The Novel Knit Girl Blog

So, sometime last week I opened up one of my many yarn storage containers around the house looking for - I can't even remember what I started looking for- and found this pretty coral yarn and lace shawl pattern (my first) that I had a few false starts on and eventually abandoned sometime in the last year or two. I still have it in my Ravelry project listing as in progress, and for some reason, I felt my time would be better spent recasting on this shawl than following through with any of the other projects I was committed to finishing up. I got through the first 50 rows and had to rip out 3 times. The good news is that this was a good crash course in the garter tab cast on and I'm now an expert. And, now, I'm glad to say that I've made it to row 56 and have the correct stitch count and am happy with the progress. Each row is well over 160 stitches now, so it has become slow going. But, for some reason, this came up and spoiled all my plans for last week. Sometim...

After a very mild winter, we finally have a snowstorm in March. I've been lazy lately - not with knitting, but with life. I've been working out, trying to cook, and doing all sorts of knitting, but my house is not in order or as clean as I'd like it and I hate leaving the house lately. I think it's finally happening. I'm becoming a knitting hermit. Last weekend was a cleanse weekend. My husband and I gave up hard liquor for Lent (not that we are church goers, but we felt like it was time for us to give something up for a while (or, we're drinking too much and wanted a reason to challenge ourselves to drink less)). I had some vanilla beans and since we're not drinking vodka at the moment, I decided to make some homemade vanilla. Then, I organized the bottom (food section) of my pantry and tossed all the expired stuff and put some of my mason jars to use as organizers. (This is before Kid 2 went snack hunting). Meanwhile, Kid 2 found his baby hat...

Finally finished. Had to wash it and stretch out the arm seams a bit, but it's great. Next on the needles.... a colorful hat. Barley by Tin Can Knits.  Life is pretty good today.

I was sick last week. Like the kind of sick that just knocks you off your feet. Kid 1 was home from school for three days and Kid 2 got a day home also, though he probably didn't need it. We all made it through celebrating birthdays and Superbowl weekend and then the kids and I crashed with sickness.  So, that's over with and I did still manage to do some knitting and finish up a few smaller projects while sick or taking care of sick ones.  Waiting for Winter Mitts by Susan B. Anderson. These were fast, but I managed to screw up both thumb gussets the same way (I needed 2 more rows). They are fine and look nice - but they feel a little short without those extra rows. It was an easy pattern and I have a good amount of leftover bulky yarn, so these may be teacher gifts for next year. (The yarn that I used was the suggested yarn from the Barrett Wool Co. in Wisconsin - really pretty and nice to work with!) Here they are: And I finished this pretty Bonnie Cowl - ...

The sweater pieces are done. I ordered another ball of yarn because I don't see how I'll have enough left to sew the thing together and add the border. Maybe it will all be okay, but I'm not optimistic by nature (or recent experience). It's been a week. Monday - Husband's birthday. He's 39. We're getting old. Tuesday - Kid 2's birthday. He's 6. We don't have babies anymore (we're getting old). Wednesday - Helped friend's son make his pinewood derby car for boy scouts. Thursday - Had parents over for dinner. Today... I think we are watching an animated movie after dinner, which means I can probably get away with falling asleep on the couch. Lot's of cake this week. I'm weighing heavy on the scale. And, my sweater parts are finished and blocked. Funny how I want to wear the damn thing, but I don't feel like sewing it together now. I cast on for a fun and easy cowl (I say fun and easy, but I've had to rip it o...

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...