Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for 3/29 is 10 Reasons to Use the Public Library. 

One main reason, it is free to use and if people don't use it, the town may decide not to give them as much money to buy new books and other items.  I love to read and used to tutor there when I was in high school.  Also spent time there doing homework and reports.  Also used it during college.  Have been in the last month and plan to start going more now that it is spring.

1)  Read new Authors - great way to try new authors without spending money on books you may not like.
2)  Browse new books - just to see what grabs my attention, title, cover, etc.  I sometimes find Authors I never heard of and then I tend to read every book they have written.
3)  Knitting Books - check out knitting books before buying them.  Also Crochet, Spinning, etc.
4)  Cook Books - also check these out before buying.
5)  Health Books - books I may not want to own but do want to read.
6)  Autobiographys - I don't tend to ever buy these so it is good to be able to read them.
7)  Programs - Our library has talks with slides of people's trips, how to do thing talks, etc.
8)  Art - Our library used to let you sign out paintings for a period of time.  They also display student artwork on the wall of the corridor to the children's section.
9)  Computers - when I used to have computer issues, I would sign up and use theirs.
10)  Movies - my parents like to take out movies, I haven't yet.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Little Girl Shrug FO

Here's a size 2 Little Girl Shrug from Knitting Pure and Simple (Pattern #288) out of Reynolds Signature.  It was  a fun, quick knit.  I think I have decided that these will be what my hairdresser's little girls get for Xmas next year. 

The Strangle Me cowl is now done and blocked.  Lunch knitting is still the Monkey Bread scarf, I am about half done and still plan to cast on the hat and then I will just use up all the yarn on the scarf.  I am almost done with the lace part on Annis and then it is on to the short rows section.

I still plan to start the socks and sweaters for my mother evenutally but I have to find where I put the sweater pattern.  I did find a pattern on Ravelry and think I am going to whip that up for me with some of the orange Reynolds Signature.  The pattern is by Marie-Adeline Boyer and it is called Gilet court d`ete.  It's a top down cardigan which looks like a quick knit.  I should still have enough of the Signature to make another little girl cardigan that I found on Ravelry plus maybe another Little Girl Shrug. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

This little squirrel was having a grand time.  The cats were going nuts.  The little squirrel ran along the window edge with only the window separating him/her from the cats. 
The Ten on Tuesday topic for 3/22 is 10 Reasons To Be Glad It's Spring.

1)  Warmer Weather - not having to scrap the car windows every morning.  Well, snow is due tomorrow so more scraping will probably happen.

2)  Sheep Festivals - CT Sheep and Wool in April and MA Sheep and Wool in May.

3)  Popping the sunroof - or in my car, there are two, one pops up and the other slides open.

4)  No more winter coat - will be nice to get the lighter jackets out.

5)  No more hats and mittens - I have started working on a new scarf for next winter to go with the leather gloves my nephew bought me for Xmas.

6)  Flowers - I can see the purple crocus in my neighbors yard from my computer chair.  Right now they are the only pop of color in the flower bed.

7)  Birds - Ma and Pa Cardinal have been in our front tree, so pretty.  Finally saw a Robin over the weekend.

8)  Bunnies - the bunnies should be coming back out soon.  The turkeys at work have already been coming around but not the bunnies yet.

9)  Sitting outside - last year I bought a screen house type thing and a nice new chair but never set them up.  This year I plan to use them.

10)  Walking - I bought new walking shoes and plan to start walking at the high school track again.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Caireen FO

Here's Caireen, modeled by my sister.  The yarn is a hunter green Cascade 220.  Pattern is from Susanna IC and it was in Knitty.  I knit is as part of the Loopy Ewe's First Quarter Cable Challenge.  I have knit cables before in hats, mittens and a vest for my father (which took over a year I think).  But, this had a time limit and being dark green was hard to knit at night.  It had short rows at the end which were worrying me but they ended up easy.  It was very fun to knit.

Still working on the Strangle Me Cowl, I have about 10 rows left to go.  Work knitting is the Monkey Bread Scarf.  It is a nice pattern to knit and I love the yarn.  I may cast on the matching hat and finish that up so I can use all the rest of the yarn to make the scarf as long as possible.  I also cast on Annis but haven't done anything but the cast on.  Waiting to finish Strangle Me first before I do more on it.

Next up will be a pair of socks and maybe another Little Girl Shrug and a sweater for my mother (also for me, bought the yarn last year to make 2 of them).

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday Topic for 3/15 is 10 Favorite Kinds of Pie.

Another hard one as I am not a pie person.

1)  Apple Pie - homemade only
2)  Chocolate Pudding Pie  - chocolate pudding in a graham cracker crust - homemade
3)  Chicken Pot Pie
4)  Turkey Pot Pie

That's it.  I am more of a cake person.  Today, we celebrated my birthday (it was last week) and we had 2 layer white cake with chocolate frosting.  Ymm.  I almost put a picture of that at the top but my parents bought themselves an apple pie at the store this week.  We get to choose the meal for our birthday dinner so tonight was spinach lasagna (half was beef) and cake.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Theodora FO

Theodora in Schaefer Anne, not sure of color as there isn't a name on my tag.  This was a fun knit though I did do the main section wrong.  It is supposed to be Linen stitch but I did my slip stitches wrong.  I love the colors and think this shawl will be a keeper.

For other knitting, Caireen is done and blocking.  The Little Girl Shrug is done and blocking.  Only thing on the needles right this minute is Strangle Me.  I do plan on starting something new today for lunch knitting.  Either a Monkey Bread Scarf by Knitspot or a Morehouse Merino scarf kit.  I also may cast on Annis from Knitty or a pair of socks.  Yarn for both are wound and waiting.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

Here's the little girl that likes to hide her little silver kisses balls.  She must be younger in this pictures cuz she weighs about 12 lbs now.

The Ten on Tuesday topic for 3/8 is 10 Favorite Smells.

Well, I'll have to sit this one out as I don't have a sense of smell that I know of.  I usually figure something smells not so good when I get a headache.  I have had allergies/sinus stuff for years and I don't remember when it started.  Years of allergy meds (now just certain times of year) and daily nasal sprays and I am just used to it.

Three more rows and the main part of Caireen will be done.  Then it is onto the short row section.  I should be done before the end of March.  This was a fun knit and I am enjoying it finally being done.  I did start a Knitting Pure and Simple Little Girl Shrug.  I should split off for the body tonight or tomorrow night.  If all goes well, it should be done in a week.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Kitty play and a little knitting

 From this:
To This: 
Kayla, the youngest cat likes to take the Hershey Kisses wrappers (about 4 rolled up in a ball) and bury them in the stole I made.  I plan to eventually felt the stole into a cat bed but for new, she likes to either sleep on it or bury the kisses in it.  The other cat likes to chase them around on the hardwood floors.  We find them in the closets, behind furniture, all over the house.

No finished knitting to show.  The Theodora Shawl is blocking right now, I finished it on Tuesday night.  I started the next Criminal Minds knit-a-long called Strangle Me on Thursday night.  The clue came out Wednesday but my thumb was doing some strange twitching thing so I gave it a break.  I have 4 rows left to finish clue 1.  Not loving slip stitch color work knitting, I think this will be my last slip stitch project.  I really prefer cables or lace.

I did take Friday off and went to the YS to try to figure out my Silk Diamonds Scarf but in the end decided to frog it.  I am just not enjoying the knitting.  So, I came home that night and spent about 2 hours on Ravelry looking for patterns to use so that the yarn won't go to waste.  I have five single skeins of fingering silk/wool yarn, each about 240 yards or so depending if I use the scraps in pink, purple, light green, medium green and dark green.  I think I have figured it out, the two lighter greens will go into a cowl and I might have enough to make two of them.  The purple will be a That Little Scarf by Knitspot.  The dark green will be a cowl that I found on Ravelry that has pine trees on it.  The pink I am still deciding but it will be a scarf of some kind.  Will be good to use it up and get some enjoyable knitting out of it.

Caireen is still lunch knitting and I should finish up the main part by Friday during lunch.  Then comes the 20 or so rows of short row shaping and it will be done.  I hope to finish by the end of March as I originally started it as the Loopy Ewe cable challenge. 

I may start a childs shrug today just to have a small project on the needles.  I am considering making them for my hairdressers daughters for Xmas and I know a little one year old so I will make a small size to see if I like it.  If I do, I will them plan to make 3 or 4 more (2 for the hairdressers kids, one for a co-workers little girl that I use as a size test for the other ones, another for a friends 3 year old).  Should use up some stash yarn, too.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

Picture taken last March.

The Ten on Tuesday Topic for 3/1 is 10 Things to Like About the Month of March.

1)  It's my birthday month.  Not quite as exciting as when I was younger.
2)  Spring is almost here.
3)  March Madness - love to knit to college basketball.
4)  My birthday day off - we get to take a day off in the 30 days following our birthday.  I think I will make mine coincide with some March Madness.
5)  The days actually seem longer to me.  It doesn't seem as cold and gray.
6)  The chance of 40 + degree weather most days.
7)  Any last snow doesn't seem to stay.  Maybe the mounds will go down.
8)  Baseball - spring training - yeah - more knitting time.
9)  Flowers - maybe the crocus will start to come out.
10)  Birds - hopefully the birds will come back to the feeders.