A lovely way to start the day

Coffee with dd's and friends

Another hat

Finished another hat for charity. I used the Fake Isle pattern from ravelry.  

Inside my floats look pretty good.

Outside the hat looks pretty good.   How good depends on how you feel about bright orange squeaky acrylic yarn.  Let's just say the wearer of this hat will not get lost in a snow storm.

Do over

I knit two socks.  Same yarn, same stitch count, expected the same result. Silly me.

Somehow the tension was so different that no many times I tried to compare stretch and justify the difference it just didn't work.  They needed a do over.  I just didn't feel like frogging. So I'm knitting the new socks directly from the failed attempt.  Two at a time. Following a mn knitters strategy.  Equal number of rows each sock.   It seems to be working.

But clearly there are many rows to be finished before these socks find their way onto anyone's feet.

9 inches of snow

Out Minnesota home received 9 inches of snow.   So we took our house off the market.  There has been no traffic.  Hopefully,  things will pick up in the new year.   

Beginning to look at lot like Christmas.

We decorated...just a little.  We do t have loads of storage space so need to think about what we acquire.   This year we bought a small tree on Black Friday.    The only truly sentimental ornaments have been hung.  Big bird, Bert, Ernie, and snufflufogus.  In my daughters eyes nne of the others mattered.  Dh hung lights in front of the house.  And we even broke down and bought a lighted palm tree.  

  

We are very festive.  

 The orchids aren't festive.  They are just so pretty.

Keeping with the holiday spirit. I will be dropping off my "toys for tots" this week.  Since I don't have any tots, but I like looking at toys and a good bargain. I picked up toys at off times for 70% off.  

Making progress.

A great All that remains of dd2 sweater is to sew on the buttons.  

 I used the pure and simple top down hooded sweater. Without the hood.  At her request.  So finished the neck with garter stitch rows and an icord bind off.   Will give it two buttons for a modified Henley look.

 I started the Miley Tee for me.  It's another nice Topdown pattern. I'm using Elsebeth Lavold ViSilk an viscose silk blend.  I bought the yarn as a fundraiser for disaster relief.

My easy peazy shawl,  the patterns actual name, is nearly done.  I misread the pattern and knit two lace chunks in a row.  Didn't feel like frogging, so it is now a design element.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I have a pair of socks for the school in CT on the needles.  I messed up the toe decreases, so needed to frog back to the decrease point on both socks,

Lucky

I know I am very fortunate to be able to escape the cold winters.  A week like the past one really reinforces how lucky I am.  I have been knitting.  Pictures will follow when things get finished.  I have been frogging....pictures will not follow.  You can just envision ripping out rows in your own projects. Be they shawl, sock or sweater I've ripped them all. 

I've had the good fortune to gol with friends.  We left The Villages for Juliette Falls.  A beautiful course with an astonishing number of empty lots surrounding it.  Clearly it was built when the market was robust.  I don't know how it can survive.  This is the view on the 18th hole.

I took the picture with a fish eye lens attachment on my phone.

Yesterday we golfed on site.  This bird was just off the 10th tee.  

He was ready to pose.  I snapped a few shots while dh teed off. The bird had no interest in flying off.  He just spread his wings to show off.

Elvis is in the building

And I was a good sport.

I couldn't resist

I was trolling ZITE today and read Susan B. Anderson's blog.  She indicated that some of her books were specially prices. on both amazon and iBooks.  So since I like her stuff and I love a good deal I had to look!   And for those prices, less the 3 bucks. I had to buy.

And while I was looking at her lovely books I also spied this on sale.

  I really can't imagine life without by iPad.   

Today is special

Today is dd2 birthday.  She is 25.   I can hardly believe it.

A day at the beach

We went to visit friends on the coast.  I had planned to take a classic knitting picture, you know sock held up with sun, sand and water in the background.  Instead our day was like 

So windy you couldn't even walk on the beach, let alone sit and knit in the sun.  It is hard to capture with an iPad wind that would knock you over.

No golf today

After feeling like it was going to rain for the last three days, today it did.  Bad news no golf, good news lunch with friends and finish dd2 second sleeve.....for the second time.

Makes you want to twirl

A few more things finished.

It looks and feels nice. But I would never use the Debbie mum traditions yarn again.  

I've been knitting for a school in Connecticut.  I found them on the ravelry forum "are your warm enough".  They need the normal warm weather gear; hats, scarves, mittens.   They also collect vests and sweaters that work with their school uniforms, so black and white.  Most interesting is the teacher collects hand knit socks and uses them as incentives/rewards.  

I used leftover yarn from the color affection shawl for a pair of socks.

  

Then I used some donated yarn for a hat.  

It looks nice. It feels soft. But the yarn was horrible.

Didn't get the t-shirt

Went to a Bon Jovi concert while we were in Vancouver.  No souvenirs 

Pre-concert.

Concert.

Even though I was never a huge fan, and only knew a couple of songs.  It was great fun.

Always

I've been in the beautiful city of Vancouver since Sunday. Every day has rained.  The view from my hotel, and virtually everywhere has been

At best this.  But usually, just what you can see from the underside of an umbrella.    Today the view from my room is this

Tomorrow we leave....

Second chances.

Smaller size.  Body bound off. Now onto the sleeves.

Stuff

Sometimes you just need to snuggle with your favorite stuff.

Trust

It really is a good thing to trust your instincts sometimes.  I'm working on a sweater for dd2.  The top down hooded tunic from Pure and Simple.  I've made it before, I know it has positive ease.  But as I was working on the body of the sweater, it just seemed too big.  The arm holes seemed too deep. But I knit on.....truly believing when I held it up it was ok.  Tonight I tried it on.   It really is to big. The armholes are too deep.  Not sure how I ran a muck, but I did!  Tomorrow I will frog and start over. 

Now it's real

It is officially listed.  There will be an open house on Sunday.   Hopefully the process doesn't drag out to long.

Hats!

Barley by Tincan knits

 Used a mystery yarn with alpaca.

Amenomie by Cat Bordhi 

Soft acrylic from joanns

A pair

Finally a matching pair!  I knit three of these amazingly simple fingerless gloves.  Cast ins the same, row counts the same, but clearly knit at different points in time.   Tension much different.   So ended up with 3 different sized fingerless gloves.  Finished mitt 4 yesterday.   Hurray!  It matches one of the existing gloves.   I have enough yarn left for another mitt, so hopefully it will also result in a match.  If not I will give up, frog and start over.   I just can't count on someone with different sized hands being the recipient.

Improvisation

When you are out if creamer does using cool whip count as a Mcgiver moment?

Affectionately finished

I finished my Color affection shawl.  I used Lionbrand sock yarn.  The big skeins, you know the kind one skein makes 2 socks.  It was nice to work with, washed up beautifully.  It even blocked out nicely. I did a no traditional blocking.  Hung it on the clothes line at the cabin.  Gentle breeze.  Used the weight of wooden clothes pins to stretch it out.  It worked great!

I cranked out a basic cowl out 2 skeins of donated yarn. Both were wool thick and thin variegated yarn.  With almost a roving feel.  I love the shades of blue and yellow together.

Another hat. Another donation.

Continuing on the path of stuff out the door.  Finished another hat loosely based on the pattern, in grey and yellow.

For some reason the picture looks blue rather then grey.  

Down to the last two rows of my color affection shawl. Yahoo!   I enjoy mindless knitting, but I'm growing weary of this pattern.

Another load of stuff out the door to charity.  A pickup today.  A drop off next week.  That's about it. Gave a dresser, Christmas tree and some misc, to the neighbor for her daughter.  Gave all the accumulated, new still wearing their tags beanie babies to the local police.  They keep them in squad cars to distribute to children in stressful situations where the police are involved.  Accidents, domestic etc.  It is nice to know that they will be used for good.  Passed on a bit more of my stash.  I can't get it knit for charity, but others will.  

Dd2 helped with more house prep.  It seems endless.  Especially when it feels like I've been trying to make 50 lbs of flour fit in a 5 lb sack.   

Finished another sweater and hat for Bundles of Love.  Minnesota Vikings colors, planned not just accidentally garish color combo.  The hat ended up very cone head like, but I doubt that the new mom receiving it will see the reference to the early days of SNL.  

Hats

Finished a couple more hats for Pine Ridge reservation for the Rav of 40s kal.  This was one of those patterns that are easy but produce a complicated finished product.

Color me bright #108. By Cabin Fever

Plus they were a great way to use up some scrap wool.

Progress

I'm ready to try on my airy top down sweater.  I'm knitting it with some lovely Interlacments hand dyed rayon.  A gift from dd2.  The pattern is from interweave.

Ready to sew the buttons on another  baby sweater for bundles of love. 

I've begun section three of my color affection shawl.  The short row segment.  Other then how fiddly it is to juggle three colors of yarn it is going well.   I'm not crazy about the way the top edge looks.  So if I have enough yarn I will pick up stitches and give it a different edge.  

Knit lit

I own a bunch of knitting books.  Patterns, how to's, you know standard knit lit.  I've read several adult books about knitters.  Knitters who form deep friendships and solve life crisis over their needles.  Knitters who solve murders.  And even knitting themed children's books.   

I just purchased my second knitting themed children's book.  The title drew me in.

How can you not love a books about a child gifted with horrible sweaters. 

A little of this a little of that.

II've been painting.  If I were in elementary school that would be the topic of how I spent my summer vacation.  Taping, priming, painting, and soon cleaning the residual off the wood work.  I have climbed up and down ladders.  Recently balancing on a ladder on stairs.

Good thing I'm still pretty agile.

 I have to scale up again to touch up edges, but then I'm done with the stairs.  All that will remain is the laundry room.

I've been knitting. Started the color affliction shawl.

I'm nearly done with a pair of scrap yarn short socks. Very vanilla.

Have another baby sweater underway.

Dd2 got us started watching Dr. Who.  The season with David Tennant.  I'm hooked.  Makes for good knitting time.