Month: July 2004

Introducing Agatha:

After a long 7-month wait we picked up our MINI Cooper today. I am in love! This is one fun car. Other than Kermit, our 1958 Isetta, my husband and I have never really named our cars before, but this is just too cute not to have a name. The best part is that although Bill will drive her occasionally, I am the primary driver. Aren’t I lucky?

Yesterday was my last day of work before vacation. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep a wink last night because I kept obsessing about work related problems. I just couldn’t let go! But after a long, long day picking up the car (2 ½ hour drive each way that ended up about 3 ½ hours coming home because of traffic), I think I got work worries beat out of me. I’m starting to relax and focus on the upcoming trip. Tomorrow will be spent running last minute errands (oh goody – a chance to drive the car!), Saturday will be getting a manicure and pedicure (my first), lunch with friends and start packing. And then Sunday we’re off!

Midst all the excitement, I did manage to finish my cloverleaf socks. No picture, just look back a couple of days and imagine two instead of one. I’m not terribly happy with them. The pattern is ok, but they’re too big for me. I was so focused on just getting them done that I didn’t take time to test the fit. I may try washing them in some warm water to shrink them up a bit. I’ve got the yarn for the Making Wave socks and that will be my airplane knitting.

I’m taking my computer with me and should be able to get Internet access while we’re there, so hope to post pictures of the wedding. Until then . . .

Call me crazy, but I have joined another knitalong! I have started the Six Sox Knitalong. I blame Eileen ! For non-knitters or those knitters who’ve been on another planet and haven’t heard, the Six Sox Knitalong is a group that is knitting six pairs of socks over the course of a year. For the math challenged among you, that works out to one sock a month. If you do all six pairs you are eligible for prizes at the end of it all. However, the first pair is due next Saturday and I just joined last Wednesday. Can I do a pair of socks in a little over a week? Why yes, I can!! And here’s proof: Sock #1.

I cast on Wednesday and finished it up last night. Clever me! It helps that it has been miserably hot here and socks are about all I can tolerate. Anything else draped over my lap is just too much. At this rate finishing #2 should be a piece of cake. I picked up the yarn for Making Waves yesterday and that will be my airplane knitting. Assuming the nice screeners don’t take my needles away. Screeners in the U.S. seem to tolerate knitting needles ok, but we are flying out of Canada and they can be a little stricter. But I was able to get my #1 wooden double points on last time so don’t think I will have any trouble.

And speaking of socks, here is another FO:

I actually finished these several weeks ago, but just hadn’t gotten around to posting any pictures. They are knit with Mountain Colors Bearfoot. The yarn is an absolute dream, soft and cozy and easy on the hands. I can’t wait until it’s cool enough to wear them.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to cast on for the second Cloverleaf sock.

P.S. Update on the MINI – we should take delivery Thursday! Woohoo!!!

What a quack! I went to the doctor this week with what I suspected was an infection in my toe (ok, the right big toe if you just HAVE to know). I really was hoping he would say, “Oh, my dear! You cannot possibly go back to work with that toe! You must go home, gather your dog and knitting, prop up your toe and sit, knit and watch Law & Order reruns for the rest of the day.” Well, no such luck. There is a minor infection, but he wants to watch it for a week to see if it will go away without resorting to antibiotics – which it has. Rats! Oh well, I was able to salvage something out of the day. Since it was slow at work, I called in to let them know I was taking a few personal hours and hied myself off to the local yarn shop for a little shopping. I exchanged some Encore worsted that I didn’t need and added enough for a baby afghan, pattern to be determined later. I really like knitting baby afghans. They make great car knitting, even somewhat complicated patterns are repeated often enough to be memorized, they don’t take forever, and when finished you have a useful product. I always have a nice baby shower present on hand and when my stash of them gets enough I will donate the excess to the local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

And speaking of baby afghans – here is my latest FO:

This is the two-row baby afghan, super, super simple and great for a beginner. It is a little small, but the perfect size for tucking into a stroller. This took just a skosh more than 3 balls of Encore. I like the Encore – it has enough acrylic that you can feel comfortable giving it away and enough wool to satisfy the yarn snob in me. I have been assured that the pattern is not copyrighted so here it is:

CO 217 stitches, mark the center stitch.
Row 1: Knit to center stitch, purl center stitch, knit to end of row.
Row 2: Knit to one stitch before center stitch. Slip two stitches together as if to knit, knit the next stitch, pass two slipped stitches over. Knit to end of row. Keep going until only one stitch remains, bind off.
That’s it! You can put in stripes as I did, or leave plain. For planning purposes, there are 109 garter stitch ribs. If you want the blanket to be larger, just cast on more stitches. You can also slip the first stitch of each row for a nice edging. I left mine plain and did a crochet edge, which in retrospect was totally unnecessary. Garter stitch leaves a nice flat edge and my crochet edge makes it ruffle a little. But I ain’t taking it out!

And in conclusion this – not sure how accurate it is, but it sounds good!

You are “turbo” charged.
Fast moving and classy, you get things done with
power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be
deceiving, since what you really value is
quality and efficiency. As you’re careening
around those corners in life, finishing a dozen
knitted objects each month, stop and smell the
roses. Don’t miss the beauty of process!

What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

What a busy, busy week. Over the 4th of July weekend we helped my sister move. She moved from a second floor apartment to a third floor apartment. I’ve never seen so many stairs in my life (and no elevators)! Thanks goodness she had some brawny students to move the furniture and boxes of books, but I lost count of how many boxes I carted down and then up stairs. I discovered muscles I didn’t know I had. We have advised her not to do this again for a long, long time. However she did feed us well and on the 4th we had a lovely view of the fireworks show from her balcony.

On the downside, however, I walked off and left my laptop at her apartment, so I’ve been without it all week. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!! I probably could have posted on my husband’s computer, but I’ve been limiting my computer time as penance for pulling such a bonehead act. I figured doing without for a week would teach me a lesson. I had to drive three hours yesterday to get it back. Serves me right, I guess.

Ok, so enough beating myself about the head and shoulders – at least I didn’t lose it. And not being on the computer left me lots of time for knitting. I make quite a bit of progress on Ingeborg and cast on a new project – a small baby blanket. It’s quite a simple pattern, only two rows. It’s worsted weight and goes quickly. I will check that it’s not a copyrighted pattern, and if not will post it with a picture in a week or so.

One positive about the drive back to my sister’s yesterday was the discovery of a wonderful little yarn shop right around the corner from her apartment. They have a good selection of yarns and one of the best selections of patterns I’ve seen, especially of Baby Dale books. I got this:

I can’t wait to make this:

They had a sample of the bonnet in the shop and it is just too cute. I got a good deal on some closeout of Baby Ull last year and have a good stash of it on hand. But I will be a good girl and get some more done on Ingeborg and Kongsberg before embarking on another Dale.

And in non-knitting news – my Mini Cooper should be arriving in California tomorrow! I’m not sure how long it will take to be processed and shipped up to Washington, but I’m hoping no more than two weeks. We’ve figured with our luck it will come in the day before we leave for England. Well, off to do a few more rows on the baby afghan. Have a great week.