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! 

Valerie of  Wandering Cat Studio and her Mom of KnitObsession, started to dye yarns a few months ago and opened an Etsy shop – Wandering Cat Yarns.  I read both their blogs and was excited for them about the shop – and then when I went to check it out – sigh…so nice.  I love their yarn and have bought a couple of skeins (and I’ve sent Larry a list of a couple of other skeins that would be nice for Christmas!).    

The other day I got an email from Valerie – she sent me her pattern for Berry Hill socks as a gift.  How nice is that?  I was really touched  – and happy since I knew I was starting a pair of socks this week.   So I found the yarn, started them up and….

These socks are flying!  This is a great pattern, and its one of those patterns that just seems to go fast.  I started these Friday morning, and I’m halfway down the foot – not bad for me since the last socks took me weeks and weeks to make.  I think I’ll have the pair down by next weekend.  The pattern is a cuff down – I haven’t done that in a while so it was sort of an adjustment (pick up the stitches?  what?) but I suppose its good to have balance – some toe up, some cuff down.  I actually think I could do these toe up, but wanted to knit them as written the first time.    The pattern is available on Ravelry - I know its going to be one of those that I make over and over.

I love the pointy cuff – so pretty!  The yarn is Claudia Hand Paint Fingering weight – I bought it a few years ago to make a chevron scarf, but frogged it when I just couldn’t stand the project anymore.  I think this is a better use of the yarn – very pretty socks! 

I have been using a small project bag for my commute knitting.  I love the bag – its so tiny and fits well into my briefcase.  The only problem is that its so tiny.  If I have a large ball of yarn, or am almost finished a sock, there isn’t a lot of room.  And I have to really angle and fight to get the needles in – which always results in stitches off the needles.  So I decided to look for something a little bigger.  I found it on Wednesday, and ordered it – and it was here by Friday – amazing! 

This is from Piddleloop - isn’t it nice?  Its a little larger than I expected, but I think it will still be fine for my briefcase.   Its 9″ long, 7″wide and is very roomy.  I used it yesterday, and had plenty of spare room after I put my sock in.  I think this could hold a large ball of yarn, a sock, or a scarf or cowl.  Its really nice, and I’m glad I decided to get a new one.  I have my eye on a couple of their other bags – very nice shop!

Life with Penny is starting to get a little less crazy – we are starting to train her and define some boundaries.  We really need to figure out a way to have her stop hassling the cats, but she’s learning that biting us is “no” and that going to the bathroom outside is “very good!”.  She is so much fun, and such a cutie.  And her ears are standing up now!

Don’t let that sweet face fool you!  What happened right after this was Larry put her down and she raced around like a maniac for 5 minutes, harrasing Ruby and the cats.  She’s learned to not harass Duncan – he is the alpha dog, and he has no problem telling her that.  He’s also the grumpy old dog that is still recovering from knee surgery so we don’t let her harass him often.

We went to Westfield (NJ) yesterday – I wanted to go to one of my favorite places yesterday – Trader Joe’s.  Have you ever been to one?  Such a great store – and we bought an amazing bottle of wine for $6!  After we filled our bags with some really good food and wine, we went over to Crumbs and got some cupcakes (so bad for me, but soooo good!).    I even popped into Knit-a-bit to see what it was like (I was there less than 5 minutes – its small, but they were really friendly).  I love Westfield.  Larry and I are starting to think about what we want to do once all the kids move out – this is a big house for two of us with a lot of upkeep.   We have been talking about moving closer to NY so my commute isn’t as long – and I think we are going to put Westfield on the list of places we are going to look a little closer at.  Its such a cute town, with a great downtown, beautiful houses, and it would cut my commute from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes.  We have a little while to wait on this – but always good to start thinking about things!

Its going to be a nice day here – warm and sunny.  We are planning on taking the dogs for a nice long walk so we can get some Penny energy out.  Then its just relaxing and knitting.    I’m halfway through a Christmas present, but it will be hard to put down the socks and work on that.  I love projects that I can’t put down, don’t you?

Have a great Sunday!

It has been a while, hasn’t it?  I don’t think I’ve ever taken such a long break from blogging before – and it wasn’t intentional.  I simply forgot what having a puppy was like.  If I sit down to do anything, she gets into trouble.  Or wants to be picked up.  Or eats a power cord.  Or chases a cat.  Or pees on the floor.   I really forgot what puppies do, and how destructive they can be (last night she found a handknit sock and was chewing on it – definitely bad dog!)  Its a big deal to us if we actually can follow what is going on with a TV show because we miss so much of it!  It is a very good thing she’s cute. 

It speaks to my lack of free time at night that this took me over a week to make, but I finally finished it this morning (and I’m ignoring Penny to post this – she’s terrorizing Ruby right now – sorry Ruby but sometimes you have to take the hit for the blog…)

OK, I just realized the above picture looks like she’s squatting – but she isn’t – she’s eating a treat.  Because the only way we could get her to stop trying to eat the sweater was to eat something else. 

Pattern:  Penny from Knitty.com
Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Merino Aran, 85 yards
Started:  October 23, 2009
Finished:  October 31,2009

I know – Debbie Bliss Merino Aran.  For a dog.  It speaks to how spoiled this dog is going to be – I looked through my stash for the yarn.  I wanted it to be wool so it would keep her warm, and handle getting wet.  And the only yarn I had in a remotely good color was this.  I did have some Cascade 220 – but it was black or blue.  Definitely not a good color for a baby girl!    I briefly thought about going to buy something, but really wanted to use stash yarn.   

I bought this yarn on sale a while ago  – I have 850 yards – not enough to do much other than hats or scarves, so I think this was ultimately a good use.  I’m already planning on making her another one in a bigger size when she gets older  – this one only took one ball, so I have plenty to go.  I’m also going to make Ruby a sweater too – they would be really cute in matching sweaters.  I may also make a hat or cowl for me with the rest – I really enjoyed working with the yarn, and love the feel of it in the finished object (and no, it doesn’t say crazy dog owner to have us all be in matching stuff!)

The pattern is very straightforward – I have no excuse for taking so long to make it other than I had like 5 minutes a night to knit.  It is knit flat, and then seamed under the belly – I can’t say that I did a very good job at that, but I haven’t seamed anything in a long time.  I wasn’t pleased with it, but not enough to rip it out and do it again – but next time I’ll have to work a little harder to make it look nice all the way down the seam.  I don’t think Penny will notice, though!  I think I will also add a little more in length to the next one – I couldn’t wait for this one to be done so adding more would have been torture – but looking at it I think she could use about another inch. 

She really has been a handful – but such a joy as well.  Her ears started standing up this week – so cute!  She’s settled in well for the most part, but she doesn’t like the crate at night, so she sleeps with Larry and I.  And last night we had a big breakthrough – she allowed the cats to also sleep on the bed.  She also learned how to bark, and loves to bark at everyone.  Even me. 

How can I ever resist that face?

On the non-Penny side of my life – its been a long couple of weeks.   I’ll give highlights – Parenting has been a challenge lately, and a worry – and I don’t know that its going to stop anytime soon.  Work has been ridiculously busy, and there is an increased level of anxiety in the group – I guess it’s year end, and uncertainty about next year, but everyone is so dark  there (someone in the group calls it the three D’s – dread, depression and despair – does that tell you what its like?)  and it’s hard to work in a place where no one is happy and everyone is stressed out.   My family (siblings/mother) are completely crazy, and I’m to the point when I’ve officially checked out.    I’m done with it all – its amazing to me that no matter how old we are, people revert to the roles we had growing up, and still try to play to being the favorite.  Uck.   

Anyway, you didn’t come here to hear about my problems, so I’ll leave on a high note!  My LYS, Angelfire Studios (Rav group), got a shipment of Madeline Tosh sock yarn in last week.  I’m heading there today to check it out (I hope she has some left!).    I’ve heard such good things about this yarn, and I’m hoping to use it for a another Pretty Thing.    I think working on small projects is the best thing right now, and something that I can put down in an instant (when I have to rescue <<insert anything here>> from Penny).

I also haven’t been reading blogs so I’m very behind.  But I’m planning on a quiet afternoon at home tomorrow, and will get caught up – I miss seeing what everyone is up to!    We aren’t doing anything for Halloween .  We live in too remote of an area to get any trick or treaters, and no one is going to be home (we are going to my sister’s for dinner, and Cieara is going out with a friend, Dan is going out to an all day/night party).  So it doesn’t seem very Halloween-ish to me.  I miss the days of taking kids out, and watching their excitement about their costumes, and at getting all that candy.     I think its the hardest thing about kids getting to be adults – you miss all the fun kid holiday stuff. 

If you are celebrating Halloween, or helping your kids celebrate, have a great time – and of course, have a great weekend!

No knitting content today, and if you are tired of puppy posts, then you shouldn’t continue on.  But I had to do a post about Penny because I just had to share a little bit…

We picked her up yesterday on the way home from a family wedding in Indiana – she was really overwhelmed at first in the car, but finally settled down in Cieara’s fleece blanket and took a nice long nap.  We stopped a couple of times for her on the way, but she just plopped in the grass and didn’t know quite what to do.  When we got home she explored everything and everyone.   She’s been chasing Ruby (Cairn terrier) and even wanted in the pen with Duncan to sleep (Duncan is in a playpen recovering from surgery).  She got tangled in the fireplace tools and ended up with soot all over her leg.  This morning we bathed her and she looks a little bit better now (and smells much better!).

She is such a cutie, and is such a lapdog when she finally stops playing.  We had a great first night we her – she went in the crate next to our bed, and passed out.  Larry took her out once in the night, but that was it.  I don’t expect that we’ll be that lucky any other night, but it was good to get at least one nights sleep!   We took her to the vet today, and she weighs 5.5 pounds and everything was ok. 

She is so much fun – and very smart.  She learned how to play fetch today (I’m thinking that teaching her this so early is going to mean that she will be an obsessive fetch dog just like Ruby, but its too late now!).    Its sort of like a baby – so cute and playful and cuddly that you want to wake them up from naps to play with you some more! 

She is going to be one spoiled dog – everyone is playing with her and petting her and I think she’s going to adjust just fine (of course, we are making sure everyone else is getting attention too!).  She’s a little young to housebreak (2 months) but we are starting to do what we can.  If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

I got a lot of knitting done on the car ride – I finished a sock and started another.  It was so much continuous knitting time that I sort of got tired of knitting (I really got tired of being in the car!).   I’m working on the second sock now, but considering starting another small project.   The socks are sort of eternal (large feet!), and I think it would be nice to break them up with a hat or cowl.   Or a dog sweater (do you think the name is a sign?)

OK, off to play with Penny!  Have a great week!