Category: maroon sweater

San Diego

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A bit of catch up blogging here-

We went to San Diego over Labor Day weekend for my cousin Shailu’s wedding! The wedding was a blast and the kids (and I) had a lot of fun getting all dressed up.  I tell you, the girl enjoys getting all fancied up a bit too much, if you ask me.  Must take after her dad.

In many Indian weddings, the groom arrives on a horse and they bring with them one of the young cousins. Now, the boy was supposed to be the one to ride on in with the groom, but on the day of he was a bit tired and grumpy (and honestly, I think a bit scared of the horse). We turned to the girl, who looked at the horse and said in hushed tones, “It’s just like a princess horse!” and promptly clambered on top and proceeded to have a grand time. The girl was in awe of the bride, who was unbelievably beautiful, and I’m pretty sure she thinks that she saw a true princess.

It was also the first time for me to see many of my relatives from around the country and even India since MY wedding, and obviously the first time for them to meet my kids, which was fun.  Now, cousins, all of YOU people need to start having kids so MY kids have someone to play with at the next batch of weddings, k? Also, I’m just looking at this picture now.  I’m so glad my daughter is so respectful.

The big highlight for the kids, though, was the beach. Denver is sadly beach and wave deficient, so most moments we weren’t attending the wedding, we were getting sandy

and sandier

I took the kids to see my alma mater, UCSD, and while they were duly unimpressed, it was a shock to me to see my children running around my old undergrad campus. Also, in the 14 (!!) years since I’ve been there, it had changed so much that I hardly recognized it, which was good because it tempered my nostalgia.

Of course, no trip would be complete without a trip to the Zoo, where the kids met face to face with some of their own kind

That is such an incredible place-I love going to see all the animals. Koalas! They have koalas! And pandas too, which really were more like fluffy black and white tree ornaments the day we saw them.  And so many monkeys in fun habitats that were swinging all over the place and teasing each other.  The hippo exhibit is so cool-you can get so close to them.

Who would think that this vicious creature is responsible for more deaths than lions and leopards combined?

And we of course made it to Legoland, which is a nice little amusement park for kids under about 9 in terms of rides.  Mine and the boy’s favorite part, though, was the Star Wars scenes recreations in 1:20 scale.

The thing that was the most amazing was that as far as I could tell, there weren’t any specialty shaped pieces used to make any of the models! They’re all made out of standard bricks! How cool is that! I took a bunch of pictures of these but I’ll spare you the geekiness unless you want to see them.  We spent almost an hour just looking at these. Okay, okay, I’ll post one more:

Overall, the trip was so much fun-we’ve got another big family wedding in November and are really looking forward to it. I hope they can manage to bring the beach to Sugarland, Texas, too, because then it would be just perfect.

Cozy Warm Sweater and Cowl

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For the last few weeks here the weather has been over 80 degrees, but for the last two days it’s been gray, cool and rainy with those sudden flash thunderstorms that characterize April and May in Denver.

I’m grateful that the weather changed just as I finished my latest projects, otherwise I felt sweaty just looking at them.

First of all, can I just say how gorgeous my daughter is? I try not to go on and on about it and make sure that I tell her that she’s smart and capable and all that, since so often all girls get are comments on their physical appearance, but I just can’t help myself here.

First up: Purply Cowl for my sister.

Pattern: Gaptastic Cowl by Jen Geigly

Yarn: Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky, 3 skeins

This is a great, simple and fast pattern to knit up and I love it for its versatility.  You can wear it looped once, as above.  (Note: my sister is just a bit taller than my daughter, so the scarf should come up to her knees at least.)

Or twice:

Or for those really chilly times, even thrice. You could even wrap it over your head and still have plenty of scarf left over.

The yarn is supersoft and feels good on the neck but is a bit foofy and if it gets too close to your nose, it tickles. Be forewarned, Sapana. Not much else for details-I used slightly smaller needles than called for in the pattern as the yarn is a bit smaller, otherwise just kept knitting until yarn ran out.

Next up: Finished sweater!

Pattern: Iced by Carol Feller

Yarn Cascade 220 Chunky, 8 skeins

This was tough for a few reasons-first, I was making a fitted object for someone who was not here and was over the age of 3, when that stuff starts to matter.  I hope it fits! Second, the recipient asked for thumb holes and that took me a few tries to figure out, but I liked the challenge of it.  (tip: put sweater on and note where thumbs actually are before creating, unless knitting for an alien species.) Third, when I made this sweater before, I wanted a deeper collar so I changed that here, and that I just sort of figured it out as I went along.  Was still a fun knit and I like how it looks.

I particularly like the buttons I found:

I’m not sure what’s going to be next–people keep doing all sorts of things like getting married or having babies, so there seems to be an endless stream of people to knit for!

Sweater and Cowl

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I have been slowly working on a few pieces, even though nothing’s been blogged. It’s sort of an old joke now–if you do something and don’t broadcast it online, did it really happen?

Here’s a sweater for my friend Judy that I told her I would knit…oh…18 months ago. It’s just about done–I only need to add buttons. This is a picture from a mid stage where I put it on scrap yarn to see if the collar was big enough. If it looks familiar, it’s because it’s the same sweater I knit for myself near 2 years ago.

And I’m working on a cowl for my sister, which is a fast knit and should be done soon. These are famous last words in the knitting world, and now that garden season is starting up I’m sure it’ll be ready for her in time for December. Of 2013.