When It's This Cold Outside. It's Time to

bake bread!

Rye, this time, yum.

My Own Damn Pattern

As I put on this sweater this morning, I realized that I've never talked about it and it's one of my favorites. It started out on my first trip to Rhinebeck in 2008. I fell in love with the yarn from Briar Rose Fibers. And although it was pretty pricey I bought it anyway. And it couldn't be just any sweater, it had to be a special sweater. So I found a pattern I loved and knit away. But it was awful. Wrong pattern for my special yarn. So I frogged it and knit another pattern. But it was huge, really huge. So I frogged it.



And I decided to knit my own damn pattern. I got out my The Knitter's Book Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and figured it out. I wanted a simple cardigan with some ribbing like on a sweater I owned, not too long, with a little shaping.



And I needed a button band that would hold up the buttons I bought.





And when I was done, I had a sweater I loved and I wear it a lot.


I wore it to Stitches East the next year when I took a class with Lily Chin. She pointed to people one at a time and had them talk about the sweaters they were wearing but she skipped me. The look on my face must have given me away though because she came back to me and said, "You didn't make that sweater." Best compliment ever.

2011

It was the best of times it was the worst of times, no wait, someone wrote that already. But it's true. We lost Duffy. Of all the dogs, he was such a special one and we were so sad.



Especially Dunkin, dogs do mourn. So we got Dougal. And he has brought us a lot of laughter.

But best of all, Piper came into our lives in November.


And BDE is having twins next month!


So there has been a lot of knitting going on here in our house.

Merry Merry Christmas!

I've been very quiet this year but that's going to change because I have so much to tell you! Merry Christmas and I'll see you next year.

House Guest

Almost a year ago, Stamps came to visit. He was a wonderful guest, so we decided to invite another. Wandering Woolemina is on her way around America and maybe beyond but I had not idea when she would arrive. As luck had it, she came just as we were going to Delaware for the weekend. So we packed her up in the car with only just enough time to introduce ourselves


and admire the wonderful hostess gifts she brought.


The next morning, our first stop was my favorite LYS, Kitschy Stitch in Rehoboth Beach.

Woolemina met a friend and

wallowed in some wool.




Then we did some shopping. First a stop for her next hostess's gift.



And a stop at Lowe's for something for our new bathroom. (Woolemina was a good sport about that.)



And on to the outlets where we found some really good sales and she gave me advice on what to buy.



Then we took a rest on the patio, the weather was so nice. Woolemina really enjoyed reading the new Interweave Knits.



And finally out for dinner.



On Sunday, we drove home. Woolemina was very happy seeing the signs of spring. The trees are starting to show some color and we saw forsythia in bloom. We went grocery shopping.


and ended the evening knitting on Woolemina's scarf, which is very colorful.

Tomorrow we have to write in her journal and send her off to Wisconsin. She has been a wonderful guest and we'll be sorry to see her go. (Even Mr. Truck who was somewhat embarrassed by all the pictures we took.)

Not So Much Knitting

So it's finally spring and I've been playing in the garden a lot. Look I have roses!






And socks. These are Wanida in Austerman Step Classic and I really like them. No modifications on these but I might make them longer if I did them again.






I've found that for my funny feet with the high insteps a gusset of at least 2 1/2 inches works the best. I think that the heel gusset makes the biggest difference in the fit of the socks, at least for me.



And for some mindless knitting after the workout in the garden, I've been knitting these squares out of my leftover sock yarn. You know, the little bits that you can't bear to throw away when the socks are done. I think the original calls for a lot more squares than I'm willing to make so mine will probably be baby quilt size.




It's been a fun trip down memory lane remembering where I was when I bought the yarn or what was going on when I knit those socks. Do you remember what was happening in your life when you were knitting something?

Have you seen this?

We had a very unproductive visit to Ikea last weekend. They're remodeling and I coudn't find most of what I was looking for and everything else was out of stock. So frustrating. But I did find this, it's called a Komplement multi-use hanger and they say it's for shawls, really! Did you ever have one of those hangers that had yarn crocheted on it, well this is the same concept.





So look what I did. Very cool, and now they won't be all squished in the drawer. I feel so organized.







And now that it's finally feeling like spring, I've been outside playing in the garden. And my hands look like it. But the epimediums are blooming and so are the bleeding hearts. There are even a few rosebuds. So maybe it's time to put away the scarves and shawls.

Not Really Sure

about these socks. I love the yarn so it's not that. Or maybe it is. It's a beautiful soft, springy yarn and I really enjoyed meeting Lisa Souza and her husband at Stitches East, but it's very thin and maybe the socks won't last long. This might be better for something else. But the colors are to die for.



I like the pattern, Angee by Cookie A. but it's not my favorite one from the book. Maybe it's not the right yarn for the pattern.




But I'm really sure I love how they go with my new shoes.

For Whom

What are you making Grammy? Socks, Evan. For who? For whom, Evan. For me. You always make socks for you. Can you make me socks? Of course I will, Evan.

Angee by Cookie A. in Lisa Souza sock yarn

Vanilla socks in Regia sock yarn

The Time Is Right

Michelle made them, Becky made a bunch of them, and actually there are 2686 of them on Ravelry. And every time I saw them I said, I have to make them. But I never got around to it. Until a couple of weeks ago. You see, I made slippers back in May of 2008 and they finally wore out.




Now I could have probably figured out a way to fix them but it's been almost two years and Olivia was asking for slippers. So here are my French Press Slippers. A bit big at first.





But they felted down really well and they are really comfy.






The purple and green are for Olivia, she picked the colors and mine are the leftover green.



So pretty soon there will be 2687 projects on Ravelry.