Knitamazoo(tm)

Is this thing on? Hello. My name is Knitamazoo and I am a poor blogger. There, I’ve admited it. I have no excuses for being such a bad blogger, at least not any good excuses. But the following is my story. Grab a bowl of popcorn, something to drink and pull up a comfortable chair . . . it’s story time.

A long time ago, I was being a very good blogger and was blogging often about my progress on the Secret of the Stole II. I got to clue 5 and was happily knitting along when I discovered this:

See the lovely color variation? Oh Malabrigo, how I hate to love thee. I love this yarn, really I do. I picked up an extra hank, from the same LYS where I bought the first 3, verified I had the same dye lot and I got this. I was hoping that the lighter yarn was the rogue hank, but no the darker one was. So I put this aside and . . . cast on again. Yes, I cast on again. I knit like a mad woman. I knit every free moment I could. On weekends I would sequester myself in the basement and knit. I knit until I thought my fingers would fall off. But it was totally worth it. I managed to catch up by the last hint and ended up with a gorgeous stole.

I am still knitting lace. I am furiously trying to finish my Mystic Waters shawl. I am almost done with chart H and then it’s on to the last chart. But I have hit a snag and have a mistake that I couldn’t figure out Sunday. (I’m thinking it has more to do with the fact that I was hormonal and forgot to take my “happy pills” the night before, but I could be wrong.) So I’ve been waiting for some quiet time to sit down and see if I can do lace surgery. Maybe I’ll even take pictures and blog about it.

I have cast on and started Moroccan Days, a stunning stole pattern by Susan Pandorf. This is my first time knitting with beads and I’m loving it. The process is a bit slow but the final product is so worth it.

I am also working on the Shoulder Shawl from Victorian Lace Today in Claudia Handpaints silk lace yarn. Totally yummy! This is a great pattern for variagated yarn as the colors have not obscured the lace pattern at all. I’ll have to get a picture up.

I am also toying with the idea of stopping by the LYS tonight to grab some lace weight in white. I would like to knit up Fibertrend’s Angel Lace Shawl for my mom. The only problem with that is I would be on a definite schedule. The parental units are coming to vist us the first weekend in May and I would love to present this as a Mother’s Day gift. Am I setting myself up for disaster?

So my Year of Lace continues as spring has sprung here in southwest Michigan. The trees are budding, the birds are singing and the Red Wings are in the playoffs. Gotta love spring in Michigan! GO WINGS!

You see, I’m not sure what month it is. Really . . . the calendar says January. Last week we got 18″ of snow. Beautiful, fluffy white snow. The world was a winter wonderland and it felt like the first part of January.

Sunday came and with it warmer air. The snow began to melt and caused a nice thick fog. By Monday, we had hit 60F and the snow was gone. Last night, we had severe (yes, I said severe) thunderstorms and even tornado warnings! Here is a shot of the radar from around 10:30pm last night. It seemed like the middle of August with all the lightning and thunder going on. I hunkered down in the basement rec room and knit.

Today, is still wet and rainy but warm. They are calling for another high temperature around 60F. Then tonight the bottom drops out and it starts snowing again.

Mother Nature must be going through PMS or something. She can’t seem to make up her mind and it has left me very confused and befuddled.

Despite my confusion, last night was a wonderful knitting night. I am zooming along on my Mystic Waters Shawl. The KAL has finished but I’m still plugging away at it. I want to get as much done as I can over the next couple of weeks because the Secret of the Stole II starts on January 18th. I need to swatch for that yet too. So much lace, so little time. I am planning on using my Malabrigo Lace yarn in the Dark Earth colorway for this one. I will leave you with a progress pic of my Mystic Waters Shawl . . . I am totally in love with this pattern!

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!

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!

I have a serious problem. I really do. You see, I started knitting a year ago because as an avid crocheter, I decided that I wanted to learn a new method for manipulating yarn to make wonderful things. (I can’t believe that a year has gone by already but that’s another problem.) My problem is this knitting. It has become an obsession and I can’t stop starting (see I told you I was insane) new projects. I confess, this weekend I became weak and cast-on yet another project. The lure of a fresh project on the needles was just too much for me and I caved. I am so ashamed.

But I do have a finished project and an almost finished project. (I was hoping that might make me feel better about starting a new one, but no. Sigh.) Anyway, I sat down yesterday, darning needle in hand, sewed the shoulder seams on the dickey and wove in the ends. I’m really happy with how this turned out and I hope that my Dad likes it too. I didn’t weave in the tail from my cast-on at the collar. I’m not sure if it is going to be too “thick” for my Dad’s liking. If it is, I’ll then be able to undo the cast-on edge a little easier and remove some of the collar and make if more of a mock-turtleneck. And if he likes it as it is, well then it will take me 2 minutes to weave the end in. One Christmas gift finished!

I also finished up one of the bed socks on Friday and am almost done with the mate. The gusset decreases are finished and it’s just down the foot to the toe. Too bad there isn’t a hockey game tonight. I’d finish it for sure! I just love how soft and warm the Elsebeth Lavold Angora yarn is. These are great socks to wear around the house when those temps dip. It’s been quite warm lately (mid to upper 60’s) so I have no use for them yet. But I’ll be prepared when that white, wet stuff falls from the sky.

So what new project did I cast-on for you ask? Why a pair of fuzzyfeet to keep my toes extra warm this winter! Apparently there is a new knit-a-long going for this project started up by Laurie, a.k.a. Crazy Aunt Purl. I didn’t know about this KAL when I purchased the yarn for my fuzzyfeet but it seems that I jumped on the bandwagon without knowing it. But how fun it is to knit gigantic socks! We had the King Kong Thong and now I’m knitting socks for Kong. At least that’s what they look like. I should have put something in the picture to give you some perspective as to how large this thing really is. I can’t wait to finish knitting them both up and then felt them. This is the first time I’ve used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted and I’m really surprised at how soft it is. With the mohair I was expecting it to be a little more rough or itchy but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m sure these will be done by the weekend. The picture here only shows about 1 1/2 hours of knitting.

Saturday we went to the Kalamazoo Nature Center and hiked some of the trails. My wonderful hubby took my up part of a trail that according to the map is “difficult.” But he said that the map claimed the view of the valley was spectacular especially in the fall. So up this vertical slope we went. Two twisted ankles later I stood atop this hill (as much as I’d like to call it a mountain I can’t). Now the view was very nice but not what I was hoping for. I took a picture but it was a little too hazy and the colors were not vibrant. Now I had to get down from this precipice. Hubby offered to go down in front of me so he could catch me if I fell. I told him no, that I would just end up taking him down the hill with me. After making it down the hill I got to thinking about it, and I realized that I should have let him go down in front of me. That way I could have used him like a sled to get to the bottom. All my best ideas always come too late.

We did see some lovely color as we were walking through the woods and I leave you with two pictures of the fall foliage.

I am so very excited to be participating in my very first Knitty Secret Pal exchange! We got our matches on Friday and I couldn’t be happier with my Secret Pal. I think I’m going to have much more fun shopping for her than receiving gifties myself. Any excuse to shop right? I wish I could tell you all about her but if she reads my blog then she’ll learn my secret identity and all the fun will be ruined. But I will tell you that she rocks and I can’t wait to spoil her!

I didn’t do much knitting on my Bonita Bolero this weekend. In fact I only knit one row. I tried knitting in the car on Saturday and that was a very bad idea. I made myself quite car sick. I will not be knitting in the car again which is too bad because our trip to the UP involves 8 hours of driving . . . one way! Oh well, I’ll just have to wait until we get camp setup to knit. Then yesterday I ended up making a few dishcloths for camping out of odds and ends of Sugar ‘n Cream from my stash. It’s kind of fun when you run out of one variegated colorway and finish it up with another. I just kept telling myself, “Who cares? It’s just for camping!”

So, on Saturday we decided to pack up a picnic supper and drive 2 1/2 hours up to Ludington, MI to scope out the campsite that we’ve reserved for the first weekend in October at Ludington State Park. We were a little concerned because even though the campsite description said “great tent site” it also said “trees in the middle of the site”. So we wanted to make sure we could set the tent up and I wanted to see Lake Michigan too. We used to live 15 minutes from the Lake and I miss it so. We had had storms early Saturday morning so the Lake was pretty choppy. But I loved the clouds over the sand dunes. It was very overcast on the way out there and I was afraid that our picnic plans would get rained out but when we got to the Lake we had gorgeous blue skies. There are many hiking trails in the State Park including a 1.5 mile hike out to Big Sable Lighthouse. We didn’t do that hike Saturday as we have done it before. (Hubby and I love lighthouses and have seen all the lights along the western shore of Michigan.) When we camp there we are thinking of renting bikes to go out to the light. But we did walk along the river and out to the dam.

We took our camp stove to try out for the first time as well as our latest camping purchase. We got a mini-fridge which we can plug into the cigarette lighter outlet in the back of our SUV. It also plugs into a regular outlet so we can have it running while we camp. We got ours at Wal-Mart cheaper than at the Coleman online store and it came with the adapter to plug it into your car’s cigarette lighter. You can also use this thing to keep things warm! It is wonderful! We took hot dogs and all the fixings for our picnic and everything was cold even after the car had been off for about 1 1/2 hours.

On the way home this is the sunset that we got to enjoy. And yes the picture is a little blurry. You try taking a picture out the window while the car is speeding at 75 MPH down the highway! The colors were gorgeous though. We didn’t get home until around 10 pm but I was glad because I got to see a spectacular harvest moon! The moon was huge as it was coming up over the horizon and such a deep red color. I tried to get a picture of it but the digital camera just wouldn’t cooperate with me.

So now my appetite is thoroughly wet to go camping. I can’t wait til next week when we leave to go to the UP. Until then I’ll have to knit to help keep my mind busy.