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*The skies are so grey around here it is ridiculous, so we need a little silliness. Please suggest some for me! These are my lorna's laces socks. I used CaroleKnit's picot edge for the first time. Love this trick and will use it again and again. I love Lorna's Laces sock yarns more than any other. I have told Santa's helper, (AL helps fireman in the knit department...) that I'd love another skein of their sock yarn. Any colors will do. Beatles provides some silliness around here. He is now 6 lbs and 6 months old. He checked out very very well at the vet yesterday. Everyday is Christmas for Beatles...all he wants is your lap and some toys to play with. What are your GREY buster ideas? ANy silliness is appreciated! I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

I finished Al's legwarmers on Thanksgiving morning. You see Al did ALL the cooking at our house. I just had to clean and help clean up after. So I had time to finish her legwarmers. They made me feel like dancing! I used Dream in Color for the raspberry main color and used Liberty Wool Classic Elite for the Fair Isle. I wish both legs matched but that is not how the yarn knit up. I think they came out whimsical and wonderful. I made up a pattern. I cast on 64 stitches and ribbed awhile. Then I found a fair isle pattern that was made up of a 16 stitch repeat and focused for a bit. Fair Isle requires focus, but I do so love the results. Also, because the top part is fair isle, the leggings hug there and won't fall down. Next I did a few stripes and finished them up plain in stockinette in the round. She loved them. They will keep her warm and fuzzy as our temps are really dropping here now. I need more dances in my life I think. I worry too much. Worry less

It must be in the air.....we both knit leggings this month. I love Al's simple cable and the orange yarn she chose. She's gifting these to someone who loves orange. I am not an orange fan, in general, but I love this shade. Dance dance dance. I finished the legwarmers I made for AL, and they'll be in an upcoming post. Our Thanksgiving feast was so delicious. A really relaxing night with family followed. Today, we feast with the OTHER side. After Al and I go to the Muppet Movie..... I have always loved the Muppets. That's it here. Leggings and Muppets....and feasting. Life's good. I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

(image from Fred Flare....Sold Out Turkey Knit Hat) This Thanksgiving I'm dedicating my post to you dear pretend friends. I don't know why this little blog brings me such joy but it does. It has been a good part of my days for years now. The readership doesn't grow much, but you are a great bunch of loyal knit friends. I'll say that again and again. Pretend friends, thanks. Thanks for being my outlet for knit fun, Thanks for always cheering on the good knits and the not so good! I love your comments. I love your blogs. Your knits always inspire me. Those of you who were IN on the Take and Replace Swap this year were outstanding in every way. Those of you who watched from the blog side lines were wonderful too. Really a very heartfelt thanks. Somehow in the cyberworld of anonymity we have grown to be friends. Here's to a great knit future together! I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Here is the centerpiece for our little dinner Thursday, and the very boring black cowl for my friend Linda. I used Zara merino wool and doubled the strands. I think I cast on 70 stitches. I wanted it to be a snug cowl. Linda walks her dogs daily and needs fashion and function! I know LInda and I know she'll like it. Last year I gave a pair of wonderful fingerless to someone at work. I thought she'd love them. I asked her about them Sunday night and she said she THINKS she gave them to her daughter....just a timely reminder for me to put my labor intensive craft to good use by only knitting for those who love to be knitting for! I'm such a potato chip knitter. I am hooked on this easy great cowl pattern. Are you hooked on a particular pattern right now? I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

I've got pumpkin bread on my mind. I've never frosted my pumpkin bread, but after googling this image for us, I have decided I must. Do you frost your pumpkin bread??? Cream cheese vanilla perhaps??? I spent the workend working. The night shift is given the task of taking pictures of the babies for holiday cards for their families. Last night Zoe and I tried desperately to get a good shot of triplet babies for their parents. We simply did not succeed. What came out were little white blobs of babies all scrunched up and ignoring each other. Sort of like scoops of mashed potatoes, although potatoes would have sat more stilly. How hard could it be? I love to take photographs. But it was so hard. The flash would go off at all the wrong moments and the delay on the camera would capture exactly what we didn't really want: little tiny hands in front of faces, and tongues rolling out of their little lips. So we tried......and I suppose the family will be thankful fo

Here's Al wearing her handknits as she is held above rushing waters on the Giant's Causeway in Belfast Northern Ireland. She wasn't liknin' the bridge so much. ...... Her strategy was to wait until she had the thing quietly to herself so no one would start jumping up and down and scaring her to death half way crossed! I wouldn't even have crossed it.... no way...no pressure...no how! I'm looking for a good book for my mom to read. I saw on M's blog Stitches of Violet , that she finished Tess Gerristen's The Silent Girl. My mom likes novels about Irish Family Sagas. Do you know of any? I have to get large print books for her, and that limits things a bit too. I think I"ll be facing the second fair isle leg warmer for Al tonight ......a girl who comes to a bridge and crosses it deserves leg warmers don't you think??? Happy Workend I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

It is really cold outside in Chicago today. The wind is back and it is reaching into any part of me that isn't covered. I am so happy that I get to drop this gift cowl off to my friend Linda on a really cold day, today! She asked for one when we stopped by her house on Halloween. It is a mousy grey yarn of merino, alpaca and nylon. Super soft on the fingers. I mentioned the pattern in yesterday's post. Super easy. I did drop a stitch somewhere's in the middle. I asked Al for advice. She told me to tie it down with a piece of the same yarn and weave the ends in just like I'd weave any other end in. It worked and it is secure now. I have two more cowls to make before Christmas. The gauge of the next one is bigger so it will go faster. The yarn for the next one has no alpaca in it......I've been knitting with alpaca flying up my nose as if its a vacuum for the stuff....kerchew! However, the next cowl is all black......I'll need some good lighting

We were in Lincoln Park again yesterday and it was pretty grey. We've been graced with a very warm November so far, and we are hoping it makes winter feel shorter this year..... I am knitting a grey cowl for my friend Linda who asked for one. The Sock Yarn Scrap Bag Cowl by Allinson is the pattern. (Ravelry) If anyone wants a great simple cowl pattern that is actually very boring, this is it. I may make another in a bigger gauge for another friend for Christmas. I also shot this city scene as the sun was setting yesterday afternoon. The light seemed just right. I did learn from Franklin Habit's class, the importance of the right light. I dont' like the city much. I'm glad it is there for others, but I love the peaceful country. At least with the City of Chicago you get the Lake, the magnificent huge ocean like lake, to make the city feel like part of nature. Have a happy day even if it is grey..... I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Look what I got!!! Al went to Ireland and I got an adorable Irish Wooly Jumpers Knit Bag. 9 crazy sheep with shamrock on them adorn it. So I have 2 new project bags now after winning my Dishrag Tag V bag. A knit girl needs her bags! I have 3 Christmas cowls to knit. I'm halfway through the first one. I'm using supersoft merino and alpaca yarn. More to come on this front. As for the follow up to the needles that broke in the cold on me last week, here goes. They were made by Swallow mfg. and created from a milk by product. I don't know about milk needles for me. I love love love milk. A glass of cold milk with something chocolate is a must. If I am out of milk, I won't even touch chocolate. I like to have milk with salty pretzels too. I know, weird. My father used to put ice in his milk all the time. I'm a skim milk girl. I must have milk with cookies too. Must have milk with pancakes and bacon. I adore Tres Leches milk cake. I have to h

So here they are. The felted beautifully. You cannot see any of the tension of the week in the stitches at all. However, the holes did felt pretty close to closed......If you could see them in person, you'd see 2 rows of ridges that are very very slightly evident. I forgot to put something in the lace holes before I washed them. Seriously. It was late and I was so excited to wash them, I just winged it. So they are quite plain, but fine, I think. Even gift worthy. This is Zach's beautiful guitar that I dont' know how to play. I thought it would make a nice image. I have to tell you as I was finishing these wristwarmers I was sitting in my parked car waiting for a friend. I left the heat off and the car off. I was using the needles that are supposed to flex with the warmth of your hands. Guess what? They break when it is cold out! I broke two of the needles in the cold. Dang. I resorted to using a needle like instrument that you use to push your cutic

I know I know Halloween is way over. I don't have wristwarmer images for you yet. I promise them later today or tomorrow. The great news is they felted well!! I have felting luck. I washed them twice in hot water in the front load washing machine with a jean jacket. Now they are drying on the radiators. This is Al and Pete at their Halloween party this year. I love the image. DO YOU? I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

and a cookie. A great peanut BUtter Chocolate Chunk Cookie. I bought the cookies. I'm knitting the wristwarmers. Tne only hope for them is the washing machine..... The yarn is no fun whatsoever to work with. The stitch definition reveals every tense and relaxed moments of the last week. Can you say Uneven??? So the plan is to felt them. I put in two rows of YO K2Tog for good measure. Now, how to felt these without the purposeful holes closing up.... maybe I can thread a shoelace through the holes before I wash it????? Will that work? You know the best thing about this knit up , is that at the very worst it becomes a catnip toy.......

I abandoned a recent wrist warmer project yesterday. I don't abandon often, but the yarn looks like....well, like it can only redeem itself with felting. It is splitty and uneven and the stitch definition is lousy. I haven't given up on it entirely.... So I switched to the fair isle leg warmers for Al. I'm not really following a pattern, just infusing some fair isle from this chart into them. Fair Isle is a fun challenge for me. Each time I finish a go round and land on the start perfectly, I am a tiny bit thrilled. The Liberty wool that we picked for the secondary color is darker than the skein projected. I'm getting to the lighter grey portion. I wish the pattern popped a bit more... Did any of you see the clips of the children whose parents told them they ate all their halloween candy? Sorry, but I thought it was hysterically funny. Grace is selling some of her stash and it is good looking stuff. I think I just nabbed a skein Lovin Comfort Knits is

I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT> These socks are done done done. I havent been able to knit in a day and it is making me itchy.....uncomfortable....antsy.... Here is my Dishrag Tag V third place team winner bag! I LOVE IT! Now even if you dont' love artichokes, you might love this. I did. So last night we had an artichoke pasta salad and it was so awesome and easy, so here you go: Artichoke Pasta Salad 1 Jar of Artichoke spread from Trader Joe's I jar of sundried tomatos in their oil Feta cheese crumbled Pasta cooked Olives of your choice... Mix it all together and let it sit in the fridge awhile. If you want to add some grilled shredded chicken that works too.

I bought some Lorna's Laces at my little yarn crawl with Al last week too. I have never been disappointed with Lorna's Laces sock yarn. Never. I haven't knit anything with this amazing yarn in a few years....so it was time to buy some. I think the company is based in Chicago too. No matter, I"d love it no matter where it was from. The browny, grey blues are the perfect sock color for me for now. I am a seasonal color knitter. I don't knit with springy colors or summery colors in the winter. Do you? I like to change up my colors with the months. I just finished a pair of socks in pinks and greens and whites and it felt all wrong. I felt like I was knitting with summer flowers in the crisp of fall. Wrong wrong wrong. It is the season of browns and oranges, flame reds and wet yellows. Today is dark and wet and grey. Days like today, I thought on my way to the shelter this morning, I'd rather it stay dark all day and hide its dreary face. Alaska-l

I knitted all the way to Edgewater, Lincoln Park and Pilsen and back to Glenview. (thankfully Fireman was driving) Lunch at El Nuevo Leon......complete with Tres leches cake.... (cue the music : Is the the little boy I carried? Fiddler on the Roof) I love you Zach! I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

(Knitty hat pattern: BRAMBLES) I never bragged about my kids when they were growing up. I detested those that did. I bragged about my dog. Huck. Not that I didnt think my two kids weren't amazing. They were. And yours are too. I just hated the give and take of so many suburban converstaions.....bummping into someone in the grocery store. "How's Mindy?" "Oh SHe's on the Varsity Volleyball team, did you see her in V-show? She's applied to Dartmouth and Dennison. How's Allison?"" "She's good" I'd say and smile. ANd walk away. I didnt' want the comparative chatter. I knew she was amazing and miserable during high school. I knew my Zach was an amazing interpreter of the world around in him, on paper. I was in love with my kids, even as teens. Especially as teens. Well now Im braggin. The girl knits circles around me. Look at her hat, done while really concentrating on something entirely different. And