It's another a*% freezing day out there

I'm freezing my ass off here in old Sawdust City. Like that's going to happen any time soon (laughing allowed). If only it were that easy, I'd got outside without pants on.

Got a little knitting done last night and a lot of talking. It's a good thing that the beaded scarf isn't technically difficult. I did find out, though, that just when you think something is easy-peasy, that's when the trouble begins. Don't drop a stitch when you're doing garter stitch--it's not fun picking it back up.

Ravelry is a time-sucker!

You know, I have been on Ravelry since October of last year. I just now have found time to work on my pages there. It sure does take a lot of time to do, but it's pretty much fun. Sure took time away from my knitting, though. Churchill, the cat Nazi, was not pleased at all with Mama being on the evil computer machine all that time.

It's okay that I didn't get much knitting done, because.....it's Knit Night tonight!! I can't surf the 'net there (well, technically, one can, but I don't have a laptop--yet). I may have gotten us another new Knit Night person on Ravelry--yippee, more people. Our group used to be much larger, but a lot of our student members either graduated and moved away or they are busy.

Keep your pants on

I got this picture in my email today.



Not a good trade-off. Knitting takes longer and you have a tangible reward at the end that's longer lasting. Not that sex isn't fun.

Good weekend!

Our meeting was cancelled on Sunday, so I had more knitting time!

First, we went snowshoeing on Saturday with Paulette's sister, Cheryl at Walla Hi county park in Manitowoc County:

The weather was perfect for snowshoeing. That park is so pretty.

On the way to snowshoeing (after my meeting on Saturday), we stopped at the yarn store in Fond du Lac, The Knitting Room. I bought this Noro sock yarn:

I also got some Rowan "Big Wool" to make a larger heart scarf:

Big Wool sure knits up fast!

I also made good progress on my beaded scarf:

When all is said and done, a very productive and fun weekend.

Hearts and beads

Hey, it's finally Friday! I wish I had the weekend all to myself with no one expecting me to be at meetings or anything else--maybe next weekend.

I got the heart scarf done:



That sure went fast.

I began the beaded scarf this morning on my break and worked more on it at my lunch hour.



The yarn for this is Koigu PPPM. I now understand why people like using this yarn. It's so buttery soft. Because this scarf has so many beads, it's frighfully heavy. I don't care. It encompasses two of my loves--knitting and sparkly stuff.

Paulette and I are definitely skipping our meeting tomorrow afternoon to go snowshoeing. I wait for this all year and I'm not going to spend a lovely Saturday afternoon indoors. So there. The meeting in the morning is in a restaurant, so there's breakfast and lunch. And they have pecan pancakes there that are nummy. Plus my friends are at the meeting, so it won't be so bad.

They're all growed up now

My sister's socks are all packed up and ready to mail. I hate when they leave home. Bye, little socks!

Brrr

It's so forking cold out there--when I got up this morning it was -10F. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. However, I must be getting used to it because it is starting to not feel as cold as it first did when we started this cold snap. I sure have seen more of the city driving around to warm my car up before I park it or leave it in the garage.

I now have 11 hearts done on my scarf. I bet there are at least 11 more in the skein that's left. Knit Night was productive!

I'm free!

My sister Lora's socks are done!



Now I just have to get them in the mail. Lora, you'll have them next week at the latest!

Now, I'm knitting for me. I started my heart scarf last night.



It's kind of fun. Plus, it goes really fast. I finished two hearts at lunchtime. Maybe it will get done at Knit Night tonight. The yarn is worsted weight. It's pretty skinny, but I was imagining this pattern in a super bulky weight if I knit this pattern again.

Paulette went to 2 yarn stores in Memphis. We have other knitters in our union. Here's what she brought me:



Isn't the little bee tape measure just the cutest thing?

Here's an obligatory Jeffy picture:



Jeffy's really happy his mama is home. He was lonely sleeping on her bed all by himself. I don't put him on my bed to sleep with me because Churchill picks on him all night then and no one gets any sleep.

Fashion emergency!

Being that I work at a university, I see all sorts of weird clothing, hair, jewelry, etc. Today's weird fashion sighting was a girl with knee high boots that are so furry that they look like the Wookie from Star Wars. Paulette said I should go and take a picture of her. I don't think so. I suppose I should be happy--at least she had boots on her feet, as opposed to flip flops in such cold weather.

I once had one of my student employees come in to work in February when it was snowing out complaining that her feet were cold. Her footwear of choice for the day was flip flops. Do they look out the window before going outside? The ones that always make me feel really cold are the girls who insist on wearing spaghetti strap tops in the winter with no sweater over them. Hello, this is Wisconsin and it gets cold here.

Knitting update

I only have 5 more decrease rows left on the sock. Yippee. It will be finished before I go to sleep.

Paulette is home now--finally. She suggested we skip the meeting on Saturday afternoon and go snowshoeing. That is acceptable and then I don't have to use vacation. But I would have.

Whiteout

Gee, will the snow never end? Lucky for me, this morning while I was shovelling the front sidewalk for the second time in 24 hours, my savior from across the street came and snowblowed my entire driveway for me! I love my neighbors. We got 7 inches of snow yesterday. It's really slippery driving out there because it's so cold the ice melter won't work. There's sun today, so that should help some.

The snowpiles on either side of the driveway are so big I can hardly put snow on them any more. I guess they will need to be cut down to size. I hear there's a possible whopper storm coming either late this weekend or early next week. And, more snow this coming Friday. I would be thrilled if I had the time to go snowshoeing. Unfortunately, others have planned my entire weekend for me. I have 2 meetings on Saturday and 1 on Sunday afternoon. I need a vacation. I am thinking of perhaps taking vacation on Thursday to go out snowshoeing, if I can convince others to go with me. It's their own fault if they went to Memphis for a week.

On the knitting front, I am in the home stretch with my sister's socks. I am down to only the toe on the second one and then I am done.

We still love the Packers!

The Green Bay Packers are, no matter what the Dallas Cowboys think, America's team. Thank you Packers for a good season. We won the North Division Championship, anyhow.

On to more fun things. One more pattern repeat and I can start decreasing for the toe on the last sock of the pair for my sister Lora.

I can't wait to knit for me!

However, that must be delayed for more mundane things, such as taking out the garbage and shovelling all the snow that's falling again. We're under a snow advisory for 4-6 inches today and tonight. It's snowing pretty hard right now. Of course, I end up doing all the shovelling alone because Paulette is once again not here for a snowstorm. She's currently stuck in the airport in Memphis. Sigh. My elbow is holding up pretty well (remember, I had tennis elbow). Why can't the cats learn to help with stuff like this, the little freeloaders?

Halftime update

The Packers are winning 10-6 at halftime. Woooooooo hooooooooo!

Go Pack Go!

Last minute preparations

It's 40 minutes to game time. I am doing the dishes and laundry so I won't be disturbed during the game.

The Packer flag is out:

I'll soon be in my chair cheering:

Notice the knitting on the table next to me.

Looks like the Patriots will be the opponent unless something drastic happens in the last 3 minutes left in the game. I confess I was not watching the whole Patriots game. There is a "What not to wear" marathon on TLC that I was watching.

Thought for the day

I hate shovelling. Enough said.

Random Wednesday thoughts

Only 2 more days until the long weekend (we have off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day). Yahoo.

A picture of the Green Bay Packers pin which I am wearing today:



We are supposed to get a bunch more of snow tomorrow. We'll see what happens, with the Winter Storm Watch out there and all.

I have made good progress on the second sock. I should make much more this evening, for it's good old Knit Night once more.

I hear Brett Favre is supposed to be on the front of Sports Illustrated again. We'll see how many times stores around here have to re-order them for all the fans. It was seriously nuts here the last time Brett Favre was on the cover.

We hear the Packer angels...

Here is the Packers angel that is sitting on top of our television.

Long may she hold power over the outcome of the Packer games!

Go Pack Go!!

Jeffy is ready for whatever cold weather is coming--the forecast for this weekend is really cold.

The end is in sight!

The end of Christmas knitting is in sight! Witness:



I finished this sock last night and cast on it's friend.

My next project will not be the beaded scarf. I remembered I had sent for this heart scarf kit last year from Tess' Designer Yarns in Steuben, Maine.

It's so cute. It's really soft hand dyed worsted weight superwash merino. Yummy! I don't think (this is probably the kiss of death saying this) this will take long and then I can move on to the beaded scarf.

One step forward, two steps back

Well, I made good progress on the first sock of the pair for my sister Lora:




I'm to the toe decreases--yippee. However, I did not arrive at this point without a little trouble. I made Paulette try the sock on after I had done 2 toe decreases. The socks would have fit her lengthwise. My sister wears a size and a half less than her. Sigh. I knew it was going along too well in the end there. The length has now been reduced (after 2 hours--sometimes they go back slow, sometimes fast) and I have begun the toe decreases again. Soon it will be a sock!

The weather has been delightful all weekend, especially for the Green Bay Packer game. It sure was fun watching that while it was snowing there (and here). They should call it the "Snow Bowl". All I can say is, the Packer angel ornament that came off the tree and is now sitting on top of the television is remaining in place for the time being. She did her work well. I must take her picture to acknowledge her contribution.

Hey, it's Friday again

It's been a busy week, so I haven't had time to post anything. Or, for that matter, knit much. I had meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday (no Knitting at Starbucks this week, I am so sad) and Thursday evenings. No wonder I am tired.

I finally turned the heel on the sock I'm making yesterday. Don't have it with me, so a picture will have to wait until another time. The pattern I am using, "Undulating Ribs" socks is turning out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would. After you pick up the gusset stitches, it becomes a kind of interpretive dance to try and figure out what the person who wrote that pattern was thinking. I figured it out--eventually. That and the needle size choice on the pattern writer's part--you are supposed to begin with size 4s and then decrease after 3 1/2 inches to 3s, is just kind of weird. I am using size ones and it's turning out to be a good size. If I would have used 4s, these socks would fit an elephant. My sister would not have appreciated socks that she could use as grocery sacks, I think.

New poster

I made a new poster for Knit Night at the Oshkosh Starbucks.

The weather outside is frightful-ly weird

When I was home at lunch today, there was a thunderstorm going on outside. No kidding--the last time I checked it was January 7. I hope it stops soon--stuff is going to start flooding with all the snow left and everything if it keeps up. And it's ruining my chances of going out snowshoeing for a while. There's always--knitting to keep me entertained.

My sister's socks are coming along--here's sock #1 of the pair:



The pattern I am using is "Undulating Ribs" from Interweave Press' Favorite Socks book. Lora, if you're reading--you'll have them soon!

This is what I bought on Saturday with my gift card from Iris that Lora gave me for Christmas:



Sorry about the darkness of the photo--it's a dark day. The yarn is Noro Aurora, in color number 9. I'm going to knit a scarf to wear next year at Christmas. I have burgundy Rowan yarn for a hat.

While I was waiting at Iris for Paulette to wind the yarn she bought (Cassie was alone in the store and could not wind it for her), I took a surreptitious picture of one of the rooms in Iris:



The needles I bought will be used on this yarn that Paulette gave me for Christmas:



It's Koigu, in color number P436412. The photo does not do it any justice at all. It's a lovely mix of pastels. The beads will be used with it when knitting to make this scarf:



We took our Christmas tree down yesterday. It always feels so spacious in the house when it's down. Judging by the dryness of the tree, we will most definately be going out to look for LED Christmas lights next year ASAP after they are put out in the stores.

Here's Churchill taking his last nap behind the tree before we took it down:



He loves the tree so much. When we bring the tree stand up from the basement the night before he gets all happy because he knows what's coming.

Completion

My mom's socks are all packed up and ready to mail. One more pair down and I'm done with my Christmas knitting.

Speaking of completion, I finished lining my Noro hat last evening.

Outside of Noro hat

Lining of Noro hat

I sure was surprised at how fast this went. I never expected to pick up the stitches one night and be finished with it the next night. I lined it with (to refresh your memory) Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in navy. It's so soft and cuddly now--and really warm! I love Noro's colors, but it is a really scratchy yarn. This solved the dual problems of not warm enough and the scratchy nature of Noro.

As promised, here's a picture of the row counter Paulette's sister, Cheryl, made me.

Isn't it pretty?

Pictures!

I took lots of pictures at lunchtime.

Here are my mom's completed socks:

Here is the yarn I'm going to be making my sister Lora's socks out of:

Here is my hat lining in progress:

I'm impressed at how fast this is going. I just picked the stitches up last night before I went to knit night. Woo hoo. The yarn is encased in a yarn traveller case that my sister Lora gave me for Christmas.

This is the knitting bag that Paulette's sister Cheryl gave me for Christmas:

It's lovely. It has a divider in the center and a pocket for needles. Thank you Cheryl!

She also gave me a needle roll case:

It kind of looks like a big green bean all rolled up, don't you think?


She also gave me a row counter that she made, which I still need to take a picture of.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Picture of part of table arrangement I made for New Year's Eve.

We went snowshoeing yesterday in the Kettle Moraine State Park in Sheboygan county:

It was cold out (about 16 degrees F), but we don't really care about that. You get pretty warm snowshoeing. We've been out in below zero weather. Our lovely snow is about to be melted this weekend with temps in the 40s forecast. Maybe that will change (wishful thinking).

I got my mom's socks all finished. I will post the pictures later or tomorrow. I have socks I am going to make my sister, but I needed to be sock-free for a while. I am knitting a lining in the Noro hat I made last year--it's stockinette and not very warm. It will be now! I am using Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in navy. It's about halfway knitted now (you gotta love knit night! I always get a lot done on my knitting on knit night). I picked up stitches inside the brim and I am knitting upwards on the lining.

Here's a nice picture of Paulette drinking her white chocolate peppermint mocha at home:

Jeffy says Happy New Year!