My Sweet (Savory) Valentine

Here's what Paul and I did for Valentine's Day:

Heart-shaped pizza!  Yum!  And since it was Valentine's Day, I'll gush just a tiny bit about Paul.  He is the cat's pajamas of husbands.  He's great.

I went to a postponed-because-of-that-huge-October-snowstorm girls weekend at The Red Lion Inn this weekend. It was so much fun and so nice to catch up with all the girls (hi girls!!!!). We all know each other from living/working in Connecticut but now we are spread out in Mass.,Vermont and New York too.

Before meeting them at the Lee shopping outlets, I stopped at Colorful Stitches in Lenox. Couldn't help picking up this:

Kathmandu Aran in a pretty purpley-blue. Love this yarn-I made my first cardigan with this in the oatmeal-y color. And sock yarn from Into the Whirled. She has been at most of the local fiber festivals and I picked up some of her roving at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.

Then it was on to the outlets where I got this cute little thing at the Coach outlet on super-sale:

Once we had exhausted all the buying options there, it was on to the inn for chatting and wine and nibble-ies (and sock-knitting for me). There were 7 of us so we rented one of the little cottages on the inn property. Very cozy. Then, a yummy dinner and watching some karoake. What a bunch of local characters .... One who was quite toasted, fell down several steps, got back up, unhurt, and fist-bumped one of my friends. And the other who went up to sing in an arm cast and neck brace, then proceeded to tell "those of you who don't know me" to be careful of his left side because he had several broken ribs. (apparently all due to a recent snowmobile accident). In past years of this get-together I have missed this part since I didn't stay over (needing to work at the shop)-- what a riot.

On to the Lion's Den at the inn to watch the last set of the band there, and finally back to the cottage to sleep at 1:30 am. Whew!

The next morning was a yummy breakfast at the inn and saying goodbye. We had such a nice time and are looking forward to the next one.  Before I left, though, I had to stop at the gift shop to pick up this:

The yummiest salad dressing...Maple Dijon Vinaigrette.  The Red Lion Inn's own recipe.

For me it was then on to my mom's in CT to visit. We watched lots of "Chopped" on Food Network (a real treat for me since I don't get that channel at home) and more sock knitting.

Got home Monday and finished my socks!!!:

Froot Loop socks. I. Love. Them. But, I will NEVER make them again! The pattern is quite tedious and I like things to move along a little quicker. Especially socks.

Now, it's on to my Umaro blanket:

 But, since this blanket is huge, and has a chart to follow, sometimes you just need something a little easier to work on.  So,  I'm going to wind yarn and cast on for my Infinity Scarf today:

It will be knit using these yarns, in this order, from left to right.  Pretty and denimy.  Can't wait to see what it will look like.

What the....?

Know what this is?:

One clue:

I absolutely didn't see the ice that was covered by the snow on our driveway and was shocked to find myself on the ground.  Of course, then I realized that is the spot in the driveway that always has a puddle and it would follow that when it got really cold, it would turn to ice.  Der.  I hate that.  I was on my way to the yarn shop for the knit-a-long --- needless to say, that plan got abandoned.  I limped back into the house, covered in snow and spent 10 minutes trying to walk around and see if I could still go to the knit-a-long.  All the while, Paul is following me around, rolling his eyes at me because he thinks I should just stay home and put ice on it.  In then end I realized he was right. Went to the doctor yesterday and it is just a bad sprain.  Foot up.  Lots of ice (aha! so, ice can be helpful after it trips you up.....).  Lots of TLC from Paul!

On the knitting front:
I've been working on a knitting commission project for a customer at the shop.  An entrelac scarf made with Noro Silk Garden:

Oh great - this sideways picture thing again...

I have known how to do entrelac but had abandoned a scarf I had been making a couple of years ago since it was very tedious to me.  I just couldn't seem to remember the pattern and had to constantly refer to it, and it just went so slowly.  Well, this commissioned project has cured me of that!  I have the pattern committed to memory and it is going along nicely.  The customer wanted me to use 5 balls of yarn which equals 550 yards and an approximately 70" scarf.  Almost done and should be able to give it to her this weekend.  By the way, aren't those colors so pretty?????

And here is the progress I'm making on the knit-a-long socks:

I'm just about to the heels.  I decided to knit both socks at the same time on two sets of double pointed needles, in order to decrease the likelihood of Second Sock Syndrome.  For those who don't know, Second Sock Syndrome is the inability to knit the second sock of a pair, because after you finish the first one, it feels like you should be done with your project and moving on to the next thing, but you can't because you have a whole 'nother sock to make.  And socks take a loooooong time to knit.
Skinny yarn + skinny needles =  a looooong time
So, to combat this, I'm knitting a little on one, then a little on the other and it's working like a charm.  I feel like I'm making good progress and know they will be done almost at the same time.

I mentioned the Umaro blanket in a recent post but didn't have a picture, so I'm putting it here:

Haven't worked on it recently but it will soon be in rotation.  I've also gotten another knitting commission from a customer at the yarn shop so I'll have to work that in too.

In other news, I got this from Amazon recently:

It's an acupressure neck pillow.  I saw it on another blog and the person had great success with it.  It's used to help reduce stress and tension in your neck.  I've used it a couple of times so far and it's a little strange but definitely relaxing --- which might also be because you are laying there for 10 minutes not doing anything else. The jury is still out as to if the acupressure things are what's doing the trick.  They are supposed to help release endorphins.

This came in the same box:

Hopefully this will help me with my picture taking.   Haven't had a chance to look at it yet.  First I have to figure out this thing with Blogger turning my pictures sideways (even the ones I didn't purposely turn).

On the home improvement front --- refinishing the stairs....

Lots of adventures, staining every other step and having to go up the stairs two at a time for a few days while all the clear coats dried/cured (which has been especially fun with a sprained ankle); sticky notes to remind us what stairs were ok to step on; keeping the cat and the dog off of them; sitting on the cat in the middle of the night because we thought we had kept her from coming upstairs but apparently not.  Next up is painting the risers, but that should be fairly adventure-less.  We hope.

Catching up

I didn't mean to take such a long break from the blog -- it's been so busy this past almost two weeks!  Three days of Christmas, several days of home improvement, two nannying days, and New Years.  Whew!  Luckily, there was no last minute shopping or knitting mixed in there, since I/we got that done ahead of time (for once).

Christmas:
On Christmas Eve Paul and I went to my sister's in Connecticut:

 with Mandy in tow:

I worked on my long-neglected cabled sweater (started in March) in the car:

More on this later (hint: I finished it!!!).

Knitted gifts were all a hit but only got pictures of the mukluks for my nephews:

They loved them, immediately putting them on and then disproving my attempt at non-slippage by sliding across the kitchen floor (after I told them I had put the stuff on the bottom so they wouldn't slip).  What can I say?  I tried.  And left them with a warning to be particularly careful on the stairs.  But they wore them all day and that leads me to believe that they were warm and comfy.

Lots of cooking going on at my sister's:

Making sugar cookies (and adding sprinkles to look like Aunt Liz)

More sugar cookies...

More sugar cookies (we all took turns at icing and sugar)

The biggest food hit - pigs in a blanket

Mmmmmm.....dessert! (including a yummy gingerbread trifle)

Christmas day we spent at Paul's mom's opening presents and having dinner with some of his family.  Forgot the camera, but she liked the knitted dishcloths I made for her!

Home Improvement #1:
Paul wanted to tackle a couple of projects during his time off from work.  The first was changing our fireplace into a wall-with-mantle-and-heat-shield-so-we-can-use-the-stove-and-put-the-tv-on-the-wall.    Here it is when we first moved in 4 years ago:

That white section used to have a piece of metal over it. Blech.

We got a wood burning insert,  painted the walls and then we painted the brick so we could live with it until this day came...

Another use for the level

Paul put up some framing things so we could attach drywall:

ANOTHER use for the level (straight edge for cutting drywall)

Top on Paul's priority list was hiding the tv wires...

And now it looks like this:

Just a little bit left to do... putting in some side wood to complete the mantel and then, after heating season, putting stone or tile over the brick.  We. LOVE. IT!  (That black thing directly under the mantel is the heat shield that is required if you have a wood stove that sticks out of the fireplace. We might take it down in the summer.)

Home Improvement #2:

The stairway. Ugh.  We've been dreading painting the stairway/hallway/ceiling area since it is very high up and required changing the light fixture.  We are both a little leary of heights and don't have a ladder tall enough etc.  So, Paul built this:

Which meant we had to hurry up and get this done unless we wanted to keep climbing under this in our pajamas for several evenings.  It was fairly sturdy and we cranked out the light change and the ceiling and wall painting in about 24 hours.

That's the new light.

Knitting News:

In the car on the way to xmas eve and then in the several days after, I finally finished my Brigid Jacket from Vintage Modern Knits: Contemporary Designs Using Classic Techniques:

Sans buttons, of course... and the sleeves ARE the same length.  They just don't look it in this picture....

 I love how it came out.  This book has several patterns that I'd like to knit eventually. BUT... see my ramblings later on in this post.

And at The Spinning Room on Saturday a new knit-a-long started, which I joined in on:

These will be the Socks of Kindness and I'm making them with the Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors sock yarn in the Rhinebeck 2011 colorway.

And finally, I started the Sycamore Vest by Hannah Fettig using the Cascade 220 Sport:

I thought it would be a great springtime piece.

Here's my problem now:  I've started two more things.  I have many other things started.   Those of you who are knitters will likely be able to relate.  So, I feel the need to come up with some sort of plan.  Something like.... work on these for a little bit, then work on something already started.  Like my Dahlia Cardigan.  Which i love!  And I've only gotten the back lace piece done.  And my Froot Loop socks.  I love them too! And of which I have the leg of one sock done.  And my Umaro blanket by Jared Flood.  I have almost one repeat done of that.  And I love it!  But I love these new things too.   Ugh!  Decisions decisions.  Any suggestions?

I also read two books recently but will save those for the next post since this one is already ten years long.
Happy New Year!