Long Time, No See

Well, here I am again. And it's about time!

I really have no excuse other than I had problems remembering my password and it took awhile to figure out how to get it reset.

And, since the beginning of the year, I've been playing an online game called Runescape. If you play the same game, send me an in-game message. I'm Purpleflwr.

Knitting wise, I started the Cape Cod by Alice Starmore in JaggerSpun Maine Line 2/8 in the color mulberry. I'll soon be posting pictures of what I've done so far. If you're on Ravelry, you can get details here. I made this sweater a few years ago but it got ruined in the wash (don't ask - I shudder to even think of it) and really enjoyed the knitting. I'm enjoying it the second time around, too.

December

It's been quite a while since I've posted. It's been a busy month.

My birthday was quiet. We had cake at work (we do that for everyone in our group). It was delicious - choclate with raspberry mousse filling. Then Tom and I went out to Tuscan's Grill. I had prime rib - my fave.

Christmas was great. We spent Christmas eve at Tom's brother's house. Had a nice time there. We went to my parents' on Christmas day. It comes and goes so quickly.

Tomorrow is Tom's birthday. We're going to Aromi d'Italia with his youngest son. On New Year's Eve, we going to Tosca Grille.

On New Year's Day, we're going on a diet. lol

Secret Pal 11 - Reveal

I received a wonderful reveal package from my secret pal this week. I won't mention her name here to protect her privacy but her blog is titled Needleplay. I look forward to getting to know her. She has been a fabulous secret pal and has not only been very generous in but has also been spot on about what she has sent me. This package included a beautiful picture frame, a great bag that fits my current project perfectly, some very nice body butter (this stuff works really well - I've been using it every day), a skein of cashmere and silk fingering-weight yarn (that she dyed herself) and a skein of mohair and wool yarn from Fiesta Yarns. Both skeins are fabulous! They are very soft and I love the colors. I'm very impressed her talent in the dyeing of the fingering yarn. Very beautiful. The picture does not do it justice. Thank you so much, secret pal!

Cats!

We started letting Molly have the run of the house on Monday. Fritze, who is 18yo, is not very happy about this. She hisses and growls at Molly any time she comes near. This is to be expected but is very stressful. Hopefully, they'll start getting along better soon. We shut Molly up in her room at night and when we're not home.

Molly is a real sweetie and is a lot of fun. She is very playful and loves to cuddle. It's been a long time since I've had a young cat around. Molly will chase her toy around and throw it up in the air and then catches it. She is very curious and has to investigate everything. It is fun just to watch her.

In loving memory

Tasha passed on November 2, 2007. She will be missed very much.

Meet Molly

I adopted a cat from our local shelter last night. I've named her Molly. She's very friendly and I think she'll get along with my other cats. She's confined to our extra room for 2 weeks so that she's won't pass along any diseases to the other 2. I'm want to be careful about this since they are 13 and 18. I'll spend as much time as I can with her. Isn't she a pretty kitty?

Socks are Finished!

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Originally uploaded by kimknits126

I finished Tom's socks last night! The ribbing was endless. But I was driven to finish these so I could start something else!

Icelandic Lace Shawl is finished!

Here are some pictures of the Icelandic lace shawl. I like the way it came out. I used a different border than the pattern called for. When I bought the yarn for this shawl, I think I doubled the amounts. I think I have enough yarn for 2 more shawls.

We went to the Norman Rockwell Museum yesterday. The museum is in Stockbridge, MA - about an hour from our house. It was a great day for a drive. The leaves on the trees were beautiful. I've been to the museum twice before. Because there is so much detail in the paintings and he did about 4000 paintings, there is always something new to see.

Afterwards, we went looking in Stockbridge for something to eat. Everywhere we looked, the restaurant was either closed, or in one case - the Red Lion Inn, too expensive. So we came back to Albany and went to Old Chicago. It opened just a few weeks ago so it was really crowded. We had to wait an hour for a table so we had a couple of beers in the bar. The food was really good and the staff was very friendly. I think we'll be going there often.

Progress made on shawl

I'm almost done with the Iceland Lace Shawl. Just a few rows left on the top border. I'll post a pic soon.

We had a great time at Waffles and Puppets. We went with my sister and my niece. I got to hang out with my niece for a while. She's six and she is a joy to talk to. People brought their dogs to the event so we talked about every dog that went by.

There was a guy with some alpacas there. He had a bunch of alpaca items for sale, including some yarn at a great price. I picked up 3 skeins of a light purple worsted.

I saw The Jane Austen Book Club last night. I really enjoyed it. It's a romantic comedy (my favorite genre) and I think that it can be enjoyed even if you haven't read any Jane Austen. The movie is pretty true to the book. I listened to the book last fall when I was going to a Jane Austen book club at my library. I had last read Jane Austen when I was in my teens and twenties. I found it interesting that I got something different out of them as an adult.

Beer Labels

We bottled the Scotch Ale today - 48 bottles. The label is above (Hieland Laddie). The other label is from the brown ale we bottled last month.

We didn't go to the Saratoga Farm tour as I wasn't feeling well. I'm still coughing like crazy. I didn't mind missing the tour as we will be going to the Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck in a couple of weeks (10/20). Next weekend, we're going to the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown for the Waffles and Puppets event.

I've been working on the Icelandic Lace shawl in Knit Picks' Palette. I'm about half-way through. I'm enjoying the knitting. I like patterns that I can easily memorize so I can just knit away while I'm watching TV. When this is done, I have a couple of almost finished shawls that I think I'm ready to finish (for example, capelet from Victoria Knitting Today and Oregeon Shawl by Joan Schrouder).