The Novel Knit Girl Blog

Walnuts. They used to be harmless, but now it appears that they are my death nut. I used to eat them and just get a scrapped up feeling in my mouth, but it's recently escalated. A few months ago I ate two slices of walnut bread for breakfast and got really sick in every way - bad stomach, coughing, the works. You'd think I would take the experience and avoid future encounters with any walnuts. I'm a slow learner. On Saturday night we went out to my husband's work holiday party at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva - it was lovely and really nice. There was a four course meal and the second course was a salad with candied walnuts. I thought in my head, "you know, you probably shouldn't eat those," but then some weird part of me was like, "they're on the salad and they look good - eat them!" So, I did. Disaster. We ended up having to leave the party early. There I was, playing Blackjack with fake money, when I  suddenly became extremely over

I'm on the second front panel of my sweater. I'm starting to worry that I may run out of yarn, but we'll have to see what happens. I'm going to try to trust the pattern until it fails me. My life has revolved around cold and icy weather lately. I had the day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and my kids did not - so I celebrated by watching television and knitting all day long. It was lovely. I don't think I've had such a lovely and lazy day for a while. Well, okay, I just had one like a week and a half ago. But, there was a lot of television yesterday. I watched Victoria and Sherlock on PBS (DVR is a wonderful thing) and a foreign film with subtitles that I took out from the library (since I can't watch these types of films with either of the children under 9 in my household or my husband) and a little knitting. Everything was going great until I was trying to get the dog to pee outdoors during a sleet shower and went down on my ass on the cement on t

I literally have three sweaters on separate needles right now. I'm afraid the odds are against me for actually finishing one in time to wear this season. Trudging on anyway. Two are for me and one is for my son, for his 6th birthday. This was my day off last Tuesday after the kids had to go back to school. My version of heaven.... I wish every day included snuggling with the pup on the couch while finishing up a Dublin Murder Squad novel and knitting what I think will be one of my favorite sweaters if and when I get around to finishing it up. I've completed the back panel - now just need two front panels, two sleeves, two pockets and to seam it all together. Piece of cake! Also cast on for my Pop Life Cardigan from Wool and The Gang in the haze of last week... I just really wanted to try out the new yarn and needles - I must say, WATG's packaging is really amazing. I couldn't wait to dive in and try it out. It's the simple things sometimes. I'm only abo

"Time to let go of the old one.... It's justified. It's a Brand new Year!" (lyrics to a song for the late 1990's or early 2000's - I can't remember who sings it or any other part of the song or album, but I always remember this line). 2017 brought a lot of illness for me, some frustration, stress, sadness, and some major challenges. However it brought a lot of good too. One of my biggest accomplishments this year is that I believe I succeeded in being more grateful every day. For everything. When I didn't want to get dressed up and go out I reminded myself that I was incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life that wanted to spend time with me. And I changed my lifestyle to a working from home mother - which has changed me for the better. I ended 2017 with a head cold, a date night with my husband despite the head cold, a breakdown after hosting my largest family party to date and then a wonderfully special quiet night with som