Making progress

I had several good hours of knitting yesterday and made some good progress on the Brother sweater. I have finished the front and started on the back. I'm not enjoying this yarn and if I'd chosen it in the last few years I know I'd have made a different and more informed choice. Eleven years ago when I chose this yarn, I had no idea what I was doing!

But continuing to use the original yarn, I am being authentic and loyal to the project as it was begun so I will keep it up. I think it will soften up nicely after its first soak.

The sweater is looking good so far.

Completed Prayer Shawl

I finished the Prayer Shawl and have worn it in the evening while knitting. It keeps me warm and is so soft and comfortable. I do feel very comforted in the shawl with all those good thoughts having been knit into each stitch. I am looking forward to making many more of these to give to friends and relatives.

I found a fantastic blog tonight while searching for a recipe for cooking beans in the crock pot. Its called 'A Year of Crockpotting' and is written by a mom who made a new years resolution to use her crock pot for 365 days in a row starting 1/1/08. She has some fantastic recipes and the layout is very easy to read and use. The link is on the sidebar, check it out. I am so inspired!

Noro

I stopped into Juniper Fiberworks today to check out their Noro selection. I did not know they would be having an After Thanksgiving sale. They had many bags of old colorways and discontinued Noro on sale. I found a bag of 5 skeins of Kochoran on sale at 50% off and could not resist. This is almost enough to make the sweater that I've been thinking of making for almost two years but could never justify the cost of the yarn. It takes 900 - 1100 yards and at $20 for 176 yards, thats an expensive project. Now I have 875 yards which is not quite enough but perhaps I can shorten the sweater a bit.

I bought this Noro book when I started knitting again in earnest, two years ago. I fell in love with sweater which is a long cardigan, almost like a car coat. I will have to look carefully at the pattern to see where I can make modifications to adjust to a little less yarn.

Everyone raves about Noro and having never knit with it, I am looking forward to finding out how this yarn knits up.

Thanksgiving

Our family celebrated Thanksgiving together on Wednesday night before the kids headed out for their celebrations with their other parents. It was a nice dinner together and we all announced what we were thankful for, mostly each other.

Thursday was spent relaxing and not cooking. It was a two bath day for me and I finished two books. There was a little bit of knitting. I am grateful for hot, running water that comes right out of the tap into the tub. Aren't we lucky to have hot tap water enough to fill up a bathtub?

I finished two books by the same author - Anne Lamott. The first was Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith that I bought for the word Grace in the title and the pretty colors on the cover. I loved the way the author wrote and as I got into it, I wondered if she was the one who had written a book I'd started to read years ago at a bookstore in Eugene, that I'd not bought at the time. This was years ago, before my kids were born. It stuck in my mind because it was about a single mom raising a son in Marin, CA. I looked it up on Amazon.com and sure enough, it was her book - Operating Instructions. I ordered a used copy of the book for 1 penny on amazon ($3.99 w/ S&H but still, a $4 book). I love Anne's familiar and witty writing style and her feelings on faith and the way she articulates it really touch me. I highly recommend her books, of which there are many more.

All in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving.

Hedgerow socks

Working at the hospital, being on my feet all day, I've found that I need to pay attention to my foot comfort, my feet have been bothering me a lot. So yesterday I got myself a new pair of comfy shoes - Dansko brand by recommendation. Everyone who wears them claims them to be incredibly comfortable. To go along with the new shoes, I decided to update my own sock wardrobe.

I went to Gossamer yarn shop to get my favorite sock yarn, Dream in Color, and they had some fantastic colors to choose from. I chose Dusky Aurora and Chinatown Apple. I will use my favorite sock pattern, the Hedgerow pattern to knit up this beautiful yarn. I've decided that the combination of the Hedgerow pattern and the Dream in Color yarn is my favorite. The first time I used the Hedgerow pattern last summer I happened to use a skein of Dream in Color sock yarn in the Strange Harvest colorway and I fell in love with that pair of socks. So my plan is to duplicate those and have several pair.

I cast on the Dusky Aurora last night and in less than 24 hours already have several inches done. This pattern also knits quickly and I may have a new pair of socks before the end of the week.

Finally some knitting

I have been working on my Prayer Shawl and ran out of the yarn I was using so I stopped in to Juniper Fiberworks a few weeks ago to get some more. I was surprised to see the note on the door saying they were moving - Again. I had no idea that was the plan but on October 27th they shut the doors for a week to move to their new (and final) location. They were to open again on November 3rd. Excited to see the new store, I went on my lunch hour to the new store on November 3rd. They still had boxes and bins sitting outside and were unpacking items when I went in but they were open for business and I was able to find what I needed. I was afraid they'd be out since this was a discontinued item.

That's Garnstudio's Angora-Tweed which was discontinued sometime around 2004. Clara Parke's recent review from Knitter's Review on-line October 23rd edition told that Garnstudio has re-released the Angora Tweed and that the color I'm using, #15 light purple, is one that they kept. (They reduced the original 14 color group down to six.) I love this yarn! Its a sport-weight yarn with pretty, colorful slubs that change the lavendar color green and blue and white sometimes. It makes me want to knit a sock or something in stockinette just to see what the fabric would look like. The skeins are only 150 yards which is why I ran out so quickly while working on this shawl.

I purchased three more skeins hoping it would be enough to finish the shawl which was on stall the entire week while I waited for the store to re-open. I think 450 yards should be enought to finish. Depending on how much I use, I'll have to get three more skeins if I want to make a pair of socks with this yarn.

The new store seems nice and once they finish unpacking I know it will feel cozy like the last place. This is the permanent location as I was told they bought the building. Its just across the street from the old yarn shop that was open when I first moved to town almost sixteen years ago. The old building has been empty for awhile and was the temporary headquarters for the Obama team during the primary campaign. It was one of the buildings she looked at buying but settled on this location across the street. Its on Greenwood Ave. so getting in and out of the parking lot will be of necessity from turning right, there is no turning left across Greenwood right there.

Now its back to knitting on the prayer shawl and hopefully I won't drag this out over more than two seasons!

History

We've been waiting a long time for this and hoping it would happen and now it has. Its history and its a turn-around time for our country. My life has gone through a lot of changes in the last eight years and now I feel like things are going to start turning around for me personally along with the country. This is a very meaningful election for me.

Our family has been watching this campaign closely, a lot more closely than a lot of people have the last two years and so we had a great culmination celebration tonight. I'm so glad that my kids get to see this happening, and they are really excited about it which I like to see.

That's our dog Charlie with a "Yes we can!" sign rubber-banded around his body.


And the next First Family.