This week’s Eye Candy Friday post is brought to you by the Ariat Boot Company. I love my new Fat Baby boots! Cheryl had them first, then Kathy got a pair and now Kim has them, too. I may be sick of snow and ice but at least I have some stylin’ boots to wear!

Have a great weekend!

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Four years ago today, on a quiet Saturday at home, I started the Carole Knits blog. I can’t even imagine my life without it now. Writing this blog has brought me loads of new friends, allowed me to travel to new and exciting places, inspired me to knit more and knit better, given me the opportunity to learn new skills like spinning and crocheting and photography, and just expanded my life in ways I never even thought possible.

So, on this anniversary of my blog, I’d like to give something back to all of you. I’d like to give you all a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to kpixie.

Kpixie, in case you didn’t know it, is situated right in my own little town and I really believe in supporting local businesses – especially given our current economic situation. All you have to do to be entered in the contest is leave me a comment by 12 Noon my time on Monday, February 2, 2009.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for being part of Carole Knits.

It’s no surprise that winter makes for tough blogging. The days are short and that makes it difficult to take pictures. It’s cold outside and there aren’t a lot of sightseeing opportunities. Weekends are good for holing up in the house – relaxing and comforting – but not great for producing interesting blog posts. So, I swiped this from Julie because I had nothing else to blog about it looked like fun.

Use the first letter of your name to find a word for each of the following:

Your Name – Carole
Four letter word – coin
Boy name – Chuck
Girl name – Caroline (this was supposed to be my name but my mom decided it was too “long” for such a tiny baby. I once asked her if she didn’t think I was going to grow. Ahem.)
Occupation – clerk
Color – chartreuse
Beverage – cocktails
Something found in a bathroom – comb
A Place – Cape Cod (a twofer!)
Reason for being late – car trouble
Food – cake (My maiden name began with the letter S and whenever we played that “I’m Going on a Picnic Game” I always brought cake and strawberries.)
Something you shout – crap!

Your turn!

I finished my 3rd (and probably final) pair of mittens for NaKniMitMo last week. I had originally planned on doing the Postwar Mittens from Twist Collective as my next pair but I was a little colorwork-ed out, you know?

So I went stash diving and found 3 skeins of Cascade 220 just hanging around. I bought those skeins ages ago with the intention of knitting something using all 3 colors but I never knew what it would be.

Enter the Furrow Mittens – another wonderful design by Kirsten at Through The Loops.

Beautiful and warm and functional. Fast to knit and entertaining, too. Everything a mitten should be.

In no particular order, this weekend I:

~Bought myself some tulips.

I’m so sick of snow and ice and cold. These helped to brighten things up a bit. Thanks for the suggestion, Deb!

~Baked a pound cake.

It wasn’t as light and fluffy as I thought it would be but it was good. Those of you who know me know that I bake when I’m stressed which leads me to . . .

~Moved more stuff out of my father’s mobile home. It feels like every time we take one step forward we take two steps back. I could sure use any good thoughts, prayers and energy that you could send my way this week. I won’t say more right now but things might actually be moving in the right direction.

~Went to the movies. The Oscar nominations are out and now my goal is to see as many of the nominated films as I can so yesterday we saw Frost/Nixon. It was fantastic. Go!

~Hung out with Mason.

That’s for you, Cookie.

What did you do this weekend?

More snow. More birds at the feeders. This one is a flicker red-bellied woodpecker. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Mary, for correcting my bird identification. The fact that it’s a red-bellied woodpecker is way better because we see them rarely in our area. So I confused it with a flicker, not flickr. Doh!

Take some photos this weekend!

You may have heard this already but last Saturday my friend Maryse came over and taught me to crochet. I was so happy when she offered and even though it took a while for us to coordinate a date, it was well worth the wait.

I’ve tried to learn crochet before and just never been able to get the hang of it. Either I was in a completely different frame of mind or Maryse is a really good teacher. I’m thinking that it was Maryse. This is my first swatch:

You can see single, double and triple crochets there. It took a while to remember the stitches and it didn’t feel natural at all but I kept at it. Maryse made me. And when she left she told me I had to practice, practice, practice.

So I did. This is my first crochet dish cloth. I think it’s pretty okay.

And this is my second crochet dish cloth. I think it’s maybe even a little better than the first one.

At this point it’s not faster than knitting for me but I can see how it would be. And while the movements still don’t feel natural they are at least starting to feel familiar. This is a skill I’ve wanted to learn for a long time and I feel good about getting through my first pieces.

Thanks, Maryse! I couldn’t have done this without you!

Just as I predicted, I spent yesterday watching all of the inauguration festivities.  It’s unusual for me to watch tv all day but it was worth it to see everything – from the Obamas leaving Blair House and going to church in the morning to their first dance at the Neighborhood Ball in the evening.

And, just as I predicted, I worked on the Crew Socks all day.  And I finished.  Yesterday morning I had knit 6 rounds of sock 2.    I knit the leg all morning and by the time the Inaugural Luncheon was finished I was turning the heel.

While the Obamas watched the parade I finished the gusset decreases and made my way down the foot.

As they were dancing to “At Last” I was starting the toe decreases.  And I was weaving in the ends when Robin Roberts interviewed President Obama.  Whew!

That’s a lot of knitting (and tv watching) for one day but now I’ve got a finished pair of socks for my friend Lois and some great memories of the inauguration.

There’s just one thing.  Lois is a Republican.  Do you think she’ll still want these socks?

Inauguration Day.

There were times when it felt like it would never come.

It’s finally here.

Bring it on!

I’ll be sitting on the couch, watching the coverage, all day long. Of course I’ll be knitting. In fact, I’m just starting the second Crew sock. I bet I’m done by the end of today.

It’s going to be a great day!

I finished another pair of mittens for NaKniMitMo. These are the Selbuvotter mittens I promised Dale last year when I made a pair for me. Yeah, it took a while. But I’m pretty sure he thinks they were worth waiting for.

The pattern is NHM #12. I had Dale go through the whole Selbuvotter book and these were the ones he chose.

The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Wool. It was nice to work with – soft and smooshy – but it bled a bit when I blocked the mittens. There are a few spots where the white looks a bit blue but I’m probably the only one who really notices it. Still, it was a disappointment and I didn’t expect this yarn to do that.

I changed the thumb a bit and knit this star design from a different chart in the book. I just thought it would look better and I’m glad I did it.

They go great with his Civil War uniform and he wore them to the annual meeting on Saturday. He said he showed them off a bit and everyone was impressed. I couldn’t be more pleased!