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Hubby turns 30!!

This past week marked a momentous occasion in that Craig turned 30 on Monday! His mom and dad came up from Delaware and we spent lots of time all together giving him a hard time :-)


On Tuesday, his mom and I tagged along with the guys on their mini golf retreat to Sunday River in Bethel, ME. We had stayed here a couple of years ago during the off season to enjoy the wonderful Maine summer. It was beautiful then and just as pretty now.



The view from the balcony off our room at night was beautiful! The highlight of the trip however, was the mam and baby moose that we saw in the hotel parking lot on our way back from dinner. The wildlife around the area are so used to people that we didn't even faze the moose family as they moved from one grazing spot to the other. This thrilled my in-laws to no end since they had never seen a moose in the six years that they have been coming to Maine.

Walkabout

It was such a beautiful day outside that I decided to walk down to the library and to the park. I admit that I was also looking for an excuse to try out my new baby, a Fujifilm FinePix S700 This is such a nice camera. The pictures are so much clearer than my little point and shoot and the colors are much truer.

The super macro setting is crazy! I have been getting into photography a little bit more and while I didn't want to spend tons of cash on a digital SLR, I also wanted to have a little more control over the finished photo than my point and shoot offered. This is the perfect compromise. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

The Mafia Bride

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of watching one of my dearest friends and founding member of the Knitting Mafia marry the love of her life. Did I mention that he is my brother? The ceremony was lovely and yarn abounded. There were the hand knit socks that my brother wore,


the modified Stardust sweater/shrug that each bridesmaid wore, the glorious Gemstone Silk shrug the bride wore down the aisle, even the bouquets got the yarn treatment by holding the pretty tulips and daisies in place. It was a beautiful day with many a teary eye as Shawn and Amanda pledged their love to each other. Congrats to them!

Have you ever wondered...

what Wal-Mart looks like before the throngs of people that always seem to be there arrive? I found out today and I had to share it with you. When I woke up this morning, I did not intend to go there. In fact, I was trying not to be late to work.
I get up at 6:15, take a quick shower, and hop in the car for my 30 minute commute to be to work by 7:00 just like I do every other weekend. Except, as I pull off the interstate, I realize that my car's clock says 5:49 instead of 6:49 like I swear it had just said. I look on my phone and it says the same thing. I call my husband up (waking him up, which he did not enjoy) and ask him what time it was.
It was at this point that I realize what has happened. About a year ago, we purchased a new alarm clock and one of its features is that it automatically resets itself to the correct time if the power goes out or it gets unplugged. It even sets itself forward or back according to daylight savings time.....but we bought it before they passed the new law to change the date of daylight savings time. So, apparently today is the day that my clock decided that it wanted to change for us.
As a result, I was not late for work as I had feared, but now I was an hour early with nothing to do so I decided to get a jump on my grocery shopping. I have to say that it was the most pleasant shopping experience that I have ever had. All of the shelves were lined up prettily and I had the aisles all to myself. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to start an unintentionally early day :-)

Spring delights

You are looking at the very first real sign of spring in my neck of the woods! Granted, it is on my windowsill instead of outdoors, but it is nice to see new growth after this very long winter. The days are getting longer here and the weather is getting warmer and soon I will be out playing golf in the sunshine. (I can hope it will be soon, at least)


On another note, I finally finished Juliet! I really love those Zephyr Style gals and their lovely sweaters and this is no exception. The Ultra Alpaca is soft and smooshy without being overbearingly hot in the spring sunshine. It really suits this pattern well. Tomorrow, Juliet will get her buttons and loops and then it is off to knit Stardust for Shawn and Amanda's wedding! @->--

I am a Chick With Sticks :-)

Which Chick Are You?

You are AMANDA. On the surface, you've got the bright and shiny life we all want. You're rich, gorgeous and your Am Ex will buy you the designer clothes of your dreams. Being the popular party girl comes easily to you. It's getting close to friends (or boyfriends) that's a challenge. Maybe if you unloaded that big secret of yours, you'd feel less need to keep folks at arms length. In your Kate Spade knitting tote is all the fuzzy, novelty yarn you can carry.
Take this quiz!








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I am the early morning...

TISA is here!

After a very long and exhausting week at work, I make my way home and find this in a box sitting on my doorstep.

TISA made its way to me from the great nation of Canada on its journey around the world in the Truly International Sock KAL And with it comes some yummy goodies from Pixie Riot ! She sure knows how to spoil a girl :-)
This is a skein of her own hand-dyed "Wash-Me Sock" yarn in her awesome colourway "Girls Talk" ! I wish that I could express to you how soft this is.

She also sent me three skeins of Sean Sheep Wool. I have never seen this stuff before but it is so cool! I can't wait to try it out!



And if that wasn't enough, she sent me some darning needles( which I always need because I lose them) and the cute little zip clip! I don't know where she found it but it is just the cutest little thing :-) Thanks Ms. Pixie!

This is the winter that will never end...

It seems like every time that I turn the news on, I hear another weather report saying "8-12 inches overnight" UGH! I hate driving in it but it sure is pretty to look at :-)


I went to Connecticut last weekend with my DH to meet up with his parents and we went to Cabela's, which you need to see if you haven't already. It is a hunting, fishing, sporting goods mecca, but what I find appealing is the Conservation Mountain and other related displays. This is just a small sample of what this store has to offer to occupy your mind if you do not want to shop.





The displays are amazing! I have been to two different stores and they both are that attentive to detail. It is a joy to go there :-)

Awesome Game!

My, how time flies!

Hey everyone! I know it has been a while since my last post. I have gone back to school and knitting has kind of gotten put on the back burner. No more though. As soon as I fire up my trusty digital camera, I will put up updated pics of my most recent projects including my first sweater design!

I wonder........

what kind of project a yarn this special could be used in? ;)

The charade is almost over

At least the first one is! I have made it down to the end of the gusset decreases and I am counting the rows until I can bind off and have Craig try it on! I think I am more excited about this than my hubby is but then again, as this is his first handknit, (I know, I know, I should be ashamed of myself) he can't yet comprehend what the perfect fit of a handknit sock feels like. I love working with the Fixation, although I am glad I went with a very subtle pattern because complicated stitch pattern don't seem like they would show up very well in this kind of yarn.

Sticks and Skeins

Since I have finished Sahara, I have been really torn about what to cast on next. I have a design of my own that I have been itching to try, but I also needed some kind of mindless knitting project for those days that working out a new pattern would put my brain into overload. So enters my trusty Mason-Dixon Knitting book to solve that problem! I decided to make a log - cabin baby blankie as a way to put legs to my faith as my hubby and I are trying to start a family. I chose Caron Simply Soft in four muted pastel colors and this is the first little block.


I have also been working on a pair of socks for hubby. It's actually the first thing that I have ever knit for him so I am kind of nervous. I am doing the Charade socks using 72 stitches instead of the 64 called for. I love this pattern because it is interesting enough that I am not bored with it but it is a totally guy-friendly pattern and easily memorized so I don't have to carry around the pattern with me.


I'll keep you posted on all my progress!

The Saga of Sahara

Well, I am sorry for the lack of updates but I have been busy completing something to show all of you! Here is the finished Sahara! This sweater has been more drama then I care to admit. It started off really well. I got through the back and forth of the top and completed the rest of the body of it, bound off, then eagerly went to try it on. What I found was that although the top part of the sweater fit beautifully, the bottom (in the round) part of it was WAAAAY too big! I guess my gauge in the round is different than my gauge back and forth. Who knew? So I was heartbroken and mad and I put it down for a while. (Like almost a month kind of while!) When I got over the grief of having to frog it all back, I actually got through the knitting part pretty quickly. Then comes the next bit of drama.....I pick up the stitches for the sleeves and knit them up, go to try it on and the sleeves are too big as well! At this point I am ready to just frog the whole thing and pretend that this pattern never existed. But a little bit of inspiration saved me from that. I decided to knit some I-cord and thread it through the YO's at the base of the diamond rib on the sleeve and see if that would fix the problem and thankfully it did! I actually really like the tie on the sleeves and it finishes the whole thing off for me! YEA!!! I don't know what I am casting on next but I can't wait to do it!

I'm Baaaackk!!

Hey everyone! I am back from the land of the internetless! There were some major problems happening with the phone wiring of our house that caused us to ditch land lines all together and just go with our cell phones and our brand new, pretty cable internet! It was rough not even being able to check my email but I am back on now! I have got lots of things to show you and I can't wait to do it! But for now I will just say it's nice to be back!

WIP's, FO, and the rest of the alphabet

Well, I finally have a FO to show you! This is my first pair of toe up socks done with Opal in Flamingo on size 2 dpn's. I am loving the toe up socks!

Next is some yarn I traded for on the Knitty board. On top is a silky skein of yellow wool/nylon and on the bottom are 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces! The color is Baby Stripe and I am really excited about it because this is my first experience with LL!

Next is the ballband dishcloth from MDK which I finally got! I seriously think I was the last person in the world not to have a copy, but now I do and I love it! There are so many useful and pretty patterns in there that I have to make, including the mitered square blankie!

Next, (see, I told you I had lote of pics to share!) the Andean Treasure Shawl that I am knitting for my Mom. It is a really fast knit and the pattern is super easy to memorize. I'm using the Aruacania Nature Wool on size 15's but the same stitch pattern for a more open lacy feel with the wool than the yarn and gauge called for.


And finally, the beginnings of Sahara! I decided to make it and do Rusted Root later. I am using KP's CotLin for it because I figured that it would match up better drape wise with the silk than if I had used the Shine. I am loving CotLin and want to buy tons more of it! The red yarn is just some waste yarn to do the provisional CO with but I do like the two colors together and was almost convinced by my Hubby to use that color down the neckline and the sleeve rib (almost being the operative word here) :)
There it is! All of my pretty pics and more to come!

Seven Random Things....

Ok, I've been tagged and it has taken me forever to come up with my seven randoms but here they are!

1.I was born in Nevada but left when I was 5 mos old so I've never seen the West Coast. The farthest west i have ever been in my memory is Kansas City!

2.I have never seen the Wizard of Oz. In fact, most of the classics that everyone in the world seems to have watched, I have never seen!

3. I have an AWFUL sense of diection! Like seriously awful! It's a big joke in my family becasue I will come up to an intersection, go to turn left and someone will inevitably tell me that I need to turn right. If I am by myself tying to go somewhere, I will try to go the opposite direction I think I should be going and it works!

4. I love pretty notebooks and collect them yet never seem to write in more than the fist few pages. My 16 year old sister is in the process of writing a book (I know, she's very ambitious and she has been writing this book for the past 3 years which just blows my mind) and it drives her up the wall!

5. I love spy shows and books of all sorts and kinds and secretly want to be Sydney Brisow from Alias. I also think it is fitting that the show premiered on my birthday! Someday I want to get an autographed copy of the pilot script!

6. The bookshelves in the study at my house are overflowing, shelves bowing under the pressure, with books stacked on top of the shelves and I still can't stop buying more! When I am talking about my bookshelves, you have to understand that one of them is about 6 ft wide and 7 ft tall, which is completely filled and overflowing. I have plans to line the walls with these bookshelves. (My hubby doesn't know about this however!)

7. I have a horrible time finishing anything! I will leave the last inch of a sock or the last level of a video game for weeks just to put it off. There's really no reason for it, I just can't bring myself to look at it any longer, so I put it down. I know that when I finally finish it, I'll love the end result, but it still doesn't stop me!

So I am now tagging The Knitting Mafia, and PixieRiot . Have fun!