Month: February 2008

Just a quick post as I fly in and out.  I’ve been off for three days this week, but almost every spare minute has been spent studying.  The good news is that I finished the reading for my seminar this weekend and I’m caught up on my other class until next week.  I’m also over halfway through that class, so it’s all downhill from here.  Still another book to read for another seminar the end of March.

I did manage to eke out a few knitting hours in the evenings.  I finished the body of the teapot cosy:

I still have to embroider the slanted lines on the N’s and M’s.  I have mixed feelings about this project.  As I mentioned, I could not get a gauge of 7 stitches per inch on size 0 needles!  I must be super loose when doing color patterning.  There was no question of going down another needle size.  It’s certainly acceptable, but larger than it’s supposed to be, which, I think, lessens the "cuteness" factor.  And, I am running out of yarn.  I’m thinking about emailing Two Swans to see if I can exchange the other two skeins I got for another cosy.  I don’t think I’m going to attempt another one any time soon.  This was my first time doing corrugated ribbing.  I like the effect, but it sure is rough on the hands.

As I was watching Law and Order the other night, I saw this darling sweater:

Doesn’t that look like it could be a Lavold design?  That’s the best shot I could get of it, but it’s going in my file for someday.

I had to make a visit to a "real" dentist today.  One of the advantages of working for a pediatric dentist is that he takes care of all of my dental needs.  However, once in a while a problem comes up that is out of the scope of his practice.  I had a porcelain crown on a tooth about a year ago and at the time it didn’t appear to need a root canal.  However for the past two weeks the tooth has been hypersensitive to cold.  When I about crawled up the wall eating ice cream last night I figured it was time.  The dentist took an x-ray which he said was inconclusive, but he emailed it to the endodontist (don’t you just love digital x-rays?).  About an hour later he called back to say yes, the tooth needs a root canal.  Oddly enough, I find this good news because it means something can be done.  So, next week I’m off for my first root canal.  And I’m looking forward to it!

As promised, here are my acquisitions from the Madrona Festival.  I hope I didn’t excite you too much, because they were pretty minimal.  I had promised myself one skein of sock yarn.  However, Kris, bless her heart, made that unnecessary with this lovely gift:

This is Hazel Knits sock yarn in the Greenlake colorway.  Hmmm – do you think I have time to knit up a Landscape Scarf before St. Patrick’s Day?

So that left me to peruse the Merchant’s Mall to my heart’s content.  I came across the booth of Two Swans Yarn.  They are a mail order only company based in Kent, Washington.  They had a whole wall of Jamieson & Smith in, I think, every color they make!  A feast for the eyes.  And they had this.  Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen?  And it only takes one skein of each color.  So, I bought enough to make two cozies, one for me and one to gift.

Those are for the gift cozy.  Immediately on arriving home, throwing project monogamy to the winds (you knew I couldn’t do it, didn’t you?), I cast on for mine.  However, all was not well.  The pattern called for size 2 needles.  Knowing I’m a loose knitter, I went down a size, thinking that size was not all that important for a tea cozy.  However, it quickly became evident that this thing was going to be gigantic and I would run out of yarn.  So, I went down to a size 0, and even though I am still not getting gauge, I’m hoping for the best and will just order more yarn if I need to.  However, all was STILL not well!!  I cast on again, and got almost 1/3 of the way done with the body when I realized that I had twisted when I joined the round!!!  How could I have done that?  The yarn was ripped and I started again.  Do you see it coming?  I did it again.  D’oh!  The third time was the charm, and I’m happy to report that I am untwisted and that Jamieson’s Spindrift holds up very well to frogging:

You can just make out the letters "Little". 

Yesterday was another great fun day (two weekends in a row!).  My best friend called me Friday night to say that she had tickets to "Mame" at the Fifth Avenue in Seattle.  Her daughter was supposed to go with her, but she was sick, so I was invited.  I have never seen "Mame", not even the movie, so I jumped at the chance.  We had a great time and even fit in some shopping at Macy’s.  They had a fantastic sale – I got about 5 sweaters for $4.99 each! 

I should caution my regular readers (all five of you) not to worry if I’m MIA for the next week or so.  I’ve got a lot of schoolwork coming up that I really need to buckle down and finish if I’m going to be able to leave for Orlando in April with a clear conscience (and no textbooks to lug along).  I’ll be going down to Tacoma next weekend (three weekends in a row gone – poor hubby!) for a seminar, but hope to get some good pictures of the Museum of Glass.  Until then, I have tons or reading to do and at least two projects to finish for my other class.  But I shall return.  In the meantime I leave you with one very cute granddaughter:

And a puppy who can apparently sleep anywhere:

Yes, she’s sleeping with her face in the basket.

 

Where to begin with the fabulous weekend I just spent with Lorette and Kris?  First of all, I began to wonder if the weekend would ever begin!  A drive that should normally take about 2.5 hours turned into a nightmare commute of almost 5 hours.  There were a great many stretches when I was only doing 5-10 miles an hour on the freeway.  Who would have ever thought that I’d be giddy with delight when it got up to 30 miles an hour??  When we arrived, John had driven over to pick up Lorette and Kris from the Madrona festival, but he had left the door open for us.  Riley and Lewey invited us in and offered to show us where the best silver was kept.  I told them I’d settle for Lorette’s stash.  Kris, having gotten there first was allocated what I refer to as "The Stash Bedroom".  Lucky girl!  I wonder if Lorette checked her luggage when she left.

For Lewey and Maggie, it was love at first sight!  There was Corgi wrestling and tug-o-war and wonderful games of tag.  Poor Riley was quite bemused by it all and you could just see him looking at us and thinking, "Kids!" 

Maggie did take time out from the festivities to enjoy the view:

She learned a lot from Lewey and Riley, including how to behave off leash.  We took a long walk in the woods and although Maggie had never been off leash before, we decided to give it a go.  She did so well that for the rest of the weekend, she was able to go outside off leash for potty breaks.  I still would not trust her near a road or with too many distractions, but it was certainly a start.  John was an excellent puppy sitter while we were at Madrona and I think Maggie was almost as sorry to leave him as she was Lewey.

On Saturday morning John dropped us off at Madrona and while Kris and Lorette took a class, I immersed myself in the Merchant Mall.  There was a nice mix of vendors, with no two booths having exactly the same thing.  They all had a different flavor, which made for a fun shopping experience.  I didn’t go overboard, but I’ll post more about my finds next time.  I then retired to the lobby where tables were set up with free coffee.  I spent a lovely several hours knitting and visiting with other knitters and watching the fabulous fashion show that traipsed in and out.  Of course, everyone was wearing their finest knits. 

At noon, John picked us up and treated us to lunch.  Then it was home for the aforementioned walk in the woods.  When we came home the dogs crashed and Kris, Lorette and I retired to the couch for a knitting party:

One of the classes Kris and Lorette took together was on Continental knitting and you can see them there practicing their technique.  And they’re even smiling!  We spent the evening knitting and being spoiled rotten by John, who served us martinis, wine (I’d better check my cables!) and then escorted us into the dining room for excellent Paella:

I can definitely say that a fun time was had by all.  This morning Kris flew off to Orlando at the crack of dawn and I headed back to the island.  Fortunately the drive only took 2.5 hours, with one tired little puppy sound asleep in the back seat.  Stay tuned for reports of yarn and pattern acquisition!

More sewing this week – another little dress for Izzy:

Although I’ve mentioned that my class this semester is "hard", in that I’m impatient to get through it, the work is not terribly demanding.  There’s not as much reading as some classes, so it does leave me lots of free time.  I spent last weekend doing some rearranging in my sewing room, so now things are a little more organized and I can enjoy my sewing.

This is not to say that knitting has totally taken a back seat.  I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the back of Torgier:

This is an Elsebeth Lavold design, in Silky Wool, for hubby.  I do love the Silky Wool and I think hubby will like its lighter weight.

I’m getting very excited about next weekend!  Lorette has invited me for the weekend and a visit to the Madrona Fiber Festival!!  Kris from Sonny and Shear will also be visiting from Orlando.  John and Lorette are the most gracious hosts and I am really looking forward to it.  The best part – Maggie has been invited too!  John said he would be willing to puppy sit while we attend the fiber festival.  She can play with Riley and Lorette’s new corgi – Llewy.  This should be quite interesting.  I cautioned Lorette that Maggie is pretty well behaved around here, but she is a puppy still, with puppy manners.  But she said to bring her along.  We’ll see if I ever get invited back after this.  This should be a good experience for Maggie.  We really want to get her used to traveling and this is a perfect opportunity to visit with some dog friendly company.

Maggie is excited, but for now has other things on her mind.  Who is this other puppy and why won’t she play with me?

Another week down and one more week closer to graduation.  Can you tell I’m anxious?  I think this may be the most difficult semester I’ve had.  No blood squirting out the eyeballs ala Statistics.  In fact, the class I have is pretty easy.  And the two seminars I need to take involve some reading, but are Pass/Fail, so no stress there.  It’s just being so close!!  I just want to be done.

I did spend a lot of the week nights studying, which meant I had today to play in my sewing room.  I love making dresses for granddaughters:

As much as I love sewing, it was a given I would have no daughters, but now it’s pay back time!  I’ll be doing a lot of sewing in the next two months, because I get to go to Orlando!  My sister and I are heading out there in April and I want to have a bunch of outfits to take to the girls.  I also have a sun suit almost done for Ivy, but it’s not ready for its portrait yet.

Also finished this week, a CIC sweater:

This completes my goal of two sweaters for the current challenge and they will be mailed off this week.  This also gets me down to only three projects (plus one in hibernation).  Abby’s sweater just needs the sleeves sewn in and the zipper.  I did work on the border of the Garden Path shawl this week.  Man, it is slow going.  Usually the borders are one of my favorite aspect of shawls, but this one is going to take forever.  I must say I kind of like Knitting Peace.  I’ll probably be looking to start some socks soon, but am not sure which ones. 

Yesterday we took a drive down the island to see Maggie’s breeder so she could be microchipped.  The gang was very happy to see her:

Believe it or not, Maggie was at the bottom of that pile!  I think she was just a trifle overwhelmed.  We also got to visit with puppies.  One of her Cardigans had just had a litter.  They are four weeks old now and cute as a button:

Speaking of graduation – I created a ticker for Ticker Factory to countdown, but I have no idea how to insert it into my blog.  Anyone out there familiar with TypePad that could give me a quick tutorial?