Houseguest

We have a house guest, Phoebe. As you can see she and Bunky are good buddies. Phoebe has learned that Bunky is her go to girl. she also learned to ring the bell on the front door if she really needs to go out now.

The kids love Phoebes little sweater. It has been so cold out we put it on her before she and Bunky went out to play in the yard.
Winston is not to sure about the new girl. He has yet to decide if she is staying or not. They get along fine but he is keeping his distance.

In knitting news: I have been making plans for my next 100 Years of EZ sweater. When the yarn arrives I will show you. I may be crazy.

Icelandic Yoke

Here it is. Icelandic Yoke Sweater, for my 100 Years of EZ project. Yarn was from stash. Knit right from the book. Just like she told us to.

Above you see the short rows at the back of the neck make a big difference. If I make another I would make the yoke a little longer and add a 2nd set of short rows at the base of the yoke. As you can see below. It fits almost too well. I am not wearing the proper undergarments. A good bra would improve the fit.

The great thing about knitting this pattern is I feel like I can really make it my own. It's almost like a good play. A really good play can be done in a hundred different ways. Each company bring something new to a classic work. Its what makes theatre so fun to do. So this sweater is my by the book production. I am planing a fun hand dyed production for future staging

100 years of EZ

knitting: I have a body and one sleeve done on my Icelandic Yoke Sweater. The pattern is right out of Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Opinionated Knitter. August, 9, 2010 would have been her 100th birthday. It is far too hot in august to knit a wool sweater so I thought I would do one this winter. I am knitting the pattern just as she wrote it using the color patterns she gave in the newsletter. So far the kitting is mindless. All the fun with this sweater is in the yoke and this baby is knit from the bottom up.

Because Elizabeth Zimmermann is a knitting hero of mine there will be a few more EZ projects this year in honor of her 100th Birthday. I want to knit more sweaters. I have yarn in the stash for one grown up sweater and maybe a baby sweater. 2010 is the year of the EZ sweater for me. I am thinking hand dyed fair isle too. fun!

In other news we had Bug over the other day when the kids were out of school. The kids all get along so well. They had great fun out in the snow. I had to drag the girls back inside. Bunky wants to know when they have their next day off so Bug can come back.

MB on the other hand has a cold. His fever is down this morning but he is still feeling icky. He is laying on the sofa watching tv. That's when you know he is sick. When he is not running around like a monkey. I'm watching him.

Multnomah Shawl

Multnomah Shawl by Kate Flagg. Yarn Dream in Color Starry. Colorway: Nightwatch.

Turned out very pretty. Easy to knit. Used almost the whole skein. Would be nice if it were a little bigger but its no big deal.

warm hands

It gets a bit chilly down by the pc so I made these up for Hubby (above) yarn is leftover from my last pair of socks (below) also made with leftovers. These were mine but Bunky now has them. Yarn: BoboSocks

Haiti

The pictures coming out are just so sad. I hope that Haiti can recover. I just want to say that those who are using this tragedy to criticize out president are just plain scummy. If folks like Rush would read the history of Haiti they would see why we must help they now and why Europe must as well( I know Europe is helping, just saying). Have you been watching Yarn Harlot's Doctors without Boarders donations tally? Holy yarn money Batman!(647,000 is the last number I saw)
We are a great bunch aren't we? The press likes to talk about teachable moments. Its something I do with my kids. This earthquake has been a teachable moment here at the funhouse. Kids have lots of questions and I try to give the best answers I can. I am thankful to see that I can show them that we are doing our best as a country, a whole world really to help these people. Gives me hope for the future of the planet. Bunky is worried about the pets and Bobo wants to send toys because the kids there have none. I am one proud Mom.

Carin's yarn

Before the holidays my friend Carin asked me to overdye some yarn for her. I said sure and she gave me 1400 yards of a beautiful 50/50 wool alpaca dk weight and some green and blue dye. I looked at her Raverly page to see what shade of blue/green she already had so I could give her something different from what she has already knit but she would love. You can see what she thinks of it of her webcast Round the Twist. She in turn gave me this:

Socks That Rock lightweight colorway Mustang Sally. I so love it! Below is the other yarn I got from The Loopy Ewe. Lornas Laces sport Amy's Vintage Office. I just knit myself a pair of socks this color so I this may be MiL socks. not sure yet as I love it so much.

another snow day!

Here we have LtCol's socks. I finished the above sock last night. The yarn here is Dream in Color colorway: Chinatown Apple. I think its manly enough. Pattern is a 4st basket weave in the leg and a plain foot. LtCol likes to hike in the Rockies so these should be perfect. His birthday 9 months away so plenty of time on these.

Above is Dads Log Cabin blanket. I'm just making it up as I go along. The basic idea comes from Mason/Dixon Knitting. Unlike the Rocky Mnt Log Cabin I did for Mil and LtCol, this one is knit in one piece. No more of this sew the squares together crap for me thankyouverymuch. The plan is to knit on it till I can't stand the sight of it and call it done. The yarn here is from a big bag of random accrylic I got from Mom and GAH and GAL. as a side the note the RMLC blanket was a huge hit! Mil and LtCol took it with them to the condo.

And now for the me knitting. Above you see the Multnomah shawl.

Done is Dream in Color Starry Nightwatch. Hubby got me a Loopy Ewe gift card for Christmas! The color in the pic is not that great. it is a deep blue and has a silver strand in it. very pretty so far. I do love me the Dream in Color! I have a few more garter rows than the feather and fan bit.

this is the 5th snow day the kids have had in what is really 3 weeks of classes. As I understand it we will now have to make up time somewhere. I had better ask about that when the kids go back to school. We have a ton of snow here. The drifts are as tall as I am and I have run out of places to pile it. I hope the city does not have huge problems when this starts to melt. It could be very bad.

2010

Wow another new year! I have decided that this year I am not going to look back at the old year. I'd rather not thankyouverymuch.

I will however look forward to the new year. I look forward to going back to work, I look forward to more fun with the kiddos, I look forward to more work with the PTO and or course more knitting.

So far the knitting plan for 2010 is:
A log cabin blanket for my Dad. I have this started already
Socks for Lt Col. I have not made him socks yet and he deserves some. I have these otn now as well. I'm using the Dream in Color Chinatown Apple yarn for these.

Socks for Mil. Something machine washable
Socks for GAL, and Hubby
A Baby sweater or 2 for my cousin m3. I have one knit. I love it so much I want to knit the same sweater in 2 larger sizes.
Sweater for me. I am thinking of a red Zimmerman system pullover.
Hats: I have 3 colorwork hats I want to knit up. All of my own design

Not a ton really. But you know me. I will add many things to this list over the next 51 weeks or so. I have yarn in stash for all of these projects. Wonder what new yarns will come my way in 2010.?