Winter Wonderland

We've received a deluge of snow lately (don't ask J about his 4.5 hour commute, though) and went out to enjoy the quiet beauty on our snowshoes. As we climbed up to the overlook area at Noon Hill I honest-to-goodness felt like I was in a Christmas card. These are just shots from the back year because I didn't bring the camera along.

Time Flies!

We're in the midst of getting ready for our trip to Montana for Christmas, plus J's finishing up his projects for his class, so we're a bit frazzled around here.

Lady Eleanor and Swallowtail=Complete!

Lady Eleanor
Originally uploaded by kjourdan

If only it would cool off around here, I have two nice shawls to wear to keep the chill off of my shoulders. I finished Lady Eeanor (shown here) and also the silk/cashmere lace shawl called the Swallowtail Shawl (click on the photo and you can see photos of it in Flickr). I haven't been knitting as much lately, but I've been knitting more challenging projects. Lots of friends are having babies, though, so I think I'll be knitting baby items for them in the near future.

Fancy Schmancy New Computer

BC Tailgating
Originally uploaded by kjourdan

I've been silent on the blog because our old computer was past the point of running more than one program efficiently, which made posting (especially with pictures) a time-consuming and frustrating experience. We're now the owners of a new Dell laptop, and boy are we cruising between programs like you wouldn't believe! Hence, I bring you September/October 2007: A Retrospective.

We went to a BC Football Game on October 6th. My colleague Tracey got us tickets and a tailgating pass (who knew the Corolla was destined for such great things!). Tracey's husband works for BC so we got the special treatment. We also got special treatment because BC scored 55 points or so. Sheesh!

The Red Sox are in the World Series! We've had friends over to watch baseball and it's been a lot of fun (and not just because we keep winning). It makes for very sleepy mornings after the games, but it's been worth it.

J's about half-done with his class for this semester, and I'm getting ready for the annual Massachusetts School Library Assocation Conference.

Oh, and work is fine too. :)

Full 43 days!

It's been far too long since I posted (43 days!), but I'm happy to report that it's because we've been having a lot of fun and there's been no time to post.
Since the last post, I:
Went camping in New Hampshire
Finished the lace shawl
Went to Wisconsin for a week
Went to the Cape for an anniversary trip
Went sea kayaking for the first time
Turned 30 years old
Started another school year of teaching
Had a very fun 30th birthday party (Thanks, J!)
Attended Miri's baptism
Finished knitting the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Wrap (it still needs to have the edging added)

Doesn't that all sound like fun?!

New Couch!

New Couch
Originally uploaded by kjourdan

Our new couch arrived! We've been working hard to get everything in the living room organized now that the furniture has all changed, but it will be a few more weeks before our new tv cabinet arrives. It's looking better, though!

(There are more pictures on Flickr..if you click on the photo above, it should take you to my flickr photos)

Cape Cod mini-vacation

Today we headed to the Cape for a mini vacation and did our two favorite things: Marconi Beach and dinner at Moby Dick's. We also put the birthday bike and bike rack to use and brought our bikes to ride about 10 miles of the Cape Cod Rail Trail. We'll definitely do that again, it was great! It's also a good paved surface for roller blading (something that's sorely lacking around our town).

Off to put the gear away!

Sheboygan!

Last weekend we went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to celebrate my mom's birthday. Thanks, Dad, for flying us out there!

We had a ton of fun, and I have more pictures of the weekend than I can post on a single blog post, so here's a start:

Knitting?

Yes, I have been knitting (and teaching advanced knitting at summer school).
So, here a few of my recent projects....
I made this cute frog from Classic Elite's Puddle Jumpers book (using 3 skeins of Tahki Kiss yarn as a substitute, and a 10.5 needle).

I made this tank top from KnitSimple Spring/Summer 2007 using Classic Elite Star (6 skeins) and size 9 needles.

And I started the Lady Eleanor entrelac wrap from Scarf Style using Noro Silk Garden (color 241).

Block Island

We headed to Block Island on the Fourth with Kurt & Cecilia (and Tizsa) and Marc & Christine. After a parking adventure at the ferry dock, we made the hour ride to Block Island.

We arrived in time for the big Fourth of July parade:

We rented bikes and rode out to the North Lighthouse. We probably biked about 10 miles, including many hills, so we were all tired by the end of the day. Well, except Tizsa (the cocker spaniel) because she got to ride on Kurt's back all day.

A fun day with great friends!

Tree trimming

The beautiful flowering tree in our backyard needed some trimming, as it was growing closer and closer to the house. However, it's also quite tall and even with the extendo-trimmer, we couldn't reach the top. So here's a picture of Justin trimming the top of the tree using the extendo-trimmer out the second floor bathroom window:

Aren't we creative?

We rode our bikes to Tangerini's for ice cream this afternoon in the beautiful sunshine. That totally evens out, right, riding your bike to go and get ice cream?

Birthday Bike

J's birthday present to celebrate the big 3-0 is this new bike! He's been bike-less since he left Montana, so it was time to remedy that situation.

I'm a softy, so even though it isn't technically his birthday yet, we went for a ride tonight. We even did a little off-road riding.

More birthday fun

Unfortunately, Eric had to fly to Switzerland Saturday night, so after dropping him at the airport, the remaining six of us ate some amazing Asian food, played xBox, slept (very little) and then ate mancakes for breakfast to bulk up before bocce at Roger Williams Park. Adam, we think you would have been proud of the mancakes.

After we dropped Matt F. at the airport, we went to our place and grilled pizza (Christine's garlic/butternut squash/chevre combo was FANTASTIC) and then watched the Democratic Debate together. Great conversation ensued, so we've decided that we should all have debate parties to encourage our own intelligent discussions on the issues.

Christine and I are so greatful to these three tremendous guys for their willingness to travel to the east coast to help celebrate Marc and J's birthdays. The spirit of the Huggenvik House lived on in Rhode Island this weekend!

Birthday surprise!

In honor of Marc and J's 30th birthdays, Matt, Matt and Eric flew out to surprise them with a weekend of fun. Here are some highlights....

Matt and Matt play with the cat toy

Marc, J and Eric make "the plan"Marc, Christine and Eric from afar (on the frisbee golf course)Golf action shotGroup shot on the golf course

Finished Four Seasons Throw

Look! I finished the throw! (Thanks to J for the photos) It doesn't look stretched out like that in real life--it's just how I was holding it up. He got a little closer to see some of the detail, but unfortunately that purple block isn't the most interesting of the patterns. You can also click on the image above and it will open a larger version of the photo to see the details.



Details:Four Seasons Throw pattern
Made from: Manos, Montera, Big Kureyon, Araucania Natural Wool Chunky and Lion Wool

In the middle, I had to take a break from the throw, so I made up this headband from knitscene.

Spring in Full Force

The flowers are blooming....

and the lawn needs mowing....

Spring is really here!

New chair covers

We re-covered the chairs for the dining table...they went from blah brown:

To a nice green and blue and tan pattern. (Ok, I admit that they're still not super colorful, but I like them better, especially with our green kitchen)

The colors in the photo don't do the fabric (or wall color!) justice.

Four Seasons Throw

So I'm still working through the yarn I already have (stash-busting, to those of you familiar with the knitting world). A week or so ago, I started a cotton blanket project that is going to be a long haul. (mitered squares like the little blanket I made for Lauren) If I have the fortitude, it will be a full-sized blanket. More on that later, though.

Here's my absolute latest project, born from the stash (you knit three strips, then sew them together):

It's called the four seasons throw. 10 out of the 12 of those colors came from yarn I already have. I bought the dark blue and the second variegated skein to balance things out. I'm going to be punting with that gold, because it's two thinner yarns I plan to knit together.

I think I like the second combination better (the one without the pattern book in it).

What do you think?

While at Fabric Place yesterday, we bought new fabric to cover our dining room chairs. I'm not sure if I'll get to that today (vacation is so busy, you know), but hopefully it will go well.

Hooray for vacation! Boo for incessant rain.

We're on April vacation this week! Hooray! J still has his grad. classes, but we're already enjoying the time off. Of course, the incessant rain is less than ideal. (But that could also be worse, because think of the poor marathoners!)

Since we're on vacation and have time on our hands, we made homemade cinnamon rolls (technically, they're pumpkin cinnamon streusel buns). I'm pretty impressed, if I do say so myself.

(Photo was taken pre-glazing)

I did finish up that felted bag and brought it to Kurt and Cecilia's for a hostess gift on Easter.

Happy Eastuh, Pastuh!

Today at church was quite entertaining. We had an inquisitive (but not annoying) little boy behind us (he was probably 2). After a minute or two of the scripture reading, he said, "What's she talking about?" His mom murmered a reply.

After part of the sermon, he said, "What's he talking about?"

Mom replied, "Jesus."

And his next question: "Jesus? Is he the Easter Bunny?"

Then as we were leaving (we had just greeted the pastor), the person behind us said, "Happy Eastuh, Pastuh!" Now, being from the midwest, I feel we can definitely mock the east coast pronounciation of things, because the midwest gets similiarly mocked. That, and I have to put up with people saying my name as "Kay-ler."

On the knitting front, I made two of these felted wine bags and plan to take one to Kurt and Cecilia's this afternoon. However, I couldn't find the leather strapping it called for, so I got some leather braided cord. I'll let you know how that goes.

Sweater complete!

But I can't show you the whole thing, because the recipient reads this blog...so here's a little glimpse until I mail it off!

A bit of Midwestern class comes to New England

Exciting news! We were at our local purveyor of beverages and look what has finally arrived in New England:That's right, Leinenkugel's! Unfortunately, it's not our favorite flavor (Go Honey Weiss! Go Original!) but we bought it just to show local beverage purveyor that they should keep it coming. It does help that the owner graduated from Luther and knows a good midwestern beer when he drinks it!

On another exciting note, I finished my socks! And I LOVE them! They are my best pair yet...both in execution and in comfort. Hurrah!

Details: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport gifted to me by Dominique

Pattern: Columbine Peaks (without the peaks, given the pattern mishap) from "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles"

And, because I was remiss in my last post: The baby bath mitt was knit in Araucania Nature Cotton using the mitten pattern from Ann Budd's "Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns." I used the mitten pattern for the gauge of my yarn. I knit an i-cord out of dishcloth cotton to create the fish.

Knitting along

I've been knitting up a bunch of my "stash" yarn. Here are the treasures I've made:
A bath mitt that was gifted yesterday (with the striped sweater below) at the shower we had for Joanna. More on that later. I used Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern.The French Market Bag from Knitty. I didn't know about the pattern (it was published in my pre-knitting days) until I saw Abi's post about it.
Two baby hats from some sock yarn that looked better in the catalog than in person.

Look! I've made progress on the socks. Now is when I curse my size 10.5 feet...but progress is being made. It's just tedious. From this perspective you can see that I've completed the heel and I'm working on the foot.


And I found this little sweater pattern in a book Maryse gave me. It's a fun little knit.