Oh my

I'm not sure that I've ever seen this much yarn outside of a yarn store. I'm simply amazed. My stash is pitifully small compared to that, and I thought I had a lot.

My sock is almost done. I've been a lot busier this week with bridal shower prep than I thought I would be. I've started baking and decided to take a few minutes to rest my feet. Mema, H-bomb and I went grocery shopping at the new store for supplies. I was very happy to find everything I needed, and more. Mema went home with sushi for dinner. She tried it for the first time in Hawaii, and liked it so much she's willing to try grocery store sushi. The samples we had were quite tasty.
But back to the shower.....
I'm making cranberry biscuits that will be served with turkey and mustard. Marinated asparagus and some chevre/potato/endive thingies. And a cake. Plus extra food coming from some of the guests.
And I can't forget the boxes of wine. And brandy slush. This should make for a very interesting party. But it's fun to plan and have parties, and I'd do almost anything for Bride-to-be Kara.

My neighbors are hungry

We went to Pierce's, the new grocery store down the street from us tonight. It was insanely busy. We were there for 45 mintues, 30 of them spent waiting on line. It looked like they carry everything that we buy at the "other" grocery store. I was pleased with the selection of food they had, quite a wide variety for such a small space. And good beer and ok wine selections, too.

I should get back to dinner. And then I'll be knitting the night away. I'm almost done with the gussets on my sock. Then I'll just need to finish up the foot and toe so I can cast on the next one.

Do you smell that?

It's the sweet smell of spring! Finally! I have the windows open to let the fresh air in. It's a bit chilly, but the house is so stuffy that I simply can't wait any longer.
Here is a photo of the finished yarn that H-bomb and I dyed last week. There are more at my flikr page.

Busy Saturday

We had a busy day today.
First thing this morning, we took H-bomb to Bowl-A-Vard for her preschool's social. It was a hoot watching her and her friends bowl. It was the first time she had gone, and also the first time that SuperGeek and I had bowled together. We had a really good time. I even won a game! Of course, we forgot the camera at home. We also forgot the phone, so we couldn't even take bad photos.
After we were done bowling, we had lunch at the alley and then cruised home. We wrapped the gift for a birthday party that we went to at Animart for one of the girls in H-bomb's class. We then turned around and jumped back into the car so we could get there on time.
The kids were having a blast there as well. One of the employees took the kids on a tour of the store and brought out animals for the kids to pet. H-bomb thought that the snake felt "slippery" and was afraid to touch the hedgehog because it was "prickely". She was ok with the turtle, rats and birds. I had to leave after that to take Mema's truck back to the airport. They returned from Hawaii this afternoon. Since we haven't heard from them, we're assuming that they made it home safe.
H-bomb has been pretty hyper since we got home, and will probably crash in a little bit. I've been busy working on the last-minute details of Kara's shower and winding my new yarn. It's taking a very long time to get the hanks into balls that I can work with. I wish I had a swift.

Yarn dyeing photos

I didn't get around to posting the photos last night. H-bomb was busy playing her preschool game on my 'puter, and Blogger probably wouldn't have let me upload them anyway, since it's picky like that. But here they are in all of their wooly goodness. The end product didn't turn out the way I had thought it would, but I think that they are pretty hanks of yarn anyway. And we had a good mother/daughter bonding experience.

Steamy Yarns

I was so inspired by Elizabeth's yarn that I decided to color my own.
I started at the same spot, the Dig & Save on Park St. I didn't find anything, but that was probably because I got there 20 minutes before they closed. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I'd never been before, but it was pretty much what I thought. Although I had imagined the boxes to be shorter.
Since I didn't find anything there, and H-bomb was with my sisters, I drove out to Goodwill on the East side. I found a huge off-white wool sweater, along with 2 nice spring sweaters: a navy silk/cashmere and a loose knit brown cotton. I spent last night frogging the sweater and today hanking (is that a word?) it.
Shortly before 5 this evening, I was ready to begin. As was my assistant, the plucky 3 year old. Not one to be shy around color, she used as many combinations as possible, but mostly pink. We used Wilton cake icing colors: sky blue, rose, red red, leaf green and a mixture that turned purple. The leaf green and sky blue made a gorgeous teal that didn't make it through the steaming. I've got two still in the pot and will get photos up later tonight, but for now, there's a Fat Squirrel with my name on it.

Too sick to knit

It's been pretty depressing around here. H-bomb, SuperGeek and I have all come down with the flu. H-bomb started it, and has an ear infection on top of it. I spent Thursday, Friday and yesterday laying on the couch or in bed. I haven't been this sick in such a long time. You know something's not right when a pillow feels like it weighs 50 lbs.
SuperGeek started feeling icky on Friday, but seems to be doing much better with the virus than H-bomb and I. Of course, since he's a man, he won't complain about being sick. He has taken some medicine, though, which is his little way of saying, "I don't feel so good."

I've been inspired by Elizabeth at SABLE. Her hand-painted yarn looks so amazing. She also included some instructions on how she did it. I have a box crammed full of Wilton icing colors, so once I feel better, I'm going to paint some yarn.

Commenting

SweaterGirl let me know that I needed to approve comments before they were posted. I don't remember changing that setting, and I wasn't getting any emails, but I switched it back so anybody can leave a comment now. There were 14 missing! Thanks, everybody, for reading!

This is my new yarn that I picked up last night. They were rewound by Miranda, who was very nice about being the go-between. Her employee last night was concerned that I hadn't paid for the yarn. If it had been me, I would have been a bit suspicious of the disheveled woman claiming to be trading little monsters for yarn. I think that I'll start carrying them around with me and see if I can trade them for other goods, since I have a lack of actual money. The snowstorm today will probably set back the sprouting of my money tree, too. Stupid snow.

Bartering

I made these two guys for a woman whom I've never met. She's trading me two skeins of Harrisville Highland. The owner of Lakeside Fibers is our go-between. I'll be making the trade later tonight.
The other woman is going to send them to her neice and nephew in SoCal. It's kind of exciting to think that my handiwork is being given as a gift.
And the colors of the new yarn are an aubergine and iris. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but I'm sure I can find a project.

Spring has sprung!?

These are tulips, I think. It's our second spring in our house and we're hoping for a better year.
It's finally a nice day in Madison. I've got my doors open to let in some fresh air and the cats are crying because I won't let them outside. H-bomb is with Pookie in Illinois, so I have the day all to myself! Life is good.
I finished a new pair of socks for H-bomb and will hopefully have enough yarn left for one more small sock to give to SweaterGirl's wee one. She might end up with a different colored toe, though.
I'm almost half done with the fifth color of my baby blanket, which is turning out quite nicely. It's a nice, easy pattern that is somewhat mindless so I can knit while watching tv or playing endless games of "Go Fish".
Yesterday I cast on for a pair of jaywalker socks. I'm not sure if I like the pattern or not. The yarn is a gorgeous sky blue from KnitPicks. I will try to get photos up later today.

Well...

H-bomb has enormous feet. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise, as I've been warned about it pretty much since the day she was born.
I finished her pink socks, and they turned out ok. They just don't fit on her feet. She can't even get them over her heels. The pattern says they should fit a 4 to 5 year old. It also claims to have larger sizes in parentheses, but those are conveniently missing. Perhaps that should have been my first clue that the pattern might not work out?
So, I'm going to try again, with the same pattern on size 3 dpns, since I don't have a circular in that size. After trying the magic loop, dpns are very unweildy to use.

Hannah's new buddy

I got an email from Knitty this morning

and went to check it out with Hannah. She chose this little guy for me to make. I used Cascade 22o for the body and some baby acrylic for the hair. Hannah hasn't chosen a name for her new toy, but I'm sure it will be creative when she does.

Crochet for Knitters

I'd rather be a knitter....

Sweater Girl and I took a class at Lakeside on Saturday morning. I did not have much success. Part of the problem was my plastic crochet hook. Another part was my yarn. I was using Cascade 220, but it was splitting like you wouldn't believe.
It would have been nice if the lady who had called to confirm the class had told me to bring a knitted square, but since she didn't, I got to spend a bit of time knitting up a swatch so I could practice crochet edges. The edging was working out ok, until I got around to trying crab stitch. NOT FUN!
The sweater the instructor brought out would be so freakin' cute on Hannah, but I don't think I can make it, since it has the crab stitch edging....
Sweater Girl was very generous in giving me a ride to and from the class, and as we were en route to mi casa, we passed Christian and H-bomb going out on their date. They went to the Childrens' Museum and Ella's Deli.
I had 4 hours to myself. It was bliss. I practiced my new crochet techniques and decided that I would stick with knitting. I can do edges now if I must, and that's good enough for me.

Our Anniversary

Thursday night, Christian and I had a Date!!!
Pookie generously watched H-bomb on her birthday so we could have a night out. We had dinner at Smoky's on University. I think that we will both recommend dining there. Of course, we'd rather have Bapa take us out next time....
We had a bottle of Mouton Cadet Bordeaux (2003)with dinner. It was quite yummy, even for the white wine drinker.
I had picked Christian up from work, so he had his computer bag with him. He thought that it would be a good idea to bring the man-purse inside with him. I was able to talk him out of it by reminding him that the fleece that was keeping him warm, would keep the 'puter warm, too. Thankfully, I didn't have to share my anniversary dinner with his mistress.....
So, here's to 4 years, and many more!

Get Well Soon, Kara!!!

I got a call from Kara's mom last night around 9. Kara had an emergency appendectomy at 9:30 last night. Sadly, she had no Dr. Carter to take care of her.
I wasn't able to talk with her mom last night, but I got in touch with her this morning, and she let me know that everything went ok and that Kara is recuperating at United Hospital in the Twin Cities.
I had left a message on Kara's cell last night, assuming that Dan would call me back, but to my surprise, Kara called this morning. She said that she was in a lot of pain, but was doing good. The nurses were keeping her well supplied with Vicodin and morphine. She also told me that she's ready for a party on April 1.
So, tonight I'm raising a glass of Covey Run Chardonnay to Kara. We love you and want you to be better soon!

Happy Birthiversary!

Last night we went out to the Prairie for dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday and our 4th anniversary. We got Pookie Mosby's Medical Dictionary. There are a lot of cool pictures in it. Gross ones, too. I'm not sure that I would have been so excited about a dictionary, but it seemed to make her happy.
I also cleaned out her closet and dresser. We are definitely sisters, as she is fond of making piles, too.
The Birthiversary isn't until Thursday, but due to scheduling conflicts we decided to celebrate early. Pookie told us that she would watch H-bomb for us so we can go on a date. I'm not sure what we'll do, but it will be nice to get out sans child.

I started the yellow on my blanket last night after we got home. I broke my personal rule of not knitting in bed. My bed is for sleeping, not knitting, but it's so comfy and cozy that I may just sit and knit in there instead. I haven't done anymore work on the socks, but I've been busy getting the invites to Kara's shower put together. They are all done; now I just need to find some envelopes that will fit. I don't think Mead security is the look I'm going for.....

Here are the two projects I'm working on right now.
The top one is the baby blanket, with the third color started.
The first color is actually purple, not blue. The next color I'm going to use is bright yellow, followed by orange and then by blue.

The bottom photo is a pair of mismatched socks for Hannah. I'll be doing the same socks in the same colors so that she has two pairs. It's my first attempt at two socks on one circular, and it's working out much better for me since I got some good directions from Emily.
 

Stretch

Stretch
Originally uploaded by Hannah's Mommy.

This is Stretch after he had his bath on Friday. He wasn't very happy about the whole ordeal, but it helps keep the dander down, which makes it easier for us to breathe.
Beebo got a bath, too, but the photos I took of him didn't turn out very well.

Christmas in February

We had another Christmas at Bapa and Mema's house last night. It was nice seeing the Mara family again. Dinner was lasagna salad and garlic bread with tiramisu for dessert. Mema can make a mean tiramisu. Although it sounds rich, the meal was actually low fat and delicious.

Irene brought her 6 month old kitten, Babes (pictured) to the gathering, although she stayed upstairs in the guest room. Discussions about kittens at our house have stalled. Perhaps after some wine, we can resume negotiations.....

I've spent the day cleaning off my dining room table. I can't wait for the front closet to be dried out so I can use the room for eating, instead of storing stuff. Once that is done, I'm sitting and knitting.

Grr...

OK. I'm a wee bit frustrated at the moment. I'm trying to figure out how to knit two socks on one circular needle. It's driving me nuts! I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is. My stitches are bunching up and slipping off my (brand new size 2 turbo) needle.

Hannah's already in bed. She fell asleep on the dining room floor right before I left to get Christian at work. She wouldn't even wake up for dinner. I think she had a pretty wild day at school. Plus she got to spend some time with Auntie Jenni this afternoon while I ran to Home Depot - for the third time.
The cold water tap is fixed in our bathtub. And the front closet is drying out. As soon as it's ready, I'll be spraying some foam insulation on the dirt under the tub to seal it and hopefully get rid of the smell.