Extreme Makeover, Bathroom Edition

That is right... the hole-in-the-wall bar bathroom which occupied our home for the past three years has finally met its end. My mother in law was the first to point out its obvious lack of style, it was quite odd. A chair rail painted red ran around tiny room and ended just as it ran into the terrible fake wood vanity, topped with a lovely Formica top which housed a beige sink. Well, I have never been good with words-

Lovely right? Are you shocked we threw that beastly cabinet out? I cheered when the garbage men hauled it away and gazed hopefully in to our bare room. So full of possibilities! So in just a little over one week, my loving man with some help transformed this ugly room into a beautiful addition to our first floor! Feast your eyes on this!

Not 100% done, yet usable. I love it, and love my K for putting the work into it.

Here We Go Steelers, Here we Mo!!

I feel like I am playing catch up still with my blogging. This post will not be an exception to that. This past April we adopted our second Boston Terrier, Cosmo. Who we fondly call Mo- or anything that starts with Mo... We rescued him from the Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue, and even through we where from out of state they considered us as potential adopters! They where so nice to work with too.

Anywho, on to the story already... the foster family insisted that Cosmo was a Browns fan (yack) and Ohio State fan. I promised that he could remain a fan of Ohio State... but under no circumstances could we have a Browns fan in the family. The whole way home we brainwashed Cosmo into being a Steelers fan, one round of "Here we go" and he was switching teams. As football season aproached Mo became more and more interested in the team, so I thought it was appropiate to knit him a sweater. I was unable to find anything online that was even close to what I was looking for, so I embarked on an experimental knitting project. The Doggie Steelers Sweater. The yarn was Knit Picks Merino Style and I used the following colors - Maple Leaf, Dusk, Fog, Vanilla, Coal, and Crocus. One skein of each except I used up two skeins of the Coal. The back was knit first, with an intarsia logo. It was by far the most enjoyable part for me.





I put it on hold for a while after finishing the back. The tummy and sleeves didn't excite me right away. Once I regained my stamina (weeks before the start of the season begining) I got my butt in gear and knit up the rest of the sweater. Lets just say my studly little man attracts all the hot ladies in his gear, and all the boys are jealous!




Isn't he studly?

All New Designer Dog!

So, it has become rather trendy to mix to ordinary breeds of dogs into some kind of mega special mutt. So I have come to the conclusion that I needed in on the action. I have dogs... I can make babies, so why not combine the two into a new hobby? I give you the Boston Wiener... I am still working on the perfect name.

I know... you have never seen anything like it. I bet you want one of your own. For a measly $10,000 it can be yours. None other like it in the world, I promise. Who wouldn't want a dog with the back problems of a dachshund and the energy of a Boston terrier? Plus, look how darn cute it is! That is a good enough reason on its own to add this unique beast to your family!! All sales are fina........Cosmo! Get back under the blanket, you are ruining my sales pitch

It is contagious!!

So this past weekend was very a knitterly one! Saturday I had some knitter wannabes come over for some basic lessons. There where three of them... being my fifth, sixth, and seventh victims. One came with some prior knowledge, and was doing quite well on her own. I only showed her how to change colors and weave in her ends. The second picked up the long tail cast-on and knitting rather quickly! I was impressed. It was a bit tight, but overall great for a first time knitter. The third was slower to develop her technique, but after some patience on her part (and heckling on mine) she got the hang of it!! I was rewarded with some wonderful pumpkin roll from one of my victims... Thanks K!

Sunday I was able to finish the third log cabin square for my grandparents christmas present! One more to go, and the boarder.... pictures to come in a later post, I promise!

Attack of the Mason Dixon Knitting!

I like many others have become smitten with the book and blog Mason Dixon Knitting. Much of my summer knitting was devoted to patterns from this book. They where so simple, yet so inspiring to me. I have a hard time explaining my attraction to the book.

I started with ever popular ball band dishcloths. I knit four in total, with Peaches and Cream Yarn. They are simple and fun to mix up the colors as you go! One was gifted to Mum when she said that she liked them.




Then I saw the linen hand towels and instatnly thought of our friends in NY. Well the female friend of the two... she was turning 30 and I just knew some prissy hand towels would brighten her day! One is the moss grid pattern and the other is a diamond pattern!




I too needed some lovely Euroflax linen hand knit goods for myself so I knit the bubbly curtain for our front door. It looks so perfect in the hall, and I am always complemented on it by our guests!

I also knit a baby bib o'love and a baby genius burp cloth for a knitty friend who had her first son this year!!

The O'Donnell throw

So, this here is my favorite knit project I have ever made. Nearly a year ago, my family lost a beloved and dear friend of ours. His name was Richard. His spirit was uplifting and his smile was contagious. He was family... we lost him to esophagal cancer in November of 2006. I attended his 'retirement party' days before he passed clearly knowing it was his wake. The room was over filled with loving friends, family and co-workers who all had loved Richard. However at the funural I was unable to console his bride, his favorite knickname to his wife. I needed something to help me heal, and to give to this widdow to help her remember her husband and comfort her on those lonely nights. Richard was proud of his Irish heritage and it inspired me to knit him an Aran patterend throw. I could not find a pattern that would help me along so I ventured into my first ever self-designed project. After much planning and swatching I felt ready to cast on the first row. Overall it took me six weeks of constant knitting to finish this work of art... or love rather. I presented it to his wife when she was over my parents on St Patricks day. She instantly recgonized it as the O'Donnell Clan pattern and keeps the blanket in the living room on Richards chair. Best gift ever.

One small step for knitting, one giant leap for aj!

So, here I go... like so many before me. A knitting blog. I hope to use this to both cronicle my progress on my own knitting projects as well as a way to connect with other knitters! Here goes nothing!!