Saturday, January 30, 2010

Snowed In

It doesn't take much where I live to make life come to a standstill. But last night we finally got the white stuff. My knitting meeting was a NO-GO today due to the weather, the library is closed until next week. At least Jenna LOVES the reason why!

It's still coming down and I have to admit, we're all pretty happy to finally see something stick to the ground. It doesn't seem to be as ICY as the last storm we had come through. At least people can make it into the sub-division this time.
Not too many people are out and about today though. When it snows here, life really s.l.o.w.s. down.

It's kind of nice.

There's not a lot of knitting going on for me lately. I'm signed up for the Ravelympics but have yet to decide WHAT TO DO, and like a knit-wit (LOL) I joined TWO teams! Last time I had a good idea of what I wanted to accomplish, but this time it's been a whole lot harder. I haven't felt like knitting a whole bunch anyway. My creative mojo has taken a vacation and it's cramping my olympic spirit! Hope it finds it's way back! (SOON!)

Ah well, I still have time....

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Up and Down (And Up and Down...)

Boy am I behind! My Sister In Law's father passed in December and I'm just finishing this up for her to send out. Sewing is my nemesis, why can't I do it right? Or I guess I should ask why does it intimidate me so? The knitting was done. It was the buttons that took me forever to sew on.


Pattern: Celtic Cable Neckwarmer
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted - (which really seems like a dk weight - very thin. Loved it though, very SOFT after wool rinse).
Colorway: Dahlia
Size 8 Needles
Buttons: From Joann's
I couldn't be there in person to give her a hug (they live 2000 miles away), and it was a long, tough struggle they had with her Dad's illness so I wanted to send a "hug" her way as best I could. I'm just praying the buttons stay on. Oh I'm terrible at sewing! I used the yarn and refinforced, but gosh I worry!!
We've had a tough time lately that's consisted of a stomach bug The Big Guy brought home from work (and unfortunately shared with us), and also having to worry about my oldest Miss J taking care of her "Real" baby for her health class this past weekend. If you knew my Big Guy you'd know that it takes a lot to get him to admit he's sick. Well, I'm pretty spoiled because he works his "magic" around here and gets SO much done. When he's down, our household can come to a screeching halt with my issues making me almost useless some days. Luckily, he was back up by the time I was down with this illness. We're a good team. I did miss my knitting meeting with the gals and that bummed me out, but now I'm SO glad I didn't go and pass it along to them!

Miss J did VERY well taking care of her "Beyonce' Leona" (maybe you can figure those names out? If you listen to pop or whatever I'm sure you know!) She got an A! Yay! I tried really hard to get her to take the written essay assignment but you know how it is when "all your friends are doing it"? Beyonce' was a very good baby for the most part. I do have to admit, I babysat for couple of short spells because my own baby was pretty wiped out. This is pretty "REAL" and it's not a cakewalk at all, but much easier than a real life baby. We thought we'd miss Beyonce' when she went back, but honestly.... we don't! LOL! She DID take FOREVER to burp too. My arm almost fell off. Whoever programmed her is probably laughing their pants off. Right now Miss Beyonce' is driving another Mother (worried at how HER child will manage) to distraction. I feel for her.

Happy Knitting.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The New Year Chill

I don't mind snow (as long as I don't have to drive in it). It's the ICE that makes me nervous. Here in the Southeast we don't get much snow and even less ice - but this latest blast just wanted to share I guess. It's been a week of 20 degrees or less, with a nice steady breeze of icy wind to make it feel like half of that. This Central California girl isn't used to this (we could DRIVE to the snow, but didn't live right in it). I know we're not in anything like in the mid-west or like my cousins buried in snow in Michigan. If we were, I'd be in really big trouble! We city folk are used to running to the store for stuff on a whim. This isn't so much fun.

These cars parked in front of our house because the street is ICE. They couldn't make it up the hill further down the sub-division so they just parked here and walked home. These are the days when I'm glad I'm not working right now. With my lead foot I'd be sliding off a mountain for sure. Thankfully there were only a few days of this, today the road seems to be getting better and next week the sun should warm the streets more - so less icy patches. The kids loved having snow days from school though, especially on the heels of winter break!

This is one of my latest projects, my first go at two at a time, toe up socks. I'm using Cometosilver.com's pictures as my guide and I had absolutely no problem with the cast on - but I don't like this toe at all. I think I need to rip and add more to my initial cast on, a rounded toe is going to suit me better. Unless we have little elf "pointy" feet, these aren't going to fit any of us (trust me, I've already tried it on every foot in the house to avoid redoing them.) I'm using the handspun yarn that CA DAWN sent me for my birthday last year. It's made this new journey of 2 at a time more fun because it's really soft and squishy. I may break down and just do 2 at a time cuff down though, just for expediency.

Tomorrow is car shopping day, it's time for the Big Guy to replace his company car. I love that he wants me to go with him (we may end up buying this one for our daughter down the road - a teenage driver...yikes) but I hope I can stay warm out there! I negotiated a trip to Joann's for some buttons for a project for my SIL. Gotta love a man who is easy to trick compromise with.
Happy Knitting! (And stay WARM!)