May Madness

So it's the beginning of May already. It's finally getting warm outside, people are having bbq's and the sun is out longer. It's also the start of the new semester of the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup on Ravelry.

I decided I wanted to participate this term, so I got sorted into Ravenclaw and signed up for 2 classes this month. The first, Defense of the Dark Arts, we have to find a pattern we like on a person from another house's queue. I have been wanting to knit another Citron shawl to give to my mother for Mother's Day. I found someone who had it in their queue and cast on. My mom loves the pattern, she just asked if I could make it a few sections longer so it's more of a shawl rather than a shawlette. I'm knitting it out of Malabrigo Lace and OMG it's so soft. This is the first time I am knitting with Malabrigo and I can see that it will quickly become my favorite yarn to work with. When I first started knitting, I had a preconception that all wool yarn was rough and scratchy. Now here I am a little over 5 years later and my choice yarn to work with is wool. I haven't really found many wool yarns that are scratchy, except maybe Noro.

The second class I am taking is Charms. For that, we have to knit either a bird, rabbit or dragon. I will be knitting a toy bunny since it's something I can get done easily in a day or two. I figure with the extra sections on the Citron, I needed something that wouldn't take long to get done for the other class.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom & aunt. My aunt had fallen when they were on vacation in Florida last week and sprained her ankle. We took her to the emergicenter yesterday to confirm that it is indeed a sprain. Afterwards we hung out at my mom's, had dinner and watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic". While I was there I got 1 1/2 sections of the shawl done.

This afternoon, my knitting pal, Milly picked me up. We went to Wegman's to get food for the afternoon. We had bruchetta, baguette's, prosciutto, grapes and sharp cheddar cheese. Later on she grilled up some steaks and veggies and then we had some bangin' Ultimate White Cake for dessert. Of course I had my shawl with me and got another section done. Now that the sections are getting longer, I am hoping to be able to have it completed, washed & blocked by next Sunday for Mother's Day. Let's see if I can manage to make that work.

In Bloom

With spring here, I decided to make a new blog. I have never really been good at introductions, I am normally the girl who sits in the corner and just observes, so let’s see how this blog thing plays out.

I am a thirty-something year old woman, not married (well sort of), no children. I work full time for an insurance company. It’s tedious work but I have some amazing co-workers so it makes the job manageable. Outside of work, I am on the anti-social side. I would much rather stay home with my DVR and my knitting. I do go out once in awhile, but I am not into the whole bar scene and most of my friends are married with children, so it’s hard to work around their schedules.

I have been knitting for 5 1/2 years. I started after my oldest brother passed away. I needed something to focus on so I wouldn’t have to deal with his death 24/7. Next thing I knew, knitting took over my soul. I take it everywhere I go. I knit on my lunch hour, my breaks, at people’s houses. Mainly I knit hats and toys, but recently started working on the February Lady Sweater. I have one more sleeve to go and then it’s just the weaving in ends and blocking before it’s complete. Unfortunately I have no pictures of it right now since I misplaced my camera cord, but once I find it I will show the sweater off.