Thursday, January 18, 2007

Did I mention I knit?

Here is my completed self designed "ugly hat". I should give it a nice wash/blocking... however winter has arrived here (finially) and I have been using it to stay warm!

And some progress on my sock, I have started the ribbing but still have a bit of yarn to finish up. I think I might actually like toe-up socks!


Uber close up of the beautiful Trekking XXL yarn:


Ok, I think I am pretty caught up now. Or at least that is all you get for today. Three posts- not bad!! Got to run, K is cooking me dinner (gasp!)

Crap Room

K has promised me a craft room. For those of you who do not yet know, we are DINKS (double income, no kids) living in a four bedroom house. So we have more rooms that we need. Currently one is where we sleep, another is an "office" and holds my mess of clothes. The other two where basically empty. Junk rooms I suppose. We ironed in one, wrapped gifts in the other. Very important tasks, so why shouldn't they have a room dedicated to them?

This Craft Room idea was all his own. I think perhaps it came out of two fears that K has. 1. I will eventually drown him in yarn and 2. Empty rooms without purpose may be thought as spaces for babies. This is his way of killing two birds with one stone.

So I give you the Crap Craft Room...

Bathroom Complete!

Well, as many of you noticed last Sunday at the knitting GTG, our powder room is complete. Chair rail, art, and a place to keep the TP. I figured I owed pictures to my blog, so while I have time to catch up on my blogging I would include them in a post! Enjoy!!


This is the light fixture we choose, it was the only one like it at the Home Depot near us which was in the middle of a lighting section renovation... The pickings where slim, but we found what we wanted!






This is the picture of the towels close up, and the art we picked up over the summer at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The artist is Susan Hodgin and she had come all of the way from Indiana to be at the festival. I really enjoyed the work she brought with her to Pittsburgh. I only wish we could have afforded another piece!















Lastly, I need some advice. What to do with this terrible boxy window? The metal is slightly corroded, and it is just generally ugly. What kind of curtain could help this sad window without looking terrible?

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Dogs Eat Yarn...

It is true, dogs eat yarn and I finially have proof. The first insident was shortly after Mo joined our happy little family and I was knitting a sock and left it on the end table by the sofa. He found it and decided it was a lot of fun to tug and pull this yarn apart. However I neglected to photograph the evidence, or me winding and unknotting an entire skein of sock yarn over a period of three days (what can I say, I am crazy).


This time however, I have proof. He stole yarn again- and I caught him in the act and had to chase him around the table yelling in a crazy voice (no wonder he ran). He dragged and un-wound this loose ball of angora/wool blend all over the living room. I came to my senses and grabbed a high value treat and I was finially able to get my yarn back. Mostly unharmed.

I love my dogs, I love my dogs... I love my dogs.......

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Happy New Year!!

Wow, 2007 already. Why does it feel like the older you get the quicker the years pass by? I still vividly remember the big switch over to 2000. Y2K. My future children will really think I am old, having been born WAY back in the 20th Century. Anywho... enough random thoughts on that topic. On to more pressing matters.

Redecorating
As you likely noticed, I have redecorated this here blog. I wasn't digging the brown, and hated the wasted space on the sides. So we will try this for a while and see how it goes. I was inspired by Amy who also did some new year redecorating. Someday I might even have a nice picture at the top like she does!

While on the topic of decorating, I forgot to mention that our powder room project is officially finished! And has been since just before Christmas. I promise new photos, plus I need help with a curtain for the odd little window that needs some camouflage.

Knitting
My christmas was yarn free. I told my friends that I think my family is in denile of my knitting addiction... or they are so intimidated by it that they don't know how to shop for those things for me. I did of course get wonderful gifts, but alas no yarn or knitterly items. So with some Christmas money I splurged and did my own knitterly shopping. I am FINIALLY an owner of a swift and ball winder. It made me really feel like a knitter. Big expensive tools, which I will and can use for no other purpose other than to wind wonderful hanks of yarn. I picked it up at a LYS, Dyed in the Wool, that I visited for the first time with my friend Annie. It is a tiny store, but full of wonderful fibers. We spent a lot of time molesting yarn while we where there.

I started part of a secret project and it is coming along nicely. I would share pictures but it is secret. Sorry. I did finish my hat that I mentioned in my last post. I decided I love it, and it seems to be rather warm. However with the winter we have been having it is tough to tell. I will likely cast on a pair of socks soon too. I have a choice of a few different yarns- yes I have a sock stash! Two colorways of Trekking XXL, black and yellow Lorna's Laces, and Austermann Step to choose from. I am even considering knitting them both at the same time as described in this article.

Oh, Down in Mexico....
I never really been so I don’t really know. Oh, mexico... I guess I’ll have to go! Yes, that is me singing my best rendition of James Taylor's hit Mexico. We are headed off on our "last hurrah" vacation to Mexico with a group of 30 or so people at the end of the month! I am finially looking forward to it. With my anxiety it was too hard to think about it before Christmas. I had all of the typical holiday stuff to keep me busy. Adding vacation on that was more stressing than comforting. But now that I am through all of that, I am ready for this trip. I ordered a new swimsuit, and I started exercising so I am not the youngest and most out of shape gal on the beach.