Now that is obsession

I often wonder why smokers go through the trouble of being outside to smoke when the weather is so terrible. I wonder if it is really worth it. The weather in Pittsburgh is quite low today. School canceling low. Checking out my local news website I see it is a balmy 5 F out right now and we are to expect a high of 7! That of course does not include the wind chill factor. I took a walk at lunch. I *needed* new size 6 DPNs. Quite a while ago Mo ate one of the set of 5 I owned. No big deal, I can make due with just 4. But when he ate off the end of number 4 and brought my count down to three mid way through the second fetching mitt I was out of luck. When will I learn? So I headed to my most visited LYS, Ewe Can Knit (aka Weldin's) and picked up a new pair. The old ones where Brittany's and I opted for the Crystal Palace ones this time around. Perhaps they are less tasty. I walked approximately .5 miles for these needles in sub zero weather. Hopefully I can knit up some warm items with them to make up for the windburn I may have acquired. A cigarette won't offer me the same payback I am afraid.

I am sure you have all noticed the Knitty Surprises are up. I am a fan of Thermal... so much so, that I ordered the yarn from Knit Picks in the pumpkin shade. Hopefully I won't regret making something so large with such a small gauge. Perhaps I will finish it before this cold goes away?!

A return to normalcy

We are home again, and I feel like things are settled enough to get back to catching up in the blog-o-sphere.

MEXICO

Our trip was wonderful, and well timed too. We spent just under a week in the Riviera Maya Mexico. It is about an 60-90 minutes south of Cancun. We stayed at the Grand Palladium resort which is made up of 4 other resorts. We where at the "Colonial" section and had the ability to use the other features at the other parts of the resort as well. The compound was just huge, we got lost a few times the first day trying to find our way around. The natural vegetation of the mangroves made it tricky to see where we where in relation to other buildings at times. After we got over getting lost, I appreciated the vegetation. We even saw a boar one day munching on some plant and what looked like a capybara ran across a path. Overall the resort was really nice, but I think we had better service when we where in Punta Cana.
We traveled with a large group. About 30 people. We where invited by our neighbors who have done this bi-annual trip with friend for a while now. This was their biggest group so far. Everyone on the trip was friendly, and I loved that Kevin had other people there to entertain him. We have different vacation styles. I want to relax, Kevin wants to do stuff. Having everyone else there gave him more of an opportunity to be active. He tried to scuba but after the lesson in the pool he decided it wasn't for him. I did manage to get quite a few photos of him giving it a shot! He was not the only one who was not interested in scuba, only 7 of 30 went for the dive while the remainder of the group took Catamaran trip which included some snorkeling, some drinking, and a few sea sick individuals (including myself).
We spent a lot of time laughing about how cold it was at home, and dreaded stepping out of the terminal here in Pittsburgh! It is nice to be home again, I did miss our bed and the pups... but this work thing is over rated.

Knitty Bits

I got a bit of knitting done while lying on the beach... My first sock with the Trekking yarn is nearly finished. I am trying to use all of the yarn, so it is rather long now. However the a fetching mitt was much more fun for me and I knit one up over a couple of days. I didn't have enough yarn to do the second, but some leftovers at home from a prior project should be enough to finish it up! It is Mission Falls 1824 Wool left over from a hat project.Plus some secret knitting to be reviled later gave me the opportunity to realize I cannot count. Not once, but twice it was knit. I am working on the third try with stitch markers and more concentration.

Back on the Homefront

The craft room is no longer a messy pile of crap with no home. Rather it is now a home for my crap... or in my eyes my treasured knitting supplies. There are still a few to-dos left before it can be considered finished.
1. Curtain, might be a roman shade, but perhaps I will change my mind and do drapes instead? The fabric is just hanging out right now.
2. Cable line needs to be dropped into the room, so my TV can be hooked up. 3. Paint... to paint or not to paint. That is the question. If I paint I don't know what color to choose. 4. finishing touches, we have "art" to hang along with some square mirrors from Ikea.

Adios for now!!

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?

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.......

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.