The Big Finish

New Blog

2011-06-18T13:31:00.002-04:00

I've moved on from the original premise of this blog, so I'm in the process of building a new one. Not much content yet, but check back!

SpingirlSpins.com

Thanks!!

On Sale!!

2010-08-15T14:10:00.001-04:00

Hey, yeah...so it's been a while...

~~This is a quick post to say that I've decided to close my Etsy shop for a while. I've marked everything down by at least 15%, so take a look at the remaining yarns and fibers.~~

The shop is officially closed. Thanks, everyone!

More later. Really.

Morning Has Broken...Me

2010-06-01T15:41:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. I've tried, really I have. I've been told that you can get used to getting up early if you do it long enough, but I figure at this stage of life, it ain't gonna happen. I mean, there were twelve years of getting up early for school, then a couple of years of getting up early for a job, then a brief moment (about 15 months) after marriage when I could indulge my sluggy self and sleep as late as I wanted, followed by infant/toddler/preschooler times two (which meant not sleeping a whole night through PLUS early mornings for a few years), then getting up early to get them off to school, then seven years driving a school bus. Trust me--if becoming a morning person depended only on getting up early long enough, I'd beat even the early bird to the worm. But the truth is that the last day of getting up at 5:30 to drive the bus was every bit as horrible as the first day. After I left that job, I scored a job with extremely flexible hours and immediately slumped back into slug mode.

But recently, I've been getting up early (for me, anyway) for the temp job with the Census Bureau. And, ya know, it wasn't that bad. Sure, that hideous noise of the cell phone alarm going off in my ear was totally obnoxious, but I changed the sound to a "perkier" one that doesn't make me want to hurl the phone against the wall (fortunately, my fast-twitch muscles take even longer to wake up than the rest of me. If I even have fast-twitch muscles, that is.) If I got up right away instead of mashing the snooze button, I discovered that I was relatively alert and not totally dying. I can't imagine why things would have changed. Maybe it has something to do with getting older, or maybe it's just that 7:30 feels almost like midday after seven years of 5:30 wake-ups. Whatever, I decided that I would try getting up at 7:30 every day, at least for this week, and see how it went.

Well. It's now about 3:30. I have done the dishes, washed sheets, blocked the Swallowtail Shawl that I finished last night (yes! A finish! Actually one of two!!), planted marigolds, beans, watermelons, and rosemary, potted up the basil and oregano, washed and blocked a sweater front, done some Bible study, combed some of the Border Leicester fleece I bought a couple of months ago, and made yogurt. Oh, yeah, and I've knitted a little too.

This is astounding. Of course, I'm very tired right now and will probably need to take a little nappy-poo shortly, but I'm feeling mighty virtuous at the moment. Think of all the projects I may be able to get done! I do hope this lasts.

I'm a Little Embarrassed

2010-05-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

Yeah, two months since the last post. You might think that I've been insanely busy and that's why I haven't posted, but it's not really true. I have been working a temp job with the Census Bureau, but even though the part-time hours do make me tired (stoopid fibromyalgia) that's not my excuse for not writing. I actually have none--it's been laziness and nothing more.

I have been knitting and quilting, though! I am winding up a Big Stinkin' Project, so I'm tickled pink about that. I put the binding on a quilt yesterday and started stitching it down by hand, so a couple more hours and it will be DONE! Now guess how long it's been a WIP. Go on, take a guess...dum dee dum dee dum...ready? I started this quilt in 1994. Yeah. That's pretty bad, huh? Wanna know something worse? It's not my oldest WIP.

But I have (sort of) redeemed myself with the sweater that I'm finishing. It's a Central Park Hoodie (yeah, I'm a lemming. Shut up.) There are almost 3500 of these sweaters listed on the project pages of Ravelry. Who knows how many more are being made by knitters like myself who are too ~~lazy~~ busy to post pictures.

Some people refuse to knit something that's being made or has been made by everybody and her sister, but there's usually a reason why a pattern becomes insanely popular. Now that I've made one (ok, almost made one) I see the appeal. It's cute. It's easy. It fits well. It doesn't take an insane amount of yarn, and you can easily change it up by leaving the hood off and knitting a collar instead. It's easy. It went fast. Did I mention that it's easy? If I should decide that I want to make one for somebody, like for an anniversary gift or something, it won't take forever. Not that I'm thinking about anniversary gifts or anything. Just sayin'.

Anyway, all that's left is the side seams and crocheting button loops. I might even leave the button loops off, but I'll decide that when I get the sides sewn up.

So check back in a few days. I may actually have finished project pictures!! Astounding!

It's Gonna Be One of Those Weeks

2010-03-18T09:38:00.000-04:00

I found out last night that my driver's license expired 12 days ago.
I had to buy a pair of jeans and a top yesterday because nothing I own fits me anymore.
I turned over in bed last night and my neck locked up. Again. Which means no knitting, spinning, or pretty much anything else.
It also means a trip to the Evil Massage Therapist.
Hot flashes.

Why I Love Ravelry

2010-03-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is only one reason, but it's a really good one. Last week I started a shawl with a skein of Socks That Rock mill ends that I bought at Ball and Skein, a shop in Germantown OH that I finally visited recently. (Lots of gorgeous yarns and very cool people hang out there!) The shawl pattern is "198 Yards of Heaven" and although it calls for worsted weight, it's a pattern that works in just about any weight. And you can just keep knitting until it's the size you like, which is what I did. Unfortunately, though, it soon became clear that I would need more of the same yarn. What to do, what to do?? Ravelry to the rescue! I hopped on, pulled up the yarn page, typed "STR" in the search box, and voila! Thousands and thousands of skeins of STR in stashes everywhere. I narrowed the search to those for sale, and halfway through the fifth page, there was my yarn! I hadn't known the name of the colorway, but discovered that it's "Sugar Plum." One message to the seller, one message back, a quick side trip to Paypal, and my new yarn is making its way to me as I speak. Er, type.

And tonight, I pulled out another shawl to finish--one that only needed fringe cut and looped on. (Yes, it was a single evening's worth of work that I postponed for some strange reason. Remember the long-unfinished scarf that only required 7 rows to be done? Yeah, exactly like that.) A couple of episodes of "Mythbusters" later, and I was almost done. Only...I ran out of the Zen ribbon yarn I was using. And it's discontinued. What to do, what to do?

You already know. I'm just waiting on a message.

Ravelry rocks. Seriously.

Coming Out of the Hole

2010-03-03T10:32:00.000-05:00

"The Hole" would be the Ravelympics. It took up most of my time the past couple of weeks, but I enjoyed it. My project was to spin the walnut-dyed fleece (that story here) and knit it into a sweater. I'll wait while you stop laughing...

As I was saying, spinning and knitting. Yep, big project, but I dove into it head-first. I ignored housework (oh, yeah, like that's something new!), got behind on both blogging and reading blogs, totally relied on The Husband for take-out food, and let the daily newspaper pile up.

Things started well. I started spinning on Saturday, Feb. 13, and cast on for the sweater on the following Monday. I alternated the spinning and knitting and got one sweater front, one sleeve, and most of the second sleeve done by midway through the second week of work. But then I ran into trouble, because my neck and shoulders seized up. I was in so much pain that I was nauseated, so off to the chiropractor and massage therapist I went. (I think that massage therapist must have be a former KGB agent or something. How can someone cause so much agony with just her pinky finger??)

So the project didn't get finished, but I'm still happy with the fact that I was able to focus on one project only for all of two weeks. That's awesome for me! (Another knitter asked me the other day if I am monogamous--I had to admit that I'm a total WIPslut. Actually, what she said was, "Are you monogamous, or do you have three or four projects going at the same time?" I think she was a bit puzzled by my semi-hysterical laughter. Three or four projects? Uh.....)

The bad news is that I'm still struggling with the neck/back/shoulder issue, and that even sitting here typing is making me hurt. So I'll wander off to get some breakfast and take more Aleve, and maybe get back with pictures in a day or two. If you're on Ravelry, you can find a few here.

Can't Talk Now

2010-02-21T21:29:00.002-05:00

Long time since last post.

Participating in Ravelympics.

Have 38 ounces of fleece to spin and sweater to knit.

Gotta go...

Hey, I Finished More Stuff!

2010-02-03T12:21:00.001-05:00

Wow, I'm really on a tear here! Two more projects were finished, and I mean completely finished last week.

This first one is a cross-stitch piece I had started several years ago. I didn't have a lot to finish on it, but it's 40-count linen, so not the easiest thing to work on. I had to have the Ott-Lite close by and concentrate to see those teeny threads. I decided that, since I already have about a bazillion cross-stitch projects waiting to be framed, I would make this into a pincushion. I didn't have a pattern, so I just winged it and stitched it together by hand. You can't see the side seams, where there are a couple of tucks (getting around the corners was tricky), but it's cute and it was easier to put together by hand than wrestling with it under my sewing machine foot. It's about 4 inches by 4 inches by 2 inches. It will sit next to my stitching chair. I've needed a big pincushion for a while, so this was a satisfying finish.

I'm a little embarrassed to discuss this next piece. This is a scarf I started who-knows-when for an older lady who I consider one of the cooler friends I have. I don't get to see her that often, but she's such a joy to be around. This soft rose is the perfect color for her, and I'm so happy it's done. The really embarrassing thing is that I haven't touched it in ages, and when I got it out last week, determined to finish it, I found that I only needed to knit 7 rows and bind off. That's right, SEVEN ROWS! What possessed me to stop working on it when I was so close to the end? I'll never figure it out. Well, it's done and ready to be presented to her at last. The yarn is Kidsilk Haze and the pattern comes from the Vogue On-The-Go book, Scarves Two.

Another reason I'm feeling so virtuous is that I not only finished stitching and knitting these two projects, I actually finished them. I made the pincushion the same afternoon I put the last cross-stitch in the piece, and as soon as I bound off the scarf, I blocked it the same day. Can it be? Am I learning self-discipline? My normal finishing method is to finish the stitching or knitting and leap joyfully into a shiny new project. Not this time. Whaddya know. Things may be changing a bit at Chez Spingirl!

Wanna see something really cute? The picture on the left is my daughter holding my son the day after he was born. The picture on the right is her daughter holding his son. It's so cute I can't stand it, I really can't.

Still Knitting!

2010-01-26T15:54:00.004-05:00

So, with all the cruddy weather we've had the past couple of weeks, I've been happy to stay in and keep working on my ~~billions~~ ~~millions~~ ~~hundreds~~ dozens of projects. I have been working on a couple of quilts lately, along with the knitting, but I won't have a finished project to show off for a few more weeks. I have finished two knitting projects, though!

The first is a lace cowl that I got from this blog. Thanks, Wen! It's a nice pattern, and the cowl turned out great.

This is the Coloring Book Shawl that I made from five shades of Plain & Fancy yarn I bought at SAFF. That was one of the most gorgeous booths there, and it took a while to narrow down the choices. Unfortunately, P&F doesn't have a website yet but if you go here and scroll down to "Henderson" you'll find their information. You could probably email them to find out what shows they'll be going to this year. Their yarn is kettle-dyed on the most gorgeous smooshy singles yarn. I want one skein of every color!

The shawl pattern shows seven different lace panels, instead of the five I used, and I put my own lace pattern in the top (pink) panel instead of doing plain stockinette that the pattern specified. It turned out pretty large (which is why I could only fit half of it in the picture) but I think the yarn was a little heavier than what the pattern called for. At any rate, it turned out beautifully.

So I've added those two projects to the "52 Projects" list at the bottom of the page. Yeah, I'm still waaaay behind on that schedule. I'll have to tell you about the new group I joined for 2010 in the next post. I'm a little embarrassed, but what the heck.

Oops, how'd this picture get in here?

Isn't he just too cute? I haven't seen him in two weeks! He'll have changed so much by now. BTW, his official name is no longer Baby X, it's Little Dude (his daddy's name for him.) It's perfect.

Today

2010-01-07T15:55:00.004-05:00

Outside:

Inside:

I love snow days!

Welcome to the World, Baby X!!

2010-01-05T11:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a terrifically exciting day for us. Baby X decided to join us on his due date, and not make his poor parents nervous wrecks for another week or two. There was some concern at first that Mommy X was not in active labor, and talk of sending her home from the hospital. She proved them wrong and after a few hours of labor and about 15 minutes of pushing, out popped our Baby X. (Ok, I don't know if "popped" would be the proper word, but it was pretty quick because he made his appearance well before the doctor arrived.) Everyone is healthy and happy, though Mommy X was understandably a bit tired.

I had the little video camera, so I recorded his first "bath" and got some frame captures. They're not the best pics, but I'm sure I can get some from the other accomplished photographers that were snapping away. Honestly, it was like the paparazzi at the Oscars!

Seven pounds, three ounces. Twenty inches long.

Oooh, he's just too adorable! I can't wait to get my hands on him again!

The Last Post...

2009-12-31T16:55:00.002-05:00

...of 2009. Doesn't that just make you kind of teary-eyed? Me neither.

So this would be when I show off all the finished projects in 2009, but you know what that would mean. Yep, pictures. It ain't happening. I will say that I was happy to finish a number of things (some of them are in the list at the very bottom of the page) and that a couple of Finished Objects were BSPs (that's Big Stinkin' Project, Melissa, which you would have known if you had been reading my blog but that's okay I'm just your poor old Mom and what could I possibly have to say that you would be interested in anyway?) Ahem.

This also would be when I list resolutions for the coming year, but I really don't have any. At least not new ones. And I don't really make resolutions, nor do I set goals. I think it's tough to resolve to do something and maintain that resolve through all the ups and downs of life. What happens most of the time is that we break our resolve and eat that entire carton of ice cream (just an example--not anything I know about from experience koff koff) and then chuck the whole diet resolution because we've just blown it. And setting goals has always been a weird thing for me because it's so closed or something. I mean, I could set the goal that I want to learn to play violin, or learn to speak Italian, or learn to paint, but when are you there? How do you know when you've reached that goal, and what do you do then? Sell the violin, toss out the watercolors?

Sooooo, I prefer having intentions. (And don't even mention that old saying about the road to hell!) Intentions work much better for me, because they can be things that will never end. I can have the intention to eat more healthy food, and because it's an intention rather than a goal or a resolution, it can last as long as I need it to. I think intentions suit me better because they have a little wiggle room, too. If I have the intention to eat better and I pig out on ice cream occasionally, I don't feel like I've blown some rigid standard I set for myself. For me, it produces a better mind-set.

So, do I have intentions? Oh, yeah--lots of them, and not just for the new year:

Continue learning the violin
Daily Bible reading
Work on finishing fiber projects (spinning, knitting, needlework, quilting)
Get some painting done in the house
Plan, plant, and maintain flower beds in the spring & summer
Take better care of my physical health, which includes regular exercise
Socialize more

Well, there are a few. I'm sure I have more, but that's what comes right off the top of my head. And now all this talk of ice cream has had an effect. I'm off to answer the call of the wild Mint Chocolate Chip that's residing in my freezer.

BTW, check out the comment on the last post that Mommy X left. Everybody's a comedian!

Finally!!

2009-12-28T10:35:00.003-05:00

A post with pictures! Yes, I know, it's amazing. Even if my poor daughter did take pity on me and forward them from a friend. Hey, I don't care how I get them, and you shouldn't either, right? (BTW, hop over to DD's blog and enter her giveaway. It's soooooo worth it!)

Now, without further ado, we have pictures:

This is from the shower for Baby X and family. The quilt is the one I made (ta-daaa!) That's Mommy X on the left, Daddy X on the right, and Rugrat is in the center, "helping" them open gifts (when she's not eating chocolate treats.) Oh, and Baby X is the bump that's blocking part of the quilt, obviously. He's due next Monday, and I'm hoping he's going to be one of those people who are never late. I'm sure Mommy X feels the same way.

And here's the picture that proves what's really going on at the X home. You see Mommy X ooohing and ahhing over all the lovely gifts, so you just know that she spends lots of time in Baby X's room looking at all the pretty clothes and blankies and baby hygeine items, folding, refolding, rearranging. Daddy X (my son) clearly is only interested in playing with Baby X's toys. I may have to find another sock monkey before next week.

I'm starting to get excited. I need to be prepared for "the call." (Well, they'd better call when she goes into labor!) I just hope it goes quickly and easily. Oooooh, I'd better be thinking about a project to take along--time to cast on another pair of socks for hospital knitting!

Regrouping Yet Again

2009-12-20T15:15:00.002-05:00

I'm not even gonna go through all the apologies and excuses for not posting on the blog for almost 3 weeks now. Life's just funny sometimes, and I'm in one of my periodic regrouping modes.

First up, I can now tell you about the three Stealth Projects that I finished in the last couple of months. They were all gifts for the soon-to-be-born grandson (in two weeks, more or less!!!) I knitted him a pair of tiny socks and a pair of tinier mitts, and I finished a quilt I had started some time back. It was a sample for a class I taught when I worked at a quilt shop, and all I had to do was quilt and bind it. I want to make Baby X something just for him, so I feel a little conflicted about using the top I'd made all those years ago, but on the other hand it was kind of neat to use something that had a lot of memories in it. He won't care either way--I'm sure he'll be an equal opportunity poop-on-the-quilt baby whether it was created just for him or not. I also found a cute sock monkey that I put in the gift bag. I have a feeling that Daddy X wanted it for himself. He has a thing about monkeys.

Do I have pictures of these items? What do you think? (Big hint to Daddy X: Take pictures and email them to me!!)

I'm still behind on the "52 Projects" plan because, as I suspected would happen, I've burned through all my quickie UFOs and am now stuck with a lot of BSPs. That's ok, though, because I've put them into a rotation so I get to each BSP at least once a week or so. Maybe I should lower the goal and make it "26 Projects in 52 Weeks." Yeah, that's more like it. I'll give that a shot.

So, the regrouping thing. I'm doing a lot less on line these days. I've pretty much stopped posting on Plurk, and my Ravelry presence is way down as well. I want to make better use of my time now that I don't have to go out to work. It's been too easy to get on the computer and putz away a couple of hours. Those are hours I would prefer to spend in Real Life, doing things like playing the violin, reading, or actually doing something with a friend. That last thing is the hardest for me because I just don't get out and about a whole lot, and when I do I'm usually alone. I need to get out of my "hermit" rut, and I know that will be the hardest thing for me to do. I kinda like my hermit rut. But I know it's not necessarily good for me. Soooo...time to get out of the comfort zone a little. Not that I plan to turn into a social butterfly or anything. I'd really rather stay home and knit.

Trying to Catch Up

2009-11-30T11:22:00.006-05:00

I really do not understand how the days slip by so quickly. I could have sworn I just did a post a couple of days ago, but it's been more than a week. I've gotta start keeping better track of time.

On that note, here's a catch-up post from our vacation mumblemumble weeks ago. We headed south on Saturday, October 17, and the first stop was in Dry Ridge, Kentucky at The Quilt Box.

It's located at the end of a winding dirt road, and the setting is just gorgeous.

I did what I do best, namely, shopping for fabric:

The shop cat kept me company:

Meanwhile, The Husband relaxed outside, where there's a bench conveniently located for relaxing and enjoying the view.

I took more pictures inside, including one of the three gracious ladies who kindly cut my fabric choices into fat quarters, but you know how my picture-taking skills are. FAIL.

It was a lovely way to start our vacation, and I left with a bag full of lovely quilt fabrics. No, there's no photographic record (I know, I'm sorry!!) but I can assure you it's worth a trip if you love quilting and shopping for fabric. They don't have a website, but here's a link to help you find them. I don't know what the hours are, so you may want to call first to make sure of the time they're open.

In other news, I'm still trying to finish projects, which is slow going, but I'm making a little headway. Next time I'll have some pictures, even if I have to bribe The Husband to take them for me.

Frustration Abounds

2009-11-19T11:21:00.002-05:00

I've gotten some dyeing done recently, and need to get the pictures taken so I can upload them to Etsy. The Husband helped me find the right settings on the camera so I could do them myself, so today I got up determined to get the pics and update the shop. Epic FAIL.

Now, I think of myself as a pretty patient person. I just finished a 5-inch quilt block that contains 32 pieces, so you can imagine how small and fiddly each little piece was. No problem. I hand quilted and trapuntoed a queen-size quilt for my brother and sister-in-law a few years ago. Loved it. I've knitted lace shawls with super-cobweb weight yarn. What a blast. So in some areas of life, I hold my own against what would drive the normal person completely nuts.

Not so photography. I fussed and fiddled with the camera this morning, called The Husband to ask for help, fussed and fiddled some more, then realized I had better just put the camera down and leave it for him to do this evening. I hate to admit defeat, but as I was getting the strong urge to throw the darn thing as hard as I could, I figured walking away was the option TH would suggest.

So no Etsy pictures today, which really bugs me because the Phat Fiber boxes with my samples in them should be arriving at people's homes, and I don't have (in my opinion) enough stuff listed. Just thinking about my inability to figure out the stupid camera makes my blood boil and my teeth clench. I think I'll go piece some more 5-inch blocks. I'll feel better.

Thank you, Joshua Bell

2009-11-16T18:10:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I know I've been away from the blog for too long. I still haven't shared any pictures or stories about the vacation and the trip to SAFF. They're coming--we finally got what we needed to be able to upload the pictures from the camera, so I'm partly there. I still need to get a few pics from the husband's computer, so I'll futz with that soon and have something about the fun stuff I did.

Today, though, I have pictures from an wonderful, thrilling, glorious, dazzling event I attended Saturday night. Joshua Bell (the virtuoso violinist, in case you don't know) played with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and I had a seat right smack in the center of the floor, about 6 rows from the stage (and the Hilbert Circle Theater has no orchestra pit, so the musicians are right there in front of you!)

That was beyond excellent--I was so close that I could hear JB breathe as he played. That's not as weird as it sounds. A good musician has to regulate his breathing as he plays, and JB plays passionately and athletically. He was dripping sweat when he was done.

And what he played--oh. my. goodness. First the ISO played some music by Hector Berlioz (and the ISO should get a big mention here because they are a tremendous group of musicians.) Then Joshua came on to play Maurice Ravel's Tzigane, which is a pull-out-all-the-stops piece of fiery virtuosity. That alone was worth the price of admission. But that wasn't all. After the Tzigane got everyone's heart pumping, he played Meditation by Jules Massenet, a gorgeous, haunting melody. He took a break while the Symphony played music by Richard Strauss, then after a short intermission came back for the headliner piece: Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor.

That's one of my favorite, if not the favorite of all the violin concertos I've heard. It has everything a big piece of music should have: power, lovely melody, technical fireworks, all in a harmonious and beautiful setting. Even if you're not a classical music fan, you should take the time to listen to it once or twice because it's gorgeous. (If you scroll to the bottom of the page, JB's album of Bruch, Mendelssohn, and Mozart is the first one listed on my Amazon.com widget. It's worth every penny.)

Not only was the music beautiful just because of what it was, JB played it flawlessly. I know that recordings made in a studio are probably "tweaked" a bit to take out wrong notes or other mistakes, but I'm telling you, he made no mistakes. I can't even come up with the words to describe how wonderful the whole experience was. Hearing it while seeing someone pour his entire being into the playing was...well...I have no words. Sigh. Give me a minute...

Ok, so then, after we all stood and whooped (politely--this was a classical music concert after all) and applauded until I thought my arms would fall off, he came out and performed an encore. It was his rendition of "Yankee Doodle" with just about every virtuoso violin technique you can throw in a piece. That really brought the house down.

AND THEN...he signed autographs after the concert. Sigh again.

It was really funny, because when I got out of the car I grabbed my Bruch CD and stuck it in my purse. I had already made up my mind that I was going to be brave and ask anyone and everyone who worked in the theater if there was any chance I could get him to sign my CD after the show. This guy is the reason I started taking violin lessons in the first place--basically he changed my life--so I was going to try everything I could to at least get to say hello. Once inside the theater, I saw that a CD sales table was already set up with a little note that Joshua would be signing CDs after the show. How cool is that?

And guess who didn't think to bring her camera. The husband squeezed off a couple of shots on my cell phone, so all is not lost:

No, they're not the best, but about as good as you can get when you're in a hurry and using a cell phone camera.

I was ecstatic. He was so nice and smiled and said hello to everyone. He didn't rush anyone through the line, and another lady who was watching told us that he spent a lot of time talking to all the young people who came through, encouraging them if they played an instrument and posing for pictures.

So what do you say when you finally get the chance to speak to someone you admire so much? (And, no, it's not just because he's so darn good-looking!) I can't even tell you what I said--I mumbled something, though I think I remembered to thank him for the autograph. I hope so. There wasn't time to say what I really wanted to say.

I didn't want to tell him how great his performance was--I'm sure he knew that already, based on the standing ovation and cheers at the end. And I'm sure nearly everyone who went through the line said that, and it's not like he can't tell when he's played well. There has to be a feeling of contentment for a job (extremely) well done, and I would think that after all these years, Joshua knows in himself when he's performed brilliantly.

What I really wanted to say was the most heartfelt "Thank you." Not for the autograph, because I think I did say thank you for that, or for that evening's performance, but for the whole gift of his talent. That cannot be an easy life, no matter how much passion you have for your art. It's not just the thousands and thousands of hours of practice, the sacrifice of other interests, the money spent in teachers and schooling, the years dedicated to trying, failing, trying again until you get it as perfect as you can and then maintaining that perfection. It's the responsibility that comes with signing contracts for recordings and performances, constant travel, and fulfilling the expectations of an adoring public whether you feel like it or not. Yes, he gets something out of it, or he wouldn't continue doing it. But what he gives is inestimably more--when he's playing for you, his whole life is in that performance. It's as if all those years of dedication and hard work were for you, the listener. How do you thank someone for a gift that great?

I'm not even able to express what I mean in this post, so I never would have been able to say it when I had the chance Saturday. I would have ended up sounding like some creepy stalker fan or something. I don't know--maybe I did seem like a creepy stalker fan. (Naw, a creepy stalker fan would have asked him to sign her butt or something, right? I definitely did NOT do that.)

So for what it's worth--thank you Joshua Bell. My life is happier because of what you do.

Congratulations to Ravelry!

2009-11-05T20:48:00.002-05:00

About a minute and a half ago, the 500,000th person joined Ravelry. I was on a thread watching the countdown, bouncing back and forth between the stat page and the thread page. Casey & Jessica have created a wonderful resource (along with their minions!) and I hope they're celebrating right now. Somehow, I suspect they are, and that beer is involved...

Back Home Again

2009-11-03T10:03:00.003-05:00

I didn't mean to let the blog lapse so long, but coming home was a total shock to all my systems. We got home Sunday evening, to a nice welcome and a great dinner fixed by our housesitters (our daughter, son-in-law, and the Rugrat.) We even got a giant welcome-home cookie!! Too funny.

The vacation was wonderful and so relaxing, but being home again was...well...kind of depressing. I had made all kinds of plans for things I wanted to do once I got home: stripping wallpaper, painting, making curtains, etc. But all that lovely planning went by the wayside once the daily routine started again. I think I was just overwhelmed for most of last week, but I'm feeling a little more in control now. I'm not ready to start painting or anything, especially since I've injured my neck and have to take it easy for a few days--doctor's orders--but I'm able to step back and breathe and not feel like I'm thrashing around under a pile of to-do lists.

What I have been doing is finishing projects! That's the good news. The bad news is that several of them are Stealth Projects, otherwise known as gifts, so I can't post pictures. Not that I could anyway, because I still need The Husband to help me figure out how to upload pictures off the new camera. I hate being a digital doofus, but I'm clearly lacking the part of the brain that can cope with electronic/computer stuff. ANYWAY, I've finished four projects in the last week, which is good because I'm way behind on my 52 Week goals. And one of those projects was a Big Stinkin' Project, so that makes me especially happy to have it done. I've put them in the list at the bottom of the page, and I'll update with descriptions and pictures as soon as I can.

On Vacation...

2009-10-20T15:30:00.002-04:00

...with no internet access. Can you believe it? Well, right at this moment we have internet access because we're in a Krystals restaurant using their free wifi connection. It's better than nothing, and after the hassle we've gone through trying to find a connection, we're happy. Unfortunately, the lodge we're staying in has no wifi, but we're not complaining too much because the lodge is owned by the hubby's employer, so we're staying for free. Free is good. More money for fabric and yarn.

It's a perfect autumn day. The sky is crystal clear, it's about 65 degrees, and I can look to my left and see the mountains in sparkling detail. We're hoping to get into the Smoky Mountain National Park sometime this week, but traffic is a little heavy, so we'll have to try to figure out some back roads.

We went into Gatlinburg on the trolley yesterday and walked around for a bit. We went to a craft show at the convention center, and I found my way to the Smoky Mountain Spinnery. It's a beautiful shop absolutely crammed with fiber, wheels, and yarn. I managed to escape with only a few ounces of black alpaca/silk fiber, but it was extremely tempting. In fact, I would have spent a lot more cash there, but I was restraining myself because of the upcoming trip to SAFF.

This will be a short entry, because we can't spend all day inside a fast-food place. I will have plenty of pictures to post next week, but we forgot the cord for the camera so I can't upload anything. Let's see, have I forgotten anything? Oh, yeah--we're having a lovely time. Wish you were here!

PS--Melissa, stay out of my yarn room. And my fabric room!!

Vacation

2009-10-17T10:20:00.000-04:00

The blog will be on hiatus for about a week (so what else is new, you ask.) We're leaving for Gatlinburg this morning, and won't be home until next Sunday. I might be able to pop in and post something during the week, but it depends on whether we can get an internet connection. That's the husband's task--I know nothing about it.

And next Friday I'll be at SAFF and at the meet-up in the airport Holiday Inn, so if you're going, maybe we'll get to meet!

Off to finish packing! TTYL.

Where Did the Time Go?

2009-10-12T18:01:00.003-04:00

Well, so much for blogging every day for Blogtober. I thought I was doing pretty well there, but the days have a way of slipping by before I realize it. I'm trying a new schedule (again!) and this time I hope I can squeeze in most of the things I want to do.

"Yarn Tails" was the winner of the fiber from my last giveaway, so I'll be getting that out to her ASAP. Thanks to everyone who left comments on that post.

This week promises to be crazy busy because we are getting ready to go to Gatlinburg for a week. I'm looking forward to it so much, and I hope it's not crowded. I have a feeling that it will be, though. I suspect that it stays crowded all through October.

Besides the lure of the Smoky Mountains and a spinning shop, Gatlinburg is also hosting an arts & crafts fair throughout the month. I suspect and hope it's the same one that we went to a few years ago. The entire convention center was filled with all kinds of terrific craftspeople and musicians. One day was really not enough to take it all in.

AND, on top of that, we're planning to go to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Asheville, NC! I'm REALLY looking forward to that, especially as there is a Ravelry meet-up on Friday night, the 23rd, at the Airport Holiday Inn (I believe this is very near the entrance to SAFF.) Oh, yeah--and on the way down there this Saturday, I plan to force my husband to take me to the Quilt Box, a terrific quilt shop in Dry Ridge, KY. I haven't been there for years, and I think I'm as excited about that almost as much as the rest of the trip!

So lots of stuff to plan for, and plenty of time, I hope, to do some serious knitting. I'm glad I don't get carsick anymore. Almost six hours each way of blissful knitting time--it doesn't get better than that!

Some of My Pretties

2009-10-07T21:32:00.006-04:00

As I've been hopping from craft to craft lately, I've not only rediscovered quilting and cross-stitching, but spinning as well. Specifically, spinning with a drop spindle. A couple of new spindles have found their way home (goodness, I just don't know how that happens!) This little beauty came to me via Etsy, from Butterfly Girl Designs:

It's a laceweight spindle, with a millefiori whorl, and I absolutely love it.

This one followed me home from the Wool Gathering a couple of weekends ago:

It's a "Mjolinor" from Greensleeves Spindles--again a lightweight, made of yellowheart and bird's eye maple. (Neither photo is very good, but you can click on them to see them a little closer.)

Both of these are lying on the table next to the bed, loaded with merino/silk blends in blues and purples. I usually take a few moments before bed to spin a little. I don't expect to finish a huge quantity of yarn in the near future, but this is one time when it's all about quality, not quantity! If I count the takhli support spindle I'm spinning cotton on, I have five spindles and two wheels going right now. Like I said before, I'm never bored!!

As promised, I have a giveaway! No particular reason, except I had this little leftover bit of top after a day of dyeing. It's about an ounce of merino/bamboo 50/50 blend, and it goes to a randomly chosen commenter. Just leave your thought before midnight ET on Thursday, October 8, and you go in the drawing.

A Little Cheat

2009-10-06T13:06:00.003-04:00

Well, it technically counts as a post. Not much of one, but give me a break, okay? Coming up with a decent post every day is not easy.

Here's a terrific giveaway for stitchers. Pop over there and check it out.

And to make up for the lameness of this post, I'll be doing a giveaway for spinners tomorrow, so check back!

Facebook Fail

2009-10-05T23:10:00.003-04:00

You may remember that I tried Twitter, since it's all the rage, but decamped quickly back to Plurk. It's much more conversational. Why, then, did I join Facebook? I really have no idea, except for a rather nebulous idea that it might be good for my Etsy shop.

So I have a page with my name on it, and I have some "friends". I have not posted my picture, nor have I posted to anyone's "wall". Not even my own. I haven't even logged on in days. Clearly, I'm not grasping the near-universal appeal of Facebook, and I haven't quite figured out how this is supposed to be benefiting my business.

I hate to think the problem is that I'm too old, but it's a distinct possibility. While I can cope with email, the blog, Plurk, my iPod, and a few other newfangled things, I can't seem to get on board with certain concepts. Like texting. I just don't get it. Yeah, I'm sure it's convenient, but really--for every essential text message sent, I'm positive there are about a thousand sent that say nothing more important than, "OMG that guy is 2 hawt!!" or "wat r u doing?"

Yep, those last few sentences confirm it. I've become an old fart. My kids will agree, I'm sure. They're probably posting on their walls at this very moment: "OMG, my mom is soooo lame!!" I would go look, but I have to go take my teeth out and clean them.

Wondering...

2009-10-04T19:07:00.002-04:00

The past few days have seen me pulling out old projects to work on, and rediscovering my love of quilting and cross-stitching (as I've already mentioned.) I have no trouble understanding why I love needlework and most fiberarts (except felting--no sparks for that.) I don't even wonder why I love them, I just do. Kinda like why most men love football and most women love shoes. It it what it is.

What stumps me, though, is why I feel the need to make every darn thing I admire. Why can't I oooh and ahhh over a beautiful quilt or two (or twenty) without wanting to make it or them? Even if I were wealthy, I can't imagine buying a quilt that I loved and being satisfied with that. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd be buying antique quilts by the dozens, but I'd be spending an equal amount of money on fabric to reproduce them all. Why must I buy yarn to weave dishtowels when (yeah, you know what's coming) I can buy them for a buck at Walmart? Or take those gorgeous Navajo rugs I saw in a trading post in Arizona a few years back. The proprietor kindly let me take pictures, since I didn't have the $10,000 readily available to buy one of them, but it's not enough to look at the photos and sigh over their beauty. I want to make one. Or two, or a dozen.

The same thing is true of music. It's not enough to listen to Itzhak Perlman's recording of the Bach Violin Partitas & Sonatas. I want to play them. In fact, I bought the music for them just a month or two after beginning violin lessons--an exercise in complete and total self-delusion, because those pieces are the summit of virtuoso violin playing. Let me say now that I know in my heart that I will never in my natural lifetime be able to play any of them, but that doesn't keep me from dreaming about it. And I've taken only a few months of piano lessons, but I still long to learn to play Debussy's "Claire de Lune." Or what about the fabulous virtuoso guitar riffs of Stevie Ray Vaughn in "Little Wing." Listening is just not enough.

I guess I shouldn't complain, and I'm not. I'll never be bored, just mildly frustrated. What I'm really wondering, though, is why I don't have that same longing to cook fantastic meals after I've eaten one in a nice restaurant. But then again, I don't really love shoes either.

Lust, Serious Lust

2009-10-03T19:59:00.005-04:00

Heh. Got your attention? It's not what you think, trust me.

If anyone were paying attention to my blog list, they might have noticed an increase in non-knitting blogs. I seem to have come full circle and am back to my original love, quilting--with a bit of cross-stitch thrown in. This is dangerous, because it means that not only am I reading about gorgeous quilts that I yearn to make, I'm also seeing lots and lots of fabric that I suddenly must have. Because, you know, just like my yarn stash, my quilt fabric stash is low. (Excuse me a moment while I pause to laugh hysterically.)

It's not enough that I live within walking distance of one of the state's biggest quilt fabric shops, either. Oh no. Now that we have internet shopping, the world is our oyster. Ok, not oyster. I hate oysters. The world is our, um, oh heck. I don't know what metaphor to use, but you get the idea.

This is what I'm lusting after:

That is Moda's French General fabric, and I waaaaaaannnnntttt it! Unfortunately I cannot afford it, so it will have to go on my wish list. I don't need it. I have shelves and shelves of quilt fabric that I've been collecting since 1982. I used to work in a quilt shop, and as you can imagine I made the most of the employee discount. And I have at least a dozen or so quilt tops waiting to be quilted, as well as tops that I've begun hand-piecing, machine-piecing, and appliqueing. But that doesn't keep me from looking and lusting. What's worse is that I'm just showing you one of my objects of desire. There are also the madder red fabrics, and the shirting fabrics, and the William Morris fabrics...

The only antidote is to go upstairs and fall in love all over again with the old familiar fabric that I so carefully and passionately acquired over the past quarter-century. It's been a while since I pulled the dust covers off the fabric shelves, so I'm going to spend some time getting reacquainted with my old loves. It promises to be fun!

Call Me Crazy (If You Haven't Already)

2009-10-02T23:17:00.003-04:00

I just signed up for Blogtoberfest. That means I'm supposed to post every day in October, which will be a real incentive to post more than my usual once-a-week (and that's only if I really force myself!) It's kind of odd, because I do love to write. I guess part of the problem is making the time to sit down and write something coherent and relatively interesting. Another part is that I have so much trouble doing pictures, and I know that blogs are more enjoyable when there are good pictures to go with coherent posts. So I have two things to work on!

I finished the BSP yesterday--only one day later than I was trying for, so I'm pleased with that. I restrained myself from starting a whole new BSP, and instead pulled out the baby quilt BSP for the Incubating Grandson. (Jess & Jessica, if you're reading this, put your hands over your eyes and say, "Lalalalalalala" so you don't see the rest.) It's supposed to be a Stealth Project, but since I need blog fodder I'll talk about it. I'll wait to show pictures until after I've surprised-cough cough-my sweet daughter-in-law with it. (Slick, huh? Promise of blog fodder while having a good excuse to escape pesky pictures for at least another day.)

As I mentioned a post or two back, I'm amazed at how quickly these BSPs are moving now that I'm focusing on them. It also helps to have audio books loaded on my iPod. I've listened to almost 7 hours of "Emma" while quilting today, and I didn't even notice the time passing! Not every day can be like that--I've had a horrible headache today that's prevented me from doing much besides sitting still in my chair, therefore the major quilting time. Never mind that the house is a wreck.

So that's the post for Day 2. Just in time, too--it's 11:37 PM. Nothing like waiting until almost the last minute!

What to Do, What to Do??

2009-10-01T11:08:00.004-04:00

I almost have the cross-stitch BSP finished. The parts left to stitch are small areas--a lot of "make three stitches, change floss color, make three more stitches." It takes longer than big areas because of all the stopping and starting. It feels really good to be very close to the end of a project that seemed like it would never be done. And honestly, it didn't take that long once I sat down and focused on that project alone. I need to do more of that.

So now I have the happy prospect of deciding what to work on next. It's complicated by a couple of facts: I have a granddaughter who will be too big for the knitting projects I have planned for her if I don't get busy and make them soon, and we're expecting a grandson in late December or early January. I have a knitting project started for him and would like to make a quilt for him as well. Oh yeah, and I have the fabric for a quilt for the granddaughter that I haven't started yet. You see where this is going. That's at least four BSPs that need to be done immediately. And I just remembered that I joined a fingerless mitt KAL (knit along) on Ravelry, and that's supposed to be done by the end of October. Oh, dear.

Add to that another fact: I need to keep dyeing and posting things to the Etsy shop. (BTW, I did a big update last Saturday--fiber, sock yarn, and laceweight yarn.) I want to have a really big selection by the time the Phat Fiber boxes with my samples in them ship sometime around mid-October. I have a over pound of silk caps to seperate and dye, merino and silk to dye and blend for batts, and laceweight yarn that needs to be wound off the cone and dyed also. Hoo boy.

I'm off to make lists and start checking items off one by one. It's the only way to stay sane!

A Finish and a BSP

2009-09-28T16:56:00.004-04:00

As of yesterday I should have had 17 projects done to be on track with my "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" plan. Unfortunately, I've only finished 11, but that's still not bad, considering how many UFOs I have stashed around the house. First up, the socks:

These are the "Gansey Socks" from Socks From the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson. You can see it at the bottom of the page in my Amazon linky thing. It's a great book, and if I could only recommend one sock book, this would be the one. She shows several different methods for casting on, heels, and casting off, so if toe-up socks are your thing, this is the book to get. I hate to cast on 64 stitches on DPNs and I hate to graft toes, so I can't imagine why anyone would want to do "cuff-down" socks, but to each her own, right? Even if you do like "cuff-down" socks, the patterns in Wendy's book would be easy to adapt to read the other way.

These socks were done in superwash yarn I bought from Knitting Notions a couple of years ago. The pattern was super-easy, but Wendy is correct in saying that the pattern will show up better in light-colored yarn. I was dying to use this yarn, though, so I ignored Wendy's advice and made them anyway. They still have a nice texture and feel wonderful on my feet, so I'm happy with them. I'm sure I'll make them again, only in the light color as directed.

This is one of my BSPs (or Big Stinkin' Project. I have a lot of those stashed away around here.)

This is The Weeping Tree Sampler designed by "The City Stitcher", Janet Miller. (It's the fifth one down on this page.) I started this in March of 2001. (See, I told you I had some really old UFOs, and that's not even the oldest!) This piece has given me fits, mainly because once again I didn't follow directions and chose to use a different color of linen than what's stated in the pattern, meaning that some of the floss colors should have been adapted. Did I adapt? What do you think?

Soooo, as I was stitching along a little tiny voice in my head kept saying, "That's not going to show up on this fabric. That's not going to show up on this fabric." Now, I have no idea why I thought that voice is going to turn out to be wrong just because I insisted on continuing to stitch with the wrong darn color of floss (another question would be why I would suddenly feel compelled to stitch with the exact color listed in the floss table, especially since I clearly have no problem with switching out the linen color, but that's a whole 'nother post.) It wasn't until I was three-quarters of the way through the border that I decided to start listening to that tiny little voice. Probably that would be because the tiny little voice was beginning to get a little abusive, with words like "idiot" and "moron" getting tossed around.

Not only did I have to rip out the whole border, but I also had started the outer border, which is totally satin-stitched and was also totally wrong. As were the eighteen letters of the alphabet that I had also already stitched. So a-ripping I did go, and a-restitching I began. I had the border half done again when I discovered that I was off by a couple of stitches. More ripping and restitching ensued. And again I was off far enough that it couldn't be fixed and had to be ripped again. Long story short: I've stitched the inner border on this stupid thing THREE TIMES!!!

But I'm beginning to feel hope that it will be done soon. I'm aiming for the last day of September, which means I have about 55 hours left. I'd better get busy. And I'd better learn to count.

Blogging by Proxy

2009-09-22T11:02:00.005-04:00

Ok, I'm totally overwhelmed with yarn, fiber, and business stuff on top of my everyday stuff. I wanted to share a finished project (socks!), a couple of WIPs, and a new purchase, but I'm too busy to stop and take pictures. My nemesis, photos. So I'm going to direct you here. It's my daughter's blog, and since she's the one that totes a camera just about everywhere, you have much better chances of seeing pictures on her blog. You can see me there sniffing wool fumes and wheeling and dealing with fiber vendors.
It's kind of a shame she didn't have the camera in the car yesterday. We were tootling along together, with Rugrat in her car seat in the back. Suddenly we heard the most dreaded sound in the world--that awful "cough-splash" followed immediately by the most dreaded odor in the world. Yep, somebody in the back seat fwowed up. We got to a bathroom and wiped her off as best we could. I had some clothes destined for Goodwill in the trunk, so we wrapped her up in an old dress shirt of Pappy's, put more shirts over the soggy car seat cover, buckled her back in, and raced for home. We almost made it. Missy looked back at Rugrat and said, "Oh, she is sick--she's looking worse by the--"
"cough-splash cough-splash cough-splash"
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
It's a miracle I didn't get a ticket for speeding. And it's a shame we have no photographic record. And, as God is my witness, I'll never drink chocolate milk again.

Two Exciting Things

2009-09-17T09:54:00.004-04:00

I had two new Etsy "conversations" waiting for me this morning. One was a notification that I was included in Sheepshape's Treasury. That's a collection of items with a common theme; hers is "Spinner's Paradise." Depending on how many people view the Treasury (as well as some other parameters I'm not sure about) it can be chosen for the "front page," which is what comes up when you go to etsy.com. I'm not entirely clear on all the details, but I do know that it's a desireable thing, according to Missy, who is the local Etsy expert, and publicity is good!

The other message was an invitation to submit samples for the Phat Fiber box. I managed to get one of the first ones that was put together some months back, and they have become a small phenomenon. It's a box of about 20 samples of fiber, stitch markers, patterns, yarn, and other assorted goodies. (My box had candied pecans in it, and although I'm not sure what that had to do with fiber, I wasn't complaining!) There's a mad rush to buy the boxes when they're released, and there's even a Phat Fiber group on Ravelry. When you get your own Rav group, you know you've arrived!

That means I really have to get cracking on the dyeing and photography. I ordered merino/bamboo yarn and roving a couple of days ago, and I'm looking forward to working with those because the blend takes the dye in a different way and comes out of the steamer in stunning shades. So I'm off to drink my bucket 'o coffee, then to dye!

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

2009-09-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

Now that would be my life's story! I'm constantly struggling to balance what I need and want to do, while trying to find the energy to do it. I have discovered something interesting, though. A couple of weeks ago I went to a new primary care physician. She took about a ~~gallon~~ ~~quart~~ pint of blood for numerous tests to see if we could find a reason for my never-ending fatigue. The tests came back last week. Everything is normal, except that my vitamin D level is way low. Hmmmm...never had that tested before. So I googled and found this article. Fatigue and chronic pain? Oh, yeah, I have those!

I'm not totally surprised, seeing as I do NOT go out in the sun. I hate being hot and I burn very easily, so I pretty much stay indoors all summer. And this summer I've done almost nothing in the yard, so I really was getting no sun at all. I'm still not comfortable with spending a lot of time in the sun, but I guess I'll have to get at least a few minutes in, along with taking supplements. I never even thought of a vitamin deficiency--or if I had thought of it, I suspected a low B-vitamin level--but apparently you can't always get enough Vitamin D from your diet. Who knew?

On to other important things. Nan was the winner of the Addi needles from the last post's giveaway, and those will be going in the mail to her just as soon as I get done with this post. I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions, and I have plenty of ideas for the next dyeing session.

I made my first Etsy sale over the weekend, so I'm anxious to get more dyed and listed. I spent a while this morning making ads for Ravelry, so I hope those are approved and put in circulation soon. That was not a fun experience at all. I'm a complete digital doofus, and trying to get the ads the right size, then saved and uploaded to Ravelry had me shrieking in frustration. I never imagined what a steep learning curve there would be to doing all this!

I do have two new finished projects to show you. I finished my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl a couple of weeks ago but hadn't had the chance to post the picture until now.

It's so hard to show details of such fine yarn, but you get an idea of how it turned out. I'm extremely happy with this shawl, though I thought the knitted-on border would never end. I had to add an extra increase row and about 40 extra pattern rows to make it big enough, and that's what made the border so long--probably about 1200 rows.

I didn't pin-block this, but steamed it with the iron as I stretched it on my padded sewing table. Pin-blocking would have made the border open up more, but I didn't have enough patience (or pins!) to do that, so iron-blocking was my best option. I doubt anyone will look at it and say, "Gee, it's okay, but you really should have pinned that border out and steamed it better." If they do they'll get a well-deserved poke in the eye!

I'll save the other finished project for a later post. Oh, okay. I'll admit it. I don't have pictures of it yet. Add that to the never-ending "To Do" list!

Whew! A Lotta Work!

2009-09-08T13:37:00.002-04:00

The etsy shop is up and running! Finally! I'm hoping I didn't leave any details out, but I'm bound to find out if I did sooner or later. There's one tiny problem, though. I don't want to let these go:

The sock yarn is a slightly heavier weight than normal sock yarn, and it has a wonderful pearled look and soft, squishy feel. I reeeeaaaallly want to keep it, but it has to go to a new home. Same with the Pink Sunrise merino top. Sigh. It's not as if I don't have a bunch of sock yarn and roving already. But it's hard to part with what you've made all by your little self!

Now that the worst is over of getting the shop going, it should be easier every time I have to update. So the next thing on the agenda is more dyeing!! And to celebrate the grand opening, I'm giving away a 24-inch size 3 (3.25) Addi lace circular needle. I love the cable and the tips on this needle, but they're plated with something that makes my teeth itch when I hear them rub against each other. It's the fingernails-on-chalkboard effect.

So leave a comment with a suggestion of a color or fiber you'd like to see in the shop, and I'll pick a random number for that commenter to get the needle. I'll keep this open until midnight Eastern time on ~~Tuesday~~. (EDIT: I forgot what day it was because of the holiday. The giveaway will stay open until midnight Wednesday.)

Finally, Something Accomplished!

2009-09-02T16:58:00.000-04:00

This is my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl from Martha Waterman's book. It's not difficult, but I had to add an extra increase section to make it as long as I wanted. That meant that the 4-row edging took absolutely for-stinkin'-ever!!

But, today I finished the edging. I could weep with joy. So all that remains is crocheting across the top edge to stabilize it, and then I have to block it. I must say that I'm not looking forward to blocking this, and I'm really not sure quite how I'm going to do it. I would have to buy a boatload of T-pins to be able to pin out each little point on the edging, so I suspect it will have to be done in sections. I'll play my Scarlett O'Hara card here: I'll think about it tomorrow.

Because of the s-l-o-w progress on the shawl, I'm way behind on my 52 in 52 plan. I did cast on a new pair of pretty socks, so maybe I can get those done fairly quickly and try to make up for lost time. I'm running into a little issue here though. I really need to make a couple of little girl items that are in the queue. If I don't get started soon, the Rugrat will be too big for what I'm planning to make her.

And that reminds me of a tidbit that I don't believe I've shared yet. We expect a grandson in January. How cool is that?? One of each. I couldn't be happier! Let's hope for a safe and easy arrival (and my son is hoping for a late December arrival. Tax break, you know.)

I'm still adjusting to being more-or-less unemployed. I say more-or-less because dyeing for the Etsy shop is going strong. I had to postpone the opening date from September 1st to the 8th because I simply couldn't get all the little details nailed down in time. Little details like PHOTOGRAPHS. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that the photos are what drag me down. I hate to blog without any photos at all, and obviously the Etsy thing won't happen without pictures. So I either have to nag the husband to get them done soon or I'll have to tackle it myself. I probably had better learn sometime.

Off to crochet and plan the blocking strategy!

Why We Don't Eat at the Table

2009-08-27T09:46:00.005-04:00

That would be because it usually looks something like this:

I can pretty much explain why each thing is there, instead of its proper home, except for the Dora the Explorer panties. I guess they fell out of the bag the Rugrat brought when she came to visit last night. She's potty-trained, but has the occasional accident (I suspect because she gets too busy doing something and ignores the signals that she needs to GO NOW!)

Anyway, I'll get it all put away today, or almost all of it. The husband's tools may have to go in a box for him to sort out later. I have these spells of being determined to keep the dining room table clear, but stuff always seems to creep back on before I notice. Partly that's because it's by the back entrance, so everything gets dropped there when we come in the house. But really, I'd like to at least give the impression of being civilized occasionally!

As you can see, I've been dyeing!! Woo-hoo! This is part of what I've gotten done. Here are close-ups of a couple of things:

My first hand-dyed projects! I was so thrilled when I took them out of the plastic wrap after they'd been steamed! The skeins are a super-super-fine single-ply merino. There are 600 yards per skein, so you can imagine how fine it really is, but it still has incredible tensile strength. I've done a little knitting with it on size 0 needles, and it's not as difficult as you might think. That could be because it's single-ply, therefore no splitting like you get with some two-ply laceweight yarns.

So these go in the Etsy shop that's opening Monday. I still have a billion things to do before then--more dyeing, and better pictures. I have to leave the pictures to the husband, because he has the natural instinct for doing good pics, while I just point, shoot, and hope for the best!

Idle Hands...

2009-08-18T15:57:00.002-04:00

...lead one to join social networking sites, apparently. I joined Twitter. I'm not entirely sure why, seeing as how I'm already on Plurk and don't keep up with that very well. I suspect that the people who use mobile phones for their tweeting and/or plurking and/or facebooking are the ones who can keep up with it. But we'll see how it goes. I think I like Plurk better than Twitter, because each post has a drop-down box so you can reply directly. It's much less fragmented, and you can see all the replies to a particular Plurk. I like the timeline format too. I don't know why Twitter is more popular than Plurk--I guess it's just the way fads happen sometimes.

Truth be told, I joined Twitter because I set up a new etsy.com shop today. (I have nothing in it yet, so don't trample each other in the rush to get over there and look at it.) I'm going to do some hand-dyeing of fiber and yarn, but I won't list anything for a couple more weeks. I do have some really terrific cones of super-super-super fine merino yarn (thread, actually) and I look forward to seeing how it comes out of the dyepot. The Twitter account seems to be required marketing, from some of the information I've read. Then again, one must actually "tweet" for it to do you any good!

So since today is technically my first day of being unemployed (had to finish up some loose ends yesterday), I've been making lists and gathering supplies for the dyeing start-up. The down side is that it will put me in competition with some friends who already do fiber dyeing. On the other hand, I think we each will have our own style and that there's such a wide variety of fibers and yarns to work with that I won't be stepping on anyone's toes with what I'm doing. On the third hand, I haven't actually gotten anything dyed yet, so I'm getting ahead of myself anyway. I think Thursday will be "dye day" so I'll be sure to get pics up when I get something done.

Not Entirely Unexpected, But Still...

2009-08-13T17:02:00.000-04:00

I lost my job a couple of hours ago. I'm not totally surprised, as mentioned in the post title, but I was hoping we could hang on there for a little longer. I don't want to give too many details, but I worked from home taking care of client invoices. It has been very nearly the perfect job for me, because the hours ~~are~~ were so flexible. I had certain days to drop the invoices off to the clients, and other than that, I could do the work pretty much whenever I chose. Trust me, when you're coping with fibromyalgia, flexible hours are a blessing. But we lost a client last week, and one today, so the whole thing's folding. Tomorrow is my last day, but I'll have very little to do other than close the post office box and set up mail forwarding.

This comes on the heels of DH's job overtime being cut back, which comes out to around $100 less per paycheck. So I'm not sure what we'll do now. With what's left of his paycheck after expenses we can manage--if we have no emergencies, and you know there are always emergencies!

I could look for a part-time job, but besides the difficulty I would have with set hours (which I would just have to find a way to manage) there are other considerations. I would need new clothes since I only have one pair of good jeans, one pair of grubby jeans, and a few nice tops. (Wasn't it Thoreau who said to beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes?) If I get another job, I will most likely have to drive quite a ways to get to it, and there will be no mileage reimbursement like I get now. I mean, like I did get (haven't gotten used to the idea of being unemployed yet!) Those things aren't small considerations. If I don't get a job, we could sell one car, and I'd be without one during the day. That's not as horrible as it sounds, because I really haven't been going much of anywhere during the day unless it's been work-related. So I could do any errands in the evening. If I had to do something during the day, like a doctor's appointment (not that I'll be able to afford that now!) Missy lives close by, and I know she'd let me use her car. She's kinda nice like that.

Well, anyway. I'm thinking on computer right now, just trying to adapt to the situation. Things will be fine, I'm sure. Now I really do have to knit from the stash! There won't be much yarn-buying going on here!

Putzing Along

2009-08-10T20:06:00.001-04:00

As usual, I've neglected the blog. But that was partly because I was so busy finishing things! Yes! I finished three projects in one day--Saturday, August 1st. That got me on schedule with the "52 Project" goal, so I was quite happy about it. Here are the pics:

Yes, the Girasole is finished, and I absolutely love it. I used Wendy's blocking technique, which worked very well (the instructions are at the end of the post, after the picture of her kitty Lucy.) I think it would have come out slightly larger if I had done the whole pin-blocking thing, but since my back has been giving me fits the past couple of weeks, bending over a king-size bed and using a bazillionty pins for this was a no-go. Next time I'll put the ironing cover on my cutting table and iron it on that. I should be able to stretch it a bit more than I could on the regular ironing board.

If you look closely, you can see the change in color on the border, but Daniele was right. She commented on my last post that it probably wouldn't be noticeable, and it's not. I think that's mostly because the odd skein had to be joined right at the border, and the change of knitting direction and pattern helps hide the difference in shades. If I'd had to use it 50 rounds earlier, it would have been a problem. (BTW, Daniele was also right about my ill-fated attempt at a schedule. How'd you know, D??)

So the Girasole took three and a half skeins of Ranco Multy, at 376 yards per skein, therefore between 1300-1400 yards. If I did it again, I would use one size needle larger (I used a size 3/3.25mm on this one.) BUT. Though I love the shawl, I find round shawls a little awkward to wear. I don't see why it can't be made as a half-circle instead. Yeah, that means purling on the wrong side, but I can handle that. It also means that I have enough Ranco Multy in another colorway to make a half-circle (must...not...start...) BUT. I've made the Girasole, and would like to try something different but sort of the same. Enter Wendy again. She has just finished designing two cool round shawls (here and here), so one of those will be going on the list.

Next item:

This is the 2003 Collector's Heart from Heart in Hand (Celia Turner, designer.) It's another small cross-stitch destined for our bedroom wall.

And we have this:

It started out as this, from Zarzuela's Fibers:

I spun it into a fine singles, and I think it turned out really well. Now I need to figure out how many yards I have so I can decide what it will become. I'm anxious to see it knitted up. I hadn't done any spinning for a long time, and now I remember why I love it. I'm poking around in the fiber stash now, trying to decide what to spin next.

I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be finishing things. (Ok, technically the Tropical Fish yarn isn't finished until I knit it, but it's still progress!) I have to fight the urge to start new things--I think "startitis" will always be an issue with me--but seeing results makes me happy. It's especially true since the fibromyalgia has been flaring up the past couple of weeks, so my life feels very limited at times. I don't get out much unless it's to go to the post office for work, but I at least have something I can do that makes me feel useful. It's not brain surgery or the cure for cancer, but I make pretty stuff, and that has to be worth something, right?

I'm Falling Behind

2009-07-24T21:13:00.000-04:00

Since I joined the Ravelry "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" group, I had hoped to be able to finish at least one project a week, and had clung to the faint hope that I might be able to finish more than one per week. It's not a contest--there's neither prize nor penalty for how many projects I do manage to get done (or not get done, as the case may be), but it still gives me something to aim for. In theory, I should have finished eight things by this coming Sunday. I'm up to six, so that goal is not likely to be reached.

I don't want to get totally neurotic about this. I make things because I love to make things, and I don't want to turn my love of needlework into a JOB (which is why I've gave up trying to earn money from my needleworking skills after a brief fling at it.) But as I have chronic startitis--a horrible affliction--it's good to have a goal. Problem is, so many of the things that I've already started are big projects. I'm still clinging to the plan that I can switch off small projects with large ones, but I can tell already that I'll run out of small things and still be slogging away on the large UFOs when May 31, 2010 rolls around.

Still, it does give me some structure, which I badly need in my life. I kind of ooze from one day to the next, and end up wondering where the week went. I admire people who are able to create structure for themselves and stick to it. Remember the old "Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, bake on Wednesday..." plan? I don't know who came up with it, or how many housewives actually stuck to that program back in the day, but I need something like that. Not that I do much ironing. Or baking, for that matter.

I suspect I need a school-day type of schedule. Say, from 9:00-12:00 I do my paying work. Then from 1:00-3:00 I do housework. 3:00-4:00 could be violin practice, and so on. I think I'll draw up a little schedule and see how it shakes out. Every day won't be the same, because my paying job has kind of random hours. But I'll work something out.

Oooh, gotta post a couple of pics and get outa here. Rugrat and her mommy just pulled in the driveway!!

Here's the latest finished project. This is the 2004 Collector's Heart from "Heart in Hand" (Celia Turner.) I'm making several small heart-themed pieces in these shades for my bedroom so you'll be seeing more like this.

Here's the Girasole still in progress. It doesn't look like much, does it? It's all in the blocking!!

I'm a little worried that I'm going to run short of the right shade of yarn. I have seven skeins of this yarn, all the same color from the same dyelot. Three are like the photo above; three are the same colors, only darker; and one only has a slight family resemblance. I'm on the third skein of the paler shades, and I have a feeling that it will end before the shawl will. I'm hoping I can squeak out the shawl and do the edging with one of the darker colors. That might help disguise the mis-matched shades. At any rate, it's not open-heart surgery, so I'll just let it go the way it wants to. I don't know how well the picture shows the change in color, but the skein lying on the shawl is definitely darker.

Now I really must run. Rugrat has discovered my peanut butter M&Ms. She was kind enough to stomp up here and share one with me. It was a little sticky, as was the kiss I got, but that's ok!

Oops, I Missed It!

2009-07-08T19:21:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was "Ten on Tuesday" day, and I didn't get around to posting. The list was supposed to be your ten favorite songs from the 'eighties. To tell the truth, I missed posting accidentally on purpose, because my ten-favorite-songs-from-the-'eighties list would probably have been even shorter than my ten-guilty-TV-pleasures list. Now, that's not because I hated 'eighties music quite that much, though a lot of it was lame. Or grody. Or whatever term we were using back then to indicate contempt. And therein lies the problem. I can't remember songs from the 'eighties.

That's not exactly right, either. I guess it's just that it's all blurring together. See, I know that Led Zeppelin and John Denver were the 'seventies, because I can remember listening to them while I was in school. (Yes, I listened to both, and yes, that's probably the first time you've seen both names used in the same sentence.) But I have no specific memories to hang music of the 'eighties and 'nineties on. I had kids. It's all a blur after 1982.

Ok, I do know that Wham-with-an-exclamation-mark was definitely an 'eighties group. But they don't make it on my ten favorite songs list. And, of course, unless you've been living on a desert island or are in a vegetative state (in either case you wouldn't be reading this anyway) you know that Michael Jackson released his "Thriller" album in the 'eighties. But as heretical as it may be, that doesn't make my top ten list either. (Since I'm confessing all my bizarre music tastes, I may as well admit here that I don't really care for the Beatles. So sue me.) Was Whitesnake the 'eighties, or were they early 'nineties? See, I can't even remember song names, so I have to fall back on bands. Nirvana is 'nineties, right? Or were they late late 'eighties too?

Wait, Bruce Springsteen. "Dancing in the Dark." I liked that song. That was definitely 'eighties. There, that's one. Though I really don't know if it would be one of my top ten songs of the 'eighties. That's a pretty narrow field--one song per year. So I got nothing.

Except this. This was the 'eighties, and while I liked the song the first couple of times I heard it, you know how it is when you hear a song for the 4,763,928th time. But this song has been brought back to life in a new and totally exiting way. To make up for my FAIL at the music list, I give you "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as you've never heard it. Enjoy. This just may have made the 'eighties worth living through.

Ten on Tuesday--TV

2009-06-30T16:02:00.001-04:00

10 Guilty Pleasures on TV

1. Clean House

2. ER reruns

3. Law & Order reruns (except the "Criminal Intent" series. Can't stand the guy doing his "Columbo" imitation.)

4. Ummm...hmmm...well...

Huh. Ten on Tuesday FAIL. I just don't watch much TV. And honestly, I don't feel any guilt about the above list. OK, "Clean House" is a reality show, which I sort of object to just because I think reality is wayyyy overdone, but I do like seeing everyone else's mess. And it always, always spurs me into cleaning out a cupboard or a drawer or something. So I think that counts as educational TV. No, make that "inspirational" TV. The other two should go into the "educational" category, because how else would I know about basic police procedure or what to do in a trauma room: "Bag him, cross-type, C-spine & chest films, chem 7, glucose and BA levels, and call a surgeon for a consult. Someone get me a cut-down tray!" (Well, it might be useful someday.)

Occasionally I catch part of "Mythbusters" while hubby's watching, and I end up getting sucked in purely for the fun of seeing the unmitigated glee with which the one guy blows things up on a regular basis. See how much I pay attention? I don't know what his name is, but the bigger the blast or wreckage for him, the better. It's fun to see someone enjoy his job so much.

I'm slogging around today with "brain fog" due to fibromyalgia. I've noticed that I had a spell of feeling better a couple of weeks ago, but it's slipped away. Oddly enough (sarcasm here because exercise is the one thing that you MUST do with FM,) the good spell coincided with the few days that I went to the ice arena and skated a bit. Not much--only about a half hour each time. I have no leg or core muscle strength, so no jumps or spins like I used to do. Plus I'm terrified of falling. So all I did was go slowly around the rink. After the first time back I got up the courage to skate backwards a little, but my balance is still shaky. I feel old.

So I'd better get back on the exercise wagon ASAP. At least ice skating is something I enjoy, and it's cool in the rink! That's always a plus!

Finished Projects!

2009-06-29T19:31:00.000-04:00

Yes! I have five, count 'em, FIVE finished projects for the 52 Projects in 52 Weeks group on Ravelry. What a great group. It meshes so neatly with the blog and may actually cause some major finishing activity on my part. Shazam!

Here we have the Blue Heron Bulky Chenille scarf. Again, it's one of those colorways that just doesn't do well in photographs, especially with all the texture. I got this at a discount from my LYS because it was a tangled mess and the owner gave up and sold it to me for half-price. I love a deal, don't you? It was well worth the time spent untangling it, and was a quick K3P3 pattern that I knitted a little loose. I washed it and threw it in the dryer, so it shrank and softened into a lovely kittenish feel. Definitely a success.

Here are the finished Numma Numma Toasty socks. I showed them a few posts back, and you can see the color a little better here, but it's still not perfect. The other picture was too dark; this one is too light, so imagine it in between, and you'll have it. These socks feel fabulous on my feet, and I keep stalking The Loopy Ewe, hoping to grab more. Though more sock yarn is not something I really need right now!

This is a sampler I started about five years ago, in memory of my best friend who was killed in a hit-and-run accident back in 1993. Since I started it, several other close friends have passed away, so it's kind of a memorial of all those I've loved and lost. I do have hope of seeing them all again in the resurrection promised in the Scriptures, so this has not been a sad project--more of a reminder that we can enjoy each other's company again in the future.

I'd already made one of these Noro Striped Scarves, and I haven't the faintest idea where, when, or why I bought more Kureyon to make another, but this is another easy, quick project. I do find myself sort of buried in scarves, so I may have to think about who might like a scarf this winter. Or I may be a selfish pig and keep them all for me me me!!

As I was working on this scarf, it occured to me that I could spin my own two colorways and get the exact shades I want for another of these scarves. I must put that on my to-do list. I foresee a pleasant afternoon spent at the local fiber shop (and yes, I live close to a LFS that has a terrific fiber selection) choosing the colors to spin for My Very Own Striped Scarf In Exactly The Shades I Want.

Last, but absolutely not least, I have actually finished a sweater!! Staggering, isn't it? This was started on May 11 and finished on June 27, so that's a pretty short length of time for me, at least when it comes to finishing big projects. True, I might have gotten it done sooner if I hadn't been knitting socks and scarves and whatnot, but the 52 Project thing means I have to whip out a quickie project now and then to stay on track.

The pattern for this called for two colorways, just like the Striped Scarf, but I had these 12 balls of one color, so I just juggled the two balls a bit as I was knitting so the colors wouldn't fall next to each other. Sometimes it didn't quite work, especially as there's so much orange in this colorway (note the bottom of the sleeve--that's what I mean) but I love how it came out. It looks very Kaffe Fasset-ish to me. I'm not thrilled with the neckline (because I knitted two extra rounds, and it's too much) and I made the sleeves too long, but I'm still happy with it. I may get up the gumption to rip out those two extra rounds on the neckline and cut off an inch of the sleeves, but for right now I'm just going to pet it.

I feel quite pleased with myself. Finishing is such a kick! Oh, and just wait until you see the Girasole! The Ranco Multy was an inspired choice (ok, not so much a choice as the only thing I had in the stash that I thought would work. Close enough to inspired for me.) I have my slant issues worked out, so it's proceeding at an unusually rapid pace. That's my kind of knitting!

It's All Wendy's Fault

2009-06-25T15:29:00.004-04:00

I tried to resist this, I really did. I'm supposed to be finishing projects. You know, that whole "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" thing I've been writing about? But after following Wendy's progress on her Girasole shawl, and finally seeing the finished project I could hold out no longer. I rummaged through the boxes of yarn stacked in the stash room, and finally found the skeins of Ranco Multy I bought on sale last year from Little Knits. * (Naturally, it took quite a bit of rummaging because they turned out to be in the one box I set aside because I knew that yarn couldn't be in that box, because that box was specifically for lace yarn, so there was no possible way I could have put fingering weight/sock yarn in that box because that box was clearly the laceweight box, so of course the Ranco would not be in that box. It was in that box. Right on top.)

Sooo, I paid for and downloaded the pattern, did a small swatch that clearly was not correct, said the heck with a swatch because it will block out fine anyway, tossed those needles in a box and put the pattern, new needles (guesstimating the correct size this time), and yarn in a basket, took my sleeping pill, and tottered off to bed.

I put on the iPod like I usually do, and waited to drift off to the sweet strains of Joshua Bell's violin. But I couldn't stop thinking about that shawl. Finally, I got up, retreived the basket and cast on.

Oh, it was blissful. I sat cross-legged on the bed, listening to the violin, knitting, frogging the first circular cast-on and casting on again without even muttering under my breath, working my way through round after round. I finished Chart A and started Chart B before my brain gave out somewhere around 1AM. Sometime around 4AM I woke up and thought about the shawl, but forced myself to resist the temptation. I'm not totally insane.

I woke to someone pounding on the door at 10AM to tell me the power company was going to be trimming our trees. Ok, whatever. I staggered back to the bed, picked up the basket, rubbed away the sleepy dust in my eyes, and started working the rest of Chart B. Before coffee. (Anyone see where this is going yet?)

Dum dee dum dee dum...Chart B was a breeze, and I finished it and decided it might be a good idea to have some coffee and get dressed before noon at least. I got dressed, made my tea (not coffee because the coffee pot was still dirty from yesterday because some slob around here spends more time knitting than housekeeping), and carried the tea and the basket into the sun room and settled in to start Chart C. Dum dee dum dee d...WHAT THE...???

Now let me say that this is a terrific pattern. The charts are clear and large, and the instructions are well-written with plenty of helpful tips. Anyone could make this pattern. Seriously. Anyone, that is, who can read and follow instructions and remember that a right-slanting slash means "knit 2 together" and a left-slanting slash means "slip, slip, knit" (or is it the other way around?) It's an important distinction (and I strongly advise that you look it up for yourself because I truly cannot remember at this point), and I have certainly done enough lace in my life that I should know by now which slanty line means what. I got it exactly WRONG for all of Chart B, which I found out as soon as I started Chart C.

Oh, the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth!! Well, not really. Since I had no coffee onboard, I simply didn't have the energy. I just muttered under my breath, figured out where Chart A ended, and ripped back to that point. Which is why you can see what appears to be an entire skein of yarn that has exploded in the basket in the photo above. It's really the former part of the shawl I was going to blog about, and that post was going to have an entirely different feel to it. The joy!! The delight!! But it was not to be.

By the way, I have now carefully written on the chart exactly what a right-slanting line and a left-slanting line mean. And I certainly don't blame Wendy for my slant issues. It's just that this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't made such a pretty shawl, and that wouldn't have happened if Sheri hadn't started the KAL, but it's really Jarod's fault for inventing beautiful patterns that contain those pesky slanty stitches.

*I would have bought the yarn from Sheri for this shawl, since she's the one that started the KAL, but I'm trying very hard to knit from my stash. (Mostly that's so I can rationalize that since I'm knitting from stash, I'm not really violating the spirit of the "52 Project" plan.) So, Sheri, I apologize. It's tacky to be KALing with one shop while using another shop's yarn, I know. But trust me, hon. I'll make it up to you, especially if I can ever hit the website at the exact same moment the Wollmeise gets put up!

Ten on Tuesday

2009-06-23T15:35:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'll play along. These are in no special order, just typing them as they come to mind. Oh, and I know that figure skating and gymnastics are not considered sports by some people, but I don't think two guys getting in a ring and beating the living crap out of each other is a sport, so to each his/her own.

10 Favorite Sports Moments Ever:

Al Michaels screaming, "Do you believe in miracles? YESSSSS!"
Sarah Hughes coming from nowhere to win the gold medal in figure skating in the (what year?) Winter Olympics
The first time I saw Olga Korbut's backflip on the uneven parallel bars in the 1972 Olympics
Seeing Hank Aaron hit the home run in 1974 that took him past Babe Ruth's record
Seeing the Cincinnati Reds sweep the World Series in 1990
Franz Klammer's amazing and scary all-out downhill skiing run for the gold medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics
Jennifer Capriati's ace for match point in the finals of the Australian Open against Martina Hingis (what year??)
Pretty much anything Roger Federer does. The guy moves like a cat. He's a joy to watch.
Pete Sampras' serve that literally blew a hole through the racquet strings of Pat Rafter in an ATP match
The drop shot I hit in a doubles match that left our opponents standing open-mouthed six feet from the net wondering how the heck that ball hit the court and died the way it did. (Hey, nobody said they had to be professional sports moments, did they?)

As you can see, I have an extremely limited frame of reference for sports. I'm sure I've seen some other great moments, but I can't put names and times to them. So I guess that's what "memorable" means, eh? I would have included Torvill & Dean's gold medal-winning performace to "Bolero" in the 1984 Winter Olympics, but if figure skating is iffy for some folks as a sport, ice dancing is really questionable. I don't care one way or another, but it was a beautiful performance (which word is probably what disqualifies it as being "sport." Whatever.)

The funny thing about the first one is that I never watch hockey. I just happened to be home that evening, sick with strep throat. My parents were gone, and I was lying in the recliner too sick to care what was on TV. The Olympics were on, it was hockey, what the heck. I'd watch. It didn't take long for me to forget about the strep throat. That was one amazing game. Ya gotta love it when the underdog wins!

On Track...Sort Of...

2009-06-21T19:51:00.000-04:00

I've been working hard at the "52 Projects" goal. I've finished three things (yeah, yeah...I WILL do pictures soon) and have numbers 4 and 5 almost done. Actually, one of them is the Noro sweater I was working on during our ~~death trip~~ drive to Knoxville last month, and all I have to do is sew the side seams, take care of a few yarn ends, and steam the neckline a bit. Why, then, am I procrastinating so? I could have had this stupid sweater done a week and a half ago if I'd just gotten busy and blocked it. I finally did that, which of course was not nearly the pain-in-the-neck I'd expected it to be, so I should have zoomed right through the rest of it. Well, I did have to pick up and knit around the V-neck, but that was pretty mindless. It has taken me two days to sew in the sleeves, and I simply cannot force myself to pick up (hah--I originally typed "puke up") that needle and finish sewing the sides. I'd better come up with some sort of reward to spur myself on. Nothing is coming to mind. This is serious resistance.

The other almost-done project is a Noro striped scarf. You know, the one made popular by Jared of brooklyn tweed. (BTW, I also want to make the Girasole and the Hemlock Ring off that website. He's a talented guy and I should totally stop reading his blog. New patterns I need like I need a root canal.) My scarf is turning out really well--I'm happy with the colors I chose, though I really cannot recall when or where I bought the yarn. I find that disturbing. Anyway, I do have a question. Why is it that when I have two balls of yarn in two completely different colorways that share, say, ohhhh, a yard or two of the roughly the same color, those two colors will ALWAYS end up being right next to each other in the stripe pattern?? Why why why???

I also finished a cross-stitch project. Now, technically, this "52 Project" group on Ravelry is for knitting, crocheting, and spinning. But I did ask the moderator if cross-stitch and needlepoint would be okay to include and she was fine with it. That's good because I have about 87 cross-stitch projects in plastic baggies waiting to be made. You think I'm kidding? (Note to self: take picture of vintage suitcase containing cross-stitch projects and post on blog. Or maybe not.) This was another "procrastinated" project, and it was all because of one teeny fact that I had never grasped until now. If you are working a project that has "over one" stitches (meaning you work the 'x' over the intersection of two perpendicular threads instead of four, which also means that the said 'x' is extreeeemely tiny) you really, really should not use fabric that is of a higher thread count than 28 threads per inch. It's a major headache. Sooo, this project has an entire verse in "over one", and I did it on 32-count linen. AND I MADE A GLARING MISTAKE BECAUSE I CAN'T COUNT. So that had to be (carefully) pulled out and redone. Maybe that's why I can't finish the Noro sweater. I used up my motivation on that stupid blankety-blank cross-stitched verse. But it's done now, only five years after I started it, and since it's a "mourning" sampler in remembrance of a lost friend, I'm glad it's finished. Now I have to come up with the funds to frame it. Speaking of which...

...I've added an Amazon store widget at the bottom of the page. So just in case you're jonesing for a Kindle or ~~several hundred~~ a few books or CDs, well...you know...there's a convenient link right down there at the bottom. Look down there. See? It's right there, right at the bottom of the page. Just sayin'.

The family is fairly well. Mom struggles on, daughter-in-law is discovering the joys of early-pregnancy fatigue, and Rugrat's mother is discovering the joys of ER visits with the Rugrat. Apparently Rugrat fell off a slide at the McDonald's Playland while she was visiting with her father yesterday and knocked herself out. Daddy said when he got to her, he couldn't wake her up for about ten seconds or so. Off to the ER, but everything checked out fine, and she's on her usual tear through the house today, or so I've heard. Really, these things are harder on the parents (and grandparents) than they ever are on the kids. I still shudder over accidents my kids had that they don't even remember!

I'm doing my usual grousing at the hot weather. I've spent four days out of the last ten dealing with heat and/or exercise induced migraines, so I'm looking forward to October already. I really need to find another climate to live in. Is there anywhere in the world where it's October year-round? I'd even take October through March year-round if it could be had. Oh well. I stay inside with the AC on high and continue to work on the Projects. Three down, 49 to go. At least for this year.

Do I Get a Prize?

2009-06-06T16:12:00.001-04:00

That would be for being the world's worst blogger. I'm always stunned to see how many ~~days~~ weeks have passed between blogs. It's not as if I'm doing nothing. I am still knitting and playing violin and doing housework. Ok, I'm not really doing housework. At least not regularly. Sometimes something comes over me and I have a momentary spasm of cleaning, but it passes quickly. I did clean the bathroom yesterday. But that cleaning urge is now but a faint memory, though I do feel a let's-move-the-computer-out-of-the-bedroom-and-into-the-freshly-painted-office-that-was-formerly-the-Rugrat's-room-where-it-belongs twitch. I hope it lasts until DH gets home, because it's not something I can do alone, and I do so look forward to having a bedroom that actually looks like a bedroom, not a computer room that also happens to house a king-size bed.

We have had some familial excitement around here the past month. My mother was taken ill on the trip home from vacation, and had to be hospitalized for a week in a town five hours away. It looked pretty serious at first, so my brother and his wife, my two kids, and I jumped in my son's mini-whatever-it-is (not a van, but not quite a car either) and headed down there to check in on her and Dad. Fortunately, she's home and recovering, but it was a bit iffy for a while. It would have been a great trip if it hadn't been for her illness. My family's way of dealing with stress and worry is to get stupid and silly and laugh at inappropriate times for totally inappropriate reasons. It's a good thing my sister-in-law is used to this, otherwise it would have been an extreeeeeeemely long trip for her. As it was, I think she was ready to disown us all. And we had to laugh hysterically to cover the fact that we were gripping the door handles in sheer terror as my son zoomed through the mountains of southern Kentucky/northern Tennessee during a raging storm. It was dark, but I know the view over Jellico, TN quite well, thankyouverymuch. I'm not sure if it would have been better if we had been able to see. The imagination tends to work a little overtime in such situations. And my son did NOT learn to drive that fast from me!

So Mom is home and doing as well as can be expected. Aaaaaand....I found out I'm going to be a Grandma, er, Mimi again!! My son's wife is expecting in January! How's that for excitement? It hasn't really sunk in yet, and I've only just begun to think about possible knitting projects. I do have plenty of yarn left over from the great cotton blanket I knitted for the Rugrat, so I guess she and her cousin-to-be will have matching blankets. I think I'm hoping it's a boy. But OK...I guess I can make do with another granddaughter. Heavy sigh. If I must.

We've had the Rugrat over to spend the night once since Missy's wedding. Pappy took her out to buy her a special sleeping bag, so she has her very own Disney princess "feeping bag" to use when she stays. Of course, she has to fall asleep in our bed first, and we have to be lying down with her, but well....what can you do? No, she's not spoiled. Hush.

In the knitting department, I've joined the "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" group on Ravelry that started June 1st, which kind of makes me giggle. I mean, really. A project done every week??? Me??? But maybe it will help me finish some things, and since that's what this blog is ALL about-- cough, cough --that's a good thing, isn't it? I figure I'll have to finish a lot of socks and scarves and such, and work on the big projects in between. I have a pair of socks that I need to finish by tomorrow so I can post them in the first week's tally, then I'll go back to the cabled sweater for a few days before I finish whipping out a scarf for the second week's tally. That, my friends, is the master plan. Discipline, however, is not my strong suit, so we'll see how it goes. It's a good thing I started that Noro sweater right before we took off on our trip to see Mom. I had something to work on when I wasn't clutching door handles, and since all I have to do is finish the second sleeve, block and sew it together, and knit on the neckband, I'm golden! See, sometimes it pays to start new projects when you shouldn't, right?

I think I'll go clean off the computer desk before hubby gets home. I stand a much better chance of getting the darn thing out of the bedroom today if the printer, monitor, and keyboard are "temporarily" housed on his side of the bed. I don't think he'd like sleeping in the Disney princess "feeping bag."

Nuthin' But the Knittin'

2009-05-07T21:18:00.001-04:00

Since I've strayed so widely from the whole point of this blog, I decided that today's installment will be about The Projects.

First, the biggie:

What you see here are the sleeves, back, and one front half. I still haven't decided how long to make this, but since my hands are killing me, the short (hip-length) version is getting more likely all the time. I really wanted this to be almost knee-length, but I don't think I can do it.

Here's a close-up of the cables and how terrific this yarn (wool/mohair blend from Brown Sheep) makes them look:

For those mindless TV-watching moments, I give you the Sock Yarn Blankie:

This was originally done by Shelly Kang, and the info is on her blog. After doing Summer of Socks '08, I had lots of little bits of sock yarn left over, so what else could I do but start my very own blankie?? There's a great group on Ravelry that does yarn swaps, so we trade all over the country for everyone else's leftovers. We even have swaps with new yarn, which has been great because I've gotten to fondle yarns from lots of indie dyers. Another nice thing about this project is that I'm in no rush to finish it. It will take a lot of little bits of yarn to make a good-sized blanket, and as time passes I'll get to add new, fresh yarns and colors. It's nice to be working on a project and feel no pressure to get it finished.

Of course, would I ever not be knitting socks?Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can get a better idea of the colors and textures:

The yarn on the left is from Creatively Dyed Yarns. It's Calypso yarn in the color Barbuda. She has an overabundance of fabulous colors, and this photo does not do it justice. I've also read that her yarn base is the same as the elusive Wollmeise yarn, so I wanted to try it. It's very different from "normal" sock yarn. It feels almost like cotton, and is made up of about eight verrrry fine plies. That makes it a little splitty to work with, but the knitted fabric feels wonderful.

On the right is Numma Numma Toasty in Blackberry Jam. My skein is much darker than the website shows, and again, the picture doesn't do it justice. It's the most mouthwatering color I've ever used, and the yarn is soft, squishy, and a total delight to work with. It's my new favorite yarn. Unfortunately, it's hard to get hold of, but I happened to snag some at The Loopy Ewe a couple of months back.

Speaking of socks, I won a contest! I get to pick out a skein of Mathieu's manly hand-dyed yarn. How cool is that? I mean, I'd hate to run out of sock yarn!

So that's what's going on here, besides the Great Sewing/Stash/Weaving/Knitting/Quilting Room(s) Clean-Up. I hope to have pictures that show clean and organized rooms soon.

It was a beautiful day today, so I planted some yellow violas around Emmy-cat's little gravesite. I still can't quite believe she's gone, but I'm getting used to it. That makes me sad too.

My Final Caturday

2009-05-02T18:17:00.000-04:00

This will be my last Caturday post--not that I did many of them, but I have put a few pics of my little Emmy-cat up. Thursday I had to have her put to sleep. I've had lots of kind comments on Plurk and Ravelry--so many people know what it's like to lose a pet, and they've all been comforting.

It was the right decision, given her age (14) and health issues, and I was really expecting to have to do it when I took her to the vet. But it was harder than I could have possibly imagined. Part of me wishes I'd brought her home for another day or two, but part of me wonders if that would have been worse. At any rate, she's not suffering, and she was a good kitty. Ok, she wasn't always a good kitty, but she was my baby, and it hurts to lose her. I keep expecting to hear her little chirps and mews as I go through my day, but it's awfully quiet around here.

We won't be getting another cat. DH never was crazy about having cats, and my brother is so allergic that he can't come and visit. So yesterday I did what felt like burning a bridge--I threw out the litter box.

Here's a picture of her final resting place under my lilac bush. I put down some pink poppy seeds, and I plan to get some Johnny Jump-ups and transplant a Bleeding Heart. I'll mulch it and this fall I'll put in some little bulbs and make it a nice little garden spot.

It's very odd to be a knitter without a cat. My lap feels empty. So does a little place in my heart.

I've Almost Recovered

2009-04-28T09:52:00.003-04:00

The wedding went off beautifully. Not perfectly, which I knew already, but beautifully anyway. Here are a couple of pictures of the lovely-though-ill bride. I'll wait while you ooh and ahh.

Done? She cleans up nice, doesn't she? I can finally post a link to the dress page so you can see it in more detail. She really was stunning, and her waist looked like it was about eight inches around. Fabulous!! Poor baby, she was really sick, and only a big slug (or two) of DayQuil got her through. Once the dancing started, though, she seemed to forget all her troubles! She nearly killed me on the dance floor. I'm sure there's a picture of that little incident somewhere...

As soon as my son gets the rest of the photos uploaded and fixed to his liking, I'll have a few more. I figure I'm obligated to show one of me, so I'm hoping there's one in which I don't look totally frazzled and exhausted (or lying sprawled on the dance floor.) And I hope there is at least one of Rugrat taken before her ringlets drooped!

We had tons of desserts left over, so I was begging people to take things home as we were cleaning up. And we had about ~~a hundred~~ ~~twenty~~ five pounds of cake left over too. It was delicious, but the cakes were the only real issue we had with the entire event. We were so excited about the groom's cake, because we ordered a carrot cake because the Fiance/Groom loves it so much. We were specific about the decorations--tiny carrots with a little piped vine, a few forget-me-nots to match the flowers on the topper, and the sides were to be decorated to match the main cake. Here's what we got:

I can laugh (sort of) now, but when we walked in and saw that, we were speechless. I really wanted to cry, and my mantra did not help a bit at that moment. Missy just looked at it and then staggered off to the dressing area (probably for another shot of DayQuil) and I tried to deal with the hideousness of it all. There was nothing to be done but to scrape the orange "poop" blobs out of the center so we could put the topper on. You can see a little bit of orange still there at the base of the topper, but the friend who was serving the cake took a little frosting off the back and covered it as best she could. We were soooo disappointed, because we wanted that cake to be sooper-special for The Groom, and I was actually embarrassed to show it to him. Here's the kicker: when we were ordering the cake, she had one like this in the display case. I said, "Now, our cake is NOT going to look like that, is it?" and was reassured that no, it would have tiny carrots, vines, etc. and space open in the center for the topper. Epic Fail.

This was the main cake:

This was closer to what we had ordered, but you can see some problems with it. Besides the gap between the tiers and the cockeyed swags, the color was wrong, and there were supposed to be swags of roses on the top tier--even more roses than on the bottom. Like I said, we told the baker all this, and she carefully wrote it down and drew diagrams, and even had the picture from the Martha Stewart wedding cake book to refer to. I don't think her decorator read those notes very well!

But it tasted wonderful, and it ended as well as could be hoped. When I returned the cake plates, I told the baker that we were not happy with the cakes, showed her the pictures, and said that I really hated to complain and had been putting off the trip to the shop because I just did not want to have the conversation. We talked a bit, she apologized (what else could she do after seeing that groom's cake???) and said she appreciated that I was being nice and polite, while expressing my disappointment. She ended up refunding all but about $100 of the cost of the cakes before I even could ask her for a refund, so that was very cool and upstanding of her. (I'd like to have heard the conversation she had with her decorator!!)

So now we're settling back to normal life, whatever that is. I'm swiftly reclaiming Missy's room for my sewing area, and have already moved in the fabric shelves, my portable cutting table, and my sewing machine. The next step is to get the window AC unit in, because it's already getting too hot to work up here. I got DH busy with painting one of the downstairs bedrooms which is now the office because I'm working from home. Once that's done, I can move my office stuff out of the sunroom, and then the sunroom can be reorganized into my sitting room and music room. It also needs to be painted, but I haven't dropped that little tidbit on DH. Next is the kitchen, then the bedroom, and then...maybe the bathroom, but we'll have to wait and see.

I have been knitting. I got quite a bit done on my Jo Sharp cardigan. I've finished the sleeves, and I've gone as far as I can on the back, and I've started one of the front panels. The fronts have to be finished, then the back finished to the same length, so the back is on a holder for right now. The original plan was for this cardigan to be somewhere between mid-thigh and knee length, but I'm not sure if that will happen. It really hurts my hands to work on this, and I am nervous about whether I'd have enough yarn to make it that length. The pattern shows it as hip-length, so I estimated the extra amount I'd need, but I worry about getting through the whole sweater and coming up short when it's time for the shawl collar. I think I'll make the fronts to the point of decreasing for the neckline, then make my final decision based on how much yarn I have left. Here are some older pictures of the sleeves, but I'll take some of recent progress when I get a moment.

You can see how much cabling there is in this pattern, and it's turning out beautifully. The color in the top picture is pretty accurate--a lovely silver-gray. I think I've put these pictures on the blog before, so sorry for the recycling!

I also have my usual sock project going, and the sock blankie as well. Now that I have the space again to work on quilts, I may get back to the one I was making for my bedroom. I haven't decided yet. I have so many UFOs that it's hard to decide which one takes priority, and now that I've been sorting and moving things in my sewing rooms, I'm rediscovering things I'd forgotten about. I did not need that!

The Final Countdown

2009-04-06T14:53:00.002-04:00

It's the final few days before the wedding, and I'm not sure that I can do anything that needs to be done until Thursday and Friday. I need to make cookies, but it's too soon. I need to get my hair cut, so that will happen tomorrow. I need to get DH's clothes ready, but he has to go buy a new shirt and tie--so all I can do is nag and get his black suit to the cleaner's no later than tomorrow. I need to clean...no, I don't need to do that. No point. I need to iron my dress, but we're borrowing a friend's steamer, so I have to wait until we get that. I need to make Rugrat a slip to wear with her dress, but Missy hasn't bought a little tank top yet, so I have to wait for that.

In short, by Wednesday I'll be starting to get wound up, and Thursday and Friday will be insane.

Good news: the MOB dress now fits, due to dieting and a nifty waist cincher that hides the back fat but still allows me to breathe and move.

Bad news: I still have not gotten a check, so I have no more money. I can pay some bills this week, but I'll have to put some wedding stuff on a credit card, which REALLY ticks me off, as I had plenty of money set aside for the wedding that ended up being used for bills.

Good news: today is baseball's Opening Day. (OK, technically they made last night Opening Day, but it's not really Opening Day until the Cincinnati Reds have the parade and throw out the first pitch. I don't care what the baseball Powers That Be say, it ain't Opening Day until the Reds SAY it's Opening Day.)

Bad news: the Reds probably don't have a snowball's chance of making it to post-season play. But we're used to that now, so maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised this year.

And my mantra for the week: "They will still be married." As in:

If we don't have enough styrofoam coffee cups, they will still be married.
If we don't get the decorations perfect, they will still be married.
If Rugrat doesn't walk down the aisle like we hope she will, they will still be married.
If we run short on food or people think the food is crappy, they will still be married.
If this giant zit on my chin doesn't go away and looks like a stoplight in the pictures, they will still be married.

It's a rather comforting mantra. I plan to repeat it often.

Hey, It's Only Been a Month!

2009-03-08T19:47:00.000-04:00

So I'm not setting the world afire with my blog. Meh.

That pretty much describes my mental outlook these days. A lot of things are combining to make me feel like my head is going to go all 'splodey, so I'm only doing the bare minimum to keep going.

I'm now working from home, which is a good thing. But because the parent company is having a cash-flow issue because of some things that happened last year, I haven't been getting paid regularly. Which is a bad thing. I know things are looking up, and I'm sure the money will start coming in soon, but in the meantime there's a tiny person running around in the back of my brain screaming, "OMG, we have no money and we have all these bills and the wedding and I need new glasses and what if I don't get paid and what if they raise the interest on the credit cards and should I make an appointment with the endodontist or just start flossing regularly and geez I haven't had a mammogram for five years so I really should do that and how am I going to get this weight off before the wedding and I just got an invitation to the 30-year class reunion which means I'm really old and OMG we have no money and we have all these bills OMG OMG OMG!!!!"

Which is why I've been sleeping a lot.

In knitting news, because of the maniac running around in my brain, I'm doing simple things like the Sock Blankie. I'm part of a group on Ravelry, and we trade sock yarn bits for our mitered-square blankies, and that's what I've been doing. I'm expecting three packages in the next couple of weeks. It's always fun to see what surprises you get from the trades. I'm not picky about my blankie--I'll put just about any kind of sock yarn in it, except Tofutsies (and I might even use that if I double it.) I'll put up a picture sometime soon, I promise.

The Fiance has moved into an apartment here in town, so we've been back and forth, taking boxes over and putting things away. We can actually see the southwest corner of our basement now. Missy has a lot of household stuff from her first marriage, like pots and pans and dishes, and those were all packed away in our basement. We're looking forward to clearing out some of the things stored in the garage once it warms up.

To tell the truth, because of the wedding planning and all the moving about of stuff in my house, I feel like my life is on hold right now. I'm not cleaning much, because I figure that once she and the baby are moved out, I can do a major clean-up which will include painting and possible re-flooring in a couple of rooms. (I haven't shared this plan with the husband yet, so it's kinda iffy.) AND I can re-claim and rearrange my sewing/weaving/knitting rooms! I'm so looking forward to that. But it's going to be tough when those two leave us. I'm glad they'll be living close by!

No pictures this time. It's more than my tiny little brain can handle. Give me a month or so and I'll get going again. I'm coming up on my first Blogiversary on the 14th, so I'd like to do a little contest, but I think it will have to be postponed. Everything is on hold until this wedding is over. Then maybe we'll return to what passes for normal around here!

Score of the Century!

2009-02-05T17:13:00.035-05:00

I decided to take a day just for myself. I wanted to go to the half-price bookstore to pick up a book on writing and anything else that might catch my eye. Something always catches my eye in the half-price bookstore, so I had high hopes for an extremely pleasant morning/afternoon (depending on how long I browsed and whether I felt the need to hit a yarn shop while I was at it.)

Boy, did something catch my eye. I stood and stared in disbelief, while my mouth opened and closed like a trout snapping at a fly. Ready? Check it out:

Yes, it's the infamous "Tudor Roses" knitting book by Alice Starmore (who may be a mythical creature instead of an actual flesh-and-blood designer.) For those of you who are not knitters, and know nothing of the legendary status of this book, check out this link. I'll wait here. What was that? Used copies selling for anywhere from $175 to $292??? Look closer at the picture below. See the little price tag? It's hard to read, but, yes...it does say $9.98.

Now you understand the hyperventilating trout imitation I was doing in the store. I managed to contain myself after the first audible gasp, but believe me, it was tough. I clutched it in my sweaty hand and didn't put it down until I checked out. I think I would have let someone snatch my purse before I would have given up the book! I couldn't resist telling the clerk about how much this book was commanding on Amazon.com (after I paid for it.) What makes me wonder is that the original owner's name and phone number are inside the book. Many of the other knitting and quilting books I looked through had the same name, so I don't know if someone was just clearing out her stash and had no idea what she had, or if perhaps the lady had passed away and her family disposed of her hobby books this way (a fate I expect most of my fabric, yarn, and books to have.) If I were a ridiculously nice, self-sacrificing person, I'd call the phone number and ask if she wants it back (if she's still among us.) Hmmmmm....I'm not that nice.

Whatever the case, I can't believe that I found this book. I haven't had a chance to look at it, so I plan to make myself a nice hot cup of tea and savor the reading of it. Wouldn't it be ironic if I don't like a thing in it?

I'm Still Alive. I Think.

2009-01-30T13:13:00.041-05:00

This blogging thing has gotten way off track. Part of it is that I hate to blog without picture content, and I can never find the camera when I need it. Well, that's not always true, but getting pictures done and uploaded is my biggest obstacle. I'll try to stick a couple of random ones in, just so I feel like I've done my bloggerly duty.

Life pretty much feels out of control right now. We have a wedding gown, we have a mother-of-the-bride dress, we have the reception hall, we have a cake ordered. So now we have to order the flowers, then knuckle down for the really big job, which is the food for the reception. We're not doing a full-blown dinner, so it will be finger foods like little sandwiches and such, and bite-size dessert thingys. It's mostly a matter of deciding what we'll have, asking friends to help out with the making of everything, then figuring out how and when to get it all to the reception hall. Now I know why people have these things catered, but it's not in our budget.

On the needlework front, since this blog is supposed to be about how I'm finishing UFOs (hush--I can hear the snorts of derision from here), I have three projects that I am focusing on at the moment. One is a Jo Sharp cabled cardigan that I originally planned to make almost knee-length. It may end up being hip-length as called for in the pattern. I do need to set some limits for myself! Another is a needlepoint pillow from Ewe & Eye & Friends, which I'm doing for my bedroom. Said bedroom is on the list for repainting and decorating after The Wedding, so I want to finish a few things for the decor. Third project is a pair of socks. How could I not have a pair of socks in the works??

Why three projects? Why not just work on one at a time? Well, the cardigan takes a lot of concentration and marking off rows, because I'm doing two different cables while increasing. I have to have silence while I work on that (which is why progress is so slow and it will not be knee-length!) The needlepoint is mindless and can be done while I listen to the TV or any other hideous yammering going on around me. But that's not portable, so the socks are the portable mindless project. See, there is a method to my madness, at least in the needlework department.

I figure the house will be trashed until at least a few weeks after the wedding, because Missy is starting to go through the boxes that have been stored in our basement. The boxes contain what we moved out of her house during her divorce, so she's figuring out what she has in the way of kitchenware and dishes and such. Those boxes are stacking up around the edges of various rooms. In other rooms, decorations and tiered dessert plates are piling up, awaiting The Big Day. So we hit the middles of the rooms with the vaccuum cleaner, clean the bathroom occasionally, and keep the dishes and laundry done. Otherwise, housework is not at the top of the priority list.

So that's the life for the moment. Maybe next time I'll have pictures of the three projects. And I'm planning another giveaway, so stay tuned. Speaking of tuned...here is a picture of something else I'm trying to focus on right now, not very successfully:

Ah, my lovely violin. The brief moments I spend with it are not enough, but I'm trying to do at least a little every day. The goal is to finish the 2nd Suzuki book by the end of May, and I'm about halfway through it. So I need to get off the computer and start working on those scales and etudes!

It's All About the Dress

2009-01-13T11:41:00.000-05:00

I have lots of catching up to do since my last post. I'm still sick, so that's part of the reason for neglecting the blog. I don't know what this is that's hanging on so long, but I'm sick of coughing. From what I hear, though, so many people have the same thing, and it takes forever to go away. I've been sick for a solid month, and it's getting a bit old. Especially as I'd planned to go back to ballet class when the studio reopened after the holiday break. Instead I sit here trying to cough up a lung and getting fatter by the minute. The fried-egg sandwiches that have suddenly become an obsession haven't helped.

First things first. I showed you the proposal pic earlier. Here's the response:

Tee hee. Isn't that too cute!!

Next up, due to the demands of Daniele and Jessica, we have pictures of the knitted Wedding Dress in progress:

See, I told you it wasn't much to look at.

Hope sprang eternal that it wouldn't look like a gray rag once it was spread out over a crinoline, perhaps with a pale pink or blue underskirt, but the more I knitted, the more I worried. For one thing, it took me an hour and a half to knit one round of 2400 stitches, and those stitches had to be doubled after twelve inches. I realized that I was seriously going to have to do nothing but knit for the next three months, and there was no guarantee that this thing would look good.

So Saturday, when we went to the bridal shop to pick out bridesmaids' dresses, which we had left way too late so they have to be rushed (for an extra fee, of course), we bought a wedding dress.

That was SO not in the budget, but you should see how she looks in it. It's a FairyTale Princess dress, without being over the top. When she stepped into it, pulled it up, and got it zipped, the bridesmaids all screamed. I kid you not. The owner of the shop said she was going to hire them as professional squealers for the fitting rooms. She was sooooo beautiful. The color is perfect for her. It's deeper than ivory--the tag calls it gold, but it's not a blazing gold that you might first think of. I think of it more as a dark champagne, and it has the most beautiful silver trim. It's taffeta, which makes the color even better than shiny satin would. I would love to show you a picture, but since The Fiance checks in here occasionally, you'll have to wait for the actual wedding pictures. (Neener, neener, Douglas!!) I think they'll be better than the pictures on the retailer's website anyway, because you can't see the true color and the sheen of the fabric. I can't wait 'til she starts down that aisle!! And I'm so happy that she'll get to wear the dress of her dreams. She's earned it.

So now this leaves me free to knit whatever I want. Or I don't have to knit--I can work on a quilt, or my needlepoint, or I can just sit and watch eight straight hours of DVR'd "Law & Order" episodes! Oh, the freedom! But what am I going to do with 10,000 yards of cashmere/merino/viscose blend laceweight yarn?

I do feel bad (sort of, kind of, in a way) because many of my fellow Plurkers and Ravelers were looking forward to seeing the finished knitted dress. I think I might have persevered if it hadn't been for the color. It was just too gray. That's what happens when you order yarn online sometimes. You can't be sure of the exact color. Well, cheer up. Maybe I'll put some of it up as a blog giveaway. It could make a lovely shawl. Just not a wedding dress.

While I'm throwing pictures in, here's what I decided to put in the giant Mason jar:

That's merely a fraction of the roving I have stashed, but it sure looks cool in the jar! (Maybe that will be today's project--spinning!)

And here's a pic of the Manspun yarn I bought a couple of weeks ago:

I think you can faintly see the twinkly bits in it, and it has a cool, crunchy feel. I've had to pry it out of Missy's hands a couple of times. She tried to trade me a couple of balls of Plymouth Boku for it. Now, really. Boku?? I don't think so. I haven't decided what this will become yet. I just pet it now and then. It's a little over 200 yards, so I'm thinking maybe a pair of Fetching mitts? Ideas, anyone?

So, to wind up, we are all about weddings here at this house. April 11th isn't far away, and we still are trying to sort out the food, dishes, tablecloths, punch, music, flowers, cake, and the other ninety-bazillion details of the whole thing. (Plus we have to figure out how to pay for it all. Do you think a PayPal "Donate" button on this blog would be approprate??) There probably will be very little knitting or finishing content here for the next few months!

I leave you with pictures of Rugrat helping Mommy with the handmade invitations:

You have to hold your mouth just right, you know...

We Have a Date (maybe)!

2008-12-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

The official Wedding Date is set (that is, if DH gets on the ball and reserves the reception hall today.) Saturday, April 11th will be the Beginning of Eternal Bliss Day, or so we hope.

This means that I have about three months to knit The Dress, which is why there's been very little blogging, and no pictures (sorry Daniele. I know you keep asking. But it really doesn't look like much right now anyway.) Actually, I need to get it done in a lot less than three months, because if it turns out to be a disaster, we need to get another dress ASAP. So I gotta go knit.

Here's something else: I had gotten into The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling retreat, but I've had to let my spot go. There's no way I can manage a wedding and a trip to St. Louis in the same month, either physically or financially. It's a disappointment, because I'd finally get to meet Wendy from WendyKnits, not to mention a whole bunch of Plurkers and Ravelers that I know only online. Well, I'll keep checking the Interweave site for the info about SOAR. Maybe I can go there instead.

The good news is that I think I'm finally not sick anymore! Hooray! Oh, yeah--remember how I mentioned that Missy didn't stay out of the baby's Vomit Zone? Heh, she paid for that mistake BIG TIME!! Betcha she never takes Rugrat into bed with her while Rugrat's sick again! Oh, the lessons we learn as a parent...

Sick of Being Sick

2008-12-23T11:56:00.003-05:00

I'm on Day 4 of being really, really sick. I was sick last week, too, but things were looking up around Thursday. Still a little sniffly, but much better. Friday morning, I felt like the worst was over. By Friday evening, it was as if a hurricane hit me. (Didn't they do a commercial like that for some flu med? Probably. There are no original metaphors in my head. It's all from Advertising.) On Saturday I at least got out of bed and got dressed (yeah, yeah. Flannel.) By Sunday I was down to lounging on the sofa in my nightgown (also flannel) but I had at least put on a bra under the nightgown, so the proprieties were observed. I had taken a shower sometime in those two days, and I actually could stay upright and knit.

Yesterday I spent totally in bed. No bra, no shower, no knitting, and if I eat another bowl of ramen noodles, I'll barf. I contemplated just drinking the whole dang bottle of Ny-Quil and sleeping for three days, because the Daytime stuff didn't make the slightest difference in how awful I felt. I left a message with the Very Important Client apologizing all over myself because I (again!) couldn't get her invoices to her. She must have felt sorry for me, because she called me back and said I didn't have to worry about that at all--she needs everything on the 30th, so we're good until then. What a relief.

In the meantime, I've read until my eyeballs are about to explode. I finished "The Duchess", and read all of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier & Clay." (Both very good books.) I couldn't knit at all, and didn't even check my email. So far today I've read the paper, peeked at the email, and caught up on a few blogs. I'm ready to go back to bed. The worst part about this is the coughing, because my head feels like it's going to come off every time I have a hacking fit.

What a Debbie Downer post. I do apologize. I did have to chuckle to myself yesterday, though. We had our first real "throw-up" incident with Rugrat, and I couldn't do a thing to help. Poor baby--we don't know if it was something she ate, or getting overtired from playing really hard with friends on Monday evening, or maybe sinus drainage from her cold. Whatever, she woke up early yesterday calling for "Pappy." He staggered in to find her lying in barfed-up spaghetti. He and Missy got her cleaned up and the sheets changed (oh, the memories that brought back!) and then he went off to work. She was sick several more times (once in Mommy's ear while lying in bed with her.) I really should have told her to always stay out of the Vomit Zone. Ain't Momhood great? I'm happy to say that after a long afternoon nap, Rugrat was back to her normal zoomy self, so all is well. Though I think Missy's still scrubbing her ear.

The Bravest Blog I've Ever Read

2008-12-19T19:39:00.004-05:00

It's funny how the world of blogging and Ravelry and Plurk has changed my life. Before I started my blog, I had lots of projects--heck, that was the reason for starting the blog! And then I really began to investigate Ravelry, because I had joined, but done nothing with it, and discovered ~~a million~~ ~~a thousand~~ dozens of other projects I want to do. Then I started reading the Yarn Harlot's blog , which BTW is really hysterical today. (She could so be a sitcom. Yeah, "Everyone Loves Steph.") And from her blog, I got links to other blogs, like Wendy Knits, then Zarzuela, and you know how it grows kind of exponentially. I can't keep up with the blogs on my Blog List, and I haven't even put all of them that I have bookmarked in the list yet. Then through Wendy, I got onto Plurk, which is one of those "social networking" sites, so we all talk about knitting and food. Not necessarily in that order.

Almost all of the blogs I read are knitting-oriented, which makes me wonder about the other needlework I love. Are there as many cross-stitch or quilting-themed blogs out there? (Don't tell me. I don't really want to know.) But I came across one the other day, that, even though it doesn't deal at all with knitting, is now the one I check the most. It's here, and it's the bravest thing I ever read, with a large dose of black humor, which is my favorite kind, seeing as how I have major depression difficulties too.

When I read Jenn's words about her illness and problems in life, and the support she gets from her family and friends, it makes me cry. You cannot imagine how hard it is to be honest about something that's still so misunderstood, though it shouldn't be by now. I have written posts about my fibromyalgia, but haven't even touched on the depression because I'm...what? Scared? Embarrassed? Uneasy? I don't know, but I do know that Jenn does some powerful writing about her illness, her fears, and her life. She's the best kind of writer. She's honest. I can't be that honest yet. It's easier to blame the fibromyalgia for all my troubles, because that's less of a stigma, as far as I can tell.

People who know me and find out that I have major depression have told me that they can't believe it. I'm usually pretty chipper in a group (heh, Jenn touches on the Chipper Act in one of her posts, so it must be universal for us crazies.) I have a great sense of humor, especially about the absurdities of life. But people don't know that every morning when I open my eyes, my first thought of the day is a variation of, "Oh, God. I can't get up and deal today. I just can't." I hate even writing that, because it sounds so whiny and pitiful. And, to look at my life, there's no reason to feel that way. I have a home and a family and a job, and they're all going pretty well. Nobody has died recently. We're financially tight, but managing. My job isn't exciting, but it's not hard, either. So I have no reason to slide into the Black Hole, at least to all appearances.

But down into the Black Hole I go. I know some of the underlying causes, and I do need to work with a therapist, but it's so scary. And it's hard. Really hard. I've done it before, and I'd rather crawl naked through broken glass across a freshly salted highway than do it again. But I'm going to, as soon as I find out in January what our new insurance pays for. Because if Jenn can be brave enough to go through what she's going through, and put it all out there for the world to see, then I can at least make a start by going to a therapist. I don't want to. You have to be honest, and cracking jokes doesn't work with those guys. I'd rather crack a joke or two than be honest, let me tell you. I'm better at it. I've had more practice.

Anyway, thank you Jenn, for being brave enough to show the world what it's like to have an illness that people think is somehow your own fault for not just getting over yourself and getting on with it. It's not that easy. And if you want to learn to knit, let me know. I have people...and they have yarn.

Blech, Blah, Ick

2008-12-18T11:51:00.004-05:00

Still sick. I had to take off work yesterday, which I hate to do right now, because it's the end of the year for one of our clients' accounting departments. I feel like I've let them down because I couldn't get their invoices processed and out to them in time. They were nice enough about it when I called, but it's my own guilt hang-up that's making me feel bad.

But, then again, I was too sick to even knit yesterday. That means I'm really sick. Oh wait--I did cast on Rugrat's second mitten, but casting on and knitting just a few rounds of K2P2 ribbing was all I could handle. I spent most of the day huddled on the sofa watching TV, alternating among "Clean Sweep", "What Not to Wear", and DVR'd "Law & Order: SVU". Do you think the people on "Clean Sweep" REALLY live like that all the time, or do they mess it up worse before the TV crew gets there? And I have a morbid fascination with "WNTW" because I just know that my family is trying to get me on that show. They don't like my flannel-wearing propensities. I know my wardrobe could stand to be punched up a bit, but considering that Clinton was wearing a pair of plaid pants in one of the shows yesterday, I'm not sure how much I'd trust some of their fashion advice. And why do they insist on dressing overweight women in sleeveless clothes? Even I know that's a no-no, even if I do wear men's flannel shirts (but only in my own house. Most of the time.)

So now I feel guilty for having spent a whole day not knitting The Dress. The last time I worked on it, I timed each round. It takes me an hour and a half to knit a round, and there are about 4 or 5 rows to the inch. I have to knit 12 inches of this 2400-stitch row, then double them to 4800 stitches. I refuse to do the math on how many hours this will take. I'm just glad that I have a few audiobooks on the iPod to listen to while I knit, and that this is straight knitting--no fancy increase/decrease stuff.

I'm not sure how long I'll have to knit the 4800-stitch rows. I figure the best thing to do is measure the length of the crinoline. When I start getting close to that measurement, I'll have to put the stitches (oh. my. gosh.) on a string to hold them, let it hang for a day or two, then have Missy try it on over the crinoline to see how much the skirt has stretched. We've talked about doing a ruffle or some such nonsense at the bottom, but I don't think that's going to be possible. By the time I get 4800 stitches on this circular needle, it's going to be packed solid, and there's no way I can do another increase for a ruffle. The only way is to knit a separate strip and attach it. I'll think about that when I get there.

Notice that I haven't even mentioned the bodice for this dress. I'm refusing to think about it at this point.

I had also planned to knit a lace shawl for her to wear over the dress if she wanted to, but I don't think that's going to happen (that was Secret Project #2.) I had started it with some fine ice-blue silk, but now she's not sure that blue will be the theme color. It depends on when the wedding is. So the shawl is definitely on the back-burner, though I think it would be lovely to have made that too. The 4800-stitch skirt looms waaaaay too large though.

I really must go back to work tomorrow, so I think I'd better get settled in with The Dress. The set of replacement tips I called for the first time my needles fell apart has arrived, so I'm good for needles at the moment (though I'll feel a lot more confident using the nickel-plated set when I get it.) I'm feeling a little better today, so I need to use every moment I can. Though I'm thinking a shower is probably in order. And I hope I have a clean flannel shirt in the closet.

I'm Siiiiiick....

2008-12-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

Read that in your best whiny tone. Good thing I stopped at the library and got the last two "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Also stocked up on ramen soup (at the grocery, not the library. Though wouldn't a library/grocery be a handy thing?) which I spice up with ground red pepper--it helps the drainage.

Speaking of pepper, I was telling my violin teacher today about my special chicken soup recipe, and she said she'd always heard canine pepper was good for your system. Once we sorted out that she meant "cayenne" pepper, we fell about laughing. I love her. She's as goofy as I am.

We're supposed to get snow today and tomorrow, so I'm glad that I not only have the movies, but I hit the library and the bookstore today. I also have a half-full bottle of Old Crow, which is nearly as good for your system as canine pepper. I think I'll go crawl into my blue flannel nightie with the snowflakes on it, and snuggle in bed with a magazine for a while. If I gather my energy, I should get some knitting done on The Dress as well.

Luckily, I have household help. Everyone is expected to pull her own weight around here!

Such a good little worker she is, but she ends up with dishpan hands.

It Happened Again!

2008-12-14T17:37:00.002-05:00

Another needle came apart as I was knitting the Dress. I was beyond stunned. I got on the phone, and I think I got the same CSR as the other day. This time, I said (nicely) that I had had it, and I wanted an exchange. I think she could hear the strain in my voice (it might have been shaking just the tiniest bit,) because she got a little nervous, put me on hold, then came back on to say that an exchange would be made. I have to send the original kit back, which kind of stinks, but she said of course there would be no restocking fee (of course!!) and that she was flagging my account so the new kit would be sent out ASAP. She did say that I was being very nice about the whole thing, and I said that I'd always appreciated their customer service, so the whole thing was extremely civilized. Then I had a really big drink, put the stitches back on the remaining needle, and went to bed.

Of course, if you're a knitter who hasn't been marooned on a desert isle with Johnny Depp, you've figured out by now that I'm talking about Knit Picks. I really do like the company and their products. I think they should have given me the exchange the first time I called, because I just KNEW it was going to happen again in the middle of this Dress, but other than that, I've always had nice dealings with them.

The only thing about the kit is that I was frustrated by trying to keep all my needles tips, cables, end caps, etc. corralled but easy to get to. That little plastic zippy thing they come in is ok, but when I bought the DPNs, fixed circulars, and extra cables, it was next to impossible to find what I wanted easily. Especially those little "keys" for tightening the joins.

Knit Picks offers a binder and pocket kit, but I had read some less-than-favorable reviews. So I dug out my big zip-up Franklin Covey binder that I got off eBay and never use, stocked it with pages and pockets, and this is what I ended up with (clicky to embiggen):

I plan to label the individual pockets with the needle sizes, but for easy identification, I put a small set of tips with a large set so I can tell right away which is which. For instance, a size four set will be in the pocket with a size nine. That way I can check the label (when I get it on there) and if it's a size nine that I need, it's obvious which two those are. It's hard to see in this picture, but I put the "keys" on a keyring (what a concept!) and clipped it inside the top ring.

I put some other tools like cable needles, a small crochet hook, and stitch holders in one of the pockets, and the end caps got a pocket too. I need to add some small scissors, stitch markers, and a yarn needle, but I don't think I can fit another pocket in there, so they'll have to go in with the cable needles or something.

What I really like are the top-loading page protectors. My circular needles curl up and slip right down in there and stay put. I peeled the label off the original flimsy plastic envelopes they came in and stuck them on the page to identify the needle size. I can easily see which length is which--I have 32" and 40" lengths of each size, and there are a couple of random small-sized metal circs as well. When I need to knit socks, they're all right here!

The plastic envelopes with the extra cable sets have their own page as well. It's all very convenient and tidy, and I love it. I wish there were a way to use the pockets on the inside of the front and back covers of the binder, but it's almost too thick as it is. I keep the needle sizer and the plastic envelope that holds the sock DPNs in tidy little slots in the front pocket, but that's all that will fit. And, of course, there's one of my cards, so if I lose it, there's a chance I could get it back if it falls into the right hands.

If you want a similar system, check eBay first. Get a binder with the biggest rings you can, because those needles take up a lot of space. The rings in mine are 2". I certainly wouldn't go any smaller, and I'd get bigger ones if they make them. The book size is "Classic." You can browse binders and accessories at Franklin Covey but I would try to find a less-expensive way to get a binder, either through eBay or a local office supply store. It doesn't have to be a Franklin Covey binder, but you want the hole configuration to be the same so you can get the page protectors from FC. You really need the zip-up binder, too, so you can keep everything secure. Some of them come with handles, which would be nice. I was able to get some vinyl zipper pockets at the office supply, but the Franklin Covey ones I got at the FC store are much nicer and easier to open and close. And I couldn't get the page protectors at the office supply, either, so you'd have to get those through an FC store or their website.

It was quite an experience going to the FC store at our local mall. The manager and clerk were a bit bemused because I took the needle kit with me so I'd know exactly what and how many of each I'd need. The manager said that was a first for him--he'd never seen anyone use their system for that! I wish I'd had the brains to give him one of my moo.com cards that has my blog url on it!

To wind up, this is how I've been feeling in general:

more animals

I Think About it Every Day

2008-12-11T20:16:00.006-05:00

Posting, that is. Well, there's other stuff I think about every day, like how much I love peanut butter M&Ms but I shouldn't eat them because I could stand to lose ~~a few~~ ~~ten~~ twenty-five pounds plus I'm not getting any younger and now that I can not only not fit into my jeans but I'm having those weird ~~hot flashes~~ feelings that women get as they get older I really need to stop eating crap but since I'm too ~~lazy~~ busy to go to the store and get fruit and veggies the M&Ms are really the only ~~food~~ snacks in the house so what's a girl to eat? I think about that, and the fact that Johnny Depp is really cute. But I don't think about Johnny Depp long, because not only am I ~~a few~~ ~~ten~~ twenty-five pounds overweight and he'd never look at me twice, I'm also getting ~~old~~ older and actually I'd prefer the peanut butter M&Ms to attention from Johnny Depp anyway. I'm also married. So is Johnny Depp. Or at least he's in a relationship or something. But hey, that didn't stop Brad and Angelina, did it? BTW, I think it's a hoot that Brad defended Angie after Jen's oh-so-vicious attack (yeah, right) by saying something to the effect that she's such an honorable person. He needs to go buy a dictionary and look up the word "honorable." Anyway, being married and all, the Johnny Depp thing is kind of just a weird twitch I have now and then, and I only bring it up because it makes my husband roll his eyes. Hey, he's the one that thinks Kim Basinger is so hot. I think her eyes are squinty.

So, anyway. Posting. Well, I'm still knitting the dress. Though last night one of my wooden needles came out of its little metal socket thingy. Right in the midst of 2400 stitches of laceweight yarn. The name of the company I bought them from shall remain...um...nameless, but I did call and ~~complain~~ mention it, so they're sending me a new set of tips. That's great and all, but it didn't help me get the ~~million~~ ~~hundred~~ twenty stitches back on the needle that slipped off last night. AND on top of that, TWO of Missy's needles came apart in the past couple of weeks. So this nameless company is having to send three new sets of needle tips to the same home. I would call that an issue. And, yes, I'm happy they're replacing them, and I know that I could have just glued the darn thing back myself, but the problem is that I'm afraid to knit with them now. It's like driving on defective tires. If you have a blow-out and the tire company replaces the tire, fine. But are you going to feel safe driving on that new tire? Are you going to put your dog, your kids, Brad and Angie's kids, and Johnny Depp in that car and drive 65MPH? Well, are ya? Ok, so it's not that dramatic (and more than a little stupid,) but you get the idea. (Sorry. I think I just had one of those ~~flashes~~ things. I apologize.) I tried to explain that to the customer rep yesterday (without the references to tires or Brad and Angie or Johnny Depp, naturally) and asked if I could just exchange the whole set for the set with the metal tips, but she said if I did that I'd have to pay a restocking fee. HUH?? Well, I settled for the replacement tips for the moment, but if another one goes, I want the whole set replaced with the set of metal tips. And there will be no stinkin' "restocking fee." Yeah, you know what company I'm talking about. They're a very nice company, and their service and products are great, but this particular problem is getting very close to becoming a major issue with me.

When the needle broke last night, Missy got out her kit and found another tip so I could keep knitting. I was zipping along nicely when I got the strangest sensation in my hands. I tried to dismiss it and keep knitting, but it kept bugging me. Finally, I dug out the needle sizer and discovered that she had given me a tip a whole size smaller than the one I needed. I knew something wasn't right! And there you have the blessing of knitting something that will eventually be about 35" long and 4800 stitches around--no one will notice if some of the stitches are the wrong size. Just in case, I switched the tips, so the one I'm making the stitches with is the correct size. The size of the non-working tip won't matter. We can always put that part in the back and cover it with satin roses or something anyway.

Speaking of Missy mishaps, I wish I had a video of the cake-frosting incident of yesterday evening. She had spent all afternoon making several different sizes of cakes to give to her fiance and his family, and to practice her cake-baking and cake-decorating skills. I think she had some vague hope that she would be able to do the wedding cake herself and save a few bucks. Well, the lopsided and slightly singed parts of the cakes were trimmed off, so that was okay. The crumb-coating could have been a little better, but that takes practice. The decoration on The Fiance's cake was nicely done, if you like turquoise frosting with hot pink piping and didn't see the side where she dropped the decorating bag on it. And the cake she made for our family to eat was certainly delicious, even if it didn't show quite the care that had been lavished on The Fiance's cake. (At least it was a normal color--pale cream--straight from the can.) But the highlight of it all was when she was slapping on the last of the frosting for The Fiance's parents' cake, and managed to flip the whole thing off the counter and upside-down on the floor. Don't ask me how she did it. I think it was a slightly-too-vigorous swipe across the top with a two-inch thick smear of frosting that sent it flying. I so wish I'd had the video camera. We all performed our respective parts perfectly: The Baker/Decorator/Fiancee was open-mouthed, The Fiance was obviously amused but appropriately tender in his commisseration with the still open-mouthed Baker/Decorator/Fiancee, The Mother (me) was practically peeing in her pants because she was laughing so hard, and The Father (DH, who has waaaaay too strong a streak of analyst in him) was explaining to the still open-mouthed Baker/Decorator/Fiancee exactly why the cake had zoomed off the counter and done a half-gainer in mid-air. The dog was trying to get to the cake on the floor, and the cats wisely turned their backs on the whole mess. I think we'll be checking around for good cake decorators as the day gets closer.

I had to baby-sit Rugrat today, which partly explains the total insanity and inanity of this post. She's good, but she's a two-year-old. You know what that means. A lot of "NO." From both of us. The house is a wreck, the laundry is piling up, we're out of cat food and dangerously low on dog food but I wasn't about to venture out to a store alone with her, and we ate scrambled eggs for dinner that Missy made (with no disaster that I know of. So far.) But I did knit a mitten for Rugrat. I had made a set when she was really little, but they don't have thumbs (since she had no motor skills at the time, what did it matter?) She needs the thumbs now, though, and gets furious with the mitts because she can't do anything when she has them on. Oh my gosh. (headsmack) Why didn't I just put them on her first thing this morning and duct tape them to her wrists??

It's Official!!!

2008-12-05T19:07:00.000-05:00

That's pretty much all I have to say about that right now. I've gotta go knit.

Kind of a Cheat Post

2008-12-02T20:34:00.000-05:00

I've been sick with a filthy cold, so this isn't going to be much of a post. I don't have the energy. I actually did try to do a post late last week, but the computer decided it didn't want to upload pictures, so I gave up. But I've since run all the adware/spyware doodads, so it's working fine. I, however, am not.

This is what's been on the agenda for the last ~~million~~ ~~thousand~~ couple of weeks:

It's the wedding gown pattern from Interweave Knits, and I really have very little to go on except a blurry photo on the printout, and some pictures of finished projects on Ravelry. So I'm knitting (and knitting and knitting and knitting) and hoping for the best. It will literally be designed on the bride, because we're not using the yarn called for, and we're changing the neck, and we might be adding sleeves, and we're attaching the skirt at the waistline, and it will go over a crinoline, and she may end up wearing a black plastic bag with holes cut in it for all I know.

Wanna know something really funny? I miss knitting socks.

Caturday again!

2008-11-22T11:49:00.002-05:00

And you know what that means:

But wait, there's more (even cuter):

It's a good thing this cat is so very laid-back. Rugrat ADORES him, and he lets her pretty much do everything but drag him around by the tail. And he'd probably let her do that except for the fact that his tail got slammed in a door when he was very young and had to be amputated, so I'm sure it's a bit sensitive. He is definitely a "dog cat" though. You know, one of those cats who act like lap dogs instead of being all "don't-touch-me-I'm-a-cat" types. Like Emmy-cat. BTW, his name is Princess. It seems that Missy and her ex-husband found him as a tiny, sick kitten, and since they weren't exactly experts, they thought he was a she. Once they figured out he wasn't, it was too late. So now he answers to Princess--and yes, he does come when you call his name. Dog cat, I'm tellin' ya!

I just found a cool blog/website/vendor. Very witty, even for a Canadian, eh? And I want the purple yarn! And the Jeans & Coffee yarn. And a bunch of others. So I should stay away from that blog, eh?

Since I've been doing the Inventory and trying to find a better way to manage the ~~rubble~~ ~~junk~~ stash, I've been looking around for good storage. Office Max paper boxes work well, but are kinda ugly, and you can't see what's in them. I found this in a local antique/junque shop:

Now that's what I call a Mason jar! It stands about 18 inches tall, and is 30 inches around. I should remember how to figure the volume, but that little formula has gone slap out of my head. I think it involves Pi.
This gives a better idea of the size:

It's a bit dark, but you can see how big it is relative to our dining room chairs. Now, what to fill it with? Sock yarn? That would be cool! But I have 12 skeins of Noro that would look great too. Or, I could coil up some of my many pounds of hand-painted roving and put in there. Hmmm. I think I'll have to audition some of these things.

I really need to get off here and start the wedding dress. I swatched last night, and we agreed on what size needles I need to use, so let the casting on begin! The basic pattern is from Interweave Knits Summer 2003 (and if you have a copy you'd like to part with, I'll take it, just so I can see the article about the dress. All I have is the printout of the free pattern.) I have to cast on 150 stitches, so I'd better round up my stitch markers! And, of course, this means a temporary haitus of the "finishing" part of the blog, which, let's face it, hasn't been going so well anyway. But once this giant project is done, I'll get back on the wagon and get a new Project List going and FINISH SOME THINGS!

The Very Big (Formerly Secret) Project Begins, Part 1

2008-11-21T16:46:00.001-05:00

This came in the mail the other day--5 cones of it. It's a cashmere/merino/viscose blend from colourmart.com, and it's going to be Missy's wedding dress. Guess who gets to knit it?

It's laceweight yarn, which is why we ordered 5 cones. We're not exactly sure how much we'll need. We're not exactly sure what the dress is going to look like. We're not exactly sure how long we I have to make it, as there's been no formal proposal just yet. But you know how it is--when he's out looking at apartments, that's a good sign. I think.

Colourmart.com is a wonderful place to get these terrific luxury yarns so inexpensively, but the downside is that they must be taken off the cone and washed. They're spun for machine knitting, so they have a coating of oil. So this was the somewhat daunting scene earlier this week:

We're winding, we're winding. And one of us looks much happier than the other. (This picture also shows me in my native garb, one that would make a lumberjack blush. Missy says it looks like a plaid flannel train wreck. I say it's comfortable, so shut up.)

After a ~~billion~~ ~~million~~ couple of hours of winding, we finished two of the skeins and washed them. I'm totally convinced of the necessity of that now, though I toyed with the thought of skipping that step. I could see clouds of gray dirt and oil coming off the yarn, so we rinsed it a ~~thousand~~ ~~hundred~~ dozen times, rolled it in towels, and hung it to dry. This is how big the skeins are. I didn't measure the diameter, but that's about 2100 yards per skein.

Later, after drying. The yarn fluffed up beautifully, and the contrast of the soft cash/merino with the shiny viscose is lovely.

It's much more silvery than we expected, but since Missy wants to add ruffled accents of icy blue, it will be perfect. When it's knitted, that is...

So now it's off to swatching. I hereby consider myself officially excused from any sort of household duty whatsoever, including washing dishes (which would roughen my hands), laundry, cleaning, and cooking. If somebody wants a wedding dress, she'll cooperate, right?

Oh, and don't forget, there's another Secret Project going on right now. Can't talk about it. Shhhh.

Well, Lookee What I Found!!

2008-11-16T13:59:00.004-05:00

First of all, let me congratulate Daniele, because she's the winner of my first comment ~~bribe~~ giveaway. That's nice, because she's been a faithful commenter for a long time. (Of course, that means she didn't need a bribe, but let's call it a reward or something.) I should mention that the winner was chosen by the scientific method of taking five playing cards, one for each commenter, shuffling, drawing, and awarding the ~~bribe~~ prize to the comment number that corresponded with the number on the card. Obviously this works until you have more than 13 comments, but I'll not worry about that just yet. So thanks to all who commented, and stay tuned. I've been cleaning up the stash, so there will be more ~~bribes~~ giveaways in the future.

So, the stash cleaning. Wow. The original plan was not only to inventory, photograph, and list The Stash on Ravelry, but also to get The Room organized and cleaned up enough to actually walk through, instead of creeping sideways through the narrow path to my computer chair. After much moving, shifting, prying open, and dumping of boxes, the inventory commenced. I say again, WOW. I made a shocking discovery:

Eh, so what? you say. Look at this picture:

This is Missy's lace shawl--the one I mentioned in the last post that we started together because she found this faaaabulous lace yarn at Woolgathering. Compare the photos. Yep, it's the same yarn. And even though I stood there at the booth and helped her pick it out, I had absolutely NO recollection that I had bought exactly the same yarn from exactly the same booth at exactly the same fiber fest the year before! What's even funnier is that she was with me last year too, and she doesn't remember it! Scary, huh?

But wait, there's more. See this?

This is a shawl I started for the Spindlicity handspun shawl contest a while back. (Wow, I didn't realize just how "a while back" that was until I retrieved the link!) I loved that roving so much, and spent so much time working with it, both spinning on a drop spindle and knitting it. You'd think I would recognize it instantly if I ever saw it again. Nope. Look what I found in a box on the bottom shelf behind the loom:

Again, exactly the same roving, probably bought from exactly the same vendor. The details of both purchases are a blur, but really. Am I going to have to start carrying smidgins of wool everywhere I go so I don't make multiple purchases? Oh well, at least I'm consistent in my tastes!

That shawl never got finished because I started knitting it before I finished spinning the yarn. As I spun, the yarn got finer and finer, ending up like this:
(Love that classy yarn bobbin!) Unfortunately, the difference was obvious in the shawl, and I pulled it off the needles because I knew it wasn't going to work out. Here are the detail pictures--you can clearly see how the yarn got progressively finer. The center starting point:

About a ~~billion~~ ~~million~~ hundred rounds later:

I was terribly disappointed, because I so wanted to win the scholarship to SOAR, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I put it away until I could stand to look at it long enough to frog back to where the yarn started becoming a little more consistent, and of course, I forgot about it. I've got so much of that roving now, I could spin and knit 40 shawls with that weight of yarn!

So far those have been the worst discoveries in the Stash Inventory. I am going to get tough, and get rid of some of the leftover yarns I have rattling around. Somebody somewhere can use them. And to show you just how tough I can be...I THREW AWAY yarn I had spun and plyed on a drop spindle. It was one of those projects that was just not turning out well and I knew it, but I couldn't bear to give up on it. I had spun and plyed so much of this yarn--laceweight again--that I tried to ignore the little voice in my head that was insisting that it was scratchy. Really, really scratchy. It was a mystery roving I got from someone else who was destashing, and yesterday as I fondled the ~~thousands~~ ~~hundreds~~ ten little skeins, I realized that wearing a shawl knit out of this stuff would be like wearing an exquisitely lovely hair shirt. So it went in the trash, roving and all (though I think I spied more of that roving peeking out from under some mohair in a clear box I haven't gotten into yet. Maybe it will make a nice...um, well, it could be spun into a thick yarn for...hmm, maybe I could...) Aha! FELT!!

It's been fun (though eye-opening) to go through all my yarn and fiber, but I don't think it will all get posted on Ravelry any time soon. It's just too much! I have been writing down the bare bones information, so I'll probably do a spreadsheet just so I can see what I have and where I've stored it. Pretty much the same idea as Ravelry, but without all the pictures. Which leads me to wonder: how do you manage your stash, if you have one? (If you don't because you're one of those ~~anal~~ ~~compulsive~~ ~~freakish~~ wonderfully disciplined people who only have yarn for the project you are presently working on, I don't want to know about it.) Do the rest of you just toss your purchases on top of the pile, so to speak, or do you post it on Ravelry or use another organizing method? I really do want to know, because besides yarn I have needlepoint, cross-stitch, weaving, and quilting stash and UFOs, and I'd kind of like to keep track of it all. If for no other reason than that I don't need any more purple silk-blend roving!

WIPs and a Giveaway!

2008-11-14T18:59:00.006-05:00

Even though I haven't made a new Project List, and I'm kind of on hold because of the new Secret Project(s), here's a look at what I've been working on.

The Swallowtail Shawl cast-on was my response to months of sock knitting for SOS08. I think I cast on around the first of September, and this is how far I got before relegating it to the bottom of the pile. It's not hard, and it's a wonderful yarn ~~(Suprima by Fila de Crostura)~~ (Superior by Filatura Di Crosa) but I got distracted. Surprise, surprise.

This next shawl jumped on the needles because Missy bought some laceweight yarn at Woolgathering in September, and we started a KAL on Ravelry so she could learn to knit lace. The plan was for us to work on it together, row by row, but that hasn't worked out so well. She's still learning to "read" her knitting, so when something goes wrong (and you know that with lace it always does) she doesn't understand what happened so she can fix it. She's gotten discouraged and hasn't picked it up in a while, so mine has been languishing as well. But I have been able to help her fix some things when they go awry, so all is not lost. And part of the reason she hasn't been working on the shawl is because she's been making a shrug and can't stand to have more than one project going at once. If I hadn't endured 40 weeks of pregnancy (with the requisite 3 months of morning sickness) and 16 hours of labor to bring her into this world, I would swear she can't be my kid.

This shawl is a bit bigger than the picture shows, because I've had to sneak it out on occasion and do a couple of rows just for the fun of it. Don't tell Missy.

The gray sweater/coat below is a Jo Sharp pattern, and it's being made with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. The pattern calls for a tweed yarn, but I don't care for the tweedy flecks with all the cabling this sweater has. The Lamb's Pride is perfect--smooth and glossy, and the cables pop out beautifully. I'll have to make something else from it when I get done with this (stop snickering) because the stockinette on the wrong side is even more beautiful than the cabled side.

This just shows a little of the progress on this particular project. I do have the first sleeve done and the ribbing and a couple inches of the pattern done on the second sleeve. But again, it's languishing because of the SP(s). It's kind of hard to work on for a long stretch anyway, because I have to concentrate and follow the pattern carefully so I don't have drunken cables wandering every which way. An hour of working on this and I'm begging for the mindlessness of a fun fur scarf.

The color in the above picture is true--a lovely silvery gray. I don't know what happened to the second picture. I'm not much of a photographer.

Speaking of scarves, I'm ~~ripping off~~ ~~stealing~~ borrowing an idea from Wendy of WendyKnits and giving away a book I no longer need. It's Vogue's "Knitting on the Go: Scarves" in new condition. This is what it looks like:

So leave a comment, and I'll choose a winner at random and send this to you. It's really a nice little book, but I don't need it and I'm trying to downsize a bit. I'd rather have a reader get it than dump it off at Goodwill, and our local libraries are not accepting donations right now. Since I rarely have more than two commments on any post, your chances of winning are fantastic! (Thanks for the idea, Wendy!!)

I'm off to have another little glass of chilled wine after my hectic day spent searching for the perfect Baby Doll for Rugrat. I've decided that there really is a seventh circle of Hell, and it is called "Toys R Us."

Exciting New Project(s)!!

2008-11-13T17:11:00.000-05:00

I guess I should be careful not to whine about boredom with the WIPs (or the UFOs--two totally different categories.) I've obligated myself to something really, really big. Two big things actually. And maybe a third, depending on the other two things and their relative bigness vs. deadlines.

But...I can't tell you about any of them. Well, I could, but then I'd have to hunt you down and kill you.

Not really. It would be way too much trouble to try to retrace blog hits, especially for me. Besides, I don't really expect this (these) to remain secret(s) until they're finished, but it would be nice. I'll give a little hint, though. A couple of them involve purchases from Colourmart. I'm not saying exactly what, but cashmere and silk are two more clues. And it all has to do with a special occasion. There. That's all I'm saying. For the moment.

So although I bought navy blue and black yarns for socks for the husband, those will have to be put on hold. By the way, it was extremely difficult to track down dark solid colors for Man Socks. I kept getting sidetracked by all the wonderful handpaints (as if I couldn't stock my own yarn shop already!) But, really, all of my favorite ~~pushers~~ ~~enablers~~ shops carry very little in the way of Man Sock-style yarns. My husband is just not the type to wear variegated colors, no matter how much he may admire the hand-knit jewels that adorn my feet.

No pics this time around. I've been busy knitting. But I can't say what...

It's Caturday!!

2008-11-01T15:07:00.001-04:00

In honor of Caturday, I share pictures of my Emmy-cat:

She contemplates helping with the ironing...

...but decides to nap instead. It was a tough decision.

I don't like to iron either, so I can't blame her.

On the knitting front, I'm trying to finish several projects at once, and that obviously doesn't work well. I joined the "One Day a Week for UFOs" group on Ravelry, and I've decided Wednesday is the day to work on the Jo Sharp cabled cardigan. I've managed to finish the first sleeve, and have the ribbing and a couple of inches of the pattern done on the second sleeve. At this rate, though, I think I need another day for that particular UFO!

Remember this picture?

I never told you what it was. It was a cliffhanger, but given my sporadic blogging attempts, that was clearly a Fail. But one commenter did ask if it is an angora blend. Nope. It's 50% merino, 50% Tencel, and it's probably one of the most gorgeous rovings I've ever seen. I got this at Woolgathering from Carol Larsen at River's Edge Weaving Studio, and I believe Carol dyed and blended this herself. I snagged the last three rovings, so I have nine ounces to play with.

The thing is, what should I do with it? It's almost too beautiful to spin. I'm afraid that I'll somehow lose the lusciousness of the roving if I spin it. And what to do with nine ounces? The most obvious thing is to spin it fine for a shawl. Or I could do fingering weight for a scarf, but I'm afraid that neither of those options will do justice to this roving. Should I ply it, or will that make it muddy, and cause it to lose its unique shades? I'm in a quandary. Most of the time, I have a good idea of what I'll do with fiber when I buy it, but this has me stymied. It's so beautiful I'm afraid to touch it! And because it's a one-of-a-kind dye job, I can't get more. Help me! Don't let this wonderful lusciousness be wasted!

Things are changing in my life (well, when are they not? That's true for us all.) My hours at work have gone down even further, and given the state of my health, I'm not going to be able to go out and get a 9-to-5, or even a 1-to-4 job right now. So I'm contemplating doing handpainted and hand-dyed roving and yarn for my etsy.com shop (which has had nothing in it for the last couple of years, since I took out the sole eyelash scarf I had listed. There were only about a zillion other fashion scarves for sale at the time.) I certainly don't expect to get rich, but I have a dollar amount I need to make per month to maintain our existing budget, and I think it's doable. So I'm going to get my dye station set up in the basement and give it a go. Any suggestions for yarn, fiber, and dye suppliers are more than welcome (even though I would technically be setting up in competition with those who are in the know. Oh well.)

Speaking of health, that last med is an Epic Fail. (I so love the "Fail" concept. It says so much with just a word or two!) It's heinously expensive, so I don't want to pay for it in the first place, and it has nasty side effects beyond the zombie-inducing ones. So I'm weaning myself off that before I use up all the samples, and starting over again. And I'm going to call another doctor on Monday, who is a fibromyalgia specialist. It's time to try something else.

It took a few weeks after the "dry" Hurricane Ike went through for us to get our yard cleaned up and the tree cut down. But it was finally accomplished with the help of friends and relatives. And overseeing it all, the Rugrat:

She did a wonderful job of directing everyone, then took the time to do a little dog whispering.

What would we do without her?

So that's the latest from chez Spingirl. I think I'll go cast on some li'l pink socks.

A Lull...

2008-10-24T17:37:00.001-04:00

...because I haven't had the energy to blog for the past couple of weeks. I'm still trying to deal with the fibromyalgia, and we've changed meds (the "we" being the doctor and myself agreeing on something new that will cost a fortune but I don't care because I would sell my soul if it would make me feel even 50% better) so my body has to get used to them, and meanwhile, I'm a zombie.

But I am a knitting zombie, at least! I've made a little progress on the Jo Sharp cabled sweater, I've done a bit of spinning on the Tropical Fish roving I got from Jessica, and I've finished the Monet shawl except for the fringe, and that's because I ran out of Zen, so I've got to get to the yarn store when I get the next tiny surge of energy. I also frogged the silk Clapotis I had started, and cast on another with my favorite Lana Grossa sock yarn. (Melissa insists on calling it the VD scarf. Well, I can't help it if that's what it sounds like in English.) The silk wants to be the Toe-the-Line shawl, I think. But it's just going to have to wait its turn now. That's what it gets for being so troublesome. AND, I finished another pair of socks. So things are looking good on the knitting front.

I do have pictures of various works-in-progress, as well as some terrific Rugrat shots, but they'll have to wait for another day when I'm a little less zombieish. Meanwhile, I'm going to stagger downstairs because I have to figure out what to do about supper (braaaainssss....)

The Tale of Mr. Bun

2008-10-08T16:35:00.000-04:00

Meet Mr. Bun:

No, you're not seeing double. There really are two Mr. Buns in the picture. If you look closely, you'll see that one is, well, slightly more "loved" than the other. (Dirty, in other words.) Why two?

You know how it is when you have little ones. You are blessed with an overabundance of stuffed creatures, be they bears, buns, or dolls. Our Rugrat got three "My First Doll" babies, but she's never gotten attached to them. No, it was Mr. Bun from around the time she could focus her eyes.

I grant you, the name is a little odd. This clearly would be considered a feminine bunny, seeing as how it's dressed in pink, has a tag on its chest that says "Sweet Baby", and is wearing its very own bunny slippers. But Missy and I dubbed it Mr. Bun in honor of Hobbes' counterpart in the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip. (Remember? Suzie always wanted to play house with Mr. Bun and Hobbes and she couldn't figure out why Calvin threw such a fit over it.) Anyway, Mr. Bun has been THE bun of choice, and always will be.

Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, Rugrat dropped him in a store somewhere, and despite all my nagging, her mother has neglected to retrace her steps to find him. Her. It. So what's a good MeMaw to do but get on ebay and find another one?

Do you have any idea how much these things are going for? I found a couple that were listed at around $30 for the Buy it Now price. That was a bit too steep, but I waited and finally got one for around $20. Being the smart (ha ha) Memaw that I am, I planned ahead for the day when this Mr. Bun might go AWOL and grabbed another off ebay. That one I tucked away for just in case. And if Mr. Bun #1 (really #2 now) survived, then Mr. Bun #3 would be my own little memento of my first grandbaby's younger years.

Of course it couldn't last. The day came when we had to take Rugrat to the ER, and Mr. Bun was nowhere to be found. So against my better judgement, but unable to resist the pitiful whining, I dug Mr. Bun #3 out of the dresser drawer, and all was well. (Anything to get Rugrat's mother to stop whining.)

So we now have Mr. Bun #2 and Mr. Bun #3 floating around the house. I still think I should put one of them away, but darn it if we can't find one where he/she is supposed to be, so the backup Bun comes into play. And I'm still keeping my eyes open for Carter's Happy Friends Sweet Baby Bunny. I'm thinking that a Mr. Bun #4 might not be such a bad idea. Just in case. Either that, or I attach a GPS to each Mr. Bun.

I'm Baaaaack!

2008-09-29T20:27:00.000-04:00

I wandered off to what I thought were greener pastures, but I've been even less happy with Wordpress than I was with Blogger. The Help section was better, but almost everything was easier to do in Blogger, like posting pictures, or putting stuff in the sidebar.

So I am again changing my mind, and coming back here. I get more of a warm, fuzzy feeling from this blog than from the Wordpress one. So if you really need to see what's been going on with me since the end of July, this would be where you have to go: www.thenotsobigfinish.wordpress.com I'll put a link over there to get you back to here. What a pain, but Blogger doesn't have the ability to import an entire blog--at least not a one-step kind of thing, which is what I need. It can be done, but just reading the instructions gives me a headache.

I feel like I got away (boyyyyy, did I get away) from the original purpose of the blog, which was to get stuff done. Coming back here may kind of get me back on the right path. That and the fact that my hours are going to go way down at work because we lost a big client, so I'll have no money for yarn. That's okay, though. I have plenty in stock here.(Only I can't find my skein of Dream in Color Smooshy, and it's driving me crazy.) Summer of Socks didn't help either, but I do have just the best sock drawer in the world now!

I've joined a couple of new groups in Ravelry that are dedicated to finishing WIPs, so much of what goes on over there will end up here. First off, it's time for another Project List. That's on tomorrow's To Do list.

Change of Venue

2008-07-26T16:53:00.002-04:00

I'm abandoning Blogger for greener (I hope) pastures. Plus, I felt silly having a blog called "The Big Finish" when we ALL know how well that's going. New blog address:

http://www.thenotsobigfinish.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Trying to Catch Up

2008-07-25T19:30:00.015-04:00

As I promised some of my Plurkbuds (y'all know who you are!), here are photos of the sock yarn in "Plurk" colorway that I got the other day:Ok, so that photo was washed out, but I wanted you to see the tag, so you'd know how to hunt it down. But here's a link anyway, because it's hard to see. This is the yarn in all its glory:
For the non-Plurking among us, those are the main colors of the Plurk Timeline when you join up. It's lots of fun--the wittiness of knitters is a blast. Witty knitters. What can I say?

Here are a few photos of other fun stuff I've gotten recently. I wish the true colors would show up better, because this hand-dyed fiber is out of this world. This first one, the teal and bronze colorway, is really different for me. But I absolutely loved it, so I bought all she had. Now I have about 12 ounces of it to spin, and I want to know exactly what I want to knit before I spin it, instead of just spinning it, then figuring out what to do with it. This came from here.

I'm a sucker for pink and yellow together, so this (from here) found its way into my shopping cart:
And then here's a study in blues from the divine Ms. Z:
And then we sidle back to the yellow and whatever side of things for this, from here:
Obviously, etsy is a major trap for me. I have so many shops favorited it's not funny. You'd think that would be enough, but no, last night I did a search for "roving" and just about went out of my ever-lovin' mind! Do you have any idea how much gorgeous handpainted roving is out there, just waiting for my credit card to come a-knockin'? I did escape with ordering only one braid--another pink and yellow, but softer than the one I showed here. That's it. No more. I mean it. ("Yeah, yeah," they all sigh, "just like The Last Purchase sock yarn.") I know, you've read it before.

Speaking of etsy, here's another batch of really fun stuff (notice the quick change of subject?) I've already bought several sets of stitch markers from WeeOnes. That's where I got the cute sock monkey markers that were a few posts back. I wanted ice cream cones and cupcakes for my daughter, who loves both, and these were custom-designed for me:

I wish you could see the real thing because the texture and detail is beyond amazing. Missy keeps raving about what an artist Jillian is, and she's right. I simply have to stay off that site for at least a week or two!

This is what she custom-made for me when I described my Jack Russell Terrier, Boomer, to her:

I think she came pretty close, didn't she? Only the face is a little different, but it's close enough! Here's the real dawg. Is that too cute or what?

And what of SOS, I hear you cry? Oh, I haven't totally given up, but I'm still putzing along on the same pair I started last Friday. I should get them done tonight. I still haven't felt well at all this whole week, and I've been playing the violin more and doing some spindle-spinning as well. I think I just needed a little break, but I feel myself getting fired up again. The competitive urge is coming back, so though I'm down, I'm not out yet! I've had to resist casting on a sweater coat (don't say a word) and so far I've been successful at that. So it's back to socks tonight. And no more shopping on etsy!

Gotta go plurk. And knit.

Slogging Along

2008-07-21T22:33:00.008-04:00

I'm still fighting whatever has got me down; probably a fibromyalgia flare, about which I can do almost nothing but ride it out. The fatigue is mind-blowing. I drag myself to work and stagger home and collapse and that's about it. When I don't even feel like knitting, I know I'm in bad shape!

I did have a nice violin lesson today, which lifted my spirits a little. Oh, and I learned something about practicing at home. Do not practice under a moving ceiling fan! Who knew it was that low?? It's a wonder I didn't break my bow. What's worse is that Missy was piggy-backing the baby on her shoulders the other day and ran her little noggin right into the moving fan. Yeowch!!

I'm still knitting slowly on socks. I just finished one of WendyKnits Seaweed Socks in a beautiful green-shaded Araucania Ranco Multy They are super-easy to knit, and Missy has been raving about them since the pattern first started appearing on the needles. I've cast on the second one, but it's slow going since I feel so cruddy.

I also joined a spin-for-ten-minutes-a-day group on Ravelry, so I've been using my drop spindle a bit, which is a nice change. Right now it seems like I can only do things in 10-minute-or-less increments. I couldn't even solve Sudoku in today's paper, even though it was the easy level.

I do want to post some photos, but my 10 minutes are almost up. Here's a hint: check out Wee Ones on Etsy. The woman is an artist. I got several sets of stitch markers from her the other day, and I'm afraid to look at her site again for fear I'll see something else I must have. The ones I just got were custom-made for me, so they're really special.

My 10 minutes is up. Time for my next 10-minute ice cream break.

Crisis Time

2008-07-17T16:41:00.005-04:00

I pretty much decided to throw in the towel on SOS last night, in spite of Daniele's nice comments. I just was in a terrible funk, and couldn't imagine another six weeks of nothing but knitting like a maniac and seeing myself always behind. (Not that I have any hard feelings whatsoever toward the leader. She's very nice, and she happens to be in a situation that allows her to knit more than I do. Plus she knits realllly fast!) So I was sulking and crabbing and feeling like everything was totally pointless, and I ought to just give all my knitting stuff to Goodwill and move to, oh, Alaska or someplace. Which would really be stupid, because I think I would need knitted objects there if anywhere.

But today is looking a little better. I'll keep going, but I have to do the other things I want to do. Like play my violin, for instance. It hasn't been out of its case for 10 days, which is ridiculous. And I really need to do some work in the yard, once it cools off a bit, and I'm feeling the stirrings of a basement-cleaning attack, a clothes-sorting attack, and a wallpaper-stripping attack.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should just stick with the socks...

Tenth Pair Done!

2008-07-15T20:23:00.005-04:00

Woo hoo! Ten pairs done, but I'm still behind on the leaderboard of SOS. Oh, well. Everybody's lives have ups and downs, and I'm sure there will be times when I'm knitting when the leader(s) aren't, and vice versa. In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it ain't over 'til it's over!

So this is pair #8:

These are Marigold Socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The originals were done in yellow, but I've always loved orange marigolds, so the pattern was perfect for this yarn. The whole time I was knitting them I was thirsty for Orange Crush. I'm so glad I can get it where I live now. Do you know, when I lived one county north, Orange Crush could not be found for love nor money. Go figure. Anyway, nothing tastes so orangey. Starkist orange soda, blech!!

Back to socks. This is pair #9:

This pattern is WendyKnits' Double Eyelet Rib, one of my favorite patterns (though I do my own toe and heel in my own...idiom?) I bought this yarn online, thinking it was another yarn that I loved but had lost the label for. Turned out to be completely different, but I love this too. It's Opal Rainforest; one of the "bird" colors. These socks go to Missy, so I have an excuse to buy more of this yarn. And I'll make them plain because I love the color and variegation so much.

On to pair #10:

These are Supersocke Cotton Beach yarn that I bought on clearance from Simply Socks. I've made two pairs now, and I really like how they turned out. The colors were much prettier than I expected. These are going to Missy, too.

I've been through another book: "The Age of Innocence." Great book, terrible narrator. I hate that. And they did a hideous job of editing it. Right in the middle of a tense scene, the narrator says, "Oh, let's retake that," and reads the paragraph again!! Talk about being jolted! She had an awful, grating voice too, so I plan to leave a negative review for that particular book on Audible.com.

I'm listening to "Sense and Sensibility" right now, because I love Jane Austen, and that narrator is fantastic. She has the amazing ability to change her voice so completely for each character. That makes listening so enjoyable. She happens to be the actress who played Mrs. Elton in "Emma" (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow) so her acting experience apparently is a great asset in narrating books. Her name is Juliet Stevenson, and I plan to search for more books narrated by her.

I feel as if I've done nothing but knit socks for years. It's like being down the rabbit hole! I miss spinning! I miss my needlepoint! I miss reading the newspaper! Seriously, to keep up, I have to knit every free moment. I'm trying to remember why I'm doing this...The prize of more sock yarn? Hmmm...

The other time-sucker is Plurk. It's so much fun, though. You have your own friends whose plurks you follow, and the back-and-forth gets hilarious. I'm in a little circle of knitters that includes Wendy from WendyKnits, and she's a riot. I also covet her cat, Lucy, and would be Lucy's stalker if I lived closer to her. Don't tell my cat. Or Wendy. She'll de-friend me.

Missy bought the Rugrat a wading pool today, so as soon as Papaw is done cutting the grass, we'll fill it. The water should be warm enough tomorrow afternoon for her to play in it. I need to dig out the pictures of Missy in her wading pool at that age. No, I'm not sniffling. Shut up.

Ugh, Ugh, Ugh

2008-07-11T21:23:00.002-04:00

It's been that kind of day. I got up with a headache, but tried to go to work anyway. Took my shower, dressed, slapped on some makeup, and was in the McDonald's drive-thru waiting for my sweet tea when I realized I was probably going to throw up. I made it back home, called in sick, and took my heavy-duty meds. No throwing up, thank goodness, but I've felt lousy all day. That's a migraine for ya! It's not just a headache, it's a whole-body experience!

Once the meds kicked in, I was able to knit, so all was not lost. I finished the orange Marigold socks, and cast on a pair in Opal Rainforest yarn. I love the colors in this one: blues, watermelon pinks, and yellow. No pics today--I'm not up to that.

I had such a nice time with my granddaughter yesterday. We spent a lot of time together because her mommy was napping for a while, then went out for the evening. For some reason, Baby was in cuddly mode, and she's really starting to talk now. I asked her for a kiss, and for the first time she put her mouth on my cheek (she can't quite pucker yet) and said, "Mmmmmmah!" Instant Memaw puddle! I gave her a bath later and popped her in her jammies, and we snuggled a while before she went to bed. She's growing up so fast, and it's so much fun to see, but oh how I miss that tiny baby!

I just finished listening to "The Age of Innocence" while I was knitting today, so it's on to another book. I didn't make it back to Henry James, and I don't think I could take that today. I may have to go with Jane Austen, probably "Pride & Prejudice." I just downloaded "John Adams" the other day, but given my loopy mental state, that might be too heavy as well.

Off to check Plurk one last time before shutting down.

You Ask For A Miracle...

2008-07-08T17:00:00.011-04:00

...I give you the World's Ugliest Socks. (Apologies to Alan Rickman a/k/a Hans Gruber in "Die Hard.")

Now really, I find these awful. I was going to do some sort of cable or ribbing so I wouldn't keep making plain ol' stockinette socks, but it would have been like pearls before swine, or some such metaphor. These didn't even rate a ribbed top. Plus, they were horrible to knit. I thought I'd overdone it for SOS and ruined my hands, because they would hardly work. But it was the yarn, not my hands, because as soon as I cast on these:
...ahhhh, it was like buttah.

I have no idea what the Ugly Sock yarn is. I bought it at least five years ago. I had actually started knitting a sock, but I kept stopping and starting (I wonder why?) and the gauge was all wonky in different parts. So I ripped it out and rolled it up and it hadn't seen the light of day until SOS called.

Now, in the picture, they really don't look so bad. But trust me, in life they look like someone threw up a meal of grape jelly, mustard, spinach, and red Kool-Aid. None of those colors alone is bad, but together? Blecccch!

The orange socks are Marigolds by Pamela Wynn, and they're a free download on Ravelry (thanks, Pamela!!) Hers are yellow, but I like orange marigolds, and this yarn is perfect. I'm thinking about digging up some clear beads for the leg part so I can have dew on my marigolds. (The Ugly Socks have driven me to new heights of creativity in an attempt to get them out of my brain.)

Aren't the stitch markers adorable? You can get them here at Wee Ones' etsy shop. I've sworn off looking anymore, because the monkeys were the second set I bought, and I have three more custom-made sets on order. I don't really need the markers for this pattern now, but they make me so happy that they're staying. Again, the Ugly Socks have taken their toll. I need all the fun and pretty things I can get!

As you can see in the sidebar, I've succumbed to Plurk.com. Don't ask me to explain it. You just have to check it out, and you won't really understand how fun it is until you join and start collecting friends. So jump in!

I went to the Pilates studio this afternoon for a session of Gyrotonics, and I feel pretty good, but tired. Gyrotonics is not so much a workout as gentle stretching and loosening of the muscles, with just a little strengthening thrown in. It's perfect for me because my muscles are so tight, and I need gentle work because of the Fibromyalgia. I haven't taken ballet since February, and I want to get back to it this fall, but I need to get some strength and endurace built up. I feel a little soreness starting to creep up, so I'd better get away from the computer and move a little.

But first, I have to check Plurk!

I Gave In...

2008-07-08T00:28:00.004-04:00

...and joined plurk.com. It's hard to describe, and at first I didn't see the point. But now that I've got the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. Kind of like a chat for friends you invite to view your timeline, or ask to view theirs. Lots of wit and fun going on. You can get there from my button on the side.

Socks: Finally finished The World's Ugliest Socks. I thought I'd never get them done. Not only are they hideously ugly, the yarn was terrible to knit with. I thought it was me--that I had ruined my hands by knitting so much. But no, it was the yarn. So now I have this awful pair that won't fit anyone else. They'll have to hide under the boots this winter. More later, when I have pics.

But the socks I'm doing now--ahhhh, these are a treasure! Can't wait to show photos of those. And wait 'til you see the adorable things I got from an etsy seller. I can almost guarantee you'll want them too.

In other life items, we've been moving furniture. Now that four of us are crammed into this tiny house with all our guitars, yarn, looms, wheels, power tools, baby rubble, and life's flotsam and jetsam, we are constantly trying to figure out a workable arrangement so we can sit and relax without having to climb over a wheel, or move a couple guitars out of the way. It's looking a little better, and the sunroom has now become the sit 'n' knit room. That's really nice because it's so much brighter in there and I have my little corner fixed up already with the knitting bags and baskets arranged just so.

With all the furniture-moving and rubble-clearing, I had hardly any time to knit this evening. And it's way past my bedtime. I'd stay up for a while, but I'm trying out a new program at a Pilates studio tomorrow, so I'd better get some rest.

SOS'08: Sick of Socks

2008-07-04T16:49:00.006-04:00

That certainly didn't take long, did it? Two weeks into it, with eight left to go, and I'm dying to work on a shawl, or spin, or almost anything but turn another stinkin' heel!

So here are pairs four, five, and six:

What's a little frustrating is not knowing for sure if I'm anywhere near having the most so far. Though last Tuesday, one participant posted pics of her SEVENTH pair of socks! In ten days! That was discouraging, but she did post later that she will be taking classes starting next week, so her production will slow down. I'm sure I'm not the only one glad to read that.

At least I can turn a heel now without having to read the directions as I go. I still goofed up on the last pair and had a yarn-over in the wrong place. I'm also learning that the later in the evening, the faster I knit--up to a point (1:30AM seems to be my cut-off time.) And I hate ribbing. It makes my hands hurt. Perhaps if I learned another way to knit it would be better, but I can't take the time to relearn everything!

I've worked my way through a number of audiobooks as well. There was "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough, which was like listening to a terrific suspense story. I had heard of the flood, but never realized what actually happened. As usual, it was more a man-made disaster than a natural one.

Then there was "The Poisonwood Bible," which I've read about seven times, but still love. Every reading (or listen) brings out new subtleties that I missed before. It's really such a tour de force that you need to read it more than once. I also listened to "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton, again something I had read before, but enjoyed hearing even if the ending is a bit of a downer. I'm working on "The Wings of the Dove" by Henry James right now, but it's hard going. Honestly, he used fifty words to say what only needed five. I keep thinking, "Get on with it!" I may have to give up and retreat to Mrs. Wharton--I'm going to download "The Age of Innocence" next. And I'd love suggestions. I've been sticking to classics because I don't want to hear sex scenes or bad language, so if you know of any good books without smut, please pass on the info.

So the knitting goes pretty fast when I have something good to listen to. Otherwise, the house is still pretty much trashed, though I did do laundry. I need to clean the bathroom and just get some clutter cleared up. It's amazing how quickly it piles up.

It's raining again, so I still haven't done any outside work. I need to stake the hollyhocks ASAP. They're tilting a bit!

The result of Missy's cooking:

THAT, I will have you know, is what's left of one of my handwoven towels. I made a set at least six years ago, and they're still good as new. Or at least one of them is.

Last, but not least, here's my "Caturday" photo. It's a bit of a cheat because it's not actually one of my cats, but I've been too busy getting sock pictures done to try to take cat photos. And this is so cute:

Love that expression!

EDIT: Oh, for cryin' out loud. I forgot it's only Friday. Well, I'm early for Caturday.

Well....more socks

2008-06-29T19:39:00.005-04:00

This will definitely be the Summer of Socks. I finished two more pairs, and have one sock finished for my fourth pair.

SOS'08 #2, 52ppII #3
Originally uploaded by Spingirl

This is pair #2 for the SOS contest, and pair #3 for the 52 Pair Plunge.

SOS'08 #3, 52ppII #4 Socks
Originally uploaded by Spingirl

This is pair #3 for SOS, and #4 for 52PP.
I have to admit that my hands are hurting a bit, especially as the pair I'm knitting now are made from worsted weight yarn. That might sound crazy, but I wanted a pair that would be a little heavier to wear under my boots. The yarn is from Lorna's Laces, so it's, as would be expected, lovely and soft, but working with it on small needles is hard on the hands. The pattern is turning out wonderfully, though, so I have to love these socks too!

I planned to give away many of the socks I hope to make this summer, but each pair is so wonderful that I want to keep it for myself. Gotta stop being such a pig. How many pairs of socks does one person need, anyway? T-shirts, now. I could use some of those! I should figure out how to knit those in a fast, economical manner. I can't get anything long enough in the stores, and they shrink, fade, and wear out too soon. I guess I should put that on my list of things to look into (oh, no--another list!)

We have been having strong storms nearly every day, and about a third of the peach tree has broken off. I also need to look into pruning fruit trees as well (out comes the list again!) My flowers are flourishing. In fact, I need to cut some of them back and even dig out and divide a couple of clumps. But that would eat into my knitting time...

As you can see, I've done the links for the photos from Flickr. I just don't like it. There has to be an easier way, but I haven't figured it out yet. Something else to put on the list. But right now, I think I'll go try to finish pair #4 tonight, if my hands can hold out!

Sock Mania

2008-06-25T16:05:00.013-04:00

Wow. Nothing but socks. This is kind of weird, but it has lightened my baggage quite a bit. I only carry my little Julip sock knitting bag with me now, and have stored away almost all my other projects (which means I've taken them upstairs and dumped them on the pile in the sewing room.)

First pair of socks for SOS'08:

These are from Chestnut Bay Fibers in "Sunrise" Merino Superwash. It's so hard to get the colors right in the photo--they're much softer than they look.

I started these at midnight, June 21, and finished them sometime late June 22. I wanted to see if I could knit a sock in a day, and I managed to do that while listening to "Jane Eyre" on my iPod. My hands were pretty tired, but the socks went a little faster than I expected. Unfortunately, the leg section was 8" long, so that slows down sock production a bit! The requirement for the contest is that the leg part be at least 2" long, so I could have turned out a couple of pairs in the time it took me to knit these. Alas, I don't like short socks, and I'm not knitting socks just for the sake of the contest, though it is a motivating factor. Maybe in the fall I should start a contest for knitting the most Dale of Norway sweaters! Snort.

Now I have sock #1 of pair #2 finished, and am well on the way on sock #2. I'd like to get them done tonight. I'm anxious to move on to the next yarn tucked away in my bag. I've forgotten what I have!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to do a little housework between sock-knitting phases, and keep my flowers tidy and weed-free. Not so much success there. I have some really spectacular thistles coming up in the back flower bed. But look at my hollyhocks!

I do love hollyhocks so. Someone a few blocks away has some lovely pale pink ones, and I plan to go begging for seeds in a week or two, when the seedpods have set. They're simple, they come back without any help (in fact, you can't kill them once they've taken hold, which is a definite plus for anything in my garden,) and they just scream "English cottage garden!" I'd love to have some foxgloves too, but I'm afraid it gets too hot here for them. I did put out a couple of delphiniums that I bought on sale right before the market closed for the season, but again, I worry that it will be too hot for them. We'll see.

In other agricultural areas, here are our fruit trees:

If we can actually keep the bugs from eating all these, they will be the best, sweetest little pears you could ever taste, and I don't even like pears! At least not those hard grainy things you get in the grocery store.

The peach tree is just as loaded. We've not really gotten any peaches before--usually the Japanese beetles eat them all, but I plan to keep spraying this year. It goes against the grain, but I would like to have at least a couple peaches off this tree some time.

We used to have a beautiful old apple tree, too. The first spring we lived here it just exploded with blossoms, and I could smell them all through the house. I'd never smelled apple blossoms before (real city girl here!) But it was so old that it was rotting from the center out, and it set so much fruit that year that every storm brought down another chunk. The next summer the whole thing came down. I'm glad I got to enjoy that one spring though. This fall I plan to get at least one nice maple, if not two or three, so we can have some shade and color in our big lot.

Off to work on socks!

On Your Mark, Get Set...

2008-06-20T22:26:00.004-04:00

Only an hour and a half until Summer of Socks begins. And yes, I'm staying up to cast on as soon as the clock strikes midnight! Crazy, I know, especially since I have to babysit the Rugrat tomorrow. I'm getting out the baby corral and she's going in it with a steady rotation of toys.

I did not get the pink scarf finished (but I still have an hour and a half! All is not lost yet!) It's almost there--just a few more repeats, then five or six garter rows. I made a big mistake and left out two pattern rows about four repeats back. I pondered a while, then decided that nobody is going to notice it. Really. You would have to look for it, and most non-knitters (and knitters) don't do that. I just wasn't up to ripping back mohair again.

I met Abby on Wednesday for coffee and "bunny stuff" as I now call it*. She knitted, I spun on a spindle, and we talked about spinning (of course), Spanish, raising boys vs. girls, studio space or lack thereof, beer, organic foods, our admiration of Rita Buchanan, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't remember now. It was a real hen party with just two cluckers. And she was nice enough to think to bring me some fantastic fiber. It never crossed my mind to bring her anything, which makes me feel like a heel, but I have something in the works that I think she'll like.

I'm really wondering how this whole sock contest is going to go. Will I stick with it until September 1st? Can I possibly not work on any other projects but socks for ten whole weeks? Frankly, I'm kind of doubtful, given my track record. But here I go...

*"Bunny stuff" is what a knitter on Ravelry says her husband calls her knitting. I like it. It covers everything: knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, stashing. It's what I do.

Heading for a finish, I hope!

2008-06-17T20:03:00.005-04:00

This is the project I'm trying to finish by Friday, because Saturday begins the oft-written-of sock contest.

It's a little more than half-finished, and I'm happy that I just started the second ball of yarn, because that means I'll have enough to finish it! You never know when you don't use the yarn the pattern calls for! I really should have had this done a long time ago, but every time I'd pick it up to work on it again, I'd have to relearn the pattern. Now that I've been working on it every day for the past few days, I don't have to count every stinkin' stitch. As with all lace, it will be far prettier once it's blocked.

I was a good girl and did a lot of stretching and strengthening exercises for my neck and back yesterday, so things are improving. I have another massage appointment tomorrow, and I hope that works the last of the knots out of my neck. I have to take care of this problematic neck because it affects my knitting (horror of horrors!) as well as my job. Worst of all, it makes it difficult for me to play my violin for any great length of time. So that's a real incentive to keep up the stretching program. Besides, I'm not getting any younger, so I can only expect more problems down the road if I don't take good care of it.

I started back to violin lessons this morning, so I have some things to work on. I'd like to get at least an hour of practice every day, but obviously I can't do it all at once. And it's usually best to do it when my family's not home! Though that's what practice mutes were invented for. I just don't know how many times they can stand to hear scales and arpeggios, even muted ones, before they crack up.

I've wound almost all the yarn for my socks, so I'm set up for the contest, even though that little voice in my head that just won't shut up keeps asking why I'm doing this. I dunno. It must be my competitive streak coming out. It's kind of funny--the only competitions I've ever won have been stupid baby shower games!

The evening is incredibly beautiful and cool. I should go flop in the hammock and enjoy it while I can.

More obligatory grandbaby pics. I think she can pull in Bolivia with those things on top of her head!

Excess Baggage

2008-06-14T12:28:00.013-04:00

I stumbled upon this bag the other day when I was shopping for a kitchen cabinet:

Naturally, my first thought was not, "Hey, what a great piece of luggage"(which is what it is), but, "Hey, what a great knitting bag!" I said as much to the shop owner, and her response was, "Isn't it a little big for a knitting bag?" Heh. Non-knitters have such limited imaginations.

Anyway, I resisted the temptation, even though it was marked way down from the original price. I resisted temptation for approximately 48 hours, then went back, panic-stricken that some other smart knitter would have seen the potential and snapped it up. It was still there, and it went home with me. It's an April Cornell design for "Isabella's Journey" bags, which might mean something to someone else, but I'd never heard of either one. All I know is that it's a beautiful, well-constructed bag that will probably outlive me. It's made with heavy upholstery-type tapestry fabric and has little metal feet so the bottom won't get bunged up. I love it.

Oh, and what's this? Is that...yarn...peeking out? Why, of course! (Oops, I typed "of curse" accidentally.)

Best. Bag. Ever. It was the only one in the shop, but here's how you can contact them to see if they'll order one for you (since you, too, are a smart knitter.)

But wait, there's more! I came across the ad for this shop on Ravelry. Ravelry will be the death (or bankruptcy) of me yet. This is a spindle bag. Very cool, with a little pocket for your spindle to slip into and plenty of room for roving.

Then there was this bag, and seeing as I'm doing socks all summer, I was a goner the moment I set eyes on it. It's an "Everything but the Knitting" bag, which comes with a wrist loop, a crochet hook in its very own little pocket, and a tin containing scissors, tape measure, stitch markers, and a yarn needle.

The pictures on the Julip Bags site are much, much better than mine, so check it out. See how generous I'm being? I'm passing on links to all the good stuff. After I've ordered mine.

Ok, enough on the bags. I had planned to go to the local Worldwide Knit in Public Day event, and had even made plans with Abby to meet up there, but my body is not cooperating today. I'm having really bad neck spasms, and even a trip to the chiropractor and massage therapist yesterday didn't help. I have fibromyalgia, and I'm having one of those "hurt-all-over" days. I can't think straight, and I didn't have the energy even to shower and gather my stuff this morning and head downtown. I'm so frustrated by this. I'm sure there were a lot of people there that I haven't seen since I dropped out of the guilds I was in, and I really wanted to meet Abby. I had my spindle bag all packed up, because we were going to spin despite the fact that it's Knit in Public day. (Well, hey--you gotta have yarn before you can knit, right? Close enough.)

So I'm slogging around grumbling about how unfair it is that I can't make plans for anything because I never know if I'll be able to follow through. But I know it could be much, much worse. I'm otherwise healthy, according to numerous tests, so I'm going to shut up about it now.

Only one more week before the SOS contest starts! Off to work on something from The List. And to check out whatever Missy is baking that smells absolutely wonderful!

Wandering in the Heat

2008-06-11T17:57:00.004-04:00

Here is the first pair of socks for the 52 Pair Plunge II on Ravelry:

I like the Tofutsies yarn, but dislike the pooling I got in parts of the socks. I don't dislike it enough to use two skeins and switch every two rows, as I've read you can do to prevent pooling. They're socks, not the Mona Lisa.

I finally settled down this afternoon and worked on the pink lace scarf from The List. I don't know why I have so much trouble getting things done on my day off. I even wrote a list last night (I'm big on lists, huh?) but I really didn't get much done from it. I'm not a morning person, and I have trouble getting up and going no matter how late I sleep. But it's after 6PM, and I'm starting to get the urge to get something accomplished. Most of the day was spent cleaning up clutter, unloading and reloading the dishwasher, and running laundry. That doesn't sound like much, but there was a lot of clutter! And I didn't even make it into the dining room, where the table is covered, nor the TV room, which is really my husband's domain. Therefore, I don't worry about it too much.

Sooo, I had to make myself sit down and think about what would be the most productive use of my knitting/spinning time. I decided on the pink lace scarf because I have to concentrate on it. That makes it the best project for times when interruptions will be at a minimum. I think I'm starting to get the hang of the repeats in this pattern. It's about time--I've only done about 9 repeats!

I also went downtown and bought a ball winder and looked for a standing cabinet for the kitchen. I'm glad there's a weaving shop in town, and that she had ball winders in stock. I had bought an expensive jumbo winder, but had a really hard time with it. I contacted the maker, who was extremely nice and helpful, and he had me send it to him to see if it needed tweaking. He called to tell me that there was nothing wrong with it, but that thin, slippery yarns don't work well on that particular winder. He very kindly refunded my money, and I guess I'll stick with the good old plastic winder from now on. It's a shame--that was a nice winder, but if it wasn't going to work for shawl yarn and sock yarn, it wasn't the one for me.

I discovered something today, as I was wandering in and out of shops downtown (all three blocks of it.) It's summer. It's hot. Hot weather makes me grumpy. I thank God every night for air conditioning (I'm not kidding.) A friend in Alabama told me that they've had temps in the 90's for weeks now. I would just die down there. If I didn't have air conditioning and ice cream, I don't know how I would live.

Speaking of ice cream...

Storms, socks, and spinning

2008-06-09T15:20:00.002-04:00

Still no Internet connection at home, so I'll just stay late at the office and do this.

That was one wild evening. We ended up heading for the basement at one point, because the sky turned that scary green, and when I see that I head for cover. (The Xenia, OH tornado in 1974 passed right over our heads. I don't like green skies.) We don't have actual tornado sirens in our teeny town, but the police were driving through all the streets with their sirens going, so that was good enough for me. We had lost our power, so we had no radio or TV until we found batteries for the portable radio. Yes, I know--that's not good disaster preparedness.

Missy grabbed the baby and some diapers, I grabbed the milk and water from the fridge, and we shooed the dog downstairs. We couldn't find the cats (not a good sign) so we had to leave them to fend for themselves. I also got my violin (couldn't carry the new wheel down there) and Missy got her favorite stiletto-heeled shoes. I can't believe neither of us got our knitting bags! Meanwhile, hubby headed next door to make sure our 94-year-old neighbors were safe in their basement.

The worst part didn't last long, so we ventured upstairs after about 20 minutes. It was still pounding rain, but the cats re-emerged from their hiding places, so I figured all was well. From about 7:30 on the lightening and thunder never stopped all night, even when it wasn't raining. The power didn't come back on until 6AM, saving me from having to take a cold shower, so I was happy. But it was sure hard to knit by candlelight that evening!

In other knitting news, I finished the pink Tofutsie socks. They feel so wonderful on my feet. I do like that yarn, except for the fact that it tends to split, so that can slow the knitting down a bit.

Since I finished those, I've been concentrating on the Dale sweater. I'm done with the hem and the bottom colorwork, and have done three rows of the body. I've been having trouble with it because one length circular needle is just a little to small for comfort, but the next length up is too long. So my hands can't take knitting on it as long as they can on another project. I'm also having trouble getting the gauge right, but it's hard to say with the colorwork. I hadn't done that for a long time, so the stranding was a wee bit too tight on the first couple of rows. I got my hands to relax as they got more familiar with the motions of using one color in each, so by the last color row, things were going fairly well. It looks so nice. I have to spread it out and pat myself on the back every once in a while just because it's so pretty! AND I managed to follow the pattern pretty well. I only had to rip back one row. Did you know that it takes about twice as long to rip back one row as it does to knit it? I didn't. But now I'll really take care to double-check the pattern every row!

I finished filling two bobbins on the wheel with the walnut-dyed roving, and plyed and skeined the yarn. I really love this yarn. Good thing--I'm going to have a lot of it by the time I'm done!

Less than two weeks until Summer of Socks! Gotta keep working on these projects! I'd like to finish at least one more before the 21st, but I'm not sure if I can. It won't be either the Dale sweater or the walnut wool, that's for sure! It's probably a good thing I still don't have access to the Internet at home. Instead of spending so much time on Ravelry, I can be knitting!

In short...

2008-06-06T15:43:00.001-04:00

...huge storm Tuesday night. Blew our modems both at home and work. Have had no internet until 20 minutes ago. Am posting this at work. Shhhh.....

More later, I hope.

Lunacy strikes

2008-06-01T18:44:00.034-04:00

This is the yarn I spun from the Fuzzarelly Fiber roving:

Nancy had sent me a selection of blends of different colors, so I blended them from pink to purple to blue. I think it will look really neat knitted up, and I found that the "Wing o'the Moth" shawl pattern calls for 200 yards to make a smaller scarf, so I should have plenty. I guess it's not technically a Finished Project until I knit it, but the spinning part is done, so I'm going to call that a FP. (Hey, it's my blog. I get to make the rules. And break them. Regularly.) Anyway, I've been struggling to not whip out the needles and cast on for this scarf, so I should be proud of myself for that! That would really be lunacy. Ha, ha--luna(as in moth)cy. Get it? Snort.

It was a joy to spin on my new Jensen wheel. Having the orifice on the right-hand side makes things so much easier. I don't twist my body when I spin now, so I can sit back and relax and not get so kinked up. Now that I've gotten the wheel set up and "broken in" I've been doing a lot of spinning with the walnut-dyed roving. I almost finished filling a second bobbin today, so I should be able to ply and finish a skein or two in the next few days.

Now comes the moment when I have to admit that I've gone and done something really idiotic. I blame it all on Ravelry. Really, that place is Danger Lurking As A Friendly Website. Once you get on there, you get sucked in. First you start looking at other people's stashes, then you start reading the forums, and next thing you know, why, you've joined four or five groups! And that's when the crazy begins.

So, ok, the first group I joined was the Summer of Socks group. But I already knew I was going to do that, so it doesn't really count. And the Sock Blankie Mania group kinda made sense. I mean, if I'm going to be knitting all these socks, it's a good way to use up the leftovers. It's mindless knitting, so it can be done while riding in the car or whatever, and there's no deadline lurking. Harmless enough, I'd say.

BUT. The 52 Pair Plunge, I'll admit, is just nuts. As of today, I have a year in which to make 52 pairs of socks. But I figured if I'm going to be knitting socks all summer anyway, they'll count toward the total. And, unlike the SOS contest, I don't have to knit adult socks. Baby socks count. And that's a good thing, because the Rugrat has outgrown the other two pairs I made her a while back. I know, I know--I'm just trying to justify lunacy, but what can I say? It sounded fun. And it's so easy to click on that little "Join this Group" button.

I've got 20 days to work on Project List #2. And then it will be nothing but socks, socks, socks. Unless I have a total meltdown and start twitching at the very sight of socks a couple of weeks into it!

Speaking (or writing) of the Rugrat, here are a couple of pictures of absolute adorableness, IMHO:

Gaaaah. It's just TOO stinkin' cute. I can't stand it!

Sorry. Random Grandma insanity moment...

The Tale of the Walnut-Dyed Fleece (with photos!)

2008-05-29T16:30:00.016-04:00

A year and a half ago, I bought a scrumptious Romney fleece at the Woolgathering in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I should have been organized enough to save the sales slip and maybe a business card, but I wasn't, so I have no idea who I got it from. But it was nearly perfect, with almost no VM (vegetable matter--in other words, straw and thistles.) After I washed it, it was a soft light gray. Unfortunately, I can't lay hands on a lock that I was sure I'd saved, so I can't show how it looked. (I have learned from that mistake, and have been saving paperwork and fiber so I can keep track of what I have and where I got it. As mentioned before, I can be taught.)

Anyway, I did wash it, and thought about spinning it in its natural color. But just at that time, our black walnut trees were showering us with hundreds of mushy green/black spheres that were serving no purpose but to stain our shoes. I got the brilliant idea to dye the fleece with the black walnut hulls.

Now, I don't really like dyeing anything. It's too much like cooking, and my family will attest to the fact that, even after almost 27 years of marriage, I can't cook worth a hoot. Oh, occasionally I can whip out the giant artery-clogging breakfast of eggs, bacon, gravy, hash browns, etc. But I wouldn't have the faintest idea of what to do with a pot roast, and I've never successfully fried chicken. So anything that involves measuring, mixing, and timing is not on my Must-Do List.

BUT. Walnut dyeing is stupid simple. You break the green hulls off the walnuts (then crack open the walnuts to use for baking if you're a masochist and happen to like the flavor. "No" to both for me, thankyouverymuch.) Break the hulls up into a big pot of water and let them soak for, ohhh, like, however long you want, but before it starts turning moldy. Then you strain out the hulls, throw in the fleece and let it soak for, ohhh, however long you want. You can even warm the water first, or you can just set it in the hot sun and let Nature do its thing. Push the fleece around a bit so it dyes more or less evenly. Drain, rinse, repeat, let dry. Tadaaa! A gorgeous brown-with-gold-highlights fleece!

Wait, did I mention that you should wear rubber gloves during this entire procedure? Did I also mention that black walnut stain is pretty much permanent? Did I tell you how I know this? Could it be because my hands looked gangrenous for weeks afterward because I didn't use the aforementioned rubber gloves? Even when the worst of the dark stain wore off my skin, the crevices around my nails were still almost black. I looked like I'd been digging in the dirt and didn't bother to wash up afterward. 'Twas a bit embarrassing.

The fleece, however, was stunning. I wasn't up to carding it, so I sent it off to Kent and Jenny Ferguson at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers where they carded it for a terrifically reasonable price. I now have a giant box of six pounds of fleece (minus the little bit I've drafted and the tinier bit I've spun.)

It doesn't look too remarkable in the box, but I could hardly wait to start spinning this wool. I wanted it to be thicker that the yarn I usually spin, and I had to retrain my hands to pull out more fiber from the roving so I would get an even yarn at the thickness I wanted. I finally had a sample I liked, so I filled a couple of bobbins and plyed them.

Then I couldn't wait to see it knitted up, so I did a couple of swatches, and was thrilled with the soft scrunchy feel of the swatches. I haven't washed them yet, and I'll probably do a couple more on different needle sizes, but I just love how this wool is turning out. Note the tags on each swatch, showing needle size and wraps per inch. I told you I can be taught!

I wish the photos could show the slight gold sheen on the yarn and the swatches. I don't quite know where that comes from. Is it something about the color of the fleece, or is it a quality of the walnut stain? Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

So now I have about 5 pounds, 15 1/2 ounces left to spin. I'd better get cracking for a couple of reasons. One is that the incredibly-patient-with-the-spinning/knitting/quilting-rubble husband is getting sick of the giant cardboard box in our bedroom. The other reason, well, I'll save that for a later post. But here are a couple of clues: Ravelry and the badges at the upper right of the page. You can probably figure it out.

BTW, if anyone wants walnuts this fall, you know where you can get some. I don't have any plans for them this year!

Two More Finished (okay, I cheated a bit...)

2008-05-26T22:56:00.005-04:00

Two more Finished Projects on Saturday! Ok, ok. Neither of them was on the First List, but they were both on the Second List! I'm not sure why it matters exactly, as long as I'm getting things finished. Though the angora blend yarn won't really be finished until it's knitted into something. I ended up with a little over 300 yards, so I have to look through my patterns for something appropriate. I would have liked to have done a shawl, but it's not enough. So I'm thinking about mitts instead.

I hope to have pictures up in the next day or two. I've tried doing pics myself, but I just don't have a clue about how to make them look good. So I need the semi-pro in the house to take them for me, after he gets done with work, grass-cutting, home repairs, and TV-watching. Meanwhile, here's a peek at my gorgeous peonies:
I did manage to take this photo myself, after about 15 tries. (Good thing it was a digital camera! What a waste of film otherwise.) This doesn't really do them justice. The entire shrub is covered with these blooms that look like scoops of vanilla ice cream, with a cherry on top (and the odd ant here and there.) They smell delicious too. The New Dawn roses on the front fence are about to pop soon. I can't wait to see them--one of the first things I planned when we bought this house four years ago was to cover the split-rail fence out front with pink climbing roses. It's taken a couple of years for them to get going, but the biggest one is absolutely packed with buds.

Coming soon: The Tale of the Walnut-Dyed Fleece, and Why Do I Keep Stitching When I Know It's WRONG?

The List: #2

2008-05-23T21:25:00.005-04:00

Since I've completely abandoned the idea of no more yarn purchases (that didn't last long, did it?) I'm updating The List to reflect what I really want to get done sometime soon. At least this year would be nice. And I've been thinking about whether I want to be more concerned with The Stash, or focus on The Finishing.

The funny thing is that on one of my Yahoo groups (Spindilitis) there's been quite the discussion this week about stashing, and both sides of the situation have been presented. Most people who contributed confessed that they had tons of fiber to spin, but felt no guilt at all. The reasons varied: some feel like they might as well buy now because they might not be able to afford what they love in the future. Some just feel like it's no big deal--this is what they do, so why shouldn't they stash to their hearts' content? And some don't think too deeply about it, they just do it!

A couple of people ventured different views. I can relate to the opinion that having too much stash can weigh you down. You know it's there, and you feel pressured to use it. Someone mentioned that it's similar to any other type of clutter one would have stored in the house. It can clutter your mind as well (like the unused clothes and books that I keep meaning to drop off to Goodwill.) I think the trend toward simplicity is beginning to touch more and more people, and having a huge unused stash of yarn, fabric, fiber, or whatever can make us feel burdened.

So I'm trying to tread the middle ground. I can tell that I'll always be tempted by new yarns and patterns, so I'm not really going to stop buying as I promised in my first post. But I also am going to be aware that I may not always love knitting and spinning the way I do now. I have two giant shelf units full of quilt fabric and dozens of cross-stitch patterns that are sitting here untouched, but I was as passionate about quilting and cross-stitching at one point as I am about knitting now. I'm not quite ready to part with that section of stash yet, so I want to keep working on some of those UFOs as well as knitting.

Anyway, without further ado, here's The Second List:

1. Dale of Norway sweater
2. Pink lace scarf
3. Crayon Box Jacket
4. Laurel Leaves Quilt
5. Waterlilies needlepoint
6. ~~Pink Tofutsies socks~~ Done!
7. Merino yarn to be plied
8. Weeping Tree Sampler cross-stitch
9. ~~Baby sweater in Linen Isle~~ Done!
10. Spin Walnut-dyed fleece
11. ~~Spin angora blend from Fuzzarelly Fibers~~ Done!

Most of these were on the First List, but I've dropped a couple and added a couple. I want to have a spinning project going, and the cross-stitch piece is so near to being done that I really want to wrap it up. Several of these projects are close to finished, but there are some biggies as well, so it's kind of balanced.

Now, here's the thing: I also signed up for the Summer of Socks contest, as I wrote a few posts back. So starting June 21, that's what I'll be working on pretty much all of the time. A couple more balls of sock yarn have found their way into the pile. I think I'm up to 26 now. I don't know if my hands can take only knitting, so I may keep the Arbitrary Baseball Rule in force. (I haven't gotten to use it much recently, as the Reds have been playing on the West Coast all week, so the games come on at 10PM here. That's a bit too late for me!) But, seeing as it's a Friday, I might just go flip on the radio and settle in for some stitching. Let's see--they're away, so I think the Rule says I work on the Laurel Leaves quilt. That's a switch from all the knitting!

Falling Waaaay Off the Wagon

2008-05-19T17:30:00.007-04:00

The new computer is finally up and running, so pictures should be forthcoming. I'm probably the only person on Ravelry who has stash and projects listed with no photos whatsoever. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, I had to blow away the contents of the iPod because it was acting wonky, so I had to hook it up to the website and restore it to its original settings, whatever they were. (They certainly did not include the amusing trick of simply scrolling through all the songs instead of actually playing them.) So now I have to reload all my CDs, re-download my books from Audible.com, and save the purchased songs to CD from iTunes on the old computer, before it goes completely belly-up.

So....knitting and stash content. Let's see...I bought more sock yarn. And a Jo Sharp pattern book. And some great Rowan wool/silk blend for less than $4 a ball. And I ordered Lamb's Pride yarn to make a knee length cabled cardigan. Oops, I slipped.

That was on Friday. I haven't bought anything since then. But that's probably because I haven't transferred my bookmarks from the old computer, so I can't go shopping online.

And I haven't been working on a darn thing from The List. I've secretly been knitting a baby sweater from some Linen Isle that I got at half-price a couple of weeks ago. (Sorry. Didn't tell y'all about that one, did I?) And last night I pulled out the fiber that Nancy from Fuzzarelly Fibers sent me and started spinning laceweight on the new Jenson wheel. (Lovely angora, silk, and merino blends--and the angora is from her own bunnies.) That was a soothing, satisfying experience. I must remember to have a spinning project on The List at all times.

So why have I slipped so far off the straight and narrow that I swore to stick to way back in my first post? I blame Ravelry for part of it. You just can't get on there and start looking at everyone's projects without getting the itch to start some of them for yourself. And the blogs! Oh, my my my. Look at what I found yesterday. Just look at those shawls! How can I see those and not give in to the urge to start one for myself? Heaven knows I have plenty of laceweight yarn in the stash, because I shop here. I've got silk blends, cashmere blends, angora blends, supersoft merino, and the fiber--well, I could be spinning superfine laceweight for the rest of my life and not use it all up.

I think part of the problem is something I could see coming--I haven't finished anything in a while, so I don't feel like I'm making progress. I got my little projects done in a hurry, but now I have to slog along on the bigger ones. Starting something new gives me the false impression that I'm actually accomplishing something. In a way, I suppose I am. If I already had the stash and I start using it, at least it's part of the way toward being done. But then I'm back to having 30 projects piled around The Chair again.

At least I've gotten the sewing room straightened up quite a bit. I can finally walk around in here, and if I want to use the small loom, I can get to it now. I've located my skein umbrella and ball winder, so once I figure out where to set them up, I can start winding sock yarn balls. Best of all, I can get the closet door open, which means I can once again gaze lovingly upon the silk fibers that I had forgotten were in there.

Mission for tonight: make new List, which will include spinning and a couple of smaller projects that I need to dig out of the stash. And take some photos!

Bored, bored, bored

2008-05-16T19:15:00.002-04:00

How can that be? I only have 5 million projects to work on! I've just felt lousy the last few days, and can't seem to settle to anything. My neck is acting up, so it's hard to sit very long without getting stiff. I did go to the chiropractor and the massage therapist today, so maybe it will be better tomorrow. I wouldn't mind doing some spinning, but I don't think my neck and shoulders could tolerate that.

So I might have to go watch TV again. What a waste of time. Sleeping is also an option, since I haven't been doing much of that the past few days either. Which may be the whole reason I feel so cruddy. It's a vicious cycle.

So I've been puttering, updating stash and books on Ravelry. Not that I have any new stash, uh-uh, no way. (Not much anyway.) I did need more sock yarn for the Summer of Socks contest, and I found some really beautiful hand-painted yarn. I bought a skein of pinks and a skein of soft yellows, and I'll try my hand at Fair Isle socks. They're going to be great. And I couldn't pass up the Supreme (70% cashmere/30% silk blend) that I found for half-price online.

The new computer did come Tuesday, but it's still in the boxes by the back door. So much for all my impatience. I'll get my act together next week.

Goals:
1. New project list
2. Set up computer
3. Take project photos
4. Post project photos
5. Actually work on projects
6. Don't buy any yarn

There, that should keep me busy next week!

Help meeeeee....

2008-05-12T18:58:00.004-04:00

I really worked hard on cleaning on and around my desk, and things are starting to shape up in the Hellhole. In fact, this afternoon, I actually paid bills on my desk! Yes, it's amazing! After all this time trying to write checks with the checkbook balanced on my knee and bills and envelopes fluttering to the floor around me, it was a real pleasure to have writing space. Not that it was a pleasure to actually pay the bills, but I do want to continue taking hot showers.

And, as I was bustling around putting books on shelves, and sorting random project materials into boxes, I got this great idea. Hey, why don't I gather up all of the sock yarn I have so I'll be ready to go for the sock contest! You know what's coming, don't you? I found sock yarn I don't remember buying. I found duplicate balls of sock yarn. Not only do I not remember buying the first ball, but have no clue about when and why I bought the second. And I must have started something with it, because the center (commonly referred to around here as "the guts") of the ball had been pulled out, apparently knitted, and then ripped out. I have no idea.

I did remember some of the balls I found. Like the Opal that knits up into the most incredibly ugly sock I've ever seen. How do I know this? Because I actually started a sock, put it aside for a while, picked it up again about six months later, knitted a few inches, then discovered that not only was it butt-ugly, but my tension had changed drastically over those six months. I ripped it out, and I'm really not sure if I have the courage to start it again. If I had any backbone about me (it should be obvious by now that I don't) I would knit it first and get it over with. But I doubt I'll be able to fight off the siren song of the Panda Wool and Panda Silk.

So here's the Sock Pile:

That's 21 pairs of socks' worth of yarn there (22 if I knit up the duplicate ball.) The Noro at the top will probably end up as two pairs as well, because I'm going to use them together to make narrower stripes. The ugly Opal is at the bottom right, next to the luscious "Last Purchase" yellow Panda Silk. I hope the ugly doesn't rub off.

Do I really think I can knit 21 (or 23) pairs of socks between June 21 and September 1? I'm going to give it a shot. I should come up with some sort of special reward if I manage to do it. Trust me, I have no problem rewarding myself for any tiny little goal reached!

A funny thing happened as I was paying for a skein of sock yarn on Saturday (whoops--ummm...it was a grand opening for the shop and I got there the last 10 minutes it was open and I didn't want to leave without buying something because that might have hurt the owners' feelings and there was this really pretty On Line yarn that I'd never seen before and, well, never mind...) Anyway, I started chatting with another lady at the checkout (hey, she was buying wayyyy more than my one measly ball of sock yarn) and we ended up exchanging Ravelry names. Not our actual names, you understand. In fact, I had no idea what her name was until I pulled up her page on Ravelry. How weird is that? I feel like I'm in some strange parallel universe when it comes to knitting.

I would be writing this on my very own brand-new computer this evening if only I had stayed home from work today. They tried to deliver it at 10:45 this morning--half an hour after I'd left for work. Rats. Stupid job.

BTW, the chocolate and the cream of mushroom soup did not end up in the same dish the other night. She made a yummy crock pot chicken thing. The chocolate items have not been made into anything yet. I'd better go see if I can bug her into correcting that situation.

Still Waiting...

2008-05-09T20:16:00.003-04:00

...but at least the computer has been shipped! Hooray! It's coming via DHL, and I don't know if they deliver on Saturday, so I may have to wait until Monday. I do hope it comes tomorrow, but I'm not expecting it.

Meanwhile, I've not knitted a stitch today. I feel really lousy, with no discernible cause. I staggered home from work and put my flannel nightie on (it's really cool here today) and have been lying in bed reading various knitting books, the latest issue of "The Strad" magazine (all about the world of stringed instruments), and I have a pile of computer books (all from the "Dummies" series) that I got from the library. I don't think I'm up to diving into them at the moment, but I'm looking forward to it whenever I feel anywhere near human again. My Emmy-cat is pleased that I've chosen to spend the evening in bed. She likes to snuggle, and the Evil One (the dog) is nowhere around to infringe on her snuggle space. But really, MUST she knead my tummy? I don't need to be reminded that it's squishy.

Missy/Viper went to the grocery store. I think she's planning to make something, but there's a baffling array of items on the counter. Cream of mushroom soup, Italian dressing, cocoa, evaporated milk, and baking chocolate. I sincerely hope this is not all for the same recipe, but with her, you never know!

Waiting...

2008-05-08T15:19:00.003-04:00

...for my new computer to arrive. I keep checking the link to see the status of my order:

Click
"In production"

Half an hour later:

Click
"In production"

Manage to wait an hour this time:

Click
"In production"

Really, how long does it take to put some parts together?? It's not like I ordered one with all the bells and whistles. In fact, it's pretty much the basic model shown on the website. You'd think they'd have these babies boxed up and ready to go, but noooo. I have to wait and wait some more. I mean, I ordered it Tuesday night, so where is it already?

So no exciting new photos on the blog yet. I did finish a sock (yay!) and immediately cast on the second one, so that's exciting. Ok, maybe not exciting, but at least satisfying.

Now that it's been almost two months since I started this blog, I'm revamping the Project List. A couple of things aren't priorities right now--like the baby hat. She won't need that for another four to five months, so why make it now? So it's being dropped from the list. Same with her knit skirt. She's growing so fast it's better to wait and see what size she'll be come September anyway. And the cross-stitch project is a problem. Every time I pull it out to work on it, I realize that I just do not like one of the colors, so those stitches need to be frogged and re-stitched. But I have several pieces done and waiting to be framed, so again, this is not a priority. Off the list it comes. I'm putting some spinning ON the list, just because I miss doing it. Besides, I haven't even gotten to use my new Jensen wheel, which is disturbing.

The socks are all going to have their own list, because I've decided to stick with the sock contest, even though I know that there's no way in heck I could win, unless all the other knitters were suddenly stricken with ~~carpal tunnel syndrome~~ some bizarre temporary illness that happens to last from June 21 to September 1 and only makes one ill enough to not feel like knitting, but interferes in no way whatsoever with all other areas of life. (There. I don't even want to JOKE about carpal tunnel around a bunch of knitters. They'd probably kick me out of the contest.)But even though I'm sure this amazing illness will completely bypass all of us, I'm going to use the time to have my own personal contest to see if I can knit up all of my sock yarn. And I'm going to start collecting some patterns, because to be honest, my socks are comfortable but boring. I thought that I'd just let the variegation in the yarns do the talking, but after seeing some of the socks people are knitting, it's time to amp it up.

In other happenings, I've been learning a little about computering. I've always just turned it on, checked my mail, surfed the net, and ordered yarn and such, but that's been the extent of my computer usage. Monday night, though, I spent a long time learning how to put some buttons on the blog (isn't the kitty just too adorable?) and it's awakened some dormant (and I mean REALLY dormant) desire to learn how to do all the cool stuff other people do on their blogs and websites. I was inordinately proud of myself when I learned how to do strikeouts in html, and I want to learn how to do other programming stuff. Computering, computerage--I don't know what to call it, but more than just turning it on and clicking on "Buy Now."

The right hand is much better, but the left elbow has a twinge now. I think it's this storm system or something.

Gotta go see if they've shipped the computer yet.