Sunday, January 17, 2010

Been awhile

The holidays were busy (as usual.) I cannot begin to describe how happy I am that they are over. Less than 365 days before I have to do it all over again, unless I decide that holiday dinner will not be at my house in 2010.

On a more fun note, check out BL's new hat:Soft pink, lavender, dark pink, cream. Makes me think of taffy, or frosting, or sorbet. Fluffy, girlie colors. 100%wool, OnLine is the manufacturer, lost the label so no idea what the name of this yarn is, my own pattern, size 10 needles, super quick knit. I think I cast on 60 stitches and it fits my 5 year old perfectly with a little grow room. BL gets to channel her inner Elmer-Fudd with the earflaps up. She's also very pro-pompom. Have I ever mentioned how much I am anti-pompom? Especially when you take the time to make the shaping of the crown of a hat spiral around and close tightly.It's hard to see, but I also have a purl stitches spiralling around the hat to give a little extra interest, especially while knitting it.

Next, please check out my little snowshoer:Yukon Charlie snowshoes...in metallic pink. These will fit her for several years and I love that all the straps are adjustable with big, easy to use with mittens, buckles. I was lucky enough to pick these up at OR last winter. She only got to use them a couple of times last winter and went around our property like a pro yesterday. She loved not sinking into the soft snow like Mama. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some snowshoes for myself this trip to OR.

The sunglasses are by Julbo. Another OR luck-out. I think I just saw them on the LLBean site. These are truly the best kid's sunglasses I've ever encountered. They fit well, actually protect her eyes from UV and bright light, and are pretty flexible (meaning she can't break them as easy as the cheap ones.) I must say, I also love the pair I have from them.

Next is my little figure skater:
BL's 2nd day on the ice this year, and her 2nd day on single blade skates. Day one she used milk crates to help her balance, day two no milk crates in sight. The warming hut (with all the free skate rentals) was unexpected closed, but another family had an extra pair of skates in BL's size we could borrow. Very nice of them and greatly appreciated. The warming hut finally opened and Mama got skates. Yesterday I took a hard fall on my left knee-cap (skating for the first time in over 20 years), the bruise is just starting to show up tonight and the swelling is going down. Got right back on the skates today, but the ice was very rough, bumpy and chopped up due to our January thaw this weekend. I skated very slowly and carefully. Temps have been in the mid-high 30's since Friday, so ice conditions today are pretty bad.

Perfect snowman snow now. I hope to have a snowman in my front yard tomorrow, carrot nose, red scarf and all. BL and Sy are both home from school for Civil Rights Day (that's what they call it in NH.) We're expecting 5-9" of fresh snow tonight that's supposed to be snowman snow also. My yard will finally look clean again!