Friday, December 28, 2007

A Bunch of Nothing Much and a Review

I didn't get any knitterly presents for Christmas, but I did get the speakers I was asking for.


We haven't had a good sound system in the house for a little while, so this is a present the whole family can enjoy. I really missed being able to dance with my husband and kids. The sound is very clear, with no distortion at loud volumes, and it's got a handy dandy little remote too.

I worked very hard at doing nothing much yesterday. This involved a long bath, and a serious game of Life Twists and Turns with my Alex and his friend. Life T&T was high on Alex's wish list and I was reluctant to buy it because we already had SpongeBob Life, but I'm really glad we did. Life T&T offers more choices, more opportunity for strategy and is very family oriented. While earning a good wage is an important part of the game, you won't win unless you also put adventure and family into your game. The Life Pod takes away the learning experience of managing your cash and adding things up, but it makes up for it by doing away with clutter and sheer convenience. Go checkout the online version of this game!

Now for some knitting. I gave each of my parents a pair of socks for Christmas, but my Dad's pair were too small. No worries though, Mom snagged them. So I let Dad go stash diving for yarn for a new pair and he picked this:


It took me four tries to discover how this yarn wanted to be knit! It's Schaefer Anne and the mohair means that textured stitches look yucky. Also, it wants to be knit tightly, which means I had to add a few extra stitches. I'm doing 76 stitches for the leg and I'll do 80 for the foot since my Dad's foot is a triple-E. I find it amazing how different the color way looks in the skien compared to knitted up.

I want a neck warmer for myself. I've discovered that scarves are no good at the dog park because the doggies want to bite them! I wanted to make the Flared Lace Smoke Ring, but I need the warmer quick, so I decided to do it in a heavier yarn:

This is Alpaca Cashmere Tweed. I took out 5 repeats of the pattern and it looks to be wide enough. But I don't think I'll do the 18 inches the pattern calls for. It would be too bulky in this weight of yarn.

Next up, I should do an inventory of the gifts I knitted this year as well as my best and worst projects of the year. Maybe. After I get done doing a whole lot of nothing.

2 comments:

  1. I find Schaefer Anne wants a little extra care in the laundry room. It does not like to be in a large load, even on delicate or handwash settings. And it definitely prefers wash and rinse to be same temp.

    Of course it's a gorgeous yarn and worth the extra attention.

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  2. Anonymous9:24 am

    Love your version of the Flared smoke ring. Beautiful color! Lori

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