The Cold October Weekend

We central Virginians are used to some cold weather in October.  I've sat at my sons' baseball games bundled up with wool socks, mittens, coats and blankets.  But this weekend was abnormally cold and wet, as it seemed to be around the United States.

We got rain and 35 degree weather during the day Saturday, while other areas of the state got some snow.  This is really early for such cold air.  But, I loaded up the crock pot with beef stew and spent the day knitting and recovering - from the Cardinals winning the World Series!  Our family are Cardinals fans and had all but given up hope that we'd be rooting our team on after September.  Those guys (and us) never gave up and here we are - basking in an almost sleepless night and the glory of the championship.

So, I worked on my Vitamin D, my sister's hat, and shopped on etsy.com.  I really don't NEED anymore project bags, but Knitting's My Bag has some really great ones.  I've got one already and ordered two more over the weekend.  I also ordered yarn from Fibernymph, but you really have to be fast.  Her yarns sold very quickly.  So, the knitting was productive, the spending - well, it depends on your definition of productive, right?

Friday Status Update

Many exciting things have happened this week.  My family are huge St. Louis Cardinals fans, despite the fact that we live in central Virginia!  We see them play at least once a year.  In August, we were despairing that their season would soon be over, but they made an impressive run and are one game away from the World Series Championship!

In knitting news, I received this:

and I'm so excited.  I have also found some  yarn in a revelry destash to knit the Rocky Coast Cardigan.

I have finished the sleeves on my Vitamin D

and I'm really loving the color.  I lovingly call it Beagle Brown, since it matches the top of my beloved Shiloh's head!

I began a hat for my sister (although I've already knit a shawl she ordered for Christmas), since she loved the hat I made her daughter.  It's the Hermoine Hearts Ron hat in Knit Picks Shine Sport.

And, I swatched for my Dad's Christmas Vest and I really love the pattern.  This is the first item I've ever knit for him and I really think he'll be surprised.

I hope to have the hat finished very soon, followed closely by the Vitamin D.  I can't wait to start that cardigan!

Oh my goodness, it's been awhile!

Not that anyone is really reading, but it's been such a long time.  Life has been rolling on and I have just not taken the time to update.  The kids have had summer break and been back in school for about 6 weeks. I've been knitting along, some for me, some for the Loopy Ewe's camp loopy, and some for Christmas gifts.

Finished Objects:
I have made two pair of fingerless mittens, one for me and one for a friend.  Our sons play baseball together and it's getting chilly on those weekend mornings.  I like to knit during the games and she keeps the scorebook.  So, we were both in need of some hand warming while allowing us to use our fingers -

Mine are the top ones and my friend's are the bottom (I actually like her yarn selection better.  I may let her choose for all my projects!)  They are Berry Hill's Fingerless Mittens with Malabrigo Silky Merino. Here's my project page..  

That's it for now.  I'm really going to try and keep up, at least weekly...

My Sweet Boy

On Sunday, Shiloh, our 4 year old beagle who is sweet as can be, broke his dew claw (his thumb nail).  This requires a trip to the doctor, or since it was Sunday, the emergency vet (cha-ching).  It's quite painful - they have to pull the nail out and he has to keep a bandage on for 2 days.

It would be impossible to guess the  number of times he got that thing off and I had to re-bandage it.  He's better now, but that chasing and repairing really cut into my knitting time!

Roxanne KAL

The last 2 weeks have been busy.  School, orchestra concerts, baseball games and, of course, knitting.  For some reason, I stumbled across a KAL for a shawl by Liz Abinante called Roxanne.  My non-knitting friends (which is all of them around here) are always interested in what I'm making, but never seem to understand why I would knit something before I know what it will look like.  While waiting for the last clue, which was a bit delayed due to the designer's cross country move, I decided to make a second one.  So, here we are:

Moving on to Clue #3

Previously, I mentioned jumping into a KAL with a few people from my favorite Ravelry group, Knitting and Tea and Cookies.  I've depended a great deal on lifelines through clue #2.  I've ripped and knitted and ripped and knitted so much, that I'm very far behind.  Clue #3 came out over the weekend and I just finished Clue #2 on Wednesday evening -

I'm very happy to move to Clue #3, although it's very long.  Hopefully I won't have to rip so much with this one!

Harry Potter Yarn Club

On Monday, the mailman brought a surprise, my installment of the  Winding River Harry Potter yarn club.  Each skein is based on something related to the Harry Potter books.  In fact, my KAL is the Severus Snape color.  This one is called Horcruxes and is going to be a great pair of socks.

A little gift of a cake of bath salts was also included.  I can't wait to use that, especially after working on this KAL shawl!