Bron's Blog II

Peach Twist

That's what I've decided to call my neck ruff/warmer, pseudo scarflette, something-or-other:

The color is much truer in the second photo. This is "Peach Tree" Malabrigo (worsted) and I have 3 skeins of it. Enough to finish this neckwarmer, make a matching hat and a pair of mittens. I started out with the idea of making Cherry Garcia so the cast on is the 8 knit/2 purl of that pattern. I did add another 20 stitches to compensate for worsted rather than bulky yarn. I twisted my first cable late, with the idea of flowey, loose cables in the back of my mind. Then I got the flow going so well that I decided that first twist was my last. I increased on the sides of the knitted panels once and I think I'll do that once again before ending the neck snugglie on a slightly ruffly note. So basically I've meandered off the beaten path of "Cherry Garcia" and am in unknown territory. However, it is only a neckwarmer....I'll try to keep my trepidation to a minimum. ;)

It should be done tomorrow. I've already tried it on (one of the joys of the magic loop method of knitting) so I do know it will fit.

I'll leave you with Colin's new hairstyle and his old friend:

Handsome boys - both of them.

A Mixed Bag

Have you ever gotten a yarn order in & wondered what the heck you'd planned to do with it? That happened to me today. Luckily it wasn't the whole order. I know exactly what I'm going to do with this:

It's going to be the Vine Lace Top Down Cardigan. You know - that black sweater I was talking about earlier.

But this? All I have is a vague recollection and several cryptic notes to myself:

1 1/2 skeins = hat
2 skeins = hat
5 skeins = raglan bolero

Hmmmm...I checked on my Rav queue and saw this pattern. I'm pretty sure that's the raglan bolero my notes are referring to. Particularly since I have 5 skeins of the stuff. I think, however, I'm going to stick with a hat and scarf combo with this particular super bulky yarn. If I did make that bolero for myself I believe I would closely resemble the butt end of a sheep.

:::shudder::::

As to what hat patterns I was looking at...your guess is as good as mine!

It's been a mixed bag of experience this week too. Doug's been pretty sick - vomiting old blood amongst other things - and it's led to some serious thinking about changes in lifestyle, etc. to keep pace with aging. A good thing to be considering in this time of resolutions. :)

I've managed to do absolutely nothing in regard to school and it's felt exceptionally good. Unfortunately in a couple of days I'll need to be hitting it hard - a huge pile of papers to grade & 3 IEPs to write - but I'm proud of myself for being able to relax at least for a little while. :)

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

  In pictures:

 

That pretty much covers it. I'm knitting Malabrigo "Peach Tree" into a worsted version of Cherry Garcia that I'm calling Peach Garcia, I'm reading the "Odd" series of books by Dean Koontz (his best in a long time) and playing with my Pokemon in Pokemon Pearl. I protested and complained that I would never, every enjoy a, quote, "stupid pokemon game ever in my life," endquote, but luckily my youngest son did not believe me. After cutting my teeth on Animal Crossing and Millionheir, he decided I was ready for the big time.

I've played 22 hours since I received the game, have 2 badges, 4 evolved pokemon and 43 listed in my pokedex. I'm at Veilstone city right now, trying to defeat a gym leader to get my 3rd badge so I can keep controlling my pokeman when they level up past 30. Since my Charmeleon and my Piplup are each at 29 points, getting that 3rd gym badge is mandatory.

To those of you to whom that made no sense, no worries. You don't need know Pokemon to get by in life.

Although I'm starting to think I certainly do!

This, of course, is helping everything be better. I love when people give me wine. All the guesswork is taken out of it & I'm left to enjoy or not at my leisure.

 

99% of the time I'm a merlot woman, through & through. But once in awhile, I'll trip on the light side of wine. Especially if it's a gift! This is very full, very fruity, and packs a sufficient whallop.

I'm off to cruise Ravelry for new inspiration, if I can only stay away from my DS!!!!

I'm Not Sure If I'm Greeting the New Year With Snazzy Hats

Or ending the old year with basic noggin covers, but be that as it may, here's my newest creation:

A very simple pattern found on Ravelry called "Snappy Hat"

I used exactly one ball of Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweed in a lovely, dark green color.

Size 8 Knit Picks for the magic loop method of which I'm so enamored these days. :)

Several Blu-ray movies later, voila!

I might have one or two small items done by the time the New Year bells toll....at least while the Twilight Zone marathon is running, eh? hehe

(By the way - for those who are not squeamish... You haven't seen a "Saw" movie until you've seen it in a Blu-ray player. "Saw II" took us to new heights of clarity regarding the depth of blood, what and how deep they're cutting, etc. Now that's definitely our kind of twisted Christmas.....)

 

So this Is Christmas...

 

 

A new Pokeman game for me:

   

And a new pond/fountain for all of us:

 

 

 

I hope you all had a very happy holiday. I'll be back tomorrow with a finished hat & yet another project.

Swirly Goodness

 

 

Pattern: Beaufort Hat (Rav link)

Needles: Size 8, Knit Picks Options

Yarn: Cotton Ease, Popsicle Blue, 1/3 skein

This is a very nice, light weight beanie. Perfect to cut the chill but not weigh you down. ::wink::

Ghost Hunters Extraordinare

My equipment came in today & we've already had fun playing with it. A great way to spend a little extra Xmas cash.

I bought everything from The Shadowlabnds Ghosthunter Store:

 

The EMF meter even came packaged as a "Ghost Meter" - too cool!:

 

I also purchased a digital voice recorder and an infrared thermometer:

 

We are all set for some serious ghost hunting expeditions. We're planning on another sweep through Old Town, then there are several cemetaries on our list. We'll take our dowsing rods and digital cameras and see what we can see.

As hobbies go, it's a pretty exciting one. As long as you keep an open mind anything is possible.

I have not, lately, been as open-minded & optimistic about Sandra Knitting Magazine. I've subscribed for a couple of years now and in that time, have made nothing from their patterns. That might change during this outing with January, 2009. I found some serious temptations that I wanted to share:

 

I'm seriously loving big, deep, cowls this winter. I have a brown sweater from Chico's with a large, deep, dramatic cowl and I'm wearing it to death this winter. It might be time to put another sweater like it in my arsenel.

These two are just full of cabley goodness that I haven't indulged in for awhile:

 

 

For the first time in a long time I'm seeing sweater possibilities......

Although right now I'm working on a hat. Not just any hat, The Beufort Hat by Angela Hahn. It's a very well written pattern and I'm about 3" into it right now, having gone through the spiral pattern once. I was watching "Hellboy II" on our new Blu-ray so there a couple of boo-boos I had to fix, but all in all a good start. I'll finish it tomorrow & give you all a glimpse.

Yes - it's made out of CE. Is there any other kind of yarn out there?? hehehehe

Seriously...that lacey cowl thing up there is really, really, really getting me tempted......

The Inspiration That Comes From Ravelry

...never ceases to amaze me. Even though I've been in a work/school related funk regarding crafting for the past few months, just a short cruise through the recent project postings gets my imagination working again.

First semester is done, finished, completed, kaput.

Tomorrow I'm going to clean up my craft room and take stock of my knitting/crocheting projects.

I promised at least half a dozen people at school that I wouldn't think about or do any work for at least a week. I intend to keep my promise. ;)

Toward that end, at 3:45 this afternoon I was sitting in the local Garduno's with 30 other teachers, drinking margaritas & eating free appetizers.

Sometimes life is good.

Gifts Well Received

I admit it.

After all these years of giving handmade gifts willy-nilly, I've narrowed the field to giving only to those I know will appreciate the time & work involved.

If that makes me a bad crafter, nay, even a Grinch-like figure, so be it. It isn't enough for me to give, I want it to be appreciated!

For all others, I'll go out and buy a scarf. You know? Or better yet, a gift card to...anywhere.

My selectivity paid off today. I gave the green scarf I made awhile ago to another gifted teacher today and she loved it. The practically crying type of love.

I also gave a pair of my mitts in black (pattern on the sidebar) to a very Goth/neo-Lucy Ricardo gifted teacher (you'd have to see her to understand) that I work with and she really liked her gift too. But she's a knitter, so I knew she would.

I also gave out all my little baskets of cloths & soaps & cookies and everyone was smiling. My Santa's elf duties are done.

It's now time to turn my attention back to me, me, me! I'm desperate for a scarf/scarflette/neckwarmer to have at school for freezing-my-butt-off days on bus duty. Because I want something really quick, I discarded the fancy patterns (saving them for later) and am just doing a large rectangle with a couple of buttons. I knew I kept this clearance yarn on my shelves for a reason!

 

(Yeah - I'd love to be making this from my stash of Malabrigo, but it can't go against my bare neck. Darn it!) I'm going to find a couple of big, hot pink buttons to go with & I'll be all set.

The next couple of days are baby-sitting days at school. Another snow storm is barreling through and we're hoping we don't get another snow day! I told the kids to bring their Secret Santa stuff tomorrow just in case, so we'll exchange presents & watch "A Nightmare Before Christmas."

Friday we'll have a potluck (if there's no snow day) and watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the cartoon version, naturally), "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Fun times!

Can You Say "Snow Day?"

We're currently on a 2 hour delay for tomorrow morning, but with up to 6" expected by morning and the winter storm warning in effect until 5 PM tomorrow, I think a day off is a pretty safe bet:

 

 

Yeah - we're totally into the whole "lights, lights & more lights" mentality. ;)