Knitamazoo(tm)

So much to blog about so little time. I have been extremely busy these past couple of weeks. We went on our first camping trip, my brother got married and things are turned upside down at work.

First off, camping. We went to Luddington State Park two weekends ago and man was it cold! We ate every meal inside the camper because it was too cold to eat outside. Saturday was a nice day and it did warm up to around 60F. We rode our bikes out to the lighthouse and all around the campground for a total of almost 8 miles. It rained on our cookout Saturday night and we ended up playing games inside the camper. I was sure glad for the furnace and the heated mattress as it was pretty chilly at night. Our next trip is in two weeks and I’m sure it will be much warmer!

Last weekend we drove to North Carolina for my brother’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was great to see my family! I got to see some aunts and uncles that I haven’t seen in a long time. We had a great time but I’ve been really tired all week. There are so many stories I could write about but my mind isn’t letting me.

A few weeks ago at work, 5 people were fired. It was totally crazy! So we’ve been shorthanded and busy. They have now hired on some replacements but now they are switching everyone around to different campuses. I’m back where I started in the 1/4 mile long building. I don’t mind that campus too much but the guys there are really crude and it’s like a frat house or worse. I spoke with my supervisor and he assured me that he was aware of the issue and was going to be making some changes. So I’m hoping that it won’t be a hostile working environment.

Today we finished up some landscaping that hubby started two months ago. I have to take some pictures and get them posted (along with pictures from camping and the wedding). Hubby strained his back so I did a lot of the work. It looks really nice and I’m glad we finally finished it.

Well, I just wanted to let you all know that I’m still alive (if anyone still reads this thing). I’ve got some finished socks that I also need to take pictures of and get posted. The fun never ends!

Well Christmas has come and gone and my house is now empty. Mom and Dad were the last to leave and they left Thursday before New Year’s. I didn’t move from the couch for a couple of days and managed to finish these socks. (I know this isn’t a picture of the finished ones, but I haven’t gotten around to taking it yet.)

I had a wonderful time over the holidays. My Mom, brother, his fiance and I did a special musical program for church. We even remembered to take some pictures while we were still dressed up. I just now noticed that my hubby was the only one not wearing dark colors. Guess he didn’t get the memo. Anyway, you can see that we did have a white Christmas. It warmed up and rained after Christmas day so all the snow is gone but I’m sure it will be back very soon.

Santa was very good to us. I couldn’t believe the amount of gifts under our tree. I don’t know how we got them all under there but we did. Cosmo was the only kitty who was interested in Christmas at all this year and his interest was limited to this stupid pink troll head that was in the stocking of cat toys that we bought.

My Mom did such an awesome job shopping for me! But really, how could she go wrong buying yarn and needles? It was so funny when I unwrapped the sock yarn. I bought the exact same color of Sockatta yarn earlier this year when we went to Frankenmuth. What was really strange was that the ball she bought was the same dye lot as the one I bought. Crazy! She also got me some Addi Turbos, some Inox (since I haven’t seen them around here), Fiddlesticks dpn’s in size 1 and Clover bamboo dpn’s in size 2. Now I can have both socks of a pair going at the same time.

My lovely future sister-in-law gave me a gift certificate to one of my LYS’s. Isn’t she just the sweetest? I spent that and some of my Christmas money on this yummy yarn. Three skeins of Noro Kureyon, a ball of Sockatta, 2 hanks of Koigu KPPPM, 1460 yds. of some yummy laceweight (and no I can’t tell you what it is as I’m at work and I can’t remember), and a 52″ (I think) Denise cable. The Monday after Christmas Mom, Dad, hubby and I went to Frankenmuth. While there we hit the outlets, Bronner’s Christmas store and I of course made them stop at Zeilinger’s Wool shop where I found the patterns for the Fibertrends Flower Basket shawl and the Sheep shawl. That laceweight is destined for one or both of these.

So vacation is over and I’m back at work. My new position at work keeps me fairly busy so I haven’t had as much time to update my blog or join chat which is a bummer. But my days are going by pretty quickly. And speaking of jobs, my hubby got a call yesterday and was offered a job that he had a phone interview for the day before. It’s a 6-month contract back where he was before. Even though it’s only a 6-month thing at least he’ll have his foot in the door and other projects are coming up all the time.

I almost forgot. Now that hubby is employed again, I signed up for my first ever knitting class at my LYS. I’m going to learn socks on 2 circs! I really want to be able to do them both at the same time and am really excited to be taking a class. It starts next Wednesday and I am about to burst!

Well that’s it for now. I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And now I think I’m going to go join Cosmo.

No knitting news today. My brother stopped by last night and had dinner with us. After he left my hubby wanted to get an executive portfolio thing to take when he goes to his interview this afternoon. (We’re really hoping that he gets this job. He thinks this job is a good opportunity for him.) So by the time we got home from Office Max, I was tired and my hand was hurting anyway from all the knitting I’ve done lately so I decided to take a break. The “batwing” bolero is still waiting to have the stitches picked up and if I want to work on it tonight then I’ll have to get those stitches picked up before 7:30 tonight.

What happens at 7:30 tonight you ask? Let me tell you what happens . . . HOCKEY IS BACK!!! The first televised Red Wings preseason game is tonight and I have a date with the TV! I will be sporting my sexy Brendan Shannahan sweater and chanting “Let’s Go Red Wings!” like a crazed hockey fanatic. Can you tell that I missed hockey last year? Anyway, I’m really excited that I get to watch hockey again.

In lieu of knitting pictures (since there aren’t any anyway) I bring you these pictures. The reason for the post title. Major ick factor! This massive, ugly spider was crawling on my garage as I pulled in the driveway. He was so big I could see him 20 feet away. *shudder* I refused to park in the garage. (I’m not stupid. I wasn’t going to drive by that huge thing to park the car and then have to walk back out right by it giving it the opportunity to jump on me or something.) So I parked in the driveway and ran into the house, screaming . . . er, I mean quickly, and coerced my poor sick hubby into coming out to kill it. I did grab the camera on the way and took these pictures of the beast’s last moments. Hubby used bug spray until it got to the ground and he could squish it with a brick. And talk about a squish factor! This thing was the gooiest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve been creeped out ever since I found this thing. I hate spiders . . . really hate spiders. I know they are good for catching bugs and stuff but do they have to be so creepy looking? *shudder* And silent . . . you can’t hear them coming. There’s no warning . . . they just appear . . . floating gently down on their web to land on you. Ack! The only thing I admire about these icky creatures is their ability to spin but that’s it.

Now that I’ve managed to stir up my arachnaphobia, I will leave you with a cute kitty picture while I go in search of creepy, crawlies under my desk. *big shudder*

Well I’m back from my weekend “camping” trip and I’m exhausted. I don’t ever remember camping being this much work. Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time and I can’t wait to go Labor Day weekend but it was so much different when you’re a kid and your parents have to worry about everything else. OK, that’s enough whining. Onto the fun we had this weekend!

Got home from work on Friday around 3:35 pm and hubby wasn’t home yet. Weird . . . but ok, I’ll just start gathering up the rest of the gear so it’s ready to load when he gets home. Haul out the checklist and start running up and down the stairs. Cots - check, lantern - check, pillows - check, sleeping bags - check . . . looking good. Glance at the clock, 3:50 pm, still no hubby. Now he gets off work at 3:30 pm every day. He even said he was going to leave a little early to pick up the ice (oh yeah, coolers - check) so where is his cute little butt? Back to gathering up gear . . . mats - check, food - check, clothes - check, sunscreen - check, bug spray - check . . . 4:00 pm he pulls in the driveway. He changes his clothes and we load up the car. By 4:15 we’re on the road. We stopped and grabbed a bite in Middlebury, IN and pulled up at my mother-in-law’s around 8:00 pm Michigan time. Got the tent setup by 8:30 as we were now racing the setting sun. Had a campfire and then fell into bed.

We got up early on Saturday morning, 6:30 am to be exact. (All my times will be in Michigan time since Indiana doesn’t do DST and therefore they are 1 hour behind us all summer long.) Had breakfast and got ready to head out on the boat. We got our first good look at the tent all set up with our gear and stuff and we didn’t do too bad of a job setting it up. Click on images for a larger view. We even put up the rain fly as they told us it gets pretty “dewy” overnight. The cots were comfortable and the sleeping bags were warm. We were really pleased with the tent and look forward to more camping trips.

We finally headed out on the boat and spent the day cruising around Lake Mississinewa. The lake was back up to it’s normal level. For the last 5 years they have been working on the dam so the lake was about 40′ lower than normal. Isn’t it gorgeous? I even managed to knit some on the boat. Though I had to quit when I dropped 5 stitches. I did manage to get them on a stitch holder and was able to fix it later when I was back on dry land. I know I’m pretty pale in this picture but trust me I now have some color. Albeit some of that color is red and is on my butt along my bathing suit line so that sitting isn’t always comfortable. I missed that spot with the sunscreen. Oops!

We came back in at lunch time and grilled up some burgers. Then after we had rested for awhile we went back out and this time took the jetski. My hubby wasn’t thinking so there is no picture of me on the jetski. But I did get one of my mother-in-law and her husband having fun. They also just got a new puppy, Rascal and I just had to put up a picture of him. He is so cute but very much a mischievous puppy! He chews on everything including your toes. Ouch!

After a full day of being on the lake we came back to camp and built a really nice campfire. We sat around chatting for awhile and then did what most campers do . . . made s’mores! Yummy! Anything with chocolate is good in my book. It was so nice to just relax around the fire at night. I really wish we had a fireplace at home and we can’t do a fire outside either living in the city limits and all.

Sunday morning we got up, packed up our gear and headed back out on the lake for a couple of hours after breakfast. We came back in for lunch and grilled up some chicken and corn of the cob. (This was Indiana after all.) We finally hit the road around 4:20 for home. They claim that there is more than corn in Indiana but you couldn’t prove it by me. This is all you saw for miles and miles and miles. It’s no exaggeration. Oh yeah, before I forget I also promised you all a picture of the “big, yellow chair”. So without any further delay . . . here it is! I told you it was big!
And just to prove I did do a little knitting this weekend, here is a progress picture of my Liberty Sock #1.

And now I’m going to attempt to stay awake while at work. I am dreading all the unpacking and laundry I have to do when I get home. Was camping really all this work or am I just getting old? I really don’t seem to remember. Can someone please pass the coffee again?

NO. I am not pregnant! My “little” (and I use the term very loosely since he’s almost a foot taller than I am) brother got engaged Friday night! I am so very excited! His finace seems very sweet though I haven’t met her yet. Practically everyone else in the family has met her except me but I plan to remedy that this Christmas. I have talked to her on the phone and I think we’ll get along very well. They are planning to get married next summer in North Carolina (can you say “HOT”?). Yikes! Note to self: pack lots of antiperspirant.

In knitting news, I added several more inches to my Misty Garden scarf. It’s such an easy knit. I had to give up working on it yesterday as it was leaving little dark fuzzies all over my white shorts. Hmmm . . . guess I’ll have to wear dark colors when I want to wear this scarf. It is so soft and warm! I can’t wait to wear it. (Am I really asking for colder weather? Hold on while I go have my head examined.) I ordered some KnitPicks yarn for a hat in a color that will hopefully match. My first hat . . . no, I haven’t done a hat yet. Several socks but no hat.

I also did some work on my Clapotis yesterday. I dropped two more stitches. It’s getting so big that I’m glad it’s on circs. I couldn’t imagine supporting all that weight on straights. Especially since my forearms and hands are hurting to begin with. No it’s not a knitting injury. Yesterday I spent the morning trimming the bushes in our yard. I didn’t get to them last fall so they were pretty wild and I had to wait for them to stop flowering before I could whack them back. Now they all look nice and neat and you don’t get attacked when using the kitchen door.

Before I go I just have to share a picture of the cutest cat in the world. (OK, I’m biased but you’ll agree when you see this picture.)

See! I told you. I was playing the piano when I looked down and there he was just like that. I tiptoed into the other room and grabbed the camera. I can’t believe I didn’t disturb him in any way. He stayed like that long after I took the picture. Just too cute!

Well the family has left. My cats are traumatized and my house is in chaos. I must be crazy to think that 5 people could live in a house for 3 days with only 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. Actually it’s more like 2 bedrooms since the third one is used as the computer room and there is no way you could put a bed of any kind in it. So my parents got the guest room and my brother slept on an air mattress in the basement rec room. Then having only one bathroom with a shower . . . yikes! I think I need a bigger house . . .

Now I just need to get my house back in order and get back to my regular routines. Don’t get me wrong . . . I love having family visit . . . I just like getting back to “normal,” whatever that is.

I didn’t get to knit very much this weekend but I did do a couple of rows on the FMB and my mom wanted to see how lace knitting was done so I did one full pattern repeat on Branching Out. They did bring some photos of the spinning wheel that they are giving me. I have to scan them and then I can post them. I also want to take some progress pics of what I’m working on.

So I bid you all happy knitting as my life hopefully calms down and returns to normal!