Knitamazoo(tm)

At least I hope they can’t get any worse. The countdown to family arrivals has begun. My brother and his fiance are arriving tomorrow and my parents will be here on Thursday. Will I have everything ready? Well, if hubby completes the “honey do” list then the answer is yes. (I think.) Anyway, I lost 3 days of preparation last week. Thursday I went home early from work with a migraine that lasted until around 10 pm. I couldn’t even knit. Friday I came back into work and the entire building smelled like natural gas. I had another horrible headache and was so sick to my stomach by the time work ended. Then Saturday . . . Saturday was the worst. I got up with a nasty case of Montezuma’s revenge. Not a good morning.

Saturday afternoon my hubby wanted to take a drive up to Grand Rapids and show me where he worked the temp job he did, check out the covered bridge in Ada, eat at the Macaroni Grill and go to the mall. I was doing much better (no running to the bathroom) so I said ok. By the time we got up there I had pain building in my stomach. We managed to drive by where he had worked, stop for 5 minutes at the covered bridge (it was way too cold to be outside long) and eat dinner. I begged off the mall and we came home and watched hockey while I knit. The covered bridge (click pictures to make them bigger) was great and Ada is a really cute town. As we drove through Ada, hubby tried to show my this really cute little house that had been for sale. I was to busy looking at the yarn shop, Clever Ewe, across the street. Can you imagine living directly across the street from a yarn shop? I would love it but my wallet probably wouldn’t.

Sunday I was able to get quite a bit done around the house as well as knitting. I scrubbed the floors in my two bathrooms as well as my kitchen floor. Plus it was Kitty Spa day and both cats got the works. We started with pedicures for both cats and ended with aroma baths. I’m not sure the cats enjoyed it so much (the bruised bite mark on my forearm bears witness to that fact) but after baths and a good brushing, both cats look (and smell) wonderful. They were a little camera shy after their baths but I managed to snap a couple of pictures. Poor Roscoe looks like a big fat porcupine. He tolerated the bath fairly well but managed to bite me while I was trying to towel him off. It was worth it though as his fur is soft he smells nice now. Isn’t he just adorable? Cosmo howled through most of his bath. He doesn’t bite or scratch but tries to escape every chance he gets. Poor thing has so much fur that it takes forever to get him wet and lathered up. It takes twice as long to rinse him. He tolerated the toweling off but after I released him, he hid for several hours. I finally found him and placed him on the loveseat for a picture. He wasn’t too happy with me but after he had dried off and I started to brush him, all was forgiven.

I did get some knitting done this weekend. Hubby’s scarf is coming along nicely. I’ve started on the second ball of yarn and should have it done by Christmas. I finished up the first ball on Sunday afternoon, used up what was left from him mittens and started the second ball. It’s an easy pattern to do and not as boring as garter stitch. It’s a two row repeat. Start with a 3×3 rib row followed by a 1×1 rib row. It makes an interesting rib which lies nice and flat. I’ll block it a little wider so the pattern shows better and the scarf will be wider for him to wrap around his face and neck. It’s knitting up really quickly and it’s keeping me on my toes. I’ve had to tink back a couple of times because I did two rows of 3×3 rib.

So bring on Christmas! I’m ready! Cats are clean, house is clean, presents are done (almost)! So I say again . . . bring on Christmas!

Well sort of. I mean, well, mostly done. That is, it’s all done except one last minute request which really doesn’t count as Christmas knitting since it wasn’t in the original plan mapped out back in early May, er . . . July, uh . . . would you believe September? Anyway, a scarf for hubby wasn’t in the original plan, therefore it cannot be considered true Christmas knitting and so it follows that I can say that all of my Christmas knitting is DONE! Finished! Complete! (OK, I still have a few ends to weave in on my brother’s gift but that’s immaterial. Just go with it, ok?) I may even have time now to make more snowflakes for the tree.

So what to do since all the knitting for others is finished? I picked up my autumn sock last night and I’ve now finished the gusset decreases. On down the foot and then the mate. I guess I should try to do a scarf for hubby. If I cast on tonight I may just finish it in time to put it under the tree. The only problem with that is I don’t know what pattern to use. He said it doesn’t have to be anything fancy just something that will keep him warm and yet breathe. I’m thinking at this stage of the game to just do a straight garter stitch scarf but that might just drive me to drink eggnog (yuck!). Any ideas?

I guess I should also mention that I’ve added a new category to the sidebar. It’s called the Penalty Box. Whereas the UFO category is for projects that I’ve started and just haven’t completed, the Penalty Box is for projects that need some kind of attitude adjustment. They have somehow screwed themselves up so much that I just can’t deal with them until they figure out how to behave. The Bolero falls into this category. I picked up 200 and some stitches to do the border and somehow either the pattern is wrong or my stitch count is wrong as it’s not working out how it’s supposed to. So into the Penalty Box it goes! (I watch way too much hockey.)

Well that’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I got up Sunday morning to discover this in my living room. I’m pretty sure that Cosmo is the guilty party as he seems to be the only cat that has any interest in the Christmas tree at all. I’m happy to report that no garland was eaten (I’m basing this assumption on the fact that I did not find any glittery cat barf anywhere in the house) and I was able to repair the damage quite easily. I bought them a kitty stocking for Christmas filled with catnip toys but I’m thinking of replacing them with hairball remedy and coupons for the kitty spa. Speaking of the kitty spa, both cats have appointments next weekend. They are both scheduled for pedicures and aroma baths. Gotta smell nice for Christmas!

On the knitting front, I finished the SIL scarf last night. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Vital statistics: Midwest Moonlight from Scarf Style, Rowan Soft Baby yarn and Clover 16″ size 8 circulars. Again, the bamboo was a little too grabby for this yarn in my opinion and I wouldn’t use them again. The picture is a little dark (what can I do? It’s still dark out when I leave for work.) but you get the idea. I’m not sure if I want to block it or not and I have a few days to make up my mind.

There’s one last piece of absolute must be done Christmas knitting to be completed. That “thing” for my brother. I may end up making my first foray into Magic Loop for this one and I really don’t want to go out and buy size 13 dpns just for this one project. I’m not sure that I’d ever use them again. But this is very close to being complete. Then if I can figure out what pattern I want to use I can try to get a scarf done for hubby by Christmas. I’m just glad that I’ve got most of the knitting done now. Maybe I’ll have some time to clean the house before everyone arrives.

And snow it did! This is what I woke up to this morning. A beautiful winter wonderland! It started snowing last night between 4 and 5 pm. We decided it was a pizza night and when we went to pick up the pizza around 6pm (we only live 2 blocks from Cottage Inn Pizza) it was really coming down. It had stopped by the time I got up this morning but we had gotten about 8 inches.
This is the first pass my hubby made with the snow blower down the driveway and I used my boot to try to give some kind of reference. I’m sure that any neighbors who were out blowing snow or shoveling thought I was totally insane to be outside snapping pictures with my digital camera. Oh well. I don’t care. Just don’t tell them they’re right.

Hubby did get up bright and early to clear the driveway for me. The little blur to the left is him. It’s too bad he couldn’t snow blow the road. Our neighborhood is one of the last to be plowed. So I had a lot of fun trying to navigate our little car through the deep snow. (Our 4-wheel drive SUV is at the dealership awaiting installation of a tow hitch.) The main road was plowed though so that wasn’t so bad. I saw an ambulance being towed this morning. That’s bad. There was also 2 tow trucks blocking most of an intersection. Driving the 1.3 miles to work this morning was loads of fun. My brother who is going to school about 50 miles from here was wondering if the weather man might have mis-spoke. The weather man said to expect 2-4 inches (they got about 8 also) and my brother thinks he might have meant 2×4 inches. His mind works in mysterious ways. (BTW Boo, this was a lake enhanced winter snowstorm, not lake effect snow.)

In knitting news, I’ve started knitting the second ball of yarn for the SIL scarf. I’m really liking how it’s turning out. I snapped a quick pic this morning before venturing out in the snow. It’s just over 3 feet long right now and I plan to use all the yarn so it should be between 5-6 feet when I’m done. It’s so soft! I’m going to have to buy some of this yarn (Rowan Soft Baby) to make a scarf for me. I wouldn’t use bamboo needles again though. A little too grabby for this yarn I think. It’s not too bad but I think I’d like slicker needles with this yarn better. Maybe I’ll try my Addi’s next time.

So it looks like it will be a wonderful weekend to hunker down in my favorite chair and knit away on the remaining Christmas gifts. Happy knitting!

So it’s what . . . 20 days til Christmas? And only 15 til my brother and his fiance show up on my doorstep. I have to finish the scarf for my, I’ll just call her my SIL since they’ll be married soon. My hubby also wants me to knit him a scarf to go with his mittens. I’ve also got a little something going for my brother but since he will be looking at my blog to see pictures of his sweetie’s scarf I can’t mention what it is or show a picture. So I have all this knitting to do and what did I do this weekend? I made crochet snowflakes! Not only did I neglect the “must-do” knitting, I actually went back over to the “dark-side” and crocheted! *gasp* But they’re just so pretty and fast and fun to make. Here they are pinned out on a saran wrap covered towel after having been sprayed with a fabric/thread stiffener. Once I get them to the stiffness I want, they’re going on my tree. I know these pictures aren’t the greatest. I was getting too much glare from the saran wrap when I used the flash. But they are made with white #10 crochet cotton (of which I have tons!), some with a number 2 hook and some with a number 8 hook. I want to do a couple of more yet. The crocheting has been a nice break from knitting. I think my hands needed a rest from knitting but I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. Maybe I’ll work on these on my breaks at work and concentrate on the Christmas gifts in the evenings at home.

And just so you don’t think I’m completely lazy and procrastinating on my Christmas knitting, I did add quite a bit to the SIL scarf, seen here. I’ve pretty much got the pattern memorized now so it’s much quicker than it was at the start. I should have no problem getting this complete by Christmas. I love how the stitch pattern pulls and makes it look kinda wavy.

I can’t believe that I haven’t told you all, I found out who my totally awesome secret pal is! It’s the lovely Choomon! She had to email me and reveal herself because I couldn’t figure out who she was. She was the best secret pal and anyone who gets her as their upstream pal in future rounds is very lucky indeed.

And the new Knitty is out! And I absolutely adore this sweater but I have to ignore it until I finish up a few other projects first. Must not look at it, must not look at it, must finish things currently on the needles. Must not buy more yarn. Oh who am I trying to fool?

So as I sit here trying to figure out how to knit while I sleep, I hope everyone is having a great Monday and that your Christmas knitting is almost complete!

Well there’s only 23 days left til Christmas. I wrote our Christmas letter yesterday and printed it out on cute paper this morning. This weekend I will stuff it into the Christmas cards that I have addressed and have hubby mail them on Monday. Both Mom & Dad’s knitted Christmas gifts have been finished. I want to do a hat for my brother to match the scarf I made him for his graduation pressie. Hubby’s mittens are done but now he wants a matching hat and scarf. (I hope the LYS where I bought the yarn has more of the same color or we’re going with a coordinating yellow!)

I finally got some kind of answer out of my brother as far as color for a scarf for my soon-to-be sister inlaw. Here is what I got: Her coat is black and tan. Alrighty. I know for her wedding she is using a light green and lavender. So I went to the LYS last night and bought two balls of Rowan Soft Baby (and when they say soft, they mean soft!) in a very light minty green. I was going to do the Misty Garden Scarf but I didn’t like how it looked. So I frogged it (note: this yarn is a bear to frog) and am now doing the Midwest Moonlight scarf from the book Scarf Style. The pattern calls for one more repeat of the lacy section and solid section but I thought the scarf would be too wide. So I actually did some math and figured out the pattern was 16 sts. plus 1 and figured out my new cast-on. I’m really proud of myself for that. I’m not sure the color came out all that well in these pics. I think it looks more like a cream or ecru. But take my word for it, the yarn has a nice subtle green hue to it. Here is a closeup of the pattern. I used a dark green towel so it would show up. I really like the pattern. It’s easy to do. And when I held it up to show hubby last night he said he really liked the “design.” Hopefully my future SIL will like it. If anything, it is so soft you just can’t help wanting to rub it against your face.

I also have to finish cleaning my house before the family arrives, get groceries so I can feed the 6 of us, wrap gifts, plus I have this scarf to finish, a hat to make for the Boo (that’s what we call my brother) and a hat and scarf for hubby. Only 23 days left? No problem. Pass the caffeine! Please?