Sun

I think we are finally on the upswing temperature wise. 30's the rest of the week and with any luck, high 40's on Sunday. I'll be loving the sunshine!

Jessie's steer is continuing to do well. He's on a little break right now - every cow/calf/steer on the place has a nasty case of ringworm. So he didn't go to the show last weekend and probably won't go to another show until the end of February. Which is fine with me - washing and drying him in the 20 degree weather is no fun at all! Although tonight our friend is coming to clip him - his hair is really, really long and I guess it is easier if you keep up on it?

I had to break down and buy myself a new camera. I loved my canon, but 3 pictures and the batteries would go dead. Didn't matter if they were new batteries, newly charged, super nice batteries, deader than a doornail. I went through 4 sets of batteries at the basketball game on Saturday. Enough was enough! So I brought another Canon, on sale and have really been enjoying it.

And my newest knit? Tang from Custom Knits. Very, very fast.

A simple turtleneck sweater, knit almost entirely in the round. I started this on New Year's Day weekend (during our 8 hour driving marathon from Pennsylvania and back) and now that my Pimlico Shrug is finished, I want to get this one done. 5 more inches on the body, the sleeves and the turtleneck.

I'm working on getting the laundry room ready for the cabinets to be installed tomorrow night after work. Then it's onto the kitchen - I really cannot wait for this to be done.

Have a warm Thursday!
Kris

Pimlico Shrug

After 5 months of on and off knitting, this one is finished. Thank the Lord. This one was so simple it was tiring. I wanted something that I didn't have to think about, that was pretty mindless. This certainly fit the bill!



I wanted this shrug in the worst way. The problem is, I didn't do the lace pattern that the pattern calls for - i just decided to do a simple seed stitch.



BORING.



So I only knit the body rectangle to 20" instead of 35". The sleeves were a chore - I picked up stitches and knit them in the round, rather than knitting them up separate and sewing them in. I really don't like seaming.

And I didn't knit the ribbing around the body as long as I should have. I'm lucky if it is 4" long instead of 5 1/2". I figure I can always go back to it later and add more too it. Same with the sleeves - they are only 7" long instead of 10 1/2".






But I am so happy to have this one done. Hopefully I will get a LOT of wear out of it.


Details:
Pattern - Pimlico shrug by Knit2together
Yarn - Berroco Ultra Alpacha, color - winter squash, 4 1/2 skiens
Size - Medium
Needles - US size 7 & 8
Mods - I knit the body section in a simple seed stitch to 20". And I picked up and knit in the round for the sleeves. Oh and the collar - i only knit to 3 1/2 - 4 inches.

Snow, basketball and painting....

... that was pretty much my weekend!

The kids didn't have school on Friday - so I got a "snow day" too. I really can't tell why they didn't have school - we were out and about and while the roads were snow covered, they weren't really slick.

Saturday was Jessie's first basketball game - what a HOOT! 10 girls got at least 18 fouls called on them (that we caught) for being too aggressive.

We lost - 14 to 8, but they tried. Our girls just aren't consistent with actually making the baskets yet. If we had made every basket that was attempted - our score would have been 44.

And yes, they ended up on the ground more often than not fighting over the ball. But they had so much fun.

As one of Jessie's friends who happended to stick around after his game to watch her play said - there is no way I am playing basketball with these girls - they fight too much!

Tyler wanted to go hunting with Todd in the worst way this weekend - it's muzzleloader season and pretty much Todd's last chance to hunt this year. But...with highs of 11 for Saturday and 18 for Sunday, we didn't want him sitting out in the woods all afternoon.

So Todd and Tyler went back in the woods behind our house. No deer were seen, but they did see lots of tracks where apparently the deer were coming right up around the house!

Yesterday I spent getting ready to paint the laundry room. We are getting a new cabinet for above the washer and dryer on Friday, so I had to take down the old metal shelf, pull off the wallpaper and paint. I thought I was going to have to call in the HazMat team when I pulled out the washer and dryer. Apparently I don't clean behind those 2 appliances enough:) But it is nice and clean now, the walls are painted and we are ready for the cabinet.

I am not sure that I am sold on the color - it's got a pinky/grey tint to it - I'm thinking I may want something that is more a brown/yellow tint, but I'm waiting to repaint it until after the cabinet is in and everything is painted white (cabinet, trim, etc.) and distressed. We'll see.

Enjoy this sunny day....although I hear we will be heating up to the mid thirties by the middle of the week in Ohio. I cannot wait!

Kris

Cold

It's been cold here. I know mid teens/low twenties isn't cold for some of you, but for me, it is pure torture!

Water hydrants were freezing on a daily basis while I was off work the last two weeks of the year. Fortunately, some heat tape took care of that before we headed back to PA last weekend so that the guys doing our chores didn't have to go through what I went through every day (haul out the torpedo heater, plug it in, wait for it to fire up and thaw out the hydrant, and move onto the next one - mostly, unfreeze all 3 hydrants every. single. day).

We are expecting a storm starting sometime this afternoon and running through tomorrow. They are saying a possibility of 11 inches. I'm hoping for more like 25 - just so I can be snowed in and stay home. And if the electric goes out - all the better in my book!

I've been cleaning and decluttering. You can't tell it by my fabric stash:

Or my yarn stash:

But I have a plan. I'm not buying any new fabric or yarn until all of this is used up. I have 6 quilts that are half done - bed sized quilts. Those are going to get done too. And if I use all my yarn and fabric, I'll have a terrific start on next years Christmas presents and probably about 8 new sweaters for me!

I've just about finished my PIF gifts from last summer. Look for them in the mail sometime next week ladies.

Christmas decorations are slowly coming down here and we are getting ready to start installing new cabinets in our laundry room and kitchen. We are doing this in phases so that it's not a huge strain on our budget - just a minor one. I'm not one for eating Kraft macaroni and cheese for a month.....lol. All that is left to do is the building (a good friend who has all the woodworking tools) and figure out how we are finishing them (I'm holding out for painted white and distressed, Todd is holding out for stained oak).

Enjoy these snowy days!!!!
Kris

Shopping Tunic

I was a little unsure while knitting this knit. I started it Christmas Day in the afternoon, and after about 7 hours of on and off knitting finished it up. Bulky yarn is not always very flattering if you aren't built like a twig. And I am not a fan of very fitted knits. I don't like having to always suck in my stomach.

I knit the large, as I was afraid anything else would have been to small for my average sized self.

I should have knit the Medium. It was HUGE when I tried it on when it was finished. Like 4 or 5" too big around my waist and chest huge.

I blocked it in lukewarm water, and it grew something like 10" in length. So I popped it in the dryer and checked on it every 3 minutes. After 15 min., it's a little fuzzy (like it was starting to felt) but it is so soft, warm and cozy. And it fits perfectly.

I love it when this happens!

Details:

Pattern - shopping tunic from twinkle big city knits

Yarn - Rowan big wool - 3.5 skiens

Needles - U.S. size 19

Size - Large, shrunk down to probably a medium

Mods - None. I may sew the collar down in the back - it seems to want to stand up. But....other than that I love it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I know I'm a little early for Happy New Year but.....


we are leaving here around 8:00 tomorrow morning to head back to PA for Todd's grandmother's funeral on Saturday. Supposedly they are under a winter storm/blizzard warning for back there late tomorrow.

And we are going to my SIL's for our relatively quiet and probably relatively early New Year's celebration.....

We did have a wonderful Christmas, Tyler got the MOST AWESOME Christmas present which involved me braving Wal-mart last Saturday on one of the busiest shopping days of the year to buy 12,000 little things for it....


and I do have some finishes to share....when I come back next year:)


Blessing to all of you!
Kris

10 year old girls

Jessie is having her friends' birthday party today. 10:00 am to 4-5:00 ish pm.

Three homemade pizzas have been decimated:

8 or 9 girls.

They danced to CD's and sung happy birthday:

Somehow, they are entertaining themselves:

I think this one needs posted in the Elementary School teacher lounge:

And they think they are so sweet:)