Snow!

Look! It's finally snowing a little bit :D The minions are beyond excited regardless of the fact that it will probably all melt off before we know it. This Winter has been rather disorienting. Despite the cardio it provides, I am not overly sad that I haven't had to shovel repeatedly this Winter or that I haven't had to drive in a lot of snow but there is something to be said for the Season. Winter is a quiet and introspective time and I have missed that cozy feeling of snuggling in blankets in front of a fire knowing that there are mounds of cold and ice outside. It's been too warm for that. It's bizarre. Frankly, if this is the new Winter I am terrified to see what July holds...

The minions have been busy at school and the hubby has been busy coaching his USSSA team, and I've been busy working and attempting (and failing miserably I might add) to get everything else caught up. Little man has decided that he wants to play baseball again this Spring and he will be moving up PeeWee this year. Little miss decided that she wants to play "kick". I am new to the world of "kick". When I was younger, soccer wasn't a sport that girls my age played; it was more of the guy sport. But the generation after me, holy cow they took off with it! My cousin K was always a soccer player and is now coaching at various levels. After realizing that I had missed the registration deadline for "kick", I called her up and asked her what my options were - are there other leagues I should look at or just try to persuade her to play baseball this season and look at soccer in the Fall since I dropped the ball with registration... In my defense though, who starts registration in December??? Thanks to cousin K, who made a few phone calls, little miss will be playing "kick" this Spring. Thanks K! It should be fun! Between my work schedule and my dye/pattern schedule and the hubby's work schedule and the hubby's baseball schedule and little man's baseball schedule and little miss' soccer schedule I doubt I will have any hair left by May. Maybe April or late March.... I'll also have to obtain a Soccer for Dummies book or something to familiarize myself with the rules and things.

I do have a few fiber-y photos to show you this time though. Here is the R2D2 hat that little miss chose to make for little man for the Holidays.

Yes Mom, I will stop what I'm doing and stand still long enough for you to take a picture but I'm not overly thrilled about it...

These are little miss' Valentine's Day socks for 2012. She's stolen them and worn them already but that's alright. The yarn is Fresh From the Cauldron's Silk Sock in the Gaia colorway - it's vintage and you can't get it anymore but you can still look at it here!

Little miss had been on my case for quite a while to make a pair of fingerless mitts "with thumbs". She was very clear on the thumb thing. Little man decided that I needed to make her a pair with his help for the Holidays and I can't tell you how funny it felt to make a pair of fingerless mitts this size with thumb gussets. He chose the yarn special from the Dreaming Pickle Pot's Taboo Club (myself and 2 other dyers team up for collab clubs) because it has sparkles in it. She loves them and is asking for another pair. Actually, she has been eyeballing the pair of Endpaper Mitts a friend of mine made for me and wants a wee pair like those. We'll see.

This past weekend was the annual Sticks and Strings event. A whole weekend of knitting! Always a good time, I was very proud of my Thursday Night Knitting Ladies - we got a beading technique by Cindy, and Sue started colorwork for the first time and her mittens are looking great, and Tracy was working on a gorgeous beaded cowl... Lots of fun and conversation and knitting of course. I finished up a beanie for myself out of a skein of handspun I've had languishing about for a while. I was worried that I might have made it too big but it is so squooshy and warm and lovely and the ribbing makes it fit me perfectly! I love it. Sorry about the crummy photo. This fiber is Falkland and was dyed by Color Craze Fiber. I spun it up to a traditional 3ply.

I also CO and finished this colorwork hat at the Sticks and Strings event - I needed a quick colorwork project to show Sue how to hold the yarns and things and I didn't have one on the needles at the time. I got a bit of flack for finishing it so quickly but seriously, worsted weight held double on US 10's and a simple colorwork pattern; it basically knit itself. I still haven't blocked it yet and I don't have a destined recipient for it so I figure this will be a stock hat for anyone out in the snow shoveling - assuming we get enough snow to have to shovel... Perhaps we need to move up to northern Minnesota next year so our Seasons make more sense!

I have a few other projects/patterns in progress/finished so I will show some of those next time along with the Lord of the Rings skeins :)

Until next time...

Actually, an addendum is in order. In the time it's taken me to sit here and compose this post, the snow has tripled and it doesn't look like it will be stopping any time soon. Thick heavy wet snow and it looks gorgeous as it's falling. The minions are suiting up to go outside. I guess that colorwork hat will be put to work sooner than I expected and it may or may not all melt off in a few days. How exciting! I don't have to drive in it until Monday so I'm all set - time to get snuggly in front of a fire!!!

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