Well, I survived the holidays.  G’s cardigan and my cowl were finished.  The baby shower was amazing, and I managed to finish it all one day before Christmas.  That’s including all the handmade presents we made for daycare and Chris’  little cousins.  Awful, but they all turned out good.  I am now watching the Vikings get their asses handed to them.  Painful.

There really isn’t anything worth blogging about right now.  We lucky Minnesotans recieved a snow storm for the holidays.  It was awesome.  Now everything is icy, making driving scary.  There is more snow in the forecast, in case you’re wondering.

Well, I did finally read Pride & Prejudice, and have now started Jane Eyre.  After that, I’m tackling Wuthering Heights.  Is it sad that at 27 I’ve never read them?  Don’t answer that.  I’m thinking I should round it all out with Pride & Prejudice & and Zombies.  What do you think?  The gift card my MIL gave me for Christmas has been used to buy some yarn.  I plan on making Chris Mr. Darcy, from Knitty.  And then maybe Mrs. Darcy for myself.  It’s a cardigan, and I think it’s lovely.

Oh!  I have picture of the cowl.

Malabrigo Chunky in Little Lovely.  It makes me feel like peppermint, and trust me that’s a good thing.

Well, I’ll leave off here with what I’m listening to.  Lady GaGa, Owl City, Dr. Dog, The Fratellis, Nikka Costa and Adele.  Oh, and Better Than Ezra.  I really, really, really love Better Than Ezra.

Yep, I disappeared for a while.  G’s cowl is finished, but she won’t let me take a picture.  She’s so in love, she’s become possessive.  <–That word doesn’t look right, but spell check says it is.  Ok, if you say so.  The Doleman sweater has stalled a bit.  I’m still working on the back/sleeves.  Who knows if it’ll ever get finished.  Two of my coworkers have asked me to knit them hats for their kids, and I obliged.  One is finished, and I’ve started the second.  And because I’m crazy, I’ve decided to make G a vest.  Neither the sweater nor the vest will be finished for Christmas as I’d hoped, but maybe I’ll get lucky and finish one.  Preferably my sweater.  Cuz I’m selfish.

My next project (assuming I ever finish these) is the EDI Cowl. I’m really thinking Teal Feather, or Little Lovely in Mal Chunky. There doesn’t seem to be a yarn store in my area that carries Mal Chunky, but I’ll keep hunting. The more I look at the pattern, the more I know I only want to knit it in Malabrigo. Oh well, wish me luck!

There’s nothing else new or exciting in my life. The weather here in MN is cold, cold and oh yeah, slightly snowy. I hate winter. But at least it’s not -40 which honestly should never be allowed. Hopefully, for Lil’G, we have a white Christmas. I’m ok without having a white Christmas, but it would make her so “hassy”.

There’s nothing new playing on the ipod. It’s same ol’ same ol’. If you haven’t heard Hesitation by Mayaeni, I suggest you give it a listen. I think she’s amazing. There’s also a little Rock Kills Kid, The Hippos, Coconut Records aaaaand, Incubus. Oh, and Gregory Alan Isakov. I can’t seem to get enough of him. The Stable Song is amazing, if you like folksy music, I highly recommend him.

Sure, it’s a WIP shot, but my post felt naked without a picture.  Just…naked.  Team Intentions!

Man.  It has been a loooong couple of days!  Little G has been sick since Thursday.  We’ve been watching lots of movies, when she wasn’t sleeping.  I’ve been knitting, myself.  I’ve almost finished the back piece.  It’s going really well.  I also cast on a cowl for G in hopes that she would perk up at the thought of mommy making her something pretty.  It worked, more or less.

I’m using the Cherry Tree Hill for G’s cowl.  I think it’s beautiful.  It makes me think of a rose garden.  That picture ( yes, I realize it’s a little blurry) just doesn’t do the colors justice.  I really think it’ll bring out her green eyes.  If I’m lucky, I’ll finish it today.  And maybe G will be so happy, she’ll actually eat a full meal!  Aaaah, that thought makes me happy.  When you have a sick child, you’ll pretty much do anything to make them feel better.  Even if that means you have to watch a hundred kids movies in a row, some more than once.  Seriously, I’ve seen Up about four times already.  Thank goodness huband had the brains to stop and rent Star Trek for us.  That movie was sooooo much better than I thought it would be!  I highly recommened it to anyone. 

I think I’ll leave off here.  I really haven’t been listening to anything new or interesting.  A little Alana Davis, Erin McCarley, Adele and Everclear.  Sorry for my boringness!

That would be six inches of 2×2 ribbing.  The sweater is coming right along.  I’m now going to start the SS and back shaping.  My hope is to have this done in time to wear for Christmas, a very feasable goal in my opinion.  After that, I’ll concentrate on G’s sweater and scarf.  And after that, I’ll make a new beret.  I love having a plan of action. 

I have four friends expecting babies, and I’m not sure if I’ll be knitting any presents.  Too many, too quickly to be honest.  I feel like I’m finally starting to get my mojo back.  It’s been gone for a while, and it’s good to be getting it back.  Other than that, I’ve just been playing my guitar.  I bought new strings recently and my goodness does it sing.  I just love the way it sounds.  Hopefully, G will be ready for lessons soon.  I prefer to have an actual instructor teach her than myself, as I am still in the learning stages, too.

Anyone planning on any Christmas knitting?  That would be a “no” on my part.  I hate knitting for other people.  You never know if they’ll truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into handknit items.  Aw well.  G-funk and I did sit down and make some homemade Thanksgiving Day cards tonight.  I will not be doing that for Christmas, either.  Too many people!  We only made cards for the grandparents.  It was a lot of fun, and it is something I think the two of us will do again.

 And on that note, I think I’ll bring this to an end.  Of course I’m listening to music!  David Gray, UB40, Ingrid Michaelson and Alana Davis.  David Gray’s new song is amazing.  If you haven’t heard Fugitive yet, check it out!

Shall we try again? Not that I really feel this post will go any smoother than the last. We shall see. I haven’t been knitting much. I’ve been reading and practicing my guitar. Well, cleaning, baking and whatnot, too.
But I just haven’t felt like picking up the needles, I’m not sure why. Mah birfday was Saturday and my inlaws gave me a gift certificate. I ran to Webs and bought three skeins of Eco Wool in the natural colorway. Knitscene had this awesome turtleneck in there that is just screaming to me. I’ll look up the name of the pattern and get back to you with it. The sweater looks simple, it has elbow length sleeves (my personal favorite) with three little buttons attached to them. Sweet and simple, just the way I like it.

Unpacking hasn’t really taken up much of my time. For the most part I’ve left that up to huband. My focus has been on cleaning, laundry and cooking. That alone is a full time job. And Chris feels this is fair, since he’s never been to good about helping out, but feels appropriately guilty about that. He did an amazing job with G’s room. I did help put the furniture together, and G and I put up the stickers. But the rest was all Chris. The picture doesn’t do him justice. He put alot of thought into where everything should go. You should see her closet! He has everything neatly organized.

G loves her new room. It’s definitely a girl’s room.

I think I shall leave here for now, the computer keeps trying to scroll up, WHILE I’M TYPING. Very. Annoying.

Where the heck have I been?! Moving, that’s where. I’m not even sure where to begin. The first thing I did was bake a cheesecake. My good friend Jim was home from Okinawa, and that’s what he wanted. I live to serve.

The cheesecake was absolutely delicious. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. Other than that, I’ve been fighting with the internet, cleaning, and just happily being Susie Homemaker.

I have a lot more photos to share, but for some reason, my computer is being a brat. It hates me right now. I celebrated my 27th birthday on the 7th in style. Baked a cake from scratch and spent the night curled up with my two favoritest people in the world. Life is good right now.

I’m gonna keep this short, because the computer is starting to piss me off. I’ll figure it out and make a good long post soon. Currently, I’m listening to Dondria, Goo Goo Dolls, Train and Owl City.

Well, G-funk had her first day of kindegarten yesterday. We went with her for the first 20 minutes. After, we picked her up at her bus stop. With cupcakes in hand. She had a blast! Made a new friend on her very first day. It’s strange. I honestly thought I would be bawling my eyes out over my “baby” going to school. But, in reality, I was proud. Blissful. It’s amazing (and a little painful) watching her grow, gain confidence and independence. Her excitement became mine, and I couldn’t be sad knowing how happy starting school made her. Letting go wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It’s a comfort, really, knowing that mine and my husband’s presence there put her at ease. Allowing her, our normally painfully shy child, to laugh and giggle and talk to her new classmates. Yesterday was a win, and I don’t expect letting go to always be this easy, but I’m looking forward to it. Being able to watch her become the beautiful young lady I know she’ll be is an honor that I’ll always be grateful for….

“Honey, how was your first day of school?”

Not much has been happening in my world. I’ve been knitting on my iphone mitts and Aphrodite. Listening to music, and hacking up a lung. Yes, I’m sick again. I finally went to the Dr. today who didn’t tell me much of anything. Basically, it’s my sinuses and allergies. He gave me antibiotics and Nasanex. Yippeeeee. Seriously, it’s the hormonal weather we’ve been having that’s causing my problems. Hopefully I’ll feel better soon.

G-funk starts kindegarten on Wednesday. It’s exciting and depressing all at once. My baby is growing up and all I can do is accept it. Being a parent is hard. G is so excited, it’s all she can talk about. She’s ready to wear her new clothes and use her new crayons and markers. Yes, she’s easy to make happy.

Packing up to move isn’t fun. Chris keeps packing up my crap that I need. Like my DVDs. Hello, husband? We don’t move for another month. You realize that don’t you? There’s no reason for you to pack up my Firefly and Dead Like Me dvds just yet. Put the boxes and the tape down, ok? Ok, thanks. He is easily excitable.

Vegancraftastic rocks my needles.

Back from the woods! We left at 8:30 pm Saturday night and we got there at 1:00 in the morning. Yikes, right? We woke to a horrendous downpour.  Seeing as how it was Chris and I’s sixth wedding anniversary, he drove me in town to the the yarn store.  Half hour drive, then SEVEN FLIGHTS OF STAIRS, and guess what?  Yeah, it was closed!  We drove back to the cabin and waited out the rain.  We were only there for two days, came home today.  It was nice.  I didn’t do a whole lot of knitting.  I finished the cuff for some Pomotamos Gloves, and that was all I did.  Not even good enough for a picture.  I do have the rest of the week off, so hopefully I’ll finish one.  Ha!

I wish we could’ve stayed all week. We spent the nights sitting on the end of the dock, gazing at the stars. It was incredible. That’s how I want to spend every night, sitting with Chris, watching the sky. But, as always, it’s back to reality. We drove home, unpacked, relaxed for about 20 minutes, and then Chris had to go to work. Major downer. Ah well, such is life. It was fun while it lasted.

No picture, but I took myself to Amazing Threads today and bought myself an anniversary gift. I got two skeins of Shi Bui sock yarn in the Spectrum colorway. I will not be making socks with them. Maybe some really awesome fingerless mitts. Not sure. It’s so gorgeous, vibrant and saturated and so friggin squooshy!

I is spinnin some Sick Puppies, Dead Weater, and The Veronicas. And, in honor of our anniversary, “I’m About To Come Alive” by Train. This is our song. It isn’t a sappy, cheesy love song. It’s bittersweet and perfect. It’s been our song for a very long time. Our marriage works because we’re honest with each other, even when it hurts. Even when we don’t want to hear the truth. We support each other, do our best to help the other reach goals and realize dreams. Our marriage works because we put the time and the effort into making it work. I love Chris, happy anniversary!

I realize that I haven’t given an Owls update. Oh yeah, I finished it.

It’s awesome. It fits. It’s super warm. Good thing I only made elbow length sleeves, or I would die from heat exhaustion! I’ve only sewn on the button eyes for one owl, and quite honestly, I think I love it that way. I’m not so sure I’ll sew on the rest. This is something I’ll need to ponder for a while.

So. The Mitt-A-Long. I have started and frogged those dang things so many times…..I give up. The mitts might have to wait until September. I’m so frustrated with them, I could spit. So, basically, I’m not knitting anything right now. I may give the mitts one more go, and if I fail again, they go in the corner. It’s time to start nosing around for some fingering weight yarn for a shawl. Maybe Entomology. Not sure.

I shall be gone up north, in the woods, for a few days. Find me if you can!

Yes, I have the ipod working overtime. Erin McCarley, Arcade Fire, Pete Yorn, and a little Shanie Twain. Have a good weekend kids!