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FEBRUARY
2 San Diego, CA Cox Arena **
4 Reno, NV Reno Events Center **
6 Las Vegas, NV The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel**
7 Las Vegas, NV The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel **
10 Omaha, NE Quest Center **
11 Moline, IL iWireless Center **
13 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena **
14 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center **
15 Rockford, IL MetroCentre **
17 Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena **
18 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center **
19 Green Bay, WI Resch Center **
21 Nashville, TN Sommet Center **
22 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena**
25 Greenville, SC BI-LO Center **
27 Lafayette, LA Cajun Dome ***
28 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena ***
MARCH
3 Miami, FL Hard Rock Casino***
4 Orlando, FL UCF Arena **
6 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa **
7 Erie, PA Erie Civic Center **
8 Hershey, PA Giant Center ***
10 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place *
11 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum *
13 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena **
14 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena **
16 New York, NY Madison Square Garden **
17 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena**
18 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center

Eccentric Roadside Stops

Found this blog today. I was looking for pictures of Carhenge and this one had it. Whenever we go on a road trip, I always look for weird stuff like this to stop at just for the fun of it. Some of it we skip but if it is a really long drive it is better than some of the commercial rest stops. Plus, I get those wonderful looks from dh the whole time we're there. His preference for stops is Cabela's. I swear he would do the tour of all the Cabela's stores in the US. So far we have been to both Nebraska ones and I'm sure once the Colorado one goes in, he'll be living there.

Fall is here!

Well, I'm a seasonal knitter as you may have guessed. Now that the weather is getting cooler, my needles are clicking again. Where I left off:

Mystic Pattern: Lost my place and my life line. RRRRRIIIIPPPPPP...:(

Sheldon: Still need to finish. I'm so lazy.

DH's sweater: Still on the arm. I think it will get more attention once the cooler weather hits. Wool is tough when it is warm out.

Vest for Jake: I knitted it once and am on the finishing for the polyester blend version. I'm actually doing it again right now using the Cotton Ease. I like that yarn lots better. I'm doing it in a denim blue with white border. It is very pretty and I'm very excited about it.

Signed up for a Finishing with Flair class for Sept 21 at the Lamb Shoppe in Denver. Hopefully I'll get some good tips on making the finished product look half way decent.

Knitting, frogging, knitting...

Still working on the Mystic Light Shawl. I am 7 lines from being finished with Part I. Mind you, the Mystery KAL part is already complete and lots of people have it done, but I'm still plugging along. I can't tell you how many times I've frogged. I've finally gotten a clue and have been using life lines. At least I don't have to rip the whole thing anymore. It is very pretty but quite a challenge for a newbie to lace. But, I'm determined to get it right.

I've also worked on socks for Jake. The socks turned out cute. They have little cables on them. He was so excited for me to knit him purple socks. He wore them once and then said he was done. Figures. I'll have to put them on with his crocs. Speaking of shoes, I had to get new ones for Jake as he ripped the toe out of each shoe of the ones we got last month. This time I got him some Spiderman shoes. He doesn't really know who Spiderman is but the light up shoes were the ultimate draw. He is in a size 9 now! Unbelievable.

I took Jake hiking this weekend as Greg was at a fishing tournament. He was so excited to go hiking. He hiked 3 miles! Not bad for a 2 year old. I told him we were going for pizza afterward and he was equally as excited. He must have really worked up an appetite. Prior to the hike I mentioned pizza and he threw a fit saying he didn't want any. LOL

RRRRRRIIIIIIIPPPPPPP!

Dropped two stitches on the shawl so had to rip the whole darn thing. *sigh* That will teach me to use life lines. As soon as I get back to where I was I'm putting one in! I've found listening to books on tape and doing this shawl go well together. If I listen to upbeat music, I get lost. The book I'm listening to is A Thousand Splendid Suns. The book is very good, but heartbreaking. My book groups seem to be into depressing books lately. Thankfully, one is doing Julia Childs: My Life in France. What a fascinating person! I don't have that one on tape though....

Pictures of my completed Mystic Light Swatch

Finished the swatch! Whew! Here is a picture of it on a dark background not blocked:


And here is a picture of it blocked on a light background:


I hope to start Part I this weekend. I still have to measure to be sure it is coming out to the right size. Love the colors though. That's a relief.

Mystic Light KAL Part I

Part I was delivered yesterday. Alot of people have it done already. Whoa. I'm still trying to get my swatch done. Haven't had time. I was looking at Part I and got the deer in the headlights look. After a bit, I figured out how it was being worked by comparing other people's finished pieces to the instructions. Shouldn't be too bad...I hope! The pattern is beautiful so far though.

Socks

I started some really basic socks on Sunday. I was trying to look for something very basic as I was very tired from the crazy weekend I had. The colors are pretty wild (red, yellow, orange, purple).

No Knitting Today

Didn't get around to knitting today. It was a run errands/clean the house/do the taxes day. I'm almost done with the taxes tg! My husband likes to play the stock market so he buys and sells like crazy which makes filling out the 1099 stuff on the tax forms a nightmare. It took me 3 hours to get my worksheets done so I can fill in the tax forms. *sigh* But at least they are well documented.

Saw Step Up 2 today. Not a fabulous story line but the dancing was incredible. I also liked the soundtrack. Tomorrow DU plays ND in the WCHA Final Five tournament. I'm definitely watching it on tv. Hope they win!

Progress!

Last night I was feeling restless. I wanted to work on some knitting but nothing too complex. I searched for my toddler socks I've been working on but can't find it, so I pulled out the Philosopher's Wool Sweater that I haven't worked on in years, found my place and knitted 6 rows. It felt great! I love fair isle knitting. I don't have to have perfect lighting for it and can watch tv while I do it.

Started my Mystic Light Shawl swatch again (4th time now). I keep dropping stitches and can't figure out where so I end up ripping it. I'm going to try doing it during lunch today in a well lit area using size 8 wood needles. The wood will help deter me from dropping stitches (I hope). I was using size 7. The swatch was coming out really small so hopefully the size 8 will make it a little bigger. I've noticed others on the kal are moving to size 8 as well. So I'm not the only one. The funny thing about this swatch is the cables on either side I was a little worried about getting them to work right. Those are going well and I'm actually able to do it better without the cable needle. It is the lace that is causing me issues. The yarn is kind of dark so unless I have perfect lighting, it can be difficult to catch my errors. So I'm hoping the daylight will help.

Today is my last day of work for the week and then I have a wonderful relaxing 4 day weekend without the spouse or kiddo. Molly may actually get walked! Friday, DU plays in the WCHA final five against North Dakota. Hopefully they can pull off the win. Then they'll have to go against our arch rival Colorado College. They are really good this year so it may be trying. I really hope DU makes it to the frozen four this year as it is being held in Denver this year. If so, I hope to get tickets. If not, I'll be watching it on tv.

Been Awhile

I'm still plugging on the Danica Scarf. Sheldon needs to be sewn still. I caved and bought new yarn today for the Mystic Light KAL. I've never done a shawl before or lace so should be interesting. The lady at the Lamb Shoppe was pretty enthusiastic about the color I picked and would like to see the pattern. The KAL doesn't start until March 26 so it will be awhile yet. I do have the gauge swatch pattern so can practice with that. The yarn I got is very pretty. It is from Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarns. The color I got is sun river.

Baby Booties

Finished! Just need to wash and wrap. Then off to Boston it goes! I'm now working on Sheldon. Had a bit more to go on him than I first realized. I'm working on the underbelly and then need to add stuffing and legs. Jake told me this weekend that he wanted Sheldon. He is so excited that Mommy is making a turtle for him. LOL. I took pictures of the baby gift and will add it later. (I'm so bad about getting pictures posted.)

Finished the baby hat

I finished the baby hat I was working on. It is a kelly green cable knit newborn hat for a baby due to be born in February in Boston, MA. I'm on my 2nd baby booty to go with the hat and intend to finish Sheldon and add him to the gift. I need to replace Sheldon's eyes with felt or something that the baby can't swallow easily though.

After I finish these, I think I'll work on Danica next. Danica travels well. Either that or I'll get back to my Kerry sweater. I'm avoiding the Kerry sweater b/c I had to rip it out and need to figure out where the heck I am in the pattern. That should be fun!

Update

1. Post Moderne Baby Blanket-Done (I did it wrong so I'm just leaving it without the last 2 blocks.)
2. Danica Scarf-50% complete
3. Philosopher's Wool Sweater-Fire colorway for DH-10% complete
4. Kerry Aran Cardigan-35% complete
5. Baby hat/gloves-10% complete
6. Sheldon the Turtle-95% complete
7. Socks-0% complete
8. Toddler socks-0% complete
9. Hat and booties
10. Harry Potter Book scarf-50% complete

Moderne Baby Blanket Take III

So, I went out and googled picking up stitches and found the very situation I created on the same blanket. Someone on the Mason Dixon KAL blog had asked the question I had. After perusing through the answers, watching a pickup stitches video and re-reading the instructions for the blanket I found my error. I misread "knit 36 garter ridges" as knit 36 garter rows. Garter ridges=2 rows per ridge. That's why I was having a problem and why my blanket looks so darn weird.

The blanket will be bound off and used as a lap blanket at home. The intended person to receive it will have to be happy with a couple baby hats. :)

I do intend to start again and see if I can do it right this time. So, I'll have to swap this blanket out with a baby hat on the top 10 stash kal.

WIP

Still plugging away at my post moderne baby blanket. I'm about 75% finished now. It looks strange. I'm hoping once I get the final two square on it will look better. If not, blocking?

I'm also working on Danica. It is about half done. I haven't been working on knitting much due to keeping up with 2 book groups and an obstinate 2 year old. Jake was in rare form today. He wouldn't get in the car to save his life. He even gave me that little defiant smile he does when I'm counting to 3. The stinker. I grabbed him and tried to force him into the car seat which caused him to go rigid as soon as he sat in it. Then he slid out and wouldn't get in. I counted again and tried to throw him back in but he's getting heavy! So we did time out. Then I tried again. No go. I climbed into the backseat and put him in and he went a little more willingly that time. When I got to daycare I was frazzled. I told the teacher that Jake was being a grump but it was more stubborn than grumpy. They are supposed to go to gymnastics today so that should be interesting. My guess is Jake's listening ears are NOT on today. LOL

This weekend, I'm taking Jake to the Stock show. I think we are skipping the rodeo as he got bored half way through last year and was bugging the people behind us. We'll probably just go see the animals and then check out the kids arena. 3 day weekend...woo-hoo! Maybe I'll actually get some knitting done!