Howdy. Stranger!

While the blog doesn't seem to agree, all sorts of springtime busyness has been happening around these parts! Work, play, seeing friends and family, finding my way back to the yoga mat, house shopping and knitting have all been squeezed into the last month or so. It's all positive, so really, there's no complaining here.
We were in Detroit over Easter and we had a great time visiting with the Tall Guy's family. Have I mentioned that I have the world's cutest niece?

(Peanut with her Mom)
She's just starting walking, so it's pretty entertaining.

Knitting IS happening, but not a lot of it is picture worthy at this point. The best I have for you is this set of washcloths that are heading to my Seattle-based sister-in-law.
I had made her one for Christmas to go along with her gift and she recently asked for another one...

Details:
Yarn: Peaches and Creme, a variety of stash yarn
Needles: Size 7 Brittanys
Patterns: Ballband Dishcloth, Grandmother's Favorite (this is a fairly ubiquitous pattern, this was just the first link I grabbed), Nine Patch Dishcloth


I couldn't just send her one!!!!
Spring/Summer has hit DC hard this weekend and I can only hope that the weather will be nice for Maryland Sheep and Wool next weekend!

A spring Ishbel...

In the midst of lots of other knitting, I've been casually working on Ishbel, by Ysolda
The problem with most lace is that it typically looks like yarn vomit until you're done and can block it out. At least, that's what I keep telling myself since this is my first real knit shawl like thing.
I'm doing the small size, so we'll see how it goes.
The Tall Guy and I just spent a lovely weekend with his family in Michigan, with plenty of adorable niece time included.
Off to finish our taxes...ugggh!
Happy Easter!

A Birthday

The Tall Guy turns two years less then me tomorrow.
We'll be traveling tomorrow, so I won't be able to wish him a happy blog-birthday then.

Happy Birthday Buddy, I look forward to years of dock-sitting with vodka soda's.

Knitting for little peanuts

is so much fun!!!
Doesn't every niece need a set of legwarmers?
Details
Pattern: Vickie Howell, Lolipop Leggies
Yarn: Woolarina, sport weight, superwash merino/cashmere/nylon
Needles: Size six magic loop
Mods: I didn't embroider on them, as they are already pretty bright.

Do I really like living here?

Excuse the quick rant, but I just felt the need to share my (literal) pain from last evening.
I was heading over to meet Jessie at Teaism and stepped off the train at Gallery Place....
Now, I've been living in a city, taking public transportation for about 12 years now. I walk on the right side of sidewalks, stand on the right on escalators and generally try to stay out of the way (all 5'3' of me).
As I walked away from the train, towards the exits a man came running towards the train like he was about to miss the last chopper out of Saigon. I moved further out of the way and yet somehow, this man who was at least the size of the Tall Guy, was coming straight at me. I had no time to react as he bulldozed into me, shoulder checking me like a linebacker and continued on his way to dive onto the train.
My shoulder was throbbing for about an hour, and I still regret not having the wherewithall to yell an obsenity at this guy. I hope for his sake, there was an emergency he was trying to get to as otherwise, he was a real jerk for trying to make that train as opposed to the one right behind it a minute or so later (it was rush hour).

I feel like I should also note that this person was no "punk teen ager" up to no good, but was a well dressed, possibly in a suit middle-aged person. This is simply for the defense of the teens who get blamed for most things and instead were the ones asking me if I was okay last night.

All right.. I'm done. I just needed to express my brief displeasure in people's general lack of manners and courtesy.

Ooops! Where did that come from?

The Tall Guy was on a bike mission today that involved Alexandria. Never one to turn down an opportunity to buy beer from a grocery story (doesn't happen in MD) and a chance to pop into Knit Happens, I hopped in the car for a ride.
We both came home happy, him with a new bicycle (don't ask me about storing it, it's currently in the living room) and me with some yarn and a book.
This is Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sport. I think the colorway is Kalorama Circle or something like that... This is a local dyer (Karida) and I love her stuff. It's pink and fun...
and yes. This is Cookie A's new book!!! The store got a handful of copies in early and I had been hoping they still had some by the time I got there. I was in luck!

In other news, the Tall Guy and I walked into an open house in Columbia Heights today. We fell in love with a row house (Wardman style, my favorite!) that had original wood flooring, a backyard and parking and well....Is just out of our budget. Sigh.

progress on a sock

This has been my car and train and no thinking involved project this week that I mentioned on Monday. I think they're going so fast because I just keep wanting to knit til I see the next color!Also, I tried a new short row heel and I think I'm in love (sorry non knitters). You can see it explained here and there's even a YouTube video Basically? No wraps, no YO's... it's awesome, trust me. Personally, I think it may have just changed my life in terms of sock knitting. It will probably take a few more tries to make it super pretty, but for a first try? Not bad and the holes are minimal to zero. Yay! (Thanks to all who commented on their short row heel thoughts as well on Twitter)
Back to knitting the sock, sitting quietly for a bit (I have a killer knot in my shoulder, I'll blame work stress for it) and watching an episode of Gossip Girl (I know, I know, so bad.. but SO good!)

30?

It's hard to believe that I'm 30 today. I'm not one to spend much time navel gazing, but it really is a weird thing to wrap my head around.(Hours after I made my entrance) I look real happy.

(First Grade) Every child should have puppies born in their garage to a stray dog... the one closest one to me, under the mom's paw is my "Max" who was with the family for 15 or so years.
Why did anyone let me wear those glasses? (Freshman year of high school)

Three days before the wedding. (Age 29.5)
Also, sorry about the quality of the photos. It's kind of a long story on how I got these onto my computer.
And... really why did I try to blog yesterday? That post was riddled with typos. Mea Culpa.

Okay. Back to knitting and no more navel gazing for at least a few years!

some knitting?

Really?
Funny enough, the lack of my writing about EDIT: knitting, (not blogging) is not equal to the amount of knitting I'm actually doing right now. I'm actually knitting all the time, one thing or another, as usual.
See, here's some proof!
Last weekend I went to the HomespunYarnParty (it was awesome, of course) and while helping out at the Yarn Party booth, I picked up that super cute project bag.
Later on, while somehow staying within my budget, I bought a bunch of yarn. Whoo boy. I'm almost embarrassed to show you how much. That sock up there, though is what I'm obsessed with this week. It's the first section of striping for the Knitterly Things Wee Sock Kit in Vesper Yarn. I have no idea what kit I have and the package isn't in this room. So, I'll have to get back to you on that... but, what I can tell you is:
You should get one. The base is scrumptious and you can play with several of her colors, striping however you want. I'm casually lazy, so I'm going to split each of the four skeins in half, knit the sock toe up (using a variety of plain vanilla patterns), knit each color until I run out and then switch to the next. In theory, the two socks will be pretty closely matched and knitting toe up means I can knit til I'm out of yarn.
It's clear spring is here in DC... there's a hint of warmth in the air and my allergies have pretty much blown up. I'm going to stick to the stockinette projects for a bit here until the head starts to feel a bit less spacey.

Spring...

First daffodil of the season


Daffodils were among my Mom's favorite flower, I always think of her (and miss her) when they first pop up this time of year.