Taiga

This last December Shui Kuen Kozinski had her first Mystery KAL and I decided to participate.  KAL, stands for Knit ALong, meaning everyone is supposed to knit the provided clue every week and by the time all of the clues are released everyone participating will have the same completed object.  OH its great fun as everyone has different yarns, some use beads, and no one knows what they are knitting.  We just have to have faith in the artist. 

Well, that's how its supposed to be done anyway.  I can comfortably say this is not how I did it.  Nope, not by a long shot.  I received the same clues as everyone else and I did cast on at the same time as everyone else and I had good intentions of actually doing what I was supposed to do.  That is, to knit the clue every week like everyone else. 

Clue one was released and I excitedly casted on and actually knit the first clue as instructed.  That's when all hell broke loose.  One of the girls got sick and then the other one followed suit.  Of course Mother Nature has a sence of humor where sickness is concerned.  Directly after the release of clue 2,  She kindly allowed the sickness to be passed on to me.  Around this time, I stopped knitting on the shawl altogether.  During the release of clue 3, Ray got sick.  By the time week 4 rolled around the Grant family was all back to normal however I only managed to knit clue 1. 

Over the course of the next 2 months, I slowly knit through the clues.  Last night I gave the shawl a good soaking and firmly blocked it.  After 3 months of knitting I'm happy to be finally finished!

Our New Home!

I'm so incredibly excited to tell you that my family is moving!  Ray and I have been wanting to move for over a year and we finally found the home that will work for our family.  Currently we live in a 1000 square foot, 2 bedroom 1950's ranch home.  And while we love our home, to which we have made improvements, the house is just getting to be a bit too small.  One night over a glass of wine, make that several glasses of wine, the conversation turned to increasing our living space.  And with the interest rates as low as they are, we started looking. 

We had certain criteria that had to be met.  A better school system for the girls, bigger house, 15 yr fixed mortgage, a pretty home, stuff like that.  The search was on for the better part of a 9 months. We started looking online and then started going to the open houses on Sundays.  Eventually we discovered what worked for us and what didn't.  The floor plans that we gravitated toward and the exterior that the both of us just loved.  Finally after much negotiation we found the perfect home for our family. 

A Tudor style home that was built in 1929 with tons of character.  Hard wood floors, decorative plaster, stained glass windows.  Need I say more?  To be honest I'm in love with the place.  Don't get me wrong.  There is plenty of work that needs to be done.  Fixing leeks, repainting, plasterwork,  a new upstairs bathroom, new carpet, just to name a few.  But like I said, I'm in love.  Ray and I both committed to the place and put the down payment the second we could.  We officially sign the final papers on Wednesday.  Which leads me to my dilemma.

Moving Day.  I'm a knitter as you well know.  And being a knitter for the better part of 12 years, I have acquired and considerable stash.  OH it didn't grow over night, but rather a couple of skeins here and there.  Kind of like weight.  The extra cookie that didn't get burned off, equates to a bit extra on the hips and before you know it you have an entire back porch.  Kind of like that. 

I started counting the totes that contained the stash.  Now let me be the first to explain that the totes contain about 20 gallons of yarn each and I counted about 9 totes.  And the stuff not in a tote could fill about another 2 totes.  GOOD LORD AND BABY JESUS 11 totes 20 gallons each?  Oh dear God I'm sooooo going to Hell for gluttony of the yarn.  Is that even a sin?  Regardless, I can't let Ray know about the 12 totes of yarn.  My God, I'll never see the inside of a yarn shoppe again. 

So what's a girl to do?  Devise a plan of course.  I'm just gonna move a bit over to the new house piece by piece.  I thought about sneaking it over but then someone at work said "Don't sneak Libby Grant, just lie about it. Deny it all together."  Very wise choice.  Very wise choise indeed.  Denial is the best choice given the circumstances. Not to worry, I'll be keeping you abreast of the moving situation!

Detroit Zoo

  It was the first weekend that the mercury hit 74F and sunny.  What is a family of 4 supposed to do on such a great day?  Go to the Zoo of course!   

Once we got there, we beelined for the butterfly house.  The girls just LOVE the butterflies!  They have different species in a variety of colors and sizes.   

The butterfly house is connected to the bird house where again one will find different species in all different colors and sizes. 

New to the zoo this year is the carousel.  Naturally Syd had a ride!  The carousel is amazing, for lack of a better word.  It doesn't just have horses.  It has bats and seahorses and dinosaurs and eagles and giraffes and snakes and all kinds of different animals for the kids to ride.  And if there is any confusion as to which species you are riding, have no fear, it is listed above the animal! 

Next stop was the polar bear exhibit.  I love this exhibit because you walk through a path containing placards all about the Inuit people: how they survived, what they ate, where they lived. Also on the path is the white fox and seals, again with placards about each animal.  And then at the end of the path is an underground area where you can see the polar bears and seals swimming under the water through very thick Plexiglas.  The other amazing part about this structure is that it is air conditioned, which was actually my favorite part!  Now I know that you are all thinking: Wimp... its 74, whats the problem.  The problem I tell you, is that for the better part of 5 months the temperature has been less 32F which is freezing.  I'm very much acclimated to less than 32F and 50F feels warm and wonderful so 74 was a bit much.

As we were about to leave, a pretty little bird flew and landed right in front of us.  Ray was armed and ready and began shooting!  I'm so excited we managed to get this great shot of him looking directly at us!

And through it all there was absolutely positively no knitting.  I just enjoyed the day out with my family!

Beaded Rib Socks

These are Ray's Christmas Socks.  I can't even tell you how excited I was when I finished the second sock.  Especially when I feel like I've climbed Mt. Everest after finishing one sock. Especially when what I really wanted to do was start on the next new and exciting project but instead, I knit the mate.  And most expecially when my husband has size 13 feet.  And that is a whole lotta knittin' for just one sock let alone 2.    I'm used to knitting for my small size 6 feet so knitting a pair of mans size 13 socks was quite the experience. 

These socks consumed 1.5 balls of Regia Sock Yarn and I used US1 needles.  This is a personal design of course and naturally I posted the pattern on the side bar as well as on Ravelry!

Hello, Anybody There?

Good Lord and Baby Jesus, it sure has been a long time since I've blogged.  I'm not even sure I still remember how to do this! LOL just kidding. 

Christmas has come and gone. 

Valentine's Day has come and gone.

St. Patty's Day is here and Easter is approaching fast.

Let me start off by saying that there has been no knitting.  None.  Zilch. Nadda.

OK that statement is not entirely accurate.  I've finished the Mystery Kal (which still needs blocking), Karolyn's dressy (still working on the pattern and pics), and I've started Sydney's dressy. Come to think of it, that's quite a bit of knitting isn't it?  I'll share all eventually.  The key word here is eventually. 

The Christmas Knitting went almost to plan.  All my nieces and nephews received a hand knit.  Karolyn has her dressy and I'm currently working on Sydney's, and she asks me daily when she can wear it.  To which I reply, as soon as its finished.  Cut me some slack kid, I just started it!  Ray loves his socks, but I had to take them back cuz I didn't have a proper pic and didn't want them ruined before I got one.  No worries, I'll be sure he gets them back.  My sister did not get her slippers which gives me something to look forward to knitting!  Other than that, everything went according to plan.

My sister said that her kids loved the knits and she sent pics! 

Remember the Clara Dressy?  Here it is being modeled by my neice Jacqueline.

The back of the dress is just as adorable as the front!

Isn't that the most adorable baby you've ever seen? 

Mary also send me pics of Alana wearing her Kitty cardi.  To be honest I was completely worried about this knit.  Mary told me that Yellow was Alana's favorite color and I didn't have any yellow in the stash so I subbed in some purple.  On Christmas I talked to Alana and she said that she LOVED it because purple is her NEW favorite color.  Way to go Auntie Libby!!! 

The back of the cardi.

It matches her outfit perfectly!

SOOOO Cute!



Love you Alana!



I don't have any other pics because Bryce didn't fit into the Pembrook Vest and my brother didn't send me pics of Trenton in it.  So John, if you are reading this, please send me a pic of Trenton in his vest.  Thanks!



Mystery KAL

I'm excited to announce that Shui Kuen Kozinski is hosting a Mystery Knit Along.  We all know SK from her very popular designs for Elann.com as well as her self published designs.  She is best known for her lacy shawls and I'm very certain that we will be quite pleased with what the mystery has to offer.

For those not familiar with a Mystery KAL, it goes like this.  Its called a knit along because you are knitting each clue along with dozens of others.   First you sign up and receive a detailed list of everything you need to complete the item.  Yarn type and how much, needles, beads, stitch markers, how many clues you get.  Stuff like that.   Then each week a clue is given in the form of a pattern.  And each week you knit that clue.  When all of the clues have been received and knitted, you will have a finished object! 

The exciting part comes in with the forum hosting the KAL.  Discussions start about what we think the final shape will be.  What the stitches remind us of.  What to name the final piece.  Who pissed off whom because they didn't like their input.  Like I said its fun stuff.

SK states the following:

This pattern cost $3.00 now, it will be $7.00 later.

4 clues will be given on Jan 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd 2012.

Please use my mystery picture as the project picture till the end of KAL. Thank you!

The project will be a crescent shape lace shawl with shawl collar, which is knitted in one piece. The gentle scalloped lace part is knitted from the top down (less stitches to cast on), and later finished with short rows.

EXPERIENCE LEVEL
Intermediate
SIZE
Medium size Shawl is 14 inches deep, 36 inches wide at the top and 78 inches at the bottom, relaxed after blocking. Small and large size will be discussed.

MATERIALS
-600 to 800 yards of fingering weight yarn
-5.5mm (US 9), 4.5mm (US 7), and 4mm (US 6) 24 inch circular needles
-tapestry needle; 2 stitch markers
GAUGE
20 sts and 28 rows per 4in after blocking
(Gauge is not critical)

I've already signed up and paid my dues for the Mystery KAL.  For my $3, I received a 1 page .pdf file with what is needed to complete the shawl.  Next is the hard part.  Waiting. 

Who's in?

Winter Winds

Winter Winds is the first collection of patterns by SK Kozinski.  It is $16 and contains 7 patterns: 3 scarfs and 4 shawls. This would make a great stocking stuffer for that special knitter in your life.

My favorites include:  

Fleur De Lis

 Fleur De Lis is one of SK's first patterns she designed.  A simple yet elegant lace pattern will dress up any outfit!

Sweet Embrace

Sweet Embrace is my favorite of this collection.  It is a scarf based off of Estonian knitting. Its one that I will have to knit one day!

Longing for Robins Return

Longing for Robins Return is a sweet shawlette that can be knit in any color you choose.  It can easily be wrapped around the head for a makeshift hat or used as a scarf.  An elegant design.