Whew

Somehow, while having a hundred funny/silly/fantastic moments this weekend between my 20 month old niece streaking through the house post-bath, to finding ourselves at a warehouse- underground-totally-illegal-concert I have zero pictures to show for it.
I have more to say tonight, but truthfully... we drove 500 miles today, unloaded a very full car, picked up Annie from the boarder and came home to discover that mice had turned our kitchen and pantry into a party location with an all-you-can-eat buffet. Thus, we've pulled things apart, cleaned and cursed and the Tall Guy went to bed at 730pm. Whewwww!

Thanks.. a year in review

A year ago I paused to think about all that I was thankful for, namely family and friends. I'll spare you my ramblings with a "wordless wednesday" post.
Happy Thanksgiving all! We are off to Detroit for a few days...

Hey there Lady

I finished and started wearing my February Lady Sweater over a week ago. Just yesterday, the Tall Guy and I got around to taking pictures. It's so comfortable!Details:
Pattern: February Lady Sweater
Yarn: Miss Bab's "Yowza What a Skein" about 700 yards
Needles: Size 8
Mods: I didn't do too much to this pattern. I made the second to smallest size and decided not to cast on an extra 7 stitches when I separated for the sleeves. A smart move that kept everything from not being too big.
I would def. knit this or an incarnation of it again.

Make this recipe.

Our travels this holiday season will be landing us home late on Wednesday night in MI for Thanksgiving and in the afternoon on Christmas eve in NH. I always like to contribute something sweet and homemade to the festivities, so whatever I make this year needs to be able to travel well in the car.
Last week around twitter, a number of people were tossing around comments about the most amazing rice crispy treats EVER and, well, I got curious. Last night, I made them using Smitten Kitchen's recipe and really, they are super tasty. So, I'm distracting you from the lack of knitting content (I'll show off a sweater this week, I promise!) to tell you to go to the store, buy the ingredients and make them. Really, it will only take you about 7 minutes longer then it does to make the normal ones.
Off to eat another one!!

knit worthy

I've recently had a few people ask me why I'm not selling my handknits or if I ever plan to. While I understand the natural thought towards selling what you love to do, I just can't seem to come up with any reason for me to do so. When you consider how much time you spend knitting a project and multiply it by what would be a reasonable hourly wage for yourself AND then add in the cost of yarn, it makes zero sense for me to knit for anything but love for those that are "knit worthy". Really, all that means is that you'll appreciate the knit good, wear it, or at least tell me you wear it and are not scoffing at the time I spend on my hobby.

For some of my friends, knitters and non-knitters alike, this have become somewhat of a joke (do you remember the Seinfeld episode about being worthy of a contraceptive? hehe).
Anyway.. I just gifted this shawl-ette to one of my girls who will always be knit worthy. Not only does she appreciate a good scarf, but her husband's Mom owns an alpaca farm (I'm still holding on to the yarn they brought me for just the right project), so she gets it.

Details:
Pattern: Gaenor
Yarn: Koigu, KPPM about 300 yards.
Needle: Size Six
Mods/Comments/Notes: Nothing. You start at one end and work to the halfway point and start decreasing back down. I thought that I was going to have less left over, but I somehow managed to have about 1/3 of a skein left over. Odd. Otherwise, this was a pretty simple, 12 row repeat that you knit the edging on as you went. Great commuting project and I'll be likely casting one on for myself. I'm torn for my next one if I should stick with the garter throughout, if if I'll purl back on the wrong sides... thoughts? I'm not sure it will stretch out as much if it's not in garter.

What? You still knit?

I realized as we were packing for our Fall trip, that I had no hat that worked just right with what I was bringing. It's sort of amazing how many of "us" knitters often are the ones lacking in the handknits! (The Yarn Harlot was just talking about this). So, I found the right yarn and knitter-friend Anne steered me toward a pattern she had written.
Perfect!
The hat took me just a little bit longer then the flight to Seattle to complete and I love the combination of the yarn and pattern.
Details:
Pattern: Kanikara (The Monk Hat) Rav link here.
Yarn: Be Sweet, Thin "Black Light" (i.e. Grey to the normal person) 1.25 skeins, about 125 yards, give or take.
Needles: Size 8
Notes/Mods: I decreased the pattern by one repeat, and went down a needle size. I'm not the biggest person and I wanted a fitted hat. Perfect! The yarn is not spun consistently, so it's perfect for a hat/mitt/scarf type project, I would never knit a sweater from it, as I hit some reallllly thin spots along the way.
Overall, I would and will be using this pattern again, the Tall Guy picked out a skein of Malabrigo in the Sealing Wax colorway while we were on vacation and I think this pattern will be just right for what he wants. Thanks Anne!

Pac Mid West...

I'm not going to bore you with too many photos of our vacation... here are just a couple for you to see why I was so enamored with this part of North America...


We were in Seattle for three days (no photos here) and then took the scenic route from Seattle to Vancouver. The pics above and below are from this drive... It was a gorgeous day and we were in awe of the views...
On our first day in Vancouver, we took a drive (we could have walked, but didn't quite realize that until we got there!) over to Stanley Park. This is a very large park where the aquarium, several boat clubs and other outdoor activities for the city are (think Central Park with better views) are. The below photo is looking towards North Vancouver and is a completely "normal" view for the citizens of the city.
Since we were so close to the site of the 2010 Olympics, we decided to take a day trip up to Whistler/Blackcomb and check it out. Really, it was a normal ski town, but it was still cool to see the work going into the area for the upcoming events, and even saw a team having lunch! Overall, the trip was a great adventure. We spent time with family, saw parts of the world we hadn't seen before, met some very nice Canadians (If ever in Vancouver, hit the bar named "The Greedy Pig", trust me!) and came back recharged and ready to go for the holidays. Or so I hope.

What's in a name?

As many of you know, I got married over a year ago and while I hadn't thought that much about it, I've spent the last year working up to changing my name. What a painful process!
I know full well that the Tall Guy could give two hoots about what I did with my name, but finally, after the 5th or 6th (or 12th...) time of having confusion about what name a given joint account was under (vet, car repair, etc.etc.etc) I decided to bite the bullet and today was my big adventure to shed the name.
Truth be told, my now maiden name has never held a big place in my heart. That part of our family is small, and really with a first name of Pia (a family name), I'm somewhat convinced that half of the people I know rarely even ever use my last name. Still, it feels a little funny to suddenly have to start signing my name with four less letters and three less syllables. When hyphenation was suggested, all I could do was laugh! Talk about painful!
Anyway, when the decision came down to it, I really don't see my feminism as defined by retaining my last name. As the man at the bank quipped today "So you're just changing from one man's last name to another", the whole thought was put fully into perspective.
Thanks, Edwin at the bank.

hello hello!

I am, indeed alive.
I just haven't had a ton to say, and have spent a weekend in Detroit and a week in Seattle and Vancouver since we last spoke.
I have, however been knitting and promise to share as I start gearing up for the cold weather and holiday knitting is in full swing.
Pictures and fun stories coming, pinky swear!