Finally

For most of the fall/early winter I have been looking for the perfect pair of fingerless gloves. Something not to simple or too cabled and I think I found it. The Daisy Stitch Hand warmers from the Purl Bee. I don't know how difficult the pattern will be for me to work out, but I'm actually looking forward to knitting this up.
I haven't made up my mind on which yarn I'll use, but it won't be the recommended yarn. If I did these would cost me $50, even though I'll probably be able to make another pair out of the yarn, it's still way too expensive. I have some undyed handspun that I may dye into four different colors or I may just go looking in the stash to dig up some yarn.
Wish me luck. Cool looking hand warmers here I come.

Let it snow

So I'm still not in the Christmas spirit, but we've got snow. I love snow. Love it like I love books and yarn. See that's serious love.

Shockingly the kiddies had a snow day today. It barely snowed 6 inches on Saturday night/Sunday morning but the city couldn't clear the side streets in time for school on Monday. Now I find this very strange. I remember just a few years back when the city used to be much more efficient in snow removal and non-school closing. We would get 6 inches dumped after midnight on a school night and schools would still be opened---typically the only ones in the area. Don't mind me, I had two kids at home today. Sadly the teenager acted worse than the 3 year old (who is desperately missing his mommy--8 days down, 6 to go).

Not sure if I've already mentioned this, but mommy dearest is in Qatar visiting her sister and niece for 14 days. Since I'm home due to the complete lack of a payable job, I can easily fill in for preschool watching duty. It's fun, but stressful. Especially now that my other sister has gone to London for ~ 10 days.

You know that sounds a lot more glamorous than the mundane reality of my everyday existence. But isn't that always the case?

Snow

Its snowing! Finally, the first really good snow fall of the year. My baby brother is crazy excited at the chance of building a snowman. I'm excited because I just love snow. Who knows? This might be what finally gets me knitting again. Nothing like snow to tell you to knit warm, cuddly hats and gloves (I still don't feel like knitting miles of endless scarves).

On other news I did finally put together my spinning wheel. It was relatively straightforward except for one part. I'll look at the manual again and see if I can figure it out. Later.

Bah Hum Bug

I'm being a bit of a grouch. My knee is hurting, so I'm walking around with this apparently highly funny (at least according to my sisters) limp. I hate it when I get hurt and have no idea how it happened.
I'm not knitting anything right now. I have a half finished chevron scarf that is too itchy, I may add a backing to it when it's done, but I'm annoyed that it didn't turn out the way I wanted. This seems to be the theme of my knitting lately. I'm annoyed that things are not going smooth sailing with all of my projects that I'm not working on what I have or casting on something new.
And now my little brother wants the computer. See this is what I get for not taking him to his morning school in an attempt to avoid the stomach virus that is going around. Three kids went home yesterday and A. threw up yesterday, but was then fine. Later.

White Flag

It came very early for me this year. I am officially dropping out of the all handmade Christmas gifts race this year.

I had such grand plans: a pair of thigh high lace stockings for my older sister, a scarf for younger sister #1, a couple of cool looking scarves for the teen sister, a full mitten, hat, scarf set for my baby brother, cashmere leggings for my mom and a red knitted cap for my dad.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Funny, yeah really funny.

There are several things that I failed to take into account when making this list. Here are a few of the obvious ones:

1. I don't usually work lace or socks, so this means my sister's project would fall into the incredibly time consuming category, and not to mention the whole learning curve thing I would have to overcome in order to successfully complete both pairs.
2. Scarves are really, really, really long and therefore very, very, very time consuming.
3. My baby brother grabbed his winter hat and now refuses to wear it. I need to take a minute....instead, he chooses to wear his store bought fireman hat/scarf/glove combo. sob.
4. Cashmere is expensive. My mom is picky. This is destined for failure.
5. My dad doesn't actually wear hats. Or scarves. Or gloves.

I'm thinking I need to knit something for myself. And maybe my cousin's baby, he turns one on Dec. 15th (and doesn't have a say on his wardrobe). And some mittens for my baby brother because I'm a glutton for punishment.

My scarf

On a whim, I decided to treat myself to some lovely Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk yarn from my LYS. It's a lovely blue-green and very soft yarn that would be wonderful for a scarf.
With the weather turning very cold, I decided it was past time to cast on. So I started knitting, worked a few inches and then put my lovely, soft scarf-to-be on my neck. It felt funny...almost, well, itchy. But its a very soft alpaca/silk yarn...how can it be itchy? Maybe it's the stitch? So I switch over to stockinette, a nice flat stitch. Put it on my neck and...still itchy.
Maybe it is the yarn? Give it to a couple of family members with orders to put it on their necks. (It's a mark of how used to odd requests my family is that they didn't ask why?) They ooh-ed and ahh-ed over its softness and looked at me very strangely when I mentioned it's itchiness. They declared the yarn very soft and lovely and completely itch free.

So it's not the yarn...it's me. (insert a mental image of Lucy crying and you get a good idea of how I feel on the inside).