Salina

Lost Without You – Robin Thicke(Did you know he’s Alan Thicke’s son?  Yes, the same Alan Thicke from Growing Pains.)

Around the same time I started the Arctic Diamonds Stole I bought a book at Half Price Books(which I think is just a TX store) and immediately fell in love with Salina which is from  Vintage Knits and made by Kim Hargreaves, who is just amazing.  I love all her stuff!  Now that I’m kind of inbetween projects I decided to pick up Salina again.  I adore this yarn.  It’s an alpaca tweed, browns and greys.  The picture does not do the color any justice. 

A sneak peek at my side project. 

I can’t resist.  I’ll leave you with this.  Taken by a friend at my son’s first baseball game of the season.  She seriously makes my heart hurt!

Socks

I can’t be the only one who does not enjoy knitting socks and yet I wonder… I read a lot of knit blogs(one day I’ll get around to getting my blogroll going) and it seems everyone under the sun knits socks and enjoys knitting socks.  I find knitting socks to be very tedious and very boring.  I assumed maybe it was just the dpn technique so I learned magic loop and knitting with two circular needles and still… it’s very tedious and very boring.  I find absolutely no satisfaction in knitting socks.  Maybe it’s because I don’t like socks to begin with, and because I live in TX and am saved from having to wear them 10 months out of the year.  I practically live in sandals(just say NO to crocs) and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing sandals and socks. Plus, I have really really cute feet.  No, seriously I do. 

2,512

Stolen – Dashboard Confessionals

That’s how many books I counted and sorted for my daughter’s school book swap.  Set up was the hardest part.  With a lot of ingenuity and sweet talk I was able to get bookshelves moved around, therefore opening up the space and making the tables a lot less crowded, on top of which I was able to utilize the shelves!  If I do say so myself… it looks freaking awesome!

Despite all the hard work, I have to admit I don’t mind.   Growing up one of my favorite things to do was curl up with a good book.  Even now i’ll spend hours totally immersed in whatever novel captures my fancy(Kafka on the Shore).  My husband collects first editions and is always scouring antique stores and thrift stores for unusual and interesting books.  So because of this, our children have grown to have a deep love and appreciation for books and everytime we pass a bookstore they beg us to stop.  Needless to say we have amassed a huge amount of books and this project is a wonderful way for us to recycle all the books we’ve already read.  Anyway… I don’t mind this project.  It is the one project I do willingly and without complaint because it’s so awesome to see the kids come in, wide eyed and excited after seeing all the books.  I can’t wait for it to start!

Finito!

Blocked and dry and all that good stuff.  I had wanted to get some pretty, artistic pictures outside, but alas – it is grey and rainy.

My baby modeling her Nana’s stole.

  

 

Arctic Diamonds Stole

Pattern: Donna Druchunas for Interweave Knits Winter 2006

Yarn: Silk City Perle 5/2  100% cotton.  Color – #1052

Needles: Size 3 Inox Express

Modifications: 7 diamond repeats instead of 5.

Finished Size: 28″x 60″

It’s about time.

Wonder Why – Maroon 5(What’s there to say?  It’s a totally kick ass song.)

 The stole is finally finished! 

Crumpled and pre-blocked.  It’s beautiful!  After this project I don’t know how anyone could stand to knit more lace but I am totally inspired and itching to start Butterfly from Rowan 37.   One month and four days I celebrate my 10 year wedding anniversary.  Originally I thought i’d like to knit Butterfly for my anniversary but after Arctic Diamonds Stole I realize that, that might not be enough time.  In fact, I’m fairly positive it’s not enough time, but i’m going to start it and see how far I get. 

Exhausted

 Smile – Lily Allen(I always smile when I hear it.  I may also sometimes giggle to myself when listening closely to the lyrics.)

 My daughter’s school library threw up and there are books everywhere.  I know what you’re thinking… “It’s a library, aren’t there supposed to be books everywhere?”  The last two years I’ve helped out with the book swap.  It’s a very cool project, all the kids bring in the books they don’t want anymore and for every book they bring in they get a book dollar and with those dollars they get to “buy” new to them books.  This year I was asked to head up this project, and because I love books I said “YES!”  It’s a huge project and so far we’ve gotten over 1,000 books, every single one of them has to be counted and sorted through and separated into different categories.  Did I mention that yesterday was the first day that we started collecting books.  *Whoa*  I need a nap.

On the knitting front… I am oh so close to finishing my mom’s stole!  I am half way through my last diamond repeat, and then I have the final diamond and then the edge!  Approximately 50 more rows to go and it will be comeplete, then I have to block which is always a thankless task but the results make it oh so worth it.  I predict come Monday there will be a finished arctic diamonds stole.  YAY! 

Guilty Pleasure

Last Night – P. Diddy(We can also file this under “embarrassing.”)

 Ever notice how all knitters have cats?

 

 This is Pumpkin.  She tehnically belongs to my daughter.  In reality that means she belongs to me when she wants to be fed, my husband when she needs her kitty litter box cleaned, and to my daughter when she needs love.  She’s beautiful and extremely affectionate and loving.  In her defense, she was rather pissed that I dared take a picture of her during her nap.

And because you can’t show off one fur-baby without showing off the other.  This is Ellie, she is a golden retriever.  Her favorite activities include barking, whining, peeing in the house and chewing on shoes.  If I one day stop talking about Ellie, that last favorite activity might just be the reason why. 

 

Isn’t it so totally appropriate I post a picture of her doing one of her favorite activities!

Arctic Diamonds Stole: Started 1-14-07

75% done as of now.

crackberry indeed!

Ok. You know I just had to make a post with my blackberry! If my addiction wasn’t so sad, this would be so damn cool!

Third times the charm

I probably should have thought out the whole responsibility of having a blog before jumping into it. 

 The bottom line: I can’t think, I can’t breathe, and I’m fairly miserable, moody and feeling really really mean.  I have never had allergies until we moved to TX.  You name it, I am probably allergic to it.  My only reprieve ever has been the use of zicam.  Unfortunately at the last knit meeting I went to my friend told me about this article she read that said that prolonged use of zicam can take away your sense of smell.  *eek*  I happen to really like smelling things and I am a freak when it comes to “dependancy” on “drugs” so therefore I suffer(greatly). 

On the plus side, we had friends over  Saturday night and I made a totally kick ass dinner!  Props to Epicurious.com!  I love cooking and entertaining for that matter.  Probably almost as much as I love knitting.  We had a fabulous time and might I also add that my husband and I totally kicked everyone’s ass at 90’s Trivial Pursuit! 

This post is useless without pictures.

I had this grand idea about two months ago. I was going to knit arctic diamonds stole from the IK winter 2006 issue. It would make a fabulous birthday present for my mom, especially when knit in a wonderful mauve-ish color, which happens to be her favorite. Grand idea indeed. Her birthday has come and gone and still arctic diamonds stole sits on my needles, taunting me, unfinished. I’m not sure why, it’s a beautiful project, fun even if you enjoy that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach while on a roller coaster. You know the one where you feel like throwing up one minute, and then the next you’re overcome with glee. After having to frog and re-knit several bazillion times I got “smart” and decided to use stitch markers to section off each diamond repeat. Seriously, after that I couldn’t help but feel like a genius because it made knitting much easier and quicker because then I was able to count as I went along and frog when I made mistakes, instead of knitting several rows before realizing there was a mistake somewhere and trying to find it by guessing. It is almost done. If I had to guess I would say it’s 75% done and if I had any blog saavy I would put one those nifty little markers on the side that shows my progress, but alas… I am not. *pictures coming soon*

In other news… I have spent an ungodly amount of time reading forums dedicated to blackberrys. I got a blackberry pearl about a month ago and ever since I have been obsessed with it. Clearly I don’t have enough going on in my life, what with my two kids, husband, brand spankin’ new puppy(pictures to come later), and the various school and sports activities I am bound to, due to having ovaries… I am not busy enough and need to fill all my free time with blackberry goodness. *YUM* A truly obsessed, addicted person would post pictures of their new phone. I am not that far gone… unless… anyone wants to see it. *blush*