Starting the New Year Fresh

I'm not really sure how that's possible with all the unfinished projects I have lying around but I'm going to give it a whirl!

The Christmas trip to Texas went very well. The kids were wired the entire time - especially my son. They went non-stop, were up HOURS earlier than normal, up HOURS later than normal on several occasions, and were generally bouncing off the walls for 2+ weeks. Now that we are home we are all slowly getting back into the groove of life. The kids are catching up on (apparently) much needed sleep. They are sleeping in until 9:30-10:30am on non-school days. (I hope that extends into this weekend!)

Several Christmas present projects were finished but I, of course, don't have photos of the finished objects yet. I made the Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern from Victorian Lace Today for my SIL (in-progress photo) using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud lace weight yarn in the Autumn colorway.

I also made my MIL a variation of "Scarf with edging 21 and insertion 25 from The Knitted Lace Pattern Book, Thompson Bros., Kilmarnock, Scotland 1850" from Victorian Lace Today. I modified the borders to be smaller. It is worked in Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn in the Cranberry colorway. Yummmm!

I finished my first pair of socks for 2008! (Okay, I just had the foot of sock #2 to finish, geesh!)

They are Jane's Hedgerow socks by Jane Cochran from Knitter's Review. They are done in Needful Yarns Australian Merino in a grass green color (#1014) on US 2 dpns. Love the socks! Love the yarn! It's a bit thicker yarn so I needed part of a third ball to finish them up. Love the color! The green is flecked with other shades so it has more depth and character than a solid.

I have also cast on for the 2008 Victorian Lace Today knit-a-long. I am doing the Myrtle Leaf Shawl. I have cast on using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the Iris colorway but I am not sure if I want to use this yarn or not. I think I will work a second pattern repeat and then cast on with my other yarn possibility (Knit Picks Shadow in Grape Jelly) and see which effect I like best.

Back from the Wilds of Southern Indiana!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The unfortunate wish expressed in my last post came true - Shelby finally got sick. So the "whinies" turned into a cold after all. Be careful what you wish for! Anyway, I think we are on the upside now and everyone seems to be feeling much better. Appetites have returned which is always a good sign.

This past weekend our good friends Tom and Dar from Chicago came to visit.

We all took a trip down to southern Indiana to scope out a driving route for an overnight trip the Illinois Jaguar Club is planning for the spring. It has been pretty dry here in Indiana this summer (and early fall) so we were not expecting the fall colors to be very good. We were very pleasantly surprised! While not as spectacular as they could have been, the trees did look great. There is still a lot of green around since our weather has been very warm up until the last week or so.

We also saw some covered bridges like the Bean Blossom Bridge near the town of Bean Blossom. This one is really cool because you can still drive through it. Some are closed now.

We didn't really go very far but when you are scoping out routes for a driving event you wander around over a lot of curvy, hilly backroads even though you don't cover a lot of distance. The kids endured being stuck in the car for the better part of two days (quite graciously, I might add).

The parents, however, suffered a bit more. You have to admit that the fiftieth time you hear a song or phrase repeated your brain tends to go a bit numb. Actually, the numbness isn't so bad, it's the searing pain that proceeds it that is a bit difficult to stand! At least we all now know the words to the "Wonder Pets" (Nick Jr. kid's show) theme song. Thank God for small favors, huh?

On Saturday night we stayed in a really cool old inn in Columbus, IN called The Columbus Inn. Of course, not being fully in blog mode yet I neglected to take any pictures of my own.

On the knitting side of life, I am currently working on Jane's Hedgerow Socks in Needful Yarns Australian Merino in the lime-green colorway (#1024).