Sock Progress

I'm back from my two-day Massachusetts School Library Association conference. All and all it was a very informative conference. I also got this far on a new sock:














Unlike the Yarn Harlot, I was not confident enough to have the sock pose with the famous people I met there: Ed Emberley (you probably know him best for his how to draw books), Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky (check out this amazing Favorite Poem project--the videos are amazing, and the quality of the videos will be updated in the next week or so), and others.

Mitered Blanket

I finished it! The mitered blanket. This is for a friend out here who is expecting a baby. I used Cotton Classic in various colors that I thought were bright and cheery for a baby. It ended up about 28 inches by 28 inches. Now I need to decide if I should add a lining.

Off to Taylor!

I sent this blanket (and a sweater that I forgot to photograph) off to new baby Taylor. I made four random squares and pieced them together. I did learn one lesson the hard way: easy-care acrylic/wool blends aren't nice to work with. But now I know. :)

The colors are a bit off in the photo---darn cold, gray weather without natural light. It's also laying a little wonky. Oh well.

That's right, you knitters out there--that's an Intarsia heart on the upper right. It was my first intarsia and it turned out pretty well.

Long time no blog

Lots of craziness around here lately, so I've been a blog slacker. Here's a super-duper post to catch up!

Let's see....a few weekends ago, some of us went apple picking at Honey Pot Hill. It was a madhouse. I would recommend you plan to visit NOT on a Saturday, and NOT on a gorgeous weather day. Kurt shared these pictures of the day. While the apple pickers were traipsing through the orchard, a golf crew went golfing. It was J's first time playing 9 holes of golf and he even got a par on one hole! We also found out that Josh and Joanna are expecting a baby--such exciting news!

Last weekend proved that a AAA membership is worth its weight in gold (thanks again, Mom and Dad!) J's car, Old Red, is dead.

The story of his demise includes multiples towings and a seized engine, so I won't go into more detail here. We thank him for the 155,000 good miles we got out of him.

Which of course meant that we needed to buy a new car! We are now the proud owners of a 2007 Toyota Corolla. It will primarily be J's car, since he drives the farthest to get to work and grad school, so we want him in a safe and fuel-efficient car.

We also found out that our new nephew was born this week, Taylor. Taylor was impatient to arrive and meet everyone so he came 2 months early, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Sort of Noni Bag

I used a Noni pattern for this bag, but I used completely different yarn and changed the size somewhat. I made the flower in the correct size relationship to the bag, but it seemed too big so I trimmed it down.

Via Diagonale

I finally finished it! This is Via Diagonale from knitty.com. It was a real bugger, because of how you make the chevron pattern. It was actually hard on my hands, so I could only work on it a little bit at a time.

I used 5 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic--3 of the brown (color 3336), 2 of the teal (color 3805) and used size 6 needles.

I lined it with a very cute fabric, but I wish I had used something heftier so it would help the bag stand up even better.

Phew!

Impulse Buy

We were in Newport, Rhode Island last weekend to celebrate our anniversary and we made an impulse buy:













Just Kidding, of course. That's just one of the lovely homes we saw along the Cliff Walk. We also saw Rose Cliff, where The Great Gatsby, True Lies, and Amistad were filmed.






Newport is a beautiful place, and the weather was delightful when we were there. We can't wait to go back!

Final Shipment Arrived!

My secret pal sent me this awesome Moebius scarf as the final installment of the One Skein Secret Pal exchange:














Isn't it neat? Can you see why it's so tricky to knit? The edging is very detailed (I'm not sure if you can see it from the picture).

I especially love the colorway--and Dominique, my not-secret-anymore pal, sent me the rest of the yarn to have fun with!

I'm also intrigued by the Moebius knitting...add that to my list of things to try!

Thank you, Dominique!

Frisbee Golf

Saturday we (J, Krissy and I) went down to Providence to see Marc and Christine and also to play some frisbee golf. Here are some action shots:


In the background of the last shot you can see Bob. Bob was golfing alone and we invited him to join us. He is hard core---see that black bag on the ground? It's filled with all kinds of different frisbees. He also had longer hair than all five of the rest of us combined. I think Marc and J were jealous. :)

Here's the course we went to:http://www.pdga.com/course/courses_by_city.php?id=2208

Patient on the mend

J's feeling better and better each day...but I think he's had enough of mashed potatoes, oatmeal, applesauce and pudding. We did add a milkshake today...how's that for variety?

Down for a while

J's slugging out in front of the TV...his wisdom teeth removal went well for the top two teeth, but the bottom two were real buggers. Evidently there was drilling involved in trying to get them out. He's doped up on painkillers and has ice packs on his cheeks. Poor guy. He did enjoy some chocolate pudding for dinner, so that's good. His doctor also called tonight to check on him...I thought that was impressive.

Did you know that you have to show an ID to fill a perscription for percoset? I learned that today.

On the happy side of life, our garden is FLOURISHING. We've already been enjoying garden-fresh veggies. We even made pesto using our basil. The cherry tomatoes have been ripening these last two weeks....they're so tasty! The first of our "big" tomatoes is turning orange, so we should have a ripe one next week....

Recently Finished Objects

Here are some things I've made lately. Soon I won't be able to post pictures because I'll be working on gifts...

Plymouth or Plimoth?

Well, you saw the Freedom Trail pictures from last Thursday--on Friday we went to Plymouth and visited "the rock" (which is only part of the original rock), and then went to Plimoth Plantation.
Here is the rock:














Here is Dave listening to the nice Park Ranger:


















See how Dave was facing her? Very attentive. Then here is my darling husband "listening" to the park ranger.














Hmm, he's not even looking in her direction, and he's standing about 15 feet away. Erin and Dave are better tourists than we are.

On Sunday we went to the Cape. We got to use our handy beach umbrella from my parents, complete with the original sand auger. (it's quite an amazing thing!) Dave and J got it in the ground, and then J and I posed for a picture for my parents.

loads of fun

So, Erin and Dave left this morning. :( We had lots of fun while they were here, though. See?
Erin reading the Freedom Trail brochure to us:


Dave's first cannoli! (At Mike's Pastry)


Erin at the Make Way for Ducklings statue:


It was HOT while they were here. We went to the Cape on Sunday and loved the sea breeze that cooled things off.
We're sad that they're gone. sigh.

Backfired

Any of you who have been to our house in the last few months have witnessed the "creative" places I was using to store my circular knitting needles...doorknobs and the stair railing, to name a few. So when I said to J, "I think I'll make a circular needle holder" he said, "Great Idea!"

Seriously, he was that emphatic...I guess that the needles rattling on the bedroom doorknob were annoying when he was trying to sleep or something.

So here it is:

I used the pattern from Stitch and Bitch, but altered it near the end to make it easier (it was almost midnight). Those alterations include making one large foldover flap instead of the two flaps (which make it so it could go on a hanger that doesn't have the bar). I also got to use the cool iron-on tape I found on clearance at Wal-Mart for our (I mean mine, J would never admit to having one) Dymo label maker. See, it's useful after all!

It will not hang in the hallway like it is pictured here...I was trying to get as much light as possible for the picture. It is hanging in the guest bedroom closet, near the yarn, so they can talk and become friends before they come together to fulfill their fiber destiny. :)

The one drawback? When I showed J (and it was loaded with the needles), he said, "I didn't know you had so many needles!" Oops. Plan backfired.

Hoorah for Summer!

So, session two of Woodworking ended today, so I AM FREE AS A BIRD UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST. Of course I have an eye doctor appointment and all of those annoying things, but still, that's a lot of time on my hands. I'm not sure what to do with myself without a deck to build or windows to install or a bathroom to renovate. I'm sure I'll find something.

Erin and Dave arrive next week for their first visit to Boston. We want to show them a good time so they will want to come back. Hopefully there will be good pictures to post about our adventures.

J started his graduate school class this week and boy am I glad that I didn't do graduate work in English...the amount of reading he's already had to do is quite amazing.

Secret Pal Extraordinaire!

My secret pal emailed me last week saying she was going to send me (a relatively new knitter) some of her "extra" needles along with my skein this month....I was very excited, to say the least. The package arrived today and HOLY SAMOLIANS!!! I am a lucky girl...Addi Turbos, Fiddlesticks, HiyaHiya, and Susan Bates. And check out that awesome alpaca yarn from Misti Alpaca! The color is 2050, called LIPSTICK (tee hee hee). I can't wait to make something from it, maybe this scarf or this cable hat. Which one do you think? My pal said that she bought herself some and she keeps petting it...I keep petting mine. :) I agree with her that this is much easier and more cost-effective than having a cat or rabbit to pet.

Remember that awesome feeling in college when you got a package slip in your mailbox and you got to go and get it at the pickup window because it was too big to fit in your box? This was just as exciting! I was on the phone with Krissy and kept exclaiming about what was inside.

Sweater Action Shot

Janine, Glen and Amelia are in Boston for a visit, so I got to see Amelia's sweater in action! This is the first time I've seen one of my bigger knitted projects on the recipient, so it's very cool. Isn't she adorable?

Outdoor photos

I mentioned yesterday that we've done some work outside. Here are some photos:
The new deck benches were made completely out of materials we had left over from building the deck last year (well, except for the cushions, but that's it, really!):




We also expanded (by about 4x) the size of our planting bed in the back:
(The first is a far-off shot, the second and third are two close-ups)

Outside Adventures

We've been doing a lot of work outside at our house, and I'm pleased to announce (on J's behalf) that we have our best lawn ever! Now, I'm not talking 100% grass or anything (let's not be silly, people), but we're definitely at about 85% grass, 15% random junk that floats in and decides to grow. Compared to 40% grass when we moved in two years ago (and I am being generous with that 40%), it's a TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT! I can actually walk barefoot without it hurting! To add to that, we were recently gifted a Toro lawn mower very similar to my dad's. It is 20 years old, but in working condition. It was sitting in our neighbor's father's shed and he no longer uses it, so now it's ours.

Besides that, we expanded our back planting bed and built two benches for our deck. More details (and photos) on those two things later. Until tomorrow (when I can photograph said things), here are a couple of photos of the things we've got blooming around our house right now: