Weather, Schmeather!

Last week's huge horrid ice storm missed my area thank goodness. I got a bit of ice that by the next morning was totally gone. I feel bad for the north that got hit so hard. And I realized that I have no idea where I would go if we lost power here - I don't have a back up heat source, so staying here sure isn't an option. Brrr....

Friday I met a friend at Panera for lunch and knitting - rather made up for not going Thur night. And then tonight I met up with a different group of knitters. Good thing there isn't ever a name quiz - I left knowing one more name then when I arrived.

But that is one of the very best things about Ravelry. I have spent all these years being the only knitter that I knew. And now I am making wonderful friends that I see on a semi-regular basis and it's just the best.

My Thur night B&N group is usually fairly quiet. Between five and eight of us are usually there. Now, there's chatter, but we're usually busy knitting away so the talk frequently takes a back seat to the concentration. Not tonight though! It may have had something to do with the fact that there was wine and snacks to get us through the too-close-to-Christmas knitting!

I met some people from Ravelry. Michelle and I drove up together. And that alone was an adventure! Thanks to the never ending PA road construction, it took 45 minutes to drive 10 miles. Then we managed to get lost - well, no not really lost. We just couldn't find where we were going. Stopped at a hotel to ask directions and we were so close they told us to park in their parking lot! I got to see Chris again. She has a brand new blog, so stop over and say hey! Met Eve who is absolutely gorgeous! Her picture on Ravelry really does not show what a very pretty woman she is. She seems to have just as much fun "collecting" yarn as she does knitting. And then there is Amber who is just as cute and nice as can be. Has an etsy store, two very young kids, brought the aforementioned wine and snacks, makes soap and some how finds time to knit! There were other wonderful people there and it will be a lot of fun getting to know everyone. Of course, Amber was the only one smart enough to bring a camera - I'll cross my fingers that I do better next time!

Thursday night knitting?

There is a local group of us that met because of Ravelry. We've been meeting weekly on Thur nights at our local Barnes & Noble. Not sure about this week though. This is my weather forecast:

Light Freezing Rain...Possibly Mixed With Sleet In Some Areas...Will Develop Over Northeast Pennsylvania Around Daybreak...Then Move Into The Western Catskills By Late Thursday Morning. The Freezing Rain Will Continue Through The Day...And Become Heavier Thursday Afternoon And Evening. Freezing Rain Is Likely To Change To Rain In The Lackawanna...Wyoming And Delaware Valley Areas On Thursday Afternoon. The Most Significant Icing Is Expected Over The Higher Terrain Of The Northern Poconos And Western Catskills...Especially Across The Heavily Traveled Interstate Corridors. A Half Inch Or More Of Ice Accretion Is Expected By Friday Morning In The Mountains...With Considerably Less In The Metropolitan Valleys.

Freezing Rain Will Change To Sleet And Snow Later Thursday Night...Before Ending As Snow Showers On Friday. Snow Accumulations At The End Of The Storm Of 1 To 5 Inches Are Possible.

Conditions Will Become Very Dangerous For Travel Throughout The Poconos And Western Catskills Thursday And Thursday Night. Trees And Power Lines Are Likely To Be Downed By Heavy Icing...And Gusty Winds. Prolonged Power Outages Are Possible.

Sounds like a good night to stay home!

Koolhaas 1.4

I think this is the fourth version of the same hat I have attempted to knit. Don't have a finished hat yet - but then, that seems to have been the theme of my knitting for about a month now.

v1 I managed to twist the cast on.
v2 I actually managed to knit correctly but it was too small (I'm using sport weight instead of worsted. only cast on 8 extra stitches)
v3 I have no idea what I did. No, I do know what I did. In this pattern, you are instructed to move the beginning stitch of the round twice. Somehow I didn't do that. Instead of the stitches travelling across the hat, it just made little diamonds in a straight row. Not the intention.
v4 is (so far) going well. I'm afraid to jinx it.

Audrey: Do you sleep with your brother? Do you know how sick and twisted that is?
Ellen: Well, I'm sleeping with your father. Don't be so dramatic.
(from Christmas Vacation of course)

Fixed the newel post!

One of the fun parts leading up to Christmas is rewatching all the great seasonal movies. Tonight I am watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. What a classic! There are so many wonderful lines. This link has a list of great quotes from the movie. I'm always impressed with Chevy Chase at this scene:

Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, fore-fleshing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?

It's almost as if he says it all in one breath!

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

In the NEPA ravelry group, we decided to do a Magic Yarn Ball swap. The idea is to wrap goodies into a yarn ball and as the person knits up the yarn, the presents are discovered. Bet you can see the flaw in that plan - I sure didn't wait to knit up the yarn! Look at all these goodies Chris (sadly blogless but busy with little ones) sent to me:

This was what the box looked like when I opened it up. Unwrapping the Magic ball revealed all this:

What a box full of goodies! And Chris even made the blue stitch markers on the big tag.

But I will admit the yarn has had its first ripping. The first project with the yarn was the One Day Beret. Got it about 95% finished before it met its demise. Not sure I should confess how much longer than one day it took me! I think I'll try a koolhaas

Meet George

I would like to introduce you to George. George does not belong to me, but is visiting for awhile. A friend believes it is her mission to bring all knitters into the spinning fold and has let George come play at my house for a bit! And those twisty knobby bits? Yep - my first spinning. I can't quite bring myself to call it yarn - but I was the spinner. And in an odd color note - while my hardwood floor does need refinishing that badly, the door is actually chocolate brown and not navy blue! Go figure.

Nighttime walks

I seem to have a bit of an upset stomach. Not the yucky kind, but the crampy kind. So at 8pm I decided to walk up to the post office. It's a "bit chilly" here - low 30's to high 20's, but thankfully I am a knitter! So while I am wearing a fleece coat, notice I am also wearing my warm knit hat and my Bird in Hand mittens. These mittens were knit for me last year in a No More Humdrum Mittens swap. The really fun part was that I knit the same pattern for my partner!