Is It Over Already?

What great fun we have had. Yesterday, I spent the day with Arnhild. In the morning, Designing Norwegian Mittens.

She had some great hints, but I have to admit, at least for the time being, I am going to stick with knitting other designs.




In the afternoon, I spent an hour or so in her Design Norwegian Sweaters. Again, I am going to leave this to the experts. I walked away with alot of great hints.

Last night was an over hour presentation from Annemor. Oh, the history there and the many slides she had. Fantastic!


This is Sue's Every Which Way Wrap that she completed this weekend and has been wearing....isn't it cool?

It is from the Winter Issue of Interweave Knits and Arnhild's yarn that Sue bought last year.







And last but not least, Carol and Julie (sisters),our entertainment for this trip...not only are they a great couple of ladies but just a stitch to have around.

Yesterday afternoon and before the banquet, Sue and I spent time in the Lobby bar with others watching the Olympics and knitting. We got some great ideas from Sheryl Hill on a Camp that she does in Minnesota in October and a great special publication that came out.

More about that later this week...Time for breakfast and one more morning of knitting...thinking about learning Continental Knitting.

We're Here!

Lots of knit talk. Had a great after dinner visit with Julie and Carol. We laughed so hard and drank a little wine, knitted some and after about 4 hours I finally got the computer to let me get to the internet. Had to change DNS settings and then I was good to go.

Today ---not sure what I am going to sit in on...so many choices Annemor Sundbo, 2 socks on one circular needle, design a norewgian sweater or mittens, or see if the beginning knitting is continental...it would be a great weekend to find out how to do continental.

No chances of us getting snowed in this year! DARN.

Iowa Here We Come

Tomorrow, Sue and I are going to leisurely make our way to Ames, Iowa. There will be knitting in the car. There will be yarn shops to visit. Possibly, additional yarn may find it's way into the car as well.

I'm almost packed. Still have to decide on how much of the Lana Bambu yarn to take with me. I plan on spending a lot of time knitting on the Window Pane Sweater this weekend.


Tomrrow night, Arnhild's Knit Camp begins. I am planning on sitting in both of her design classes, one for a Norwegian sweater, the other for mittens.

I may sit in on the two socks on one long needle class. Just not sure at this time. I'm quite happy knitting on my socks with four needles, so that one is still up in the air.

Hope to post from camp. Until then, visit a yarn shop near you this weekend!

This Habit Of Mine

I have a habit of ordering books without looking at them. I could go out to Barnes and Noble and check them out before ordering, but more times than most, I go off and buy and they ask myself, WHY?

Not this time. Today, I got my new book from Knit Picks at 40% and at first glance, I am pleased. There are more than just a few sweaters that I might want to make for myself. I've just skimmed it, but there also seems to be some good hints for designing and knitting from the neck down (my new best friends).

I'll keep you posted!

High Hopes

I had high hopes when the Olympics began that I would whittle some of this cubicle of yarn down by the end.

But, as reported earlier on this blog, I haven't worked a bit on my olympic project since the opening ceremonies.

Oh well, I guess I'll put it back in the cube and keep working on the Window Pane Cardigan from Cascade Yarn.

A Little Bit of Spring

Despite the weather and all the other projects I have on my plate, I started a little spring project.

A little jacket for Spring Summer out of Sirdar Calico. This yarn is such a great deal. It's in my bag for this weekend, just in case.

My real love right now is the Lana Bambu Sweater. I am loving it!

1/2 Over

The Olympics are 1/2 over and I have to admit that since the Opening Ceremonies, I have not knit on the New Zealand Sweater at all...I've been having too much fun with several other things. It appears that I will not finish my first intended project and of course not medal in it.



But, I am hoping to finish the leggings this week from the Knitter's Almanac Februay projects this week. That does have potential for a medal in the Junior Knits category.Thats if I can just keep from knitting on yesterday's blog project!

There Is Still Some Winter Left

Last night, it snowed, today it was gone. But the weather forecasts snow for about the next three days. Then towards the end of the week when we go to Arnhild's, it suppose to get cold again.....Okay, I realize it is still February, but March is just a little over a week away, isn't it about time for Winter to stop!

So, with that in mind, there is still time for me to do a little Winter knitting.

This is so fun to knit or maybe it is just something I want to be knitting on that makes it so much fun?

The plan is to make it a tad shorter, and definitely NOT roll up the sleeves.

The color is so springy looking. It will be a great Winter sweater, but can do triple duty as a Spring jacket as well as an early Fall jacket as well!

Looks pretty good against my laptop too.

It's Amazing!


How a day spent with sunshine to start and then knitting the afternoon away can make one feel oh so good! The sun was shining, I got my car washed and my new yarn came in. I spent most of the rest of the day with Debbie out at Knit 4 Together.

The Lana Bambu I ordered sometime ago came in. I thought there would only be 5 in the bag that I ordered, which kept me up last night wishing I had ordered two bags so I could knit the sweater that I wanted to.

I'm glad I didn't because much to my surprise, 10 came in a bag and so now I am doing the pattern I found over at the Cascade Yarn website. It is going to be so cool! I can't wait for you all to see it. I swatched today at the shop and hope to make some progress on it tonight during the Olympics.

What a great day today was and guess what?! Tomorrow, I'm going back and will spend the morning with Christiane. If you are free, bring your knitting out and knit with us!

Ah, another good day.

Okay, So It's Only One

Day vacation...but I feel good. Had two glasses of wine and now I am going to pick up some knitting and knit awhile...I can stay up as late as I want tonight, and then get up and have a leisurely morning with coffee and the today show.

A stop at the attny for some estate business, go to the bank, get the Jeep washed and then off to knit the afternoon with Debbie at Knit 4 Together...ah, life is good. I really need a day of fun and not work!

Tonight, the Mens Ice Skating. Looking forward to that to watch while I do a little knitting. Off to make some coffee and enjoy the night!

Don't Know Why

But I am pooped...I've been snoozing in the chair tonight for about an hour and still can't seem to pick up the needles. I went to bed right after the ice skating last night, but still tonight, I feel like I could put my jammies on and go to bed. I could barely keep my eyes open to watch the Olympics tonight. Maybe because I am not too excited with what is on.

I've not been working on my New Zealand sweater for the Ravelmypics since the Opening Ceremonies. Rather, I have finished the February baby sweater and have been working on the leggings. I would show you a picture of the leggings, but I can't seem to drag my butt out of the chair to get the camera. So that will have to wait.

Only one more day of work this week. I decided to take Friday off and run a couple of errands in the morning and then out to the shop to knit with Debbie. My Lana Bambu came in and I can't wait to see it!

I think I'm ready for the weekend.

Februay Baby Things



From EZ's Knitter's Almanac. Instead of knitting on my Ravelympics Project, I'm having some fun with February baby things. I cast on tonight the baby leggings from yarn from the Yarn Room....no new yarn is being purchased for these projects. How do you like that!?




Completed tonight and on the spare bed blocking is the sweater. The lower half is supposed to be the gull lace pattern or one of my choosing. But since this is going for a boy, I decided to just do stockinette.

Someday, I'll do it again for a little girl with a lace pattern, but for now, I think it turned out okay. And as luck would have it, I had three really cute buttons left over for it.

I goofed up and didn't put a button hole close to the top, but I'm okay with it being left open. It is really kind of neat the way it hangs open. You can't really tell from this picture, because I have it laying down with it meeting.

What A Beautiful Drive

The trees were so beautiful on the way to the shop today. The frozen frost on each one was so fantastic.

I've noticed the last couple of weeks that there has been quite a bit of frost on the trees. Today, when the wind blew, it seemed to fall off of them like snow. Something, I have never seen before.

The radio was talking about frozen frost and I wondered last week if this is what they were really talking about.






I wanted to stop along the interstate and take pictures as I was driving along, but there seem to be an awful lot of traffic out this morning. It had to have been because the sun was finally shining. It was cold, but with the sun out, it sure did not seem like it.



I finally was able to pull off the road into a subdivision that was marked "Private" so I could take some pictures. I am sure that the cars that were going by thought I was some kind of wierdo!

Maybe I was.


I got out to the shop a little late, and it was already hopping. Nancy had a steady stream of customers until after noon. I had a great conversation with a couple of ladies. One of them had been to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Wisconsin last Summer too.



She turned me onto some ideas to use some of my sock yarn and a strand of some Kids Silk Haze that I have for scarves and for some of the toys from the Itty Bitty Book I bought.

After that, while the sun was shining, I did a little shopping at places I never seem to get in Peoria....have to take advantage of clean roads before it snows again.

Pizza Down

There are only a couple of things that will make me put a piece of pizza down! One happened last night. I read my email that we (Char, Linda and I) got into 2.75 Meg Swansen's Camp.

Hot Diggity Dog! I threw my pizza in the box and called Char and Linda. We're Going to Camp!!!!

Cast On!

Or rather for me, pick up the sweater in progress. The New Zealand Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmermann is my Ravelympics. I have entered it in the WIPS Dancing Event. The deal is that we could not pick it up and start knitting until the Olympic Opening Ceremonies began. So, armed with coffee, the minute they started at 8pm, I picked up my needles and started knitting.



I'm hoping before the closing cermonies that I will have it done. I, first started it on May 24, 2008. I'm not sure why I left it sit for so long, but as I am really trying this year to get some stuff off of needles and whittle down the yarn room, I thought it might be a good project to do for the Ravelympics.

That and the yarns are from Knit 4 Together so I can sit and knit on it in the shop without feeling too bad.

Good News! Best News!

A gal I work with today found out that she is in total remission from cancer.

We are all quite stunned! It is truly a miracle....

Nope, I'm Not Showing You Snow Pictures

Even though I did take some this morning on the way to work....Yes, I will say for those who are not in Central IL (Jean and Norma), the wind is kickin up and swirlin the snow around and it is a chilly night.

I'm sitting here knitting on my February Baby Sweater, drinkin coffee and thinking about the new book that I bought and have not blogged about. I, first saw it over on the Rainey Sisters Blog.

There is some darn cute stuff in in it that I might make, someday.
For now, it's just fun to look at on a cold, snowy February night.

Cusco, C'est Fini!

Well, almost. First it needs some serious blocking! Sometimes, that takes me as long as the knitting. I hate blocking!
I finished it at Knit 4 Together yesterday and promptly tried it on. The consensus that it was nice but I could have knitted the smaller size. Took the picture of it.

Then, this morning while posting to Ravelry, I gulped! What did I do wrong?

Checking my picture against Cheryl Oberle's Knitted Jackets picture, I realized when I had it on yesterday and for the first picture, I was treating it more as a rolled collar then the fold back that it was intended to be.

Once I tried it on with a roll back and pulled the sides where they were suppose to be, it fit oh so much nicer.

Serious blocking to be done and then I'll snag someone to take a decent picture of it with me in it. I love it so far, like one big hug I'm wearing!

February Baby Sweater

At the start of the new year, I decided to try and knit somethings from EZ's Knitter's Almanac. I did not fair to well in January. My Aran sits with about two inches knit in it and I'm not sure I like my choice for yarn or stitches.

So, when February started, I was bound and determined to start on the Baby things. As luck would have it, there are a couple of babies I could knit for. They are remote babies, but one out in Washington would really appreciate some knitted things from his honorary Aunt Penny.

I'm using Sirdar Snuggy Fair Isle DK for the sweater. I love the feel of this yarn. When knitted up, it feels like a chenille. Instead of using the gull pattern ( I thought a lace pattern might be to feminine for a boy) so I decided to just do stockinette for the lower body. This should be a semi quick knit.

You Gotta Love Em

But sometimes even grown children act stupidly. Unfortunately, when they do something not so smart, they pay for it.

How do parents whose children are constantly in trouble deal with it? We are actually quite lucky compared to some families. Don't sweat the small stuff, Mom.

But seriously Baby Boy B, it's time to grow up!

Tomorrow, it's back to blogging about knitting, I promise.

It's Been Crazy

At work and all around. Last weekend was a benefit for one of the ladies at work. We are still waiting to hear what the final results are, but it is going to be big, we hope.

Later tonight, the snow is suppose to set in and we should get around 4 inches before it is over. Not alot, but still, I am so tired of snow. We were just getting to the point that we saw bare yard and roads. I'm okay with brown for now....what I don't want is more snow.

I like wearing my sweaters and my new best friend shoes Merrells, but I'm ready for a break....and most of all, I'm ready for sun....all day long and into the evening. I'm ready for Spring.

My new bag for my little camera. Isn't it cute? Doesn't it make you smile a little bit? Courtesy of my friend, Norma. Did I mention she is in Florida with Jean, enjoying warm weather and sun.

Sun that is meant for us. I think I might have Gloomy Disorder. Sun would help. No snow would be even better. A week in Mexico would really help. Not this year though....concentrate on Knit Camp. Thats what I will do.