NaBloPoMo Day 29: pictures of stuff!

I realized yesterday that I didn’t show the thing in the kids’ room that makes the grass rug perfect: a tree!

Also, look how cute their new comforter covers and pillow cases look with the new rug.

I guess it’s growing on me.

Also purchased at Ikea yesterday: adorable LED snowflake lights.

They are on my kitchen window and I love them. I want to go back and get a second set so that they can actually go all the way around the edge of the window.

In actual knitting content news (this is a knitting blog, remember?) I am now on row 50 of the neverending-double-knit-cowl.

The end is so close I can taste it. Only the kitchener looms large and scary. My goal is to finish this before Christmas. Think I can make it??

Advertisement

NaBloPoMo Day 28: field of green

A portion of my day was spent at Ikea, procuring the green rugs pictured here.

It’s a long and annoying story why I needed the rugs but I didn’t really want to buy them. When I saw the shaggy green, though, I thought the kids would enjoy how it looked like grass. I was right. My younger son proclaimed, “Our room is so beautiful now! It looks like a field with patches of clover.” He’s so sweet.

NaBloPoMo Day 27: better late than never

I was going through my photos from 2011 today to pick which ones I want to use on our holiday card and I found photos of my Aidez(-ish) sweater that I never uploaded. They aren’t great and I think I thought I’d get better ones some day but that day hasn’t happened, so here they are.

Side view.

Front view.

If you click over to the pattern page for Aidez you’ll see that the original sweater is knit in bulky yarn and is adorably slouchy on the pixie-like designer. It looks great on her. I’m not pixie-like and don’t need any more slouch, so I knit it in a DK yarn, eliminated the back cables and basically made a raglan using her cables.

I like the way it turned out but I wish it had a closure. I have actually put it into my “almost finished just needs one thing” basket because I really think it needs a zipper. I need to figure out how long of a zipper and procure said item, though. Neither of those things has happened and doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. It’s a shame because I do like this sweater!

NaBloPoMo Day 26: cowl progress

While watching TV tonight I knit a few more rows on my cowl. I’m actually making progress!

(Apologies for the color in this picture. The iPhone plus artificial light plus me being too impatient to wait until morning for a photo leads to some wacky color.)

Anyway, here’s the picture from three days ago to compare.

Of course, since the color work has no repeats and I didn’t take a photo of it from the same spot, it’s not as obvious. I think you can see the progress, though! I am now on round 44. That doesn’t sound like a lot of progress (three rounds today) but it’s a lot more than had been knit in the previous three years or so! Here’s hoping I don’t stall out before it gets done.

NaBloPoMo Day 25: sewing as fast as I can

This is what I did today.

That is half of one of the two quilts I needed to put together for the kids to quilt on Thursday. I did manage to get all of the squares neatened up, ironed, and trimmed to the same size with a lot of help from my mom. She has also volunteered to finish putting them both together. Whew!

In knitting news, I am up to row 41 on the 67 row chart for that cowl. I’m actually enjoying working on it again! Also, I want to be able to wear it this winter. The real test will be if I hide it away again when it gets to the point where I have to kitchener all 110 stitches. Yikes. I will worry about that when the time comes, though.

NaBloPoMo Day 24: giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to those of my readers who celebrate this most delicious holiday!

What I am thankful for (in no particular order):

1. Not cutting more of my thumb while chopping onions for stuffing.
2. America’s Test Kitchen’s foolproof pie crust recipe.
3. Stefan being able (and willing!) to walk 2.5 miles with my mom and me.
4. Niels’ love of various games that I also enjoy.
5. The fact that Erik hasn’t smoked for two weeks!
6. Cooking with my mom.
7. That my Dad is the world’s most appreciative audience for said cooking.
8. My friends everywhere.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

NaBloPoMo Day 23: a day for baking

I did a few things today that I feel are noteworthy. (And yes, we’re going to ignore that I missed yet another day yesterday. Shh.)

I knit on my double-knit cowl that I have, apparently, be working on for three years.

I’m on round 33 out of 67. At this rate, I will be done by 2014. Go me!

I baked an apple pie (not pictured), a pecan pie, and a pumpkin pie.

I also baked cracked wheat rolls which were delicious but did not photograph well.

On tap for tomorrow: more cooking! (In case it wasn’t obvious.)

NaBloPoMo Day 21: I finished something!

I finally finished that potholder! It felt like it should have been easy, it was so small, but knitting two strands of kitchen cotton on a size 8 needle (when I usually knit one strand on a size 7) was not as easy as it seemed. My hands got tired.

Cute huh?

It’s too much fun. I am not sure it’s actually going to be useful since it doesn’t cover much of my hand. Maybe for hot plates coming out of the microwave. Or hot tea pots at Red Rock. Just a thought…

NaBloPoMo day 20: a little distraction

All of the words in my head have to do with outrage and frustration so instead, I’m going to share this video of a guy trying to teach you to knit… sort of.

It’s pretty darn funny.

NaBloPoMo Day 19: the opposite of success

I think it’s safe to say that I am not exactly succeeding at NaBloPoMo this year. Thursday, I completely forgot until I was in bed and it was after midnight and last night I forgot until I was in bed and, even though it was only after 10, I just didn’t have anything left for a blog post. I am not sure where the blame lies, but there you go.

Actually, I think some of the blame lies with YouTube videos of various Occupy protests. I keep watching videos of college students being beaten with police batons or pepper sprayed as they sit quietly on the ground and it just makes me want to throw up or go to sleep so I do the latter. Couple that with the Penn State/Joe Paterno stuff and I really want to hide from the rest of humanity.

Sorry, everyone.