New sweater

I'm on day 3 of this sweater and making excellent progress. I would be on day 4, but I lost a bout with food poisoning and I'd rather not talk about that. I'm still not at 100%, but my knitting is on fire!

Cherry Mismas

All in all it was a pretty good holiday.

One of my brother-in-laws gave me a knitting book:


He also accompanied the gift by saying "Selbuvotter!!!" in a scary, gravelly voice about 20 times.

Hubby gave me two cherished pieces of glassware, which I promptly filled with necessities.


1. Rowan from the stash for my next sweater.
Why, what do you put in your cake plate?
2. Homemade caramels.

Old Trafford

Since he seems to be a crowd pleaser.... more Trafford.

I've got a fever and the only prescription is MORE TRAFFORD!!

and my personal fav...

That last one should hold you over for a couple days.

In the Doghouse

** Warning this post may contain images of dog poop. Discretion is advised.**

It's still snowing here.


Hubby took me out in the truck today. I just love riding around in the snow with him. We went to the mall and I finished up my Christmas shopping.
When we got home there was a lot more snow to shovel. Hubby was outside for a long time and when he finally came in he informed me that he had made a dog house.



Camera in tow, I went to check it out. Pretty roomy in there.

Hubby pursuaded the dogs to come check it out and what happened next was classic McGillicutty dog behavior.

Roxie could not get enough of having something around which to run.



Django was not impressed by Hubby's construction skills. He had other plans.
He walked right around and did his bidness in the backyard of the doghouse.


Roxie just kept going...

Just to make sure Hubby knew exactly what he thought of the doghouse, Django circled the house, walked right up to the front door and lifted a leg!!


Hubby and I almost fell into the snow laughing so hard, but we didn't because Roxie would have mowed us down.

Too funny.

Introducing Trafford

We interrupt this knitting blog because we've got dog news.

My sister got a dog. Meet Trafford.

Don't you think he needs a sweater?

Habitat

It's so not easy to photograph a black hat.
Well, there's probably some good tricks to it, but I'm not that good yet.

Pattern: Habitat by Jared Flood
Source: buy it through Ravelry for $4.75
Materials: Malabrigo Merino Worsted
Amount: less than 1 skein
Needles: US 7& 8 Addi Turbos
Started: November, 2008
Finished: December 20, 2008

I made this hat for my friend Rob. I sent him a bunch of patterns and he picked this one, but now I'm really wondering if it's too feminine. Hubby looks ridiculous in it. What do you think? Dude gift?

Just Enough Ruffles

I started this scarf on the plane going to my sister's wedding. I didn't get a chance to work on it until the plane ride home, then I finished it in a few hours at home. I'd say this is 6 hours of knitting or less. Need last minute gift? Got some malabrigo in your stash? This is for you.

I made this as a Christmas present for a co-worker. I'm having a hard time giving it away. She's more of a ruffle gurl than me though.

Pattern: Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau
Source: buy it through Ravelry for $3.50
Materials: Malabrigo Merino Worsted
Amount: 1 1/3 skeins
Needles: US 9 Addi Turbos
Started: November 23, 2008
Finished: November 30, 2008

Snow Day

Kudos to the powers that be for actually telling us all to stay home yesterday. It was as bad as they thought it would be and staying home all cozy was the best gift on a Friday afternoon.

I made cookies and watched Love Actually.

Drive by Sweater Post

I've got no time to blog. I've been having fun. Too much fun to blog.

This is the best I can do.
A quick pic taken weeks ago before hopping on a plane to go to my sister's wedding.

Pattern: Divine by Leanne Prouse & Lorraine Tweddle
Source: Ella Rae Book Seven
Size: Small
Materials: Ella Rae Silkience
Amount: 8 skeins ( I think)
Needles: US 6 & 7 Addi Turbos
Started: September, 2008
Finished: November, 2008

Totally Random

I've had a lot of mini posts in my head over the last week. I don't have time to give them the attention I should. So here's a list:

• One morning last week, I walked out of the train station amongst a pack of commuters. When we turned the corner, a presumably homeless man sat on a concrete wall holding a coffee in his hand. He snarled at our group, "Hurry up! You're ALL gonna be late!!" It was all I could do to keep a straight face once we passed him. He was so right and it made me laugh. I couldn't help but feel his same disdain for the lot of us. Sheep doing a run/walk thing to the office. Hurry up morons! You're going to miss your life!
  
• My sister's wedding is next week. At this moment, I have yet to see my dress. Please pray for UPS swiftness.
  
• My office is moving halfway to nowhere on Friday (My friend Danielle's office moved to the epicenter of nowhere earlier this year). It's hard to find the silver lining in this one. Especially if it effects my commute - which it will.
  
• I spent at least 30 minutes of Friday night home alone trying to learn the first 8 counts to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. It didn't go well, but it didn't go bad.
  
• Last Thursday night I had the good fortune of leaving my office 10 minutes late. As a result I got to spend nearly 1.5 hours with the lovely Beth S. I just love my chance meetings with Beth. She's got a classic knitting style that I like and whenever she's given me advice or referred a source she's always been dead on. More importantly she's got this presence about her. She's very calm. She's wise beyond her years. I just love running into her.
• I've finished two sweaters and have yet to capture them in daylight with a camera.
• Shout out to THE ROCK CITY!! Big bro Brewer just started a job there and will make motown his home for the next 4 years with any luck. I can't wait to show the numbers how to use their hand to show where they live.
  

That's all I got.

Time and Temperature

I was reading on the bus this morning and the character in my book started to use a wind up alarm clock with glow in the dark hands to help him get up in the morning. The image of that alarm clock sent me on a thought train back to my childhood.

My brother had an analog alarm clock with glowy hands. The act of winding an analog clock reminded me of something I did a lot in my childhood, but no longer holds a purpose for me. I used to call "time and temperature."

A local bank had a phone line you could call and an automated recording would tell you the current time and temperature. It was a necessity after power failures or re-setting all the clocks at daylight savings. In a pre-cell phone world how else would you figure it out?

I knew the phone number for time and temperature by heart. It was one of two numbers I was allowed to call without permission. The other being my Grandma's. Plus, I didn't have to do the talking when I called t&t. Sometimes I called just because I could. Sometimes I would speak along with the voice "EST Bank time 10:37, temperature 61" in my best moviefone-like voice.

I sat on the bus today trying to remember that phone number. Like so many things from my childhood, it was gone. It's been over 10 years now since I've been a permanent resident in my home town. Living 673 miles away has not helped any either. I don't have daily reminders of little things like street names and phone numbers. The automated message plays in my head but the phone number is gone.

323-....
323-11..

I sent a text to my sister, figuring I'd have to actually call to explain what I was talking about.

8:35am Haddy: Do you remember the phone number for est bank time & temp?
8:36am Em: 3238811
8:37am Em: Without a moments hesitation
8:37am Haddy: Thanks couldn't remember. Not necessary. Just thought of it.
8:43am Em: Est bank time 833. Temperature zero. YES NO SCHOOL. Then hang up and call the school board and pray u didn't get a real person

Apparently Em knew exactly what was on my mind and she herself used the line for more than just setting clocks.

I dialed the number. It still works. It's a little different. The bank's name has changed and there's more of a sales pitch at the beginning than I remember, but time and temp is still kicking. The next time I called, the line was sponsored by a cable provider. I guess even banks gotta sell out these days.

Next time you're not sure what time it is in Ohio or if you wanna know if my sister is wearing flip flops or boots. Call it. It's fun.

(440)323-8811

Nov. 4, 2008

I voted.

Obsession du jour

I need this bag.

in peacock, please.

The knitting prom.

This time every year my knitter confidence gets a total kick in the behind.
Rhinebeck.

Every October, I say that I'm going to go next year, but come September I lose my mojo. I think about who I might go with, come up with nothing and resolve that it's not really the kind of thing I'd like to go to.

Because really:

• I'm not really that good of a knitter.
• I've never made a latvian mitten.
• I don't spin.
• I don't have a sweater to wear.
• I'm not a good photographer.
• I'm not personally friends with any designers, dyers, authors, high profile bloggers.
  
• I don't know how to steek.
  
• I haven't test knit anything for anyone.
• I probably won't jump on the cowl bandwagon.
  

Then, when everyone returns with ridiculous pictures and stories, it's like having your best friends tell you all about the prom that you didn't go to. ugh.

Oh well, I guess there's next year. I need to start working on a date, I guess.

Allstar

Hubby beat his personal best by 4 minutes and came in 5th overall. Allstar.

checking results:

getting awards:

it pays to be old:

One day = one hat

I ran across the pattern for Bounce last week. I've been a little taken with the squishy, beret type hats I've been seeing lately. I had some Malabrigo in the stash and wanted to give this pattern a try. So yesterday I set forth to make this hat. I finished it in about 12 hours (Not total knitting time. There were interruptions).

I LOVE this pattern. You knit the ribbing in the round, then switch to knitting it flat, thereby eliminating the need for magic loop or dpns. Genius! Just a little seaming at the end. Voila!

My incentive was to be able to wear a green hat to Hubby's marathon so that I might be easily seen by him in a crowd. It worked too.

Quarter Century Club

At my place of employment, there's this club for employees that have been there over 25 years. Oddly enough they call it the Quarter Century Club. Seeing how the only way I'd be a member is if I started working there at age 5, I'm not allowed to attend their get togethers. There are a few dinosaurs in my office that have obtained membership to this club and I've heard it's a raucous good time. Bluehairs, wheelchairs, mothballs and booze. Kickass.

My sister joins another kind of quarter century club today.
She's 25.

She kicks ass too. And if she's got a club, I'm the president!
She's the Amy Poehler to my Tina Fey.

*photo taken at her bridal shower last month.
For those that are curious, this was before the haircut.

marathon "planning"

I've written about tapering before and how it's always an adventure. I'm recycling this post from an email with my pal, who coincidentally is tapering herself. Big shout out to all my marathon runners.

I forgot you were tapering too. Tapering is so my nightmare. Hubby hasn't been bad this time around. He actually got to me in the end of the hard miles. He was just so tired all the time. Couldn't stay awake at any time of the day and I never saw him cuz he was always running. Right now I'm just dealing with obsessive "planning" Hubby. I use the term "planning" loosely.

Hubby: "I need more carbs."
Haddy: "Then why did you eat an entire chicken?"
Hubby: "I don't know."

Hubby: "Will you help me eat well this week?"
Haddy: "Absolutely. What do you need to eat? What kind of meals do you want?"
Hubby: "Pasta. And I'm going to buy a bunch of chicken."
Haddy: "Ok, but I think you might get a little sick of chicken and pasta by the end of the week."
Hubby: "You're right."
Haddy: "So what else would you like?"
Hubby: "I don't know."

I can't wait until we start talking about what shoes he's going to wear.

Update

I finished the Empire, but "finishing" it is proving to be a pain. I just bound off half the collar using the EZ sewn bind-off and I don't like it. Too stretchy. Tomorrow night I'll take it back and do a reg'lar bind off. No pics yet. I'm actually not sure about it. The shoulder seams look wonky.

Since I finished the Empire, I started Divine. I have two sleeves and part of the back done:

On Saturday I got seduced by cashmere. Butterfly Yarns has this lovely Plymouth Earth Eco Cashmere. Lovely. I have 1/4 of a scarf done. It's the flutter scarf. Raveled.

I also lost all my hair again this weekend. Shortest ever.

I bought this shirt at the Cleveland airport for $9.99. I love it.

Three Day Weekend

I kicked off the holiday weekend (Columbus Day dudes. I'm sorry you don't get it off, but I do and I'm thankful.) by making some banana bread.
(I also made cheesy muffins and a veggie tart, but those didn't last long enough for photos.)

A perfect thing to wake up to this morning.

This is how I plan to spend the day: coffee, knitting, America's Test Kitchen, a blanket and Django.

I might run some errands so that I can cook some more, but I'll make them quick so that I can get back to the couch and Django.

Bad Housewife

Dear Internet,

I've lived in my house for four years and somehow in that time I forgot that my stove does this:


Yup. I forgot. It's probably in part because when we moved in, my angel of a mother cleaned the stove and so I have no recollection of popping the hood. At least that's the story I'm sticking to. I've cleaned my stove countless times and always wondered how I'd ever get the stuff that falls down the abyss. I removed the burners for some maintenance today and gave the old hood a lift. What d'ya know?

Internet, I'm sorry. This is what it looked like down there:

Please don't tell my grandmother and if you see my mom give her a hug for cleaning my stove back then.

YAY!

Now I get to seam. Ugh.

Becky, if you're out there... I might need to call in reinforcements!

Cowls?!

Ok, knitters. What is up with all the cowls?

My ravelry friend activity button shows about 5 new cowls a day.

What gives?

Are they fun to knit? Fun to wear?


I think they would be either.

YES on 3

If you live in Massachusetts, help me out.

I feel pretty strongly about Question 3: The Greyhound Protection Act. It's a proposition to end greyhound racing in Mass by 2010. Hubby and I signed the petition to get this question on the ballot. If you don't know much about the racing industry, please watch this video:

In my opinion, this video isn't really propagandized. I have directly seen the results of the injuries and abuse. Our Griffin died of complications from a track related injury, Django has whip scars and Roxie is missing a large piece of her right nostril.

Abusing dogs isn't entertainment for me and I don't think it should be for anyone else either.

Our commonwealth is better than that.
Please join me in voting YES on question 3.

My Living Room

On any given Sunday, my living room looks sort of like this:

some dog drool

a few dirty paws

a sprawled out pooch or two

a fox

and at least three random rawhides (count the above too)