I may never get better…

Because there's really no reason and I have no incentive. I have been getting a ride to and from work every day, my laundry is done, my dinners are prepared, my whirlpool tub is in use every evening (although I have to run my own water…hmmmph). I have been living in the lap of luxury since I sprained my ankle. My husband's been so helpful. I am off my crutches now and am still using a brace, but I can't really walk around much. I did walk up the block and back this afternoon. Woohoo! That's a far cry from the daily 10,000 steps goal, but I am moving again.

I ventured out on my own on Sunday to Borealis and decided to use up the rest of a gift certificate. I bought Brown Sheep Wildefoote yarn in desert grass for socks (Columbine Peak from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles by Cat Bordhi), some Rauma Finullgarn in two shades of blue to make some Estonian mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia, and enough Cascade 220 in one of the heathers in a beautiful dark blue (2424). I am going to start swatching to make a v-neck aran cardigan from the Opinionated Knitter. These should be some good projects. I also received some Knitpicks Bare Donegal to make socks.

I was thinking of Francis the other day – does anyone else know Frances of Bedtime for Francis fame? Or Bed and Jam for Frances? Frances is a badger who is a fussy eater and her mom gives her all the bread and jam she can eat. You know what happens? She gets sick of bread and jam and starts eating all the good things her parents give her. And sometimes she doesn't like to go to bed and gets her parents to do all kinds of things for her before she goes to bed to avoid going to sleep. I was amazed that I couldn't find any of the recordings of this book on you tube. I wonder what happened to my little records. I was thinking of her because I was having a little bread and jam last night after my whirlpool. What a life…

Now for a very weird coincidence. When I googled for Francis, you know what I found? A knitting blog called BreadnJamforFrancis. Spooky. I have to read this woman's site – she cooks, she carmelizes pears, she writes, she knits….

Dream date....down the drain

The last time I blogged I was carrying on about going out for Valentine's Day. I was so excited about the day when I woke up on February 14th. I thought 'you know, I should do a load of laundry before work'...I wouldn't have time in the evening, maybe I wanted to wear something in the laundry. Who knows. On the way down the stairs, I fell and missed the bottom two steps and landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom. That got the day started. The mister was up in a flash to my rescue and I crawled to a couch....where I sat for the next five days with the brief exception of a trip to the doc where I got the good news that I had no broken bones. But I was off of my feet completely with a badly sprained ankle.

I was though waited on hand and foot while the mister played chief cook and bottle washer. You wouldn't believe the service I got....so, I took a few pics.

Here's my lunch on day two of convalescing:

Can you see the fresh cracked pepper on my cole slaw?

And while the new recipe for black bean soup was simmering away in the crock pot, a cake emerged:

While he has never decorated a cake before, he says this is EXACTLY how he wanted this to turn out. It is a red velvet cake with butter cream frosting. mmmm....

I wasn't able to knit much the first two days because my ankle was elevated and I was n't in a position to do much but watch TV.

Over the weekend, I finished my dad's mittens:


Yarn: Cascade Autunno
Pattern: Fits like a...glove by Nancy Lindberg
Needles: size 6 Clover bamboos

Now, I have about 6 weeks of recovery and watching calories with this reduced activity.

Happy Valentine's Day

I have been wearing mismatched scarf, hat, and mittens for awhile now - heavens. And I had just the solution. I made a winter set with a headband from Lolly, neckwarmer, and mittens from Opinionated Knitter from Cascade 220 Quatro in Fiji - bright pinks - Valentine's Day for me. I had to take photos of myself...



The headband: CO 90 stitches, join, and knit around 5 rounds, purl 2 rounds, and then mix and match knit and purl rows as desired, purl 2 rounds, knit 5 rounds, cast of. Size 6 circ, 16 inches, Cascade 220.

Neckwarmer: CO 80 stitches, knit 5 rounds, purl 2 rounds, increase 10 stitches evenly across first knit round, mix and match purl rounds as desireds, purl 2 rounds, knit 5 rounds, cast off. One end is slightly tighter so that it snugs around the neck a bit. Size 6 circs, 16 inches, Cascade 220.

Mittens: These are the ladies mittens from Opinion Knitter, very easy to make and the chevron pattern on the ribs is essential. It adds some warmth and texture, very pretty, and definitely worth the little extra time.



I finished the Little Child's Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.



Trekking XXL, size 0's I think. I would use 1's on this the next time and the heel might be a little snug. They are blocking now, so I didn't want to try them on.

I gave my dad a piece of yarn for Christmas taped into a card. I hope this doesn't become a trend - giving people pieces of future gifts. And it wasn't even a piece of yarn that I planned to use. I found some 100% Merino wool called di.ve Autumno by Cascade at Borealis Yarns. It is super soft and I am making fingerless mittens with a flap. These are turning out really well so far - they look like they are for some huge paws!




Tomorrow's Valentine's Day and I have dream date. The mister and I are going to The Heights Theater to see a 1926 version of La Boheme starring John Gilbert and Lillian Gish. The Heights is a great old theater with a Wurlitzer organ that rises up from the front of the stage before the movie starts. Sometimes they play before the movie, but since this is a silent, the organ will be playing throughout. The organist watches the movie and makes it up as she or he goes along. The last silent movie I saw was accompanied by a bejeweled organist w, Kim, as wearing teal evening gown - she was amazing.

Here's the original movie poster:



My husband is pretending that he'll 'endure this', but I know he's gonna love it.

Sad....dead batteries

The batteries on my digicam are dead and my knitting bag is out of spares. And I have so many new small things to show off.

I thought I'd show off two pair of recently completed pair of socks.



Pattern: My own design based on the simple ribbed socks - I think this might what others call a mistake rib stitch.
Source: Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: size 2 circs

You can tell it is winter in Minnesota - wow - them's some white gams.

Here are the originals:



Pattern: Simple Ribbed Socks
Source: Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Wildefoote
Needles: size 2 circs

I found a designer who is new to me and I love her work. The designer/distritor is Arnhild. Check out these amazing patterns for stranded knitting. Just to whet your appetite and to remind me that these are in my queue:



Just so there's no mistake - this is a photo from Arnhild's website. I haven't decided on a yarn and colorway yet. Arnhild also sells a great book of patterns called Raumagarn which contains English interpretation provided I think by Arnhild. This book is definitely 'on my list'. It is inexpensive (under $20) and I have missed out on a few books by waiting and then they go out of print. I am not missing this one!

Well, these ain't the best pics, but I haven't been posting much lately and wanted to do something. I should be getting batteries tomorrow and will be able to show off the Child's Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, mittens from the Opinionated Knitters, and headband from a pattern by Lolly of Lolly Knitting Around and a coordinating neck warmer.

Sun Dogs

I don't have much to report on the knitting front. I had to remove the sleeve of the Gaffer's Gansey last weekend and I haven't gotten back to it. I needed to give my wrists a rest. Spring Semester started for me this week and I am back in class taking Organization Development - this class runs until 920 pm. I should be well into my jams by that time. And I can't believe we call this spring semester when the weather's been like it has been. Sixteen below zero last week. But I saw the most amazing thing in the sky last week - Sun Dogs! If I didn't know what this was, I would have thought I had been transported to another planet. It was -16 below zero with a windchill of about -25 - and very sunny at about 8 am - apparently great conditions for sun dogs. I wish I had my camera, but I was in my car and I had to pull over to stare into the sun. I know...you're not supposed to do that, but I couldn't help myself. Here are some pictures of what I saw - but I have to say that what I saw was even more dramatic than these photos. What I saw had the best elements of each - there was a full rainbow connecting the two false suns - it was amazing. And the two false suns were much bigger than what's shown in these photos - they were shifting and moving as I watched and they almost looked like there were flames coming up out of them.







This bottom photo was taken in New Ulm, Minnesota - which is not far from my home. New Ulm's a fun little place to visit - home to Schell's Beer and Hermann Heights Monument.

More knitting next time....