New Hats!

Baci hat! I ran out of black yarn so decided for finish the top with off white yarn and i kind of like it. I knitted the dog part separate on size 1 needles and sewed it on top after the hat was done. It's a little crazy but makes me really happy!

And here is Baci himself sporting Vince's new hat (it's flipped out).

Snow go away!

We got more snow! No, no more snow, I can't take it! Pretty much the entire month of January (actually since November) we've had snow on the ground, it's ridiculous.
My running has been totally non existent other then last Friday when i got to run 2 "whole" miles cause the temperature got up to 40. The sidewalks were still snow covered and i had to drive to a friend's neighborhood to run on the streets since there's no traffic there. I have no idea how i will be ready for that dang half marathon in March. Yikes!!
So since i can't run i have to knit more, i completed two more hats (one for Vince, one for his Brother-in-Law), one is in progress, and will be starting this next. Wish me luck!

I took this picture last week. How cool that someone spent the time to build this snowman. The sign on it says to stop back, which i will have to do to see how much bigger it gets. It's already ginormous. BTW, the buttons are bricks!
My dog Baci loves the snow and can't wait to go outside to roll around in it (what i like to call making "snow angels"). He's so funny!
But my cat Coopie, wants nothing to do with it and does this:

Baby Blanket!

My good friend is having a baby girl in March and since I found out that she was pregnant i was planning on making her a blanket. Of course I procrastinated and kept on thinking i had so much time until a shower invitation showed up in the mail. One week before the shower I started and had hopes of finishing it but it didn't quite happen. So it was pretty embarrassing when i showed up at the shower with a 3/4 finished blanket, only the G embroidered, still on the circular needles and had to take it back to finish. I finished couple days later and gave it to her. I think she liked. Thank you to Marie from my knitting group for suggesting the dog paw print, my friend and her husband own three large dogs (2 golden retrievers and a husky) so they are huge dog people and it's very appropriate. I can't wait to meet Grace!

Mamma to be with blankie in the baby's room. So cute!!

SnB

Wednesday was 5 year anniversary of my Stitch n' Bitch group. I have only been a member since August of 2008 but i do really enjoy it. It's a great group of women and i have learned so much from them. They are all very talented and make really extraordinary things. Thanks guys!

Knitting Recap

Things, mainly hats, that i made in the past month:
First is this little Debbie Bliss beret which didn't turn out as loose and droopy as the pattern but i still like it and it's really warm.

On the flight back from Florida i was busy making this hat for Vince. This guy next to me kept on looking over at me like i was crazy but by the end of the flight he said that he was impressed with my knitting and surprised that people still do that. Anywho i think it turned out too cute and is perfect for shoveling snow. Apparently those are his colors.
For Christmas my aunt from poland sent me this lovely yarn and last week when i was home sick I decided to make the Falicity hat with it. I added a flower from this pattern to make it a little more fancy. Pretty happy with the result.


Lastly are my two new cases one for my ipod touch and the other for my camera.

Holiday Recap

It's been a while since I've updated the blog so here it goes:

Vince and I went to Florida to spend Christmas with my parents. The weather was perfect around 85 the entire time we were there. Vince got to experience a Polish holiday for the first time, i guess we drink Vodka with breakfast on X-mas morning (somehow i never knew this). Vince was a good sport and somehow downed 2 shots of Belvedere at 9 am. As for me "no thank you" i might be Polish but i definitely can't drink like they do. I guess I should explain what we have for breakfast on Christmas morning which is a lot of cured meats like sausage and ham with breads, horseradish and this special vegetable salad. I don't want anyone to think that we're drinking Vodka with a regular breakfast food like eggs and bacon which would be pretty gross.

After breakfast we headed off to St. Pete Beach. It was absolutely beautiful, the only mistake we made was that we didn't bring our bathing suits cause it was so hot and people were actually swimming. Still there's nothing better then spending Christmas day on the beach. We had the best time walking and collecting shells. As we were walking on the beach a man asked if we wanted him to take a picture of both of us and of course i said yes. As we were talking we found out that he grew up in Akron and lived about a mile from where we live. Pretty freaky, he could have been from anywhere in the world and he was from good old Akron.

Vince was only in Florida for a couple days and after he left on Friday morning I got to go running. It was the first time since I ran the Nike Half Marathon in San Francisco in October. I ran 3 miles in about 82 degree weather, it was great i felt really good, the entire time I though I would have to walk but somehow talked myself into running the entire 3 miles without stopping. It was so great that I ran the same route the next morning. Of course since I've been back in Ohio I haven't ran once and I'm actually sick and can barely breath through my nose. I have to get my butt in gear cause my next half marathon is exactly 2 months away (Princess Half in Disney). Not very much time to get ready!

The last thing i got to do while in Florida was to go to a 70th Birthday party for my friend Khim's mom (who by the way looks fantastic). It was at an authentic Chinese restaurant in Tampa and the food was fabulous, the fried red snapper was my favorite. And the Chinese birthday cake was to die for, very light and fluffy with fruit and every light whip cream like frosting. Yum-O!

One more thing, here's a picture of my cousin's baby Nikola in another outfit that i got her.
She's so adorable, I love it!! Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks.

Birthday Party

Vince's Mom had a Birthday on Sunday and we had a party for her. We had a really nice time eating, drinking and laughing.

here she is with her 3 children

and the grandchildren, aren't they sweet?and the cake was delish!

Sweet Xmas Baby!

This is my cousin's baby girl Nikola in her new X-mas outfit that Aunt Margaret got her. The shoes are the best but not really visible in this shot. I just love this picture!


I have a story to go with this baby, my cousin actually has another child a 6 year old boy. When my cousin had him my grandmother wrote some boy and girl names on a piece of paper. Since then my grandmother passed away and this past summer my cousin had her second child and named her Nikola. A few weeks ago my Aunt came across that piece of paper that was buried between some old cards and letters. Are you ready?? The name Nikola was circled in red. Weird huh, i guess my grandmother knew back then that my cousin would have a girl and that would be her name. Needless to say everyone was pretty freaked out by this discovery.

Bag Swap!

My Knitting Group (Stitch n Bitch) had a bag swap on Saturday night. It was a cold and snowy night but that didn't stop us from having a great time. It was great, all the bags were fabulous.

This is the bag i made.

This is the bag i got.

I love my bag, I've been caring it since the swap, it's perfect! And it had all sorts of goodies in it, chocolates, cookie mix, soap, and xmas stirs, super cool.

The bag i made also came with extras, fingerless gloves and hat, which i designed to match the purse. It's hard to see in the picture but they look much cuter in real life.

Shalom Hat

I've been working on this hat to go with my Shalom Cardigan. It took a couple tries but here it is and i'm very happy with it. It fits perfectly!

Shalom

Completed my version of the Shalom Cardigan. I love it! The original version didn't have sleeves and only one button, mine has 4 buttons and long sleeves with the pattern of the yoke repeated in the sleeve. I'm very please with how this turned out! It was a fast knit.

Walk

Since i haven't been able to run i decided to go for a nice brisk 3 mile walk on Monday. Well I'm actually sore, like really sore today. I just don't understand how you can be trained for a marathon take a couple weeks off, run a hilly half marathon and three weeks later get sore from a 3 mile walk. Is it age?? who knows but i don't like it.