theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Remember this from December 31, 2006?

Now it looks like this!

I LOVE IT!!!  The snow is so deep that it’s over our dog’s back — she’s a large Yellow Lab.  She “swims” through the yard to do her thing.

Debbie Downer (aka, my husband) went off to work, so we are alone to have the kind of fun described by the commenters of yesterday.  I had already told my youngest that it would not be all fun and games if we had a Snow Day — that she would have to shovel out her room, etc.  But it did bother me that John did not let them savor the moment, ever so briefly!

I am going to be knitting, eating, drinking copious amounts of coffee, talking to Surly on the phone, watching TV (either live, or movies) and doing some fun things with the girls.  And I plan on running through the snowbanks like a young girl, flopping into the snow and getting thoroughly doused. 

On the knitting front: I have been working on Oregon and will probably finish the second sleeve this weekend.  I still cannot figure out how Marina finishes two sleeves in less than a week!  I am at the point where I am doing my decreases every 3 rounds instead of every 5, so it is getting smaller much faster.  Once you get to the Large Leaf Border, it seems to go faster, too, because it becomes more interesting — then there is the ribbing :(.  And the front bands.  And the neckband…..aaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Re: Eris — this is what I pick up when I need a break from Oregon.  It has been progressing slowly and will speed up once Oregon is finis!! 

I must knit!  TTFN

PS — by 11 am youngest daughter had shoveled her room — now we need to do a mountain of laundry!!

Wow — what a gift.  Everyone is off doing their thing and I am alone, knitting and watching movies.  It does not get any better than this!  I don’t hate my family — no, really, I don’t!  I just crave my alone time, and it is a rare and precious thing.  Merci!!

I stopped by Panera Bread per my usual Thursday evening routine to spend quality time with my favorite knitting peeps — PEEPS PLURAL!  I found one peep — PEEP SINGULAR!  Emily was sitting alone, peepless, noshing on a lovely lil meal, when I arrived.  Not that I can’t enjoy knitting with one peep – I certainly did enjoy the time spent with Emily, but where were the other peeps?  Eventually Ellie, Deb and Kris arrived to make a full table, but we are used to needing 3-4 tables strung together to hold everyone.  It was just a bit odd for a non-snowy regular old Thursday not to have a few more knitters in attendance.  Occasionally in the summer when people are “up north” we have small groups, but we have been having 10 or more regulars.  Maybe next week.

Re: Grey’s Anatomy — I think of it as television heroin.  I’m hooked and I need another fix the minute the show ends.   

Re: the resume — there’s more:

• she liked her job at the marina but they kept docking her pay
• she got fired from her job at the haunted house because she made too many boo boos

I’ll try to stop now 😉

After a night with my sister, I’m in the wilds of southern Minnesota. Susan wined and dined us and was a great hostess, but she and I didn’t get a chance to do much knitting. Le sigh.

Now I am visiting my mother-in-law in St. Peter, Minnesota. There is a relatively new yarn shop in town, The Tangled Skein, and I was able to sneak away today for an hour or so and visit. It’s really a lovely shop: warm, inviting, and full of great fibers. Annette Engeldinger, one of the co-owners, was in the store today and she was extremely helpful (not that it takes much help to get me to buy yarn). One of the lines they carry is Blue Sky Alpaca, a company local to Minnesota. I’ve always loved Blue Sky’s Alpaca & Silk, but I hadn’t yet seen their limited edition Royal Alpaca. It’s gorgeous. It feels as soft as cashmere and it comes in eight luscious but muted colours. I couldn’t resist buying enough of “Cameo,” a dusty pink, to make a little cardigan. (Yes, I have a thing about dusty pink yarns. I can’t help myself.)

I also bought some Rowan Tapestry for a hat and some gorgeous copper Alpaca & Silk for a pair of gloves or glovelets. Annette rolled up a skein of the Royal Alpaca for me to play with and shipped the rest (at no charge!) so it will be waiting for me when I get home. I threw in a couple skeins of the copper Alpaca & Silk for Susan to thank her for being such a great hostess — which Annette also rolled and shipped.

It’s a great store and there’s an intriguing looking coffee shop across the street. If I lived closer, I’d be spending a lot of time there. As it is, I’ll make sure to stop by whenever I’m in town.

Wow!  Be careful what you wish for!  As soon as I hit “post” yesterday, it started snowing.  We ended up with several inches and a mini-blizzard!  Note all the tracks in the yard — our Yellow Lab, Molly, LOVES bounding through the snow.  Our poor street will go unplowed for a while.  We are a one-block dead end and they seem to forget we are here!

I spent New Year’s Eve with my girls, watching movies and knitting a bit.  Not bad!  Not much like the New Year’s Eves of my spent youth, but that’s okay with me.  I’m too old to party like it’s 1999 ;). 

I am at the point on Oregon when I need to add the armhole steeks — woo hoo!  I never thought I would get there.  I’ll post a picture once I get a couple of inches. 

Thank you for all of the nice comments about the Winter Wonderland Shawl.  It will be in queue for next fall and ready for winter ’08!  

A couple of you wrote to say that you grew up with the same Santa Stockings as Sally and I.  Martha shared a photo of her beloved stocking and said I could post it.

 

I don’t know why it touched me so much seeing your stocking, but it really did.  Thank you for sharing, Martha!