Sunday, October 30, 2005
I have knitting blinders on... I can't seem to see anything but Threadybear.
I am making steady progress, and am more than half way up the chart to the shoulders. I put "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting" on my birthday wish-list, and e-mailed it to the right people... so hopefully, I will have this before I get to the complicated parts.
We had cold weather here-- cold enough for Sam to wear his feesh sweater. It wasn't really quite cold enough-- but Amy brought Nina over for a visit, and once Sam saw that *she* was wearing something that his mommy had made from yarn, he wanted to wear his... despite the fact that he was pink-cheeked and sweating profusely. It made an awfully cute picture, though :)
Daylight Savings? Bah. We used to look forward to this day, with its extra hour of sleep & whatnot... I have come to the conclusion that when you have a toddler, it is simply just the longest... day... ever... although we managed to keep the boy busy enough to avoid any major tantrums. Sam is SO two.
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I am making steady progress, and am more than half way up the chart to the shoulders. I put "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting" on my birthday wish-list, and e-mailed it to the right people... so hopefully, I will have this before I get to the complicated parts.
We had cold weather here-- cold enough for Sam to wear his feesh sweater. It wasn't really quite cold enough-- but Amy brought Nina over for a visit, and once Sam saw that *she* was wearing something that his mommy had made from yarn, he wanted to wear his... despite the fact that he was pink-cheeked and sweating profusely. It made an awfully cute picture, though :)
Daylight Savings? Bah. We used to look forward to this day, with its extra hour of sleep & whatnot... I have come to the conclusion that when you have a toddler, it is simply just the longest... day... ever... although we managed to keep the boy busy enough to avoid any major tantrums. Sam is SO two.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
All other works-in-progress were dropped once Threadybear arrived on the scene.
This is colorway 312-E (I think)-- interesting combination of greens & purples. Last night, I wove in a bunch of ends, and added the steek stitches... this is going fairly quickly, I think... and I'm already nervous about picking up the sleeves and (ack!) CUTTING the armholes.
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This is colorway 312-E (I think)-- interesting combination of greens & purples. Last night, I wove in a bunch of ends, and added the steek stitches... this is going fairly quickly, I think... and I'm already nervous about picking up the sleeves and (ack!) CUTTING the armholes.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Road Trip!
We went to see Bruce Springsteen in Providence on Friday night. Sam stayed with "Grandma Shell"-- it was our first time leaving him for a non-work purpose (oh, the guilt!). My shoulder was really hurting, so I intentionally did not bring knitting (ack!)
Lunch Friday-- Bloodroot, in Bridgeport CT. (Jonathan researches all of these roadtrips out on HappyCow.Net, so there are always good veggie food stops on the way.) Imagine my surprise when on the front door of Bloodroot, there's a sign, advertising Wednesday night knitting circle!!! Even better... we get inside... there is a little book shop with an entire section devoted to KNITTING. They had good books too-- off the beaten path kind of stuff. I didn't buy any, but I was sad when they called our name & our food was ready. It's an interesting place-- self-serve restaurant-- you order at the front, bus your own table-- no waitress, no tipping. Food was good-- Jonathan had a veggie burger that was really good on its own-- usually we load those puppies up with condiments to get them to taste good. I had an avocado sandwich-- on little toasts with some sort of sun-dried tomato spread... very good. They had 2 spinning wheels there, and yarn and fiber... happy surprise!
Dinner Friday-- Melanie's Vegan Eden in Providence. Let's just say we were inspired to look at Providence real estate-- that is how good this place was. It was all "comfort foods" made with vegan ingredients. We had something that REALLY resembled chicken wings as an appetizer-- they even had a little wooden dowel for a bone-- I've had my share of fake chicken, and this was THE BEST. I have to figure out how to make something similar for Jonathan-- he had a look in his eyes as he was eating these that I haven't seen since... well, let's just say it's been a while. I had macaroni & cheese for dinner (how cool to order that in a restaurant!)... Jonathan had some other chicken dish-- both really good. We had an ice cream sundae for dessert-- caramel topping-- all vegan-- all delicious. Suddenly, a 4-hour road trip just for dinner seems possible!
The Bruce concert was really good Friday night. It was blissful to sleep in a hotel, and not have anyone waking us up at 6:45 a.m. to play cars.
Saturday morning, we stopped at A Stitch Above. Cute store! They sold socks and other knitted items, in addition to yarns. I wasn't there for very long-- but they had a pretty wide selection for a fairly small space-- some novelty stuff, but not too much-- lots of wools & alpacas & mohairs & beautiful things. I just bought some pink & white washable wool that will either become something for daycare pal Brandy, or Andrea's new baby Katie.
Lunch Saturday-- It's Only Natural in Middletown, CT. At this point, I was veg-fooded-out... but managed to enjoy steamed dumplings & some kind of fake crab cake. I don't think I ever liked "real" crab cakes, when I ate such things-- I'm not sure what inspired me to order this. It was a little too fried, and I was a little too full, before even starting... but it was good (pumpkin pie was awesome), and we got to see our friends David & Leora, which would have made even a trip to McDonalds well worthwhile! Plus, David did some magical massage or something on my shoulder, which made me feel instantly better!
We were happily re-united with Sam when we got home... he had lots of fun with Grandma Shell, and seems to be getting back into his normal routine quite easily.
I'm working on Threadybear-- will post pictures soon.
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We went to see Bruce Springsteen in Providence on Friday night. Sam stayed with "Grandma Shell"-- it was our first time leaving him for a non-work purpose (oh, the guilt!). My shoulder was really hurting, so I intentionally did not bring knitting (ack!)
Lunch Friday-- Bloodroot, in Bridgeport CT. (Jonathan researches all of these roadtrips out on HappyCow.Net, so there are always good veggie food stops on the way.) Imagine my surprise when on the front door of Bloodroot, there's a sign, advertising Wednesday night knitting circle!!! Even better... we get inside... there is a little book shop with an entire section devoted to KNITTING. They had good books too-- off the beaten path kind of stuff. I didn't buy any, but I was sad when they called our name & our food was ready. It's an interesting place-- self-serve restaurant-- you order at the front, bus your own table-- no waitress, no tipping. Food was good-- Jonathan had a veggie burger that was really good on its own-- usually we load those puppies up with condiments to get them to taste good. I had an avocado sandwich-- on little toasts with some sort of sun-dried tomato spread... very good. They had 2 spinning wheels there, and yarn and fiber... happy surprise!
Dinner Friday-- Melanie's Vegan Eden in Providence. Let's just say we were inspired to look at Providence real estate-- that is how good this place was. It was all "comfort foods" made with vegan ingredients. We had something that REALLY resembled chicken wings as an appetizer-- they even had a little wooden dowel for a bone-- I've had my share of fake chicken, and this was THE BEST. I have to figure out how to make something similar for Jonathan-- he had a look in his eyes as he was eating these that I haven't seen since... well, let's just say it's been a while. I had macaroni & cheese for dinner (how cool to order that in a restaurant!)... Jonathan had some other chicken dish-- both really good. We had an ice cream sundae for dessert-- caramel topping-- all vegan-- all delicious. Suddenly, a 4-hour road trip just for dinner seems possible!
The Bruce concert was really good Friday night. It was blissful to sleep in a hotel, and not have anyone waking us up at 6:45 a.m. to play cars.
Saturday morning, we stopped at A Stitch Above. Cute store! They sold socks and other knitted items, in addition to yarns. I wasn't there for very long-- but they had a pretty wide selection for a fairly small space-- some novelty stuff, but not too much-- lots of wools & alpacas & mohairs & beautiful things. I just bought some pink & white washable wool that will either become something for daycare pal Brandy, or Andrea's new baby Katie.
Lunch Saturday-- It's Only Natural in Middletown, CT. At this point, I was veg-fooded-out... but managed to enjoy steamed dumplings & some kind of fake crab cake. I don't think I ever liked "real" crab cakes, when I ate such things-- I'm not sure what inspired me to order this. It was a little too fried, and I was a little too full, before even starting... but it was good (pumpkin pie was awesome), and we got to see our friends David & Leora, which would have made even a trip to McDonalds well worthwhile! Plus, David did some magical massage or something on my shoulder, which made me feel instantly better!
We were happily re-united with Sam when we got home... he had lots of fun with Grandma Shell, and seems to be getting back into his normal routine quite easily.
I'm working on Threadybear-- will post pictures soon.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Ah... nothing like an episode of Lost to drive me away from the TV, and up to the computer to blog for the first time in weeks. I know everyone else in the world loves that show. I can't stand it.
Knitting. OK. I decided to finish the last hat in solid blue. I forgot to take a picture, and my camera's at work. It doesn't look bad... perhaps it looks almost intentional.
I started (and finished) another hat-- the Fana Hat from Hats On!, which for the record, might be one of my favorite useful pattern books of all time. I modified a little bit, because I was using Dale Baby Ull, so was getting a much smaller gauge-- but it came out really cute. I can't believe I made this!
Of course, there are few mistakes-- I was knitting at Barnes & Noble when I noticed them a few rows back... I had no "equipment" to fix them (I really need a Carriellen bag!)... so the choice was stop knitting, or continue past them. Of course I chose to continue knitting! I can hear Sue's voice... "it will never be noticed on a galloping horse..." and you know what? She's right!
(This is more of a strolling pony, but you get the picture)
Sam wore the hat out to Terhune Orchards last weekend-- very fun! We picked apples, and I wore homemade socks! I love fall!
And on a personal note... was it only a year ago that I was shamelessly commenting all over the Greater Toronto Knitbloggers ring, looking for a girl for Joel? Well, I look no more... Joel has found his b'shert--Mazel Tov Joel & Danielle on your engagement!
(Joel, don't even act embarrassed... you know you totally sent me that picture hoping it would end up here.)
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Knitting. OK. I decided to finish the last hat in solid blue. I forgot to take a picture, and my camera's at work. It doesn't look bad... perhaps it looks almost intentional.
I started (and finished) another hat-- the Fana Hat from Hats On!, which for the record, might be one of my favorite useful pattern books of all time. I modified a little bit, because I was using Dale Baby Ull, so was getting a much smaller gauge-- but it came out really cute. I can't believe I made this!
Of course, there are few mistakes-- I was knitting at Barnes & Noble when I noticed them a few rows back... I had no "equipment" to fix them (I really need a Carriellen bag!)... so the choice was stop knitting, or continue past them. Of course I chose to continue knitting! I can hear Sue's voice... "it will never be noticed on a galloping horse..." and you know what? She's right!
(This is more of a strolling pony, but you get the picture)
Sam wore the hat out to Terhune Orchards last weekend-- very fun! We picked apples, and I wore homemade socks! I love fall!
And on a personal note... was it only a year ago that I was shamelessly commenting all over the Greater Toronto Knitbloggers ring, looking for a girl for Joel? Well, I look no more... Joel has found his b'shert--Mazel Tov Joel & Danielle on your engagement!
(Joel, don't even act embarrassed... you know you totally sent me that picture hoping it would end up here.)
Monday, October 03, 2005
I'm hooked.
Unfortunately, I'm also out of colored yarn. I knew I didn't have enough when I started-- I just wanted to practice the fair isle techniques. I was/am pleasantly surprised with how the hat (Fair Isle Cap from "Hats On!") is coming out... so now what!?! Sue suggested ripping back to the last blue/yellow (it's actually green) row, and finishing in solid blue, to make the pattern look like an intentional band... and I think I may.
Tonight, I am preparing a very traditional dinner of Rosh Hashana bolis for the family.
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Unfortunately, I'm also out of colored yarn. I knew I didn't have enough when I started-- I just wanted to practice the fair isle techniques. I was/am pleasantly surprised with how the hat (Fair Isle Cap from "Hats On!") is coming out... so now what!?! Sue suggested ripping back to the last blue/yellow (it's actually green) row, and finishing in solid blue, to make the pattern look like an intentional band... and I think I may.
Tonight, I am preparing a very traditional dinner of Rosh Hashana bolis for the family.
