OMG - I'm going to be 40!!!!

So tomorrow is the big day. Yep, I'm turning 40! I can't believe it. 40 seems so adult, and really if you talk to many people who know me, I am not that mature. No, really - My reading is "chick lit", my favorite type of humor is potty humor (a good gas joke gets me every time) and I'd rather spend my days playing with my toys. The toys these days are knitting and needlepoint, but they are the same things that I was playing with when I was 12. Fortunately for me there are a lot of other people playing with yarn and needles and I'm not the only one any more! (by the way, you did read that right, I have been cheating on my knitting a little bit with needlepoint, but I'm having fun, and that is the point. I think I needed a mental break from knitting for a little bit.)
Yes, there is a big celebration planned. Tomorrow, my birthday, my sisters, mother and I are going to have a "spa day," and lunch in downtown Boston, and then tomorrow night I am having a PARTY. I am so excited. My parents, sisters and their husbands will be there. My cousins and in-laws are coming. Friends from college and grad school, co-workers, fellow knitters and parents of my daughters' friends will also be there I am so excited. So today I bought wine, beer and stuff to make coffee drinks and all of those great appetizers that you love to eat at parties and never eat anywhere else.
So wherever you are, enjoy Feb. 23rd. I think everyone should be happy on my birthday!

Love,
P2K

Va-ca-tion

Why is it that whenever I think of vacation I can't get the Go-Go's out of my mind? Perhaps because their song just states how I feel at this moment, "Va-ca-tion, all I ever wanted. Vacation, have to get away...." It just doesn't get better than that.

Yep, here comes one of the perks of being a teacher in Massachusetts - February vacation!!!! I just ordered my tea from Upton Teas (I HIGHLY recommend them) , now I'm going to plan my knitting - and I am going to relax for a week.

Ding Dong, I'm dead!!!

As predicted, I did not last long in the "Hat Attack."
At 2:30 today, my husband and I had just sat down to lunch and the doorbell rang. "Who's that?" he asked. "I bet it's my hat - I'm dead." With that I ran upstairs to throw on some clothes, because I did not want to die in my nightgown. (Hey, I had been knitting and cleaning all morning, and the kids were with my mother-in-law, so yes, I was still undressed!) I was right, it was Ana of How to wash a shower curtain. I have to give credit to my dog, who tried her best to kill Ana with kindness before I received the hat. Here is my daughter modeling the very cute instrument of death.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to photograph the hat that I was working on. However, I do feel better that there is a reason that I didn't get to finish that project!
I have to say, that besides being "alive" in the contest for only about 29 hours, I had a really good time. I got to meet another great knitter, who is also a fabulous cartoonist, and had a great time fretting about our impending doom with my friend who also was assassinated in person around the same time today. It is amazing how much being a part of the knitting community is enriching my life. So though I am "dead," I feel incredibly lucky.

P2K

I know you haven't heard from me in a while but .............

The contest begins tomorrow. I have to admit, I am feeling the butterflies. The person that I'm making a hat for lives in Nevada, and the person who is assigned to assassinate me lives 15 minutes away! (The person knitting for her lives in N.C.) Needless to say, I believe I will be "dead" on Monday! (If not sooner!) Oh well.
So you may be wondering why I haven't blogged in a while. It seems to be symbolic of my life right now. I haven't been "producing" much. The vest that I talked about in the last post is in the same condition it was in, and then I have been "working" on knits from my Rockin' Sock Club, and the Webs skein of the month club. For the socks, I have started them about 6 times. The last time I got to the part where you turn the heal, and then I decided that I really should make the small size. For the Webs yarn, the pattern was really difficult to start (for me, at least) and that took me two nights to do.
I will berate myself, to my husband, about my lack of drive to finish my projects and he just says that it is a hobby, and I should be enjoying myself. He does have a point - but boy, what an enabler he is! Am I a lucky girl, or what?!!!

Happy knitting,
P2K

Avoidance

A defense mechanism is something that we use to protect ourselves from anything that we believe (unconsciously, of course) will hurt our egos. Well I believe that I have been using the defense mechanism, Avoidance. For the past couple of weeks I have avoiding finishing this vest. I decide that I want to read, or have to clean or am too tired, or can't find the directions. It is weird, because I usually knit two or three hours every night, and lately I've hardly been knitting at all.
I realized I was doing this, because sometimes finishing is tough because when you start a project you think it is going to be fabulous, and then once you have really gotten to know the project, and spent so much time with it - like any relationship, you see the flaws. However, if the project is never finished, you never have to show those flaws to the public. That perfect piece that everyone wants to see is "not quite ready yet."
So I decided to finish this vest and I did, but then the right shoulder looked awful - it poked out like I had kept in on a hanger. I tried re-blocking, sewing stitches together and then just realized that I had not spaced my picked up stitches well, and tore the arm band out.
I'll finish this vest soon - but not tonight, I think I going to organize my stash!

All the best,
P2K

Central Park Hoodie

This is a swatch. People who know me, know that I am not the most patient of people, so swatching is not something I regularly do. I know that it is a GOOD thing to do, but I always want to jump right into the project. But I have been listen to a bunch of podcasts that all recommend swatching (as if the Bold recommendation in patterns is not enough) and while I was in the Dominican Republic I finally felt like I had the time to do this. As you can tell, I feel very pleased with myself. Swatches take time. This one is 30 stitches by 30 rows, and took me about 2 hours to do. I am glad that I did that though.
The yarn is Cascade's Quatro - which I am totally loving. But I get 5 stitches to the inch, and the CPH has a gauge of 17 sts for 4 inches. Luckily the pattern is written for the amount of sts that I need to get my size.
I'm loving the pattern, and the yarn. The yardage (220 yds) is amazing. I am almost done with my first skein, and there is 4 inches of ribbing on this thing.
We're bracing ourselves for a snow storm around these parts - can I just say, the grocery store was CRAZY today.

Stay warm.
P2K

Happy New Year!

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. We were away for the holidays, and life is just beginning to get back to normal. My parents, sisters and their families and us, all went down to Punta Cana Dominican Republic, for a wonderfully, warm and relaxing week in the sun. It was really nice. It is so rare that you have time to just hang out with your family let alone parents and sisters, so this was just great. My kids got to play with their cousin, and I got to go for a week without making dinner or cleaning!
I got some good knitting time, got to watch the Pats go 16-0 and got to catch up on my silly reading. Totally a great thing.

I'll write more knitting news next time.

Happy New Year.
P2K