Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing my American friends lots of happiness on Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

road trip to the Outer Banks

I nearly forgot to blog about the trip I took a week ago! My pals Tiffany, Tasha and I took a road trip to the Outer Banks to visit Knitting Addiction in Kill Devil Hills. I had been to the store's old location but this was my first visit to their new spot. I have to say, it is REALLY nice! The store was abuzz with activity when we were there, but the employees were helpful. It's a really nice, airy, large store. They have lots of Malabrigo and Spud & Chloe to boot. I came home with a beautiful skein of locally dyed DK weight yarn.


Sea Star Handpaints, colorway Avalon Pier

There are 460 yards ... I'm thinking about some kind of gorgeous knee-high socks.

I also bought a pair of Addi DPNs -- they are really nice. I'm using them on a pair of socks for my mom and the socks are just flying! I've knit a sock and a half in a week on them.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thankful Thursday No. 2

The astute among you might've realized that I missed Thankful Thursday last week. Oops! In my defense, I had a 12-hour day at work so my blogging time was slim to none. So here are some things I am thankful for:

1. Fall weather. I've been taking advantage of these cool, crisp, not-a-cloud in the sky days as much as possible. Today, Josh and I took Gracie to the dog park and threw a ball for her over and over again. I know she enjoys getting the chance to run freely. And I just love walking the streets in our neighborhood with crunchy leaves underfoot.

2. Trivia games. Last night I competed with seven colleagues at an annual trivia competition. We came in 2nd in 2007 and 2009 and 1st in 2008. Well, we regained our title last night! It requires lots of knowledge about current events and world leaders. We were so surprised to win -- our main competition is a local defense contracting firm, and they're really, really good. This just adds to my desire to appear on "Jeopardy!". I'm on the e-mail list, but they so rarely announce auditions. Someday ...

3. Colinette Jitterbug. I've never worked with this yarn before but it's so lovely. It's squishy and works up at a nice gauge (only 60 stitches around for a sock is unheard of for me). The only downside? The knots and fuzzy joins. Still, though, it's got a great twist and I've got more than half a sock done in three days.

Monday, November 8, 2010

It's finally sock weather!

I'm so excited that I can wear wool socks every day and NEED them. Compared with a year ago, I probably have twice as many handknit sock options. And these are the latest added to my collection:

FO: Easter Egg socks

Yarn: Opal Kaleidoskop (90% of a skein)
US 1 needles
Time to knit: 20 days, all of which were in October, making these a nice pair of Socktoberfest socks!

I'm hard at work finishing up a pair of socks I started for my brother TWO YEARS AGO. Holy moley. The first was on the needles that long but I finished it during his visit last week. The second is flying and I'm already past the heel flap. Let's hope I don't put it down for another two years just because he has enormous feet!

In other news, I'm thinking about signing up for a Woolgirl kit for my birthday month -- the theme is Victorian Writers, which I am perfectly fine with, but I'm more excited about an Anne Hanson sock pattern + sock yarn. It would be a lovely birthday treat!

I'm also looking forward to a road trip my knitty girls are planning, down to the Outer Banks to Knitting Addiction. No doubt I will be wearing handknit socks for the occasion. :-)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Thankful Thursday

I found out about the idea of Thankful Thursday on another knitting blog and thought: "I can totally manage blogging at least once a week. The idea behind Thankful Thursday is that you list three things you're thankful for, on each Thursday in November. So without further ado:

Star Trek, Michalski style

1. My brother. He flew in from Ohio a week ago and we did the Wicked 10K together. Most people dress up since it's Halloween weekend. We put together our Star Trek uniforms (patches from roddenberry.com), phasers from Amazon, my ears courtesy of a costume shop in Ohio -- thanks, Mom!) We walked the race (because of his bruised rib and my general feeling of yuckiness) instead of running, and it was a nice time. While he was here, we went down to the Outer Banks and played some pool one night, too. It was lovely!


2. My beau. Maybe it's getting to be that time of the year when I get all gushy and reflective around the holidays, but I just feel so lucky to have him in my life. He's hilarious and smart and cute and generous.

straight hair

3. Lest you think I'm all about the humans ... I'm thankful for my flat-iron. After years of borrowing them from roommates or just going curly, I plunked down a little cash for a flat-iron of my own. It does not take anywhere near as long as I thought it would. I picked one of the top-rated ones on Amazon, and I'm definitely impressed.