The Igloo and the Vest

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jarett. He wanted to make an Igloo. So his dad said, "Okay, let's do it!"




Once there was a girl who entered the Ravolympics. She completed her scarf and took on a second project. The Plymouth Vest!! Taa Daa!! Can you say, "All done!"

Knitting again with the snow!!

I'm not even going to mention the snow again - I'm so tired of it!!! However, one little plug - I submitted Bryan and Jarett's Igloo picture to channel 6 and they posted it: (I hope the link works)

http://6abc.mycapture.com/mycapture/photos/FImage.aspx?ImageID=781594&EventID=679307&CategoryID=52305&CollectionID=0&Sort=


So, I'm getting more knitting done on the vest - it should be done by tomorrow, if not tonight. I got a knitting surprise in the mail!! My kit-of-the-month club (which is really kit of the every six-eight weeks) sent the newest kit - Monkey Dolls!!! How cute are they?? Jarett wants the blue one, of course!



Then I also got the newest book (all this is from Annie's Attic Hook and Needle club) to review and decide if I want to keep:

There's a gorgeous Entrelac sweater that would be perfect for my friend Colleen - she is the Queen of Entrelac and could probably whip this baby out in a few weeks!!



Next, is a pretty lace tunic top:


I am in love with the Cowl and Hat and Mitts:



How cute are they? I think this book is a keeper!!

Then, to my utter enjoyment, my roving came from Rose!! Check out her website - it's awesome. She runs an Alpaca Farm in NJ and will soon be opening a "brick and mortar" store. Until then, it's online:

http://store.almapark.com/suri-alpaca--superwash-merino-blends.html

I got the colorway Baltic:



Isn't it pretty? I can't wait to see how it spins up!

Here we go again!

Another snow day - can you believe it? Philly schools never closed and the suburbs always did. Now it's the opposite - Bryan and the boys had school and I was off... The snow is gorgeous though. Here's a couple of views:








It is so pretty. I can't wait until it goes away though - I'm sick of it!! We lost part of Spring Break and they added days onto the end of the year. June is useless - I can't even understand why they have us go so late. The kids are tired and sweaty and grades are usually in a good two weeks before school ends. It's a joke and with no air conditioning it's brutal!

The good news is, I got more knitting done. Here is the left front of the vest:


And I started the Right side:


Almost done - second Ravolympics project and hopefully enough yardage to beat the Beauford team!!! Come on Langhorne Knitters!! Woo Hoo!!!

Tuesday Knit Night

It's knit night!! I can't wait to see all the lovely items my group has done for the Ravolympics! I finished the back of the vest and am on the front.





The pressure it on - less than a week to finish up our items!! Then we tally up our yardage and hopefully we beat the Beauford team and win the competition!! Woo Hoo!!

Bandit would still prefer to play with his toys....

Busy Sunday

Jarett spent his morning preparing for the Purim Carnival - his booth is "Splash Haman." He'll get soaked and love it!! The carnival is next Sunday - he'll have a ball! While he was there I took Matt to get his hair cut - it's much shorter. Still long, but shorter than it was. He looks good - such a cutie pie!

When we got home from Hebrew School, we ran Matt over to Parkwood for his Team Action practice. Usually it's in Conchehocken. I don't know why it got changed last minute, but we were thrilled - much easier to get to!! Then we went to lunch (or they did and I had a water and some gluten free crackers I brought) and came home. Bryan and Jarett worked some more on their Igloo - but - the warmer temps brought a sad end.... it caved in... they're going to try to fix it if it gets colder and we get more snow...

Then off to Demo practice! We invited two girls to join us - they're sisters. They did fabulous so I sent them an e-mail to officially offer them a position on the team. The home and dinner. Bryan and Matt had already eaten so Jarett and I had eggs and cheesy garlic mashed potatoes. They came out pretty good! Now we're watching the olympics and I am going to knit some more of the vest for Ravolympics!!

Bandit isn't thrilled....

Enjoyable Saturday

I love lazy weekends! Sleep in late and then get to hang out - how perfect! We visited a couple of hotels in the late morning to start getting prices for Jarett's Bar Mitzvah. It's so weird - it's more than two years away but you gotta get moving on bookings! We're having the same DJ so that's easy - especially since he works with Bryan - we didn't have to go anywhere! He looked up the date, he's free, he e-mailed us the contract and Bryan will take it into work on Monday. Couldn't be easier! Now to decide if we have a luncheon or dinner... that will be a hard decision to make...

After hotel shopping, we came home and had lunch. Then Bryan and Jarett decided to build an Igloo - here's their progress so far:
dig, dig, dig then....



pile on the packed snow...


shmoosh it on good!!

then smile for the camera!!! They still have a while to go but it's coming along nicely!

Bandit, on the other hand was too cold to stay out - he'd rather lay on his pillows and play with a toy!!

It's Friday!!

The weekend is here and where am I off to? Karate - where else??!! Open mat night and the other coach decided we should teach the kids a new part on Sunday so now we need to go work on it. Just enough time to blog about it and grab a quick bite.

I got a new student today from Haiti! She was very cute and very sweet. She was crying walking in but fortunately we new she was coming so I had the kids make her welcome cards. Her face lit up when she saw them and she gave a big grin. She had her first experience with a computer - how unbelievable is that?! The kids were so kind to her - I was very proud of them and no one asked about the earthquake - thank goodness! We'll see if they are the same on Monday!

I got my medal from the Ravolympics - isn't it great?

Bonus that it's a Boston Terrier!! Maybe I should make Bandit a hat...

Long day, no knitting

I didn't get to work on my Ravolympics project at all last night and now tonight I might be able to squeeze in about an hour.... karate promotion was great but we were there longer than I thought and then I was on the phone with a parent for half an hour after we got home! Long story and I won't blog about it....

I'm trying to find a sync kata for Jarett and Jenna to do but couldn't find anything on u-tube... I guess we'll have to find music and make our own. Would've been easier if there was something already done that we could have used. Oh well...

Knitting away!

Last night was Knit Night - we showed off our projects and had some very serious knitting time - not a whole lot of chit chat as we were all busy working away trying to build up our yardage for the Ravolympics... I have about 7 or 8 inches done on the back of my vest... I have to get to twelve. Tonight is the make-up of Promotion Night from last week so we will be there. I'm so tired though - I don't know if I'll knit when we get home or just crash... I had such a hard time getting up today. My hair is in a pony tail because I didn't wash it!! Maybe it's the shock of being back at work all day? Who knows, I'm just beat!!

So, my newest dilemma is what kind of cell phone should I get. I have T-Mobile so I went on line today and looked at some. I'm leaning towards the Motorolla Cliq. It seems like it has everything I want... I'll have to look into it more.... time to get ready for karate!!

Taa Daa!!! Finished!!

I finished my scarf!! How awesome is that?! Two days!! Of course, it took the entire two days but who's counting hours?! Here it is unblocked:





Now it's blocking with the stupid Diana Shawl that should have been blocked months ago... that was a pain in the butt and I'll never make another. So, oooh and aaah over this one cause it's the one and only that I'll ever do of that pattern!!




Here's a closer look at Diana - it's pretty, but trust me, that pattern was ridiculous to follow. It took Colleen and me together to figure it out and it literally took us months and who knows how many time ripping (I know I frogged at least eight times) to get it figured out!




Now I'm working on my Athena Vest with my Plymouth Athena Yarn. Here is what I've done so far - looks good, right?!


Since there was no school today, Matt was working at karate camp so he was a happy camper, raking in the bucks!! I had some quiet time to knit - while I was working on the vest, Jarett and Bryan had fun with the keyboard. How cute are they?! Gotta love father-son bonding time!


Then, at about 4:00, my refrigerator came!!! It is so much bigger than the other one! We put the other one in the garage so now I'll have an extra fridge for when I make Passover and Rosh Hashana dinners!! Woo Hoo!! Here's my new fridge - all bright and shiny and it matches my microwave!


The packing tape is still on!! Now of course, it's all undone and my food is back inside - that was the good thing about this snow - I put all my food in a cooler and set it on the deck! No problems at all. Let the fridge get to temp and everything is put away. Now it's time for more knitting on the vest!!

Crochet and a Bar Mitzvah!

I spent the entire day yesterday (well, just about) crocheting my Ravolympics scarf! I've really gotten a lot done - crochet is a TON faster than knitting. Not to rag on knitting, I am a true knitter at heart, but it is amazing how quickly this project is going. I'm hoping to finish it tonight and get moving on my second project. The whole point is that it's a challenge (hence the crochet), but my "challenge" for the next project is using up my Plymouth yarn!!

Here is my scarf as of last night:


One side done! Here is what I have so far today:



We went to Temmie's son's Bar Mitzvah today. It was very nice. Temmie looked gorgeous in purple and wore a beautiful necklace that my neighbor, Arlene, made for her. Sam did a great job and it was an honor to be included in her family's simcha! (Simcha is Yiddush for "joy") She had a brunch buffet and I was thrilled that there was plenty for me to eat - this whole Celiac thing has really put a limit on outside food related activities! I have been very blessed to have such wonderful friends who always take into consideration my inability to eat whatever and they accommodate me whether I ask or not!! Take, for instance, my Knit Night Holiday Party. Quite a few people made gluten free foods - shout out to Lori, Erica, Colleen, Temmie, Barb and Amy!!! It was a party for them, and they thought of me. Same with our Karate friends - Sue's family has been amazing and so has Mary. It's wonderful to have such good and caring people around me!! So, I shall take my blessings and good mood and tune it in to my crochet - wish me luck to get it done tonight!!!!

Ravolympics Day!!!

Ravolympics begins! Of course, at 9pm when I should have been starting, I was getting out of the movies... We took Jarett to see Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. It was good - I have ordered the book set from Scholastics and can't wait to read them all. Jarett's teacher read book one to them so he's been dying to see the movie. So, the three of us had our own Valentine's date - Outback for dinner and a movie! Matt's sleeping over at Mike's and they're going to the movies with their gals tomorrow.

Since I had to change my hair appointment due to the snow changing Promotion Night to next Wednesday, I took advantage of being off today and got my color done. It's copperier. Can you tell in the pic? I took it myself so I'm a little distorted, I think. I hate pics of me anyway, but here's my hair:


After we got home, I sat my butt down and started to chain 383 stitches for the scarf I'm doing. Here's the yarn:


It's actually the yarn I had left from my Clapotis. Very pretty and it has wool in it so it should block nicely. The yarn I was going to use was acrylic and Sherry didn't think it would take to the scarf well. It's thinner and won't really block so I think she'll like this choice better. She'll see it on Tuesday and let me know. Here's my beginning:




And a close up of my double crochet:



Not too badly done!!! I'll see how much more I can do and then I'm off to bed - it's way past my shluffy time!!!

Are you kidding me????

Philly schools are closed again tomorrow!! This is crazy! I remember the days when we never closed and we used to joke that the only way Cnnie Clayton would close schools is if it reached her Penthouse window... Now we are closed at the slightest drops... Yes, we did have major snow falls but four out of five days this week closed?? Come on! Even the burbs are opening tomorrow! Well, hopefully I will get a signal in the basement and take Matt's laptop down there and update my Ravelry page. That's the plan - then I have to wait until 9pm to start my Ravolympics project - the crochet scarf!! In the mean time, I am starting a vest that is one of my Plymouth patterns.

Tonight we had Promotion Night at karate. Both teams did an awesome job! Here is my team - the Jr. Demo Team:

I would love to have half their flexibility! They did me proud!!!

More snow days!

This is how I spent my day!!! Very relaxing!!



Here we go again! No school today and no school for tomorrow either!! We haven't heard about the boys' schools but I can't imagine they'll have to go in. It's a crazy white out here! This picture was taken about 1:00 this afternoon - look at how low the trampoline is sagging!





I shoveled a path for Bandit about 45 minutes ago and you can't even see it now. He's hating this - poor thing! The boys spent the day sledding and playing XBox. I, of course, was knitting and finished my Arm Cosies!


Aren't they pretty! Now we are going to chill with our coffee/hot chocolate/french vanilla creamer drink. Not healthy, I know, but awesome in this cold weather!
We were supposed to perform at Promotion for karate tonight. That was canceled and rescheduled for next Wednesday. Tomorrow night's is still up in the air. I'm thinking if school is closed, it will be too....

The lights just flickered!!!! OMG - we better not lose power!!! That will suck big time!!!

Okay - better log off just in case... I'll let you know what happens with karate tomorrow! Be safe out there!!!

We'll be having another snow day tomorrow!

They made the announcement at dismissal time - schools are closed tomorrow!! I'm glad I won't have to drive in it but now I'm worrying about the week between the end of school and camp starting... We wanted to be able to go down the shore for that week, but it looks like it may not be happening.

School was a little crazy today. The kids were very rambunctious with the upcoming snow storm. Adding no recess on top of that made for a lot of stress - I really couldn't give them an inch or they would have been out of control! We did get a lot done - PSSA prep for both reading and math and even showed a short Science Video to review Land and Water. Thank you Bryan for the video! I was able to use my prep time to load the Land and Water animation clips onto the computers for them to use. Check out my delicious.com site to see them.

Now that I'm home, I'm getting messages on Ravelry about people being wary to venture out in this weather. I'd rather everyone stay safe. If you're worried about the start time of the storm, please stay home. I don't want anyone to have be stressed out driving just for a couple of hours of knitting. There's always next week!! I plan on using the time to get organized for the Ravolympics which starts on Friday!!! I'm challenging myself by doing a crochet scarf - here's the link to it:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/luna-lovegood-scarf

It's very pretty and I'm excited to work on my crochet technique which are quite rusty! I've never really followed a crochet pattern other than one for a simple poncho. Sherry, bless her heart, has agreed to help me through this. I have to get it done in two weeks!!! Wish me luck!

I got Jarett to pose with his new gloves that used to be fingerless gloves - doesn't he look cute?
He is very happy with the way they turned out! ;-D

Snow Day?

Well.... not really, but here I am. Home, because school is canceled. I think I've been productive. I've done two loads of laundry and spun some on my wheel. It's not perfect yet - there is still some drag, but at least it's better than before. In case you didn't know, Matt threw a laundry basket down the stairs and it landed right into my wheel. Knocked it over, everything came apart.... I thought I was going to knock him out! So, it's usable, but not perfect. I did take more pictures so I can update my Rav page too. Here is my wheel!








Very pretty, huh?! The yarn that is on there is fleece that I am spinning up from a sheep farm. Someone gave me a trash bag full of newly shorn fleece and I had it washed and then actually carded it myself! Good thing to know that I don't really like that part so I won't be running out to buy my own combs or carder machine!

So, back to the snow... here is pretty pic of my backyard.




We put out our trusty taped together rulers to take measurements. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture at the time, but it was at 15". Here is the ruler now - it's packed down some so it's measuring at 11".


And a close up for you!


Isn't the tape pretty!!! Oh well, it works!

So, now I need to see if I can get the energy up to go through my patterns and match them up with all the Plymouth yarn I have. I'll edit yesterday's post so you can see some of the stash of Plymouth I have. Mind you, it's not all of it!!

Maybe I'll get a snack first...

The pressure of the first blog post!

What do I write about?? The snow we just got and the fact that Philly schools are closed tomorrow? No, that will just annoy me to think of how we will have to make up the day in June... I'll focus on the positive! I can do laundry and get lots of knitting done! Maybe this will be a good time to sort through my patterns and figure out which Plymouth patterns go with what yarn. To say my stash of Plymouth is overflowing is an understatement! I'll have to post pics of that. I was so sad to lose that connection... *sigh*



I spent the morning turning Jarett's fingerless gloves into full gloves. They're done. They look cute. Now I have to get him to pose for a picture of them.




So, blogger wouldn't take the name of just witchyknits. I was going crazy trying to think of something that I would remember and would be cute too. Then I came up with witchyknits4u. Cute, huh?! But then Bryan (he is so smart!) said wait - do EWE!!! Isn't that brilliant? So here I am - Witchyknits4ewe. Blogging. Watching the Super Bowl commercials and... blogging!

The pressure of the first post is done. It's here.