Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ahhh, new yarn!

I really, really love buying new yarn! It doesn't matter how much I already have, new yarn is always good!

Yesterday, my two knitting cohorts (Sue and Donna) and I went to Syracuse to check out a couple of 'new to us' yarn shops. Donna had visited The Mission Rose Quiltery and Knittery booth at a craft fair this past summer and wanted to check it out. A month ago while visiting my sister-in-law in Syracuse, I had driven past it so I knew approximately where it was located. Plus the website has great directions so we headed to North Syracuse. We found it with no trouble. The shop is wonderful! If you like quilting, the selection of fabric looked amazing. The sample quilts that are displayed around the store are just gorgeous. I didn't really look around the quilt section, though, since I really dislike sewing. The knittery section of the shop was smaller but the selection was very good. Check out the website to see what brands they carry. After much deliberation, you can see my purchases in this picture.



The pattern (which you can barely see) is Oat Couture's Oregon Vest. They had a shop sample made up in Noro Kureyon which was beautiful. Then we have two skeins of Online Winter Color 6-fach sock yarn in #881 & #882. And two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Gold Hill.

Even though I came home and immediately wound up a skein of the Shepard Sock, I cast on a sock in the Online #881 yarn last night. Here is my progress so far:


I'm using the 56 Stitch, 56 Row Sock pattern on size 2 ChiaoGoo 5" bamboo needles. When I swatched for this sock, I swatched straight and got the 7 sts. to an inch but in the round, I think I'm getting more like 8 sts. to the inch. I think it will be okay but if it's too small, my daughter gets a pair of socks. I'd really like them for me, though!

After stopping for lunch, we went to the east side of Syracuse toThe Knitting Connection on Burnet Avenue. This is a smaller store with a smaller selection but the yarns were top rate. My purchases here were 4 skeins of Berroco's Ultra Alpaca in #6288 which is a heathery blue, a skein of Lopi Lite and two skeins of Berroco's Furz. The Furz is discontinued so I found it in the clearance bin along with the Lopi Lite. She no longer carries Lopi since she put in Blue Sky Alpaca. She also had the new Tofutsies yarn but I resisted. If I become more proficient with my sock making, I'll go back and get some of it. But after buying yarn for 3 pairs of socks on this trip and having enough for probably 10 more pairs stashed away, I just couldn't buy myself to buy the Tofutsies. I know, I know, I'll regret not buying it but I can always go back even if it is an hour trip one way.



And finally, we have our obligatory snow picture for the day. This picture was taken several days ago but it still looks about right. It's bright and sunny today with 30 degree F temperatures so we might lose some of this snow. Okay by me!

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Shoveling sugar

Remember the 9 a.m. picture of the air conditioning unit? Well, here it is at 12:30 p.m.



And this is a picture of Alek's car at 12:30 p.m.




Isabella decided she needed to come outside and supervise Alek and I when we were shoveling. And very shortly after this, she decided that it was a bit nippy out for a diva dog who had a hair cut yesterday. So she went inside.


Shoveling this snow is like trying to shovel sugar. It's very grainy and rather heavy. Alek and I were making slow headway when Scott came home at 1:30 p.m. and ran the snowblower again.


It's now 8:30 p.m. and it's still snowing. Scott and I each shoveled a little more around 6 p.m. and our tracks are completely covered. It's not supposed to stop snowing until 10 p.m. or later. So we should have our 3 feet by tomorrow.

I didn't do much knitting today. I did finish the Panta and started a Mystery Kal for Yarn Yoga but that's about it. So much for a knitting snow day!

Valentine's Day New York style

This is a shot of the air conditioning unit that sits next to the house. The small indentations are what's left of my husband's footprints from 6:30 a.m. He had to walk over to the side of the house to dig out the furnace exhaust pipe. If the pipe gets covered in snow, the furnace won't run. I took this picture at 9 a.m. As you can see, his foot prints are almost gone. I went over there after I took this picture and the snow was about mid-calf.


At the same time, I took this picture of my son's Honda Civic. The area next to his car was snowblowed once today. Even though you can't really see it, it's still snowing in these pictures. It's a fine, granular snow and it's coming down very steadily.


Well, I'm off to take a shower and then do some laundry and knitting. I might have to go into work if there are a lot of emergency calls since someone has to be there to answer the phone. My husband will pick me up, though. I'm not driving in this stuff even if I do have 4 wheel drive on the Kia.

I'll be checking in later.

Nor'Easter 2007


You know it's going to be a long day when you get up at 6 a.m. and the weatherman on the local news tells you that the biggest storm of the winter is going to drop the most snow right on your village. The whole East Coast is getting slammed and most of our section of central New York is supposed to get between 1 - 2 feet of snow. Except for a bull's eye spot over the Mohawk Valley that could get up to 3 feet. And, yup, that's where I live.

The picture is of my husband running the snow blower at around 6:30 a.m. The snow started around 9 p.m. last night and by this morning there was 8 inches. But the heaviest snowfall isn't scheduled to hit until between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. And snow falling at the rate of 2-3 inches per hour for 12 hours adds up to A LOT OF SNOW! Oh, and did I mention that the winds are supposed to start and be up to 25 mph except for the 40 mph gusts on occasion. Plus the temperature is around 10 degrees F? Can you say "Blizzard"?

I'm going to be blogging periodically today. I'll post pictures throughout the day. I can do that because I am not going into work. There is nothing on my desk that needs my immediate attention. Hubby has to go in since it's a plumbing and heating business. He has 4 wheel drive on the truck so he shouldn't have any real problems. People who live up on the hills better hope their heat stays on, though.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Regrets?

There are times when I wish I didn't have such a large stash of yarn and needles. Don't get me wrong, I love all the yarns I have. But when I see a new yarn or a great color in a favorite yarn, I feel guilty buying it. And I love buying yarn, so I hate the guilt!

I spent a good part of the day wading through the pile in my front closet. That's where I keep all my knitting magazines, knitting bags, newly purchased yarn, and projects I am currently working on. Or should I say, projects I started, worked on until I got bored, and then abandoned for the next fun thing to come my way. I now have an XXL Ziploc bag of yarns that need to be hauled down cellar and put in the appropriate Rubbermaid totes. There are also a few projects that need to be frogged so I can use the yarn for something else. The small zippered bag is my stash of Lamb's Pride Worsted.


Some day I'll take a photograph of the pile of totes and plastic drawer sets under the cellar stairs that house my stash. Maybe. If I'm feeling brave.

I finished the Calorimetry that I was making in the Plassard "Symphony" to match my multidirectional scarf. I'm not very happy since this one is too loose, also. I'm giving up on this pattern. Hopefully I can find someone who will like the colors and the way it fits. It's too bad since it looks nice with the scarf.


I haven't given up on making a headband of some sort so I started making a Panta. I don't know the link that will take you directly to the pattern. It seems to me that I googled it and had to search around a bit to get the pattern that I finally printed out.

I'm making the first one in Lion Brand WoolEase in white. It's for Ariane's friend, Ashley. I was going to make her a Calorimetry but for the above named reason, I'm doing the Panta. I just started the decrease rows so it's over half done. Ariane would like one in black and I am going to make myself one in the Plassard. The next one I do, I think I'll use a provisional cast on so I can graft the ends together.

The needles I'm using are my only set of Bryspuns. When we were camping in Lake Placid in September, I stopped in Adirondack Yarns to buy a set of size 5 needles. The only ones she had were these Bryspuns. I needed them for a pair of two needle mittens I was making. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn used double on size 5's. It made too tight a fabric for the flexible Bryspuns so I put them aside and haven't used them since. Actually, I put the pattern aside, too. I can't work with that tight a fabric. I decided to try the needles for the Panta with the single strand of WoolEase and I love them. I like how pointy they are and the flex makes them easy on the hands.

Now for the latest weather report from upstate New York - the low temperature for tonight will be -10 degrees F. And a nor'easter is moving up the coast and is going to hit us late Tuesday night and into Wednesday. I just love February.

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Enough already!

I think we have plenty of snow, now. Thanks, but it can stop anytime! It has snowed every day for the past week and it's supposed to snow every day for the next week. Normally it's only a few flurries but today the lake effect snow band has moved over us. We live an hour to an hour and a half away from Lake Ontario but we are in the direct path of the lake effect snow band. At least we aren't up in the northern part of the state which has received almost 6 feet of snow in the past week and is supposed to get more! Alek is glad he's not in Oswego this year since they will probably end up with close to 8 feet of snow.

These pictures were taken from my front door looking down at the road and the high school across the street. And I have to go out and drive in that mess in a little while. I love the 4 wheel drive on my new KIA Sportage!



As far as knitting goes, there isn't much to report. I did finish a baby hat out of some clearance yarn I found at JoAnn's Fabrics. It's JoAnn's brand and it's called Smania. It is a cotton/nylon blend. If you double click on the picture of the ball of yarn, you can see how the yarn has sort of a mesh tube around it. It knit up nicely but since it is cotton, it bothered my hands a little. I love the rainbow sherbet colors in it!






I don't normally buy novelty yarn like this but it only cost me $.75 a skein! I got two skeins of the Smania, two skeins of Camelia, and two skeins of Petalo. I'll show you pictures of the other two yarns later sometime.

Now I have to get ready for work or I will be later than normal. Happy knitting and stay warm!

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