Um, Hi. I'm 1!!!

I can't believe I almost missed my one year blogaversary! I was going back through my archives to try to figure out when I started this here blog and wouldn't you know it was one year ago today! I was shocked. I can't believe I stuck with it. I can't believe I have knitted enough to fill one year's worth of blog posts! What a great feeling.

Happy Birthday YarnCoffee!!!!

I suppose I can call my most recent yarn and supply purchases birthday gifts to my blog! Yay, an excuse for my obsession!

I got a new ball winder, a yarn swift, 12 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Sage for my Cardigan for Arwen featured in Interweave Knits Winter 2007, 5 skeins of Crystal Palace cotton chenille to make the flower washclothes in Weekend Knitting, and 1 set of Bamboo DPN's by Crystal Palace. (pictures to come later)

Then my coworker gave me all this yummy yarn that she didn't want anymore! I'm thinking of doing some sort of lap blanket similar to the one featured in Weekend Knitting with the lighter yarn colors. Eww, and a fuzzy scarf with the mohair yarn in the left hand corner. See it? Isn't it pretty and mauvey!?

Last week when I should have been working on the completion of my CPH, I decided that I needed to organize my stash of yarn and allllllll my sewing supplies. Since work was closed due to the sheet of ice that dropped from the sky, I used Wednesday to do just this. After organizing I told myself that I would sit down and get right to work on the CPH. However, boredom and procrastination set in and I ended up using my time very wisely...to do this:

ROY-G-BIV = Pretty

Happy Knitting!

Progress Is As Progress Does

Just a few more pieces and it'll be done!

Monkeying Around

This weekend I finally got to see my friend (Monkey). The last time we saw each other was her wedding back in September!

Not only was the time filled with good company, wine, laughter, and general silliness but I also finally got to give her her Christmas gift. I have been hiding it on my blog because she's an avid reader and I couldn't post her present and ruin the surprise. Although, she says she knew she was getting this scarf, I tried to keep it a secret.

But now that the cat's outta the bag I can finally reveal the Irish Hiking Scarf I made for her!

And here she is displaying it:
This scarf was really easy and fun to knit. I used Caron Simply Soft in Victorian Rose. This yarn was perfect. It created such a soft fiber and was both machine washable and dryable. Plus the weight of the finished fabric draped well. I would highly recommend this yarn for the Irish Hiking Scarf. As a matter of fact I plan on making myself one soon!

Nothing says fun and crazy with a friend like a crafty activity, so after Monkey and I did our gift exchange we headed over to Amazing Glaze and painted some ceramics.

She chose a lovely little frog:

Anyone else see a resemblance here?

And I chose a pretty little vase that I hope to put knitting needles in. I'm holding up a sample project from which I copied the pattern for my vase.

Why I am making that ridiculous face I do not know, perhaps I was thinking something dirty?

We have to wait five days for Amazing Glaze to fire out finished project but hopefully the three coats of color will turn out well and I will discover that I have another hidden talent!

Thanks for the fun day, Monkey!

Happy Knitting!

Too Generous!

What an amazing treat to have had such a great secret pal this past Secret Pal 9! Abigail was my secret knitting pal and she completely spoiled me with yummy yarn treats. Here is a shot of my final secret package. I was so overwhelmed when I opened up the box and found so many skeins of yarn, trinkets, books, patterns, and a carrying bag!

She also included a slipper pattern from Knitty and her own personal pattern for dishclothes.

Thank you Abigail!

Something's Cold in the State of Maryland

So, we've recently hit a new record. According to the news last night our midday temperature of 19 degrees is now the coldest February 5th midday temp ever recorded in history. Well, how fabulous. How absolutely freakin' freezing your ass off fabulous! I'm only slightly aggravated by this new Maryland weather feat. Where does this aggravation come from you may wonder?

Well, yesterday my office had no heat...all day...not one drop of heat...and I stayed...in coat, gloves, and scarf...allllllll day! Now, let's start explaining this by informing you that I work in a historical train station. It was around during the Civil War and there is a story told that Abe Lincoln once stopped in to pee (my hearts a flutter), we still have the ticket window, and many cute nuances to the building that make it a unique and interesting place to work. The building, which looks like a little house on a hill, has been updated to operate in modern society so we have oil heat and radiators in every room. However, it's still quite drafty. But drafty is nothing compared to yesterday when Carroll Fuel just up and didn't fill our oil tanks. Apparently they screwed a lot of people over because when I called to complain yesterday they had about 400 "emergency" calls they were responding too. They finally filled out tanks only to find out that our pipes are frozen (greaaaat!), so today I'm at work, still cold, can't feel my fingers or toes, and we are feeding water manually into our boiler because it can't come through the pipes. Can you say 2 hour long lunch break? I can.

If I could knit at a turbo speed I would finish my central park hoodie so that I could be wearing it today. In this frigid weather I'm sure it's delicious tweedy wool would keep me plenty warm. Last night I finished the second front panel so now I only have 2 sleeves, one hood, and the button band to finish. Don't know that I will get it done in time for Valentine's Day but I am refusing to get too distracted with other projects so that I will finish it in record time.

Speaking of being cold, I had a cold...all weekend. I left work early on Friday and set out to the grocery store to buy the essentials, 10 cans of soup, a thermometer, Kleenex, decongestants, and Halls Menthol lozenges. I then ran to Blockbuster and rented 5 movies. When I got home I opened up the sofa bed in my toasty living room, put the lap top on the sofa bed, along with my knitting, hot soup, box of tissues, and I was ready to go. I started in on some projects and am proud to say that I am officially a lace knitter!

I started my first lace project this weekend. Using random stash yarn I cast on the Branching Out Lace Scarf from Knitty. This is my first attempt at lace and I'm surprised that it's not as difficult as I thought it would be. My only problem is trying to memorize the pattern. Do lace knitters usually memorize the pattern or do they just continually refer to the chart for guidance? I've repeated the chart six times now and I'm no where near memorization, I don't even think I'm trying considering I watched about 3 movies while knitting it.

While I have yet to start other projects due to my dedication of finishing my CPH, my mental gears have already started griding away and I definitely have a few more projects to add to my little Listomania:

We have this lovely little beaut. The Flower Washcloth from Weekend Knitting. I'm going to use Knitpicks Shine yarn made with 60% cotton and 40% Modal. I think it should be durable enough for a washcloth.

Then having recently acquired Vintage Style by Rowan I'm very excited to try my needles on this number. By the time I finish it it will be too warm to wear but I just love the cabling and the asymmetrical buttons at the neck! Plus this sweater looks very warm and cozy and attempting to work half frozen right now makes this sweater all the more attractive!

Happy Knitting!