Thursday, March 29, 2007

Three yarn shops and a pedicure

My lovely husband, Andrew, gave me a day off this week. I, of course, took that opportunity to visit yarn shops!

But first, this diversion:

The ballband dishrag made popular again lately by the gals at Mason-Dixon Knitting.

I had picked up two balls of Sugar n'Cream Cotton on our last trip to the local dime store.

They made for great "mindless" knitting for the evenings for a couple of nights.
Don't the colors look great in our kitchen?

Okay, back to my day trip. I wanted to check out two stores in Ann Arbor that I've never been to. First I hit Flying Sheep, where I placed an order for enough Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Robin's Egg Blue for a Green Gable for myself.

Then I drove through campus (luckily I wasn't in a hurry) on my way to Knit A Round, where I bought some sock yarn and three books by Elizabeth Zimmerman.


Last, I drove into Detroit to hit City Knits, the LYS that is closest to me and the one I usually shop at. I bought three lovely tribbles of Kid Seta for Kiri, as well as a new knitting tote, which I am totally loving because not only is it cute, but it has pockets and dividers so that I can put some of my personal items in (lipgloss, wallet, etc.) as well as an emergency diaper and a packet of wipes for Rose, and still have an entire large section just for a project or two. I didn't get a picture of that, yet.

Then, as a lovely cherry on a lovely ice cream sundae, I stopped and got a pedicure on the way home. I loved every second of the day, and love Andrew so much for giving it to me.

Next time: a cute sweater for Rose!

Love,

Kim

Monday, March 12, 2007

Some quick Cozy pics

Just a quick post as I am supposed to be on my way to my mom's house right this minute.

I took these on Saturday. It was gloriously sunny and warm here in southeast Michigan, so I finally took some outdoor shots. I only wish the ground had been dry -- we have some ivy under our evergreen tree (pine? spruce? I'll have to find out) but I had no intention of laying this creamy beauty on the sodden leaves. Maybe when it's finished the yard will be dryer, and I'll do it then.
A close up of the stitch pattern.

More soon,

Kim



Friday, March 9, 2007

The bright side...

... of knitting two baby blankets at once is that once you return to projects with less than 200 stitches per row, they just fly off the needles!

I knitted up one whole hank of yarn into the Cozy project in the past three days. This is compared to the span from August to December, when it took (let's see, divide 5 months by 3 hanks) an average of 40 days to knit each hank. I swear I'm really not that slow a knitter, just distractable!

Peg, it took me a long time to get into Cozy. I actually started it at least a year ago, but I was using a very soft alpaca yarn. It was impossible to see any stitch definition or the stitch pattern itself, and I kept making mistakes because of it. In fact, I frogged it back to the beginning three times before giving up on marrying that yarn to that pattern. Now that I'm using a sturdier yarn (the recommended yarn, hmm...), it's going like clockwork. I still have the alpaca, and am looking forward to using it in a simple stockinette project where I can just admire its buttery softness.
I'll post Cozy pics soon, I promise!

Love,

Kim

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Please, no one else get pregnant...

No, I'm not really serious about that. But two baby blankets at once are too many. Next time, maybe a cute little sweater or hat and booties set.

However, I'm done, and I love how it turned out. Don't worry, Rachel, I'm not going to show you now. But I can't wait to give it to you! Anyone else who wants to see, click here.

I believe I'll spend a little time with Cozy after Rose is in bed tonight, and work on my Nana's second sock. There are so many new projects I want to hurry and cast on for that I feel I'd better wait and let my ideas percolate. Besides, there's nothing wrong with finishing what I've already started! :D

Love,

Kim

Sunday, March 4, 2007

I Am Bert

Rachel, I bet you had your suspicions...


You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

Love,
Kim