The weather outside

After leaving the snow in Minneapolis, I wore short sleeve tees and capris this weekend in the nearly 70F weather. I planted azaleas and trimmed my rose bushes. I continued knitting up the wool socks for Little Clover and a wool Dale of Norway hat for California Girl's new daughter and found my mind wondering to projects made of silk and linen; light airy knitted tanks and skirts. Of course, Mother Nature quickly put me back in my rightful place by smacking me down with sleet, freezing rain, and talk of snow. I guess I'll stick to the wool.

The wool at least includes several skeins of Baby Ull in bright cheerful colors, such as Spring Green and Sunny Yellow. In addition, this jaunty little hat sports miniature ladybugs who peek out on the brim. I like this little hat. It makes me smile and reminds me spring will be here soon enough, not matter how moody Mother Nature gets this time of year. The original pattern calls for bright yellow pom pom on top, but I decided to decrease my stitches and top the hat with a yellow I-cord bow. I hope the new baby wears it with grace and style.


And in case you think the wool socks might dampen my spring fever, think again. These little socks are in the Knit Picks Memories colorway called Fly Fishing, which just happens to be one of my favorite springtime activities. They are for my little guy who impresses me more and more. I know every mother things her child is the best at everything and is wonderful. I'm no different than these other mothers. I of course think Little Clover is amazing, I just happen to be right.


This weekend, I watched him bully kids a head and a half taller and 40 pounds heavier on the basketball court. He held his own against kids who towered over him, setting up picks to clear the path for his teammates to score. His spunk and confidence is a joy to watch, in addition to his good sportsmanship. I don't know how I lucked out having such an incredible kid, but I will shower him with gifts of woolen goodness, especially socks (he has little skinny feet).

Falling in love?

Each time I travel to Minneapolis, I fall deeper in like with the city. I'm not ready to say I love Minneapolis, but I sure do like it. I've seen the city at -20, in the heat of summer (which is roughly around 92F), and the whispers of fall. This trip, I even got to experience snowfall and it was beautiful. I walked through downtown in the Skyway system (Italian refers to the Skyway as hampster tunnels; he's not too far off). I also walked through the streets with a whipping wind swirling around me (the wind is very cold), and I still really like Minneapolis. Italian is correct in his assessment. Minneapolis is my southern home town equivolent in the Midwest with snow. I like it there, but I'm still very happy to come back south, where the temperature was a staggering 55F when I landed last night. I may not have snow, but I have two wonderful guys who cleaned the house and built me a niddy noddy while I was gone. I'm definitely in love with them.


One other note about Minneapolis: my Koolhass hat loved it. I started the hat this past weekend, with the hopes I could finish it before I landed in Minnesota, and I did. As the plane was taxiing to the gate, I was finishing the last round. I did totally goof up the top of the hat. I think I completed the first decrease round twice. Honestly, the goof up is not obvious to me and doesn't detract from the hat, so I'm going to leave it as is. I still think the top looks interesting and works with the rest of the hat. I may pull it out after a month or two, but for now, I'm okay with it. Really, I am.


Moving on, the hat is made with less than one skein of Jade Sapphire 6-ply cashmere. The yarn was a gift from a previous birthday from Papa and Nana Clover (thank you!) and it holds up well in Minneapolis wind, cold, and snow. It kept my head warm. When I blocked the yarn, I noticed the hat grew and I thought it might be a bit big. After it fully dried though, the hat had shrunk back down to a good size. I think I love it. The hat definitely loved the Minnesota snow.

Free Shipping

These two words when placed next to each other strike fear into the hearts of knitter's spouses. These words can turn a $2 order into a $50 order, just so the knitter can avoid the $4 shipping charge. I recently fell victim to the siren call of "free shipping" when I eagerly visited the KnitPick website to buy needle markers, which cost $2.95.

While on the site, I thought I'd order a WPI tool as well. Then I meandered to the books and found they had great prices on two books I had been eying. Before I knew it, I was quickly approaching the free shipping mark, so I added the books and a yarn estimation chart and swiped my card. Free shipping was completely worth it.

The needle markers are now happily in a DellaQ silk bag marking my Denise Interchangeable needles. The Denise needles have the sizes marked directly on the needles (in teeny tiny print), so I never planned on using them while I knit. Instead, I tossed out the Denise box, used the flexible coil needle holders to keep the needle pairs together, then added the needle markers. Now, I can easily carry my Denise set with me, even in a tightly crammed bag, and I can quickly find the needles I need.



Seeing the pictures together clarifies just how dorky I am. The color coordination between the bag, the needle markers, and the coil holders was completely accidental. So, I am naturally high maintenance and particular, even when I don't try to be.

I want to come too

I try to be a good spouse and pick up on small comments when a gift giving occasion is looming near. So, when Italian mentioned how much he enjoyed Living Color while Little Clover played their song on Guitar Hero, I cataloged it. Then, Italian helped out even more by googling Corey Glover and discovered he was touring with Jesus Christ Superstar. I bought tickets to the show. I then presented said tickets to him for Valentine's Day and as an early anniversary present. He was thrilled, as was Little Clover, who unbeknownst to me had been discussion this exact play with Italian and his desire to see it. As Italian smiled at the two tickets, I stood back with pride at his joy, imagining how great seeing the show with him will be. This little voice then speaks up and says, "Mama, don't you want to come with us to see the play?"

All I could do was stifle a giggle as I smiled at him and replied, "I would love, too." Now, I gotta figure out how to get another ticket.

I also wanted to have a sweater finished for Valentine's Day. That didn't happen. Instead, I had a partially seamed sweater.

The night before Valentine's saw me in a sick stupor seaming together a sleeve. My Interweave Knits arrived just in the nick of time, and the article on finishing by Veronik Avery was perfect. I followed the guidelines Veronik provided and noticed for the first time just how clever the River Forest Gansey is. Traditional ganseys generally have an underarm gusset. While knitting this sweater, I was a bit surprised that it lacked instructions for a gusset. When I laid out the sleeve to seam it to the body of the sweater, I was flumoxed and confused.

I had an extra bit of sleeve cap and it didn't seem likely to fit in the armseyce. What in the world was I going to do? What a minute. This was the gusset!

The extra piece of sleeve cap was supposed to be knitted to the side seam, forming half of the underarm gusset. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I love this pattern.

Status Check

Two sleeves check!
One front check!
One back check!
Knitted neckband check!

All that's left is the seaming.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Vini Vidi Knitty

What happens when knitters get together for a little over night fun? They bring food, a lot of food.

This weekend, one of the groups I knit with decided to get together for a little retreat. Our original intent was to rent a cabin in a local state park, but a small snag landed us at a local Embassy Suites. Although the natural park setting and hiking trails would have been perfect for a knitting getaway, the complimentary cocktail hour and full service breakfast at the hotel sure were nice. We made time to learn a bit about unraveling a sweater and spinning (I give a very brief spinning demo). I can see this group of knitter getting together again in the future.

In addition to having lots of food, we had lots of time to knit, and I took advantage of it.

What you see is the last sleeve of Anniversary Sweater 2.0. I completed over 60 rows on the sleeve, and joined two balls of yarn. The end is definitely in sight for this sweater. After the retreat, I added to my row count by finishing row 92. Later last night, I picked up the sleeve again and slogged my way through to row 104. I only have 4 more rows before I beginning the transition pattern and then begin the forest section of the sleeve. Who knows. Maybe the weather will stay cool enough for Italian to actually enjoy his sweater this season. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Felt Good

Wow. I really can't think of much more to say. The scarf was very pretty before the felting and I was a bit sceptical of felting this yarn, but wow!

You can see the knit stitches and the scarf is loose and flowing.

Then, I put the scarf in a very hot water bath and washed it on a delicate cycle in my washing machine.

When I pulled out the wet mass of yarn, the stitch definition was gone and it looked more like a crushed velvet scarf. Then I put it in the dryer, yep the dryer, to fluff up the yarn. The dryer bit put fear into my heart as I envisioned taking out a mangled mass of destroyed fiber, but the scarf came out a bit fluffier than before. I hope Kitty Lou likes the gift.

I was hoping to be able to hand deliver it to her, but a call up to Minneapolis and other life plans will prevent a trip to her for a few weeks. We can't stay away too long, though, because Little Clover is asking for a trip to see his Papa.

Good fortune

Yesterday, Italian and I met for lunch at a Chinese fusion restaurant. (We treat ourselves to a little grown up lunch date every now and then). The lunch was good, the conversation wonderful, and the fortune in the cookie was...right.

It was definitely right, because when I got home, This was in the mail:

Yay, yarn! I definitely think yarn in the mail is good news. Not only is it any yarn, but it is the yarn (in the exact same dye lot) I needed to finish Anniversary 2.0. I need to send out a very big thank you to CindyBMW who recommended I contact Webs. Not only did Webs have the yarn, but they also checked their shipping warehouse to see if they had right dye lot. They were fantastic to work with, and I would definitely recommend them! CindyBMW, thanks again for the suggestion!

8 days

Baseball is much, much, much easier for me to watch than football, and not just because I've been watching baseball since I was a kid. With baseball, I have an overall love of the game and the atmosphere. Sure I follow the Cubs, but their loses don't bother me. The Cubs wins are more of a happy surprise than anything else.

Football though is completely different. I love football and I love a team. I am emotionally invested in a football game, and last night was a complete and total rollercoaster. The last nine minutes of the game took years off my life. Little Clover and I watch intently, wearing our Manning jerseys (Peyton Manning, but hey, it was still a Manning jersey), writhing in agony as Brady drove New England in for a touchdown. Then, I left the room, unable to watch the game, only allowing myself to listen to the announcers. When the Giants crossed the 50 yard line, I ran back to watch two of the most beautiful catches I've seen. When Manning threw to a wide open Burress who caught the ball with grace, the entire family jumped up and down in jubilation! Giants win! Giants win!

Imagine what a wreck my knitting is after a football game! My gauge fluctuations from tight to lose, which is why I try to limit what I knit during a game. Fortunately, I finished knitting the Vintage Velvet scarf during the day and only had to weave in ends. Although, I'm not sure yielding a sharp needle is a better way to spend a game.

Pattern: Vintage Velvet from Scarf Style
Yarn: Touch Me (5 balls, plus a little bit I had left over from another project)
Needles: US size 8
Notes:
The scarf is the perfect scarf for Mardi Gras, especially when you combine it with green stitch markers and a glass of Chardonnay. I began this project because I ran out of yarn for Italian's Anniversary 2.0 sweater. The Vintage Velvet scarf is also part of my Mission Possible list, so it kept my hands busy and helped me knock off one more item from my Must-Knit list. The scarf knits up with a shocking speed. From start to finish (knitting), it took 8 days. The five balls of Touch Me helps the scarf zoom along. Before you know it, you have knitted through an entire ball and seeing each ball come to an end motivated me to keep on knitting. Five balls will give you a very nice length. I happened to have a couple of yards of yarn left over from a couple of Christmases past. It was just the perfect amount of yarn. I had this much left when I binded (bound?) off the scarf.

Tonight, I'll felt it up. Yep, this scarf is supposed to felt. (I'll post pictures of the felting journey.)

Joe Cool

This weekend, I did something extraordinarily grown up. I went to a rock concert. Okay, maybe the rock concert wasn't really "grown-up" but more of a "young adult" activity, still , it was supremely fun! A couple of our friends end up with extra tickets to the Foo Fighters concert and extended the invitation to us. We had a fabulous time. Only once did I think the music was too loud and wished for earplugs. Strangely, this thought raced through my head during the Rancid wannabe set (and I used to love Rancid at an oddly loud volume).

During the concert, I thought a few times about Little Clover and how much fun he would have had hearing the Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World live. He has recently discovered the joys of music beyond the pop on Radio Disney, and I'm quite impressed with what he likes. His musical journey is mimicking my musically journey. The first bands I discovered were my dad's bands. I listened to his LP Albums of the Beatles, then I found I like The Who, Rolling Stones, and CCR (I still dream of find a pair of blue and white bell bottoms like the drummer's when he was on the Ed Sullivan Show). My love for Simon and Garfunkel and Santana lead me to Paul Simon and ... Santana. Then, along came Guns 'n Roses, Rancid, Black Crows, to BNL (who my dad really likes). Now, I'm listening to Little Clover sing Rancid and Weezer and Guns 'n Roses and ... Santana, and I tell him, "Hey, I know that!" He looks at me with a little bit of shock, replying, "You do?" To which I say, "Yes, I do! Here, let me show you how cool I am!" I hunt for Guns 'n Roses in my iTunes library, only to remember that I never added them to my iTunes. I only had them on tape. So, I'm not really that cool after all.

Smackdown

I know better, I really do. I knew when I made the one little comment on New Year's Day about finishing Italian's Anniversary sweater by the end of the month that I was asking for the knitting fates to come down and laugh in my face. And they did.

What you see is a front and back of a sweater, a knitted collar, and one sleeve. What you don't see is the one ball of yarn I have left. Yep, just one measly little ball of yarn to knit a sleeve that required three balls of yarn. I asked Italian if he would like a vest instead of a sweater. He said no. I then asked if maybe he would like a one armed sweater. For some reason, he didn't bother to answer the question. I had a little feeling halfway through the first sleeve, when I was joining my second ball of yarn, I might not have enough yarn to finish the sweater. Then I began to wonder if I would have enough yarn to finish the sleeve. With some luck (which I am not counting on having), the three balls on order will be the same dye lot as the sweater. I am not optimistic enough to hold out hope. Maybe, I can convince Italian to stand with the odd dye lot arm extended out to the side whenever he wears the sweater.

Since I'm waiting for yarn to arrive, I've casted on for another project. I've decided to tackle my second goal for the Mission Possible 2008 Ravelry group I joined. The Vintage Velvet scarf from Scarf Style is in a purple shade of Touch Me Chenille. It will look lovely on a special someone.

The second of the Fancy Silk Sock is also keeping me company at work. During lunch, I take a little bit of time for the sock and a podcast or two.

Juxtaposition of opposites

Being a mother is a life of opposites. I want, need time to myself, but when I have it, I miss my men. I almost always have a shadow with me in the form of a little person, a grown person, or a four legged furry dog who thinks he is a person. I'm tough and can handle rejection or minor household repairs, but I'm also a softy who, from what I hear, gives really good hugs. I strive to give my family only healthy food to eat, but I find often do not have the time to cook, so I'm left heating prepackaged foods or ordering in. I keep myself available for my coworkers, my family, and my friends, but every now and then, I steal a little time for myself.

This week, has been a week of stealing time just for me. I started by prepping my guys for my absence. Monday consisted of a special home cooked meal, extra Mommy time for Little Clover, some play time with Spot, and wine and conversation with Italian. Then, I took Tuesday to go to the knitting guild with some coworkers. We even had dinner together before the guild meeting! This was my first guild meeting ever and the group of knitters where quite nice. I saw some familiar faces from other knitting events around time and I made some new friends. At guild, I learned a way to increase stitches at the end of a row of ribbing before beginning stockinette. (I'll post pictures of this technique later) I even finished fixing my entrelac socks from last year. They had been languishing in my stash because one of the cuffs was just too tight to slip over my heel. Now, they fit perfectly.

Now, tonight, I'm meeting up with a friend and taking a chocolate cooking class. I'll eat a healthy lunch to balance out the chocolate overload (as if there could be such a thing as too much chocolate).

Moo

or why I love cow (and could never be a vegan).

From the lack of blogging, you can probably guess this week has been busy. I had a bit of a fire at work and had to work late a few nights this week. Fortunately, I also kept myself busy during the week with some fun activities, but had very little time for knitting. This is where the cow comes in (because I can't live without farm animals of some kind).

We have been contemplating buying new sofas for a couple of years, waiting for just the right sofa to magically appear at Costco one day. They did. They appeared this past December and I have been keeping a tab on the number of sofas the store has in stock. When the number of sofas in stock reached a low point, I asked Italian if he was ready to purchase these lovely, sturdy, goose down, brown leather sofa and loveseat. He actually agreed and the stars fell into place and we purchased said sofas! Then, we had to figure out how to get them home. Getting them home (it took two trips to the store), and into the house (which involved moving the current sofas into the drive and unpackaging the new sofas while outside because the box wouldn't fit through the door) took us a couple of hours. At the end, we had a nice new lovely sofa, that we could not lie upon together, unlike our old sofa. At least they look great.

Saturday also include a lovely dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse to celebrate my brother-in-law's recent milestone birthday. Xavier Guy couldn't make the party, so we took his friend instead.

Mr. Coffee did a great job playing the part of Xavier Guy. He even let us call him by Xavier Guy's name all night. I believe this was a bit of a retort on Mr. Coffee's part because Xavier Guy's been spending quite a bit of time with Mr. Coffee's brother. That is a story for another day.

Because this is a knitting blog, I can't let a week go by without something knitting related. Therefore, I give a picture of why brothers should have their outfits approved before leaving the house together.

What is even funnier about the picture of the two guys wearing the same sweater is that I was present for the purchase of both sweaters and didn't say a word. I think it is a riot to see them dressed the same. It is probably funny to me because I am an only child and this phenomenon strikes me as sincerely funny. But the story gets better! Saturday, Italian's sisters arrived wearing the same sweater that they bought while on a trip together. They were together for a few minutes and didn't realize they were dressed alike until I asked if it was intentional. I guess it just runs in the family!

Time Management

After a full week back at work and school, I now remember why I don't cook. Between working long hours, being a mom, being a wife, and then taking care of the house, I don't have much free time. Lately, my day job has been consuming more of my time and I've found myself working a bit from home late at night, which shocks me. I never ever thought I would like a job enough to give up some of "my" time towards it, yet, I do. Of course, saying "yes" to something means saying "no" to something else and I have been sacrificing home cooked meals for more time to knit. I think it is a fair trade off. My family still gets relatively healthy meaals and a moderately less stressed mom.

I did also make time for a few other things this week. We've spent a few nights star gazing with the help of the Klutz Backyard Stars guide. Little Clover can now identify the Big Dipper, Orion, and the North Star. We also saw Mars, which is extremely orange in the sky. This star chart is the best beginner star chart I've ever seen. The folks at Klutz did a fantastic job and I think they are making a new budding astronomer.

Not only did I have a chance to stargaze, but I also met Kate Jacobs, the author of Friday Night Knitting Club. Kate was a pleasure. My local knitting group had the luxury of having lunch with her and we had a very nice time. Knitting is more of a backdrop in her book, which focuses more on character development. I look forward to seeing the moving when it comes out.


And to really round out my busy week, I finished a sock. The pattern is a Nancy Bush pattern with some modifications. Instead of casting on the called for number of stitches, I reduced the cast on to only 56 stitches. Then, I pretty much worked the pattern as written, with the modifications for the 8 fewer stitches in the heel. I could have made a narrower heel flap. I'll keep that in mind when I knit the next pattern from her book.

Normal Day

During a normal weekday, my time is filled with meetings, spreadsheets, more meetings, documentation, databases, and more meetings. The past week and a half, I took some time off and spent the day with Little Clover. My time was then filled with Legos, cooking, going to the Zoo and more Legos.

We built castles, and saw baby animal, including a baby flamingo.

The baby is the gray flamingo sitting on the ground. I was expecting a much smaller bird than the rather larger one we saw. It was still a cute little thing covered in downy feathers.

In the evenings, I still managed to sneak in a bit of knitting. In fact, I had enough knitting time to finish the front of Anniversary Sweater 2.0.

The sweater is much faster to knit the second time around. With luck and good knitting karma, I'll be able to present the sweater to Italian by the end of the month. Since I've said typed it outloud, I'll be expecting a knitastrophy any minute now.

Happy New Year!

Last night, Italian and I brought in the new year by cooking a wonderful meal and eating it at midnight. Our first meal of the year was a standing rib roast with a mushroom flan served over wilted spinach. We had a lovely wine with the dinner and a fantastic bottle of champagne. The meal ended with a made from scratch chocolate pudding and a toast for more to come in the new year. Italian and I had talked a bit about the previous year and we discussed some possible resolutions. I thought about my stash and the yarn and fibre in it. I also thought about how I'm not one who does well with deprivation. I don't believe in denying myself of things, but I do believe in moderation and delayed gratification. Without further ado, my resolutions for 2008!

Resolutions

1. I will knit from my stash and only buy yarn when it truly speaks to me and after I've given myself a day or two of contemplation.
   
2. I will be fiscally responsible and not shop for myself this year.
   
3. I will spend time decorating the house, including the gardens. (This is where the moderation comes in. I'm not going to spend money on clothes, instead, I'll spend money at Lowes).
   
4. I will organize the house.
   
5. I will cook more meals at home.
   
6. I will increase my spinning ability.
   
7. I will exercise a few times a week. Playing football/baseball/soccer/indoor hockey with Little Clover counts as exercise.

As of the end of the first day of 2008, I've cooked at home, I've cleaned out some old things from the house we no longer use, I haven't bought any yarn (or anything else), and I played a short game of indoor hockey. So far, I'm doing okay.

Plus, Italian's sweater is coming along swimmingly! I'm almost done with front. I'll show you a picture later this week. In the meantime, Happy New Year! May this year be filled with half the sorrow and twice to joy of the last.

Just from the stash

The lack of blogging is yet again due to my shockingly busy work life. I was called out to Minneapolis for a last minute three day working session the week before Christmas. Fortunately, Minneapolis was experiencing unseasonably warm weather and stayed in the high 20s (F). Considering I was leaving 50 degree weather, it was still cold. At least I got to see snow. Then once I got home, we began the mad rush which is also know as the Christmas season.

Italian and Little Clover baked the best sugar cookies ever.
The secret is to add a little bit of cinnamon to the batter. The cookies were for Santa and made with an extra dash of childhood belief to compliment the cinnamon.

While the boys were busy making cookies, I baked one of my prettiest apple pies. The pie even received compliments on its taste.

We then cooked a couple of other dishes for Christmas dinner, finished some Christmas shopping, and the wrapping of gifts. Yep, we still had to finish the Christmas shopping. At least the Christmas knitting was done in November.

While we were at the store buying last minute gifts and ingredients, I found an entertainment center at a very reasonable price. I introduced Italian to this lovely piece of furniture and we proceeded to have a "discussion." Italian, being a woodworker, has lovingly offered to build all the furniture we need. He has a slight aversion to actually spending the money to buy the wood. So, I offered (brace yourself) to only knit from my stash for a year, this is how badly I want an entertainment center. Italian turned me down. He knew something I didn't. He knew for Christmas, in addition to the sweater's worth of Noro I received from my parents, I would be getting two more sweaters worth of yarn, five skeins of sock yarn, a Sheep to Sock kit, and three pounds of fibre for spinning. I have added an extra bin to my stash pile.

He doesn't think knitting from my stash would be much of a sacrifice. I think he's right. Plus, he asked how my LYS owner would survive if I didn't shop for a year. I can't be responsible for causing other people stress. After seeing the new additions to the stash, Italian asked if I got too much yarn for Christmas. I assured him there is no such thing as too much yarn.

After Christmas, I did get some more spinning done, and I made a bit of progress on Italian's sweater.

We even got took a little trip to the zoo and saw a reindeer.

So far, the Christmas season has been filled with a little bit of rushing, a lot of fun, a dash of belief and magic, and wrapped up in rest. I'm looking forward to greeting the new year with a rejuvenated spirit (a lots of fun new yarn).

Merry Christmas!

Wool hats and 70F

While the temperature outside was climbing above 70F (21C), I was inside finishing a wool hat. Finishing the wool hat is a good thing though because it is suppose to be 35F (2C) tonight.

The hat is a pattern of my own. I casted on 96 stitches and did a knit 2, purl 2 rib for about an inch, then changed to a 6 stitch cable with two stitches of purl between each cable set. The yarn is really the focus of the hat for me. The yarn is a corridale wool I spun. It is the first thing I spun outside of my spinning lessons and I thought the end result was okay, but by no means great. Italian thought the hat was okay and gave it little notice until I casually mentioned I spun the yarn. Then, he became excited about it.

The hat definitely has a homey slubbiness to it which I think is common for most first time spinners. If you look closely, you can see where the yarn is overspun and underspun and too thin and too thick. It will still keep my head warm and I think I love the hat.

Speaking of hats, I had a moment of pride this week. While in St. Louis, I taught Teelee how to knit. I followed the guidelines of the Yarn Harlot who recommends starting off new knitters with a hat instead of a scarf. A hat will provide faster gratification than a scarf, and I agree this is a very good strategy for increasing our numbers. For teaching her how to knit, Teelee in return, sent me a picture of her first FO. I'm so proud!

Is this thing on

Nana Clover comment this weekend that she can tell when I have a busy week because I don't blog. As you may have noticed, I didn't blog last week. Instead, I tidied up the house, preparing it for the mess which is holiday decorating, we had an awesome dinner with a couple of friends, I shopped for presents, we attended a couple of Christmas parties, we saw the play "White Christmas," and we celebrated Christmas with Nana Clover, Papa Clover, and my nephew. Notice knitting was not included.

Yep, we celebrated Christmas. This meant that although Christmas is still 15 days away, my knitting deadline was this past Friday for at least one gift. I think Nana Clover was happy with this years gift of wool. I also have a sneaking suspicion from one of her comments that she did not heed the warnings on my blog to not scroll down and look at the knitting. I know for a fact that Mrs. Soprano didn't heed the warning either, but I think she'll still be a little bit surprised.

Having an early deadline also means I have an earlier reward. Yay! I've been eyeing a Noro sweater at my LYS and my parents gave me the yarn for my gift. I can't wait to cast it on, after I complete the Anniversary Sweater Part 2.

I know I said I didn't get to knit last week, but that isn't completely true. I did actually knit, but not enough to feel as if I knitted, and definitely not enough to satiate my need to knit. The Anniversary Sweater Part 2 is coming along and growing. I've finished the back and have begun knitting the front.

 

It is being knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino which is almost as soft as the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk I used for the first Anniversary Sweater. The pattern is popping a lot more on this one. I picked a blue with a little bit more gray which makes the blue lighter. He does still have the first one and is more open to me frogging it when I pointed out the sweater has 10 inches of ease now (he lost a little weight) and is 5 inches shorter than it was when it was cast off. The Alpaca silk acts really weird when water hits it. I did promise him he would get another sweater from the alpaca yarn. Plus, I've hidden the sweater so he won't wear it out in public.

I've also cast on for a little winter hat. I'm hoping the temperature will dip below 75 degrees so I can actually wear it.

 

The yarn for the hat is just plain old corridale wool. It is the first yarn I spun outside of two spinning lessons. It should be a nice sturdy hat. I didn't set the yarn after I spun it, so I have no idea what is going to happen to the hat when I block it. Won't that be exciting?

With some luck, this week will give a little more time to blog and knit.