Holy Cow It's Cold!

Not sure what the temps were yesterday morning when I woke up but I checked the weather around 9am and it was showing a balmy -37F outside. Brrrrr-Freakin-rrrrrrr. And of course in true Luvs2knit nature, I had to go out in the cold to go to a doctors appointment. Another RA checkup so I really couldn't cancel it since we're trying to get meds adjusted. Meds went up again but at least this time I have 60 days before I go back. I've been going in every 30 days. Unfortunately I still need to visit the lab vampires. I think I'll wait till later this week though since it's suppose to warm back up to more normal temps.

I have been doing a little knitting besides the stuff I can't show you.

I finished my YOSS Jan Socks. 

The pattern is Saint Brigid's Stockings (ravelry). The yarn is Dream in Color Classy. I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to have enough yarn but I still had plenty to spare when I finished. 

I started a pair of toe up socks for Bree.

I'm using some of the leftover yarn from my Rainbows & Clouds socks. I'm not very far into the socks but they never take very long to knit since her feet are so small. Basic toe up sock with a short row heel....nothing fancy.

Finally I'm making good progress on my toe up Opal socks.

I'm about an inch from starting the heel. These are my take along knitting project. Not thought involved, no pattern to bring with me, just a basic stockinette sock that I've knit so many time the pattern is permanent etched in my mind.

I'll end this post with a couple of pics of Penelope.

The first one is of her "helping me" take pictures. She was curious about what I was doing and shoved her nose right up infront of the camera. The second one is of her laying on the floor all pretty trying to get some of the pineapple that I was eating. Our dogs love pineapple and will beg for it every chance they get. 

Happy Crafting!

 

Where Oh Where Has the Sunshine Gone?

The sun keeps disappearing and we haven't seen it much here lately. I think it ran off to some place else like the Bahama's and I'm still contemplating going out in search of it. It's most likely where my motivation and lost cable needles are. It would be a lovely reunion for all of us. If only the plane tickets weren't so high. 

Sadly the knitting I'm working on is secret like type knitting which can make for boring blog posts. Between test knits and the knitting going on for my swap pal there isn't much to report on. 

Shall I distract you with a shot of the shawl pin I got  for my mom.

 

I haven't gotten a chance to work on the shawl lately but I couldn't resist picking this pin up when I came across it at The Loopy Ewe. I was buying some things for my swap pals box and need some small things to bump my order up to get free shipping not to mention the fact that I was really close to getting a $25 credit.

Penny is growing in leaps and bounds and Zeus has warmed up to her. He does growl and snap at her when she plays too rough which I expect because Penny is a lot bigger then Zeus now. Her 20 pounds of muscle can stomp poor 8 pound Zeus into the ground. Penny is starting to catch up on chasing after Zeus too. She's shedding that awkward puppy run and honing that quick Springer Spaniel sprint. Zeus still has the edge because he can corner fast and run without problems on the tile floor but if they had to run longer distances Penny would leave his little butt in the dust.

On a the military side we're getting closer and closer to retirement time. Shawn drops his retirement paperwork in Dec of this year and we'll be in the market for a house next spring/summer. I can't even begin to express how happy I am about this. When your active duty military you drop your retirement paperwork (you intention to retire) when you are one year out.

We've got a few job possibilities in Boise so we're looking at homes in the Boise area. We had originally tossed around the thoughts of moving to Coeur d'Alene but after much pondering we opted to go back to the Boise area. The summers are generally hotter in Boise but the winters are much more milder with less cold and subzero temps that cause severe joint pain for me. We've found some great houses in our price range, to bad we couldn't buy now and move. The girls and I will be moving next summer so we can get the girls settled in school. Shawn will follow us a few months later. Damn, I can't believe we're almost done with the military crap! I can't tell you how happy I am that retirement is so close. The only thing that could derail that is a set of orders out of here. Fingers crossed that orders are not on the horizon unless of course they are to Hawaii! I would sooooo not argue with a set of 3 year orders to Hawaii. I'd gladly go and not miss this damn snow and cold at all. 

Hopefully the next post will bring more more knitting. 

Happy Crafting!

Oh Baby It's Cold Outside

The subzero temps are back again. It's a balmy -2F outside. It's suppose to warm up to around 20F by Wednesday but with that warm up comes snow. I think I'd rather have the snow then the bone chilling cold though so no complaining from me. At least we have a snow thrower to make clearing the driveway and sidewalks easier.

The only knitting I can show you right now are my YOSS socks.

 

I'm knitting St Brigid's Stockings (Ravelry). The yarn is Dream in Color Classy leftover from a sweater I made Bree. I was a little worried that one skein wasn't going to be enough but it appears that I'm going to have enough. I'm not far from starting the toe. Worsted weight socks work up quickly.

I just read the blog post on The Looy Ewes blog and this years club isn't going to be all about socks which sounds really great. I'm up for new things and something other then sock yarn would be perfect for me. The only thing I wished is that I would have had a bit more notice so that I could gather enough money up to pay for it in advance. I can still pay for them kit by kit so it's not a huge deal but I would have loved to have gotten a discount for paying for them all at once. The only way I can do it right now would be to put it on a credit card and well that just negates the whole discount by putting it on a credit card that will tack on interest.

I really need to kick it in gear and finish up my test knits and get started on my TLE swap partners knitted item. It's not going to take long but I really need to get started. Plus I need to finish up the scarves for the Special Olympics. Those I can drop off here in town so I won't have to worry about making sure they are shipped out in time.

I did pick up some yarn for the current TLE challenge.

It's going to be all about cables and I'm planning on knitting the Cabled Keyhole Scarf (ravelry) (non ravelry) by Knitspot. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Honor which is 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk. The colorway is Jeans.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. I really love my dentist but I absolutely hate having my teeth worked on. We're working on crowns now which means tomorrow I'll come home with a temporary crown and I hate those. My gums are always so sore from the temp crown. 

I'll end this post with a picture of Penelope.

Doesn't she look comfy. Penelope's decided that the girls leather chairs are the best place to sleep so I've had to cover then to keep her claws from damaging the chairs. She went in to the vet the other day for another round of puppy shots and she's now up over 17 pounds. She's growing so fast.

2010 Finished Projects in Photos

I noticed I only knit about half the amount of projects in 2010 compared to 2009. I think this was due to several different things, the biggest contributing factor was the test knits I worked on throughout the year. 

In 2011 I hope to knit more stuff for myself. I have several sweater quantities of yarn to make sweaters for myself and I intend to knit them up this year. I also joined YOSS Year of Stash Socks to help use up some of my sock yarn stash. It's rather plentiful. I'm not going to stop buying sock yarn but I stop and ask myself, "do I really need this?" "can I use something from my stash instead?" 

I'm not making resolutions but I do plan to workout more and hope to lose some weight this year. Now that my meds seems to be working for me I can workout more. I know I'll feel better and there will be less pain in my knees if I lose the extra weight. Plus it would make my RA doc much happier to see me drop some weight. 

 

I hope that you all had a safe and wonderful New Year. Here's to 2011, may it be a great year for everyone!