Spring Fling . . . again.

Tomorrow is April.


Today is . . . well . . .

see for yourself.
No bother. It's quite nice to wake up with the wind howling, the snow flying, piling up at the windows. Minnesota spring is muddy and gray for a very long time, so if that's how it's going to be, having it all wrapped up in a white, cozy snow storm is fine with me. It will probably melt tomorrow. And best of all, I finished this lovely scarf this morning; just in time, eh? Specs: Pattern - Noro Scarf - K1, P2, changing skeins every two rows.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden - ? Can't remember color. oops
I think I am done with Noro yarn*, however. It's expensive and there are twigs and knots throughout the yarn. I used to think it was rather quaint. Kind of like, I used to think acrylic yarn was fine.

*I have a ball of Noro sock yarn that I'll try, then I'm done. For my A Year In Socks challenge, I gave one of my Noro sock yarns to my mom. (I'm hoping she'll knit that up before me so I can see if I like it).

Ooh, and speaking of A Year In Socks . . . I finished my March socks just in time:
SPECS

Knitting goals: April - finish my Have a Heart socks, Hubby's Milk Chocolate Socks (Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Bosco - color 3518), start Belle's sweater . . . tulip sweater anyone?

Up North Easter

We spent Easter up north. We had a pack of wolves howl on 'Easter-Eve', which was pretty special. The Easter Egg dying and hunt took a bit of planning since we have no running water and the puppy would eat the eggs.

Our place is water-access only, so this time of year is the only time we can drive right up to the place. (This is not without the terrifying act of driving across the ice with windows and doors open). But the ice was three feet thick . . . I checked. And there are no currents or springs that we know of in this part of the lake.

And so, I'll post a few peaceful pictures that speak for themselves and wish every one of you a happy Spring.





Oh, and I started my Art Scarf from Morehouse Farms. It's as light as a cobweb. Not sure yet how I feel about it.PS. I'm working again part-time, so I have little time for checking blogs and posting, but I have not forgotten all my bloggy friends! I will still be here! I can't wait to have some time to sit down and check everyone's progress! Keep knitting!

Ah. Springtime in Minnesota.
I am sort of uninspired to post. Everything I come up with sounds like this:
Blah Blah Blah

So I'll just give a quick update on my knits:

Remember my EZ February Sweater? I never had a chance to get a picture with Little Miss Sweetcakes.

Baby Selbu Mitts (love these) - my first knitting of this type (don't even know what it's called)

New milk chocolate socks for hubby. (toe-up, Lori! And I think I'm going to do cables!)
Have a Heart socks (I am further along than it looks, just no pics)

The Power of (bloggy) Friends!

If you have young kids, this time of year can be a trying experience in keeping their winter gloves and mittens intact. In fact, Lumpy here, has been wearing two different right handed mittens that are almost toddler size. Grrrrrrr Stores no longer sell them; making way for spring break swimwear. hmph.So with the GREAT help of two people, I found a fabulous felted mitten pattern (got this from Lena) BUT the whole thing was in Norwegian. I tried to decipher it myself, but it was too confusing with literal translations so a HUGE THANKS TO MARIT for translating it for me!! I am so amazed by how truly nice people are!

The only thing missing from these mitts are the string that Lumpy will have to wear through his jacket to keep the mittens from getting lost. sigh.
+++++++

I have been tagged with a fun little task here from Kathleen.

Rules are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My weird facts:

1. I once flew out to NYC and walked into the offices of Jim Henson Productions to ask for a job, got yelled at, cried and was escorted out. Years later, I wrote to Frank Oz (Bert, Grover, Miss Piggy, etc) and told him about my youthful adventure in their lobby and I received an anonymous envelope of 8x10 glossies of all the major Muppets and their autographs. Tee hee.

2. I worked at the Hotel Del Coronado for one summer, saw Oprah, Dustin Hoffman, Doogie Howser (real name?), and that old NRA guy. Taught windsurfing to guests ONCE because I actually didn't know how to windsurf.

3. I was a Kindergarten teacher in Eden Prairie. (miss it soooo much)

4. I'm Icelandic/Norwegian/Scottish/Austrian and my distant relative is Albert Schweitzer.

5. I'm a certified Scuba Diver.

6. I never have or ever will sky dive or bungee jump.

7. I want to be a writer.

Here are people I'm tagging:

Lori

Guinifer

On the Needles

We Heart Yarn

And Sew It Is (she was already tagged)

Imagine Knit

Life In Yonder

TTFN!

Some Dead Yarn

According to my husband, I've made two blunders in our relationship. The first happened shortly after we started dating and I mocked Bob Dylan and did my rendition of his "We Are the World" whine. He tells me now, that he almost considered this a deal breaker if it hadn't been for the fact that I sat obediently through the entire "History of Rock and Roll" and apologized to K about my ignorance. Bob is not a moron.

My second blunder came when I showed him my socks. These socks.


And asked, why on earth did they call this colorway "Fire on the Mountain".

He responded without hesitation, "Probably after the Dead, dummy."

"What dead?"

I got his attention. "The Grateful Dead. Ever hear of them? 'Fire on the Mountain' is a song?"

Me, "Never heard of it." Blunder #2.


For any of you that are still wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Fire On The Mountain is a Grateful Dead song, and if you are married to a man who still wears tattered "Dead" t-shirts that may be 15+ years old and you don't know this tidbit of information, well . . . that is serious grounds for a deal breaker, as well. Sorry honey.

ps. that pretty picture of the frosted green leaf in the last post is not mine. I stole it off the Internet. If I can remember where I found it, I'll give credit where credit is due.

ppss. I also stole all those pictures above . . . except the sock pic. If I don't post soon, it may be because I've been incarcerated for plagiarism. I'll send legit pics from the clink.

UGH, hubby is annoyed that I used the wrong album cover. Sheesh.




AND NOW . . . Drum roll please,

The first shipment of the Seven Deadly Spins sock club:

March 4th Into Spring!

In Minnesota, the march to Spring gets pretty long. Springtime is just a big tease. It will warm up and rivers will form on the roads, snow will drip from the rooftops and then BAM, we'll get a whopping snowstorm. This continues until May 15th. Literally. How many years have I planted my impatients and geraniums a tad too early, only to wake up to a hard frost and dead plants.
Well, thank goodness for knitting. Keeps me sane. If I'm going to twiddle my fingers, I may as well be holding a pair of needles.

Specs:
Childs Felt Clogs by Bev Galeskas (CH-38)
Yarn: Galway Worsted
Needles: US 13

Also, Knit Picks is having a clearance sale. I just picked up a whole box of yummy Essential sock yarn.

socks and socks and socks

I'm back! Sorry it is taking me so long to post. I have been knitting. Here's the proof:These are my February installment for A Year In Socks.

SPECS: Pattern: Hearts for Heidi (find it over at the Loopy Ewe)
Yarn: White Oak Studio's TVyarn Fat Sock in "Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown"
Needles: oddly enough, each sock was on a different size needle. . . I can't really tell a difference but I won't go into that now.

I started some socks with Noro sock but the gauge was so loose I had to go buy (brace yourself) size 0 needles. (cue horror screams). But I'm so scared of them that I hid them away somewhere and put the Noro Sock back in my stash box (which is overflowing by the way).

And so. . . my March socks in all their anti-winter glory:
My first skein of Socks That Rock - lightweight
Colorway: Fire on the Mountain

The pattern is called Bellatrix and it's based on the deranged witch from Harry Potter. It reminds me of some socks that have seen some action.

Finally, my sweet sweet test socks. This is a sneak peak (testing the pattern for Picperfic), however, the pattern is for sale on her blog. It's very cool. I have learned two new techniques already (the magic cast-on for toe-ups which kicks butt! AND - the dot knot stitch).

One Proud Wife

I have to dedicate one post to commend my hubby for a job well done. He finished his 6th North American Birkebeiner race this weekend.


It was an emotional day and I'm just so darn proud of him. Hats off to you, my dear. I don't know how (why) you do it.


And would you believe, I got no knitting done!? We spent the rest of the day in celebration. Most of the time spent here.


So you can imagine how much knittin' was accomplished.
I did find myself stopping people to ask, "Did you knit that?" "Did someone knit that for you?" and getting plenty of inspiration to start knitting Ullared hats for my family for next year.

So much to do, so little time.

Progress Report:

I finished (almost) my second February baby sweater (Elizabeth Zimmermann). This is going to friends who have a sweet baby girl. I just have to put the buttons on. I'll do this tonight and they'll have it for their sweety tomorrow!


I found lots of cutey-pie buttons but the plain abalone buttons are really my favorite. But where did I put the rest of them . . .


I am progressing nicely on my February socks. They are a bit big for me. I don't know if I like the toe-up, other than knowing how tall I can make my socks without running out of yarn. The heel is not as pretty as top-down and perhaps there is a different way to do this. And the ankle seems baggy. BAGGY! YUCK!

Specks (again): White Oak Studio TVyarn Fat Sock (Happy Valentine's Day Charlie Brown)
Pattern: "Hearts for Heidi"

This week/weekend is the North American Birkebeiner race. The boys did their first Barnebirkie (kid race) and did a great job. More pics later. Hubby skiis the big kahuna race tomorrow. GO, MAN, GO!

This is the start line at the 2.5 K Barnebirkie. That is a Birkebeiner in front. (google that if you're interested - I'm over my limit of computer time for the morning and don't have time to explain).

TTFN!

Pretty Pink Stuff

That's right. Chocolate. The only thing better than getting a box of yarn would be a box of chocolate. AND it came with the promise that no matter what kind of crazy cravings my husband may experience, he will not touch these chocolates. (this is an issue in our marriage).

And so, Valentine's is over (every day is Valentine's Day, Sweety) and we're onto new adventures. This weekend we invested in 5 packs of Bubblicious bubble gum and the boys successfully checked this little trick off of their "List of Things to Learn that will Impress my Friends":
That's right. The all-American pastime of blowing bubbles with gum. Next week, we'll work on cracking the bubbles to make loud, obnoxious noises that they can take with them anywhere (ie the bus, the library, music class). Next week: How to make fart noises using your armpit.


boys.


Now for some pink stuff. Girly stuff. No strange noises here. This is the last shipment of Woolgirls's sock club. I don't think I'm spoiling this for anyone. Most of us should have received our shipments by now.
She always packs a punch! (no no, Leo!)
Some yummy Zen Yarn Garden (sport weight - YOU CAN SPECIFY IF YOU WANT SPORT OR FINGERLING)
Colorway: Blush
Plus, there were two great patterns, pink hot chocolate, a nifty bag to carry my projects around and some other little tiddleys.

Leo dropped that piece of wood there. It was not included in the package.
For those of you knitting up your February socks for A Year In Socks - you have 12 days left! Good luck to you!!

CONGRATS, LORI! A JOB WELL DONE! CVFT'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST WAS AWESOME!!! THE COSTUMES WERE THE BEST YET!!