What's new?

The year, for one.  Welcome 2012!  This is a big year for Ben, as he will graduate in the spring.  We are excited for him and he is ready.  We had a nice holiday when he was home and had another couple over for New Year's eve.  We all stayed up long enough to welcome 2012 complete with champagne and poppers.  The weather turned and we now have some snow, which will probably be gone in a few days due to the unusually warm temperatures predicted later this week.
I took down the tree and decorations yesterday.  Now begins the tedious task of putting everything away for another year.

Gery Grey Wolf was in a festive mood.

Eevee found a spot by the door.  She likes Gery. 

With the warm temperatures, Jim took
the opportunity to take down the lights.

Up on the rooftop a little behind schedule.

We finally got snow on New Year's eve.

Happy New Year 2012!


In the New Year, may your right hand always be 
stretched out in friendship, but never in want.
~Irish Toast

The yellow road home

I'm watching the awards ceremony for the Tour de France.  It was quite a race this year. I'm not so sure about the umbrella skirts of the polka dot girls.  Cavendish was awesome at the last.  He just catapults out of nowhere to win.  There's Andy--he's an awesome rider.  He really rode with class throughout the race.  Although I wanted Andy to win, Contordor came through with that fantastic time trial yesterday and increased his win time to 39 seconds.  He is champion this year, but next year should be even better!

Late last night I dove into the fiber stash and found some yellow/ dark brown fiber to spin for the last day of the Tour de Fleece.  Appropriately it's the colors of bees and sunflowers.

Now that the Tour de Fleece and the Tour de France are done, I decided to have a little photo session with the gang and the finished yarn.  Eevee wanted to be in the photo, too.  

...and so summer begins.

It's that time of year.  Ben and Zach headed to camp.  It's been nice to have Ben home for a bit and Zach for a couple of days.  I finished Gery Grey Wolf and he'll be going to camp this weekend.  I do believe Eevee will miss him.  We think his new look is quite handsome.

I finished the Faye Jacket and it just needs a couple of ends woven and blocking.  Why I decided to sew it together before blocking is a puzzlement, but I was NOT going to take it apart!  It's really a nice design.  In hindsight, I could have planned the cable transition for the shoulders a bit better.  The bobbles on the front shoulders are gone.  I secured the stitches above and below on the wrong side, and then clipped the bobble in the middle and undid it--surprising how much yarn those take.  I duplicate stitched to close the holes and it looks good.  Too bad it's not blocked.  This morning is chilly and it would feel cozy.

The other sweater is still partially done.  One sleeve to finish and one to go.  Lace patterns and raglan sleeve shaping = no fun.

10.06.10 

I finished myfaye and found buttons pretty quickly today.  I can put this one away until fall, unless it becomes chilly before then.  Gery is finished and off to camp.  I've been going through stuff lately.  Time to purge.  The kitchen re-do will happen later this summer.  Lots going on!

Yesterday I went through the stash.  I have a nice project stash and spinning stash.  The Tour de Fleece is coming up and the chocolate covered cherries and cormo/silk will be the projects for the event.

Thinking of green and steeks

I'm making progress on the cardigan and the vest.  You can see the three-stitch steek forming nicely up the front of the cardigan.  The vest is very fun to knit and I really like the Donnegal yarn.  My fingers feel soft from the bit of lanolin in the yarn.  The cabling is easy, although I got ahead of myself and forgot to make the first twists in the middle.  It was only one row, so not a big deal.  I rarely knit anything without having to tink at some point. 

We're having very cold temps, but it's sunny and doesn't seem so cold.   Eevee uses her paths to navigate around the yard.  I need to bring in some wood for the fireplace before we get more snow.

Let the sunshine in!

It's a lovely spring day and I see buds on the maple tree. I decided to take some time and sit outside with some knitting. I didn't change the lens on my camera, so I had to lean way back to get a photo of my project. My feet are in focus! Eevee enjoyed a bit of sun also.

I've gone back to the Kilimanjaro sweater. The pattern instructions were written strangely and it was just a simple matter of the wording. Of course it was easy to fix--too easy! Now I'm on a roll and it should be a quick knit.
Yesterday Jim got me some biking shoes and I'll use the clips on the spinning bike. I've always been a little hesitant to use clips in the past. We'll see.

Sparkly-glowy!

It was a lovely day today. I had a bit of knitting time before I went to an appointment, so I took out my knitting, a cup of tea, the Rainbow Maker glasses and the camera. I got the glasses for Ben when we lived in Arizona (gotta do something with all that sun!) They make the world look like a happy place! (Cue the unicorns and princesses.) Is it me, or is the ragweed really bad this year? The breeze was cool and the sun was warm. Very nice. Eevee found a spot in the shade to rest. I can't believe I'm over halfway done with the back! Looking at the original photo in the book over and over I'm beginning to see why AS put the fringe around the bottom. It looks good on the gold sweater, but I don't care as much for the purple version. Sorry purple-lovers, but the gold is more flattering on the model.