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Just an ordinary day here. When things get rowdy I crave these ordinary days. Here is the first of a pair of ordinary socks. Cascade 220 in Olive I believe is the yarn. Big old pair of wool socks for a hiker or an ordinary day inside a cold house. I'm stopping at the tip of the toe with the stitches live because I am not sure I have enough wool for both socks. This way I can do a matching toe in a different yarn if need be.... let's hope it need not be. Ordinary day dinner includes roasted vegetables: Cut them up and pour some olive oil and Good Seasons Garlic and Herb dressing dry seasoning packet over them all. Roast them in the oven on a cold ordinary day and serve them with an ordinary steak. What's ordinary about your day??

Channon was my swap partner again! We've been paired before and it was a delight again this time. She sent me this Tree Hut Sugar Scrub....what can I say? I almost want to eat it, I swear, whenever I smell it. My winter skin loves the scrub. Have you used a sugar scrub? They are such an indulgence!!! The yarn she swapped me is this bright raspberry Trekking sock yarn. I've already cast on for a new pair of socks. I'm going to conquer the Montana Woolies pattern that has beaten me before. This pair of socks is going to be a slow go. I cast on for a fast pair of socks last week while I waited for my swap package. I'm almost finished with the first sock in heavy wool weight. It is a little like cheating for my goal for the 2012 year. The bigger gauge socks go so fast. I figure I'll switch between the little stitches in Trekking and the big stitches for the other pair. Variety. The spice of life. Channon sent me a great DRAGON pattern and the cu

http://recipes.slides.kaboose.com/121-easy-cookie-decorating/12 http://emileeknits.wordpress.com/about-2/heart-lace-socks/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840NbiFF1zM The cookies are decorated simply for Valentine's day on the first link The lace socks are clearly LOVE ly and the pattern looks easy enough The Valentine song is just, well, darling. Enjoy the Friday links! (and be nice to yourself) I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

I secretly snapped a picture of a woman's scarf in a dining establishment in Lincoln Park yesterday. Let me tell you how grey the day was.....How grey was it you ask? It was so grey: that the sun didn't really set yesterday. There was no sunset that I could appreciate!~ It just got more grey and then dark. I am so color starved that I nearly asked the woman for her scarf. I had to use my zoom from my table across the way. I swear it is a glorious Noro yarn in a big old cowl. My leftover sockyarn cowl is over 35 inches long now. It is still not big enough to wrap as I wish. Let me tell you, if you don't already know, that when you reknit frogged yarn you can certainly see a bumpier stitch definition. I"m sure it will all come out in the wash..... No Northern Lights could be seen after all, on Tuesday night. I looked a few times..... The great news: Snow tomorrow. That ought to whiten up the greys around here! How are you coloring your world thes

There is a decent likelihood that we here in the Chicago area might see the Northern Lights tonight. Now the weather people round these here parts are often wrong wrong wrong .....even when it comes to predicting the temperature. Nonetheless I've let the weatherman get my hopes up for tonight. I May be pulling my jeans on and grabbing a coat in the wee hours to see aurora b. Would you do the same? Here we have an image of my soon to be frogged Feather and Fan scarf. Now that I've shown myself I can knit the pattern, I realize I don't have enough yarn for a scarf and I am too cheap...yup too cheap to buy more NORO. I already know what I'll reknit the yarn into... here's hint: Have any of you felted with NORO? How does it felt??? Swappers please check in with me if you have not already done so. Have you sent your swap package out? Did you receive your package yet??? and one other thing today: Someone at work told me this: her 80 year old mom baked

(Grace's Dragon Swap Package to Leslie pictured. MMMM Cherry Tree Hill, we don't have that round these parts...) I'm ready to cast on socks again. I've said it before, I'll say it again. THere is nothing like a pair of hand knit socks. I wear them out. That's a good thing; Once they wear out I get to knit more. I am thinking of a year of mostly socks. I wonder if I can knit 12 pairs in 12 months. Have you knit a year of socks?? I dont' like knitting things that don't get worn. I'm not good at sweaters, yet. Sweaters have that itch factor to consider. The sock yarns are amazing and abundant. There are a plethora of sock books and patterns. I have yet to knit everyone I know a pair of socks.....so there's a goal for me, right? Speaking of goals: Someone's brand new camera broke. I think I broke into a cold sweat when I realized it. I have to say COSTCO's return policy is wonderful. I had the receipt thank goodness, t

Leslie lives in my town and participated in the Dragon Swap. In my mail yesterday, on this gloomy January day was a Dragon Bag for my knit projects. Thanks Leslie......It is so neat. It will remind me of the swap and of you! I'll be showing you some swap finishes as the week goes on. Even if you didn't' play I hope you'll enjoy seeing the yarn and goodies. Do you watch CHOPPED? I was imagining a knitter's CHOPPED episode. Except we'd call it Frogged of course. Someone of Knit Stature, say Franklin Habit, would instruct 3 knitters to OPEN THEIR BASKETS. Inside the baskets are 4 knit ingredients.....say: Size 10 needles A skein of sock yarn An ugly button and A WINE Glass The clock is started.....what will you knit? Will you be chopped, er Frogged? Or will you win 10 thousand dollars?? GO ahead, what are you knitting? I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Knitted in Lorna's Laces colorway, from Santa Claus. They are going to fit someone who wears a size 8 shoe. I don't' know who that is yet.....But they will make great gift. I like the mock cable I knitted into the basic sock anatomy. There is a little voice in my head saying....(Ha~ ! What did you think I was going to write....) well, it is saying that the Feather and Fan Scarf that I ripped out, gave up on, and otherwise bailed on still wants to be knit. Just in another type of yarn. A big old type of yarn that won't trick my eyes like spiderweb yarn does. (oh the grammar in this post is atrocious) . So after I nap, I'm casting on another Feather and Fan scarf in some Noro Kochoran I found in the stash..... Is there a little voice in your head today? What is it saying to you? (Be nice to yourself.)

No new knitting to show, just Radar at the table..... He seats himself on a chair just about every night at dinner time. He watches. He hopes. He paws at your hand while you bring your fork to your mouth. Most nights, I give him....a little smudge of buttah. None of our other cats beg or behave this way. Here are a few things I love right now: *the few snowmen that dot the neighborhood since last week's snowfall *Karen Newburger pajamas. They are so soft and comfortable. *my microwavable neck warmer *the sock yarn I bought from Grace during her sale. I cannot wait to cast on. *Hulu. I Love to watch the shows I missed. *My new slippers from Fireman. So cozy and warm in my cold house. *My radiators. They are quiet and wonderful to sit on. *the new postal service at my Walgreens. *Those fattening fruit drinks with tapioca balls in them. *Dogs in knit sweaters....so cute *The movie Moneyball. If you love baseball you'll love it, if you don't love base

I'd love to say it was all my idea, but it wasn't. I saw an image of a skinny scarf-cowl made up of leftover yarns and it pointed a knitting finger right at me. I have lots of shades of blue sock yarn leftovers. I cast on 48 stitches and picked up some yarn and started. I did a provisional cast on. I have to have live cast on stitches to kitchner together when I am finished knitting. I have knit about 23 inches so far and it has been completely and totally mindless. While some would go absolutely nutty with such simplicity, my mind likes it some days. On another note, a nurse I work with was using another hand lotion that is new to me: Smitten's Lush. She wanted me to try it. It was nice. It was alright. It works for her. It had a slight scent which was very nice. My yarn thought for today: If you are bored with January, join a yarn swap. At least the mail gets interesting! I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Hey swappers, you have one week left to get your yarn, pattern and dry skin cure in the mail to your partner. I'm halfway there.... As for me, I was almost home this morning, bleary eyed and ready for bed when I realized why I hadn't gotten stuck behind a school bus yet... Martin Luther King Day .. this means no school around our parts for the day. I really get cranky when school buses delay my ride home on Mondays! My head hit the pillow in record time. Tonight some boring knitting that I can show you tomorrow. I'm in the mood for easy .....and it is another project that uses up leftovers. What are you knitting tonight? I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

*I can bake awesome chocolate chip cookies this way: Buy Nestle premade cookie dough Add flour to the pre made dough Bake them beauties up and they won't flatten out. They look homemade and they taste even better. *No amount of Memory loss is normal when aging. I learned this in the book Making Rounds With Oscar. It made me sad for a certain beloved relative. *I tasted a Korean tea : green tea and brown rice. I may have imagined it, but I swear I could smell the carbs or starch from the brown rice. *Mole is good on tortilla chips. *My new camera continues to take pictures just how I want them to come out. Thanks Zach for helping out ! *and finally, odds are good that the Russian Space Debris won't hit any of us or our knitting this weekend.! Heads up friend! I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

I'm going to cave in and rip out my feather and fan scarf. Someone please remind me of this the next time I am infatuated with others' work and it involves lace weight yarn. Thank goodness the yarn shop will take the yarn back (3 of 4 skeins) or I would have to keep knitting the scarf. My count was off quite a bit. You can't tell too much from the image, but I kept counting and counting and things were getting worse not better. I"ve been tense knitting it up. Tense should come from things other than my knitting. I ran back to my socks last night and this peaceful feeling came over me. The lace weight is just too splitty and spidery for me. It was looking lovely.....but I was edgy all week. I was trying to find the cause of my dismay.... I thought it was the grey warm January weather... I thought it was that the holidays were over... I thought it was my dieting since New Years.... But I think it was just the lace mess. I loved the feather and fan l

*I've been waiting for this day. This snow day. *My chores are done. I've helped at spay/neuter since 0630 and Now *I'm in for the day! *To everyone who is driving in the snow, may your roads be well salted. As for me and my knits and my kits, we will be looking out and delighting in the snowy landscape. I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Lorna's laces sock is coming along. I'm doing a little pattern from the Two By Two Scarf I knitted. K2tog but do not slip them off, insert the needle between the two sts and knit the first st again, P2 Repeat the first row Next 2 rows: K2P2 Repeat these four rows. Everyone in the swap has been matched and should have their partner's information. I finished Making Rounds With Oscar, about the nursing home cat who only cuddled with patients when they were dying. It was as much about dementia as it was about Oscar. Honestly, I think I need some comic relief now...... any movie suggestions to rent???? I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

*This is how I make my sock yarn look thicker..... I knit with lace for a week. *I'm reading Making Rounds with Oscar. No it is not about Oscar Meyer bologna cut into rounds with Oscar the Grouch as chef. It is about the cat who predicted deaths among residents of a nursing home. You might say the cat's odds were good given the population, but really he was/is remarkable. He would sit with the patient who was next to die. Non-cat lovers might say he caused the deaths, but we know better. Animals senses are so superior to ours. *I'm drinking more water. Less Coke. That is my big complex resolution for this year..... what day are we on? Day 10, oh yeah. *I am so happy for the snow predictions for this week. I just cannot get into this March like weather in January, and as it were, December. *I heard over the weekend that kids are now doing shots of alcohol in their eyes...... the things you learn here at irisheyes..... I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COM

(just another baby beret....using leftovers) I think we have 8 participants for a swap. If you still want to play send me an email: harpnut@gmail.com with your name, address, and blog site. If you said you want to swap and changed your mind, now is your chance to get out. I recently lost all my contacts, so even if you think I have your address, please send it to me again. Sign ups close as of Sunday night. Since it is 2012, I am challenging all the swapper to limit their yarn purchase in the swap to $20.12. Please send your partner new yarn. 2012 is the year of the Dragon. Monday the 23rd of January will be the deadline to mail your package to your swap partner. This is quick, I know, but lets do it and mean it. Let's not have it drag on....pun intended. I'll be sending out the questionnaire after I have all the participants. There will be a dragon theme....... YOu'll be asked to send you partner some new sock yarn, a pattern related to the theme, and

First of all I'm showing you Al's new hat. She whipped it up to match her cute new coat. Also she is knitting this little cabled ditty for a friend with whom she works. I asked where she got the pattern....she made it up. In high school she took a test that said her career should be either: A dock supervisor or an astrophysicist.........which leads me to today's topic.... turns out, you know, she's an ER nurse which means she is both dock supervisor and astrophysicist. About 2 posts ago I was going on about how smart the NASA people are and I can't even work a lace pattern. Well today I read that brilliant minded Stephen Hawking cannot figure out: WOMEN. Let's help him. I'm not all women, but I am one woman and this I know: *if we say we want yarn for our birthday, anniversary or holiday gifts, buy us that yarn. *If we say we need to stop at a yarn shop in a town we are vacationing in, then we do need to stop there. And go in. And buy s

There is something about knitting in our alone moments that is wonderful. AND THere is something about getting together with other knit friends that is equally as wonderful. Yesterday I met up with Kathy, Carol and Joany. Joany is nearly twice our age, (sorry to tell Joany) and she amazes us every time we knit together. Yesterday Carol and JOan were knitting their Feather and Fan Stoles in St. Charles Rittrato. It was like I had an itch that couldn't be scratched. Halt all the current plans, I have to go get that yarn and join them. Kathy has already finished hers. Kathy is knitting a train scarf. She calls it a train scarf because she knits it on the train on the way home from her job. I love the colors. Kathy also has me convinced I cannot live, simply cannot continue to live, without some Sympbhony needles. I have to go now, and buy that yarn. After all, it is nearly a week into the New Year...... I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT>

Another baby beret. And yet another is on the needles. I am using up the stash. My stash of leftovers, that is. The real stash of new untouched yarn is pretty small. I have about 5 skeins of fresh untouched unwound sock yarn. Then there is about 20 other skeins of a variety of yarns. Beatles got his first hotwheel car yesterday. It came in a package of batteries. He loved it. Typical boy. The Beach Boys roast in the crockpot came out great. Just 3 ingredients. It shredded up beautifully and tasted wonderful. Fuji Fuji Fuji, I am LOVING my new camera. It seems to think for me. I was watching a documentary on the Space Shuttles last night with Fireman. Who are these people who are so brave and intelligent? I worry about being on a plane, let alone a space ship. Who has nerves of steel? I didn't get that gene. I have trouble with a 6 row repeat, let alone a Mission Control launch. People amaze me. They are a different breed. I WOULD LOVE YOU TO LEA

My first knit of the New Year surprised me: a baby beret from Woolly Wormhead's free patterns. I wanted to use up some stash and I have many pregnant friends having babies in 2012. I have cast on another already. I decided to do some very minimal color work to kick it up a notch. My new Calendar for the New Year is from AL! It is called Nuns Having Fun. The images are great. I hope to laugh more in 2012, and this is a fun start. Have you cast on something new for the New Year??? DO you have a calendar for 2012???