Happy Leap Day

It's snowing again today and I need to go pack for a trip to Michigan this weekend. My cousin is getting married so we are off the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). There is a contest here, to show your collections so here is mine. I have collect glass bottles since I was a teen. I found most in the junk pile out by my friends house or garage sales. They have been hauled all over with me since. Every once in a while BDiddy tries to get me to get rid of them but I love them. He is not the antique lover. The little blue one was given to me by my grandma so I can't get rid of that one for sure.

Three of these above were found out in the woods, I'm not sure how old they are but maybe from the 50's?

This little blue one was on my great grandma's shelf, I am named for her. I got it when she died its the only thing of hers I have. It makes me think of her and how pleased she was every time we saw her. She would say my name with her thick Finnish accent with such a happy tone and hug me tight. I wish I knew more about her. She came from Finland at age 16. I can't even imagine what that was like. I will have to ask my mom what she knows.

I will be bringing my Azure sock and the Asymmetrical Cardigan to work on in the car. The ride is about 4-5 hours so I should have plenty of time to knit. Have a good weekend!

Contest Winner and Stuff

First things first the contest winner. By way of the totally high tech drawing from a hat, the winner is Ikkinlala. Congratulations! Send me an email with your info and this lovely is all yours. Plus a few surprises!

Here is my family having breakfast last Sunday. Look at Noley hamming it up:)





Here is me having breakfast last Sunday. Yeah I fed them first then I got to sit and drink my coffee, read a bit and just relax.


Outside it looked like this. Hoarfrost all over. See this post for a great explanation of what that is. Notice how one side of the trees is frosted but not the other? Cool.
OK I'm not the best photo taker but you get the idea, and I did take those last 2 while stopped at a light.


As promised here is the start of my Asymmetrical Cardigan, finally. I love, love , love this. Malabrigo yarn in Vaa is so squishy and soft.

These are half done, by which I mean one sock is done and the other is started. I will probably not make my February deadline for A Year In Socks:(


Last, KD went skiing with BDiddy and did great! They went about 4 miles they said. He's such a cutie, KD wants to go skiing everyday now.

Thanks for playing the contest! Knit On!

It's Contest Time!

OK February has been a slow month for blogging. I decided the best way to spice things up is to do what all bloggers love and have a contest. Drop me a note and tell me what you like to do to fight the mid winter blahs. I have been trying to get out skiing, playing basketball and thinking up crafts to do with the kids. I mostly just want to pitch it all lately and go on a vacation anywhere. Just get me out of the routine and recharge my batteries, you know?

I will have some yarn to send to the winner, my own hand dyed of course:) Put in your comments if you want sock or worsted weight. I will send sock if you don't put a preference. Oh and my friends and family are eligible for the contest too. I will draw a winner on Tuesday 2/26. Looking forward to hearing from you!

To top off my winter blahs, this little guy has been falling off of things and down the stairs a lot. Poor guy.

Keep warm and Knit On!

Candlelight Skiing

Skiing in the moonlight, our paths lit by candles.

Snow creaks and crunches beneath my ski's,

The trees cast shadows over our trail making the world an icy still life.

Gliding through the woods towards the next golden light,

little bags of sunshine to light our way.

The exhiliration of swooping down the hills in the night, each turn in the trail

is like entering another world.

For a moment, time stops and nothing exists but you and me on our ski's.

Panic! at the YMCA

Ok so another no picture post I know, but I just have to write this down. Tonight I am going to play basketball for the first time in years. I joined the 4 on 4 team at work sort of accidentally. I sent an email saying I was interested and I am signed up just like that. I don't know anyone on the team and haven't really played, not even a little, for a long time. BDiddy and I played HORSE last summer a couple times in the yard but that is it. I am nervous and scared. Yes I said it and I don't care who knows (why else would I put it on my blog right?). It's scary to think about meeting new people and then to play a team sport with them? Yikes! Plus I have to drag my chubby butt out there and haul it around on the court in front of people!

[Deep Breaths, Deep Breaths]

OK, I'll calm down. It's just a game, for fun and exercise. No pressure. If I embarress myself too much the first time, I'll just never go back. I mean what's the worst that can happen? Wait I take that back. I'm just tempting fate with that one.

I'm going to go work on my sock.


Edited to add:
It was bad, we got out butts kicked and I am WAY out of shape. I'm not sure if I want to keep going if it will be that embarrassing. The team we played were like 19-20 year olds. I am not. Enough said.

Quickly, Quickly

You can see by the time of this post it is late. I have to work tomorrow, a 12 hour shift so I have to make it quick. Just a note to say I spent most of the day dyeing yarn so there is some new yarns in the shop, more to come. I dyed one that if I can't replicate I will have to keep it. It is too pretty to sell:)

Tomorrow I will be bringing my socks to work on in the slow times if there is any. They are coming along, I think I am to the heel of the first.

Quick kid story for you, Miss M was mad at me this weekend so she hollered up the stairs, "I'm going to go live at Madison's house!" We had a hard time not laughing too loud. Apparently my 5 year old is going on 15 already. Off to bed!

Twinkle

This morning everything was covered in ice crystals. The kind that makes the whole world look like it's covered in diamonds. I wish there was a way to capture that feeling with a picture. I just don't have the camera skills to get it right. Here are my best shots.

A half an hour later the sun was behind the clouds and everything looked grey and bland again. I was glad to get a few pictures of the twinkle before it was gone.

Speaking of gone, my hat used to look like this.

It is now frogged:( It was too tight and I think I might need to rethink the edging, possibly to cable needs to be a different one too. Love this cable pattern though. I'll have to use it in something else if I can't make it work in the hat.

I made these socks for a friend at work who's due soon. She's having a girl and I think these will be perfect.

The green baby socks are for a coworkers new grandchild. She asked me to make him a pair when I showed her the first pair. I used a Regia self striping yarn for them. They turned out super cute, Noley needs a pair now.

My Febuary socks for A Year of Socks. They have been a fun knit so far. Next month I think I'm going to make a real simple sock though. Just plain knitting sounds good and relaxing to me.

I'm anxiously awaiting my yarn order so I can add to the Etsy shop. Supposed to be here tomorrow! I've got conferences tonight for Miss M and KD. Gotta run! Knit On.

Scatterbrain

Oops! Got busy and now I have tons of things to update on. This post seems a little scattered but here goes.


I managed to get KD to pose with his hat on. He will wear it at home but not to school. Already I have kids that are embarressed of me. I think it looks really cute on him, and he says its nice and warm.

I had a visitor the other day. This Piliated Woodpecker hangs around our house year round, but with the cold weather I haven't seen him in a while. Not the greatest picture but you can see how big he really is.
I love these kinds of things in my yard, handmade kid stuff! KD made this one warm day last week.

I joined Rani's, Year of Socks. Crazy I know. I really have to get going on Febuary's sock. I am planning to make these. The Azure socks are just the thing.

Rani nominated me for a "You Make My Day" award. She also is having a little contest so go see what she's up to.

So to spread the love, check out these blogs.

I have to return the favor to Rani, I check her blog out often.

A Few Things To Say - she's back from Hiatus! and quilting!

A Friend To Knit With

Probably a ton of people nominated the Yarn Harlot, but I do love her writing and she's wicked funny.

Christine at Too Much Yarn is a super fast sock knitter too. (Oh she nominated me too! Gotta keep up with the blogs more.)

Yarn Hog gets a mention too, she knits stuff I love at a hugely fast pace. We are knitting a sweater in the same yarn and color right now.

Oh there are just too many to name! If I didn't mention you consider yourself mentioned. I love you all.

Last on the blog front I just have to say Thank You to all who have ordered my yarns or have even checked them out. I am so happy to be doing the dyeing on the side and it means so much that you like the yarns. More is coming, I am putting in orders today for more stock. Watch the Etsy shop for updates or check back here, I'll put a note in when I add to the store. Thank You again!

On my needles:

Assymetrical Cardigan

Hat in Malabrigo of my own design

Azure socks

Baby socks

Better get to work! Knit On!