Coming up Roses.

The air is smelling mighty fine in these here parts lately.

I've got news so good it's making it hard to concentrate on things like new knits (It Ain't Plain, Jane! - Twilley's Freedom Spirit),

how my stitches look very different when I switch from in the round to flat knitting (Must remember to change the knitting style for sweaters and the like in the future.),

how I only have a couple of side pieces to add to Girly's vest then it's done,

how the snow looks so pretty and

how the sky looked amazing for about a 1/2 hour last night.


You see, there are three parts to the good news, but the best in Girly's opinion is that she gets to learn how to skate and that she is now registered for school! She's getting to be so grown up.

The best of the best though, that is what has me so happy. I am now a full-time employee! You are reading the words of the new General Accountant for the Municipality! Yay me and yay for a totally new skill set to add to the noggin. :)

Remember when.

You were happy that you could knit and purl. You thought it was so fantastic that this new thing you could do made such beautiful things.

Then you learned to knit with more than one colour. Then in the round. Shaping followed and lace was next. The cabling though, that captured your imagination. Imagine making stitches travel all over the knitting and meet up wherever you want.

Now, the knitting and purling, no shaping, no colourwork, no lace just aren't the same anymore. So you are slapping in a bit of this and a bit of that because your attention span has shrunk that much. Like a toddler always looking for the next bright light and shiny new toy.


Sigh. I have some more knitting and purling to do before this is done. I am whining and it is a small project. Whatever will I do when I have a big one to get through?

Tips.

Give your kid a skating birthday party. You will be the bestest parents, ever!

Colour co-ordinate and fibre match your knitting to your outfit. You will look so put together.

Don't watch The Day After Tomorrow when it's -38*C/-34.6*F and you are sitting in a draft, also known as your living room. You will be planning how you are going survive the new ice age all night and in the morning at work, when someone calls with a basic question that a chicken with it's head cut off could answer, you will have to call them back. After you look it up and or ask someone because you couldn't think where to look it up.

Row upon row upon snow.

Okay, so the knitting isn't actually on the snow, but it is getting a row here and there.

I am getting a little nervous about this one. I may not have enough of the purple to finish it and I don't have anymore of it or the label. Plow on, and pray desperately that it will hold out long enough seems to be the order of the day.

Girly's vest is moving along well. I am about halfway through the back and then I need to add sides since it isn't wide enough. Ah well, I'll get it right and by the time I do, it will be nearly unrecognizable from the original pattern. Which means I can post it. Once I write it out. If I get that far.

I've added a bit to this scarf too. Not as much though. I am drawn more to the warm and cozy knitting lately rather than the light and spring-like stuff. Which is odd since it's been such a mild winter this year. Not that I'm complaining, mind. Bring on the mild!

My mystery project is growing little by little. The first part of the pattern is done and I am nearly at the second part. I really love how it's coming out and it's going to be hard to let it go. I may have to not make it in the shape I had had in mind originally. It's coming out really large and I don't know how much it's going to shrink in the felting. Hopefully, a lot. You should see how huge this thing is already and I have two more pattern sections to add to it. Still love it though! Love. It.

I had started this a while back and tucked it into one of my bags. This morning I pulled it out to add a row and behold! I could not.
The ladder wouldn't come out no matter how many stitches I tugged. So out they all came. It's all good though. I wasn't really sure that what I had in mind would work as well as I was hoping it would. On with new ideas.

The snow has been falling. I took this yesterday during yet another snowfall. My poor little garden wells are nearly buried. They aren't real wells. These kind of wells are non-existent around here. At least that I know of. It would be kind of cool if there was one especially since our well water gets so cold.

Weekend Review

We took the road less traveled and ended up in a really nice place to spend time.

The yarn store. The best kind of LYS is one where little girls can eat snacks, drink juice, play with toys and make beautiful pictures with crayons and stickers while the knitters pass around knit stuff to feel and magazines to check out that pattern.

We went sliding at a friend's house and made snow angels on the lake. It was great fun and Girly has been inviting everyone and their dog over to our house in the hopes of reciprocating. Yet another reason to get this house in an order I wouldn't mind others seeing.

Who's a pretty boy?!

Speeding.

I have two minutes to write this post.

Tree covered in snow. There is a lot of snow by that poor tree and more coming.

Look! Knitting! In the snow no less.

I love the colour intensity and halo of Nashua Creative Focus. Even better that it's soft and warm.

I discovered a new trick my camera can do. I may try this out again soon.

More distraction

I have no knitting to show you. I cast on one thing and that's as far as I got. I'll show that another day.

In the meantime, proving the crazy to even more people. It was not very warm last night, but I was determined to catch what little daylight I could.

Not bad, although the photos are a little fuzzy in spots.

Just don't look too close and they're perfect.


Sort of like me.

Getting there.

The cable part is done. It looks okay, but either my chart reading is not accurate or these charts are not clear enough. The top part is much wider than the bottom part. Girly says it pretty and she will be the only one to have a blue top with a flower on it so it stays as is and I borrow this book again sometime to give me more time to study the chart. It's curling like mad thus the oranges.

It's cooling off again after our little warm spell. We were thrown completely off by having temps like -1*C in January when we are more accustomed to -40*C. Good, but weird.

Did you know...

If you start a complicated cable pattern wrong, the entire damn thing will be wrong and you will have to rip it out and start all over again. Twice. This is my third shot at this, so far, so good. Knock wood.

Sometimes a guy just has to snuggle a dolly.

Knit!

I have been knitting in all this not talking and or not showing pictures of knitting.

A pair of adult size F!@ F*# mitts. Standard mitt pattern with thumb gusset and an extra long cuff. Sadly, they are not quite the same size due to not writing down what I did with the first mitt and it being nearly impossible to count stitches in fur. I used SRK - On Your Toes wool/nylon sock yarn and Rave polyester F@! F*# on 4mm needles.

Then there are these mitts. This is the second one. This is Twilley's Freedom Wool and there is a second colour in Classic Elite's llama/wool. Basic mitt pattern with thumb gusset and some fancy stranding/mosaic knitting. I'll share when they are done and let you in on the fancy work too. So far, so good though!

I even have one more Christmas gift to share. Our LYS owner gave each of her regular knitters a gift! Awesome and the gift is pretty damn good too! I really like this bag. Stiff enough to keep things from getting mushed and light enough to carry everywhere. She included some sock patterns and an awesome ball of yarn.

SRK - On Your Toes sock yarn in Bamboo. I've been wanting to try some bamboo yarn and now I can! It feels really nice and cool to the touch. I am thinking of making a shorter, narrower version of Jeanie. It would make a gorgeous scarf. You've gotta love a generous yarn store owner!


Girly had a great time on her birthday and says thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes. She's getting to be such a big kid now or so she tells me. ;)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby!!

A sort of List.

So I've been thinking of the things I'd like to do and be this year. So far I can't come up with 10 completely unrelated things.

Everything ties into my one things I'd like most of all this year. So here is my list of one thing.


List of Things to do in 2008

1. Stop waiting.

I've been waiting until we have money so we can rearrange, reorganize (our closet/build storage for seasonal stuff and for my yarn), redecorate. I have a job for now, time to start one thing/shelf at a time and hopefully the job will turn into full-time or another will crop up that's full-time.

I've been waiting until the last possible minute to start anything/go anywhere. Time to be more realistic about how long it takes us to get ready to go and get out the door and how long it takes to do something.

I've been waiting until the house is just right so I can have friends over. I need to get off my arse and get the house just right because a maid isn't materializing. Dammit.

I need to stop waiting and start doing. Life can't get better until I make it get that way. So that's it for this year. Stop waiting, start doing no matter how much I am not in the mood. Wish me luck. This is going to be a hard one.