A Knight in Shining Armor

It's icy roads, freezing rain, and nasty weather here in Oklahoma, very treacherous. I rode the bus to work as normal yesterday, when around 2:00 p.m. the ice began to move into town. All but three of us bailed during the day, to beat the ice home. Me? I had to wait for the bus to come at 5:00 p.m. Hubby called to make sure the busses were still running (they were) and to make sure I thought I would catch it (I did). I texted him when I was safely ensconced on the bus for the ride home.

Then, a text comes through. "Defrosting the van. Brrrrrr." I let out a Wow! and said: "He's defrosting my van for me -- I love that man!!!" My busmates were impressed indeed. When the bus reached the park-n-ride lot, there he was in his car, waiting for me, with my van all nicely defrosted and toasty warm inside.

Yep, he's a keeper.

A tisket a tasket

a posy in a basket.  Or rather, a ceramic pot.  One of the ladies at work gave me an Amaryllis bulb kit for Christmas, which despite my rather black thumb and past history with green things, I planted and stuck in the kitchen window. I am rather pleased, to say the least. 

Fresh blooms today!

There is also knitting, a small bit of progress on the Punch and Judy scarf:

Grey Tabby's done

I finished the socks for my FIL last night, soaked and blocked them. I am almost giddy with how beautifully they came out! Dream in Color Classy just blooms into ultimate softness after a nice long soak. I still have yet to buy sock blockers, so they are simply laying quietly on a towel, after having been gently patted into shape.

Empowered

Knitting with this perfect red from Fearless Fibers will no doubt leave one feeling strong, bold, ready to take on the world! I asked Deb for a true red, and she delivered without a hitch. As I mentioned before, this yarn is destined to be a scarf for my son's girlfriend's mom, whom she said loves red. Our family met up with her family for dinner this last week and I saw that the mom was wearing bright red gloves and I smiled to myself. Yes indeed, this yarn will be perfect.

"Red for Suzy"


And I love that little personal touch Deb put on the label. Clicken on the pic to embiggen it and see! All that's left to do before knitting happiness is mine is to print off the pattern I bought from Anne Hanson, Punch and Judy, and cast on.



My busride moments of knitting are bearing fruit. I get about 20 minutes each trip to/from work, which equates into about ten rounds of sock knitting. It's very relaxing to knit while commuting. That time is mine and mine alone to be with my needles and my thoughts.

Projects....

I'm beginning to stack up my WIPs again. But it doesn't bother me that much - I like having a choice of knitting.

I have the much neglected Wings of a Dream stole for my daughter to complete - yes, it will get done, sweetie, sometime before you graduate high school, a pair of bus socks and one in the wings to cast on as soon as the other is finished, a shrug gone horribly horribly wrong (and no photographic evidence to ever be held over my head) which is now being tinked into a cabled shrug, Grey Tabby socks for my FIL, and I just ordered the yarn for a "thank you" scarf for my son's girlfriend's mother. Need to pick a pattern for it still, and I'm thinking it will be an Anne Hanson.


This is the new cable shrug being worked right off the disaster:

This is a very good rendition of the actual color. It's KnitPicks Andean Silk in the Kenai colorway. 55% superfine alpaca, 23% silk, 22% merino wool: so soft, luscious, and with a fuzzy halo effect that is to die for. Here's an up close of the partially finished cable repeat:



Color not right at all! This is the cable from Knitty's Samus cardigan. I'm also using the construction idea behind InnerChild Crochet's shrug called Gratuitous Cables for the shape.

Grey tabby on grey tabby.

In which the mailman is my best friend

For yesterday he brought me yarnly goodness! My order from Simply Socks arrived and I wasted no time in casting on with Dream in Color's Classy in their new semi-solid color Grey Tabby. Luscious, scrumptious, and out of this world!



This is well on its way to being a pair of socks for my father-in-law. Grey Tabby looked like it would be just perfect for him.

Then, when the current bus socks are finished, I'll cast on with this little gem for another pair of bus socks:



Trekking XXL, in the Brachs Candy colorway. It's very fun, and aptly named; it really reminds me of the Brachs PickIt candy from the stores of long ago. Remember the coconut flavored ones, with the pink, brown, and white layers? Yeah, this is so that!

I've finished with the knitting part of a shrug I'm making, and now only have to seam it before crocheting the ruffly border. This project has been quickly losing my interest for quite awhile, but I'm so close, I just need to bite the bullet and seam, already. I'm hoping it will actually look half-way decent on me when I'm done, but I ain't holdin' my breath.

Peep Show

Bus sock, not finished but unveiling itself for your viewing pleasure.

Finally, some knitting

I started another set of bus socks a few weeks ago. They're called bus socks because I knit them on my daily bus ride to and from work, and well, they're socks.





I'm working on the heel on the first sock now. This is called Fiesta, and it's from Tempted Yarns, based right here in NE Oklahoma.

Happy New Year!

I love a new year. It's all bright and shiny, fresh and exciting, squeaky clean and full of promise and newness. It's like when I wake up every morning and tell myself that today is a brand new day with the chance to get it right, and how cool is that? It's like that, only bigger, because it's a whole new year, a chance to get a chunk of life right, and that's amazing.

Resolutions have never really worked for me, so I quit making them long ago. Instead I have a list of "let's work on these". It may sound like the same thing to you, but to me, it's vastly different. If I resolve to do something and then I don't, I feel disappointed. But my way leaves me some wiggle room, some space to let life interfere and have setbacks without feeling like I've failed. It works for me.

So this year I'm going to:

• work on being more consistent with getting up in the mornings and walking on the treadmill before work. I have been doing this about 2 to 3 times a week, and I want to make it 3 to 4 times. I'll start next week. LOL
• forge ahead with our financial plans to be debt free, except for the mortgage, by mid-2010. That's next year! I love that I can say that now that it's 2009: next year we will be debt free. We are following Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover plan, and for us, it works. It works well.
• try to cook more varied meal choices, although this one will be difficult. I do not like to cook, I'm not very good at it. But I can try.
• try to be more patient.
• continue stretching my knitting muscles and trying new techniques, styles, patterns. This one may be the most fun and exciting items on my list. Yay Yarn!

Anyhoo, I hope that 2009 is better to each of us, most importantly to the country. I pray the economy improves, that our troops come home safely, that the peoples of the world quit trying to blow each other up.

Happy New Year to everyone - let's give it our best.