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  • Knitting in December

    Today was our monthly knitting group meetup at Borders in Bowie. It was a lot of fun! Today I got to meet THREE new folks: Melody, Iliana, and Diane. Our Bowie MD Knitters group at Ravelry is growing, thanks in part to the recruiting efforts of Marie.

    Here are the photos from today’s gathering:

    As usual, click on the photo to see a bigger version.

    It was snowing as we were all departing from group today. A perfect wintry ending to a wonderful December afternoon.

    Tegan is snoozing
    Tegan is snoozing

    Tegan decided she’d rather sleep through the whole thing.

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  • When the Mooooooon Is in the Seventh House… And Jupiter aligns with….

    Venus!

    Tonight as we were picking up the kids from school, we noticed bright lights in the sky, near the moon. On the car radio, we quickly learned that for at least a couple hours this evening, Jupiter and Venus would be visible next to the moon. None of us in this house had ever seen anything like it, so we all agreed this must be something special. My camera doesn’t know how to focus on objects that twinkle in the sky, but the video function did much better. My DH was able to capture this quick little clip so we’ll always remember what we saw.

    Not much knitting today. I got a couple more rows done on Diana’s hat. Hopefully tomorrow morning before I start telecommuting I can knock out the rest of the body and start the ribbing. I can’t wait!

    It’s a typical Monday after a holiday around here. Which means the little one is a homework refusnik and the older one called in the afternoon, complaining of a “headache” and wondering if we could pick her up early. Nope, kid, go back to class. Ugh. Better sign off for now and reel the little one back in. Wish me luck, and hopefully there will be a knitting update tomorrow.

    Ciao!

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  • Knit Picks Goodness

    It came! It came! I finally received the Andean Chullo Hat Kit from Knit Picks today:

    Andean Chullo Hat Kit
    Andean Chullo Hat Kit

    I can’t wait to make this, but I do have a couple of other things to work on first. But I wanted to go ahead and get the kit now, because it seems that Knit Picks doesn’t keep it available all the time so I had to wait a while to get it. The kit includes 9 balls of Palette and a pattern, which I can’t recall whether it’s similar to a pattern that I bought several years ago but I’ll have to try to find that one and see. This one does appear to be more detailed, if I remember right.

    Also in the box today were two hanks of WoTA Bulky in Blackberry:

    Wool of the Andes Bulky Yarn
    Wool of the Andes Bulky Yarn


    I thought I might use this in my afghan of domino squares, which is an ongoing, long term project. There were also some size 0 needles in the box, in about every cable length size available, because I recently learned how easily one of those toothpick-thin things can snap. There was also a book, but more on that at another time.

    On the Home Front…

    We had a glorious weekend with my DH’s family. They were here for Thanksgiving Dinner, which was a rare treat indeed. The last time all of my DH’s siblings were together for a Holiday, my now 12-year-old daughter was in preschool. (We were all together for a weekend in January of 2006, but there was another addition to the family shortly thereafter that some others in the family hadn’t even met!) So, it was a good time. Mostly the cousins all had fun playing together. The youngest, now two and a half, really enjoyed playing on my son’s train table. It was better than just about anything to him, except he did say last night that he wanted to sleep in his own bed.

    Tonight he did get to do just that, because everybody parted ways this afternoon. Who knows when we’ll all be together again? I do hope it’s sooner than three years from now!

    Before they left, though, the cousins all got together for a “grandchildren portrait” that my mother-in-law wanted. All of the kids did great! My DH and I decided that since we were taking our kids to the studio that we would dress up and have our own portrait updated:

    Family Portrait, 2008
    Family Portrait, 2008

    It seems strange to me that my little girl had to bend over so far to be near my head. Where does the time go, that she should be so grown up?

    And me? I see a diet in my future.

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  • What I Am Thankful For

    Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to answer the big questions in life that I am always confronted with on Thanksgiving Day. What is it that I am thankful for, that wouldn’t sound to obvious or trite? The thing is, my list is long! Of course there’s the usual. I’m thankful for my family, and our relative good health this year. But really, there’s so much more:

    I’m thankful that even though so many in my country are facing hard times, we’ve still got our heads at least a bit above water.

    I’m thankful for our incoming president, and pray that his hopes for our Nation come true.

    I’m thankful that my husband’s family will all be together this year for dinner, and wish we could do it more often. I find it sad that one sibling had not yet met the other sibling’s two-and-a-half-year-old son until this week, and hope we never allow so much time to pass among us again.

    I’m thankful that I have a job, even though I hate it sometimes, because I know so many people who don’t have a job that they’re lucky enough to hate.

    I’m grateful for discovering my son’s ADHD now, so early, so I still have plenty of time to learn to be a better parent to him.

    I’m also thankful for my daughter, whose generally patient, cool-headed nature coupled with scary-smartness just might make her a true leader someday.

    I’m thankful for my husband, who can always find something to laugh about.

    I’m thankful for our kids’ grandparents, who are all healthy now and such an integral part of our lives.

    I’m thankful that I have a small circle of true friends. That there are enough of them to actually form a circle around me means that much more.

    I’m thankful for my knitting, which brings me peace on a daily basis.

    I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met through knitting, so that I can spread and share the peace. I wonder at times what would happen in the world if everyone could knit, instead of fight. Somehow, knitting makes my head calmer and my thoughts more clear. If I could spread the knitting throughout the world, would there ever be a reason for fighting? There must be a knitters for peace movement out there. I will find it. And when I do, for that I shall be thankful also.

    I’m thankful for the daily din of giggles and squeals I hear throughout my house each day, which is the music of my children.

    I shall be thankful for a snowstorm, if we have one. It’s been a while, and I have a secret fear that I may never see a big one ever again.

    I’m thankful for hot chocolate on a cold day, and fudgecicles on a hot one. Chocolate is good in any weather.

    I’m thankful for another Thanksgiving, a day that I can pause to remember what I am thankful for. Sometimes I need that reminder.

    What about you? What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear your answers, and I wish you a great day.

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  • Lady Hawk Knitting

    lady hawk hat progressing
    lady hawk hat progressing

    See? I promised a photo of the hat today. At least it looks like a hat by now! I’m hoping to have it done by the end of this weekend, because other projects await! I love a simple hat. I have yarn to make at least one other hat and maybe a scarf too. We’ll see. Hopefully Diana will be wearing this by Christmas.

    Speaking of Christmas, what’s on your list? For me, it’s a Jordana Paige Rio bag in eggplant. I saw it at Stitches East this year in person and I would have bought it on the spot, but the booth was closed that day. But, the color is YUM. My most favorite shade of purple. And I got to hold and see the bag up close, to see how it’s organized and how big it is, and how it closes. Oh my, I am going to love this bag.

    I’d also like to make another version of this hat. It’s a discontinued pattern from Knit Picks, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. The original one that I made is just a hair too big and the weight of the long cap causes it to slide off my head. So I’d like to make another, this time with smaller needles and green and red stripes.

    Winter is here! It’s come really cold and pretty early for us this year. I’m not too sad, though, because it just means more knitting! I’ve found that I feel better when I’ve knit even just a few stitches each day, so I’m really trying to do that. Knitting is comfort food for the dark days of winter.

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  • Book Review: Quick Knits, Cool Projects

    I was recently gifted with the book, Quick Knits: Cool Projects, by Jeanne Stauffer. On the surface, this would seem like a basic knitting book, with tons of boring projects, sort of ho-hum. But, let me tell you, I was very impressed, and I like this book a lot! You can find just about everything in here. There are plenty of hats and scarves to choose from, bags, wraps, baby things, sweaters and other clothing, and afghans. The projects are many and varied, with a nice sampling of skills introduced and skill levels needed. While I can tell on first view that it would appear that the sweater patterns are not terribly intricate, there are enough different styles that there would be something to appeal to just about anyone.

    I especially love that many of the sweater patterns are written with fuller figures in mind. I am eyeing the cabled hoodie pattern and may try to do this one. The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool-Ease, but I may try Cascade 220 Superwash, or, better yet, dive into my generous stash of Wool of the Andes yarn. We’ll see.

    In other knitting news, I am making good progress on my daughter’s hat. Hopefully I’ll have photos and a detailed update tomorrow. Also I have received the Winter 2008 issue of Interweave Knits. I’ve heard some people say that they are not inspired by the projects in this issue. I am having the opposite reaction. Usually the magazine is full of sweaters, with a few other things mixed in. This time, it’s full of accessory problems, with a few sweaters. Just my cup of tea! I am especially in love with the mitten and hat patterns inside, but my favorite thing, I think, is the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf, which I think will be in my queue of to-do’s as soon as I am done with this blog post. I’m betting without looking that it’s already a popular design on Ravelry. I guess I’ll go see if I’m right!

    Ok, it’s getting late and I guess I’d better head off to bed. The alarm goes off bloody early around here. See ya!

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