Hello Again!

It's been almost a full year since I saw you last...



March 12&13th is the Maryland home and garden show and I have not attended since I picked up this lovely paph at that show two years ago. This year I am looking forward to acquiring another and some supplies for repotting this one. Here is to many more years together and many more blooms!

In knitting news...I have made about 4 things and am working on a big one. 3 cowls', one lost, one given to Brian, one to replace the first that I lost, and one "destroyed" cowl. Here is one of them while blocking. The blocking did nothing to stop the curl which is why I have no more pictures of it but the self striping yarn is so pretty I just had to share






This one is made with my new favorite yarn by Madelinetosh. If I could use this for every project forever until I no longer knit I would, it's that wonderful. The texture, the quality, the colors.. Outstanding




It is a wonderful face warmer when doubled up. Brian wears his everyday and can wrap it around his neck and face at the same time. He looks like a bank robber but it keeps him warm


Finally, my current project. A gift for a new little person. I have added another 5" and have about 2 or 3 skeins of yarn left to finish. I ran out of yarn at this point and had to special order more from the store...It was taking way too long so I did a rush order on amazon and got it within 2 days. I'm back to working on it now.



Stitch pattern close up:




Not too shabby for a free pattern

That's all for now!

Obsessed

I love my kindle and I can honestly say that I have never loved a gadget so much. Not my smart phone, not my ipod, not my gps. It's all about the kindle. I do not know what it is about this thing that makes reading so damn enjoyable. Maybe it's the fact that I can get a book suggestion, look it up, and have it delivered to the thing in less than a minute. Also, I can download knitting patterns to it instead of printing them out and carrying around pattern papers that get all wrinkly by the time I'm done with a project. It is the jam.

Love these guys

I have a friend that learned how to play the banjo because he said that a sad song could never be played on a banjo. I can't recall ever being very fond of much music that featured the banjo, but after hearing these guys a few months ago I understand what he meant.

Gifted:

Irish Hiking Scarf


River Run:



I wish I had some better pictures of these two but I snapped them 5 minutes before we were running out the door on Christmas.

I finished my destroyed cowl (it's gorgeous!)and will start another one for myself this week, then I should move on to arm warmers/mittens/or socks. I am not sure which direction I'm taking yet.

As for the New Year, I'm glad it's here. I don't have much to say about NYE. Last Monday I came down with a horrible cold and it knocked me on my ass for a full week. I'm still feeling residual effects of it and can't smell or taste anything. NYE I built a roaring fire, and watched Harry Potter 5 on the couch with the dogs. Brian went to a friends house party. It was actually a rather nice way to start off the year.

I don't normally make resolutions. There are a few things I'd like to do more of this year but I haven't firmly resolved to do them, I'm too ambivalent for resolutions.
I should probably walk my dogs more often, make more meals at home, and I would like to pay off my new car within the next 1-2 years rather than waiting the duration of the loan.

The one thing I'm really looking forward to in 2011? The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Sheep_and_Wool_Festival

I can't wait to see a bunch of sheep, buy some wool from local tradespeople and pet some alpacas

Christmas Surprise

Earlier this year I fell in love with some dinnerware at Anthropologie. It was way out of my price range and I coveted it from afar. I loved this set but I put it out of my mind once I realized that it was not going to happen. I could not justify the expense.
Never have a loved plates as I did these.

Fast forward to December 25 and Brian is carrying box after enormous box down the stairs on Christmas morning. I was thinking, what could possibly be in these boxes? Nothing I mentioned wanting or needing could be this big....

I knew what it was immediatley when I opened the first box and it revealed many smaller boxes labeled 20,000 leagues. He bought me the whole set. The whole damn set. 8 of the large Octo plates,8 of the salad plates in each variation, and 8 bowls.

They are so beautiful and I will cherish them forever. They were such a huge surprise. He had bought them in May and had been storing them for months.





Now that Christmas is over I am so, so, happy to be finished making presents for people. I gifted 7 knitted items-4 scarves and 3 hats. My fingers are wrists are exhausted.
Brian's mother gave me a $75 gift certificate for my favorite new yarn place in Wheaton and I am currently working on something for myself! I haven't made anything for myself at all.
I can't wait to use my certificate but I have skein after skein of yarn in storage so I really have to use some of the stuff I already have before I redeem it.

Beautiful disaster

I made something beautiful and it fell apart.

It was a project I was rushing because I wanted to wear it on Saturday. I finished it within a couple days, about 5 hours total, but didn't heed the warning of "practice this stitch before you try it on a project"
I got the hang of it but I started it wrong and it's all coming unraveled. Not even worth the effort of blocking it.

The pattern was lovely, I will try it again. One for me and one as a gift.

I am sick to death of scarves. They are so tedious.

Rabble Rabble

Brian and I attended the rally to restore sanity. We only caught the last 10 minutes of it because we really didn't anticipate such congestion on the metro. I'm glad we went because I saw a lot of hilarious signage and I put a lot of effort into making/carrying my own. As the title of this blog may lead you to believe I am a fan of south park. May I present the sign:




It was well received by people who knew what it meant. Some people did and some didn't, but the ones that did would rabble when they saw it, so a lot of my day was accompanied by the sound of rabbling which was highly amusing.

I finally finished staining the deck (yes, the one I started several months ago), voted, and yesterday I turned 27. I had a nice Birthday and am enjoying my new kindle even though I don't have much time to read with the impending holidays.