A little catching up

I have a huge list of post ideas. Huge. I wonder why I don't post more often?

Anyways, here's a little catch up post. We went on vacation in September. 3 weeks after we moved, we left for 2 1/2 weeks. It was great to leave all the boxes behind.

and live out of a suitcase.

We went to the US (of course), starting off our holiday with a few days at my aunt's house in Glenwood, Maryland. She lives very close to Washington, DC, so we spent the day in the nation's capital. We took a bus tour - the kind where you can get on and off the bus at your own pace in any number of different spots. It even had an open top, so you could really see the sites!

The Capital Building

The Washington Monument (it's not crooked in real life. I'm the crooked one.)

reflection of the Washington monument in the Vietnam War Memorial

a squirrel taking a drink on the mall (near the war memorials)

We had a really good time there, and it was even better to get to see my aunt (she's a great cook and host!) and most of her family again. It's been too many years to count since I've seen them.

We did a lot of things this vacation, but it seemed very relaxed.

The Kinzua Bridge

Hills Creek State Park (the fall colors were fabulous this year!!)

punkins punkins everywhere!

Chilly at Cinco C's Alpacas

Alpaca yarn from Cinco C's

The yarn above is SO soft and SO yummy and SO luscious. It's the first time I've ever worked with alpaca (I think?), and I am hooked. I wish there was an alpaca farm near me here that I could go visit. And volunteer! Just so I can be near this yummylicious yarn.  

I've made mittens from that yarn, by the way. I'll save that for another post.

Another post idea on the list. Let's hope I show it to you!

xxx

Tomorrow is Turkey Thursday!!!!!!

Oh my gosh, tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Bring on the turkey! The stuffing! The mashed potatoes! The gravy! The parade!

Bring on the bloated, too-stuffed-to-move feeling, too.

Netherlands doesn't have a Thanksgiving, but we'll do a little mini-dinner on Sunday with Ludi's parents. I'm only making a turkey breast. Some people here seem to think that a whole turkey is too much. Ha, I say to them.

They've no idea how much turkey I can eat.

Regardless of my abilities to devour tons of the stuff, we're not doing a whole turkey. It'll still be delicious, I'm sure! Will the weather be decent enough where you are to start putting up lights outside over the weekend? We used to do that in my house. Decorate outside this weekend before it got too cold to be out there comfortably. Anyone else do that? Or do you just leave the lights up all year round? *wink*

We were having nice weather here last week. We've had a pretty decent fall this year. We had some rain, but there were some glorious days too. The colors of the leaves were fantastic. The trees in the neighborhood park were so pretty I stopped and stared a few times. I'm pretty sure the other people walking around the park thought I was goofy. But then again, I think they always think I'm goofy.

Goofy American.

There was a tree that I could see from our dining room window that was the same bright yellow. This picture barely does it justice.

late season fall color

The tree is on the street behind us, so I could only see the top of it. But when the sun hit it just right, the thing just glowed. (See? Terrible picture. That's not even close to glowing.) I enjoyed it for about a week before the leaves finally started falling. I'm not sure what kind of tree it was, but they stuck around for quite a while before finally giving up the fight.

And now it's all gray and cold and the leaves are gone. It's barely 4 and it's too dark to knit without a light on. How sad is that? Remember when it was light out at 10:00 p.m.? Yeah.

That's alright. Christmas lights show up better in the dark. tee hee!!!

I hope that everyone enjoys their turkey tomorrow! And get that decorating started!


xxx

November already?

Ok, enough slacking, it’s the middle of November already! Good grief! Usually August, September and October drag by for me, seemingly taking forever. The wait for Halloween is a long one. But after that, it’s like you’re on a downhill roller coaster.  The days FLY by speeding their way to Christmas. The day/season that I wait for all year. But this year, July-October FLEW by. We were so busy! We had a vacation at the end of September just 3 weeks after moving. And the MOVING...ugh. It’s still kicking my ass. Which means I don’t have any ta-da photos yet. They might have to wait till Christmas photos. I am determined that at least the living room will be boxless for Christmas.

I’ve got my work cut out for me. Gah, how do two adults collect so much STUFF?! Trying to figure out where to put everything in an organized manner is taking longer than I planned/wanted. I think it will be a work-in-progress for some time to come. But we’re adjusting to the new place quite easily. I’m getting used to not having everything I need within 10 feet of me anymore (kidding - the old place wasn’t THAT small, but almost). Getting used to having an upstairs and downstairs. This place is so much bigger. It’s fantastic to have more space! Like Ludi's sister said, we can waltz in our bedroom. It's huge! We love it!

I do miss the old neighborhood a little bit. I miss being so close to the neighborhood shopping center. I don’t really miss the neighbors though. The barking dogs. The seemingly constant coming and going of loud motor scooters. When I walk back to that neighborhood, I get a little nostalgic. We lived there for 5 1/2 years. It’s hard to not get a little attached after that long.

But the old apartment I don’t miss. One. Tiny. Bit.

Nope.


Not a smidge.


xxx

Random Stuff (kind of)

1. How many stuffed animals can you fit into a box?

stuffed stuffed animals

Stuffed animals. Makes it sound like I’m 12 or something. Stuffed Decorative Pieces. There we go. Sounds way more adult, yes?

So how many Stuffed Decorative Pieces can you stuff into one box?

18.

And yup, there's nothing else in the box.

2. We just had a painting marathon weekend. The hottest weekend of the year. The second day was the worst. We sweated buckets. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t have a thermostat to check the actual temperature, but it was HOT. It was an upstairs bedroom, and with it being 98 or thereabouts outside, you can imagine how warm it was inside. But it’s done! The painting is done for now. I am so happy that I don’t have to clean out those brushes and roller again. YAY! And the paint looks better than the original stuff that was on the walls too!

3. I got my hair cut. I got probably 3 inches cut off? 4, maybe? Not sure. But it’s just above my shoulders now. Short and sassy. I liked having longer hair, but I never did anything with it. I could never make it look how I wanted it to look, and I never wanted to invest the time in doing that anyways. I love how other people look with long wavy hair, beach hair, whatever you want to call it, but it just never looked right on me. Or, more accurately, I couldn’t make it look right. So it’s shorter now. And cooler for summer heat.

4. The Moving Process is coming along very slowly. As I mentioned before, painting is done for now. The flooring will be installed on Friday (yay! I can’t wait to see that!), and then we can really start moving things over. Thankfully it will be cooler weather this weekend. (I do plan on doing a little before and after post. Any bets on if I actually follow through?)

5. Because of all the moving chores, I haven't been knitting. It's been at least 4 days since I picked any needles and yarn up. Can you believe it? Me? Not knitting? Can't wait until we're done, so that I can knit again. I have another scarf to make before vacation at the end of September.

How’s it going with you guys?


xxx

Where have I been?

I fell off the face of the Earth for a while, that’s where I’ve been. July was so busy with family things (three birthdays, and a family getaway (the entire family! 11 of us!) in Germany for Ludi’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary - Go go Mia & Louis!). The entire month just flew by. And now we’re in August. And it’s flying too! Thankfully, because I think August is my least favorite month. Something about the heat, I guess.

There are a couple of reasons that this month is flying. At the beginning of the month (well, actually starting July 27), I was part of Team Owlie 2012 doing the Ravellenic Games. It was a knitting contest with Ravelry that coincided with the Olympics. So all during the Olympics I was working on knitting projects that had to be finished by the end of the official games. I just barely made it (I’m a slow knitter). Here is what I made!

another Frangiflutti (made for Mom’s friend Judy)

more popcorns! Now I have 46 total. (made for me!)

When you post your finished project, you get a “medal” and everything (a photo of one made by someone at Ravelry. Not a photo of an actual Olympic medal. That might infringe on copyright, right? *wink*) I was worried that I wasn’t going to finish them, because while all this was going on, we

SIGNED A CONTRACT ON A NEW PLACE!!!!! A rental, but still! We’re moving! YESSSS!!! It’s a much bigger place, which is so needed. Three bedrooms, as opposed to our 1 1/2 here. (I call it a 1/2 a bedroom because it’s so freaking small. A single bed barely fits in there.) Just so much more room. And no upstairs neighbors! YES! Even better. Can’t wait to move in.

The month has been filled with appointments with repair men, picking paint and flooring, buying paint and flooring, cleaning, etc. The rest of the month will be filled with packing and moving. It’s going to be quite a haul to get ourselves moved in time, but we’ve got to do it. We have a deadline. So we’ve gotta be out of here completely by August 30th.

And I keep looking at everything that still needs packed (everything, basically).

Panic.


How much of this stuff do I really need?


xxx

Newest project

My latest obsession project is hot buttered popcorn. Minus the hot. And the buttered. But it is still popcorn.

get it while it's hot

The pattern is from KnitPicks Winter Wonderful pattern set. It comes with a whole bunch of patterns for Christmassy items, but truthfully I really only bought it for the knitted string of popcorn and cranberries. My desire was to make garland for the tree.

I think it’s going to be a very long term project. Because these little beauties are fiddly. Each one takes me about an hour. Maybe as I make more I’ll get better/faster, but for now, they’re time sucking little things. But I am enamored with them, so I’ll keep knitting. Maybe for this year I’ll just have a short garland to go over a picture, or something? Or over my non-existing mantle? I know it seems like I should be able to get further than a 3 foot/1 meter strand, but I’m only doing one a day. The frustration level is a little high on these too. That’s all I can do in one day. One kernel of popcorn. So it’s going to take me a while to even get to that length.

But aren’t they cute?!

cuter than the real thing

A fat free snack.


xxx

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

oooooo...aaaaaaaaaa

I hope you all enjoy your holiday. It's not too hot where you are, is it? That might make things uncomfortable. For me, anyways. Maybe you enjoy sticky oppressive heat, I don't know.

I read somewhere online that it's estimated that there are 80 million BBQ's today. Wow. That's a lot of hamburgers and hotdogs. Yum!


xxx

What is going on???

I think someone is trying to tear down our building. With a single hammer or chisel, and a drill.

I was woken up at the ungodly hour of 8:55 this morning (aah, such is the life of an unemployed woman) by a pounding sound. At first I thought it was the wench woman who lives above us, whose sole purpose in life is to annoy me. Upon further inspection, I realized it wasn’t her but someone else apparently doing some remodeling. With a hammer and chisel (I could hear the clinking when I was near the open kitchen window, but not when I was in the bedroom), and then a drill!  Drilling. In cement block walls.

Oh joy of joys.

My life is now complete.

In other news, the Frangiflutti with the birthday yarn is done! Wheeee!!!

kinda blurry scarf

For those of you who might want it, the pattern is on Ravelry (Frangiflutti), and for those of you who might want to know the yarn it’s Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Magico II, color number 3503.


xxx


edited to add: Found out later that the neighbor 3 doors down is getting some work done in his apartment. Don't know what he's having done though. Drilling through to the next apartment, perhaps? I'm guessing replacing tiles in the bathroom or kitchen, but don't quote me on that.

The potato salad was a success.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend! It was Memorial Day weekend in the USA, and here it was Pinksteren (Pentecost), so Monday was a day off. Yippee! I can’t remember that happening before. Both holidays on the same weekend. We took advantage of it and had a little cookout at Ludi’s parents. We brought the hamburgers and potato salad, and they supplied the grill.

The grill with the yummy burgers

Another thing I can’t remember is if I've made potato salad since living here. It seems like I have, but it must have been a long time ago. At any rate, I made the salad this weekend. According to all sources, it was good. I made it a little differently this time. I was lazy and didn’t want to chop up a whole bunch of different vegetables to put in (onion, bell pepper, carrots, etc) so I got some pre-cut soup vegetables and used those. There were some things in the bag of veggies that I wouldn’t normally have used, but other things that we always have. I think I liked it! I KNOW I liked how easy it was. Opening a bag and dumping instead of chopping. What’s not to love about that?

The salad and the rest of the spread

The weather was great for the Memorial Day/Pinksteren Cookout. Maybe a little warm and sunny, but it was breezy so that made up for it. And no rain. There’s nothing that can ruin a cookout faster than rain. We even walked to their house, so Ludi could enjoy some of his favorite beer, Palm. (No drinking and driving here, folks!)

All in all, it was a good holiday weekend. How was yours?


xxx

Summer is almost here!

The weather has definitely been summery here this week. It was in the low 80s yesterday (that’s high 20s for my Celsius friends), and will be again today I think. I had the windows open yesterday and had that first whiff of summer. You know the one. The warm fresh air smell? Not freshly mowed grass, or flowers, just sun-warmed fresh air. It was lovely. It made me think that summer might not be so bad after all.

Then I had to cook dinner. And the kitchen go overly hot. And I re-thought my previous notion about summer being not so bad.

Anyways, summer is coming, whether I like it or not. Maybe I’ll try to enjoy it this year.

In other news, my friend took me shopping for my birthday (Hi Friend! You know who you are!!!) and gifted me yarn! YAY!!! Yippee!!! I loves me some yarn!

I got this to probably make some socks.

Lana Grossa Meilenweit Tweed ( color #141)

I haven’t found a pattern yet. I have a lot of other projects on my plate right at the moment (which is also fantabulous. Loving the knitty busy. Busy knitty. Ha, there’s a fun new word. Busiknitty.). I’m sure I’ll find something!

She also got me the yarn to make a single-skein scarf.

Lana Grossa Magico II Meilenweit (color #3503)

I’m making Frangiflutti (pattern on Ravelry). The owner of the yarn shop had made one up in this same yarn, and it was really neat. I love how the rows lengthen on one side, and I liked the ribble effect. Fun scarf!

In still more news...my mom and three of her friends came to visit at the beginning of the month. Wow, what a fun week that was! I’ll try and make a separate post about that. In the near future. I hope.

You know how these things go.


xxx

Another year gone by

Yep. Another one.

Sometimes I feel like I'm sleeping through it. Like I must have missed something, how else can the years be flying by so quickly?

Guess that's a sign of old age, huh? *gulp*

Happy Birthday to us! Pam and me, that is.

We're not older, we're wiser.

Yeah, that's it. Wiser.


I made some cookies to celebrate the day.

snickerdoodles

Come on over and enjoy a few with some coffee or tea! Please. So I don't eat them all! (oh my, they're so good.)

Trees are budding, flowers are blooming - there's color all over the place!

Kwanzan Cherry blossoms

 

The photo is a few years old, but they're still just as gorgeous this year. I love that they're in bloom on my birthday.

don't you love the hot pink centers?

Are those apple blossoms (above)? I have no idea. I saw the trees a few weeks ago while walking around the neighborhood, and I just had to have a picture.

my favorite flowers

And of course, what Spring/Easter season would be complete without tulips? These were such a dark ruby red. LOVEd them.

I hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying your spring as much as we are here.


xxx

a spring shawl

It's done!

The one I started a few weeks ago. This one?

the beginnings

Now it's done! My fancy schmancy lacy shawl is done! Wanna see it?

oooh....aaaaaahhhh....

Isn't it pretty all pinned, and stretched tight so that the points actually come to a point? Wanna see those closer?

purrrdy, ain't she?

Here's the pattern link again, if you're interested (it's the Ashton Shawlette on Ravelry). I made it a little larger than the pattern called for (it gives instructions how to do that). It ended up being almost 200cm x 100cm. Sounds huge, doesn't it? I could have blocked it even larger, I think, but I didn't push it.

I like how it turned out. I wish I were more of a shawl wearing kind of gal, but I'm going to try to wear it at some point anyways. I put too much work into it not to. It didn't hold the points when I unpinned it though. It's 90% acrylic yarn, and acrylic yarn doesn't block very well. I would have had to add starch to it or something. That would have taken away the lovely squishy softness though. So I'll live with it not being all pointy at the bottom.

It really is a shame that I'm not much of a shawl wearing kind of gal. Cuz I'd really like to make another one. A different pattern, but more shawls.

Are any of you shawl wearing kind of gals?

Would you like a shawl?

Can I knit you one?


please?


I so love knitting.

xxx

Five Years Ago

What were you doing five years ago?

Five years ago I moved to The Netherlands. Five years! It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already. It feels like a lot less. It’s been a little bit of a bumpy ride so far, but it’s getting better. I expected the bumps though. I knew that it was going to be quite a transition and guessed it would take five years to get into my Dutch groove. I called it a Five Year Plan. I thought surely in that time I could learn the language, get a decent job and make a good life here. Last year (or maybe even sooner?) somewhere along the line I revised that Five Year Plan into a 10 Year Plan. I made some great headway into The Plan in the first five years, but still need a couple more to make it to the finish line.

While living in another country has presented more challenges than I expected, it’s also allowed me to do things that I would probably never had the chance to do if I still lived in the States. If I hadn’t moved here, I might not have

-become semi-bilingual! I took French in school for 5 years, but studying a language in a classroom is a whole different ballgame from learning it while living there.

-seen upclose the horrors of the haulocaust. Visiting the site of a concentration camp in Germany was very eye opening.

-traveled to Prague, Czech Republic. Very special! Not only because of it being near to where Dad’s family is from, but because it’s such an awesome old city. If you ever get the chance to go there, I’d take it!

-taken up knitting. If I hadn’t moved here and had so much free time on my hands, I might not have started crocheting. If I hadn’t started crocheting, would I have learned to knit? That would be a shame, since I love knitting.

-learned that I love brussels sprouts. It’s all been worth it to find the love of my vegetable life.

-started a blog! I am pretty sure that if I didn’t live thousands of miles from family and friends and want to come up with a way to show them a slice of my Dutch life, I would never have started this blog.

As difficult as the transition might have felt sometimes, it’s still brought about many good things (many more than I’ve written here, I’m sure). I wonder what the next five years will bring?


xxx

Street Market

This past Sunday there was a street market in our neighborhood. They do it every year at the end of March. This was the first time I've been to it. I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured it would be a few booths selling things. I don't know what kinds of things I was thinking they'd be selling. I guess I didn't think about it.

I didn't expect it to be like the market that we have down town every Wednesday and Friday. Smaller, but with the same kind of booths. Food (warm stroopwafels...mmmm, those smelled so heavenly), plants, fruits, clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, pet stuff. Everything under the sun! And it was crowded too.

booths all the way to the end of the building in the back

You can't really tell how crowded it was from this photo. I have another one that shows more people, but they are a little too easy to recognize, so I'm not going to post it. (I should have waited until everyone had their backs turned.)

The market took up the whole block, a main street through the neighborhood. It was fun to shop in the middle of the street! I kept thinking "Hey look! I'm right in the middle of the street! Cars drive RIGHT. HERE. " I'm a dork. What can I say.

The shops were open too. I took advantage of that by going into the local yarn shop and bought some cotton thread/yarn for my next project. I had a little conversation with the owner, and she paid me a compliment, saying that I speak very good Dutch (for being here for just 5 years).

I'm definitely going back there again.


Flattery will get you repeat customers.


xxx

It's Spring!

Is it the first day of Spring already?! WOW! That sorta snuck up on me! I shouldn't be so surprised though. The weather here has been just beautiful.

Ludi is loving the fact that winter is over.

I sort of feel like "Wait, did we even have a winter?"

Well, the nicer weather is going to stay around for a while, so I'll have to wait until next year for more dreamy snow. Instead I'll be happy with these

daffodils!!!

There's a median a few blocks away at an intersection, and they have it planted with a whole bunch of daffodils. Or are they narcissus? I can never really tell the difference. They're yellow and so springy and just beautiful en mass like that. I remember it being more flowers though. Perhaps they need separated...or thinned... what's that word for what you do when bulb flowers naturalize and multiply and you need to spread them out more or they'll choke each other out? I can't remember.

Whatever it's called.

shines like the sun

They sure are pretty.

Enjoy your Spring Day!


xxx

Knitty Show and Tell

Ludi's work gloves were falling apart (the ones he wears under the leather gloves that keep his hands dry. He works in a freezer, where it's -35 degrees Celcius all the time.). I wish I had a before picture to show you. In one fingertip there was a giant hole. There were probably 5 other holes that needed patched too.  It was one sad pair of gloves.

So I patched those up for him best that I could, and decided that I'd make him a new pair. Since I'm a knitter and all, right?! I can do that! I bought some (hopefully) warm wool/polyester mix yarn and went to work. This is what flew off my needles.

Glover gloves, from Ravelry

My first pair of gloves! What do you think?

Since his fingers tend to get extra cold, I doubled the yarn to do the fingers. He says they work better than the other pair, so

SUCCESS!!!

I even got to use my DPNs on this project (on the fingers). I can knit with DPNs now too! YES! All around win, right?!

After finishing these I took a break for a while and made some puffs.

 wheeee! lovely puffs...

And when I needed a break from puffs, I started a shawl. I've been wanting to make a shawl for a while. Something a little more challenging than just stockinette. There were so many patterns that were so pretty I had trouble deciding. I ended up with the Ashton Shawlette on Ravelry.

mohair-wanna-be softiness

It's coming along well, so far. It sheds like crazy, but that's alright. That's the nature of the yarn, I guess. I hope this one turns out better than the pink tent I made (that was supposed to be a capelette). If it turns out nice, I'll show it off. If you never hear of it again, you know how well it ended up.

What have you guys been up to lately?

xxx

Spring is coming!

It should be here in full force soon. It's still a little chilly here, but with these in bloom, it can't be far away, can it?

purple stripes!

Sorry about the blur on that photo. You should see the other shots - this was the best one! Wait...

...you SHOULD see the other shots.

what is my phone looking at? The dirt?!

slightly better, but not great

I should have known to take my camera with me on my walk the other day. But I totally didn't think about it until I saw the crocus. Which at first I thought was a bunch of garbage strewn across the ground. There were clumps of white in the lawn behind the recycling bins in the neighborhood. At first I was cursing out the lazy SOBs who can't be bothered to clean up after themselves, or are too lazy to throw their trash into a bin that is less than 3 feet away from them. This is what I thought when I saw it from 100 yards or more.

Obviously I need new glasses. Because it was groups of crocus. All over the city they have crocus planted in grassy areas. This one is just a little sparse, so I couldn't tell that's what it was.

I was happy it wasn't trash, though.

Speaking of trash, why can't people clean up after themselves? Why do they think that littering is ok? And don't even get me started on the people who let their dogs do their business on the sidewalk and then don't clean it up. I have a whole new vocabulary for THOSE people.

So has spring sprung there? Is it getting ready to?


xxx

A new cafe in town!

There's a new cafe in my town. It's a KNITTING CAFE!!!

YES!!!

It's actually a commercial space downtown that I think must be used by a few different people/clubs. The knitters are there every Thursday night. I went last night for the first time, and it was fun! It was great to be around other knitters. Even if I wasn't able to speak perfect Dutch we still were able to communicate with each other.

I was really nervous before I went. That new-experience nervous, not sure what to expect, etc. I wasn't  worried that the people there would be mean, or unaccepting. I don't think I've ever met any nasty knitters! It was just my nerves getting the best of me. I almost didn't go. But I'm glad I pushed my fears aside and went. I will go again, I'm sure!

I knitted a hexipuff while I was there. They were a little surprised at the size of my needles (2.5mm), and the fact that I was doing magic loop (they were mostly working on straight needles), and they all LOVED the puff I took with me.

french knot sheep

I'm rather fond of that puff myself.

It's so much easier to explain what I am working on (Bee Keepers Quilt) when I have a finished puff as an example.  They asked how many I needed to make. I laughed.

Hundreds.

It's a long term project. Definitely long term.

In other crafting news, I'm still feeling like I want to Craft It All. I am busy right now making this:

knotty goodness

A friendship bracelet. Remember these?! I remember making them in high school. Gosh they were popular. I saw a post online about these a few weeks ago, and didn't think much about it. But when I needed a quick small gift for a card exchange, I thought about these bracelets. Perfect for mailing! And easily adjustable in size too. Just right!

And it fits in just right with my craving for more crafty endeavors!

Back to the knitting cafe... after the get together last night, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to have a totally dedicated to knitting (and crafting in general) place to have these events. Imagine the possibilities in decorating this space! I'm thinking a big comfy living room. Fireplaces along the walls, big comfy overstuffed chairs and couches with knitted or crocheted blankets! A big table for other crafty things. Like a dining table! A library of books for inspiration and knowledge! Different areas for different crafts - maybe a sewing corner, or a painting corner - the sky is the limit! Refreshments would be served, of course! Coffee and tea in vintage tea cups! As well as crafty supplies of all sorts. Yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, paints, papers, beads - you name it!

How awesome would that kind of place be?

Oh, the possibilities...

~floats away dreaming of her own crafty shop~


xxx

SNOW

Finally.

FINE.A.LEE.

It's snowing here!

squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

 herringbone pattern

fluffy puffy snow!!!

solitary leaf

I just love snow. It's been snowing all day. I will try to take more pictures later, when it stops.


xxx

little somethin' somethin'

I made this a while ago, and I guess I forgot to post it! Shame on me!

cuuuuu-hoot!!!

It's a teensy tiny mitten to go on my keychain. It just worked out that the cuff (plus a round or two) is a different color than the mitten body. Happy accident!

Isn't it adorable? I just love it. I want to make like 1,000 of them.

Well, maybe not that many.

A few more, anyways.

Anybody want one? If you leave a comment, I'll make you one! Your choice of color!!!

For some reason I've been bitten by the crafting bug. All of a sudden I want to craft, like, everything! I cast on a new cowl for myself, I'm still making a baby blanket and of COUrSe hexipuffs. But I want to do more things! Like quilting (English paper piecing, to be specific) or sewing. Or making candy wrapper purses or something. Though I don't have a bazillion candy wrappers to use. I'd have to cut up newspapers or magazines.

Yes, I contemplated cutting up newspapers to candy wrapper size! Insane!!! 

I've slipped into insanity.

Get the glue and glitter!


STAT!


xxx

Electric Blue

Whoa.

It’s a good thing I decided to hand wash my socks after I wore them instead of just throwing them in with the rest of the laundry. These socks.

My ribby stitch socks

They kinda bled while washing.

pretty, huh?

The water was so blue. Like Kool-Aid blue. Electric blue. I don’t know if it would have made everything else in that load of laundry blue too, but I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.

Side note on these socks: They’re huge. I wore them, and by the end of the day they came off my foot with my slippers. Easily.

How do sock knitters do it? How do they make socks that actually fit? Do they just make a whole lot of them first? I knew in theory that if socks were made a little smaller than you thought they should be, that’d be better, but I didn’t think that was the reason. That the socks stretched out so badly when you wear them. I did so many tests too, before knitting my first pair. But none of them were actually wearable as socks. Maybe that’s where I went wrong. I was just trying to figure out how many stitches to go around my foot. Not really knowing how those stitches would translate into wearability.

Sigh. Perhaps I am not meant to be a sock knitter. There are so many cool patterns out there for socks, and I keep looking at them thinking “ooh, I’d like those!” but... my results are just not satisfying. They are at first! I’d bind off the cuff and thing “Hey! They are sock shaped! YES!!!” But then I wear them, and then it goes downhill. Do I keep trying? Ending up with a whole bunch of socks that are kind of unwearable? Is that what all good (experienced) sock knitters have? A drawer full of bad socks?

I need more practice.


Read: moar yarn!


xxx

January Blues

The holidays are over. I'm taking down the decorations this week. That always makes me sad, removing the lights, the cheer.

The January Blues.

Though the punks in the neighborhood seem to have forgotten what day it is. They're acting like it is New Year's Eve again and setting off their fire crackers. Not the ones with the pretty displays of lights high in the sky... the obnoxious ones that just produce a huge echoing bang. They think they're so cool. Hmpf.

I've been doing a lot of knitting lately. Here's some newly finished socks:

Ribby Stitch socks on Ravelry

They turned out pretty good. I did this pair two-at-a-time, so I don't have the problem of one sock being larger than the other one! That's a good thing, right? The heel looks a little funny in the photo above, but they fit nicely. yay! I might take a break from socks though. By the end of these, I had finishitis. I couldn't wait for them to be done.

I am also working on a capelet of sorts. I am always cold this time of year, so I wanted some sort of poncho/cape/warm covering. I didn't want anything complicated, I'm sort of just winging it.

cabled capelet

It's a light pink, almost peachy, kind of skin-tone pink. I put a 4x4 rib on the bottom, just to keep it from rolling up. It's knitting up much more quickly than I imagined it would, too. Since it's so big, I'm able to do it in the round. That means no adjusting the loops (like you have to do with Magic Loop), you just knit around and around and around. Every now and then doing a cable stitch. I thought for sure I'd get bored with this project, doing the same stitch on the entire thing, but I am kind of enjoying the mind numbingness of it. Maybe that's why it's going so quickly.  I'll eventually do a kind of raglan shoulder on it to decrease at the top. I'm curious to see it finished!

I'm also working on a cowl for my mom, but since it's a birthday gift for her (that she requested), I can't show it here yet. After she gets it, I'll post it here!

So that is how I've been dealing with my January Blues. Knitting up a storm.

What do you do to beat these dark depressing days?


xxx