thing... I'll definitely be trying this one on as I go! Hopefully all goes well and I don't have a meltdown tomorrow on the way from Connecticut to Maine, because that would make for a looooooong car ride!

Its official

2009-06-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait til tomorrow to post this, but I couldn't wait.

I came home and was very excited to see that the Rusted Root was dry. I went about my normal business before unpinning it and putting it on. The anticipation was killing me as I pulled it off my new blocking foam thingie and looked at it with admiration. The stitches are even, the lace is lovely and the color is my favorite color. So I put it on and went downstairs and asked Erm to take a pic for all of you...

Its ridiculous! I should have done this beforehand, maybe it would have saved me the disappointment...

That is a size small tshirt in white. Its a little baggy on me, but you get the picture.

So, my new mission is to find something new to conquer. But, I also have to find someone to give this labor of love to...

This just in

2009-06-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

This just in... the Rusted Root is STILL super small. I checked on it this morning. Its taking a long time to dry so I may stretch it out and repin it. Or maybe I should just leave it alone. I've never had something be THIS SMALL. Has anyone ever successfully blocked something that you thought would never be big enough?

Hopefully I'll have a new camera soon to post some fun pics. I am still working on Erm's Earl Grey's and I may be taking a trip to the store to get yarn to finish his original birthday socks. But I have to start something new... with the lightning speed I finished the Root at, I'm wondering if its smarter to start something I want to be able to wear within the next 4 months, or a fall/winter sweater.

I have to share a blog I found... its Healthy Tipping Point. I don't even remember how I came across it... I think I was looking for a healthy recipe for something. About a month ago I had a little wake-up call and decided I needed to exercise more, eat better, and drink more water. Sounds simple, but as someone all past coworkers refer to as "The Girl with the Hollow Leg", it has been tough for me to cut down on my eating. I actually haven't cut DOWN, just try to balance more, and count my calories, and eat more fruits and veggies. I feel so much better, have lots more energy, and my desire to exercise has come back. From what I can tell, the author of said blog had a similar epiphany and has been focusing on health as well. What's great about her blog is that it gives fun and creative ideas and ways to eat, and think of food as fuel instead of entertainment. Its very motivating!

Point of no return?

2009-06-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished the Rusted Root. I've tried it on many times and although I try my best to suck in all that I can, it is still skin tight on me. This morning I took the plunge and dunked, rinsed, squeezed, rolled, and pinned in a final attempt to block it and get some more room out of it.

A few weeks ago I was at the craft store and came across my new exciting knitting purchase:

Its a foam kiddie mini golf set! It was on sale for $10. I had been putting things on towels and on top of cookie racks to block them and really was getting sick of it. This was a much more professional alternative. This is what it looks like all set up:

In addition to the foam being a much better and more reliable surface for blocking, how could you be in a bad mood with all those bright colors? Oh, and I apologize for the awful pics, they were taken with my phone. I can't wait to get a new camera.

I was so entertained by all the colors and shapes that I almost forgot how depressing this sweater is.

I mean, its still super cute, and I still love it, but I'm afraid that its going to always be waaaaay too small for me and I'm going to need to give it to someone. Yes, I got gague. No, I didn't try it on as I went, even though it was knitted top down. I had so much faith in my knitting and all that I figured it wasn't worth the effort of taking it off the circ to try it on and then putting it back on. So, I guess I got what was coming to me. Regardless of what happens with this bad boy, I learned a LOT about what I should and shouldn't be doing with my knitting.

And now I need to go for a run and remove myself from the blocking, or I'll just go in there and keep readjusting it.

Go figure

2009-06-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my mystery project (finally!) and was able to return to knitting after a way-too-long hiatus. I am almost done the Rusted Root, I only have ribbing on a sleeve and the neckline to finish. However, I am without a camera! So I have no pictures, which is sad because they would be funny. After over a year of working on that sweater, I put it on and it may as well be made of spandex! It is skin tight, everywhere. I put it on in the bathroom and came out and all my polite husband could say was "um... its a little tight...". I'll find a way to get pics before I block it. I HOPE when I block it I get some more room into it, I think its wishful thinking, though. I believe this is going to end up being a gift... which would normally make me sad because I was so excited about wearing it this summer, but I've been working on it for so long that I just want to finish it and start something else!

Since I have no pictures, I will do the Friday fill-in. Have a great weekend!

1. I grew up thinking a lot of things would just stay the way they are.

2. Gmail was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you just curl up on your couch with a blankie and a movie on this yukky day?

4. Running helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the emails and comments on my blog!

6. Ignorance is very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hanging out with my friend Keely and her dog, tomorrow my plans include the gym, projects, and hanging out with friends and Sunday, I want to play golf with my husband!

What I do

2009-06-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Part of my job is running my high school community service group called Helping Hands. I took over this group this past fall and decided that we needed a focus for the year. That focus is helping people with cancer, and helping kids with cancer when we can. Most of my group is juniors, and junior year has become the most important year academically for kids now, because those are the grades that colleges really look at for admissions. My kids put in so much of their time to be part of Helping Hands, they really go above and beyond what I had expected! This year we ran a book drive for Dana Farber Cancer Institute, participated in town fundraisers, and our biggest fundraiser was a BowlAThon we hosted to raise money for a 12 year old girl in town who had her leg amputated in January after a failed attempt at limb salvage... she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma three years ago. We raised $9000 for her family to put toward a prosthetic that would allow her to play softball again!

This past weekend we participated in Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society's biggest fundraiser. Its an overnight event usually held at a college or high school track where someone from your team has to be on the track at all times. There are raffles (I won a Yankee Candle basket!), music, games, etc. It is FUN and I encourage everyone to do it at least once! I am proud to say that although I set our goal low for this event, the kids tripled what we expected to raise for the ACS, and we still have more money coming in. We were there from 2pm on Saturday to 8am on Sunday (I got a whopping 45 mins of sleep) and they were respectful and wonderful the whole time. I couldn't be happier!

Our flag!

We invited Justine to be our guest and walk the Survivor Lap

Being silly setting up... the pool contributed to our beach theme :)

Be our guest, be our guest

2009-05-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Since I'm lucky enough to have found my best friend and marry him, there's only one thing I really want right now. Anyone who knows me know its not jewelry, new clothes, a new car, even yarn, at this point. I really, really want a dog. Really. I've grown up with dogs all my life, and for the first time find myself without a dog and I do feel a void.

Lucky for me, I have a friend who has the most perfect dog in the world and she goes away a lot! Kelly (of the Brady Boy Blog) and her husband are away right now in Disney and we are watching their chocolate lab, Cody. I'm not sure who's doing who a favor! He's honestly the best dog I know. I feel bad saying this because my mom has two dogs, but he's really great. Doesn't jump on furniture without being invited, doesn't leave you if you take him out without a leash, and he has a nice big bark that lets you know if anything's going on outside. I picked him up on Friday and we had a nice, long weekend with him. I have him only til this Friday (sniff) but we've been enjoying him so much! I've taken him for runs and walks, Erm has had him help with some yardwork, etc. Here's some pics!

Cody eating his greenie and Joey being jealous

Cody LOVES the ball I bought him

He also loves to help us drag sticks out of the yard

As I say every time, I was debating telling Kelly and Scott that Cody ran away and we don't know where he is, but I would keep him. Sadly, this would never work. I also think Joey is going to miss him, as they are usually together in the house.

Still no knitting, although I am making great progress in my other project. I MAY take a hiatus from my knitting hiatus this weekend, though. I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life with my high school community service group, Helping Hands. My kids are amazing. We started at the beginning of the year on a mission to help kids affected by cancer. We've had lots of projects and fundraisers. Our biggest one was to help a girl who had her leg amputated above the knee after a failed attempt at limb salvage after being diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in her left leg. We raised $9000 to help her buy a prosthetic leg that will let her get back to playing softball, riding her bike, and being a normal kid! This weekend, the event raises money for the American Cancer Society to raise money and awareness to fight cancer. Check out our site!

Withdrawal

2009-05-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

I'm going through withdrawal over here. And I don't mean the donuts that are taunting me from the next room. MEAN DONUTS.

And I don't mean knitting, although I really am going through knitting withdrawal. My other project is definitely progressing at a good clip, but I'm dying to get back into that Rusted Root and finish it so that I can actually wear it this summer. Or Erm's Earl Greys so that I can give them to him for his birthday.

My withdrawal has to do with American Idol. Love it or hate it, you have to admit it takes over TV for the 5 months that its on every year. Add to that that I am involved in a pool amongst friends and it takes on a whole new meaning. This year, I had Danny Gokey winning the whole thing and I STILL think he should have. Alas. Since everyone had Danny, Adam, Lil Rounds or Allison in their top 2 this year, it really made for an exciting finale that Kris (in nobody's top 2) was up there last night! It was intense.

That's me on the right and fellow crazy-Idol-obsessed Shaine on the left. Either of us was going to win, depending on who won on TV. And... I WON!! For the first time, and I have been doing this pool for a long time. I was very, very excited.

So that's it. I love Idol, go ahead, make fun. I'm already sad that its over.

But do you know what starts tonight? ;)

Doing things is what we like to do...

2009-05-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

So! Since I haven't been knitting, I've been working on lots more other things, and I've actually remembered to take pictures of some of them!

This weekend, I did not get to knit, or run, or bake (my three favorite things). However, my NEXT favorite thing is having dinner parties, and we did that on Saturday! Erm's best friend Skip got engaged in March, right before our trip, and we hadn't had the chance to celebrate with them yet, so Saturday was the night. I love having dinner parties, it gives me a chance to use some of the things that I registered for that everyone swore that I wouldn't use :) I also love coming up with menus, I really enjoy cooking, etc. And, after receiving a book on napkin folding, Erm thinks I have a rare psychological disorder, Foldamania or something.

I also got to show off one of my tablecloths from Paris and all the other things we brought back from our trip!

Notice the folded napkins... sicko

The menu was:

Gougeres (Martha's recipe) with Champagne

Scallops and mushrooms in a white wine & cream sauce with a white wine that Erm picked out...

Individual Beef Wellingtons with an Amarone

Aged Gouda and Parmesan (we took a break from the wine here)

Whiskey granita with vanilla ice cream and a Moscato d'oro dessert wine

The beauty of this meal was that a lot of it was done before our guests came so I could actually spend time with them!

Sunday we were up and at 'em early. It was the first day in a long time that we had no plans, so we took the opportunity to work on our stairs. After the Incident of the Drunken Russian, we found someone else to do our stairs. They came out beautiful! Sunday we worked on starting to finish them. Erm stained, I spackled. I spackled from 10am - 3pm. Lots of spackling!

I actually enjoy it and am good at it and am a spackler for hire for all your spackling needs.

While I was spackling, Erm was working around me, staining the stairs. He started with doing every other stair, so we could still get up and down. Then when I left for a meeting I had, he did the rest of them. The trim and risers still need to be painted, and we need to put some polyeurethane on them, but we're really happy with how they are coming out!

And Joey likes them, too :)

The smackdown

2009-05-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

I hate that I am writing this post, but I feel that I have to.

This week, Practical and Reasonable Me came out of hiding and told Happy Go Lucky Me what was up. I have something to do that I have been putting off for... three and a half months now. I don't even want to say what it is because I feel like the etiquette police will come after me, but its something I really need to get done. My plan of doing a little every day hasn't worked. Its past time that is acceptable before it gets done. Nothing is working. So...

I'm banning myself from knitting until I can get it done.

Its a drastic measure, I hope it works!

Friday Fill-Ins

2009-05-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Friday Fill-in!!

1. Apples are to oranges as lemons are to limes.

2. I hate coconut shrimp and that's all I have to say about that.

3. I think I hear spring is finally here.

4. I get emotional at the Olympics every time I see our flag.

5. Do what you want to do, but put your all into it.

6. My brother would go to the lake near our house and behind him was a Radio Flyer wagon; in the wagon was a bucket filled with worms, slugs, frogs, and anything else he could find.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to lobster dinner and watching the Celtics game with my husband, tomorrow my plans include a yard sale and Sunday, I want to spend some quality time with my mom!

Have a great weekend!!!

Thank God I'm a country girl

2009-05-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

As usual, we had a very busy weekend. We went to a Derby Party, family dinner with my aunt and uncle yesterday, and Friday night I worked at the carnival that my work puts on every year. Saturday and Sunday morning were dedicated to yardwork, since the Tree Guy was coming today. We got so much done, and it really tuckered me out! I actually started my day pruning back our HUGE holly bush that's right outside the office. Its a monster. Silly me didn't get any pictures of said holly bush, but I did get this guy:

He was one of four or five and they were HUGE. A couple of years ago all my morning glories were destroyed by slugs, so I get mad at them when I see them, but I still avoided stepping on them. Joey watched me from his usual post, which is anywhere that someone might take pity on him and let him out.

I am convinced that Joey is not neutered. He loves being outside too much. I did let him out for a minute under very close supervision, but his wanderlust proved to be too strong and I had to put him back inside.

After I was done goofing around with the slugs and the inmate, I got to the real work of sawing and dragging trees to a big pile so they could be thrown in the chipper.

Look at those guns... its a wonder I wasn't just pulling trees out of the ground with my bare hands!

So, that's my explanation as to why I have NO KNITTING in my blog for days now. I simply haven't had time to make noticeable progress, much less finish, anything that I'm working on. I'm in the home stretch with the Rusted Root, but for some reason I don't feel like I'm any closer to finishing it. And I'm almost done the leg on Erm's Earl Grey's but that picture really wouldn't be any more exciting than the last one. And the only other thing I'm working on is the Sock Yarn Blankie. My knitting life is BO-RING. But... I'm not letting myself start anything else until I finish the RR and Erm's socks. Seriously.

I'm finally happy to be home

2009-05-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

So, I really wasn't nuts about coming home from our trip. Erm was, but I wasn't. I actually enjoyed eating in restaurants for two+ weeks, someone turning down my bed at night, and not having anything to worry about except what we were doing that day. And that's just being on vacation and didn't even have anything to do with where we went!

After two weeks, I'm finally back into the swing of being at home and ready to get back into projects around the house and what not. I realized that I never posted a picture of our stairs after the Great Stair Debacle from last month. Luckily, we knew someone else that we were able to call and have come in and fix our stairs. He actually did a beautiful job!

They still need to be sanded and stained, and I have plans for those risers, but you get the idea. They are safe, beautiful, and all trace of that filthy, gross carpet is gone from our house!

And yesterday, I came downstairs to our tall hibiscus in bloom in the dining room/solarium. I never get sick of it.

I'm not sure what I'd do without Erm... I love flowers so much, but I kill all plant life that comes near me. The best I can do is arrange flowers that have already been cut. The hibiscus trees are his baby and he gets even more excited than me when they're in bloom. Right now there are tons of buds on this tree... I'm hoping in a few days they'll all explode and the tree will be in full bloom!

I could have sworn it was still April...

2009-04-28T04:33:00.000-07:00

Okay. I understand that we had a tough winter. I would even go as far as to say I'm excited about summer. But we went from 50s last week to 80s over the weekend. And today is supposed to actually get above 90! And then... back into the seasonal 60s for the rest of the week. I guess I'm just happy its not going to STAY in the 90s, but still... I feel like this gives the good ol' New England Weather new definition!

I am working on a second pair of socks for Erm, which is funny since he still hasn't gotten his first pair. I am going to just bite the bullet and buy more yarn for those. But, while I was on my yarn diet (which I was VERY good about), I needed to use something I already had. This is a sneak peak at Erm's Earl Greys. Yarn is Araucania in a colorway number that I can't remember. Its different greys, and its very pretty. I didn't even buy it with him in mind, but when I pulled it out, I realized it was on the manly side. Pattern is Earl Grey by the Yarn Harlot. I like this pattern because its mostly stockinette, which goes fast... but theres that cute cable pattern that goes up either side, so its just interesting enough.

I'm hoping to get these and his birthday socks from last year done for his birthday this year, which is still over a month away. That also requires a trip to Yarn and Fiber Company for the rest of the yarn to finish last year's socks. We'll see if I get out of there alive.

Bonjour!

2009-04-24T08:04:00.001-07:00

I am a BAD BLOGGER... I have been home since last Saturday and have a million pictures from my honeymoon and haven't written at all!

So, although I should totally be doing some work, particularly on my BowlAThon fundraiser that I'm hosting tomorrow (please check the link!), I will take a break and share, but just a little :)

We started our trip after a direct flight to Amsterdam, just for the night. Since we were only there for one day/night and were zombies due to the time change, I can sum up Amsterdam in few words... canals, bikes, Red Light, "coffeeshops", and a great dinner.

"Coffeeshop" is code...

This is where we had dinner, in our hotel's restaurant

The next day we got our car and took off for Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is the tourist capital of Belgium, and its easy to see why. The city is gorgeous, also with canals, and very medieval looking. It looks exactly like the movie "In Bruges", but there's no Colin Farrel. There's lots of history and tourist attractions there, lots to do, but also many restaurants to eat and and relaxing to be had. Add to that their world class chocolate, beer, waffles, and the best fries in the world, and we quickly settled in!

View from our hotel room

At the Church of Our Lady, one of the only Michaelangelo works outside of Italy

They really are the best fries in the world

View from the Belfry

At the FriteMuseum!

Bruges was the perfect way to start our trip. Its somewhere where you can choose to do as much or as little as you want and you don't feel guilty if all you feel like doing is walking around and eating fries and drinking beer...which we may have done on a couple of days. My tips for Bruges...

1. Tipping is completely optional. It is built into the cost. We had a very hard time adjusting to this, and felt guilty, so we usually left a couple of Euros. They must love Americans.

2. Its a great place to go if you don't want to worry about language barriers. Since its such a tourist destination, many people speak English as well as other languages, so its pretty easy to get around.

3. Make sure to eat fries, waffles, moules (mussels) and chocolates at least once, but if you eat them once, you're going to eat them again. I had 7 servings of fries in our 3 1/2 days there because fries are really one of my favorite foods and how can you not gorge yourself on your favorite food when its the best in the world? More on that and my love affair with cheese when we get to France...

4. Don't bother bringing heels to wear there. There are many cobblestone streets. Bring good walking shoes because you do a lot of walking.

5. You can totally get away with jeans every night at dinner, its a very casual place.

6. Tourist attractions we saw and enjoyed: The Belfry, Church of Our Lady, Hospital and Memling Museum (I was the only one that liked this), and the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where you can pray on a relic of Jesus' blood. We also went to the Frietmuseum, which at first glance appears to be geared toward kids, but there is a lot of information in there about potatoes, the fries, etc. For example, fries did not originate in France, but in Belgium. We call them "french fries" because Belgian soldiers brought them over here, but our soldiers thought they were French because of their accent.

7. We ate a great meal at Maria Van Bourgondie, the restaurant of our hotel. Its a short walk into a square, but totally worth it. Probably the fanciest of the restaurants we ate at. We both had steak and our first frites and it was all delicious.

We also enjoyed 't mozarthuys for frites and beers. They have the ever-popular steak on a stone, but we were never there for a whole meal so we didn't get it, although it smelled delicious. We liked this place for just grabbing a snack (snacks are HUGE in Bruges) or a beer outside. Its in its own little courtyard with a terrace and very relaxing to sit outside and enjoy a nice day.

8. Do NOT step out into the street without listening for horses! Bruges is very much a pedestrian town, but there are bikes and horse drawn carriages and the horses do not stop. This was one of the first things we were told when we got there.

9. I cannot recommend our hotel, Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce, enough. Our room was gorgeous, breakfast is delicious, the staff is unbelievably friendly and helpful, and there are drinks offered in the gathering room every night. It was almost too good to be true. And I'm sure this is common in all Belgian hotels, but the chocolates on our pillow every night didn't hurt, either.

10. Enjoy every second you're in Bruges. We loved it there and I believe it was Erm's favorite stop on the trip. We were sad to leave, but it was ok, because we were on our way to Champagne.

Hey, hey, wait a minute Mr Postman

2009-03-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

Every now and then the mailman is my best friend. It happened last Saturday when he brought my passport. We leave one week from today! And, it happened yesterday when he brought me a package full of springy presents!!! As I told you, I won the contest on Shelly's blog regarding the coming of spring. Here's what I got!

There are springy notecards and a springy pen, seeds for flowers, two skeins of a flax-y yarn to make the Market Bag, which she included the pattern for!!! I'm so excited, I've been looking for a bag like this to make! And these adorable stitch markers, which Shelly told me she made herself! The pic is a little blurry, which I didn't realize when I was taking it...

Bee, sunflower, and ladybug... aren't they so cute?

In stair news, there is someone currently working on my stairs at home as I type this! Its someone we know, but Erm is home today helping him out anyway.

In knitting news, I am only working on two things right now. My Rusted Root and I cast on for a pair of socks for Erm last night! I am using a new yarn that I am excited about (Araucania) and the Earl Grey pattern from the Yarn Harlot. They look like they are easy and will go pretty quickly but that little cable up the sides will keep me interested enough that I won't want to stab myself with my Addis before I'm done. Also, Erm has made it clear that if I run out of yarn (as in the Birthday Socks) he does not care if the toes are a different color. Now that I knit my socks two at a time on one needle, this is perfect, since if I get to the end of the ball and the socks aren't done, they will both have the same exact length and at least he'll have matching mismatched toes.

I am trying to think of what project(s) I want to bring on my trip with me. There are no hard and fast restrictions about what you can and can not bring on a plane as far as needles and yarn are concerned, however, its up to the security officer if he wants to let you through with it or not. I've done my research and found out that long circs are not okay, because you can use that cord to strangle someone. So socks are out, for the plane at least. I bought two skeins of Malabrigo in Stonechat back in the fall with the goal of making a scarf for myself out of them, and maybe a hat or something with what was left over. So I may bring that. I am definitely open to suggestions!!!

Its time to play the music... Its time to light the lights...

2009-03-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

The Muppet Socks are done!

For some reason NO pictures of these socks do them justice, but here they are:

My favorite thing about these socks is how well they fit. Its taken me awhile but I think I figured out how I have to modify socks to really hug my foot. I have long feet (I wear a size 9) but they are also narrow, as are my ankles and calves. The first pair of socks I made, I cast on the amount of stitches for the generic size 9 sock, and they are huge. They're comfy and gorgeous, but they are loose on me. So, the next pair of socks, I decided to cast on for a smaller size foot, but knit for the length of a size 9. Worked much better on the leg, but still had some sag in the foot. I was feeling creative and adventurous with these socks, so I decided to try to make them fit me perfectly. I cast on 68 stitches and worked the leg as I normally would in a diagonal rib. The heel flap isn't ribbed but continues the diagonal motif, as you can see (sorry for the dark pics):

Then in a flash of genius, at the end of the regular gusset decreases, I decided to do two extra gusset decreases only on the inside of each foot. I knew this would mean these socks have a designated foot to go on, but I wanted to see what happened. Lo and behold, this was the change I needed in my socks! We'll see what happens when I wash them, but if they don't stretch out, I may do this for every sock, as these really hug my arches the way they are now.

So, since I did those extra decreases on the inside, there were uneven amounts of stitches on either side of the center of each sole. So when I got to the decreases for the toes, I started by leaving the inside of the foot the same (the same side with the double decreases) for a couple of rows and only decreasing on the outside. I kept trying them on to make sure they were decreasing at the right rate. You can totally tell just looking at them which sock belongs on which foot now...

This is them without my feet in them

And there you have it. My custom Muppet Socks. They really fit like a dream. Oh, I also continued the rib pattern all the way to the end, which was pretty easy, but I'm not sure if I'd do it again. Also, I got a little impatient and didn't knit as far as I should have before starting the toe decreases. I thought I taught myself the lesson with the Pumpkin Socks where I did the same thing, but I guess not. Hopefully next time I can remind myself that I need another 1/4 inch!

Pattern to follow when I have the time/energy to write it up.

A Riddle

2009-03-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

Q. What do you call it when a carpenter gets drunk?

A. He gets hammered!

Ah, how amusing. Extra amusing that it happened in my house on Friday! Erm got a quote for the stairs from the same Guy that did our ceiling, since he did a good job in the kitchen. Erm bought all the supplies, took the yukky carpet off the stairs and got all the staples out, etc. Prepped and ready to go. Friday he came home to let the Guy into the house to do some painting that he had left to do and maybe get started on the stairs. While Erm was gone, Guy got into this:

So Erm came home an hour and a half later to all our doors being open in the house, and he could hear belligerent drunk Russian yelling. And instead of painting and maybe working on the stairs a little, he did this:

He didn't give us an estimate for that hole

He also took all of the old stair treads off, in a fit of drunken ambition, I suppose. So, the view from the top of the stairs is this:

Luckily, I am very nimble and am practicing to be a tightrope walker, so I just walk right down the middle on that little board. Its fine. Actually, Erm took some of the treads that Guy didn't rip apart and took the nails out and we put them on the stairs, so there's a tread on every other or every third step. They aren't nailed on or anything and they rock and make some noise when you step on them, which is extra fun with cats running up and down the stairs all night. Erm had to bring The Guy outside where he asked Erm 3 times if he was bringing him home (Erm had called his wife to come and get him) and then tried to get in Erm's car... just to prove a point, I guess. We do have someone coming on Thursday to finish them and do them the right way and leave our liquor cabinet untouched, so hopefully by this weekend we'll be good as new!

In other news, remember that contest I told you about? Well, I am here to prove to you that real people DO win blog contests, because I WON!!!! It was random, so I don't think I did anything too special, but I'm really really excited to have won!! I can't wait to see what kind of springy present comes my way! Wahoo! By the way, her blog is right here. Thanks Shelly!

I also finished the Muppet Socks last night, but didn't take any pictures yet and haven't written up any of the fun stuff I did for them, so hopefully I'll be able to blog about them tomorrow!!! Now I can start on a pair for Erm and work on that blasted Rusted Root...

Friday Fill-In #116

2009-03-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

Get yours here

1. Why do we have to work?

2. Cleaning and cooking are now habits.

3. I have the morning off!

4. I had never heard the phrase "sure, we can get a dog" and it is probably a good thing.

5. I wish I didn't stay up too late the way I always do.

6. How am I to know if my *&%$ing passport is going to show up in time?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to chaperoning yet another middle school dance, tomorrow my plans include seeing my mom and having my brother and his girlfriend over for dinner and Sunday, I want to get a new bookcase and new clothes for my trip!!

You can't always get what you want...

2009-03-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

... actually, I DID get what I want. And I HAVEN'T gotten what I need! We leave two weeks from tomorrow for our honeymoon and I still have not received my passport. Yikes! I have a bad history with passports to begin with, so I called today and expidited it. Hopefully I'll get it in time!

Monday I came home to what I wanted, which was a package of mini balls and skeins for my sock yarn blankie!

Naturally, I busted into it and knitted a square right away.

This past weekend was very productive for us. We had so much to get done around the house in the general cleaning category, which we did. We recently started doing some renovations/changes to the house, and this week I am getting new stairs! I wish I had a picture of the old ones... they were yukky off-white 20 year old carpet. YUK. The new ones will be hardwood, just like the rest of the house. I am also doing something cool with the risers. I'll take some good pics!

Another thing that had to get done was our kitchen ceiling. Up here in NH we had a ton of snow, and it was followed by warmer temperatures, then followed by colder temperatures, etc. This resulted in a lot of melting, then refreezing, which led to an ice dam on our roof which led to this:

That's some high quality water damage, there. We actually had a bit of it in just about every area of the house, but that was the bad part. So we got a semi-new ceiling, some new light fixtures... looks great now!

Erm managed to electrocute himself while playing with the wires, but he's ok now.

In baking news, our friend Scott's surprise birthday was this past Friday night. When we go to his house he likes to offer us a drink by asking "Can I get you something to warm your cockles?", which of course I find hilarious. I was looking through my Cooky Book one day and came across a recipe for Cockle Shell cookies! So I had to make them!

They were really cute and went over well, but I don't think I'd make them again. It took a long time to roll those little buggers up!

Sunday morning I looked around and saw nothing good for breakfast and was in the mood to bake again. Enter these beauties:

Simple, delicious, beautiful biscuits. Martha Stewart's recipe.

Next time will definitely be knitting. I have looked in my knitting basket and realized that I have many projects in there that are fall/winter articles (a hat, a couple of sweaters, a poncho, etc). I still want to finish these, but have other things that I want to wear this spring/summer (Rusted Root, Coquette top, etc and of course more socks!) so I need to do a reorganizing.

New contest!

2009-03-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

Ooh, I just came across a fun contest! Anyone can play, its here.

Its about the coming of Spring, which I think everyone (especially us here in New England) are very, very excited for!

Its going to be mid-50s up here this weekend, which will be great for some spring cleaning, running outside, and taking the dog for a walk! Oh wait, I don't have a dog... Maybe I'll take Joey for a walk.

Have a great weekend!

Lets see how far we've come...

2009-03-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking, since its American Idol season, its coming up on my one year blogiversary! Well, in a couple of months, but still, its exciting. I was poking around Ravelry today and realized that I have a bunch of projects in there that I made/posted before Bricklayer Knits began. So, I wanted to share :)

This is a baby sweater I made for Brady, its the Simple Hooded Cardigan (Ravelry link) on Lion Brand's site. Its a free pattern and it was my first baby gift. I made it out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Charcoal Grey. Isn't it cute? Brady was 5 months old when I made this for him, Kelly and Scott took him for his first trip to Disney and we watched their lab, Cody, and I knitted this sweater while they were gone. I knitted it in the 12 month size, figuring he'd grow into it, and he'd have plenty of time to wear it. Well... not sure what happened, (yes, I got gauge) but Kelly put it on Brady and he almost busted out of the seams! Ugh! At least he loved the buttons! And, I made it in a very neutral color, so its hung up waiting for his younger sibling to come along and get full use out of it.

Those are both Fantine, a French Girl Knits pattern. I made them both out of Rowan Big Wool, which I LOVE. The pattern uses size 17 needles and the yarn is huge, so this sweater is a really fast knit, I highly recommend it if you need something quick. I made the brown one for myself with long sleeves, and I wear it all the time. Its starting to pill and I need to stop wearing it so much! I made the light blue one for Kerri for her 30th birthday last year. The picture doesn't really show off the color, its a pale blue, not grey.

These were my first pairs of mittens. I actually did make one other to practice, but ran out of yarn, so these are my first PAIRS. The brown pair is made out of Lamb's Pride in Espresso. My friend Keely knew I was trying to make mittens and asked for a pair in chocolate brown. I LOVE when people ask me to knit them stuff, I know they'll actually wear it! The red ones are done in Cascade 109. Those are for me, and red is my favorite color, so I went for it. The pattern is a Berroco design called Melinda. Its pretty easy, I picked it because I had not yet learned to knit in the round but was antsy to try mittens. The ones I made for myself now need gloves inside them to reach their warmth potential, so I need to find a new mitten pattern and maybe start lining my mittens, too. Note: We have ugly light blue blankets on our furniture because I have destructive cats that shed a lot. You can see Octavious planning some evil attack even here in this picture. (Just kidding. He's the cutest.)

My first socks! I entered a half-birthday swap last March in the Libra group in Ravelry. My VERY generous swap partner, Tammy (her blog can be found here) gave me, among other things, TWO sizes of Addi Turbos long enough for Magic Loop, the Getting Started Knitting Socks! book, and a skein of Zen String Serendipity sock yarn, in colorway November. She couldn't have hit the nail on the head more with the color! I LOVED this yarn, the book was perfect for teaching myself how to knit socks, and these are still my favorites out of all my socks. Thank you, Tammy!!!

Just when I think I can knit anything, I do something stupid like this. This was an attempt to knit Anna of Green Cables in Cascade 109 bulky (again). I thought it would be great to have a hat to match my mittens. Instead, I knit myself a funnel. I started on a size 9 circular and figured that since all I had for DPNs for the decrease were 11s... that would be ok and wouldn't make a difference. I think I thought I was going to come up with this new knitting technique that nobody else would have thought of and I would be famous. Instead, I have this hidden somewhere in the craft closet abyss and will hopefully one day frog it and do it the right way, Magic Loop style, same size needles the whole way through.

If you're still reading this, thanks for looking at some of my projects! Hopefully I'll have pics of some of my new ones soon...

Better conditions

2009-03-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

I ran another road race on Sunday! This past weekend was GORGEOUS weather up here in New England... 50s both days! Sunday my cousin and I ran the Hynes Tavern 5 mile Road Race in Lowell, it was our second year running it together. This race and the one from last week are part of a 3 race series... and I missed the first week! Three weekends in a row, they all start and end at an Irish bar, they are 3, 4, and 5 miles, respectively, and everyone gets a medal at the end! Its so much fun. And, if you get all three medals, they all go together to form one BIG medal, which is an added incentive. This was this year's medal:

How fun is that? I have the hand on the right and the hand/arch/crown/claddagh symbol one in the middle. Missed that one on the left.

So this past Sunday was the last leg of the Wild Rover. I've really enjoyed running these races, both last year and this year. I've learned a couple of things about myself and my running as well... like that I am not even warmed up until around 3 miles. And that I shouldn't open my Goo before I'm actually ready to put it in my mouth, since it is VERY sticky and gets everywhere. I've also figured out that it helps if I look at the race course and its elevations and plan my music around hills, since I really really really hate the hills. Hopefully whatever race I run next I'll be a little more prepared for and shave some time off! I think I just need to get more into my training. Either way, I'm just happy to be running!

Friday Fill In #114

2009-03-06T06:46:00.000-08:00

This is fun! Get your own here

1. PMing people on Ravelry who were looking for patterns was my last random act of kindness. I'm new to RAKing!

2. Another place I want to go is Alaska.

3. I think you should follow your instincts in matters of the heart.

4. Coffee, tea or port is what I like to drink after dinner.

5. Me and E's minds sometimes go down separate paths.

6. Our housing crisis reminds me that there is free will.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a date at home with my husband, tomorrow my plans include light fixture shopping and dinner with friends and Sunday, I want to run a good race and not fall down!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-03-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Good

I've made so much progress on my blue socks! These are called the Muppet Socks, because this is really only a color a Muppet could pull off...

I went with a simple spiral rib for these ones. I needed something simple enough that I could memorize and figure out where I am when I pick it up. I love stripes but I think regular ribbing would have bored me (and looked even more manly), so spiral rib it is!

I'm extra excited about what I'm doing with the heel flap...

Not sure if you can see there, but I'm making some kind of diagonal pattern with my slipped stitches. We'll see how this works out. The yarn came with reinforcing yarn, so I think I can get away with a different heel flap than I usually do. But, I'm afraid it might be too wide. We'll see what happens...

I may also try to do something funky with the gusset and toe to keep the diagonal pattern going. Stay tuned...

The Bad

That's our cookie jar full of Chocolate Crinkles that I made yesterday during the snow storm. Not good for the pre-honeymoon diet! I've been able to only eat one so far...

The Ugly

That is my busted knee from after my 4 mile road race on Sunday. The whole race was just ugly. Me and my cousin were late (my fault), I was not fully prepared/trained (also my fault), and also not...well rested (again... my own fault). So the first mile was spent trying to catch up with everyone else, and luckily, I hit my stride and the rest of the race was actually great! We decided to walk and cool down after, and thanks to the layer of ice under the snow and my clutziness, I completely wiped out. In front of people. You know when you wipe out, and all you can do is laugh because you're so embarrassed? That was me. And then its even worse when people ask if you're ok, you just want them to pretend it didn't happen. So that's what I remember about my race. That and running in the snow.

I love any weekend when I can enjoy my three favorite hobbies!!

New toys

2009-02-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to find two new toys this week! I think I'm a big dork, because one is a Ravelry toy and one is a Blogger toy. But anyway...

1. There is a new tab in the "friends" section on Ravelry. I have no idea how new this tab is but its quite new to me. So, there's "Friends"; "Friend Activity" which keeps you posted when your friends queue, favorite, finish, stash, etc; "Friend's Blogs" which is pretty self explanatory; and the new one "Neighbors". The neighbor tab is people (friends or not) that share your taste in patterns! I love going in there and seeing who else likes the same stuff I do! And this goes for finished projects and queued projects. Ravelry's so great for getting help when you're stuck with something, I'm looking forward to seeing how this new one helps me out of a new jam!

2. The "follwer" widget for Blogger. Right over there, on the right hand side. I decided to add to my blogs-I-follow list last week and its made my life much more fun. I always have at least one or two blogs to read and help me procrastinate from whatever else I could be doing :) I have also done lots of reading that if you follow someone's blog, you get more activity on YOUR blog, and I think that's true, I've seen more visitors in the past week! Fun!

Finally!

2009-02-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

It looks like Tuesday is my blog day!

So on Saturday night, I FINALLY finished the Socks that I Dislike!!! Wahoo! It may be my favorite project that I've ever finished, I'm not sure why. I got very bored with these socks very fast. I didn't like the pattern much, and it really didn't go with the pattern on the yarn. However, they are VERY comfortable (I'm actually wearing them right now) and I like wearing them very much. :)

I still don't really like looking at them...

So, I did some thinking about what kind of sock I wanted to knit next, and with what yarn... I decided I wanted some kind of easily memorized pattern with one of my solid yarns. I don't really have that many solid sock yarns, come to think of it...

So, I pulled my bright Grover blue Lang Jawoll out of the sock yarn bin and cast on! I'm still just on the ribbing for these (I usually have to rip out a few times before I get my join in the round right... ugh) but I think they are going to be a spiral rib, unless I come up with something better before I get to the end of the ribbing, which I am halfway done with. Any ideas are welcome... this is the yarn, and yes it is THAT bright

What I did with my day off

2009-02-17T15:20:00.001-08:00

Don't you just love 3 day weekends? I sure do. On top of 3 days off, then you only have a 4 day work week!

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to all. Ours was celebrated at home, our favorite place :) I made individual Beef Wellingtons, some broccoli roasted with parmesean, ceaser salad with dressing from scratch, and pots de creme, which is really just creme brulee without the crusty top. So, its custard. Anyway, it was a night of firsts that I didn't take pictures of because I was caught up in my hunger.

Yesterday (Monday) was dubbed Movie Marathon Monday. We only watched two movies, which for us lately, is a marathon. We saw In Bruges, which my brother lent to us for the scenery. I have to say... odd movie. There were some funny parts, but I just found it odd. It did make me all that much more to go to Bruges, not that I needed much help! Bruges is the second stop on our five city honeymoon in April! We also watched Bottle Shock, which was about Napa's rise to popularity and victory over the French wines at the 1976 "Judgement of Paris". Come to think of it, both movies had to do with our trip. I don't think we even planned it that way...

While I wasn't being lazy, I was busy knitting. I did some work on a sweater for myself, but its just one black and one white stripe at this point, so I won't bore you with a picture. But, I made some serious progress on those socks. I must say, after trying them on, they aren't the Socks That I Hate anymore. They're just the Socks That I Dislike. They fit me absolutely perfectly and I actually can't wait to get them done so I can wear them and start a new pair. I just won't look at the cuff.

I spared you my toes. Also, on the bottom of one of them (just one), I'm getting this cool zig-zag and stripey pooling of the yellow that I'm really excited about. I find pooling fun and interesting and exciting, although I know there are people out there that hate it. With this yarn especially, I've been dying for something to break up the monotony.

I have to share my new favorite thing, and I know its not new, but its new to me. Its called Knitter's Hands, and I bought some for my mom back in December for her birthday. After getting the thumbs up from her, I bought some for myself and I'm hooked. It looks like a bar of soap, but its beexwax and oil and all kinds of stuff and you rub it on your hands and it makes a nice little protective shield agains the wool that likes to suck the moisture right out of them. An added bonus: it makes your WIP smell great!

After all that knitting, I had worked up yet another appetite (see a pattern?) and was dying to use my mixer so I made some peanut butter cookies. My goal is to keep my cookie jar full of fresh and delicious cookies now that I have more time, and this was a great start.

Old friends and new friends

2009-02-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

These are my new friends, bought in Maine on our mini-moon:

Some Malabrigo in Pagoda. Hard to tell from this pic, its a reddish brown. It is currently being knitted into a plain poncho.

Pine Woods Sock Yarn, in some unnamed color. Its different shades of green with some grey in there. I love it.

Jitterbug Sock Yarn, in October Afternoon. I am MOST excited about this one, and looking forward to finding the perfect pattern for it.

I am currently working on the Socks that I Hate. I really hate them. I'm not sure if I just hate the yarn with the pattern, the yarn in general, or what. Actually, I think it was the pattern with the yarn, because I am at the end of the gusset decreases now and I tried one on yesterday and it fit perfectly, and when its in just plain stockinette, I don't hate it so much.

The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet... colorway 12

This weekend we made an attempt to get our lives and our house back to normal. We still have wedding/shower gifts all over the house and I still haven't unpacked my suitcase from the minimoon, but I definitely got a lot of other things done.

One big thing I had to do was organize my closet in the office which is designated for all my craft stuff. Before the wedding it became the closet I opened and threw stuff in without looking. So I did something that I waited to do until after we were married... I dragged my stash out and organized it. Its in 3 small bins and one big bin, which I don't think is too much, or dare I say, even enough.

Sock yarn bin... which one to knit up next?

The UFO bin, for things I currently have on the needles (note my poor, sad, Rusted Root)

The I'mGoingToKnitThisNext bin... that beautiful Malabrigo (in Stonechat) is going to be a scarf, and that green Cuzco is going to be a sweater. All for me :)

Last, but biggest, the IBoughtThisForAReasonAndNeverGotAroundToIt bin.

See... really not that bad.

Quotes heard from Erm while I did this project:

"Woah, you could open your own yarn store!"

"Here's an idea... more knitting, less buying"

"That's ALL sock yarn?"

"I bet you could just smush that all down and fit it into one bin"

"You could knit 60 socks with all that sock yarn."

"After today, I have come to a conclusion... you are not a knitter. You are a yarn collector."

He was just... in awe. I tried to explain to him that my stash is relatively small, but he just didn't buy it. He also harbors some feelings due to his SocksThatWon'tEnd not being done, which I can understand. I need more yarn for those, though. There's someone who works at my LYS who has a whole other HOUSE for her yarn. I can't help but wonder... how big are other people's stashes???

I am an addict.

2009-02-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

Ohhhhhhh I have a problem. I'm sure you think its yarn that I'm addicted to, which I am, but that's not what I'm talking about here. Its something more chemical. It comes in a blue jar. It affects Erm. I wish I had it at work with me right now.

I am completely addicted to Vicks VapoRub. Well, I guess I wouldn't say completely, because when I feel healthy I don't use it. But the smallest sniffle and out comes the Vicks. Erm has gotten used to it, and it a little amused by it. Its such a potent smell, especially when you DON'T have a stuffy nose, that even when I sneak it on me before bed, he knows... he knows. I blame my mother, since I remember it being a staple for us when we were sick.

So I have this killer cold right now, and I'm pretty sure its a sinus cold. Yesterday, one whole side of my face was in ridiculous pain. My nose was stuffed to the point that blowing it was useless. My eye hurt. My TEETH hurt. And every now and then, my nose (just on that side!) would start running uncontrollably, which is really aggrevating when blowing your nose is fruitless. So I went online and did some research about my favorite cold remedy... Vicks. I've just been putting it on my chest and throat when I didn't feel good... little did I know I wasn't even touching all the things you can do with it! After reading through everything, I was ready for last night...

I slathered it on the bottom of my feet.

I slathered it on my back.

I slathered it on my chest and throat.

And I put some under my nose, just for good measure.

I also put it on my lips this morning because its 10 degrees outside.

Poor, poor Erm. He told me he could smell me from downstairs. The only thing I didn't do, which I may try tonight, is a more aggressive use for the Vicks for a stuffy nose. I read that if you massage your forehead and temples with it, and cover your head, and sleep with your head slightly elevated, it works wonders for a stuffy nose. I may look like a mummy and smell like a cough drop, but its worth a try, right?

Pray for Erm.

I'm baaaaaaaaack.......

2009-02-03T12:45:00.001-08:00

Hello!

I just saw that its been almost a MONTH since my last post about my little neighbor! My little neighbor is gone, by the way, and the human neighbors have moved in. They're not as fun to watch.

The reason I was gone is that I got married at the end of January!!! Wooohooo!!!! I really could not have hoped for a better day! Some pictures are below:

And now life is (somewhat) back to normal!!!

Of course what I DIDN'T take pictures of were all those "mystery projects" that I was working on! I knitted my bridesmaids each a scarf tailored to their needs and personality. I could not blog about them because a few of them read my blog! In all my wedding craziness I forgot to take pictures!

However, there are plenty of yarn and project pictures on their way... I wasted no time getting back into the swing of things with my knitting, baking, and running! More pics of yarn and less of me next time!

We have a new neighbor

2009-01-08T04:43:00.000-08:00

Well, a few months ago, the crazy people who lived next door ended up leaving. There's no need to get into details, but it was a long time coming. We saw couple after couple go in, look at the house, go out... nothing happened. It seems like someone is getting ready to move in, or so we thought! The other day, Erm and I were enjoying our morning coffee, and he looked over and saw that the blinds in the bedroom were moving. We figured the new owners were in there doing stuff, but then we noticed that there was no car in the driveway. As avid Ghost Hunter fans, our first thought was that the house was haunted. So we watched again, and the blinds moved again and I realized... no ghost. It was this guy:

I said "Oh... its just a mouse". Erm then told me that that was no mouse! And I took a closer look:

That is a SQUIRREL, living in the house next door! He goes from window to window, looking outside and laughing at all his cold little squirrel friends. He's actually huge and looks like he is having no problem finding food. I'm sure that house smells awesome.

I'm wondering if I should bring him a pecan pie or something?

It's 2009!

2009-01-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Oh my. I have been so out of the bloggy loop! I just realized I haven't posted on my blog, read someone else's blog, taken pictures for my blog, etc since the Ice Storm. Wowser.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a safe and prosperous 2009!!! 2008 was good and bad for a lot of people and I think many are excited to see what this new year will bring. We will have a new President, I will soon have a new marriage, and who knows what else is going to happen. I did make 3 New Year's Resolutions, as I always do. This year they are much more realistic than usual. I think because I'm too busy to imagine devoting a ton of time to anything earth shattering right now. They are:

1. Make my office at work more homey. I work at a youth center and it looks like a jail cell!

2. Have a happy and successful first year of marriage.

3. Knit myself a sweater.

That's it! Shouldn't be too hard! (I hope!). How about my bloggy friends, any resolutions to share?

Have a great weekend!

10 days of night

2008-12-22T04:24:00.000-08:00

Wow! I just got back from a lovely trip to 1642!! Last Thursday night (that's 11 days ago) we were victims of that crazy Ice Storm that hit the northeast. Particularly New Hampshire. Particularly the Hampstead area. I live in East Hampstead. Anyway... We woke up in the middle of the night to hear all kinds of crashing and what not. We knew there would be an ice storm, so we figured it was ice falling on the house (and our solarium!) and all would be well in the morning. It all started around 3am for us. We woke up again around 6 and heard this creepy creaking, scratching, eeeeeee eee eeeeee eeeeeeee sound. We arose from our bed to see what was the matter and saw this:

That big icy tree is NOT normally right up against our bedroom window...that is right above our heads. So we decided to look around and investigate. This is what we saw out of our windows and front door:

Our power was also out, which we figured would be a nuisance for the day.

After it was determined that I wouldn't be going in to work because we didn't even open, we decided to go grab some coffee. This turned out to take us over an hour, because there were no places open near us, and the places the next town over were jammed with people, it wouldn't have even been worth it. So, a ride that would normally take us about 20 minutes both ways took us over an hour. It was crazy! And while we were out and about, I took some more pictures:

This ice storm was no joke! Sure, it was pretty, but I couldn't even fit enough pictures on my memory card of all the trees on the lines, trees on people's houses, etc. It was crazy. We had trees down in our yard, across our driveway, oh, and that branch tapping on our window?

That tree REALLY wanted to come in! We were happy when the ice melted and it sprung back up to its natural state.

So even after the ice melted, we still didn't have power. For 10 days. Have you ever been without power for 10 days? Even more than 2 days? Its pretty crazy. I am not complaining, there are many many people who had it much worse than we did. We have a fireplace, community water (so we didn't have to turn off our lines), and we don't have kids to worry about yet. (And the cats really couldn't have cared less). It was just us, camping out in front of the fireplace on our air mattress. I had to get up every hour to put wood on the fire but hey, we were camping. With the exception of not being able to shower at home, I really didn't mind it all that much, but Erm had a tougher time than I did. He is not a camper :) You might say Michelle, you must have gotten so much knitting done in those 10 days! Nope. See, I still worked during that time, and by around 4:15, the sun was already down too much for me to have enough light to knit. What a waste!

Yesterday I got the call from Erm while I was out shopping with my Mom that the power went back on. So exciting! So after a rough drive home (did you hear that we also got a foot of snow yesterday?) I walked into my warm, bright house and watched the Patriots kill Arizona. And my Christmas spirit that I couldn't find? I promptly put up my little fake Christmas tree, wrapped some presents, and baked some candy cane cookies. I think this whole experience was meant to teach some of us what the Christmas spirit is all about!

Off to shovel some snow! Oh, and a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom today!!!! Love you Mom!!!

Renewed interest

2008-12-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have to mention that my last night out, fling before the ring, last hurrah, Bachelorette Party was this weekend! I knew when it was, but nothing else... and it could not have been more perfect! My bridesmaids and a bunch of my friends gathered in our hotel room, we went out for Mexican food (my favorite), and headed off to Limelight, a karaoke bar in Boston where you can rent your own private room, and there is also a public stage. We infiltrated both public and private stages, and no you can't see pictures. Lets just say it was exactly what I wanted for my bachelorette party and I had a blast. I came home tired and very ready to settle down and get married!

So the renewed interest isn't in my wild bachelorette ways, it has to do with Joey and his Kitty Pi. Awhile ago, I knit the Kitty Pi for my cats because I wanted to try some new things, meaning knitting in the round and felting. The Pi did not come out as I planned, it is supposed to look like a cat bed you can buy at Petco or something. The edges of mine just flop in. But, I put some catnip in it and Joey jumped right in... for about a day. Since then the poor Pi has been neglected in the corner of the couch. Until this week for some reason, every time I walk in the office, this is what I see:

I'm not sure what happened? Maybe because its cold and the Pi keeps him warm with its felty goodness? Maybe because Octavious is normal now and has staked claim over both couches? I'm not really sure, but knitters out there know... whether human, canine, or feline, if your FOs are appreciated and used, success! So, this makes me very very happy. I may actually make one for Octavious, since I really need new projects now. Like a hole in the head.

I also think I need a dog or something more normal to take so many pictures of. I'm turning into a crazy cat lady.

I also do NOT HAVE MY TREE YET and its driving me CRAZY!!! This may be the latest I have ever had a tree in my whole life. Luckily, this has not dampened my Christmas spirit, it is out in full effect! I decorated my mantle last week, and while it may be my least favorite of all my mantles, its certainly cheery. I hope that everyone is enjoying this holiday season!!!

Finally... knitting!

2008-12-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Poking through my last few blog posts... how boring! Well, except for Baby Alex's arrival, that was pretty exciting :) Speaking of Alex, I finally have a picture of a FO to show! This took me a long time, but its finally done! This is my gift to Baby Alex, the Heritage Blanket (Ravelry Link) by Oat Couture. I used Berrocco Comfort in a lavender, since Alex's room is all purples and lavenders. When I was done, I washed and dried it, (all by machine!) and it became even SOFTER! I may need to make myself some kind of blanket with Comfort! Anyway, here are pics! The real color is somewhere in between the colors in these pictures. I took them from far away and also a couple of closeups to get the detail of the blankie.

We will now return to our regularly schedule boring posts...

I am thankful that I got my coffee at Starbucks today...

2008-12-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

...and everyone should get coffee at Starbucks today! They are donating five cents of each handcrafted beverage bought for AIDS research and awareness. Come on. Its the holidays, and you know you want a gingerbread latte or peppermint mocha...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was busy busy busy!! It actually started during the week when I delivered over forty Thanksgiving meals to needy families in the community that I work for. It was cold and rainy, but I felt awesome for helping all of those greatful people! Thanksgiving came and went without any excitement, just a nice day with family.

My big complaint is that I do not have my tree yet! Hopefully next weekend?

She's here!

2008-11-20T07:22:00.001-08:00

Boy am I a bad blogger. I think its because I have next to nothing to report in my knitting world. Work has kept me super busy, as has the beginning of the home stretch for wedding planning! There is, however, one thing that took total precedence this weekend, quite early on Sunday morning. I got the call around 1am, and then again at 3ish, that Melissa was finally in labor with Baby Alex! There's been much confusion over her due date, but regardless, she was late. After 20 hours of labor and a C-section, Alexandria Margaret Child arrived at 8:38 on Sunday morning. Kelly, Fawn and I were lucky enough to be wanted there to meet her within her first minutes of life, along with Melissa's parents. True to form, I cried all morning :) Mommy, Daddy, and baby are doing well, and I could be biased, but I think she is BEAUTIFUL...

Congratulations Melissa, Mike and Alex!!!

Thank you, thank you!

2008-11-09T12:31:00.001-08:00

This was how I spent my Saturday morning:

Because it was my shower!!! Erm whisked me off to my shower brunch on Saturday morning. I was quite anxious until I got inside, but once there, I had so much fun! My mother, godmother, my bridesmaids, and my future mother-in-law put so much thought into everything to include all my tastes (shown by the omelette bar and Bloody Mary bar) and everything was black and white or ivory to go along with the wedding. Go to Kelly's Blog to see the gorgeous cake! We got so many wonderful gifts that I can't wait to use. It actually looks like Crate and Barrel threw up in my house! I'm so grateful to everyone who came and help make it a very special day. And especially to everyone involved in the planning... thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Is this normal?

2008-11-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Most mornings, Erm and I sit and have our cereal and watch the news. Occaisionally, we will put our bowls on the floor for the cats. (I know, this is probably bad, but there's about a dropper ful of milk in there and they're still alive). Something different happened today... Is this normal?

He pushed that bowl all the way across the floor! Its a new sport!

My country 'tis of thee...

2008-11-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

... sweet land of opportunity!

I couldn't post yesterday because I was way too caught up in everything else going on. I voted in the morning and was on a voter-high all day. I LOVE voting. I know there are lots of people out there who love voting, and NH residents take their voting very, very seriously. We have the priviledge of voting in the first primary, and, it appears that we have become a swing state? So, where its not a given any more that the Granite State goes Republican, its especially exciting.

I hope everyone voted yesterday. And if you didn't, gear up to start voting in the future. Especially if you're not happy with how the election went. "I didn't feel informed enough to make a decision" is not a viable excuse... it was impossible to not be informed about this election! I already jumped on my soapbox about how voting is part of what makes this country so wonderful, and its such an American thing to do. So I won't go on and on about that. If you didn't vote... no complaining!

Now that the election is over, I have a proposal for those on both sides. If you are a Barack Obama supporter, you must be very excited. Congratulations. Now simmer down and relax. For those of you who voted McCain, the election is over. Its time to get behind President Elect Obama and be Americans. No complaining will change the election, so we all need to be positive and hope that he and all the Democratic Congressmen and women and Senators do a great job, and that this new strategy works to fix the economy, and that we stay safe from all threats, at home and abroad.

Hey, we still have lower gas prices!

God bless America!

The last mention of the P word...

2008-11-03T03:33:00.000-08:00

...and the P word is... Pumpkins!

I guess I really like pumpkins! Last week I barely got any knitting done, so I made up for it this weekend by finishing one of the Little Pumpkins socks! I was very excited to have found what seems to be the best number of stitches to cast on for my socks. I have narrow feet and kind of narrow ankles and calves. However, I have long feet (size 9), so I learned on my first pair of socks that if I cast on what is recommended for a size 9, they are too wide and become slouchy and bulky. These socks are written for a size 6 with 64 stitches. I knew I was going to be making them longer, but thought I'd try the 64 stitches. It worked, they fit great! Except... I should have made them a teeny bit longer. I think my foot is actually longer than I thought, or it grew after I measured it, or something. At any rate, here is my first Little Pumpkin sock, my first patterned sock that I knitted for ME!

In the ultimate act of Single Sock Syndrome, I may wait til next year to knit the other one. Isn't that ridiculous? I just have so many other socks to knit, and October is over, and my mom bought me the "2 at a Time on One Circular" book and I'm dying to learn how to knit both socks at the same time, Magic Loop style, so this doesn't happen again. Although, after I get the remaining yarn for Erm's sockthatwon'tend and finish that, maybe I'll want to finish the pumpkins. We'll see.

Now that Halloween is over its time to focus on the next holiday, which is tomorrow, and that is Election Day. I'm not going to go all mavericky on anyone and push any candidates, however, I do need to urge that everyone get out and vote! Even if you don't feel informed enough to make a decision, even if its a pain to stand in those lines... just do it. People died while forming this country so that we would have the right to vote, and I consider it the most American thing you can do. So even if you write in Mickey Mouse (I'm not suggesting Mickey Mouse for President - Sorry Kel) just VOTE!!!

And if you live in Massachusetts, vote Yes on 3 ;)

Happy Voting, everyone!

Happy Halloween! (So unlike me to be late...)

2008-11-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

I just didn't have time to blog this week, so I'm extending Halloween by a day! I have no pictures of costumes, since we didn't go anywhere. We had a nice dinner and watched Open Water last night. Which, while not a slasher/ghost/zombie movie, was still pretty scary! Its one of those movies that you have to have an imagination to get the full effect, but if you do, its worth it. And you have to stomach the first 15 mins, they're pretty stupid.

We did watch the movie by the light of my pumpkin, which stayed inside. There's no point in putting it outside, we got one group of trick-or-treaters, as usual.

I have no pictures of knitting! I haven't knitted since Tuesday, if you can believe it. I was not home any night this week, and therefore had no time! I worked Monday and Tuesday nights as usual, Wednesday I had a fun dinner at my friend Keely's house with my old coworkers, and Thursday I was at a rally for our Senatorial candidate. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad the week if over and life can go back to semi-normal!

If you're not lucky enough to live in New England, I wanted to share what my backyard is like right now. Leaf peeping paradise!

And Joey says have a nice weekend... or he's ready to attack. Either way, here he is:

Pumpkin in disguise

2008-10-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a fall project day, not to be confused with our summer project day that we had a few months ago. I was too busy to take lots of pictures, but one thing I did that desperately needed to be done was to clean out our pantry. I like to stuff as much sutff in there as possible until things start falling out. Erm thinks we need to clean it, I think we just need more storage. At any rate, I cleaned it, and in the end, as always, I was happy I did. In the process, I found enough paper plates to feed a small country on. Literally. We never need to buy a paper plate again. Who needs this many paper plates?

After other projects got done, we headed off for a visit with Erm's parents' house and then to Skip and Dana's for dinner. My favorite thing to bring is dessert, so that's what we brought. I also got to make my chocolate-pumpkin-pecan cake, it was delicious, and didn't look too bad either! Next time I'm going to double the recipe so that it evens out more in the pan and matches up better. I thought I did ok, though. The stem? That's a secret ingredient...

Mmmm... pumpkins!

2008-10-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

So anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things in the world is (are) pumpkins. I love them. I love the way they look, taste, smell... and now I'm going to love how they feel! Before my birthday, I spotted some Dream in Color Smooshy in Flamingo Pie... which is pinky-orangey, and I had to have it. Orange is my new favorite color. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my birthday, which I realized when I had lunch with my mom last week and she said "I'm surprised you didn't do a blog post about turning 30?". So there, I said it. I turned 30 in September. Actually, its ok now. It WASN'T ok for the whole two weeks leading up to it... it was so bad that on the eve of this milestone, after Shaine, Kelly and Melissa surprised me with a very nice birthday dinner... I went home after too much wine, poured myself a stiff Kaluha sombrero (who drinks those?) and looked up Andy Rooney articles about the best things about women in their 30s. I shocked myself into it, and when I woke up on my birthday I was (hurting) fine with it. But... I digress.

So... my wonderful Mom gave me a gift card to my LYS because she knew there were two sock yarns that I wanted but couldn't remember what they were. I bought the Flamingo Smooshy, then some Smooshy in November Muse, which I had also had my eye on.

Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it yet... but not to fear. I also had some left over on my card, and spent a couple of my own bucks (being my birthday and all...) and bought THIS beautifulness.... Mmmmmmmalabrigo

Malabrigo Worsted in StoneChat. I have two of these, and will be making a scarf for myself, since I've also been eyeing this for... months.

But, onto the pumpkins. I was looking for the perfect pattern for my slightly orange yarn, and came across the "Little Pumpkins" Socks (Ravelry link). I read the comments on it, people said it went really quickly (yeah, right) and the pattern was easy to memorize (ok, whatever) and guess what... they were right. I'm already just about done the leg on one and I've been working on other things at the same time and I started them on Thursday! I'd love to have them done for this weekend (wishful thinking) but by Halloween would be wonderful. Here's some pics of the first sock in progress. I don't know how much they look like pumpkins now, but maybe when I put them on they will?

Isn't that awesome?

2008-10-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

Ahh... nothing like a long weekend to refresh and recharge! This past weekend was Erm's bachelor party, so I turned to my friend Shaine to entertain me. She did not disappoint! Shaine won some plane tickets in a raffle, but in order to get them, she had to drive up to the mountains and tour a timeshare and get the hard sell put on her. I was given the option of going or waiting for her to come home and hang out, and I said why the heck not? I'm not doing anything else today! So we went on a road trip to the mountains. I had heard that the foliage was at its peak and absolutely gorgeous, so we were excited (and amused) to get some leaf peeping in. We may have said peeping 20 times in the course of the day! Here's some pics of the peeping:

That's me... peepin

These people were peepin

So Shaine joined in

I missed my calling

So we finally got to the timeshare place after all the peeping (see, I told you I couldn't stop saying peeping) and went through the longest hour and a half of our lives. Shaine and I used to work in a sales-organization-that-doesn't-classify-itself-as-a-sales-organization, and we spotted this time share saleslady's tricks a mile away. We were particularly amused by her insistence on saying "Isn't that awesome?" after just about everything. "Europeans vacation 6 weeks out of the year, its their God given birthright... isn't that awesome?" or "You can get a locker at any of our locations any time... isn't that awesome?" and "These condos are fully furnished, there's even salt and pepper... isn't that awesome?". I don't think I've heard the word "awesome" that much since I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in middle school. It was also awkward that Shaine was treated like some kind of invalid because she isn't married or engaged, and brought a friend with her. They kept telling her that they liked to have the people in charge of making decisions there, and asking her when she thinks she'll be engaged, like she's some kind of robot controlled by her significant other. (I'm not usually all feminist-y, but it was ridiculous). It gave me a nice out when they turned to me and asked me if they could get ME into a timeshare... I told them I clearly gave up my decision making skills when I got engaged...

Even Erm's Sock that Won't End got into the leaf peeping!

This sock really.....won't....end. I have a mere 2 repeats of the pattern and the toe and I RAN OUT OF YARN. Arg! Erm will have to wait on that second sock until I buy more, which probably won't be the same dye lot. Luckily its a cuff down sock, and not toe up!

Wedding #2, Apple Picking #1

2008-10-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! My maid (now matron) of honor, Kerri, got married on Saturday! I got to return the favor and act as her maid of honor for the day. It was a gorgeous day out, how lucky that the weather cooperated... for once around here. The ceremony was in a rose garden on the water in Beverly, and the reception was at Tupper Manor, also in Beverly. The whole wedding and everything about it were GORGEOUS. I was a basketcase all day... not sure what that was all about. Naturally, I don't have pictures yet, because for once in my life, I forgot my camera! More on that later.

Where I DID remember to bring my camera was apple picking on Sunday! Another gorgeous day! It was Kristin's first apple picking experience and she was not disappointed! We picked apples and pumpkins, grabbed some cider and crafty stuff, and went home and watched the Pats! I love fall!!!!

Kristin picking her first apple!

Me eating my first apple

Farmer Erm, showing off

Next up... more knitting!

The ILLUSION is done!!

2008-09-30T05:02:00.001-07:00

I never thought I'd finish the Illusion Scarf, but I actually did! I finished last Thursday, just in time to get it packed up and sent to my swap partner. I really didn't anticipate how LONG it was going to be... this scarf ended up being 8 feet long! Considering that I usually make my scarves 5 feet long, this was a huge difference. Luckily, I was using size 9s and some bulky yarn, so it didn't feel like it took that long. I'm working on other scarves that are taking me much longer...

Here are some pics of the finished product!

One reason I like doing scarves (I like scarves, I'm weird) is that I get to try new techniques on something small, so if I have to rip anything out, its not painful, as it would be on a sweater, or even socks. In addition to Illusion Knitting, I got to do the Three Needle Bind-Off for the first time with this scarf. I have always been afraid of the TNBO, but its actually not bad at all! Looky:

You have two ends on two needles. In this case, the middle of the scarf. Then, you insert your needle as if to knit into the first stitch on each needle, like so... I included two pics here, what it looks like normally and then I spread them out so you can see better:

Then, you knit them together! You just wrap your yarn around like usual, and pull it through. Here's a pic of the wrapping around part, I am not crafty enough (yet) to get the pic of me pulling it through

And then you do it again and slip the first knitted stitch over the second, just like a regular bind-off. Keep doing it all the way across (like a regular bind-off) and you will have two pieces nicely bound together!

I have a new respect for anyone who takes pics of their knitting WHILE they are knitting. Its tough!

Nice day for a white wedding...

2008-09-24T06:42:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the wedding of Fawn, one of my friends from high school. She got married at the Park Street Church across from the Boston Common, which I believe is the first place that "My Country 'Tis of Thee" was sung for the first time. Sadly, we didn't sing any patriotic songs, but the ceremony was still beautiful. The reception was at the Commandant's House in Charlestown, and everything was awesome. The tent was gorgeous, the food was delicious, the band was great. Everyone had a good time!

I feel very lucky to be so close to my friends from high school, I feel like not many people hold on to those friendships for very long. Actually, I met two of those friends in 5th grade (when I was 10!). I attribute these friendships to our strong personalities, similar morals, and the comradery that we developed from going to an all-girl, Catholic school. Yes, I wore a uniform. For YEARS. My four years of high school were the best years of my life, and I feel so lucky for that. Its amazing that we're in this phase of our life where we're all getting married, having babies, etc. Especially when I look back not too long ago to a group of girls who were just figuring out who they really are.

As at any function that we are at, there were plenty of cameras around! We all got some great pictures, we probably have about 500 group photos at this point, but they never get old to us!

Brady was a ringbearer, and I snapped this cute shot of him watching the action at the ceremony

Here's me and Erm

Here's me, my parents, and Erm

And last but certainly not least... Melissa (and baby Alex!), me, Fawn, Kelly, and Katey

Congratulations, Fawn and Bjorn!!!

More baby cables! And... food

2008-09-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

So apparently I have a new addiction. I can tell its something I may be addicted to because I have said many times that I won't knit the same thing more than once. That was before... baby cables! This is my new favorite gift, I'm sure of it. Its adorable, its small, and its CABLES (which I do love). My coworker had his baby (well, his wife did) and he was 11 days early! You don't hear too much of that for a first child! But, he came regardless and I wanted to have something for him when Dad got back to work today. Here's my newest and one of my fastest projects

My real favorite thing about this hat is the decreases at the top, I love how one cable gets tapered all the way down before the other. Looks like there's a cable there, but there's not! I'm sure this is common in cabled hats, but I personally haven't seen that many of them, so this is new and exciting to me. I took a closeup:

In other weekend news, we had dinner with friends Friday night, and their two kids, one of which had a great time feeding Erm about 25 green olives. I think he's set for a bit. Saturday night we also had dinner with friends, a more adult dinner, but we were still home pretty early. We are poops. Yesterday was a very rare occasion... we had NO PLANS. This hasn't happened on a weekend in a very very long time. So, true to form, we filled our morning up with a trip to the mall to pick out more registry stuff, grab a couple of other things and get home to put ribs in. Mmmm I love ribs. Especially Erm's ribs. He smokes them for hours, then finishes them on the grill. It gives them a great smoky flavor, and they fall right off the bone. Complete with my homemade baked beans (which are delicious, I must say) and some broccoli (to be healthy) and its perfect football food! Enjoy!

Baby Cables!

2008-09-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to the baby shower for my good friend Melissa. I always love seeing the knitting gifts at baby showers! She got some great blankets, I think a sweater or two... and I made her this hat!

Well, I made the hat for the baby

The pattern is Cabled Baby Hats and I made it out of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, just under one skein. It is SOOOO soft. I can't wait to take a picture of baby in it! I love it so much that I am going to make one for myself for the winter. I highly recommend this for a baby gift!

Vacation? Where did you go?

2008-09-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like it was just two weeks ago that I was getting excited for my vacation. Oh wait, it was.

So in addition to teaching Brady to do "cheers", my vacation was spent dress shopping for my flower girl and my mother (on different days), playing 27 holes of golf with Erm, and spending some time with my aunt. I don't have pictures of anything I did for my whole vacation! Labor Day weekend was spent putting on Kerri's bachelorette party and I don't have any pictures of that either! What was I thinking!?

I DO have pictures of my Blankie. I need to take pictures of my other projects so I don't have to keep putting pictures of Blankie up here. They're quite pathetic. But, they are showing some progress! Ever since I got that package of sock yarn balls, I can't stop! I promise after this, no more blankie pictures! (do I really believe that?)

Sorry about Joey's head... he can't help himself. He, too, is drawn to the Blankie...

I was thinking about that list I started, back in July... and wanted to see how I am doing on it...

1. Gift #1 - I don't even remember what this is. But I know I'm not done with it.

2. Gift # 2 (I can't say what the gifts are, for the same reason that I don't badmouth people, you never know who is reading your blog). - Don't remember what this is either... I need codes for these anonymous gifts.

3. Red Sock #2 - Done!

4. Erm's Sock #2 - Had some of the cuff done on this, then realized it was doing this weird separating thing on one side, so I frogged it. Need to start over.

5. My poor, neglected Rusted Root - Lets be reasonable here. This one is in hibernation.

6. My Sock Yarn Blankie, which needs a new name and definitely won't be done until after my first wedding anniversary. Big big ongoing project. - This will get done little by little... but there's no pressure, which is nice.

7. My mohair shawl - This is no longer a project

Well... I guess I'm not doing too badly. Those anonymous gifts are constantly being worked on, as well as the Blankie (which has no ETA), and Erm's sock. Kind of. I took RR and the shawl out of the mix and finished the Red Sox, so I'd say I'm in pretty good shape!

Cheers!!

2008-08-26T17:27:00.001-07:00

Today I went and had lunch with Kelly and Brady! He is my "nephew", by the way. So, like any good Auntie, I decided to teach him something today. He's 12 months old, he can handle it. We were both holding (and eating) breadsticks, and what else do you do when two people are eating breadsticks? Put them together and say "cheers!"

He was doing so well with breastick-cheers that I decided it was time to move on to the real thing. At first I think he was confused that we didn't have the same drink... but as you can see, he caught on!

Luckily, Kelly had her camera and took pictures before we fell over laughing! It was hysterical!

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me...

2008-08-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

Ahoy! I'm back after a busy weekend! There's been lots of progress in my projects, new yarn, and lots of other fun stuff!

First of all, I finished the Red Sox Socks! I was so excited to finish my second full pair of socks! I wove in the ends on Friday night and gave them to my friend on Saturday, she loved them! Here is a pic of the finished pair:

I showed them off at Knit Night and got compliments from Gail, the sock expert, so they must be OK :)

Saturday in addition to giving Dana her socks, we went sailing! Our friends Steve and Kristen have a boat in Salem, and once a year we load up the coolers and spend a day on the high sea. This year we had the best weather out of the past 3 years, its usually overcast and cold!

Here's me and Erm (Erm and I?) on the boat:

And, I helped out and steered the launch (that's nautical speak for the shuttle boat that takes us from our friend's boat to the dock) on the way back. Ahoy!

When we got back from sailing, I ran to my mailbox, since I was waiting for two things. My first Interweave Knits magazine (has anyone else gotten theirs? I haven't gotten my fall one yet and I'm getting nervous) and my shipment for my Sock Yarn Blankie swap...in exchange with those cute little balls I shared with you about 2 months ago. Well... obviously I didn't get my magazine, but look what I DID get!

I was torn between leaving it intact and exciting or diving right in. I was only torn for about 2 seconds. So, thanks to my new sock yarn... this is what I have for my blankie as of today:

I know... not very exciting. But, I can't stop working on it! I also have some other squares that I need to attach soon. But, I have a couple of projects that I'm working on that are time sensitive (surprise!) and I don't have time for the blankie! I didn't believe it, but it really does call to you... so strange.

I also have pics of the Illusion Scarf, but I'll save those for tomorrow!

A canoli a day...

2008-08-18T11:39:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday was designated as a day to get things done for the wedding. We had two tasks to accomplish. 1. Taste canolis and figure out which ones we want for our wedding (instead of a wedding cake, we are doing a canoli tree, with some other treats, too). 2. Finish the registering that I needed Erm for. So, we set out Saturday morning with a spring in our step, excited about the day. Then I saw something that was very encouraging:

Then it was off to try canolis... but we didn't have to try much! The first place we went to (which happens to be the only place that will do the canoli 'tree') had FANTASTIC canolis! And they were pretty good size for small ones! Here's the winner:

And... now I'm hungry for a canoli.

So off we went to the Burlington Mall to hit our three registry places. After a near-meltdown about bedding, we were finally done! All in all it was a great day, Erm actually had fun, and registered for things that HE wanted, too. (Mostly grilling stuff. Which is fine, since I reap the benefits of Erm's grilling). Then we stopped at yet another bakery to get more canolis for dessert at the neighbors' that night, went home and got ready and had a nice night!

In knitting news, I have turned the heel on the second Red Sox Sock and just have the gusset, foot, and toe and then I'm done! These have to be done by Saturday, but I have a very light work week, so I am not stressed at all. Yet. Hopefully I'll make great progress and have them done by... Thursday when I go to bed? Not sure if that's reasonable. I always have knit night on Friday in case of an emergency! Here's that sock as of right now:

I hate taking pictures of socks before they're done, they never look like socks until they're completely done and bound off and kitchnered shut! Hopefully tomorrow I will have a picture of... the whole gusset???

I know what you're doooooin... baby...

2008-08-13T17:38:00.001-07:00

... except I'm sure nobody knows what I'm doing with that image in my header! I was trying to be cute! But now I can't get rid of it! I already clicked the "remove image" button, and that won't work. I do not want my blog to look like a 4th grade arts and crafts project. Help.

(Note: 4th grade arts and crafts projects are adorable)

So the song "I Know" by Dionne Faris has been running through my head for days. So catchy. I get excited every time I hear it on the radio. I would love to put it on my iPod. Problem is, its not available on iTunes. The video is, but not the song. And its not like you can buy the whole album that its on, because that's not available either. Help.

In other news, Octavious has flown the coop. Not literally, he's walking around here somewhere. But he's gotten... kooky. Kookier than normal. See, Octavious is an ODD cat. I already wrote about when I adopted him, and his brother Joey. Well, they were almost full grown when I brought them home to my condo, and Octavious managed to squeeze his cat body underneath my very-low-to-the-ground bureau and stay there for days. I'm not sure if he came out to eat, or if Joey hunted and gathered and brought him food, or what. But, I didn't see him for about a week. After awhile he came out and I would wake up in the middle of the night to him standing on my bed and staring at me. Creepy, but he's a black cat, so it all fits.

One day I decided I had to paint the bathroom in my condo, and I didn't want the cats there inhaling fumes or mucking it up. So they moved to Erm's house and never moved out. Erm was thrilled. They were much happier here, but Octavious was still acting odd. He wouldn't let us pet him, ran away from everything, very skittish. Then he started hiding out in the open. He would stand in the corner of a room and look like he was hiding... but he clearly wasn't. One night, for some reason the litterbox was somewhere other than the basement, and I noticed that it took him fifteen minutes to squeeze out one little drop of pee. Poor little guy! So, long story a little less long, he was blocked, stayed blocked, needed BIG surgery. It was awful, but after that he became a little more normal. (Emphasis on little.) Now, his whole recovery from surgery was spent in the bathroom, because he was gross and his brother is very aggressive and I didn't need any fighting and ripping of stitches. Here is Octavious in recovery:

Oh, how cute. I caught him cleaning his face. Here's what he really looked like for those few weeks:

So angry. He was shaved on his front "arms" (as you can see) and his whole hind end was shaved. He looked like a poodle in the front and a baboon in the back. Maybe that's why he was so mad.

Anyway, I'm not sure if its because he spent that recovery time in the bathroom that he feels so possessive of it, but lately he's been sleeping in there, standing in the middle of the room when I take a shower, etc. The other night I took a bath and he stood in there yelling at me the whole time. Normally, if he meows once every two days, its a lot. The funny thing is, his surgery was over two years ago. So although I'd like to say he has some strong feelings for il bagno, I'm not sure if that's true. Although, he is very odd, so maybe that's it... I don't know. He's happy and healthy and gorgeous, and that's all that matters!

And that's the story of Tavi.

Rain, rain, go away...

2008-08-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

This is the view outside my office right nowYuk! Interfering with my golf program! And Tuesday Night Tennis!

Luckily, it looks like its moving away...

Although I have to admit, I like the low temperatures, I'm ready for fall!!!

Lets all say a prayer to the sun gods!!!

They're not tricks, Michael, they're illusions...

2008-08-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a swap on Ravelry a couple of weeks ago, and its theme is Arrested Development... the show, not the 90s group that sang Tennessee. I thought I was going to have a tough time figuring out what to knit for my swap recipient, but then it came to me... Gob is a magician who uses cards and calls his tricks illusions. How fitting that I found a pattern for an Illusion Scarf!

Illusion knitting is pretty cool. You do two rows of each color the whole way through. The illusion comes by knitting and purling the background color in the shape of the pattern so its in stockinette and "lays down", so to speak. Then with the main color, you knit on both sides so its in garter stitch, and "stands up". It takes a little while to get used to, and you have to follow a chart, but once you get moving, its actually pretty easy and makes a lot of sense.

My illusion scarf is going to have each suit of a deck of cards, on each side. I'm doing spade, heart, diamond, club, then I'll repeat on the other side and attach them. I can do a "block" (normally blocks would be knitted separately and connected, but I'm knitting them all together) in under two hours, closer to one if I'm really paying attention. Saturday I was all alone, which was the perfect time to throw in my AD DVDs and knit some of the scarf. Check it out! See, it looks like a red, black and white striped scarf:

But when viewed at an angle, the illusion pops up! I just like saying illusion...

And this is what it looks like on the reverse, so you can see if you're on the right path:

In other knitting news, I think I hate the mohair shawl that I started. I've done a few repeats of the pattern and I'm just not digging it for what I'd be using it for. So, I hunted this morning for the perfect pattern and I think I found it. Luckily, I didn't knit too much of the shawl, so I don't really have to frog it, which is good because I've heard that frogging mohair is NOT fun. Instead of the shawl, I'll be making a scarf, in some kind of lace pattern. For MYSELF. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up making this, but longer:

Another exciting thing that happend this weekend is that Brady turned one!!! I can't believe it, it does not seem like a whole year ago that I was visiting Kelly in the hospital, but it was! Yesterday was his big party, with lots of family and friends. I was only able to get a couple of pics before my camera died, but here he is with those cheeks!

Too cute!!

Projects, projects, projects

2008-08-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Aha! You probably thought "projects" meant knitting projects, but nope! There will be no mention of knitting or knitting projects in this post. Except that I just said knitting three times. Anyway...

This past weekend was cleared for house projects! I know, what's more exciting than a blog post about projects, right? We just did stuff that really should have been done in the spring, but since we jam pack our weekends, we haven't had time to do anything around the house! So this weekend, we bit the bullet and just did them. While we were bustling around the house, Erm decided to give Joey some time out on the little deck that connects our kitchen and dining room, which is in the solarium. This deck has no exit to the ground, so it gives him his outside time but its not dangerous. Here's some pics of Joey outside, and if cats could smile, he would be...

And for any of you kitty cat lovers out there nervous that he's going to jump to his death, Erm was inside watching him from the kitchen

But Michelle, don't you have two cats? Ah, yes I do. He forgets he's a cat sometimes, mainly when there's mice around or there's a door open. Its like he has no instincts. He is happy to watch the world from his window...

While all this fun was going on downstairs, I was cleaning the outside of the solarium, which is not a task for the faint of heart! Or, for people who have a strong aversion to heights. I only have a mild aversion to heights, and I love washing windows, which makes this the perfect project for me. It involves dangling myself from a window a couple of stories up with a long telescoping brush and brushing all the leaves, pollen, and muck off of the roof that I can before washing it with a Windex product that attaches to the hose.

Hmm. Looking at that picture, it really doesn't look like its that high up. Good thing I thought to take a picture from where I was...

Its pretty high up! Erm looks like an ant!!!

Between the solarium, scrubbing the kitchen tiles, moving the furniture and washer/dryer and the other weekly cleaning, we were tapped out after a few hours! We rewarded ourselves with a trip to the wine store for a tasting and a delicious steak for dinner. It was all worth it.

More knitting next time! Promise!

Roadblock

2008-08-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was determined to get work done on at least two projects. I worked on my first craft fair hat, which I'm really not happy with, so there's no pictures. Then I decided to work on Red Sock #2, since I have 3 weeks to get it done, it would be nice to get something done early! I actually hit two road blocks here. Monday night I cast on for this sock, and worked 4 rounds of the K2P2 ribbing. Looking at it last night, I realized I must have twisted my stitches when I joined, or something, because there was a huge gap where the cast on end and the other end connect. Not sure how that happened, I've been knitting socks for 4 months! Anyway, I had to frog those 4 rows, not a big deal, and I started over. About 4 rows in, I came across something that IS a big deal, which is this:

SO not sure how that happened! It was like one minute it was in a big, pretty, orderly ball, next thing you know it looks like a bowl of spaghetti. Ugh. So I'm in the process of trying to unravel that huge knot, which is about the same size as the rest of the yarn. Good thing patience is one of my virtues...

In the midst of all this, my boys did something that happens on occasion. Joey and Octavious, in case you didn't know, were born in the wild in the same litter, and I adopted them when they were about 6 months old. It took them a little while to adapt, and Octavious is still not totally right in the head, but they are quite at home in our house, and they especially love night-time when we are relaxing and watching TV. Usually one sits with each of us and we are one big happy family, but sometimes they pick a spot and sit in the same position, mirroring each other. Its very cute. Last night they did it, and I had to move quickly and smoothly to get the camera, because it made me so happy.

Yes I know the pictures are dark, and you can barely see poor Octavious.

Another thing that cracks me up is the position Joey likes to lay in half of the time. I zoomed in on the best part... and I can't figure out WHY he does this, is it comfortable for him? Does it hurt him to sit any other way? I would think this would be uncomfortable, but he seems to like it...

Not normal, right? He'll sit there for 15 minutes at time with his paw like that! We make fun of him, but he doesn't seem to care...

That's all for now! Have a great weekend everyone!

Mmmmohair!

2008-07-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

So in my quest to never finish anything, I started two new projects last night. One is a child's hat that I'm sort of designing myself, my first "design" (but seriously, its a hat, and nothing crazy). The OTHER one is a shawl to wear to my friend's wedding in September. I figured since I got the invitation, it would be a good time to start it! I only bought the yarn a month ago... I got it at Yarns in the Farms in Beverly, Mass. I love that store!!! Its very small, but very cute, and has tons of yarn, but not in the overwhelming way that a lot of other packed stores do. Anyhow... this mohair was on sale and had been dying to try something with mohair, so I grabbed it. As pretty as it is, now that I look at it, it kind of looks like a dead squirrel

Erm thinks it looks like potatoes.

So when I bought this yarn I had in my head exactly what I wanted to knit with it, I just couldn't find a pattern. Then came newly addicted knitter Mom who is determined to buy out every LYS and bookstore of all their knitting magazines. I was pawing through them aimlessly a couple of weeks ago and voila! I found a pattern for a lace shawl with mohair that is exactly what I wanted! It has a specific name, but of course, I can't remember the name of it. And, I can't find a picture of it anywhere. But, I have a picture of the beginning of mine, that looks nothing like what it will look like when its done. However, if we learned anything from the Helen Incident of 2008, its to not get discouraged too soon! So, after two repeats of the lace, this is what I have:

It doesn't look like a shawl... or potatoes, or a dead squirrel, even. But, I am determined to finish it! Even if I don't wear it to the wedding, I haven't made something for myself in forever... so it will be nice to have this. Maybe when it looks like a shawl I will print more pics...

Speaking of not making anything for myself, I have bought yarn to make things for myself, as well as others. Bringing me to something that I have decided to do, although I hate even saying the words... I am putting myself on a yarn diet. Ack! Seriously, I need it. No more yarn. I have tons, and I only need 2 skeins for a gift, but other than that, I think I have everything I need for myself and others until at least after my wedding. FYI that is just shy of 6 months away. Can I go 6 months without buying yarn? I hope so! This is what I'm working on:

1. Gift #1

2. Gift # 2 (I can't say what the gifts are, for the same reason that I don't badmouth people, you never know who is reading your blog).

3. Red Sock #2

4. Erm's Sock #2

5. My poor, neglected Rusted Root

6. My Sock Yarn Blankie, which needs a new name and definitely won't be done until after my first wedding anniversary. Big big ongoing project.

7. My mohair shawl

8. I was in the middle of a pair of socks for my Nana in May... but I took them off the needles... should do those, too...

I also have various projects to work on in between all of these, I would like to sell some stuff at a craft fair or two in the fall.

Putting that all in writing makes me realize that there is no need to buy new yarn! I have plenty to keep me busy until at least January! I am completely OK with the yarn diet. But, if anyone is looking for a birthday present for me... I'm sure you can guess what I'd like.

TNT, Red Socks, and Space Invaders

2008-07-29T12:47:00.001-07:00

Hello there! Long time no blog! I've been busy busy busy! Between work, wedding stuff, running/tennis/etc, I haven't had much time to knit! However, I have had a big accomplishment... I finished Red Sock number one! Its been done for a little while, it took me a record 2 weeks for one sock, which is very speedy for me! I cast on the second last night so I wouldn't suffer from SSS on this one. I'm very pleased with how they are coming out, although I'm wishing I had made the leg a little longer. Oh well, take a look!

After that sense of accomplishment, its on to more accomplishment, namely my 5 mile race! When I say accomplishment, though, I don't mean that I won, or even ran a personal best. I mean I finished. Because it was HOT that day. We started at 9, and even though I'd say about half the race was shaded, the half that was in the sun was brutal. What a difference an hour makes!!

To keep me active when I'm not trying to kill myself running in the heat, I play tennis on Tuesday nights with my fiance, cousin, and his girlfriend. My cousin and his girlfriend take Tuesday Night Tennis (TNT) very seriously, as shown by their uniforms.

And by the look I have here, you can tell I don't take TNT all that seriously. Although I feel like I do...

Well, at least its good exercise.

This weekend after my 5 miles of hell, I went to the Lowell Folk Festival with my old coworker and good friend Keely. We had food, drinks, and lots of fun! We also brought her gorgeous and wonderful dog, Semper. Actually, he is still a puppy. A huge, 7 month old, 80+ pound puppy! He is also my nephew. We walked around for awhile, and finally found a place to camp out for a few hours. What we should have done was open up a petting zoo! So many little kiddos came over to investigate Semper, who just kissed them all and took it like a champ! For all the people that were afraid of him, he was a pussycat with the kids, and well behaved all day! We had fun!

Also saw some friends from college and high school this weekend! We got together at Melissa's house for dinner on Sunday night, all eight and a half of us. The half being Brady of course! He had some toys, some big beautiful eyes, some chubby cheeks!

That would normally bring me to a quiet Monday night, but last night Erm and I went to the Eagles concert with my uncle and some of his friends/family. Which brings me to something that I cannot be quiet about any longer.... SPACE INVADERS. I try not to let little things bother me, since life is too short for wrinkles, but its gone on long enough. If you are at a concert, and notice that the person next to you is standing really close to you, or their partner on the other side, look down and check out where you are... if you are occupying more than half the space that the OTHER person's seat allows, you are a SPACE INVADER. Get back in your seat! I cannot stress this enough. I really don't mind sitting next to strangers, so I always take the seat on the end, since so many people do mind. However, I do have a problem when the guy next to me is a Space Invader, and his elbow/hip/hand/etc manages to invade itself to my backside, if you know what I mean. Those seats are certainly big enough for the average, even slightly larger than average person, and there is no need to try to box someone out of their own seat. If you don't want to stand close to people, don't go to the concert, stay home and listen to the CD!!!

FALSE ALARM

2008-07-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Phew! I went home last night and dashed right in to check on my hat and what Helen may or may not have done to it... it still wasn't completely dry, but looked like it had shrunk back up a little. I figured if it was shrinking, that was a good sign. So I left it overnight, and its PERFECT today! I love it, I am definitely going to make one for myself. Lesson learned... for anyone that is knitting with Malabrigo Silky Merino, it stretches BIG TIME when wet, but shrinks back to normal while it dries! It is also even silkier and softer after blocking! Another lesson learned, don't freak out until your blocked items are dry, it will just add stress induced wrinkles to your face. I will hopefully give it to my aunt tomorrow, and she will enjoy its softness for years to come. Pictures below!

And a big Thank You to Erm for picking the perfect button!

Now I can go enjoy my weekend in peace! You should too!

2008-07-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

So last night I FINALLY figured out how to finish the Pi Topper Chemo Cap. I made this for my aunt, who has breast cancer, and is a few weeks into her chemo treatments and has already shaved her head. I made the hat out of Malabrigo Silky Merino, which is soooo nice to knit with! For anyone who is making this or is planning to make this, don't be afraid of the band directions! First of all, when you make the band, you're just going around in garter stitch and picking up live stitches from the bottom of the hat. But what I couldn't find any directions on was how to join the edges of the band. I sat there for a whole night with the hat in one hand and the directions in the other and could NOT figure it out. Finally, last night, I did! When you have one end on one needle and the other end is flapping in the breeze, you are going to take your right needle (with the stitches on it) and pick up stitches from the loose end, so its kind of like you are knitting two together, then wrap the yarn from the right needle to knit, and voila! The ends of the band will be joined. I'm going to do this and take pics while I'm doing it, but that's the general gist of it. Then instead of having 14 sts, you will have 28 sts, just k2tog every time and you'll be back to where you need to be. Again, I need to add pics. Go to the site with the pattern to see what the hat is SUPPOSED to look like.

So! After I finished I decided to go to bed and block this baby this morning. Last week I bought a styrofoam head at a beauty supply store for just this occasion. I dunked, rinsed, rinsed again, and was ready to put on the scary head for the day. Except when I put it on the scary head (I think the head's name is Helen, by the way), it looked like this!

It didn't look like that while I was knitting it! I left it on Helen last night before I went to bed and it looked just fine! I was on the verge of a meltdown when I realized... Helen is maybe smaller than the average adult head. So I took a measurement of my head versus Helen. I had to get the look and angle to be the same, and as you can see, I was right:

1. Helen IS scary, and normal people do not tilt their heads and close their eyes all the time like that.

2. Helen is really a few inches smaller than my head, which is a pretty normal sized adult human head. I'm going to need a bigger Helen. But, I'll keep this one for kids hats, I think.

But... the hat still looks huge. Was I not supposed to block the Silky Merino? I will be devastated if I have to start over with a whole new hat! I was trying to think of what to do, when I remembered that I read somewhere on Ravelry that someone used a plate to block this hat. Aha! So I took out one of my salad plates and stuck it into the hat, and then put the hat AND plate on top of Helen, who I hate right now. I left it all in the bathroom (with the door CLOSED so my two wonderful cats don't invade and interrupt the process) and it looks like this:

By the way, that flap that just looks messy is really going to be sewed onto the band with a beautiful button, so it looks like... a flap with a button.

Can someone please reassure me that this hat is going to be ok? As you can see, it is down to Helen's NOSE, and looks ridiculous. I don't want my aunt to look like that kid from Fat Albert when she wears it. Now I'm wondering if gravity is going to take over and pull it down even farther? Can I block it again? Should I just give up and start again? Help!!!

These are a few of my favorite things...

2008-07-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite things about summer:

1. Staying lighter later. This allows me to be outside until 8:30, sometimes later! Last night Erm and I played tennis with my cousin and his girlfriend, and we were out just that late. I'm not even going to brag about our crazy comeback, which I am paying for today. I swear, sometimes I feel like an 80 year old after exercise! Maybe its because I'm considered an "older woman", as stated by one of my coworkers yesterday. But, this is a happy post. The blow was softened afterwards, where we partook in...

2. Ice cream stands! Or in this case, an ice cream store. There's nothing like a spur of the moment stop at an ice cream place to cheer you up! Instead of my normal pistachio or chocolate chip, I got a pina colada slush, which was excellent. It was a wise move since I got ice cream yesterday at work (oops). Thank God for tennis!

3. Swimming in my parents' pool, which I actually haven't gotten a chance to do yet this year! Hopefully this Saturday will change that...

4. Sitting outside on a deck somewhere, enjoying a delicious beer and some seafood. This is really my favorite thing about summer. It sounds like I have a problem, but being able to sit on the ocean, during the day, and have drinks... yum. I can see you smiling right now. This Sunday, Erm and I are heading to Federal Jacks in Kennebunkport for the day. Well, we'll walk around town, too. We got engaged last July, and we are celebrating one year of engaged bliss. Can't wait!

5. Sundresses. When you just want to be comfortable.

6. Barbeque. I am lucky enough to be marrying a man who not only cooks inside, but has crazy grilling and smoking skills. Ribs, brisket, chicken, vegetables, potatoes... he does it all. And I'm not talking just a bare steak or pre-marinated chicken from the butcher. He makes his own rubs, sauces, marinades, etc. He also likes to dress like his food

7. Sights like this:

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy summer!

One Sock, Two Sock, Red Sock, Blue Sock

2008-07-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

So this past week has been a busy one, and one full of finished and started projects! First off, I stayed up late one night last week and FINALLY got done with the first sock for Erm's pair! Took me long enough! And the good news is that it fits, and he loves it. He is excited for his second one, which he is patiently waiting for. See the sock below!

So that was very exciting for the end of the week. We had a jam packed weekend, as always. It started Friday night with some crazy commotion next door, which I don't really want to get into. I'll just say it kept us up very very late and we were tired on Saturday! But, we got up, rallied, cleaned the house and got some other stuff done and prepared for Kelly, Scott, Shaine and Todd, friends and bridesmaids, to come over. Erm made ribs (again!) and they were DELICIOUS (again!). I can't get enough of them. Also very exciting was that Kelly brought Brady! I'm sorry to all you other babies out there, but Brady is probably the cutest baby out there. He is so interactive, mimicking everyone's faces and mannerisms, especially his Dadda!! Check out Kelly's Blog for more on Brady. Here's pics of me and Brady in the kitchen... it was a fun night!

So a little while ago I got the bright idea to make Red Sox socks for my friend Dana. I bought the yarn awhile ago but just never got around to it. Of course, her birthday is in a couple of weeks, so guess what I started this weekend? I swear, I am a masochist. However, the weirdest thing has happened... you know how Erm's blue socks have taken me 2 months to make just one? I only have a couple of inches to go on the leg of the first red sock already! I didn't even have that much knitting time this weekend! I think its for a few reasons... a) her feet are much smaller than Erm's, so - fewer stitches b) no pattern on these, which while boring, goes much quicker c) maybe because these are red, which is my favorite color? I don't know! I also need to learn to do 2 socks at a time Magic Loop style, because I like Magic Loop a lot. But, without counting my rows, I can't really ensure that both socks are going to be the same unless I do them both at the same time. Maybe, just maybe, that will be a new project... Red Sock below!

Another thing we did this weekend was register at Crate and Barrel! It was way more fun than I thought it was going to be, and I knew it was going to be pretty fun. They treat you like royalty there! It was so nice to walk around, sipping a mimosa and just shooting that little gun away. I have heard stories of the men all wanting to control the gun, but not Erm. He was happy to hold things up for me so I could shoot them with the gun. Such a gentleman! It was great to get another thing checked off the list, but it was fun at the same time! More wedding stuff this week!

Out with the old, in with the new

2008-07-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! On Friday we went to my parents' house for some burgers, dogs, drinks, etc. I do have to say that the carrot cake I made came out awesome. One of the things I like to do as much as knit is bake, and I must admit, I'm pretty good at it! I would have taken a picture of the cake, but it was very plain. Nothing exciting visually. Saturday we relaxed, went and bought MORE plants at the nursery, since we are turning into crazy plant people, then had MOH and her fiance over for dinner. Something that Erm likes to do as much as I like to knit is grill and smoke things, and he made ribs on Saturday that were maybe the best ribs I've ever had. They were so good that he's making them again this weekend! I can't tell you his secret, BUT I can tell you that part of the process is "mopping" them with my homemade barbeque sacue. Mmmm delicious.

Sunday I finally did what all us New England woman dread, but have to do twice a year... I put away all my winter clothes and took out all my summer clothes! This is something I've been dying to do for awhile, but it either wasn't quite warm enough or I didn't have the time. See, normal people can start wearing their spring/summer clothes around Memorial Day, even earlier. And then they can put them away around mid-September. Not us... to be safe, you should wait til 4th of July to take out all the summer stuff, and Halloween is a good time to take out all your winter clothes. So this was the weekend! I love this project, because I forget about half my clothes! Its like I went shopping, for free!

I was apparently on a roll after that because I went for a run. Not a big one, but still, I surprised myself that I was able to squeeze that in. Running is another thing I enjoy, up there with baking and knitting. I am preparing for my church's Summer Festival race on the 26th. There's a race and a Fun Walk. Now, I thought both were 5K, which is 3.1 miles, so I've been preparing myself for that mentally. Imagine my "amusement" when I looked today and saw that the Fun Walk is 5K, but the race is 5 miles! I can do it, but totally wasn't prepared for that! Time to step up my training! After that, a relaxing day in Gloucester with Erm's parents, went home, watched a movie and went to bed! I was recharged!

Another thing I did over the weekend was wind up a ball of sock yarn that I've been looking to get rid of into little mini-balls. Why, you ask? I'm in a swap for OTHER mini-balls to go into my Sock Yarn Blanket! I'm so excited! I got to get rid of yarn I'm never going to use, and get 11 new balls of yarn to go right into my Blankie. What's better than that? I do have to say... I hope my mini-balls find a good home in whatever blanket they end up in. I said goodbye to them today at the post office... here is a parting shot of them on my coffee table....

So after purging myself of some yarn, it was only fitting that I buy some more! My LYS has a great clearance table, (don't miss the clearance sale next week!) and last week at knitting night I spotted some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino on sale for 50% OFF!! There was a bunch in a great orange-red color that I couldn't resist, I have recently fallen in love with the color orange. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out what I'm going to make with it, so yesterday I went and bought... 8 balls. I know, that's a bunch, but I need 2 for the Newsboy Cap and potentially 4 for the scarf, so I didn't overbuy, as many people do. Plus, I got rid of 12 balls, and only bought 8, so I still got rid of more than I bought? I keep telling myself that... Below are pics of my new treasure...

So exciting! That's it for now! Have a great day everyone!

Progress!

2008-07-03T06:31:00.001-07:00

Wow! So after the things we will not speak of, it is so great to have started something Sunday and be just about done as of last night! My aunt requested a pair of mittens a long time ago, but said she would take them for her birthday, which was Monday but I'm seeing her tomorrow. I even remembered which yarn she wanted them in, which is amazing since I feel like my head is going in a million different directions. I cast on Sunday night after the shower craziness and last night I sewed up the first one! All I need to do for the second is sew that seam, too. I think the trick here was putting both of them on one circular needle so that I was working on them both at the same time. That way, they're both exactly the same length and knitted at the same gauge. Martha taught me that one. So, although one of them is still technically on the needle, here's the mittens!

As you can see, they look very warm, soft, and fuzzy. This is the same yarn that I knitted my first mitten EVER with, but I did a rolled cuff and didn't have enough for two whole mittens. I played with another option, a ribbed cuff, on a pair for myself and it worked out great, so that's what I went with here. I hope she likes them!

In other knitting news, poor poor Erm. I promised him SOCKS and I still haven't finished the first sock. Singular. He has said he'll be happy to have them by the time its cold out, which is probably a reasonable expectation. I'm making the Uptown Boot Socks from the Favorite Socks book and although I love the yarn, and love the pattern, I think because its the men's size and its taking so LONG that I'm getting bored. I've made some great progress, and I'm in the home stretch with the foot, but I feel like the more I do, the more I have left to do! Does that make sense? Anyway, here is the sock so far...

As you can see, I have way more done than the last pic I posted. By the way, these pics were taken with my phone since I left my camera at work (becoming a habit... leaving things at work...) which is why they aren't the greatest. So the part coming down to the right is the foot, in case you couldn't tell. And I'm holding it because otherwise it just doesn't look like a sock. What also makes me nervous is that I try it on from time to time and its very comfortable... on me. Even though I have big feet, his feet are still pretty big... I think that maybe I should have cast on more stitches? Knit looser? I hope they fit him!

I also hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend. Its supposed to rain in the morning tomorrow, but they keep saying that no day will be a washout... so cross your fingers! I have a nice weekend of relaxing ahead of me and I plan on enjoying every minute. Happy 4th!!!

THIS JUST IN: I just learned of some sad news... A few years ago, I had a rabbit, a Netherland Dwarf to be exact. She was grey, with a black face, black ears, and black feet. She almost looked Siamese. Her name was Bullet and she was the cutest little teeny rabbit. When I moved out of the house I lived in, I had nowhere for her, so instead of giving her to a shelter, my friend Leah offered to take her until we could find her a new home. 2 1/2 years later, Leah still had Bullet, until yesterday. I received a message that Bullet passed away yesterday, I'm not sure what from, but I hope it was quick and painless. She was a cute little bunny and she was in good hands. RIP Bullet. :(

The things we will not speak of...

2008-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not going to talk about the tea cozies except to say that I got them done, I forgot to take a picture, and I'm done with tea cozies potentially forever.

Moving on.

So last weekend, or last week, whatever day it was, I don't remember... I was in the room we use as an office using the computer and I heard one of my cats making a weird smacking noise with his mouth... very odd. So I looked over and outside my slider I saw a neighborhood cat, which isn't new. My house is a contemporary and we have lots of sliders and floor to ceiling windows and all kinds of places for my cats to look out and other cats to look in. There's a cat that is so big she looks like a raccoon, another black cat, a crazy white and stripey cat, and we have a new kid on the block who likes to come visit, and it looks like a time warp when he does because he looks exactly like Joey did when he was little! Here he is, I call him Evil Twin, because he is cross-eyed.

So that was one thing that made me happy this weekend. Another thing was one of our trees being in bloom! Its in bloom a lot of the time, but its my favorite plant/tree that we have and I think its so pretty when its in bloom like this. Erm just bought a yellow hibiscus too, so pretty soon they BOTH will be in bloom at the same time!

And lastly, but not leastly, MOH's shower was a hit! Everything went really smoothly, everything was delicious and fun, and most of all, she had a good time. It was great to be part of such a successful day!

So that's all the excitement for now. I'm working on a new round of projects that should be done by the end of this week! I'll keep you posted!

I think hell is cozy...

2008-06-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

... or COZIES. Geez, I have been knitting tea cozies and ONLY tea cozies for two weeks straight! Please, please please, Universe, never send me an opportunity to knit tea cozies again.

Ok, its not that bad. I'm just bored with it. One tea cozy here and there is probably great because they are quick and you feel like you did something, etc etc. But it has just seemed like a neverending project! I am doing it for my Maid of Honor's shower which is on Sunday, and I am her Maid of Honor, and this is what MOHs do, right? But boy, I just can't wait... I have 4 1/2 tea cozies done, and I just have one more half to do. And its a quick one, and I have a movie to watch (and knit with) this afternoon, and its Knit Night tonight at Knit Pickings, and I have until Sunday and its only Friday. My normal Procrastination is DYING to kick in and say "hey... you only have 1/2 to do... and it won't take you that long... go ahead, knit something else. Like that SWEATER you're dying to finish!". But nope, Procrastination, I will not give in!

I am hoping that tomorrow afternoon I will able to post that I am done with the tea cozies and can get on with my normal knitting. I can't wait to take a picture of all five of them, just hanging out together. Then I can work on one of the 4 other time sensitive projects I need to do ASAP.

That sweater, my Rusted Root that I said would be done by the 4th? Scrach that...

A very "me" moment...

2008-06-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those days where you're super motivated to get everything done that you can possibly think of, and then some? I woke up Saturday morning in one of those moods. Actually I woke up Friday in one of those moods, got tons done, and worked from 2-10. I slept pretty late Saturday but when I was up, I was washing sheets, cleaning, etc. I couldn't cook or bake anything because we had literally NO FOOD in the house, but I put together my food shopping list for the week, and got ready to go. I was also going to get my oil changed, go buy a scale, go to the wine store for some tasting and buying, and then go to the supermarket. I got into my car and took a peek in my purse and saw that I had NO WALLET in there. I had left it at work the night before! I wasn't concerned with the safety of my wallet, I knew it would be ok, but I then became stranded with no food in my house. It was like a desert island. So I kept at my laundry, my knitting, watched almost all of season 6 of Sex and the City on demand... but I was not able to start dinner early. Not able to bake the carrot cake that I wanted to. Not able to get my oil changed, buy my scale, buy WINE. And, Erm was golfing for the day, so he couldn't even come to my rescue! I truly felt like a desperate housewife! Needless to say, he came home, we went food shopping, everything was fine. But... no homemade carrot cake :(

On another note, I have two squares of my sock yarn blanket done! What I'm doing is knitting a square every time I get done with one of the five similar things I have to have done by Sunday. I'm sure that didn't make sense, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. But, here are my two squares! Someday, these will actually be part of a blanket...

Father's Day, a nasty cold, and Game 6!

2008-06-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hiya! I hope everyone had a great weekend like I did! Sunday I finally got to give my dad his hat that I've been working on for a couple of weeks, one of those projects that I couldn't talk about in case he reads my blog, which I know he doesn't. I can dream that everyone's reading my blog, right?

Anyway, he requested a hat longer than the last one I made him, and with earflaps to cover his ears. My parents have a long driveway that he snowblows in the winter and he never wears the right hats, mittens, scarves, etc. So I'm working on it.

Here is his hat

I apologize for the darkness of this picture... And here he is wearing it

My dad is a very handsome man, I kept telling him to smile to take a normal picture and he refused to. I think he felt silly in the hat. Ha! I bet you didn't know you were going to be on the internet, Dad!

But before we went to my parents' house to give my dad his silly hat, we had lunch with DH to be's family to celebrate three birthdays. DFs neice is seriously one of the funniest kids I have ever met. I know everyone says that, but she kills me every time I see her. On Sunday we were coloring and drawing and I drew a mermaid tail and she decided to finish the drawing. After drawing the blob of the body she started drawing in the other... mermaid parts. When someone asked her what they were, she said "oh that's over her tummy... you know, her thingie things!". She constantly has the ability to bring us all to tears laughing and of course, has no idea why. So cute!

The only thing that put a damper on my weekend, and was the worst on Sunday, was this raging cold I've had since Wednesday. Of course, my late night on Saturday didn't make things better, but I digress. It was so bad that I had to record the Celtics Game 5 on Sunday night because I fell asleep after the first quarter! Although, I guess if there was a game to miss, it was that one.

Tonight is Game 6 and I have a plan of attack! First of all, I'm already feeling better, this cold is on its way OUT! I'm going to go home and make dinner for DH to be, head to the gym, which will energize me, come home and eat my dinner (enchiladas... mmm....) maybe bust out a square for the Sock Yarn Blankie, and hunker down to watch my favorite guys! And for anyone who doesn't know about the Sock Yarn Blankie, you either HAVE to check it out, or you shouldn't. Depends on your level of obsessiveness. Its an entire blankie, made out of mitered squares, that are made out of sock yarn. Made famous (and invented?) by Shelly Kang, The Heathen Housewife. I held off until last night and I couldn't take it any more, I started!

GO CELTICS!!! BEAT LA!!!!

Birthday Surprise weekend was a hit!

2008-06-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend it was my wonderful fiance's birthday. Last year I took him on a Birthday Surprise Day and I feel like I may have started a tradition. This year I got very excited about taking him to Concord & Lexington as he is VERY into American History, Revolutionary War, etc. I figured it would be a nice day for us, which it was. I also presented him with the half a sock I got done for him. I was really hoping to have the whole pair... but alas, I only had about a legwarmer's worth! They are longer now, but they look like this:

So as I'm getting excited to do the big reveal about where we're going, we're standing in the kitchen and he produces an envelope from his briefcase. This was not your average envelope, this envelope contained TWO TICKETS TO THE CELTICS GAME. This was GAME 2 OF THE FINALS! I almost peed my pants.

So then we got ready, had some breakfast, and were on our way. It was a nice day out, a little warm, but we spent a lot of time in air conditioned places so that was great. One place was The Cheese Shop in downtown Concord. For under $20, we got three delicious cheeses, a bunch of italian deli meat, a big bottle of Pelligrino and a baguette. Picnic lunch! Best cheese was a tossup between the aged cheddar and this 4 year old Gouda...

After that, more history, then onto Lexington where everything was CLOSED. Well, not everything. We actually got to enter each other's worlds for a short time, and I brought DF to his first LYS!! Wild and Wooly in Lexington. I had read mixed reviews online about this store and I have to say, the service was better than what I had expected! As usual, I had to buy SOMETHING... or two somethings. I left with some Araucania sock yarn and a VERY blue Malabrigo. Both for ME which I rarely buy yarn for any more. I want to make a hat with the Malabrigo, but I need the absolute perfect pattern. Any ideas? It looks like Grover.

I also hope you're admiring my pasty white legs. Get out your sunglasses and don't go blind.

After that, a trip to his favorite guitar store which was gorgeous, a nice dinner with friends at a brewery in Waltham. Sunday was family day at our house, quick nap and off to the CELTICS!!!! I could have gone overboard with the team spirit, but I think DF would have left me at the Garden. So I toned it down.

Needless to say, it was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend. Our seats were fantastic, as they always are when this guy gives them to us. The Garden was rocking, the celebs were out, it was totally worth the exhaustion I suffered the next day! Did I mention how good our seats were?

That is Big Papi on the left coming out of the tunnel. And my boyfriend Ray Allen on the right. Yes, I took that picture from my seat!

What color are you?

2008-06-02T13:11:00.001-07:00

I was quite surprised when I saw what color I was... always thought I'd be a red!

you are aqua
#00FFFF

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well.

Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.

Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Weekend? Already?

2008-05-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

I can NOT believe this weekend is already here! I really can't. Between the Celtics, and my knitting, and baking, and... oh yeah, work, and laundry and everything else, the week just flew by. I've got a great weekend coming up and I couldn't be happier.

Actually, I would be happier if I were finished at least ONE of my knitting projects I'm working on. I am literally working on 4 things right now, with about 4 on deck to get started. I can't talk about two of them, because they are gifts. One is a hat for my dad for Father's Day (I know my dad isn't going to read my blog...). Dad specifically asked for a hat with earflaps last winter after I gave him a flap-less hat, so his wish is my command! Flaps, cables, extra length... all in a very manly brownish greenish Ultra Alpaca. I'll post a pic when I take one.

The last thing I'm working on has sadly been put on the back burner... my Rusted Root. I REALLY want to get it done so I can wear it for the summer, but its so hard with all the other time sensitive stuff I'm making! Since I feel like its been neglected, I am going to post a picture of it here, so it can get some attention:

Isn't it so cute! Can't you just picture it being done and on ME!!?? That's it, I have a new mission. To be done my Rusted Root by... July 4. Preferably earlier, but we'll see how that goes.

Have a great weekend!