Sunday, January 18, 2009

Thanks to all for your comments on Sapporo and our new house...and thanks so much for continuing to read despite my comings and goings :)

With things getting more and more settled in here, it's so much easier to get focused back on the knitting. I am still plugging away on the Dalegarn Raglan sweater for my friend's son, whose birthday is about a month and a half away now. I think this will probably be done by the end of this week (famous last words, lol).I'm finally past that awkward "Eek, there's too many stitches on this needle!" phase, and have decreased enough for the knitting to be comfortable. Well, at least until I get to the "Eek, there's not enough stitches on this needle!" phase, ha ha. I really cannot get these photos to show this yarn's proper coloring, though. It definitely has some blueberry undertones like these photos show, but to the eye it is quite a bit darker, though not navy either. Here's a closeup of the cable:Once this is complete, my next planned project is the Katherine Hepburn Cardigan from the book Lace Style. I will be using the beautiful Anny Blatt yarn that my sister gave me last year. Here is my gauge swatch...I am really taken with the yarn/stitch pattern combo!Unfortunately this may become another one of those looonnnggg, drawn out projects of mine, as I am going to have to do some serious baby knitting over the next three months. I have four friends having babies between late-April and mid-May, yikes! For three of them I will probably be making smallish things (booties, socks, hats, maybe a cardigan) which won't be too bad. The fourth is my best friend (same one whose son is getting the raglan sweater above), so I want to make a blanket and stuffed animal and maybe a sweater too. She is pretty sure she is having a girl, which is wonderful from a knitting perspective. So many cute girl patterns!

The big excitement here this week was the delivery of our new washer and dryer, after being on backorder for the last two months. They are made by Samsung, which I didn't really know made appliances. But they seem really sturdy and nice, so hopefully they will prove to be a good choice. Today I finally ran a load for the first time. The funniest thing is whenever there's anything interesting going on in the basement, Quincy creeps down the stairs to the first one he can see from, and checks out the situation. Like this:As you can see, he was totally intrigued by the movement and sounds of the machines:I don't know about where you are, but it is snowing like mad here! We've gotten about 8 inches in three hours! Perfect day for knitting, so I think I'll skedaddle now...P.S. Can you believe it's less than 2 days until the inauguration? I've been enjoying watching my George Bush countdown clock (in the sidebar) wind down, as I've had it there since I started this blog three years ago. Now it says "1 day 8 hours". Hard to believe, but I must admit it's been a long wait ;)

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Okay, so I totally lied about being back here on a more regular basis. Sorry, sorry...BUT, I did have a good reason for being away...
Meet our new house, all in blue during a snowstorm:After many years of saving we finally bought our very own abode, and it is wonderful :D It's just a little place, two bedrooms, but enough for us (and not overwhelming to clean, lol!) It doesn't need a ton of work, although we will have to reshingle the roof this spring. Also high on the list is painting the exterior anything but the current poo brown. Here are some interior photos, as you can see we haven't really done any decorating or anything yet. Also, things are still kinda messy. I guess we're not ready for our BH&G photo shoot yet.And our view off the back deck (which will be much more fun in the summer, yeah). The yard is pretty postage-stamp sized but I can't wait to start gardening!There's more exciting news too...(wait for it)...I finished Sapporo! Wooo! It took me just under a year from start to finish (although of course I didn't work on it all summer), and I am very happy with it. G seems happy with it too. Glad I finished it in time for his upcoming ski trip.Pattern Notes: "Sapporo" by Dale of Norway, knit in Dalegarn Falk (colors black #0090, grey heather #0007, fern green #9155, natural #0020, and sand heather #0004) on size 2.75 mm needles.This was a good pattern, although I really should have read it all the way through before starting or at least before doing the finishing work. I did my own "unique" iteration of the zipper/collar. But it works, so whatever. The yarn was fine too--a nice, basic workhorse yarn--my favorite type.I really love working the fair-isle/two color type stuff...it's just endlessly amazing watching the pattern slowly emerge. I love it so much that I've already bought all the yarn for my OWN ski sweater...though I think I'm gonna wait awhile before starting it, he he. Right now, I'm really feeling the urge to do some cablin' and some lacin'...what will it be? More details next time :DI'm a bit late, but wishing you all a peaceful and prosperous new year!

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