Craftiness

Dan and Katie's Wedding

This really doesn't have anything to do with anything but my regular every day life, so if you come here solely for fiber content, there's a tiny bit near the bottom.

Saturday, my high school best friend got married, which is great, because we love his girlfriend/now wife, too. It was touching, because they've been together for about six years, and you can tell how much they love each other. My cousin Eric was one of the best men (Dan, the groom, also had his brother).

Only bad thing about the day, was the rain. Massachusetts has had about eight days of straight rain, and a lot of places were getting flooded on Saturday. Unfortunately, that made it difficult for the bride and groom to get to the church...lol. In fact, the limo couldn't get down Katie (the bride)'s street, as it was flooded, so the bridal party had to hitch rides to the church. But, although the wedding started at least an hour after expected, it did start, and now we've got a happily married Dan and Katie.

My favorite picture...lol

My cousin and Dan's sister

My parents (aren't they cute?) It felt like half my family was there, as my parents were, Eric's parents were, and of course, me and Eric were there.

Me and Andy

One more of the bride and groom (love her dress).

Sunday, despite the muddy fields, Andy and I went apple picking. 

There was a pond, with ducks and other birds:

Me on the hay wagon on the way to apple fields.

View of the road from the apple fields

What was really cool, was the girl selling apple picking bags, noticed my hat and asked if I knit it myself...she was a knitter too, and even despite the cold windy day we were having, had her knitting with her to work on in between customers! I saw her working on something when we were driving out, but couldn't make out what. I love finding other knitters though!

And last, my new small project bag. I got this on Etsy , from this seller.  It's big enough to cart around my growing Irish Hiking Scarf.

I'm really only working on the scarf, which is why I haven't updated much...scarf progress is slow, and boring.

Slightly Less Loopy.

I've been out of comission for the past three weeks, really. On my birthday, August 27th, my boyfriend came down with a cold. Although I'd only been out of the hospital a day, I probably caught the cold around that time, because 4 days after my release date (August 26th) I had a HELL of a sore throat. And it just got gradually worse. Just when I thought that the cold was going away, it started to turn into a lung infection, and when I thought THAT might be getting better, I ended up in some bad, bad pain. First my right rib, which was given Tylenol with Codeine, then Vicodine, and neither were really working too well. When the right rib pain went away, my left rib took over. After over a week of pain, I just gave up and came back to the hospital. So here I am. I was on morphine the first few days, as nothing else was touching the rib pain, I couldn't sleep so well, and certainly couldn't do the treatment (coughing, mostly) required of a CF patient. So, morphine was really the only choice to get my lungs in better shape. However, they SO screw with my mind. I started working on a charted cable scarf pattern (more on that in a minute), and I just couldn't count, figure it out, knit, purl, anything. I frogged that sucker soooooo many times the first few days. Some advice. When on pain drugs, assume your mind is not working, even when you think otherwise. You don't even know how dumb you are.  If you need to risk knitting, then make sure it's stockinette. So, I'm better now, and off the morphine (cross your fingers), and knitting again without problems.

Mail has been arriving on my doorstep, and my parents bring it in...lovely, yarn-y, book pattern mail :)

But for now, the project. It's a scarf based on one I saw on Knitting Interrupted, shown here. It uses the Chart A of the Parrot House Stole in Lavish Lace. I'm using size 8 needles, and Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Hush. I'm liking it, but it took some getting used to after all the mistakes I made first few rounds.

Now for the stash growth. SOCK YARN! I love Sock Yarn.

Bottom front, Lorna's Laces, in Strawberry Satellite Stripe, which I bought on eBay. Love it. Pink and brown. I wish I could knit with it right this second. Stupid Christmas gifts. I say that alot lately. Basically when any new stash comes in, I say it.  The upper two, are Gryffindor, and Watermelon, from Knitting Sunshine .

And I got a swift. They had a review in Knitty, and were swamped, but luckily, I bought mine basically the day before the Knitty review.

It's a great swift, and I'm SO glad to finally have one, for a fraction of the cost of store bought swifts.

And finally, just because it makes me smile, a Chloe picture:

Opinions

The new Knitty is pretty fabulous. Although you'll probably read tons of these in your web knitting blog travels today, I'm throwing mine into the mix:

Arisaig : I think it's pretty. My only caveat, that keeps me from making it, is I think if you have any sort of belly, (and I've got me a little pooch, so that includes me) the wrapped ribbed bottom will make it stick out like a sore thumb.

Samus:  I think this is also an awesome pattern. I know others are comparing it to another recently released free blog pattern, but I like this one a bit better, for the bit of subtlety to the cable, (it's not as wide) and the fact it's a cardigan.

Josephine:  I love Josephine. I want to make it and wear it every day. However, I'd leave off the front cables. Somehow, I think the front cables would be too much.

Blackberry:  Another love, but I'm pretty sure I'd look overwhelmed if I wore it.

Flora:  Absolutely love it, want one, would make one for Christmas gifts.

Falling Leaves:  Socks, lace, what's not to love?

Edgar:  Jury's still out on this one for me. I like it, but don't know if I like it at the same time, if that makes sense.

The rest, either didn't wow me, or I didn't like. Except the cabled trees sweater. I thought that was pretty remarkable, but know I wouldn't make one, and I didn't like the sleeves.

I was happy to get an Amazon shipment today...

Hats On! 31 Warm and Winsome Caps for Knitters : Already love it. A lot of the hats are two color knitting, and they're gorgeous. I just like thinking about color possibilities. I bought the book after seeing the Triple Patterned Watch Cap here.   

I also bought 50 Baby Bootees to Knit.  A lot of people complained that it seemed the book used the same 9 or so patterns, just with different embellishments. I didn't really notice that too much, but even if it's true, that's fine with me, as I'm not creative enough to think of them. I like knitting books for the inspiration with color and embellishment, as much as for the patterns.

Well, after all that reviewing...hopefully sometime soon I'll have a few finished things to take pictures of.