I work from home once a week, and our heat is on a timer – it lowers the heat around 7:00 a.m. and turns it back on right before Cieara gets home from school around 2:45.  And every time I work from home, I freeze my ass off.  I try to remember to go downstairs and turn it back up – but I usually forget, and then get  busy or caught on calls and can’t move around.  Plus I always feel sort of guilty about turning it up too high – I try to see if I can’t just deal with it – better for the environment and our oil bill if I don’t turn it up, right?  But it gets cold!  I usually put a shawl on, but since most of mine are laceweight, I can’t say that they are very warm.  So I’ve been thinking more and more about a nice warm shawl for those days.  And about three weeks ago, I finally found the right pattern, the right yarn and cast on.

Pattern:  Colonnade (Knitty, Fall 2009)
Yarn:  Manos Del Uruguay Wool Clasica, Stellar colorway
Started:  November 21, 2009
Finished:  December 12, 2009

I had no idea this pattern even existed before I went looking for something – I saw this issue of Knitty when it came out, but didn’t look at this pattern – I typically look at laceweight shawls, and I have so many in my queue that I’m not looking for more.  But when I decided to make a worsted weight shawl, I went into my stash and started looking around – and saw the Manos.  I bought this yarn years ago to make the Landscape shawl so I pulled it out and found the pattern (which I had also bought).  But this time, when I looked at the pattern and looked at the yarn I thought that they just wouldn’t go – too much varigation (and the shawl seemed like it would be a little boring to knit).  So I went over to Ravelry and did a search on the yarn to see what other people made with it – and apparently this is the pattern that most people used this yarn for (at least shawl-wise).  So I decided to give it a try.  What a great pattern - I love it!   Quick, easy but still interesting – it seemed to just fly off the needles.  I’m not actually sure when I started this – I’m guessing on the date but it went pretty fast considering I’ve been doing other knitting and that my knitting time has been limited at night because of Penny (and work, Facebook, Ravelry, blogs – I really need to figure out a better balance!).  Anyway, great pattern – I highly recommend it!

I loved working with this yarn.  I know that there are people that don’t like Manos yarn, and compare it unfavorably to Malabrigo.  I like Malabrigo, but I just love the colors of Manos – aren’t those amazing?  I have to admit – I like the scratchiness of the Manos – sure Malabrigo is butter soft, but Manos is just so…wool.   So scrunchy – and the thick/thin parts…so nice.  I washed the shawl last night, and I think it softened it a bit – but you know this is a wool shawl.   I’m not sure I’d want a sweater made of the yarn, but I think its perfect for something like this.    I’m so glad I thought to use it – it felt so good to use stash yarn that I’ve had this long (I bought this in 2004!) .  The shawl used a little over 3 skeins of the yarn – I actually have 2.5 skeins left of it  – maybe a scarf?. 

This isn’t a great picture, but I wanted to show the shape of it.   This isn’t a standard triangle or rectangle – its sort of weird – but it fits so well.  The  pattern calls for a button closure, but I don’t think I want that – I have shawl pins I can use to close it if I want but it actually just hangs so well, I’m not sure I”ll need it.   I can move around, type, talk on the phone and this won’t fall off like some shawls.  In fact, it sort of looks like a sweater when its on (at least from the front).  I wore it today for a bit – and it is warm, comfy and just the perfect shawl for a really cold day. 

All in all, a very succesful knit – used stash yarn, it went fast, and I’m very pleased with it.  And I got a needed break from all these little projects and Christmas knitting.

I took Friday off and had a really nice long weekend – lots of Christmas shopping – in fact, I’m just about done which is nice since I started the weekend without one present!  We also put up our Christmas lights yesterday, and I made some cookies.   Today was a little more shopping, a little wrapping and a little knitting.  Oh, and another Penny training session – we’ve added Ruby to the training and its going well for both of them  – I can’t believe what a difference a little positive training does to crazy dogs!  All in all, a very relaxing weekend – but very productive as well.  And a really good break from work.  I love random long weekends, don’t you? 

As I mentioned above, I’m working on the second sock for Cieara’s present.   Its taking forever, and I’m hating it.   But I’m just about to the heel, and am determined to finish this by next weekend so I can get it all wrapped up and ready for Christmas.    I think that next year I’ll start my Christmas knitting in July so I don’t have to do so many projects together (ok, so many projects for other people!).   The only good thing about Christmas knitting is that I can’t do it at home – so I have to find other projects to work on here.  And since I finished the shawl last night, I had to find something to work on today.  Which meant that I finally got to start something with the Madelinetosh yarn.   So amazing.  More on that next time!

OK, time to go – have a great week!

I wanted to start off this post by thanking everyone who has reached out to me, in whatever manner, to offer encouragement and support during our recent time of troubles with Cieara.  I can’t tell you how much its helped, and how much it meant to me.   It is really nice to know that other parents have gone through similar things – and that things worked out in the end.  And it was really nice to just hear from everyone with your messages  – it was really touching.  Thank you again!

My happy news is that she’s decided against moving out.  She told us the other night, and I can’t tell you what a huge weight was lifted from our shoulders.   We had some good conversations with her about the whole thing, and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward (together!) on a more positive track.   We are working on healing and repairing some of the emotional damage all the way around – I think everyone in the family was completely stressed, anxious, and sad (and a little angry) so I think it will take a little bit to get everyone in a better place.  But we’ll get there – and I’m so happy knowing that she will be here a little while longer.  Whew!

 How about seeing another Christmas gift?  I’m just about done this sock – this is for Cieara, and she doesn’t like her cuffs  to be too long – which is sort of nice, right?  I think I’ll close this with 1×1 ribbing.  I love the sock – its basic toe up with a baby cable.  Easy, fast – and I think nice looking!  I shoud have the other one done by next weekend, and then I’m officially done with my holiday knitting – but I’m kicking around the idea of making Larry some fast socks as a surprise.  We’ll see – I may be able to stay focus on holiday knitting much longer – so many new projects are calling.

The other happy news is that I bought some yarn.  I know – really – what happened to the use up the stash thing?  I just couldn’t help myself earlier this week – it was an emotional/stress yarn buy – better than eating chocolate!

That’s Madelinetosh tosh worsted – colorway is Jade.  Probably a better picture at the Loopy Ewe which is where I bought it.  I must say – I love this store – so fast, so friendly.  Such great yarn.  Anyway – I just couldn’t resist buying this – I’m going to make myself a cowl with it – its so soft, and I just needed the pick up earlier this week. 

Since I was paying for shipping anyway….I decided to get myself another little treat…

Malabrigo Lace – Ravelry Red colorway.  This is so beautiful in person – I can’t wait to use it – I’m thinking of a nice lace scarf – it will be beautiful with my black winter coats (yes, all of my coats are black – and I just bought a new one – same color – I don’t know how this happens!). 

I have something else that made me happy, but that’s for another post. 

This is going to be a busy weekend – knitting group this afternoon, and tomorrow we are putting up lights, decorating the house, and starting our shopping (online of course!).  It has been so hectic and busy and stressful at work  – usually end of year is slow, but this year has been the opposite.  I keep on staring at the calendar – I have time off at the end of the year, and I’m really looking forward to it!  I’m so glad its Christmas time, and I love seeing the decorations, lights and thinking about all the fun things we’ll do.

In the last few months, I’ve been trying hard to work on being grateful for the things and people in my life – rather than focusing on the negative, I’m constantly reminding myself of what I have to be grateful and positive about.  This week it was very easy for me to focus that way – I’m so lucky that things worked out with Cieara, that I have wonderful virtual and real life friends, and that our family will withstand this battering and be stronger together (and of course a little new yarn never hurts!).    Happy!

Have a great weekend!

I can’t show all of my knitting projects right now since they are gifts, but I thought I’d show you one – since I know that the person that is going to receive these doesn’t read my blog.  I finished these up earlier this week, and I’m very happy with them.

Pattern:  Berry Hill from Wandering Cat Yarns
Yarn:  Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering, Electric colorway
Started:  November 6, 2009
Finished:  November 21, 2009

I posted about these socks before when I started, and I was happy with them all the way through.  They are knit from the cuff down (which was weird after doing so many toe up socks) and they just flew.   The pattern is very easy to remember, and it is a perfect pattern for solid (or semi-solid) yarns.  I love the cuffs and think its really cute  - and really unusual – most sock patterns just start with ribbing.  I made the cuff 4″ because I don’t know how the recipient likes their cuffs and I figured 4″ was sort of middle of the road (I like mine longer).

I really liked this yarn too – originally I bought it to make a Chevron scarf but I think this is a much better use of it.  This is really nice sock yarn – tight twist but soft.  The color is really pretty – very bright and I hope that the recipient likes it.  Since this was a stash yarn, I’m going to call these my November socks of the month too!

All in all, very nice pattern, very nice socks.  I think I’ll have to make myself a pair after the holidays!

I’m done with four gift projects, and am just about done with the fifth one.  That means I have one official one left, but I’m thinking that I may try and squeeze in a pair of socks for Larry (he doesn’t read this blog) – I originally told him he wouldn’t get a pair for Christmas since he gets so many during the year but I think I have time to finish something for him.   And it would be a surprise then – which is hard since he usually knows who I’m knitting for.    I’m going to be very glad to finish all this holiday knitting – its time to make something for me! 

Thank you for all the nice comments about Cieara – we are just taking this day to day, and trying to keep a link to her so she knows she always has a fall back.  Its very stressful though, and isn’t making for a good family dynamic right now.    Even so, we had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday – lots of food, family and a little fun.   I ate too much and today feel just sort of out of it.     I can’t decide on whether I want a day at home to lie around and relax, or if we should go to the movies.  We are going into NYC tomorrow to go to lunch and to check out the Shops at Bryant Park so I think maybe a do nothing day would be in order.    

OK, off to do a little laundry, and a little knitting.  Have a great weekend!

The worst thing about holiday knitting is that I can’t really show you the two projects I finished this week.   I’m really happy with one of them, and sort of on the fence on the other – I may frog it and reknit it a little differently.  I wish I could show you it and get some advice – but I know that the recipient sometimes reads my blog.   So I’m stuck showing family members and asking what they think – which means I get a “oh, that’s nice” or a “how come you aren’t making me something?”.   Not too useful!

I will show you a little bit of something though…Malabrigo Lace.   Every time I knit with this yarn I just love it and really need to buy more for the stash.  I’m very happy with this project, and will post pictures after the holidays (I suppose the good side of this is that I’ll have a lot of blog posts in January!)

The title of this post refers to my weekend – on the positive side, I had a really nice Saturday.  I went to yoga  – my beginner’s series finished last week, so yesterday was my first official yoga class.  And it was great – I loved it!  Some of the poses were a challenge, but I kept up and left feeling happy and relaxed.  I’m so glad I’m doing this!    I also had knitting group yesterday afternoon and got to see people I haven’t seen in a while – we had a good time, and it was very nice to spend the afternoon with friends chatting about everything.    It really was a nice day – a great way to unwind after a stressful week.  Someone at knitting group had a skein of Madelinetosh Worsted – wow – this is amazing yarn!  It is definitely on my list to get after the holidays.  (Of course, if the yarn store gets some in before the holidays, I just may get some anyway). 

On the not so positive side  – we are struggling with an issue with my daughter.  She’s making really bad decisions (and has been for some time), and we are (and have been) really struggling how to deal with it.  It involves her dating someone we really don’t like who is advising her to make decisions that are going to impact her for a long time.   We stopped her seeing him a few months ago, but she’s been sneaking around, and now is ready to move out before she finishes high school to be with him.  Its breaking our hearts, and we just don’t have any idea how to deal with this other than letting her go and hoping that she realizes her mistakes before this gets really bad.  It’s a long, ugly story and we’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster for a while.  She turns 18 in a couple of weeks, and we will have little choice but to watch her screw up her life.  It is so hard to be a parent – especially when you know that they are making huge mistakes.   Things came to a head this weekend, and its been so sad.  

I don’t want to end the post on a sad note, so how about helping me out with something else?  My sister got me some face cream for a very good price.  She got me six packages – the problem is I don’t really like it.  Would you like to try it?  I have 5 un-opened jars, and I’d be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping  – which I don’t think would be very much.  I feel bad that I won’t use it, so I’d like to find a home for it.  Oh, would you like to know what it is?  Aveeno Positively Radiant Anti-Wrinkle - its nice but it’s just not for me.  Let me know if you are interested!

OK, back to knitting – have a good week, and have a very happy Thanksgiving in you are in the US (Larry did a trial run tonight for the rolls he’s making on Thursday – so so good!)

I’ve been pretty good lately about not buying yarn – its not that I don’t like buying yarn (obviously I really do enjoy that!), it’s just that I think I need to start using some of the great yarn I have in my stash.     But I just could resist a couple of skeins….

Isn’t that nice?  Its Madelinetosh tosh sock (colorway is Tart).   I bought it at Angelfire on Halloween because I just had to go see it and of course, once I saw it, I had to buy a skein.  I love this colorway – this picture is a little lighter than it really is – its a nice dark red, and I think it will make a really pretty small shawl.  I’m thinking of making the Multnomah shawl with it (I heard about this shawl on the the Manic Purl podcast (Ravelry group)- which I really enjoy).  Very pretty yarn though, and I’m glad I got it.

I got this at the same time I got the tosh sock – this is Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball.  I love this yarn – I made a pair of socks for someone for Christmas with some of this, and really liked how it knit up.  Great colors, and the yarn is so soft and wooly.  I had to get another ball so I could make myself a pair!

So the next two things I didn’t buy – but received as a birthday gift from Chris (I’m so bad about blogging lately – I got these last month, and they’ve been sitting patiently waiting for their turn in the spotlight).  First up is some very pretty yarn from A Touch of Twist.   This is a silk/merino blend, and very very pretty.

I think Chris got this at Rhinebeck – I know I’ve bought yarn from this seller at Maryland, so I think she probably was at Rhinebeck too.  I have 600 yards – enough for a lacy cowl or small shawl.  Very pretty – such a subtle color and I know I’ll enjoy working with it. 

Chris also gave me some roving – so pretty!  This is from The Thylacine - its 100% British oatmeal BFL  (I know no idea what the oatmeal means).  Its so nice, and I love the colors.  I haven’t spun in so long, but this is going on the top of the fiber basket, and I hope to get to it over the holidays when I’m off work.  Thanks, Chris – what great presents!

I had last Wednesday off (Veteran’s Day), and spent a really nice day.  I was the only one off, and I had lots of time to do just what I wanted to do.  I ran to the yarn store for yarn for a holiday gift (as a side note – all of this holiday knitting is really bad for blogging since I can’t put anything up for family members that read this blog – sigh.  But you can always see what I’m working on on Ravelry - assuming I get all of the projects up!).   After the yarn store, I met Larry for lunch, and then had a nice relaxing afternoon to myself for napping and knitting.  I must say – having a day off in the middle of the week is sort of nice every once in a while! 

Larry and I went to Maryland yesterday to visit Andrew – it was a long day,  but we had a very good time.  We went to the UMD football game (they lost), and then went out to dinner at PF Changs - which was located in a mall in Rockville.  We went through Lord & Taylor on the way back out, and I got a great down coat for an amazing price.  I can’t wait for it to get cold here so I can wear it!  It was great to see Andrew, and spend some time with him – I miss him – its so hard when kids are far away.  

I’ve been feverishly knitting away on my holiday projects, and have just about three done -  then I’ll have three to go.   I think I’m in pretty good shape, and don’t expect any last minute pressure/craziness  to finish – I made sure all the projets are small and quick!    And I’ve been very good about not starting anything else.  Except today I saw that the winter 2009 Twist was up  – there are some amazing patterns that I immediately put into my Ravelry queue.   But this pattern – Cambridge Cables - made me start pricing out Madelinetosh Tosh Merino.    I was so close to buying – but then I closed all the browser windows.  Stupid holiday knitting.  But isn’t that pretty?     I’ve been losing weight, and though that perhaps I’ll buy the pattern and yarn as a reward for myself once I hit my next milestone.  I think that will be a good motivator – and it will delay this long enough for me to finish what I need to finish!

OK, back to the holiday knitting grind…have a good week!