Something other than a scarf

I finished Catherine’s sweater. I really hope it fits her. I’m a little worried about the arms though, they seem like they’ll be a little tight. If it doesn’t fit, I’ll just keep it for Gracie and then make Catherine another one. It really didn’t take me long at all.

My next project (it changes every day) is going to be a felted bag made with the Moda Dea “Cartwheel” yarn. I’ll probably start that sometime today.

We really need to go TODAY and get a baby gate for the living room/foyer area. We haven’t bought one yet because the kind we need to get is expensive and he really wasn’t paying much attention to the stairs. Well, he’s recently decided that he loves to climb stairs and wants to do it all day long. He’s really fast at it too. So, in the meantime, we put a couple of the kitchen chairs laid sideways across there so he couldn’t get through. We’ll last night he learned how to climb over the chairs. I swear I gave birth to a monkey.

Moda Dea - Yay!

Well, I decided that I didn’t want to continue the pink sweater for Catherine right now. It was taking me forever and there was no way that I would have had it done in time for Christmas. I will work on that after Christmas and it will be for Gracie. I decided to use my Lion Brand Boucle Yarn in Taffy to make Catherine’s sweater. It’s bulkier and I can use size 13 needles which make it go faster. I have the back and one of the sides of the front done. I should be able to finish it by tomorrow.

I went to JoAnn’s last night and bought 2 balls of Moda Dea “Cartwheel” in Bronzeberry hoping it would be enough to make a pair of socks. Looks like it’s not quite the yarn I needed for socks and it wasn’t enough. So I went on eBay this morning and ordered 3 balls of Moda Dea “Sassy Stripes” in Polo to do the job. I got all 3 balls, plus shipping for $11.96 which I thought was a pretty good deal. It’s probably a ball more than I will need, but I figure if they turn out, I might make Gracie some matching socks too. I think I’ll use the Cartwheel to try a little felted bag. I have never felted before, but the yarn is 100% wool, so it should work, right?

I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping. We just need to go to the mall to get Julia a gift certificate and I need to go to the bookstore to get Austin a couple of books and to get Soren’s book. I need to finish Catherine’s sweater and make Soren’s blanket. I need to learn how to get things done earlier instead of waiting until the last minute!

Manly hipster?

I finished my red Thick ‘n Thin scarf and also made Jason a “manly hipster” scarf. If that’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is…I’ll take pics as soon as we get our new camera. The old camera is terrible for taking pics of anything, let alone trying to get a close up shot of a scarf.

The project I’m currently working on is a baby sweater. If I have it finished before Sunday, I’ll give it to Catherine for Christmas. If not, it’s for Gracie. It’s a dark pink color and it’s made with sport weight yarn and size 6 needles. I’ll get some pics of that in progress too. I’m pretty happy with the way it’s turning out so far…

We’re getting our new camera sometime this week. We’ve decided on a Canon A630. It’s just a matter of finding time to go to Best Buy to pick it up.

Scarf OCD

Well, because my scarf drive is over and I still have scarf OCD, as my sister says, I’m going to make a scarf for The Red Scarf Project.

I’m half way through another scarf right now and then I’m going to work on making a little poncho for Gracie. If I get circular needles for Christmas, I might try my hand at some hats and even some chemo caps to donate to the hospital. Jason complained that I haven’t made anything for him, so I might try to fit a scarf in for him too. I just have to get some yarn that will match his coat and be “manly”.

We made a challenge for Austin to try to boost his AR points in reading. He’s doing awesome as it is, but I thought a little push might improve him that much more. They currently have AR teams in his classroom where they compete with the other teams to see who can get the most points. He has really boosted his team’s score by reading Old Yeller. He didn’t pass the AR test (only got 70% and you need 80%) but he did get 3.5 points. I wanted him to review the book with me first, but he jumped the gun and took the test the same day he finished the book. I’m still proud of the 70% though since that book is a 5.0 AR level and worth 5 points. Most of the books his classmates are reading are a 3.5-3.9 AR level and .05-1 point.

So the challenge is this:

If he gets 7-9 AR points in January, we’ll take him to lunch at Moe’s. If he gets 10+ points, he gets lunch at Moe’s and the book of his choice from Borders. I think 7 points is a very realistic goal. In December so far, he’s received 5.5 points and there is still almost a week left.

New Scarf

My yarn arrived yesterday and I made a new scarf today. I used the Sensations, Thick & Thin yarn and a size 19 knitting needle.

I think it turned out pretty good. It's kind of funky and not a cold weather scarf by any means. I used a ball and a quarter of yarn. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of the yarn since there's not enough to make another scarf and I don't plan on ordering more. I have 2 balls of the Thick & Thin yarn that I'm going to make another scarf with. It's red with bits of yellow in it. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with that scarf when it's done.

Here's the pic of the scarf I made today.

My current obsessions

Ok, I think I have a problem. That’s the first step, right?

Now that I’ve admitted it, I’ll tell you a little about it.

I have a new obsession with yarn and books. I’ve always had an obsession with books, but it’s gotten better in the past couple of years. I did have the habit at one time of buying several books at a time and always having a huge back log of books that needed to be read. Since I got caught up with my reading, I’ve been buying books one at a time. This seemed to be working well since I don’t have a lot of time to read these days.

Well, I’ve blown it.

I’ve discovered used book sales. Not used book stores, but book sales. The kind that they have in the basement of the public library, particularly in Ann Arbor. That got the addiction started and it’s continued on to Borders and other regular priced places too.

It started a couple weeks ago when Jason, Austin, Jacob and I went to the used book sale at the library in Clinton. I wasn’t expecting much since it was in Clinton, but was pleasantly surprised. I picked up a copy of Angela’s Ashes in perfect condition for a dollar. While we were there, Jason overheard someone talking about the book sale in Ann Arbor, so we decided to go there and check it out. While we were there, Jason picked up 2 books, I got a couple for Ryan, Austin got about 50 (mostly Hardy Boy Mysteries, hardcover and paperback), and I got "Shadow Play" by Charles Baxter, "The Great Fire" by Shirley Hazzard, and "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson. We spent a total of $27 at the Ann Arbor sale.

Fast forward to last weekend.

We went to Border’s on Friday night where Jason picked up 2 books and I got “The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain and (I think) “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang” by Jack London. They had the hard cover classics for 50% off, how could I resist? Plus, they are books that I want Austin to read one day anyways.

Saturday, we decided to go back to the book sale at the Ann Arbor library and I picked up 5 more books. I got “O Pioneers” by Willa Cather, “The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn” by Mark Twain, “Sportswriter” by Richard Ford (for Jason), and “Sugarland” by Michael Chabon, and “Microserfs” by Douglas Coupland.

So, in the past 2 weeks, I’ve bought 12 books for myself. That’s in addition to “Little Women” that I bought the week before and still haven’t read. Plus, I have 4 books on my shelf that I’ve had for a while but have been stuck in boxes in the basement so I forgot about them. So I have 17 books in my back log. The thing is, I have probably only paid about $35 for all of those books.

I’m already trying to think about when I can make it back to the book sale again. Yikes.

The thing with the yarn isn’t so bad. I’ve been on a scarf making kick lately and I’ve been buying lots of yarn. I made 4 scarves yesterday for the scarf drive. Total collected to date: 113 scarves and 5 hats! After the pic below was taken, I made my 4 and someone dropped off 13 more.

I'm keen for Keen

I really want a pair of Keen’s. I’m eyeing a couple of different styles and am waiting on the next time we go downtown to try some on. I think I even have Jason wanting a pair.

The only thing I’m worried about is that they won’t hold up as well as my Doc Martens. I’ve had my Doc’s for almost 4 years and wear them almost every day. They are starting to get a little ratty looking, but still acceptable. The soles are barely worn and they still even have the original laces. The downside is that they are heavy shoes.

I’ve heard that the Keen’s are great quality, waterproof, lightweight, etc. They are comparable in price to the Doc’s, so that’s not a concern for me since I was going to spend that anyways. I just want another pair of shoes that will last me 4 years. I can splurge on a $100 pair of shoes, but they better last me a long time. I am so frugal, it hurts.

Anyways, these are the styles that I have it narrowed down to: