Things I like.....

Is that gorgeous? I received an email today from Classic Elite Yarns with a link to down load the pattern. It is the Utsukushii Wrap. I think this might be a winter knitting project for me. Here it is on Ravlery. Go ahead. Add it to you queue. You know you want to knit it too!

The other day my husband sent me this request via email:

______________________________________________________________
KNITTING REQUEST PLEASE
1 message
Jimmy **** Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 2:05 PM
To: Cath <******@gmail.com>
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/knitting/ravenclawillusionscarf
Sent from my iPhone 4
______________________________________________________________

I am giddy with joy because it isn't everyday he asks me to knit him something. Yesterday I received a sale notice from Webs so we decided on the yarn/colors and placed an order (under $19 bucks with shipping). I told him last night he is making me step outside of my comfort zone with this project. I have never done illusion knitting and my color work knitting is next to nothing.

I like both of these as they make me happy.

Poo is still a Rockstar!

Poo's fan club, Ria, Twittered me yesterday asking for a Poo update! Poo is only too happy to oblige. A couple weekends ago we took Mr. Poop, as his loving Vet calls him, on a road trip overnight to my MILs.  Here Poo got behind the wheel while Daddio went into the gas station.





Here is our nephew, Mr. Ham, with Poo. It was their first time meeting each other but you would think they live together. Poo is not shy. If he likes you he will pile up in your lap immediately. Unlike our other villain, Kiki. Poo is doing good. He is still diabetic despite no longer taking steroids. He gets a shot every 12 hours. He has good days and great days. As long is they are good or great we aren't complaining.



I pulled this beauty out of my garden this morning.



I sliced it up and tossed it with a very light coating of olive oil, sea salt and pepper. The slices then went into the dehydrator. I am hoping they will be perfect with some hummus tomorrow evening when I attend Picnic with the Pops with a knitting pal.



Speaking of knitting.... This is a progress shot of my Radian Yoke by Wendy Bernard. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in the mustard colorway. I was aggressive by going down an additional size when I cast this sucker on but I think it might be ok as I just posted to Facebook the following:

Ummm I think I need new jeans because I was just able to pull the ones I have on down without unbuttoning/zipping.

I am so grateful for the loving support of my friends and family (you know who you are). This last year has been difficult but I wouldn't change it for the world and with all of you I was able to get through it. Thank you!

EZ Garter Stitch

I have been on a spiritual path for a few years now. I wont get into my beliefs here but I will say I have been running across my connection with something greater than myself repeatedly this year. First, was standing at the ocean in Florida. Another time was at the Redwoods outside of San Francisco. This time was on a walk through Glacier Ridge Metro Park with my better half. It was a very hot late afternoon so we walked a very short trail through the woods.



This entry was so inviting on a hot muggy afternoon.



And here is the photo that captures my spiritual collision. Something about the sun shinning through the treetops just stops me in my tracks. :-)



I received the newest EZ book, Knit One Knit All. I am not sure what I will knit first from it but there are a few items on my list and those include Add-a-Booties, Chambered Nautilus Tam and Icelandic Overblouse.I also ordered some of EZ's favorite stitch markers when I placed the order from Schoolhouse Press. I am still not sure about if I like the stitch markers or not. I will let you know....

MOM iPad Cheezing!

Today is Wordless Wednesday!

Ever feel like there is a black cloud over your head?

Last night we were "treated" to three rounds of tornado sirens. That in and of itself is nerve wracking! Thankfully it was just an intense storm and not a tornado. I shared some photos of before the storm on Facebook and my cousin Mammy (Amy) asked if I ever felt like I had a black cloud hanging over my house (when she looked at the pictures). See for yourself!



My hopes, thoughts and prayers go out to all the families that have been affected by the horrific weather we have had the last few months.

Saturday I finished a pair of socks! Wooohoooooooo. The yarn and pattern were from my first shipment of the Cookie A Sock Club. The yarn is String Theory and has some cashmere. The pattern is Simple Haleakala.

Gardening & Roses

Saturday morning I finished planting the garden. Poo was restricted to inside the house because we had the back gate propped open. He wasn't very happy:



It's amazing what one week and lots of rain will do for the Clematis. WOW there was only one blossom a week ago!



This is a broad view of our back yard.



The Kale, Chard and romaine are coming along nicely.



The kitty pot is doing amazing too!



Saturday evening my husband and I went to the Park of Roses. Let me just say if you are in or around the Columbus area please take a ride over there in the next 10 days. I would guess there are 1,000,000+/- buds ready to pop and the smell is going to be fantastic.



These buds are just a sample of the spectacular to come....



I love love love this picture and I hope you do too.

Happy Place!

New Smyrna

Managing my balls!

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

I am quickly learning there is need for attentive management of my balls when knitting two cuffs at a time.

Last night I cast on my two thermal sleeves. I cheated a bit though.... I cast each cuff (one at a time) onto DPN's and knit three rows of ribbing and then slipped the stitches onto a 47 inch size 3 Addi Lace Turbo circular needle. As a side note these are by far my favorite needles. I love the deadly points. I have a hole in my right index finger to prove it. ;-)

I was able to knit a few rounds on these this morning, however I ran into a case of "when knitting attacks" as the Knitmore Girls call it.  Let me show you:



See anything wrong?

Yep! When I moved from the right cuff to the left cuff I neglected to drop the yarn for the right cuff instead of picking up the yarn for the left cuff. I had inadvertently joined my cuffs together. UGH! I TINK'ed (knit backwards) back to unjoin them and was soon back on the right track.

I asked hubby take a picture of me trying on the body of the sweater.



I think it is going to be perfect!

Where to start?

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

So much to share.... I will jump right in.

This morning, before work, I finished the second front by using a three needle bind off on my Nermal Thermal. Tonight I plan to start the sleeves two at a time using the Magic Loop method. Woot!

Yesterday was Valentines day. There seemed to be two sides of the road with this day. Either you really enjoy it or you really despise it. I was a lover of it even though my husband was out of town. We got all lovey dovey over the weekend so it was all good yesterday. Then a box arrived from my husband at the office. OMG

The box:



I didn't open at the office it for fear he might have sent me something totally inappropriate for the office. ;-) Anyone that knows my husband understands my fear!

At home I discovered this:



You might be scratching your head. It is a kick ass juicer. Last summer he bought me a Vita-mix and I explored making green smoothies. They were OK but I just couldn't commit for the long haul. I fing myself using the Vita-mix for my morning protein & fruit smoothie and the greens just not happening. That makes me sad.



I realized my problem is pulp. I hate pulp. Pulp in orange juice creeps me out most of the time. I just don't like it. And that is OK!

This juicer will take a twig and extract any liquid within out. Last night's juice was from 2 stalks of celery, 1 green apple, 1/2 lemon, 6 strawberries and 2 carrots. It ended up being about 12 oz and was my dinner.



All I can say is AMAZING!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day! I received a package from an Etsy purchase late last week from Kala AKA Vegancraftastic. I love the items. I will be giving away two of the pins and I bet the recipient will love them too.



This project bag is screaming for a sock project:

Conquering Intimidation!

My husband surprised me with a Nikon Colorpix 7000 for Christmas. Quite honestly I have been scared it. I would take it out of the case, take a couple pictures and put it away, which isn't how I normally roll. I take pictures of everything.  

I had some serious intimidation going on with this camera. I am glad he didn't purchase the full on SLR because I might have broken out in hives or something. 

A couple weeks ago I met up with a friend at Barnes and Noble. While there I purchased Digital Photography For Dummies. I have been reading a few pages a day and I think it's slowly sinking in. 

Confession: I didn't have the guts to show my friend the book because I was feeling very dumb . She takes awesome pictures with her SLR camera.  

 This past week I decided to embrace my inner child and let myself enjoy the process of taking photos and learning. This morning I took this picture.  Its of a tomato plant growing in my Aerogarden.  I love the detail of the tiny fibers on the leaves and branches. Yep that is a baby tomato growing there too.

Yesterday was craft area clean-up day. Poo and Kiki love when Mommy plays in her stash. Kiki liked the bowl from Global Gallery where I keep various yarn balls/hanks acquired until they are incorporated into stash. 

Its pretty rare to be empty and she didn't miss a beat to fill it with her sexy self. Poo on the other hand had fun making a bed out of the 9+ hanks of Tahki Donegal Tweed. The two ball/hank of red were left over from my Sonya's Susie Hoodie. The other 7 hanks were a gift from a friend. I am searching out a pattern for a sweater to use these 9 ball/hanks. 

This yarn is amazing!

I dream of cables....

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

I have been bitten by cables again. Perhaps it is my husband's impending trip to Ireland for work that has me so worked up about cables. Or maybe it is my love of cables. My Mom and Grammy loved to knit cables and I think I acquired that gene from them.

Earlier this week I received Knitting at Home and I can't stop looking at this book. Seriously there are 60 patterns in this book and I want to knit at least 16 of them.

The top of the list are these socks. I have to knit these socks. Never mind the fact that I have 10+ projects on the needles and they all have to be finished or frogged by the stroke of midnight on 1/31/11.

UGH!

Back together again.....

Facebook can be a pretty awesome tool. Earlier this year I found my long lost siblings there. We share the same biological father and as best I can figure I haven't seen them since mid 1980 when I was a teenager. They would have been under the age of 10. Life circumstances separated them as well. They hadn't seen each other in many years.

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday together and it was amazing! We cried and we laughed. We talked about some difficult things and we learned about our individual lives.

What was amazing to me is there are many similarities between myself and each of them. There isn't a doubt we share blood. I feel like a missing part of myself has been returned and I couldn't be happier. :-)

April Fool's Surprise.....

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

There were plans last week for my cousin Amy (middle girlie) to come to C-bus from Rochester (NY where I am from well actually I am from Webster but who cares right?) for the weekend. So I left work early on Thursday to be at the house when Amy arrived.

She was in the house about 2 minutes when the doorbell started ringing over and over and over and over yet there wasn't anyone standing in the doorway. The crazy thing is Amy didn't enter the house through the front door so it wasn't like the doorbell got hit and accidentally stuck or anything. Yes, all this stuff went through my head while trying to figure out why the doorbell was making me nutso.

So I went to the door and looked to the side and standing there was Ashley (girlie on the left)! :-) OMG they fooled me big time and I loved it. We had a blast.

Here is a picture of the three of us. Can you tell we all have the same blood in us?

Knit Happy!

*Note I started writing this post on Sunday but didn't finish it until Monday morning*

Today (Sunday) has been an amazing day. Actually it has been an awesome weekend. The weather has been rocking. Jimmy and I walked around one of the outside malls here in Columbus yesterday. I normally clothes shop twice a year and yesterday was my spring shopping trip. Then we had date night and just spent a lovely day together. :-)

Today (Sunday) I met a friend for tea. After tea we found ourselves at Knitters Merc and I fell hard. I have a confession. I hate my upper arms so I thought perhaps having a couple shrugs in different colors would be just the way to cover up my arms yet still take advantage of summer tops that are short/no sleeves. On Saturday I picked up a black shrug while shopping with Jimmy. At Knitters Merc I picked up this yarn:

I think I will make the Little Peacocks by Sarah Hoadley shrug with this yarn. Here is a pic of Little Peacocks:

I also picked up some needles and a Knit Happy travel mug. I take tea with me in the morning to work and this mug is perfect!

This is my current favorite tea. YUM!

The perfect hat....

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

I am on a mission these days... To make Jimmy the perfect hat. Sunday after hanging out with Kristie at Panera for breakfast, we went to Knitters Merc and he picked out this amazing yarn. The brand is Ty-Dy and let me tell you this yarn fits the bill. It is going to make a vibrant hat. I really really hope this on fits like a glove!

Karma....

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

Disclaimer: My strong opinion will be reflected in this posting. DON'T JUDGE! ;-)

Last week I met up with Heather at Staufs for coffee and knitting. I love to people watch at Staufs and that evening provided a great deal of "goofy" people watching. So sometime during our conversation I confessed that I really HATE hats with ear flaps. Now I think they are darling on little kids. Adults not so much.... Just my opinion.

OK so one of the folks in Staufs that night was a grown man wearing an ear flap hat with a cow head. Heather and I decided that he must have lost a bet. It was good laugh material anyway.

Friday morning Jimmy drove me to work and it was wicked cold here in Columbus Ohio. Early in the drive I noticed Jimmy tugging at the bottom edge of his hand knit cap. He turned to me and said can you make me a hat with ear flaps?

GASP!

Later that morning I emailed Heather to share Jimmy's request. Below is the email thread!

________________________________________________
From: Cath
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 9:00 AM
To: Heather
Subject: don't laugh

so this morning..... jimmy drove me to work. he put one of the hats on I made him and said "for some reason this hat doesn't fit me anymore and I want a hat with earflapssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss" OMFG I have to knit a hat with earflaps. can you believe it? I didn't have the heart to tell him the conversation I had with you last night. i thought you would get a kick out of that...... i am off to hunt down a pattern and yarn for a hat with earflaps. ;-)

___________________________________________________

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 11:57 AM, Heather wrote:

Karma, my friend. Karma. Make fun of a cow hat with earflaps and it comes back to haunts you every time!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

________________________________________________

Yesterday I knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Maltese Fisherman's Hat. I like this hat because it isn't just ear flaps. It actually has a band that continues around the back of the lower neck. Jimmy thinks it looks like the old fashioned football helmets or a vikings hat.

I hope it keeps him warm!

Happy Birthday Mom!

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

Today is my mom's birthday. I knit her a scarf but realized today I didn't take a finished picture of it. This is the in progress photo. Mom if you are reading this would you please please have someone take a picture of you wearing the scarf and email it to me. :-)

Click here to see the Ravelry project page for project details.

Jalapeno Steek - WIP Introduction

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Originally uploaded by bean counting knitter

I am going to knit this cardigan in the round, take my very sharp scissors and cut up the front. This is also known as steeking. Stay tuned for more details as this project unfolds. The pattern is Bountiful Bohus found in More Big Girl Knits. The yarn is Jalapeno Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks.com.


This sweater is being knit from yarn, 21 balls, I was able to purchase using birthday cash from Mom and my Mother-in-Law.