Wedding!

I can't help smiling all the time. Everything is wonderful. After months of planning and stress, Eric and I were married. It was a cold fall day on Sunday, October 11. There had been forecasts of rain and even snow at one point, but despite the clouds and overcast, it was a relatively nice day. I don't get into the details of all the worries beforehand, but in the end, all that matters, is that Eric and I were married, and everything worked out.
No, more than worked out. It was wonderful! And fun! And just awesome!! It felt SOOO good having my family and friends come out. On the day of my bachelorette party, I met up with Eve anbd Naomi downtown, and it had been sooo long since I had seen them, and they were so beautiful and fun and happy! They made me feel sooo loved and excited. It really was the great start to a great weekend. Naomi has been going through her own heartaches, and yet there she was with the biggest grin and so many fun things planned. It really showed just how great of a friend she is. And I felt so blessed. So blessed to have these people in my life who care about me. I just can't express how happy I am and how grateful I am to be alive and to have my family and friends, both near and far...

We had so much fun!! It was an excellent girls night out!! My mom and Eric's mom and his aunts were sooo funny and it was great having such a mix of ages and that everyone was up for a good time! The next day we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner where everyone met up, some for the first time. I knew my dad and Eric's dad would get along, and it was so great to see the two men chat it up and for families to get along so well.

And then it was Sunday. Wedding day. I was not nervous at all, amazingly enough. I was calm all day. I think I stressed out enough beforehand that when I woke up that morning, after sleeping rather well, I felt great. I had brief moments where I'd get excited or anxious, but it would last a second and pass before I could say, boo. And everything went so well, that even the minor snafus like a car alarm or roses that were stuck, are hardly worth mentioning. I felt like I was on air all day, but not so much that I don't remember anything. I remember it all!! People told me, "Don't forget to savor each moment because it will all happen so fast you'll hardly remember it." And I suppose I did savor it because all the happy memories are clear.



It's been a week, and it's been glorious. Wisconsin was glorious. Gorgeous fall colors and perfect crisp weather, and plenty of romantic moments with my new husband.


(And do you like the new hat I made? I plan on writing up a pattern for it)

Do all brides feel this happy? I hope so, because it feels great.

Wedding Cake

It's done!!

This wedding cake will sit on the cake table next to our real cake. It uses the same colors as our wedding colors, and the dolls are supposed to be Eric and I. Cute, huh?
Something we will keep and treasure throughout our marriage.



Pattern by Alan Dart
I used various yarns I had in my stash.

Hey there, remember me?

Life has been busy the last few months. My wedding is two weeks away and I'm almost ready with the planning. It's been stressful, but I'm really looking forward to the Big Day! :D

We've reached a crisis point at work, and the future is unknown, but I'm going to try and stop worrying about it and focus on the happy days ahead.

I finished a project!!


Bernhardt by Alison Green Will
Yarn: Alpaca With a Twist, Baby Twist Jumbo (2 skeins)
I used up every last inch, trying not to bust into the third skein. I even unraveled my swatch to avoid having to wind up the third. I don't know why, I just hated the idea of having to wind the huge hank just for a couple yards.

Feels super soft and warm, and I can tell this will be a great everyday cardigan. I wore it out to the Hunting and Fishing Days festival in Yorkville.


I would not want to run into this bear in the woods! Those claws would snag my sweater!

St. Brigid Done! Sort of.

I finished the collar today. I did a grafted bind off with a 1x1 rib, which yields a very stretchy neck edge (good for pulling over the head), and looks clean. The normal bind off with a rib can look so sloppy and is not good when one wants some stretch. This one looks very much like a tubular cast on, and like a sweater edge found on store bought sweaters.

It's done by using two needles ( I used two circulars) and carefully slipping the knit stitches onto one needle and the purls on the other, alternating back and forth. When you're done, your needles will be side by side and if you look at the front and back, it will look like knit stitches are on both, which is essentially what you have when doing grafting normally. There should be an equal number of stitches on both sides. Then you just graft or kitchener stitch as normal, being careful not to do it too tightly.

I wish I had taken pictures of it while I was doing it, but anyway, here's a finished pic.


And here's the final sweater with crappy pictures.

Pattern: St. Brigid by Alice Starmore
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Flame (8 skeins)

I knit the pattern as written with only a couple of modifications: I shortened the length by omitting one chart repeat of the main cable section, and added the braided cuff (the sleeves would be way too short without it!), which I knit first and then picked up the sleeve stitches. Better planning would have had me do the same to add a braided edge on the bottom edge of the front and back. I had started to add the braid afterwards by knitting it on, but when adding a knitted-on-border, since the purl row is in between the knitted row where the sweater edge stitch is knit together with the border stitch, that adds extra rows, about twice as many as just knitting the border and sewing it on, and therefore causes the border to flare out. Not something I wanted with this sweater. I hope I eventually knit the border and sew it on, but I really want to move onto other projects for now.....

Last Night was Pretty Miserable.

It started out well. I went to my future in-laws for dinner. They wanted to take me out for my birthday and had not gotten around it yet. EB's mom had gifts for me, which was very sweet. I got new workout clothes and water bottle, a shoulder bag, and best of all, a framed set of three of my engagement photos.
Dinner was great too. Casual and fun with good food. Of course, the weather was getting worse, so we called it a night and headed home, trying to beat the rain and thunderstorms, but still excited by the lightning.
At home, we found the power was out. It had been out earlier that day but had come on again before we left for dinner. We don't know how long it had been out this time. We lit candles, I tried to knit by booklight, and EB played games on his cell phone. In the end, we called it an early night, blew out the candles, and went to sleep, miserable with the humid heat and no air conditioning.
It was hard to sleep with all the emergency vehicles going all night. It seemed every half hour there was an accident or emergency somewhere. I kept waking up, wondering, "what now!?"
Hours later, about 3am, we were awakened by all the smoke detectors going off. We have one of them that says, "Fire Fire!" It was difficult to turn them off, especially in the dark, and the deafening noise and we ended up ripping two of them out. There's no apparent reason they went off. We probably woke all the neighbors, and scared them too since they were all going crazy, and for so long. They are battery powered so I don't know if it has anything to do with the power going out. The candles had been blown out hours before, and any lingering smoke would have triggered them much sooner. I checked them anyway but found no embers. We didn't smell any smoke either.
Back to bed we went. Again woken up by the last attached smoke alarm, but it's just the single obnoxious periodic beep that means, "please replace my battery."

At least the power's back on.

Pom Pom Flowers

I found a tutorial on how to make these super cute pom pom flowers. I found it on whip up. I check whip up almost daily on fun and cute little things to make, but rarely have I made anything on there. But these seemed fast enough, and a great way to use up some leftover yarn, so I decided to try it.
I found some twigs in the grass outside and searched through my stash for suitable yarn. I have plenty of scraps, but much of it is in colors I did not think would match well with my house, or was in colors I thought would not be attractive as "flowers." Unfortunately, the colors I did like, I only had enough to make one flower each. That's not true for the green; I have quite a bit of it, and that made me think I wanted to keep much of it around in case I wanted to do a larger project with it. That is also true for the nice sock yarn I have leftover.
I'd love to make more of the white ones though. A whole mini bouquet of that would be super sweet!!
I used the cardboard method, since I had some lying around from the package my new book came in today!
I also could not find my hot glue gun, so I used regular white glue. I was afraid it would not hold up, but I dabbed it on the pom pom, stuck the twig in and while holding it upside down, twisted and dug that stick in there. It held well enough to turn the flower right side up and place in the vase right away!
It's not a real vase. That's actually a bulb sprout-er, but I did not have any small bud vases. Need to get me some of those if I plan on making more of these.

Cute!

Summer Break

The summer started wonderfully. Last day of school on Tuesday. After school party with teacher friends.

An evening with Ysolda Teague!!

I was so thrilled to meet her. I love her patterns. I love her. I think she's just darling, and ever more darling in person.

I got to sit with her and knit and chat. She was very friendly.

Then yesterday was my first full day of summer vacation, and it was my birthday! Woo-hoo! The big 31. Officially in my 30s now, I'd say. By now, I had thought I'd be already married with children. Eh, that's how life works isn't it? Never according to plan. I will be married by the end of the year, however. And to a wonderful man. EB really is great, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him. Everyday, I look at him and thank the goddesses that I get to love someone so special, and that he loves me. Okay, enough of the mushy stuff....

I spent the day home alone, which is something I don't get to do often, but much appreciate. I worked out, knit while listening to MY music (not EB's ;) went for a walk, oh, and organized my stash! I had bought a lot of yarn the other weekend at The Fold. It was a knitting field trip with my SnB friends. A great place! Sort of like Mecca for Knitters in Chicagoland. She has sheep on the property, which would include lambs at this time of year. But stupid me, I forgot my camera. I actually didn't see any sheep though, but then again, I wasn't really looking because I could not wait to get to the yarn!

If you've been to a really nice yarn shop with lots of selection and pretty colorful displays, then you can imagine the Fold. But the spinning stuff was extra special. Lots of wheels and spindles on display, antique stuff, and bags and bags of fiber! I had to stuff my hand in the lovely soft cashmere and silk and quivet and blends of the three. Lovely.

So anyway, I didn't have anywhere to put my purchases. Reorganize! I also took photos of yarn in my stash that I never got around to putting on Ravelry. Forgot even some of the stuff I had! But then again, I've been on a yarn buying diet for the wedding. I binged and splurged at The Fold, so back on the diet I go......

I did get this:


And with it I'm going to make this

And I bought this:

Bought some in black too.

To make this for EB

I also got some lovely alpaca lace for shawls I have in my queue.

I've also made some progress on my wedding shawl. I'm on the border now, and I thought it would take forever, but it's moving along rather quickly.



Eb bought me lace blocking wire and blocking boards for when I block this sucker. I can't wait!!

Working on the sleeves for St. Brigid too, but forgot to take a picture. I may just finish both by the end of June!!