Colorado and some beautiful yarn

This weekend I got to spend some time driving to Colorado with my sister, and then helping a brother move. I was captivated by the scenery of west Texas, New Mexico, and southern Colorado, and I really appreciated the time spent with my siblings.

I got to see Cadillac Ranch from the road, and I used cruise control for the first time ever. It was great to meet some of their friends and to visit the Garden of the Gods.

I got to carry an axolotl in a bucket on my lap, and I unloaded a moving van in the snow. I visited a delightful yarn shop, Woolly Works Knit Shop, and bought a beautiful gradient kit from Frabjous Fibers. And, yes, they pretty much had my money as soon as I saw the name!

I had my first designer cupcake, the salted caramel one,

and I got to wake up to snow outside my window...though admittedly it had been there last night!

I knit a whole color sequence on my Firefly socks while watching Silence, and am ready to start the fingers on the second glove.

I meet the adorable kitten, Scout,

and was introduced to The IT Crowd. Busy? Yes. A lot of work? Yes. Worth it? Heck yes!

January Knitting

I am so glad that no matter what else is going on in my life, I AM the boss of my knitting… So, before I head to Colorado for a few days, here is a knitting update!

I have made good progress on my Firefly socks. They weren’t a good movie knitting candidate for the last few days as I worked the heel turn, but now I’m ready to start the foot, so they will be good ‘mindless’ knitting again. In fact, they are going to be my travel sock for this trip.

What was good movie knitting this week was the sockhead hat I’m working on. I managed to not only finish the K2P2 ribbing in the theater, but I also managed to fix an issue with it in the dark. Yes I know, the knitting gods are now going to smit me, but I was pretty pleased with my efforts! Here it is, as modled by my mom’s lovely foam head-

I also started a sweater this weekend! When I was looking for a sweater to use the lovely Bolivian alpaca on, I came across Stripes Gone Crazy and knew I had to make it. While the Bolivian yarn was too find for me to be happy with the results, I may have *cough* ordered some sportweight from Knitpicks. So, here is the first balls worth of knitting! Will this finally be the elusive sweater that fits me?

Over the weekend I also managed to get the first glove finished. Now I just have some ends to weave in on the finger joins, but I figured I had better cast the next one on before I lost all my motivation. I love this pattern, and am seriously thinking about being crazy and making myself some fingered gloves!

Parting shot: The family’s cats as they are frequently known: Fluffy butt-

Favorite aka Orange Kitty, and Mal-mal

While I’m glad there are some felines to love around her, I miss Java!

December knitting

This blog has been rather knitting lite lately due to a) the gifty nature of some knits, b) getting used to a new camera, and c) way better things to do than blogging. So here is what I’ve been up to for the last month on the knitting front.

First, I made two hats for my youngest brother. First, a brioche hat in bulky yarn with terrible decreases that I'll have to track down to photograph, and then a double knit Creeper hat. I think my need to knit in that color of green has been met for a few years…

I made a mini Ravenclaw stocking to join the others on my geek tree.

I started my first Vanilla is the New Black sock with the lovely Firefly yarn from Desert Vista; shiney! I got some good progress done on the second one while watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

I started a pair of Hidden Gusset gloves for my sister,

and a Tronda hat with the lovely Bolivian alpaca my youngest sister gave me for Christmas. No picture of that one yet, as I'm barely into it and too lazy to go into the living room and take a picture!

My pink lemonade traveling socks have pretty much ground to a half in the face of all the far more exciting new yarn I have, but I plan to pull it back out again. Nothing too exciting, so again no picture.

But I am working on something pretty for a friend!

Finally, I went to the now only local yarn store, and in addition to a few skeins of lovely sock yarn, I couldn't resist this mug:

A lady never discusses the size of her stash. Words to live by!

Lots of Christmas!

Christmas this year was lovely...somewhat complicated by tragedy in the circle of my family and friends...but so good. I tried out the new local coffee shop and found they made a stellar latte,

I had a wonderful breakfast with my sister which included these phenomenal pancakes from Denny's,

and the cat matriarch is warming up to me--at least!

Speaking of cats, I made this Punk Mohawk hat for my sister's cat. Too funny!

Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of fondue was good, but we found out later that due to catastrophic miscommunicaiton, the corn starch (which is VITAL) was left out. So now we know...

Presents were opened--my siblings rock!

Mary made an epic trifle,

two brothers crashed,

and a few days after Christmas I made a perfect mincemeat pie.

I am so thankful for my family--full of lumps and bumps as they are--and for the ability to be home for a few months. I hope and pray for a better 2017--one in which I get some clarity, some healing, and in which much good knitting and laughter happens. Bring on the new adventure!