missouristar

H is for Haven. In my G post, I mentioned that we had added onto our house several years ago. The main reason for the addition was to provide an apartment for our mentally handicapped son so that he would have a place to live and lead a fairly independent life. By the grace of God and an extremely competent and principled contractor, we were able to fulfill another dream and expand our bedroom. You have to understand that for 18 of the 20 years we have lived in this house, in order for me to walk from my bed to our one bathroom, I had to turn sideways and squeeze in between the dresser and the bed. I always dreamed of having a big bedroom with a private bath, but never thought it would be a possibility. We were told by several contractors that it wasn’t possible to do this in addition to the apartment for our son and still keep within our budget. We had almost given up the idea when we found a contractor who showed us all the areas in which the other contractors were not being exactly “economical” with our money. For instance, all of the other contractors insisted on installing custom made cabinets. Jesse explained that we didn’t need custom made cabinets – he could go down to Home Depot and buy perfectly beautiful cabinets in standard sizes for a quarter of the price. He showed how we could save money by doing all of the painting ourselves. There were numerous other instances where he pointed out that he could economize and still do a quality job, especially if we were willing to invest a little “sweat equity”. So, in addition to the apartment, we achieved our dream of having this beautiful space – thanks to an honest contractor, who, I might add, came in on time (actually a week early) and under budget. Here is my Haven:

I still walk in this room and am filled with delight. I feel such a peace when I enter. I do have to admit, though, that I rarely knit in here. That’s because I usually watch TV while I knit and we absolutely refuse to have a TV in our bedroom – never have and never will have one. It is a refuge from the outside world!

On the knitting front – I finished the Embossed Leaves socks:

I’m not a big fan of the “photo of your own feet”, but these socks must be stretched out on a foot or a sock blocker to show their true beauty. I don’t own any sock blockers, but just happened to have two feet sticking out at the end of my legs, so there you go. These are made of Regia Silk and this yarn gets a perfect 10.0! It is so soft and lovely and a joy to knit. I wish I could afford to make an entire sweater out of this yarn! The pattern gets a 9.5, but only because she has you break the yarn when you start the gussets and reattach to start your row at the gusset side instead of in the middle of the heel. I think this is entirely unnecessary. I did it on one sock and not on the other and I can’t tell the difference.

I got my copy of this in the mail this week.

I read it from cover to cover in two nights and really enjoyed it. At first I was a little disappointed in her patterns – they seemed kind of “plain” when you consider all of the beautiful and complicated things that Wendy knits. But it really got me to thinking about the kind of knitting I do and what happens to the finished items. I tend to do very complicated knits – I love doing them and the elaborate Aran and lace patterns really speak to me. But I really don’t wear them that often. Our weather is fairly moderate and only occasionally gets cold enough for an Aran (wouldn’t you know, though, that today was one one of them – it’s almost May for cryin’ out loud!). And the lace shawls are only worn occasionally because my work attire is slacks and blazers and my home attire is jeans and sweatshirts.

So . . . . in assessing my knitting program, I’m wondering if that’s why socks are appealing to me so much lately. I wear every pair of socks I make (except the ones I give away – wearing those would just be wrong!). So . . . . why don’t I knit more things that I will wear frequently? Because the things that I wear frequently have simple lines and are not elaborate. So . . . . I’m making it a goal to at least once a season (or failing that, at least a couple of times during the year) make something in simple, elegant lines that I will actually wear as part of my wardrobe. My first project is going to be the “Lucy Tank Top” from Wendy’s book. It’s a very simple ribbed tank top with a lace eding on the bottom. I think it will be extremely wearable out of this.

Don’t get me wrong – elaborate Arans and lacey shawls will still be coming off the needles. But I’m going to make an attempt to knit a few things that I will actually wear. Stay tuned!

What a fun weekend! In fact, it was so much fun, the first thing I did when I got home was take a nap. Our trip to the ballet was wonderful. We were escorted backstage and given a full tour, from up in the rafters where the scenery comes down to the basement wardrobe and make up rooms. We were able to watch the dancers receiving their make-up and wigs and preparing for the performance. We then watched the performance from the wings – fascinating! Picture taking was somewhat limited as union rules forbid photographs during dance school (up until 1/2 hour before performance) and during the performance and at other times we were told to ask the dancers before taking any pictures. Interestingly enough – they don’t like having their pictures taken! Go figure – if I looked that good I’d be posing right and left. We did coerce convince one lovely young dancer to pose for us:

And this guy didn’t really seem to mind:

Sadly, we learned that dancers really do starve for their art, but I think this one took it a little too far:

My personal opinion is that the dancers were a little grumpy because their feet hurt! Seriously, we saw one of the principals walking around backstage barefoot and her feet looked horrible. All of that beauty onstage comes at a price. The crew however, was terrific and couldn’t have been nicer. I was surprised at the freedom we were given to wander around during the performance (including walking onstage during scene changes) and they seemed really delighted to have us there (or at least gave a good impression).

Afterwards I relaxed at our hotel and enjoyed the Seattle skyline:

On Friday I dropped in at the little yarn shop near my sister’s house – really just a hole in the wall and nothing to look at from the outside, but I always seem to score some neat yarn there. This trip I got some Austermann Step for me and some lovely Opal for socks for my friend (and wasted no time casting on the Austermann):

The Austermann supposedly has Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil – not sure how that translates into the wearing (or making my feet any softer – hey, maybe that’s what the ballerinas need), but it has a lovely feel and the colors are wonderful. But for now it’s back to reality – gotta go cook dinner.

What a great Project Spectrum pal I had this month! My package from Michal arrived today. It was Christmas in April, all wrapped up in yellow tissue paper with orange ribbon.

First and foremost – Alpaca Cloud!!! Three skeins of Sunlight – probably the only color I don’t have. It is beautiful and will be earmarked for a shawl. One skein of beautiful yellow Wool of the Andes – so cheerful I think I will just put it on my desk and gaze at it. A beautiful yellow and orange needlecase – handmade by Michal. A rubber ducky (I LOVE rubber duckies), candles and chocolate. Ok, I have to admit that there’s not a whole lot of chocolate in the picture because, well, it was consumed quickly! Thanks Michal – your taste is excellent and the package brought a true ray of sunshine to my day.

I think green is going to be challenging for me. Three green cars are about the only green I own! I think it will be a good exercise in looking around me and seeing colors other than the ones I get just a little too comfortable with – mostly pastels in pink, blue and purple.

Off for fun and games this weekend. If I can post from the Westin, I will!

This one’s for you, Kris (and AG):

Grits and sticks – three days late, but served up with eggs and leftover Easter ham.

This one has convinced my husband that I have totally gone off the deep end. He may be right.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Happy Easter to everyone. You wouldn’t know it was spring in the Pacific Northwest. We’re supposed to set a record low temperature today. It’s dark and gloomy and rainy. The upside of this is that one feels perfectly justified in curling up in front of the fire and knitting on warm woolies. The sleeve on FLAK is progressing – almost to the halfway point. Pictures will follow when I reach the cuff.

In the FO column:

More Fun Than Cables socks from Marguerite’s excellent pattern (free on her website – go get it!). The yarn is St. Ives – very nice and beautiful, subtle heathery colors. I’m thinking, though, that I really need to get some sock blockers so you can see the real beauty of these socks. These are for my friend who embroidered the Hummel for me. Of course, I had to cast on another pair immediately. What should it be? I have a tendency to collect sock yarn and then really dither when it comes to making a choice. There was a new yarn to choose from and one I didn’t realize I had:

The Koigu is new. The only thing I’ve ever made from Koigu was a small beaded purse. But I hear Koigu socks are a delight to behold, so I had to snag some. And lately, everywhere I turn in blogland, I hear people talking about Opal. Imagine my surprise when I surfed my stash to find out that I had a skein. I think it had gravitated to the back because I’m not really fond of the colors. But they will make wonderful socks for my friend, who likes bright funky socks.

In the end, the choice was neither of the above. I have a new love:

Forgive the fuzziness. It was either washed out by the flash or fuzzy. This yarn is absolutely incredible! It slides through your fingers like silk. Wait, it IS silk! Actually, it is 55% wool, 20% silk and 25% polyamid. It seems to have the best of all worlds. The wool gives it spring and elasticity, the silk gives it an incredible smooth feel and the nylon will, I hope, contribute to long wear. At this point I don’t care because it is so wonderful to work with that I could knit with it forever. I have Bearfoot in my stash that feels scratchy next to this.

The pattern I’m using is Mona Schmidt’s Embossed Leaves Socks from the Winter ’05 issue of Interweave Knits. This is really the perfect marriage of pattern and yarn. There is a great tubular cast on that utilizes some new techniques I’ve not tried before. One caution – the tubular cast on and twisted rib are extremely elegant, but make for a tight cuff. I was about halfway down the leg when I decided that it was going to be too tight ( and I have skinny ankles) and I didn’t want anything to spoil these socks for me. So I frogged and started over using one size larger needles for the cuff (two would have been ok too) and making a concentrated effort to cast on as loosely as possible while still making a neat edge. I’m much happier with it.

I reached a milestone in my college career this week. I sent off my application for graduation! Don’t get too excited – I still have 4 more semesters to go, since I only go part-time. But it’s the countdown to the end and will generate a checklist so that I make sure everything is done so I can graduate on time. After going to school for almost 10 years, this is exciting. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Not sure if I will get to blogging next week. Studies and work during the week and fun on the weekend. My sister won backstage passes to the Pacific Northwest Ballet at a charity auction. We get tours of the dressing rooms and orchesta and get to watch the ballet (Sleeping Beauty) from the wings with headsets so we can hear all of the dancer’s cues. Afterwards we head on over to the Westin (think four star) where my sister has reserved us a room. She’s going to volunteer at another charity auction and she invited me along and even offered me an evening dress to wear (it’s very formal). But that’s not really my cup of tea, so I’m going to enjoy the room and may even splurge on room service. I’ll take my laptop and if they have free wireless connection – you’ll hear from me.

G is for Garage. If you had ever told me I’d be in love with a garage, I would have thought you were crazy. You see, for 20 years in this house, we didn’t have one. When we moved in we decided to make the 1 1/2 car garage a shop for my husband and a laundry room for me. So, our cars were always parked outside. About three years ago we did a major remodel on the house. We doubled the size of our miniscule bedroom (for 20 years I had to turn sideways to get from my bed to the door!), added a bathroom (after all that time with only one bathroom, this was a REAL luxury), and added a small one-bedroom apartment for our mentally handicapped son. This last was the real reason for the project, the rest was gravy! The garage was kind of necessary for aesthetics because of the apartment, but has become one of my favorite things about the remodel. In our cool, wet climate it is so nice to bring in the groceries out of the rain. And no more scraping ice on cold mornings in the winter. The best part, though, is when people start talking about how their garages are so full of stuff they can’t even get their cars in. I love to boast that we are probably the only people in town with a two car garage with three cars in it! See?

G is also for green. As you can see, all three of our cars are green. Don’t ask me why – it just happened. We bought my husband’s truck first and green was the only color on the lot in the style and year that he wanted. When I ordered my Mini Cooper, we deliberately chose British Racing Green because every other Mini we had seen was blue (my first choice) and we wanted something different. It just so happened that when Bill found the classic Mini that was just what he was looking for – it was green too. So, we have a matching set:

On the knitting front, lots of progress, but not much to take photos of. I’m plugging away on FLAK and still have a little to go on the front before I can start the sleeves.

I’ve finished one More Fun Than Cables sock for my friend, but have promised not to post pictures of single socks – it’s two or nothing to head off the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. I haven’t touched Peacock Feathers in several weeks. However, lots of studying was done this week. I got a great score on my observation assignment (30 out of 30!) and am just waiting for my grade on the exam, but I think I did well. The class is on Early Childhood Development and I am loving reading about the stage that Izzy is in now. Oh yes – she is WALKING! She decided to wait until a couple of weeks after we left, but she decided the world is much more accesible off the floor and she has taken off. Watch out world!

And, here to distract you from the fact that I have posted no knitting photos is a cute dog photo:

Hester loves to sleep this way. I think she hopes someone will come along and scratch her tummy. And someone usually does.

Although I have no hope of catching up to Marguerite on FLAK, I’m giving it my best shot. I’ve finished the back down to the armholes and have started on the front:

I give this knit a definite “thumbs up”. The yarn is a perfect match, the pattern is complex enough to be interesting, but not so complex that you can’t watch TV and, well, it’s just gorgeous! The only down side is that I’ll probably complete it in the middle of summer when it will be too hot to wear.

Look at what my friend has done for me:

She has an embroidery machine and got the program for these cute Hummels. There is another one of a single little girl knitting that she is also going to do. In return, I am knitting her a pair of socks. She already owns at least three pairs of my hand knit socks and is a very grateful recipient. She loves them and wears them to work all of the time. She does the most beautiful designs on her embroidery machine, so I see more exchanges in the future.

We went to Dinners Ready on Friday and the verdict is: Terrific! I was very impressed with their operation. The facility was spotlessly clean and there was great attention paid to cleanliness while we prepared our meals. They had everything set up with my name on it. We had ordered 8 meals, but since they each serve 4-6 people, we wanted to split them up into 16 meals for two. No problem – each station had instructions on how to do that. Working together, it took me and my husband only about an hour to put everything together and the staff was very helpful when we had questions. Of course, we had to have one of the meals that night. Our choice – Pork Chops with apples and oven roasted Rosemary potatoes. I added some fresh asparagus. It was delicious! Certainly as good as most restaurant meals for a cost of about $5.00 each. They also gave us a freezer check off list to post so that we can keep track of what we use. We rate each meal and take it back on our next visit so they know what recipes people like the best. Then one month of the year they will have a “Customer’s Favorites” month with all of the best liked selections. I’ll keep you posted on our other meals.

What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours. Here was Eris yesterday:

And today:

Both Marguerite and I were not happy with the way Eris was turning out. So by mutual agreement, we frogged (or at least I frogged – haven’t seen proof of hers, but I know it’s coming). Although this was a truly ingenious project with the short row shaping, we just weren’t happy with the cables. Maybe it’s the yarn (we’re both using Peruvian Highland Wool) that just wasn’t right for the project, but we decided that we didn’t want to invest all that time on a project that we weren’t truly crazy about.

We cast about for another KAL project, and the plan now is for me to play catch up on FLAK. I swatched and this pattern fits the yarn so well. As cables go, it’s fairly simple, but looks very complex. And I’ve been wanting to do a top down Aran. Here’s my progress so far:

Still a long way to go before I catch up with her and don’t know how much knitting time I’ll get in this week. I really want to finish my one class by the end of April and then I’ll be free for the summer! I’m getting down the home stretch on my classes. If I really concentrate I can be done in four more semesters. That probably seems like forever, but when you’ve been going to school for almost 10 years, it’s no time at all!

This next Friday my husband and I are going over to the mainlaind to a place called Dinners Ready. The idea is that you order meals ahead of time and when you arrive, they have the kitchen set up for you to put your meals together into freezer-ready parcels. The theory is that then you have ready to go meals for those days when you’re too busy to cook. It’s a little pricey, but nowhere near as expensive as ordering out, which is what we tend to do when things get busy. It sounds kind of fun and their menus change every month. We need some variety – we have gotten into such a rut with cooking! And I’m hoping that once we’ve done it there we can come up with our own ideas to do at home.

F is for Fabric. Here’s a picture of my fabric stash:

Most of my friends and acquaintances know me as a quilter rather than a knitter. Although I’ve knitted longer, for years quilting was my obsession and I achieved a moderate amount of success with it. I have had two quilts juried into the AQS show in Paducah, Kentucky, which is probably one of the most prestigious quilt shows in the world. Thousands of quilts are submitted every year and they only take a few hundred. It’s kind of like going to the quilting Olympics. Didn’t win a medal, but I went twice! Well, I actually didn’t go, but my quilts did. Here is one of them:

I haven’t completely given up on quilting, but with school and work, knitting fits into my schedule a little better. It’s easier to pick up and put down. And yes, I usually have way too many quilting projects going as well. I’m looking forward to the day I graduate and/or retire so I can get back to it.

In the meantime, progress is being made on Eris. Voila! A collar:

Neither Marguerite nor I are especially thrilled with the way our collars look. But in looking at pictures of other Eris collars, they seem to look as good as any. This pattern is quite ingenious, but I have to admit to not loving it as much as I loved Rogue. I will definitely do another Rogue someday, but unless this comes out far better than I think, it may be the one and only. Since the picture I have picked up stitches around the collar and have finished the short rows. On to the body!

The Girl from Auntie has not disappointed. Eris is an intriguing and fun knit that leaves you scratching your head and wondering, “How did she figure that one out?” I’ve been a little disappointed that she hasn’t come out with more patterns, but considering the work that must have gone into this one, it’s no wonder. Marguerite and I are doing our own little mini KAL. No buttons or pressure, but just two friends embarking on the same project and supporting each other. Go on over and check out her beautiful teal colored version. Here is the almost-finished right half collar of mine:

My goal today is to finish the left half collar and then that will probably be it for the week. Alas, today is the last day of my vacation. It’s times like this that I yearn for retirement. In addition to work, I need to get cracking on my studies again. I see the light at the end of the tunnel there, but still lots of hard work ahead.

Under the heading of “I’ve got to clean things out more often” – behold:

I was up in the attic looking for something the other day and found a box labeled “Yarn”. I had entirely forgotten about this. As I vaguely recall, it was given to me by someone cleaning out their stash years ago. It’s all wool and will keep me in CIC knitting for years! Plus there is one lonely little skein of Zephyr laceweight, about 620 yards that will make a lovely scarf or small shawl or stole. Considering all I have on the needles plus in my life right now, I won’t even look for something suitable. Did I mention I’m looking forward to retirement? Working sure does cut into your knitting time!

As I mentioned in my last post, knitting was accomplished while on vacation. However, the most impressive knitting was accomplished before the vacation. When we arrived, Abby presented me with this:

This is only her second project, and I am so honored that she gifted me! The yarn is Knit Picks Panache, alpaca and cashmere and is SOOOO soft. Isn’t it beautiful? I have never, ever received a knitted gift from anyone and I am so thankful.

As promised, here is a picture of Isobel in her new sweater:

It’s a little large on her, but should fit well once fall/winter arrives. I’m going to have to rethink the floats on my next Dale for children project. There was no float longer than 5 on this, but she’s already gotten her little fingers caught and pulled some. It will probably not be a sweater to pull on every day – it’s too much trouble, but boy, is it cute!

Lots of time for mindless knitting while on the airplane and sitting around talking produced this pair of socks:

They match much better than it appears in the picture. With such a long color run it was impossible to make them identical. The Trekking yarn wasn’t quite as soft as Socks That Rock or Lorna’s Laces, but the colors are gorgeous! I’ll be wearing them today, so we’ll see how they feel on my delicate little feet. My friend and I are taking a field trip to our LYS and I think I will succumb to some Regia silk sock yarn if they still have it.

Nex post – Eris!

Ya gotta love a place that has a castle on every corner:

Truck-eating alligators:

Mary Poppins:

And China dolls:

We found Orlando/Kissimmee to be a very different place from our sleepy little island. It’s very touristy, beautiful in some places and pretty tacky in others (see aforementioned truck-eating alligator). We loved Epcot Center. I have never visited a tourist attraction where the people were so gracious and nice. We loved the animals at Sea World, but it was very, very crowded and seemed more blatantly “touristy” than Epcot. It was hot – up in the 80’s and we had to laugh when the weather forecaster said it was going to be “cold” – 64! That’s summer here in the Pacific Northwest. In all fairness, we only hit the touristy spots this time. And, as Kris reminds me, there are some beautiful spots to visit that are much less “manufactured”.

All said, we will certainly go back again. Why, you ask? Because our children will be staying there. The day after we arrived, the company that Ben had been contracting for offered him a permanent position. It was one of those too-good-to-turn-down offers. They did talk to us before accepting, but we assured them that our first concern was that he have a decent job so they can start building a life instead of traveling from contract to contract. We are greatly relieved that he has such a good job. We will still hope that some day they end up out here, but in the meantime I’m sure we’ll burn up the airways going back and forth. And it’s certainly closer than England!!

So now I need to start thinking of cool, cottony knits instead of woolly Baby Dales:

Well, maybe one Dale a year for the winter months, don’t you think? Stay tuned for more – knitting was accomplished on the trip.

E is for Education

Several years ago (well, 8 to be exact), I began thinking of the things that I wanted to accomplish in my lifetime, but had not yet achieved. I was approaching 50 and knew that I’d better get cracking! Earning a bachelor’s degree was #1 on the list. Over lunch one day I happened to mention it to my best friend, who teaches English at our local community college. After lunch, instead of heading back to drop me off at work, she turned in the opposite direction. I asked her where we were going and she said, “To sign you up for the asset test for admission to college.” The rest, as they say, is history.

I started at square one, or actually less than square one. My English skills were ok, but I had to take several pre-college level algebra classes to get up to speed on math. It took four years of going part-time (and working full-time), but I earned my Associate Degree. I graduated first in my class with a 4.0. Perhaps I’m bragging a little (believe me, I worked hard to earn the right!), but what tickles me is that I was often the oldest student in the class. It did my heart good to show that we women “of a certain age” still have a brain cell or two left.

I’m currently a student at Washington State University. I am officially a senior now (woo hoo!), but my grade point average has dropped to a dismal 3.9. : p Upper level classes are a little harder. Everyone (including my husband) asks me what I’m going to “do” with my degree. The answer is, “Who knows?” I only know that education is never wasted, whatever the age. My classes have broadened my horizons, given me knowledge and proven to me that I can do things that seem very hard, if not impossible (including trigonometry).

On the knitting front, I have experienced a renewed interest in St. Brigid and am halfway through the front.

I’m still saving my Trekking for the airplane trip and have sock patterns downloaded to my Palm so they are readily accessible. Last night I gave in to temptation and wound the Shadow into balls. Peacock Feathers is calling out to me! And (drum roll here!) – I actually swatched (yes, SWATCHED) for Eris!! I never, ever swatch. But seeing how beautifully Marguerite’s Aquave fit her, I knew that I needed to do that in order for Eris to fit well. Stay tuned, we’re starting our own little KAL for Eris on April 1st. You are welcome to join, but there will be no buttons, Yahoo groups or any such thing. We’re much too unorganized for anything of that sort. I’ve appointed Brenda as our unofficial advisor – go take a look at her Eris.

We fly out Monday for Orlando (and ISOBEL!!). Oh, Ben and Abby – I am anxious to see you too! They are a completely wired household, so I’m hoping to blog at least a little, but we’ll see!

Although I’m not officially participating in the Knitting Olympics, I did some Olympic class finishing today. I plopped down in front of the TV with all the elements of the Baby Dale and the lady’s figure skating I recorded last night. I don’t mind knowing who won, I just like watching the performances. So, here’s my own version of the the long program: *Take a stitch, watch skater, take a stitch, watch skater, take a stitch, oops, back up the Tivo and take another look at that jump/spin/fall, repeat from * as many times as necessary. And here’s the result:

The observant among you will notice that I did indeed knit a wider front band (9 stitches instead of 5). I really do appreciate all the kind comments about the other band, but you have to understand something about us native Missourians. We are stubborn. Once we get an idea into our heads, we will NOT let it go! Ask my parents and husband. The more I looked at the skinny band, the less I liked it. All turned out well, I stitched and wacked the lower edge and the facing covers all my sins. All in all I love the sweater, but am not sure I would do it again. It was a lot of work for a sweater that will fit Izzy for about 5 minutes. I love the Dale Baby Ull (it’s probably my favorite yarn), but because it is superwash, the floats don’t “stick” and I do worry about them getting caught. But I love the sweater.

All in all a good day – I finished a difficult project and I got this in the mail:

My Knit Picks order! From left to right: Dye your own laceweight (no project yet). Three skeins of Shadow in Vineyard scheduled for Peacock Feathers. Various colors of Wool of the Andes for CIC socks. And last, but by no means least, three luscious skeins of Andean Treasure (100% alpaca) for a scarf. I find myself not itching to cast anything on yet, which is unusual for me. I think I have so much on my plate to get ready for the trip to Orlando, I’m just trying to get it all done and am looking forward to relaxing on the plane and casting on for socks – probably my Trekking. For now, I only have three projects on the needles – St. Brigid, Kongsberg and Leda’s dream (lace scarf). I’m still conflicted on Leda’s dream. I love the pattern, but just can’t get enthused about working on it – usually I can’t put lace down! But for now, I’m going to enjoy having fewer projects going.

I have this theory about Dale patterns. I believe that in the original Norwegian these patterns are such technical works of art that they make knitters weep for joy. I also believe that somewhere there is a sadistic translator cackling in glee over the fact that stupid Americans can’t knit these properly because he/she has made deliberate errors in translation. Just a theory, mind you.

But for proof I offer the Baby Dale. This is partially my fault because if I had been thinking at the beginning I would have seen this coming. After the ribbing, the pattern has you put 5 stitches (plus one edge stitch) on holders on each side for the front bands:

Later you go back and knit up the front bands separately and sew them on. As I said, I should have seen it coming – 5 stitches??? With #1 needles on fingering weight yarn, in ribbing, that hardly amounts to more than glorified I-cord. See?

This is too narrow to even qualify as a front band. Certainly too narrow for buttons or buttonholes. I took it to my LYS for advice and the general consensus was to knit a completely separate, wider band. But what do I do with the six live stitches at the lower edge?

It was suggested that I just fold those to the inside as a facing. But I have a better idea – I have a sewing machine and scissors, and I’m not afraid to use them. I think I’ll just consider that a mini-steek, sew and whack it off. So there, too! I AM the master of my knitting!

And, D is for – what else? Dogs!

It’s not usual to get Kirby and Hester in the same picture. Not that they don’t cuddle – they do. They just don’t like to be caught doing it. This picture took some coaxing. I can’t imagine not having dogs. We’ve had them almost since the day we were married and will continue as long as we can. They bring such joy, such love and such hassle into our lives! It would be so boring without them. Kirby (the Lhasa Apso) is the one with character – he is the dominant dog, despite the fact that Hester is twice his weight. He’s gutsy, opinionated and a little paranoid. But he is the quintessential lap dog. He would be happy to sit quietly on my lap all day long. Hester (the Corgi) is not the brightest bulb in the lamp, but she is sweet and gentle and loves to ride in the car. She would sit quietly and ride with you all over, but her favorite is the bank, where they give her biscuits. In fact, I went through the drive-through today without her and the lady still gave me a biscuit to take home to her. She makes friends wherever she goes and especially likes to visit the assisted care facility where my mother-in-law lives. She will sit and listen to the Alzheimer’s patients as if they are the most fascinating people in the world. Hester is definitely the sweetest dog we’ve ever had.

Listen my children while I tell you the story of a fickle, fickle knitter. Not so long ago, this knitter was heard to mumble on her blog that she hated making socks and wasn’t going to make them anymore. Yet just a few short months later, this knitter was so enamored of knitting socks that all of her other projects lay neglected. She bought sock yarn, she bought sock books, she downloaded a least a gazillion free patterns from the internet (thanks Sockbug – whose link seems to be broken!). She even learned a new technique, two socks at once using a Turkish cast on:

Despite her pleasure at this new technique and the wonderful colors of the Wildfoote, it didn’t take her long to realize that she wasn’t going to finish these socks. Why not, you may ask? Because the yarn seemed rough and harsh to her fingers and she knew that the socks would be rough and harsh on her dainty little feet. So she frogged. Then the knitter found some lovely Lorna’s Laces at her LYS:

So she cast on for a new pair of socks. Despite her pleasure at the softness of the yarn and the delightful colors, it didn’t take her long to discover that these socks weren’t going to fit. The Lorna’s Laces is finer than the sock yarn previously used by the knitter and knitted up to 9 stitches per inch rather than 8. With a 56 stitch sock, there was a real and present danger that these socks would cut off her circulation. So she frogged. In the meantime, another foray to the LYS led to this:

A new sock yarn the knitter had never seen before – St. Ives. Oh, the colors, oh the humanity of it all. Soft grey heathered oh so subtlely with purple and blue. The knitter completely forgot about the Lorna’s Laces waiting at home and couldn’t wait to cast on with the new yarn. But wait, there’s more:

What’s this? A package arrived in the mail. The long awaited Trekking. The knitter wants you to know that the photo doesn’t even begin to do it justice. The soft, pastel colors are not in the least garish. And the texture is guaranteed to caress the knitter’s delicate little toes like cashmere.

So, what’s the knitter to do? Three skeins of sock yarn are calling their siren song – all at the same time. To say nothing of the eight skeins of 50% off wool that the knitter picked up for CIC fingerless mittens. And what of the Baby Dale that is mere hours from the finish line? All I know is that this knitter is definitely the Bode Miller of the Knitting Olympics – all flash, no focus and too busy partying with all these luscious yarns to settle down and get to business. But one thing this knitter does know. One picture of a cute baby in a sweater Nana made for her and all is forgiven:

While watching the Olympics I’m engaging in some knitting of Olympic proportions. Uh, not! I’m working on little tiny things – namely the Baby Dale. I’m actually approaching the finish line! We’ll see if I can break the spell of being prone to cast on for Dales, but not actually finish them. Here is the sweater with the steeks sewn and ready to be cut:

This pattern, unlike most Dales (I think – I’ve not done a lot) has you cast off at the underarm and then cast on steek stitches. I’m not sure I see the advantage. I think next time I would just continue on and stitch and cut the sleeve opening without a steek. And here it is cut and ready for seaming, sleeves, front border and neckline:

Thanks to Chery for her neckline suggestions. Instead of going into back-and-forth mode once you get to the neckline decreases, Chery suggests continuing to knit in the round, but purl the neckline decreases and continue on your merry way. When you’re done, you stitch along the purl bumps and just cut out your neckline. It’s true that you end up cutting away some knitting, but we’re not talking a size 56 here! There’s minimal waste and considering the hassle factor, I’d do it on a size 56 too.

Apparently a lot of knitters are really afraid of cutting their knitting. That’s never bothered me. After all, it’s only knitting. No one will die, or even be seriously injured. Unless you run with your scissors, of course. I started on the front border last night and am about 2/3 done – it’s going very fast. I need to force myself to finish a paper for school and my reward will be to pick this up and plunk myself down in front of the TV with the Olympics. Thank goodness for Tivo – I keep having to backtrack on TV to see what I missed while I was looking down at my knitting. It’s almost as bad as watching movies with subtitles.

Can you bear it? Missouri Star is posting two days in a row! It just doesn’t get any better than this, does it? Of course, since I’m not participating in the Knitting Olympics, I’ve got all this time on my hands. And I couldn’t wait to show you Snowdrop, who did not disappoint. Before:

And after (notice requisite upside down dog):

Specs: Pattern – free download from Yarn Harlot. Yarn – Knit Picks Dye Your Own Laceweight handyed by moi with one pack of black cherry Kool-Aid. Needle size – I’ve already forgotten, but I think size 3. I think this one is about as easy as lace gets and would be a great beginner pattern. Placing the solid triange in the back takes some thinking, but you can leave it out. I wanted to highlight my hand dyed yarn (doesn’t that have a great ring to it?).

And this one is for Sandy. This was the view out of my front door a couple of days ago – I think it was the SUN rising!!

C is for Claudia:

Claudia is my sister (my OLDER sister, despite what she may tell you). Well, not older by much. We are very close in age and my mom says I followed her around like a puppy when we were younger. We would play cowboys and she would be Wild Bill and I would be the sidekick. I still follow her around like a puppy and she takes me to all kinds of interesting places, like the ballet, the theater and art museums. She is not a knitter, but she tolerates yarn shops and even gave me a gift certificate to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop for Christmas (still to be spent – I got sick the weekend I was supposed to go). And did I mention I love her very much?

Here is my button for the Knitting Olympics (Nabbed from Sandy’s site, but I think Jen-La is the creator):

As much as I am dying to participate, between school, work, and upcoming vacation and other projects, I know better. However, I do have an Olympics goal. The first winter Olympics after I retire, I will knit an adult Dale sweater during the Olympics. If I like the sweater for that year, I will choose it. Otherwise, it will be one of the Olympic sweaters. You are welcome to remind me if you can remember.

I finished Snowdrop last night. It looks like a wrinkled, puckered mess. I always have this heart stopping moment when I finish knitting a lace piece wondering if this one will be the one to let me down at blocking. It hasn’t happened yet. I’ve got some time off coming and my husband is going to be gone, so I’ll have lots of free time. I’m going to try to really discipline myself to get some school papers written and my reward will be blocking Snowdrop, so pictures should be forthcoming. Other goal for time off – stitch and cut the Baby Dale. I’ll try to take pictures. And, if you have time, hop on over to the Fluffy Knitter. Deb has a great posting about laceweight cotton. I’ve never knitted lace with cotton, but her comments are enticing me to give it a try.

Rule #1: Never try to knit lace during a nail-biting football game. I ended up frogging a bunch and then realized that I probably didn’t need to frog in the first place – I had just slipped my marker over one. Sadly the Seahawks lost, but we’re happy they got as far as they did. Here’s to next year! And lest you think no knitting was accomplished:

I reached the halfway point on the lace edge of the Snowdrop shawl. I’m really pumped to be this close to the end, so I will probably work on this exclusively until it’s finished. This has been a fun project and I would highly recommend it as an introduction to lace knitting. It has enough repetition to be predictable and flows nicely. The lace edging is also a good introduction to a knitted on edge. For the free pattern, head on over to The Yarn Harlot.

And I also finished these:

Another pair of CIC socks. I made these in a larger size for older kids. I used some Cascade 220 left over from Rogue. This is one of four pair that will be donated in honor of the ladies in my quilting group.

Here’s the latest meme going around. If you’ve not yet been tagged, consider this your notice.

4 Jobs you have had in your life:
1. Histology technician
2. Sewing teacher
3. Knitting teacher
4. Office manager for pediatric dentist

4 Movies you could watch over and over.
1. Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version)
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Persuasion (seeing a theme here?)
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

4 Places you have lived:
1. Thomasville, Missouri
2. Yokusuka, Japan
3. Anchorage, Alaska
4. Oak Harbor, WA

4 TV shows you love to watch.
1. Law and Order (all versions)
2. The Closer
3. Seinfeld
4. The Dog Whisperer

4 Places you have been on Vacation:
1. Ireland
2. England
3. Yellowstone National Park
4. Maui, Hawaii

4 websites you visit daily:
1. MSNBC.com
2. Washington State University
3. Bloglines (that pretty much covers all the rest)

4 of your favorite foods:
1. Cheerios
2. Frosted Mini Wheats
3. Sweet and Sour Chicken
4. Apple Crisp (hmm – they all have sugar!)

4 Places you would rather be right now:
1. Stranded in a snow covered lodge with my husband
2. Lounging on the beach in Maui
3. Sitting in a comfy room, knitting with all my blog friends
4. Anywhere Izzy is

Have you done the latest thing – a Word Cloud?

I thought this was rather cool. The program picks out words from your blog. Go give it a try. On the knitting front, it has become apparent that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks. Both Chery and Debi couldn’t seem to stand the fact that I wasn’t knitting socks toe up on two circular needles and Chery went a step further and egged me on to doing two socks at once. Behold:

These are out of Wildfoote yarn in the Bluegrass colorway. Chery sent me her excellent directions and Debi’s tutorial (Turkish cast on in her sidebar) made everything abundantly clear. I was rather proud of my accomplishment. That Turkish cast on is simply magic! I’m thinking of doing little sachet bags later in the year when our lavendar blooms. However, the jury remains out on using the two circs and doing two socks at once. I love my wooden dpn’s. They’re soft and polished from so much use and I don’t think I’ll give up on them any time soon.

Just in time for the Super Bowl, we’re hunkering down for a huge storm. On the news they showed a map with a big yellow arrow pointing toward the focal point of the winds and it’s pointing straight toward our island. They’ve predicted wind gusts of 70 mph and extended power outages (probably nothing compared to what Debi went through!). We’re prepared – Bill went out and cleared away some tree limbs, we have our emergency water (when the power goes out we lose water too) and the generator is full of gas. No need to board up windows – we’re protected by trees. That is, until one falls on the house. In our area that’s the biggest danger – trees falling and taking out power lines or houses. At least the storm is coming through the day before the football game, so let’s hope the power’s back on Sunday for all the Seahawks fans! Go Hawks!

Now that school has started again, I’m afraid I will probably be limited to posting about once a week. I love blogging and especially reading all of the knitting blogs, but the irony is that all of that takes away from my actual knitting time. Add in school, work and family time and I have to be careful that I don’t while away my time surfing the net! But I do intend to keep on blogging so that I don’t disappoint my regular readers (all four of them!).

I determined that this week I would work on my languising projects and these are the results:

Two little baby sleeves! The original pattern called for the sleeves to be the same pattern as the body (see previous post). But it quickly became apparent that with color changes on every row there were going to be about ten gazillion ends to weave in. On the body it’s not a problem because they are at the steek and will be cut off. But with the sleeve there’s nothing to do but weave and I just wasn’t up for it. So I took this pattern from another version of the same design and I think it will be cute. Now all that’s to be done is sew and cut the steeks, sew in the sleeves and knit the front bands and neck.

And I worked on Kongsberg. Thanks to Chery, I conquered the two circular method for the sleeve and I think the results are impressive:

On the left is the sleeve started on dpn’s and on the right the two circ. It doesn’t show up as well in the picture, but the two circ sleeve is so much more even. I will frog the other sleeve and start it over. This sleeve will be a lot more slow going than the little baby sleeves. Besides being larger, they are much more complex and tiring to work on. So, in the meantime, I need to think of a simple knit – socks probably. I’ve got some Bearfoot in the stash and following the lead of Debi and Chery am thinking of starting those. Or maybe Lorna’s Laces or maybe Wildfoote. The choices, if not endless, are many.

Ok – New Year’s Resolutions. I always make them. Some I keep, some I don’t, but the eternal optimist in me compels me to at least try. I’m sure you don’t want to hear the usual “eat better” “exercise more” that we all make, so I’ll stick to the knitting ones. The first is to get my projects more organized. Despite the fact that I have a “studio” (formerly known as “sewing room”), I tend to have things strewn all over the place. This year I will try to catalog my books and my projects a little better so I can acutally find them – and not buy the same pattern twice because I already have it but can’t find it. You guys don’t do that, do you? The second is to finish by New Year’s Eve any projects that I have already started. That doesn’t rule out staring anything new, you understand, just finishing what is on the needles now.

To that end, I brought out some unfinished projects to peruse and make plans. Imagine my horror to find this:

M**TH HOLES!!! IN INGEBORG!!! I am heartbroken. I had this sitting in a basket in my sewing room. I have never seen a moth or larvae, but there is the evidence nevertheless. To make matters worse, it was sitting right on top of Kongsberg. However, after close inspection, I can find no holes in Kongsberg. I immediately took Ingeborg and threw it and all of the yarn in the freezer while I made a plan of attack. After searching around on the internet, I did what Stephanie did. I threw it in the microwave. Hopefully any critters have been fried. I’m not usually this ruthless with insects, but we’re talking mega knitting time and a substantial yarn investment here. I am not the Albert Schweitzer of knitters! Now I’m not sure what to do. I’m nervous about just frogging down to the holes and starting over because I fear all of the yarn may be compromised. This one will have to simmer for a while. Any suggestions?

I will, however, share with you another Dale with the body finished. I do have this tendency to start Dales and then bog down on the sleeves, don’t I?

I wasn’t going to post a picture because this is a surprise for Izzy. But then I realized that even though her parents read my blog, she doesn’t. Shhhh guys – don’t tell her! I started on the tiny little sleeves this morning and I have to thank Chery for her suggestion about using two circs for the sleeves. I have resisted two circs for socks because I am terribly attached to my double points, but this suggestion has saved my bacon (and my sanity). Thanks Chery!

And to reward myself for starting to get better (any excuse!), I took a trip off island to my LYS and bought this:

Lorna’s Laces sock yarn. I have heard such wonderful things about this yarn and decided I needed a treat. But I am going to try and be good and wait until our trip to Orlando in March and make this my plane knitting. Maybe.

Well, I may have been sick, but fortunately I wasn’t sick enough to forgo all this found knitting time. I guess one thing about being sick is that it gives you a legitimate excuse for blowing off all the things you don’t want to do as long as you are not too sick to pamper yourself. Behold – two Socks That Rock:

I am quite pleased with these. I used the Sensational Socks book and found that it helped with some of those fiddly things that have bugged me when I’ve knitted socks before. Because the yarn was so busy I just used a simple garter rib. As soon as these were finished I cast on with some Cascade 220 for some CIC socks. One is finished already, but I am following my self-imposed rule of not posting a picture until they are both done.

I also broke out of the starting gate on Kongsberg’s sleeve:

I know why I’ve been putting this off. It’s probably one of the hardest projects I’ve done. It took me about three starts to get it going. I decided not to do the placket – I feel it just adds extra bulk. I probably could have taken a more flattering picture by not showing the jog at the underarm, but I was too tired to play with it. I know there are methods for reducing the jog, but this is hard enough without adding an extra technique.

And introducing my B’s:

This one is easy – my husband Bill and my son Benjamin (posing with one cute little baby). Bill and I have been married for 32 years and he is indeed the love of my life. He is sweet, romantic and really listens when I talk (well, most of the time anyway). Is he perfect? Well, no. He hogs the remote, leaves lights on wherever he goes and constantly leaves drawers open. But did I mention he also cooks, vacuums and does his own laundry? I think we can forgive a few little foibles.

Ben, in case you didn’t know already, is Isobel’s daddy. He is the only child I ever gave birth to, and Bill and I decided that if we only had it to do once, we really did a good job! Ben may not realize this, but he wasn’t the easiest child to raise (like I’d have a basis for comparison?). He is so incredibly smart that his brain just does not work the same way ours does. He was always the kid who would color cows purple and take things apart to see how they work. In sixth grade his teacher got really frustrated with him because he never did math problems the “right” way, but he always came out with the right answer. He is one of the few people I know who not only understands how computers work, but can actually make them do what they are supposed to do (he is a software engineer). And he is a wonderful Daddy to Isobel! Hey, I like this ABC thing – the beginning of the alphabet is a piece of cake. And I’ve even got my X planned out!

Rats! I thought I would dodge the flu bullet this year, but I guess it is not to be (Hey, I even got the shot – how fair is that?). My throat hurts, my joints hurt, my head hurts – even my hair hurts. But mostly my throat. And I blame my husband. Despite the fact that I hang out with germ laden rug rats all day, I got it from him. Was there something in the marriage contract fine print that said we had to share everything? I think not!

So I will distract myself with some mindless (aagh – I must feel bad. I had to type that word four times) knitting – aka socks. I finished the first Sensational Socks That Rock Sock. However, to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome I have vowed not to post a picture until the second one is done. But as I am on the cuff of the second sock and it is garter rib, I think it qualifies as mindless enough to knit while you’re sick.

This however, does not:

I have joined Junie Ann’s KAL. No, this does not mean I have started something new. This KAL is dedicated to finishing something that you have had on the needles for plus or minus three years and just can’t bring yourself to finish. Kongsberg sadly falls into this category. I really love this sweater, but for some reason just can’t force myself to start on the sleeves. There are some areas that looks as if you need to be pretty creative with your floats and it has me intimidated. Under the terms of the KAL, each week you must do something. Even if it’s casting on, going to the store for buttons or englarging the chart – that counts. I guess you could consider it the small step method. And small steps should eventually translate into a finished sweater. We’ll see. I don’t think, though, that this is a job to tackle when one is feeling puny.

I will, however, introduce you to St. Brigid. She would obviously be progressing at greater speed if I hadn’t gotten sidetracked by lace and socks, but she is lovely nevertheless. Designer – Starmore, Yarn – Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Neeles – size 5.

And, speaking of lace, I have finished the body of Snowdrop and am now working on the edging.

This, too, does not seem to be a project for the weak of body and fuzzy of head, so it will also have to wait until I feel better. On the positive side, I have absolutely nothing scheduled for this weekend so I can sit on the couch, wrapped in an afghan, drinking tea and knitting on my sock. In fact, I think I’ll go do that right now.

Much of this weekend has been spent doing housecleaning on my computer, but it paid off. Things were really starting to slow down and I wondered if maybe I’d outrgrown this computer. But a few dumped caches and going to a cleaner desktop, plus downloading some Safari enhancers has really given new life to my laptop. We’re speeding along now! Not to say that there hasn’t been knitting going on:

This is Stephanie’s pattern available for download from her site. It would be a great starter lace as the pattern is easily memorized. I used it to teach some lace newbies at our knitting group and I think it was favorably received. Maybe I’ll see some new shawls at our next meeting.

I have also been making progress on my Socks that Rock:

This yarn is pure pleasure to knit with. I can’t wait to get them done and on my feet.

And, I have joined the ABC Along (scroll down to see the button on the sidebar). The aim is to post a picture that means something to you every other week, following the alphabet. A is easy – in fact, two A’s are very special to me:

This is my younger son, Allen. He is a really special kid in many ways. Although 28, he will always be a child, but he is sweet and kind and certainly brings a spark to our lives. Raising him has been difficult, but we know we are better people because of it. He came into our lives when he was six years old and has been a very special part of our lives ever since.

And A is also for Abby:

Abby has only been a part of our lives for less than two years, but we can’t imagine life without her. She is a wonderful wife to our son, Ben, and the best mother you can imagine to little Izzy. Everyone should have such a daughter-in-law!

Happy New Year to all! What a year this has been. One family member departed this life (my husband’s father) and another entered (little Isobel). We traveled to far off places which were quite different – England and Missouri. And my husband completed his first full year of retirement (the verdict – GOOD!). In tallying up my production this year, I was shocked at how many projects I actually completed: 5 shawls, 3 sweaters, 7 scarves, 3 baby hats, 6 baby sweaters, 4 pairs of CIC socks and 5 pairs of adult socks. All but one sweater and one shawl were also started in 2005. Wow! I’m exhausted. All of that is in addition to holding down a job, volunteering at church, going to school part-time (I’m now a senior – WHOO HOO!) and doing enough of my share around the house to keep my husband reasonably content.

My favorite project of the year – Peacock Feathers (gifted to my mother for Christmas):

Cutest project? No contest:

Most repeated pattern? I got stuck on Estonian Scarves and made 5! Here’s a picture of 4:

I must have been doing pretty well – I gave one as a thank you to a friend who had given me her copy of Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller. She wore it to Seattle to have a lunch with a friend who admired the knitting and the choice of color. The friend? Evelyn Clarke. The designer!

Last completed project of the year:

More Fun Than Cables Socks – pattern courtesy of Marguerite. Thank you Marguerite for sharing your lovely patterns with us. These really were fun to make. I will definitely do them again. The yarn is Essentials by Knit Picks. Although the yarn was fine to work with, I am not sure I will use it again. After wearing only one day, the toes and instep (where my clogs hit them) are starting to felt a little.

Last yarn purchase of the year:

We went up to Bellingham today and thanks to Li found this great new yarn shop – Marilyn’s. Good selection, good prices and nice people. Well worth the trip, even if we weren’t going for something else. The yarn is “Socks That Rock” in the Azurite colorway. It feels wonderful and reminds me a little of Koigu. I wound the yarn at the shop because I just couldn’t wait to start. But then I reminded myself that I always start a new project on New Year’s Day and decided to wait until tomorrow. I love, love, love this book! I like my library of sock books, but I think this is the one I will use the most. Multiple patterns that you can do in any yarn, any size.

I am thinking over my resolutions for the New Year. I am a big believer in resolutions. Even if you end up breaking most of them, there’s something about the eternal quest to better yourself. The New Year is such a great time to take stock and consider what you really want to do in the coming year. I’ll keep you posted!

The Christmas break is over and it’s back to the grind. It’s tough going back to work when you have a retired husband who gets to stay home! Some day. It was nice to have Christmas on a weekend with the added days off. My sister came up from Seattle and the dogs really enjoyed the extra attention:

In my house we call this “Lap full o’dog”. Despite the fact that Hester looks as if she’s about to fall off, she is actually sleeping. And now that Christmas is over I can show you some surprise gift knitting. Here is Izzy’s first annual Christmas sweater (pattern from “Top Down for Toddlers” by Cabin Fever Knits:

Why, you might ask, is there not a picture of little Isobel modeling her gift from Nana? Because her parents have not yet sent one (hint, hint). We missed so much not having her and her parents here for Christmas, but we would much rather have them save the money for a potential move back here in the spring. But in the meantime, Christmas pictures would be nice (hint, hint).

By the Friday before Christmas I was organized and prepared enough that I had time to play! I had some undyed laceweight yarn from Knit Picks, so I played around with Kool-Aid. My first result (Berry Blue) was a little uneven – nice, but probably too varigated for lace knitting – maybe a feather and fan scarf:

My second attempt (Black Cherry) was more successful. It turned out a very pretty, heathery pink:

It was so pretty, in fact, that I just had to try it out. The pattern is the Snowdrop Shawl from the Yarn Harlot (free on her website). I’m doing a lace workshop for my knitting guild next week and I think this will be a nice pattern for new lace knitters. I had so much fun dyeing that I want to order some more yarn to do some experimenting and get some brighter colors. Since I don’t have a large house and need to use my kitchen, I think I’ll stay with the Kool-Aid dyes since they are non-toxic. I did this in the microwave, but want to try using the crockpot too. Any advice or hints are welcome!

A wonderful surprise came in the mail yesterday:

Lynne sent this to me. Thank you Lynne! I’ve made such wonderful friends in the knit blog community over the past year. In many respects, this keeps me knitting, wanting to have exciting pictures to post. Well, at least knitters find them exciting.

I find it exciting that the last of the Christmas knitting is done with these socks:

Every once in awhile I find myself thinking , “Wait, I have lots of time. I could do this, and this….” And then I get a grip and remind myself that I need to relax and enjoy the season. Each year I wish I had done just a little more in the way of gift giving, decorating, etc. But then I remind myself that this is NOT what this holiday is about. It’s a time to remind ourselves of the great gift that God gave to us in the form of His Son. That gift has nothing at all to do with all the hoopla and decorations that we have invented. That allows me to sit back and think instead of what I can truly give.

In that spirit, I have given cards to at least four people this year letting them know that a pair of hand knitted socks is being donated in their name to CIC. So far the reception has been wonderful. Everyone has been very excited. So, after Christmas a box will be winging its way to CIC with four pairs of little socks and a little sweater.

With no further Christmas projects to finish, I found myself itching to cast on a lace project. I found this pattern, Leda’s Dream via another blog. This was just the project I needed for some pale pink laceweight that has been struggling to find the right home. I have cast on several times with this yarn, but nothing seemed right until this. I think it’s a stunning pattern, and the price was right – only $2.00 to download. You can order it here. Here’s a picture of my progress so far:

I may not get a chance to post again until after Christmas. If I don’t, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and that you will have family close to enjoy and love.

What is it with this obsession to knit socks? Was it just a few months ago I commented on this very blog that knitting socks just wasn’t my thing? Once again I am forced to eat my words. It seems that all I want to do is knit socks, ogle sock yarn and wander through all my sock patterns (and I have A LOT!). The sticking point for me is that I have to rewrite them all because I have relatively smallish, skinny feet, as does everyone else I knit socks for. What is it with that? However, once I’ve gotten going, it seems as if I cannot stop. The latest effort:

Don’t they look lovely on the Christmas tree? These are from Knit Picks Dancing yarn in the “I forgot” colorway. This yarn is nice and I think I will make a pair for myself eventually, but I find that I do prefer working with wool rather than this cotton blend yarn. This pair will go in the Christmas stash as will the pair I am currently working on out of Regia self-patterning yarn.

That’s another thing that I’m finding different this year. For the first time I’m feeling “IT” as described by the Yarn Harlot. You know, the desparate feeling that you have to not finish, but actually START new projects for Christmas. All of a sudden I’m feeling that I need to knit something for everyone – a totally unrealistic expectation by the way, so all of you on my gift list reading this blog – Don’t get your hopes up! But I hope some of you will be pleasantly surprised.

Updating my last entry – my birthday weekend was a mixed bag. I so enjoyed my visit to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop, but I do find myself getting a little discouraged by the price of all the yummy yarns out there. I increasingly find myself priced out of the market, so to speak. So far I am quite pleased with Knit Picks and hope they keep adding to their inventory of affordable yarns. After the yarn shop, we went over to Seattle Center to see the new Harry Potter in the Imax Theater. Right after the lights dimmed and before the movie started, an elderly gentlemen a few rows down from us suffered an apparent heart attack. They kept us all in our seats while they did CPR on him for over half an hour, then rightly cancelled the show and ushered us all out. I doubt he made it. It was so distressing – he had his family with him, including his grandchildren, and my heart went out to them as well as all the other children in the audience. What a sad memory of what was supposed to be a memorable outing.

On the positive side – I got my grade back on my final exam essay in my anthropology class. I was stunned to receive a 100!!! I was pretty satisfied with my exam and felt that I worked really, really hard on it, but this was a very pleasant surprise. I am now officially a senior! 30 more credits to go and counting.

No pictures today, but I thought I’d let you all know I survived my brutal week. The project at work was completed Tuesday, one day ahead of deadline. What a relief – it was a year long project that was tedious, but rewarding at the same time. The final exam was not 3 pages as I thought, but 6!! Three essay questions, 2 pages required on each. When I first saw the questions I broke out in a cold sweat and got a sinking feeling in my stomach. They were very hard. But I comforted myself with the fact that I only needed to get an 80 on this exam to pass with an A in the class. Once I got over panic, however, I organized my thoughts and addressed one issue at a time and came out, I think, with an A paper. We will see. It was, however, turned in five days ahead of schedule. This should earn me some psychological points with the professor as he was pleading for early submissions because of the crunch next week on his end to get grades turned in.

My Thursday meeting was cancelled at the last minute, allowing me a blessed and unexpected free night at home. Can you guess what I did? Yup, settled down in my chair with my trusty canine by my side and knitted. One theme going around the knitting blogs recently is your favorite place to knit. So, ok, here’s a picture:

This is my knitting spot. My favorite recliner in front of the television in my living room. There’s my trusty pooch. Can you see that little space he allows me in the chair? You can see my coffee cup, the remote control and the phone so I don’t have to move. My knitting basket is on the floor there with my grab and go knitting in the pouch in front. I never the leave the island without knitting in the car – I’ve been stuck at the bridge on more than one occasion. See all those magazines stuffed in the table? Those are mostly knitting, quilting and computer magazines that I need to catch up on. In the background you see the bookcase also stuffed with reading material. Those, however, are not my knitting books. Those fill up a floor to ceiling bookcase in my sewing room (uh, studio!). So, what’s your favorite knitting spot?

As a reward for surviving this week, I’m off to my sister’s in Seattle for a fun weekend. We’ll be shopping, seeing the new Harry Potter on the Imax, shopping, possibly seeing the new Narnia movie, shopping, looking at Christmas lights and oh, did I mention shopping? And, as a special birthday treat (it’s my birthday on Sunday), we’ll be going here, my favorite yarn shop in the whole world. Hope everyone has as much fun this weekend as I’m going to!

One of the downsides of owning a Mini Cooper in Washington is that there is only one dealer in the entire state. So, when you need preventive maintenance – you gotta drive. That is, unless you live in the Tacoma area. It’s about a 2 1/2 – 3 hour drive for us (depending on traffic). The good news – that’s a whole day of knitting time if you’re the passenger! Throw in a three hour wait while we were there and that’s a whole lotta knitting time. Have to look on the bright side, don’t you know. In addition to getting two chapters of school reading done, I finished an entire pair of CIC socks. Here’s the CIC stash so far:

That’s three pairs of socks and a sweater. This morning I printed up cards letting the recipient know that a pair of socks will be donated to CIC in their name. Not all will be done by Christmas, but I will send the giftee a picture once each pair is done. The little sweater will be donated in Izzy’s name – the start, I think of a very meaningful tradition.

This week is going to be a bit hectic. In addition to a gazillion things to do at home, I have a big project at work that has a deadline of Wednesday. Plus I have five chapters to read and a lecture to watch on my class so I can try to finish my final exam (a three page essay) by Friday so I can go spend the weekend with my sister with a clear conscience. Plus a party to go to, a haircut to get, one meeting and, well, you get the idea. So I doubt I will get to posting much. But the next week I have lots of time off, so I can start thinking seriously of Christmas.

On one of my Yahoo groups there has been a discussion about giving knitted gifts and the mixed reaction you often get. Sometimes the recipient smiles, says “Thanks” and then shoves it into a drawer, never to be seen again. Recently I had some very gratifying gift-giving experiences. I was cleaning out my sock drawer and came across several pairs that didn’t fit me too well. I showed them to Abby, and she tried them on and took a pair that fit her well. She wore them all day, washed them and put them right back on again (well, after drying). That’s gratifying! The others I took into work and offered to a co-worker who I know likes knitted items. They fit her perfectly and she promptly put on a pair and wore them all day. Imagine my surprise when I came back from vacation to these:

Beautiful handmade ornaments (they’re reversible) with all my favorite pictures of Izzy, along with a lovely thank you note for the socks. It’s so wonderful to know that your efforts are appreciated. Even in this case when the gifts were more or less second-hand.

And, speaking of socks:

These are KnitPicks free twisted sock pattern (downloaded from their website) made in their “Dancing” yarn in the Rhumba colorway. Don’t you just love those names? These are for my secret pal at work. I don’t know if any of my co-workers read my blog, but even if they do – they don’t know who my secret pal is. Hee hee! So if you’re reading – don’t you just wish you knew if you’re my secret pal? And I have another pair of simple ribbed socks started in the Tap (or is it Ballet?) colorway that I hope will fit me. Ahh – it seems the season of socks has begun.

I’m baaaack! Not without a bit of hassle, however. Due to mechanical difficulties, our flight out of Springfield, Missouri was delayed, causing us to miss our connection to Seattle. So, we ended up with a four hour layover in Dallas. The nice people at American Airlines managed to get us on a flight later in the evening and we ended up home late, but otherwise unscathed. It was amazing to watch the people in line getting irate and taking it out on the people behind the counter. I don’t know about you, but I would much prefer that they not fly a plane with mechanical difficulties.

We spent Thanksgiving in the little town in Missouri where I was born. How little is it you ask? Well, when my husband asked my dad how many people still lived in town, he started counting them off on his fingers and naming them by name. That’s small. Here’s a picture of downtown:

That’s pretty much it. Believe it or not, there’s a terrific restaurant in town – a small cafe really, but they serve the best hushpuppies and catfish on the face of the planet.

And, since there’s not much to do in town, knitting was accomplished:

Why, you may ask are there two socks on the needles? Good question. I started one pair for a unnamed person who I don’t think reads my blog, but you can never be too careful. When I got to the heel, I realized that they were going to be too small for her, so those will be for me and the other pair for her. I’m actually experiencing a renewed interest in sock knitting. Maybe the era of lace is on a hiatus and the era of socks has begun. Stranger things have happened.

And, I leave you with a picture of a hugely attractive group of people. For the first time in 18 years, my whole family was together – my mom and dad, my sister Claudia, myself, and my brothers Mike and Pat! Here’s hoping it won’t take us 18 years to make this happen again!

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Marguerite! I told her this was like getting chosen head cheerleader or getting to sit at the cool kid’s table at school (neither of which EVER happened to me in high school)! So here goes (although please don’t ask me what “meme” means):

What is your all time favorite yarn to knit with?
No contest – Dale Baby Ull. It’s 100% wool and so soft that you can wear it next to your skin. Great for babies and adults. And machine washable, although I don’t.

Your favorite needles?
Addi Turbo circulars – you just can’t have too many pairs, although they’re getting kind of pricey. I also love my Bernat straights. I have two sets, 7″ and 14″ that my husband bought me the first year we were married. Like the marriage, they’re still going strong at 33 years and I use them all the time. The nicest gift he’s ever bought me.

The worst thing you’ve ever knit or crocheted?
This might sound a little arrogant, but I’ve never made anything I didn’t love. Part of that is because I am not afraid to cut my losses and frog! Closest I’ve come? The very first sweater I ever knit – a cardigan in a hideous kelly green (what WAS I thinking?). I don’t think I ever finished it, but I honed my continental knitting skills on it, so it served me well.

Your most favorite knit or crochet pattern? (maybe you don’t like wearing it…but it was the most fun to knit)
My Alice Starmore Flying Geese Gansey. Out of Dale Baby Ull, of course. I loved every minute of knitting this, as I do most Starmore patterns.

Most valuable knitting technique?
Do knit and purl count? I don’t know what else to pick. I can’t think of a single technique that I would choose over any other. They all work together.

Best knit book or magazine?
Once again, Alice Starmore is right up there with “Aran Knitting”. I’ve seen it go for a bundle on eBay, but I wouldn’t sell mine for any price. But I also have to choose “Knitting Without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmerman. It was the first knitting book I ever bought (I have a first edition!). More than anything else, it taught me to be fearless about knitting and never to be afraid to try something. It taught me that knitting should be fun!

Your favorite knit-a-long?
Uh, don’t have one yet.

Your favorite knitblogs? I’m going to rephrase this one into the three knitbloggers I’d most like to have over for coffee.
Tops is Marguerite at Stitches of Violet. She seems like the kind of person I could happily spend the afternoon with – knitting, talking about our granddaughters and just having a great time. I think we are kindred souls.

Lorette – the Knitting Doctor. We’ve actually met and she is as articulate and fun as her blog. And she’s a doctor! How cool is that? I’m in awe of anyone that smart and dedicated who also knits.

Li at Life’s a Stitch. We’ve also met and had a great time. She’s the first knitblogger I actually met in person and she did not turn out to be an axe murderess as all my friends warned (You’re going to meet someone you met on the internet????). Pretty darn good knitter too.

Your favorite knitwear designer?
Alice Starmore. I find her patterns very knittable and wearable as well. The patterns are clear and are obviously written by some who actually knits! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her and have taken her Fair Isle knitting class (but not actually knit a Fair Isle sweater – I can’t get gauge. Man, that woman knits tightly!). So far I have made 6 of her designs, but unfortunately some were given away before my picture-taking, blogging days.

The knit item you wear the most? (how about a picture of it!)
I going to choose two. One is my Starmore Flying Geese gansey (out of Dale Baby Ull, of course) and my Norwegian sweater. This Norwegian sweater was knit without a pattern, using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s guidelines. I used fingering weight Alpaca! It was a rousing success and gave me an enormous confidence in my abilitiy to improvise and it is a wonderful, wonderful sweater to wear. It was also the first sweater I ever steeked and cut – on fingering weight alpaca. EZ said it was ok.

Memes, I believe, are a little like a pyramid scheme. There’s so many people at the top, but by the time it has trickled down to me, everyone’s done it. So rather than tag anyone, I will encourage anyone reading this who has not done it to have a go and let me know in comments so I can check it out.

And . . . I am officially on vacation as of today. Woo hoo! We fly out Sunday to my parents’ house in Missouri for Thanksgiving. Don’t know if I’ll blog or not. They have internet, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to download pictures. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go figure out what knitting to pack. Everyone knows that’s a lot more crucial than clothing. What to put in the carry on vs. the checked luggage. Are all my scissors and otherwise sharp things out of my carryon? Do I have enough projects???? Are there any yarn stores nearby in case I run out? The list goes on and on!

Apparently I don’t know how to knit properly. My husband wore Aranmor to the store yesterday. When I met up with him he was chatting with a saleslady. When she found out that I knit his sweater she told me that she would be glad to give me some knitting lessons. She took issue with my cast on and cast off. Since the neck ribbing was k2p2, she told me I should have cast off in k2p2. I told her I had and she said, “No, you didn’t.” She then told me she could teach me to cast on and off so that it looked like store bought sweaters. Being the polite, well bred lady that I am, I thanked her very much and beat a hasty retreat.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know I don’t know it all and I do occasionally take classes at my LYS. But I find it incredibly rude for a complete stranger to trash your knitting (so much for knocking ’em dead with my knitwear, huh?). For the record, I know how to cast on and off to make it look store bought. I choose not to because I prefer the hand knit look. So why does her criticism bother me so much?

Just to prove that I CAN TOO knit properly, behold Peacock Feathers.

Before:

One hour and a gazillion T-pins later:

And a detail shot:

I highly recommend this pattern (Fiddlesticks Knitting). Dorothy Siemens’ pattern is well written and easy to follow. I made very few mistakes (one is in the center point, but since I made it symetrically, I’m calling it a design feature) and don’t think I did any frogging at all. It took me approximately one month to do. I’m amazed at what I can accomplish when I concentrate on only one or two projects at a time. Next up, a CIC knit and some secret last minute Christmas knitting, then St. Brigid.

Oh, and check out the sidebar. I’m finally getting around to getting together some photo albums. First up, lace projects.

The house is eerily quiet.

You can actually walk through the living room without tripping over baby paraphenalia.

There is no baby slobber on my sweatshirt.

I took my good wool blazer to the cleaner to get the baby spit up off.

I seem to have a lot of time for knitting and studying.

It’s kind of lonely, but things are as they should be. Izzy is with her daddy, who missed her terribly. Abby is with her husband, who missed her terribly. And they’ll be back for Christmas (woo hoo!!). And I see a trip to Orlando in our future. Here’s a picture of Izzy excited about the trip and dressed for traveling:

Yes, it’s dark outside – we had to leave the house at 5:00 a.m.

So, on the way home from the airport I worked on Peacock Feathers and it’s now done!! I still have to block and can hopefully get to that tomorrow. But I must make myself work on my term paper first!

So . . . wanna hear about my harebrained scheme? Of course, my harebrained schemes usually end up creating a lot of work for myself, but I think this will be fun. I wore St. Enda to work the other day and complete strangers commented on how stunning she was (this is my new theory: If you can’t knock ’em dead with your good looks, knock ’em dead with your stunning knitwear). So I got to thinking how great it would be to have a family portrait taken with everyone in Aran knit sweaters. I’m already about a third of the way there – I have St. Enda for me and Aranmor for Bill. I’m not saying they’ll be done anytime soon, but that will also give me time to save up because the photographer I want isn’t cheap. But he does beautiful work and we can go on location to Deception Pass, the bridge on to our island. It is one of the most beautiful and visited places in Washington State.

So . . . next on the agenda is St. Brigid (picture courtesy of Wendy) for Abby. I’ve ordered the yarn and will cast on in January (or sooner if I get impatient, and you know I will). In the meantime I leave with a picture of babies and dogs – can it get any cuter?

Here is the reason I haven’t been posting much lately:

It’s a little difficult to type with a lap full of baby and dog. But, as you can see, we’ve adapted. You do what you gotta do! And we must have priorities. These have been (in order):

1. Go to work (in first place only because I have to).

2. Play with Izzy.

3. Study.

4. Everything else.

So far I don’t think I’ve completely dropped the ball on anything. I still have a job, I’m getting an A in both my classes and my household seems pretty happy. I’ve even gotten in some knitting time. Behold Peacock Feathers:

Right now it looks like an amorphous pile of dental floss, but it’s impossible to spread it out any more. I’m on the next to the last chart and it’s the first chart for which I’ve used markers. I never used to use markers and didn’t even think of it until about a year ago when I first read Wendy’s blog. It was such a “DOH!” moment. I could have saved myself a lot of grief in my lace knitting. I use them conscientiously now – except on this pattern. Up until now there have been so many rows where the markers had to be moved that I eschewed them. However, the pattern is getting more complicated with longer repeats and less need to move them that I figured discretion was the better part of valor and put them in. I’m glad I did – they’ve saved my bacon a couple of times.

And also in the works:

A little sweater for CIC. I had been putting off charity knitting and finally decided the time is now. I really didn’t want to knit little worsted or bulky weight socks – don’t know why but they drive me crazy – little things with large yarn. But I checked and worsted sweaters are needed, so I’m off and running. This is the Wonderful Wallaby pattern by Cottage Creations.

And I will leave you with our first annual Halloween picture. Nana is dressed as a WSU football player – that’s a real jersey from a 250 lb. tight end – it goes down to my knees! Izzy is wearing her little jumper that my friend made for her. What you can’t see is the little trick or treat bag that’s over her shoulder. It remained empty because, well, she’s too young and after all, Nana DOES work for a pediatric dentist!

Knitting is actually being accomplished here at Missouri Star, just little time to take photos and post about it. Izzy goes to bed at 7:00 and most of my knitting is accomplished after that. Sweet little baby smiles are enough to lure all but the cold hearted away from the knitting needles. There has been some secret Christmas knitting – let’s just say I won’t be up on Christmas Eve weaving in ends. Most everything is finished. And I’ve been working on Peacock Feathers:

.

I’m on Chart 5. It’s really hard at this point to get a good photo. I’m a tad nervous about whether it will be as big as the pattern. Not that it really matters – it is a shawl, after all. And, at the outset I repeated my mantra (“Gauge? We don’t need no stinkin’ gauge!”) and just cast on and started.

I have to echo everyone’s enthusiasm for Fiddlesticks patterns – they are very clear and easy to follow and my aging eyes love the large charts! The only downside now is that the rows are getting so
L – O – N – G! The “just one more row” excuse doesn’t hold unless you’re willing to wait at least 15-20 minutes.

It’s time to start thinking of the next project. I have three (yes, count ’em, three) Dale of Norway sweaters in mid knit, so I really ought to get cracking on at least one of those. One is for Izzy, so I suppose I should get to that before she outgrows it. My enthusiasm for knitting for her has waned a little – how many sweaters can she use in Florida? Will have to think this one through.

And check out this T-shirt on Anne’s website. Isn’t it a hoot? She didn’t have a source for it, so I googled “Hot grannies knit”, but with a great deal of trepidation – who knew what I would find? It wasn’t as bad as I expected, most WERE knitting sites, but no T-shirt. She’s promised to let me know if she ever finds the source.

And this one’s for you Dad:

“Roly poly, pell mell, tumble bumble.” Do you still know it by heart? Thanks for a lifelong love of reading. Here’s to the next generation!

Precious little knitting has been done this week. I’ve been a little busy:

While not gazing rapturously upon sleeping babies, we have been having tea:

And the little knitting that has been done has been cute little hats for cute little heads:

I’ve been trying to keep up on my classes and have done ok so far on my semester based class (the one with deadlines), but have just about given up on my flex class. This one doesn’t have deadlines and I have two semesters in which to complete it. I am trying now to spend all the time I can with my family. Good news – Ben has a job already. Bad news (at least for us) – it’s in Florida. I am putting it in perspective – that’s 5 hours closer by plane than London and we could actually drive there if I didn’t want to fly. I’ll probably get to see them far more often than before and with any luck, they’ll be back in the Pacific Northwest eventaully.

I have accomplished a few more rows on the Peacock Feathers, but not enough for a photo – just look at the last one and imagine it an inch longer! This is one of those knits that starts with 3 stitches and goes like gangbusters at the beginning and then slows down exponentially as you add more and more stitches. I like the Shadow – it’s a nice basic yarn, but it’s certainly not “luxury” and I hope will do justice to the beautiful pattern.

And I have to post one more picture:

Not everyone can be lucky enough to marry their soulmate. Thanks sweetie for a wonderful 33 years – here’s to 33 more! I love you.

Q: What can turn a room full of adults into gibbering idiots?

A: This:

And yes, that is a new sweater that her Nana made for her. The pattern is from Toddler Sweaters From the Neck Down. It has a whole host of cute little sweaters in size 1-6, both basic and more elaborate. And the best part – no sewing, which as you all have guessed is NOT my favorite part of the process.

As I mentioned, my daughter-in-law is a new knitter. Here’s her first project:

I think she and her poncho are both way cute! She’s even offered to make one for me. No one’s ever knitted me anything! That’s the trouble with being a knitter – everyone just thinks you can make it yourself. But who better to appreciate all the trouble someone has gone to?

On the knitting front, I have frogged the Unst Stole. I got about one center panel repeat into it and realized I was not having a good time. I kept telling myself I needed to do this to prove that I could. Well, yes, I can. I did a whole repeat without a single mistake. But what’s the point if you’re not enjoying it? So the cobweb is put aside for the time being. I think at some point I will probably design my own Shetland Shawl, but for now I need something less intense.

So, I have started Peacock Feathers:

Now this is fun! I am really enjoying this knit. The yarn is Shadow from KnitPicks in the Jewel colorway. The yarn is very nice and the picture doesn’t do justice to the color. This is proving to be nice knitting for my busy life right now – enough challenge to be interesting, but not so much that it takes all of my concentration. And it has nice “rest” rows so I can be completely mindless (which some would assert is my normal condition).

Would you like to see what one happy Nana looks like? Like this:

I finally have all my ducklings on the same continent! It wasn’t a easy day for anyone. The airline zonked them with a huge unexpected expense for shipping the dogs – at check-in no less when it was too late to do anything about it. Because of the delay there they had to run for their gate. The plane was almost an hour late coming in and by the time we got out of the airport, Izzy was tired and hungry. At the border we all had to get out of the car and get in the immigration line and they would not let us out to either feed or change her. Very interesting – Abby handed the agent her immigration papers and his exact words were “What am I supposed to do with these?” She politely told him that she didn’t know – she thought he was supposed to! In the end, they figured it out and let us cross the border. Her permanent green card should be in the mail. By this time Izzy was howling (we encouraged her, hoping it would speed the process!). She would not be consoled, but finally fell asleep when the car started moving again. By today she was in much better spirits and obviously LOVES her grandpa:

And her Uncle Allen:

And great news – my daughter-in-law is a knitter. Today she finished knitting a Rowan Kim Hargreaves sleeveless turtleneck for herself and I taught her how to seam it together. I was going to get a picture, but Izzy got fussy again and Abby took her over to the apartment to put her down, so the picture will have to wait until tomorrow. As for my knitting – I’ve learned that knitting can soothe an anxious spirit, but that doesn’t always make for accuracy. On the drive to the airport and while waiting, I knit and frogged the same 5 inches three times!

The fifth and last Estonian scarf is done! Yes, the last. If I even make sounds as if to start a new one, you have permission to come whack me upside the head. I honestly thought the last round of nupps was going to do me in. As I told Junieann, “Enupp is enupp.” No photos yet because I have to bring myself to block it. Of course, that’s after picking it up after flinging it across the room yelling, “Finished!”

Of course that means I have to start some new insane project. Behold:

The beginnings of the Unst stole from Heirloom Knitting. This is turning out to be one of the most challenging projects I’ve attempted. Two things contribute to the challenge. 1. Teeny tiny yarn on teeny tiny needles (cobweb wool on size 1’s). Of course, those of you who know me know that I love little yarn on little needles. But this makes the alpaca cloud on size 3’s seem like rope knitted with fence posts! 2. There is pattern on every row. That means you actually have to pay attention on every row rather than every other row. Dang! No “rest” rows! And because you are doing decreases right above previous decreases, there is not the “give” that a plain knit or purl provides. Of course, if you drop a yo, there’s no where for it to go and it’s pretty easy to pick up. I will, however, admit that it’s getting a little easier as I go along. But it does make me reconsider whether I will ever do the Wedding Ring shawl, which is done with even tinier wool on even tinier needles.

I have decided that there is no way that this can be my only lace knitting. I just can’t work on it more than about an hour without my eyes and fingers screaming for mercy. So, I have ordered the pattern for Peacock Feathers and several varieties of yarn from KnitPicks – several colors of Shadow, 3 skeins of dyeable lace (although I don’t think I’ll dye it) and just for good measure some of the solid sock yarn just because I’m always trying to convince myself I will actually knit more socks one day, but know that I just like collecting sock yarn.

I also recevied my copy of the bookbook. It’s just as good as the last. I feel that I have found a kindred soul! I read the introduction to my husband and he said, “That sounds just like you!” I also dialed the 877-SOS-KNIT number. Way cute. Option #3 is my favorite. I made my husband listen to it and he did – all the way through. What a trooper! I hope he paid attention!!

And just because I have no further knitting pictures to share, how about a nice Alpaca Kiss? This is Bambino – I think he likes me!

Beautiful Madli is finished:

I realized too late that I didn’t get a “before” picture. Too bad, because it’s such a treat to see how blocking really brings out the beauty of lace. But this puppy was on the floor being blocked about 10 minutes after being finished. The pattern calls for the edges to be blocked out in points, even though they are knitted straight. I wasn’t going to do this but decided I was too lazy to thread blocking wires through the edges. But I think I like it this way. It’s probably not quite as large as the original pattern – I think my gauge was a tad smaller. Did I do a gauge swatch before? You’ve got to be kidding! But I was so tired of nupps, I just did the suggested number of repeats and quit! I DID NOT like having to graft the second border on. I much prefer a provisional cast on, knit the border outward, then pick up and knit the other direction.

I was really proud of my grafting as it came off the needles, but not so much when it blocked. Hence, I will show you the other end:

What’s up next? The 5th Estonian scarf needs to finished – drat, more nupps! And Izzy’s Christmas sweater is progressing nicely. This next week will be really busy with an exam, a paper, lots of reading for class and getting ready for Ben & family to arrive. Only a week from Saturday!! Woo hoo!!!! All the visas have been acquired, tickets bought, transportation arranged. Now they’re just down to divesting themselves of anything that can’t be carried on the plane. Minimal living, to say the least! I couldn’t even get my yarn stash on a plane! Well, maybe the yarn, but not the books! Given a choice, I’d take the books. I may treat myself this week to doing a gauge swatch (yeah, I know) for the Unst Shawl from Heirloom Knitting, which will be my next lace project. But I have promised myself I will not cast on for it until I finish the Estonian Scarf. I know, you’ve heard THAT song and dance before.

Knitting was on the road this weekend. Along with my husband and sister, I went to a Washington State University (Wazzu to those in the know) football game in Seattle. WSU is located on the eastern edge of the state, but lately has been coming over to the west for at least one game a year. It’s amazing all the Coug fans that come out of the woodwork in a normally University of Washington (Husky) town! We almost filled a professional football stadium. In all fairness, though, I think a lot of people came to see the opposing band. We played Grambling, and although we wiped them out on the field, there was no contest with the bands. Grambling rocks!! They’ve been traveling all over the area doing benefits (they’re from Louisiana) and have played to sell out crowds. They did not disappoint us – I just wished they could have gone on longer. Before the game there was a reception of us “non-traditional” (read “old”) students:

My husband even won the door prize – a jersey worn in a game by a star player whose name eludes me. I guess it takes a guy to appreciate getting a grubby, ripped up jersey. I just hope they washed it. And, ala Yarn Harlot, there was knitting at the game (although not necessarily during the game):

Before the game we sat in the Qwest Field center watching the crowds and having a great time. My favorite was the little old lady standing on a chair in her Cougar gear singing along with the marching band – she knew ALL the words to the fight song! Or was it the little 2 month old baby in his Cougar outfit? His dad was all excited that this was his first Cougar game. You gotta know – this school has spirit! And I met an elderly gentleman who bragged that he was still a Cougar – class of ’52!

On the knitting front – I’m coming down to the wire on Madli and may actually finish her this week. I’m anxious to finish my two lace projects because only then will I allow myself to start the Unst shawl. Izzy’s Christmas present is coming along nicely and should be done in plenty of time (she says with confidence and a just a little bravado). Two weeks from Tuesday I should actually be able to measure her in person! Tomorrow is a big day as they go into London and Isobel gets her passport – officially being recognized as a U.S. Citizen. Way to go Izzy!!

Listen – do you hear that? That’s a huge sigh of relief from a mom/mother-in-law/nana. Abby got her immigration visa! If all goes well they will be here in just a few weeks. I can’t tell you how happy I am! It has been so hard to have them so far away. Now we need to get to work. We’ve got to get the guest room cleaned out and ready for my younger son and get the apartment all cleaned up and ready for Ben, Abby & Izzy. At least the time should go quickly with all we have to get done!

As promised, here are pictures of St. Enda:

I am very happy with how she turned out. I know that I usually whine about the fit, but this fits perfectly. And Cascade 220 – what can I say? It is so soft – this will be a pleasure to wear. Wow, two new sweaters in a week. I feel spoiled. And the weather is turning cool enough that I might actually be able to wear them.

Of course, knitting for Isobel has gone into high gear. In addition to her Christmas sweater, I have started a larger strawberry hat. That will only be about a couple of evening’s work, though. And you won’t believe this – yes, I have started yet another Estonian scarf. I am a glutton for punishment. My husband and I were talking about giving of our gifts and I decided I would do a scarf for our church’s Christmas bazaar. The proceeds go for both local and foreign missions. This will go in the silent auction portion of the bazaar. I can request a starting bid – what do you think? I’m thinking at least $50 to start with. I know people pay a lot more than that for nice scarves. Besides, we’re going on a road trip this weekend and I needed a portable knitting project. We’re going to Seattle to see the Washington State University Cougars play Grambling. The Cougars only come over to this side of the mountain about once a year (except for Apple Cup and I’m not fighting the crowds for that one!) and as a distance ed student I not only get a free ticket for me, but lunch for me and my guests. So along with my sister and my husband we will go support our favorite team. What do you think about pictures of the scarf (ala Yarn Harlot) at Qwest Field?

What a week! I finished 5 (Yes, that’s FIVE) projects this week. An Estonian scarf, two hats for Izzy and (drum roll here) both Rogue and St. Enda. Granted, all Rogue needed was the zipper, but still . . . Unfortunately, I think one of the hats for Izzy is too small, but it only took one evening to knit, and I have enough yarn left over for another. Why, you ask, was I able to accomplish so much knitting (oh, and a six page paper for a Sociology class)? Lots of time off from work and no place to go, that’s how. Both doctors were gone and we don’t even try to schedule anyone for the first day of school. So, without further ado, here’s Rogue:

I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I think I do prefer a little looser fit, but once again my husband assures me the fit it just fine. I think Rogue will see a lot of wear this fall. St. Enda still needs a bath and blocking to look her best so that picture will come next week. I also have one more hat to go for Isobel and will wait until that’s done to do a group shot of the hats. I’m still a little gun shy about the whole bandwith issue. However, here’s a group shot of the Estonian scarves:

I think I can officially say I am now tired of this pattern. I will probably make one for me down the road, but I think I need to give it a break.

A little name dropping here. I met Cat Bordhi today! I was in my LYS and saw a woman with the cutest purse. I said, “That’s a Cat Bordhi purse isn’t it?” She said, “Why, yes it is.” Then my LYS owner said, “By the way, that IS Cat Bordhi.” We ended up having a very nice conversation. She’s such a nice lady. I admitted that although I have her book, I have been a little intimidated by the Moebius cast on. She assured me that it was pretty easy if I just followed the directions. I have a very lovely skein of Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint, so I may just have to give it a try. Madli is coming along quite well – over half done. A Moebius scarf might be a nice transition project before I start the challenge of the Unst shawl from Heirloom Knitting.

Speaking of which – I did receive my copy! As I think I mentioned before, a very gracious knitter from my group gave it to me. The olive green Estonian scarf will go to her as thanks. The book is wonderful, although a little overwhelming. However, the time has come to challenge myself, so I am determined to try the Unst shawl. Stay tuned!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting program to bring you:

The beginnings of Izzy’s Berry Cute Hat (Fiber Trends pattern by Bev Galeskas). Abby reports that Izzy has outgrown all of her hats and she will need one (or more) for our cold, rainy Washington winter. What, you say? They are in England. But they are moving here!!! I am excited beyond belief. With the grace of God, Abby will get her immigration papers approved soon and they will be here the beginning of October. They were unsure about where they were going to live. We made sure they knew they were welcome here, but quarters are very tight in our house for three extra people and two extra dogs. But our younger son has graciously agreed to move back into his old bedroom and sublet his apartment to them. It’s a winner for everyone – Ben and family get some space and privacy, we don’t end up with four dogs in the house and Allen gets to save up for the computer he desparately wants. And did I mention that Izzy will be right in my own backyard? Well, not actually in the backyard, but you get the idea.

I have also been making progress on Madli:

I think this pattern is going to make it. It is very addicting and I love the way it’s coming out. Between little fruit and cupcake hats and Izzy’s Christmas present, I may be limited in progress during the coming months, but I think I will finish it. And, I ordered 12 balls of cobweb weight wool (say that three times fast!) directly from Jamieson & Smith for the Unst Stole from Heirloom Knitting (more on that next week). It was on sale for 1.50 in British pounds – a great deal even taking into consideration the exchange rate and shipping. I loved talking to the saleslady. She was so gracious and sounded straight out of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”

The following is probably as political as you will ever hear me get on this site. I have watched with everyone else the horror and tragedy in the South. My heart truly aches and I know that all of you will donate to your favorite relief organization. Our choice is the American Red Cross. I know they are not perfect, but without fail they provide relief not only in the U.S., but all over the world as well. My husband teaches Disaster Preparedness classes for the ARC. He constantly comes home shaking his head at the people who tell him outright that they don’t think they need to be prepared because someone will come to their aid. What they don’t understand is that relief takes time. It is very, very difficult to get relief into an area when the infrastructure is shattered. Roads are impassable, bridges are out and even planes can’t land because of cracked runways. There may be blame to lay over the slow response in the South, but none of us know because we are not there. It saddens me that so much effort will be expended in pointing fingers and placing blame. Instead of that, let’s each of us commit to taking personal responsibility for preparing our families for disaster. Have on hand a minimum of 3 days food and water for each member of your family. I realize that for those in New Orleans this might not have helped because their homes were 10 feet under water. But there are many other scenarios where it will help, and if you are prepared, you are providing a solution for the problem, not becoming a part of it. If you are not sure how to go about getting prepared, this website should point you in the right direction.

No pictures today because: a. I haven’t taken any. b. I’ve gone over my bandwith allottment by about 5 times this month. I’m fairly computer savvy, but know aboslutely nothing about bandwith. Does posting a lot of pictures have anything to do with that? Up until a few weeks ago I wasn’t resizing my pictures, assuming TypePad did it for me, but I could be wrong. I am such an ignoramus in this area. Anyone out there who knows, please feel free to comment and let me know what I’m doing wrong. I suppose I could call TypePad support, but so far they haven’t seemed to notice and I certainly don’t want to draw it to their attention.

School started this week, so my knitting time is considerably down. I think my classes will be interesting, though. One is on the anthropology of linguistics. There’s some technical stuff at the beginning, but the instructor assures us that it will get more interesting later. She is a real hoot! In her lectures she makes chimp, cat and dog sounds and advises us that although one of the writers of our textbook is a “crappy writer”, he does have good points to make. She and her husband have written one of our required texts and she tells us that the best thing about this text is that it’s short! My other class is on the Sociology of the Family – a subject that is near and dear to me, so it will be interesting.

On the knitting front – thanks to all who offered advice and suggestions on Lily of the Valley. I still frogged it. There was just something about it that didn’t hold my attention. I’ve never been afraid to cut my losses. I really do have to love a project to invest that much time in it, and although I love the look of the finished project and the pattern was lovely, it just wasn’t meant to be at this time. Maybe another day. But I have started Madli’s Shawl from Interweave Knits and think this one just might make it. It still has nuppage, but not on every row. The pattern doesn’t seem quite as easy to visualize and/or memorize, but I’ve only done one repeat so far. And, in my constant quest for rationalization, this does not count as a new project, since I frogged the other one. I know, I know, as Debi so kindly pointed out, the knitting police are not going to come arrest me for starting something new. But with my current schedule, I need to keep things simple to avoid stress – and too many things on the needle definitely causes me stress, albeit of my own making. Tomorrow – quality knitting time! My husband and I are going on a road rally. He drives, I knit, we both eat out. A perfect combination!

Barbara is a completed project and I wore her to church today:

I can’t say enough good things about the Silky Wool. It is warm (yes, I needed it this morning), lightweight and just plain nice! I love this shape too because it stays on without a lot of fiddling. I can’t say it was the most interesting knit in the world – it got kind of boring, but I will definitely do it again. I’m thinking about some of the Knit Picks DK or sport weight wools.

But not yet – I’m trying to be good and not start new things. The exception is Izzy’s Christmas sweater, which I started yesterday. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll post pictures. It would be nice to be a surprise, but if all goes well, they may be here in a month or so and I’ll have to knit in front of her parents or it will never get done. So stand by for pictures, perhaps at a later date.

And regretfully, I think I’m going to frog Lily of the Valley. Man, this yarn is beautiful, but just does not want to be knit. This is the second project I’ve frogged with it. (Please note – I’ve deleted the picture because of my bandwith problems, but you can probably get the gist of the problem without pictures)
The nupps are fine, but those parallelograms on the left side of the picture are supposed to be diamonds. I finally decided that this is not a quick and easy knit and if I’m going to spend that much time on something, I just cannot tolerate those wonky diamonds. I’m not sure what I’ll do yet. I may look for another pattern for that section, because otherwise I love the way it’s turning out.

And in closing, if you are Abby – TURN AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER. DO NOT SCROLL DOWN! (Ben says these kind of things freak her out) OK, ready?

Does anyone know what this cute little guy is? My neighbor found him in her driveway. I’ve looked through the internet and can’t find anything. I hope he’s not harmful because he’s munching away in our lavender plants. We couldn’t bear to destroy him. Please, please don’t tell me he’s some kind of wool eating caterpillar. It would break my heart!

And the FO’s just keep on coming. It’s amazing what you can do when you stick to one project. I finished Barbara:

Stats: Barbara Shawl from Myrna Stahman’s book, size 5 needles, 4 1/2 skeins of Silky Wool. This isn’t the best picture- it’s hard to get a good picture of a blue shawl, on blue carpet, with wet blotches, dappled sunshine and a rather so-so photographer. But you get the idea. This project has both good and bad elements:

Good – Love the silky wool and love the shape – will probably be one of my favorite shawls to wear. Fairly quick knit – started it on July 23rd, so it took a little less than a month. Relatively easy as lace goes except that I kept making mistakes on the first two pattern rows for some reason – putting yo’s where they didn’t belong and leaving others out. Then I started actually paying attention and things improved.

Bad – Love the silky wool, but it hurt my wrists to knit – maybe because I was working on it too much? A little boring to knit – especially those long purl rows toward the end. But I did not want garter stitch lace and was willing to pay the price.

All in all – would I do it again? Yes, but not tomorrow! Next up – Rogue!! I received my zipper today and have it pinned in. Hopefully it will be on the blocking board (floor) by the weekend.

That Debi (besides doing a great tutorial on beading – go check it out) is a pretty wise woman. I had posted my ponderings on how many projects it was healthy (at least for me) to have going at one time. I had mentioned having a long term lace project on the needles and she suggested that I rethink that. She commented that sometimes making something long term causes you to lose interest in it. She pointed out that sometimes just slogging through the boring parts and getting a finished object is worth it. I think she’s right. As I mentioned, I was feeling some stress about having so many things going, so I have determined to finish some. I found that actually forcing myself to sit down and work on them rekindled my interest and the results have given me a real feeling of, uh, unstress? And lookee here:

Why, yes – that is Rogue! A little lumpy because she hasn’t been blocked yet, but she is all sewn together waiting for the zipper to arrive. I’m hoping it will come soon so I can sew that puppy in and have Rogue to wear when the weather turns nippy. And that’s not all. Following Debi’s sterling advice, I picked up the Barbara shawl and decided not to work on anything else until it was done.

I am now knitting on the border! It’s going a little slower than I might hope, but I think less than a week’s work and it will be done. I’m sad to report, though, that the Crystal Palace Merino scarf has been discarded. Impossible to frog – so I just broke the yarn and threw it where it belonged – in the trash. Life is too short to work on something that gives you that much grief. After Barbara is done, I will probably return to the tried and true Estonian Scarf. My sister has already picked out the color of Alpaca Cloud she likes. Don’t get me wrong. I find nothing wrong in someone having a gazillion projects going at once. I’m just discovering that it’s probably not for me and that simplifying is giving me a real sense of relief.

Here’s the latest picture of Izzy. Mum had to buy her a pink hat because everyone keep commenting on what a cute boy she was. No mistaking this for a little girl!

Never let anyone tell you the government is staffed by soulless beaureaucrats. I just got off the phone with Tricare, the entity that handles military medical insurance, trying to help my doctor’s office get paid for services they provided for my father-in-law shortly before his death in January. Several months ago I was told that paperwork was on its way and as soon as we filled that out and designated his representative, payment could be released. Today when I called to find out why the paperwork had not arrived, I was told that not only could it not be mailed, but they couldn’t even talk to me. Since the charges were incurred before his death (as opposed to after?), they could only talk to him, not even his surviving widow. It was all I could do not to say, “Fine, I’ll have him call!” Anyway, we compromised by having them agree to accept a power of attorney if I would mail it to them. This follows the infamous incident wherein they had my mother-in-law’s address wrong. They had her address as a place that she had never lived in her life. We were missing all kinds of her mail from Tricare, but by a miracle one got through and I called to change the address. Although they could talk to me (she has appointed me her representative), they could not change her address over the phone. They had to (get this) DO IT BY MAIL BY MAILING HER A CHANGE OF ADDRESS FORM!! Yes, to the wrong address. By the grace of God (and the US Postal Service) we eventually got the change of address form. To be fair, the lady on the phone today was quite pleasant and I’m sure went home shaking her head and telling her husband, “Earl, you’re not going to believe what I had to tell this poor woman today.”

On to happier agendas, namely knitting. I finished Estonian Scarf #3 today. I know you’re tired of blocking shots, so how about a group shot:

Lovely aren’t they? But I do have to admit to growing a little tired of the pattern, so am taking a break. I started this:

The Cocoon Lace Scarf by Evelyn Clark. This is my first experience with mohair and so far it’s not a happy one. Look:

See that blob? The fuzz on the mohair is traveling down the core as it slides through my fingers. I tried trimming the blob, but then ended up with a naked section of the core instead (no prettier than it sounds). I was assured by the Summer of Lace group that this is not usual with mohair, so I will reserve judgement. This, by the way, is Crystal Palace Kid Merino. I guess this is penance, huh?

I made the decision today that I have GOT to stop starting new projects. Stop starting – is that an oxymoron? I realistically know that I will never be like Wendy and only knit on one project at a time. But I’ve gotten myself overwhelmed with projects and truth to tell, am feeling a little stressed out. I know it’s of my own making, but there it is! So I am pledging not to start another new project until one, and maybe two, are done. I also know that knitting pledges (unlike marriage vows) are made to be broken. But you have my permission (nay, my pleading!) to comment and castigate me severely should I break this pledge. But have you seen the strawberry hat, and the cupcake hat and the flower hat and, and and . . . . Izzy’s head will be cold!

I think I can come back down to earth now! This little mini vacation was everything I expected it to be – and more. Of course the highlight was meeting Stephanie Pearl McPhee, aka The Yarn Harlot:

Not only did she help model my lace shawl, she even mentioned me in her blog. Be still my heart. Stephanie was just as funny in person as in her book. She was delayed because of a bridge closure due to the Blue Angels flying (that’s ok Stephanie, we don’t understand it either), but there was no complaining, because we brought our knitting! Have you ever known knitters to be bored? And I was not lonely because I met Lorette, aka The Knitting Doctor:

We had a lovely time visiting and she was just as gracious and lovely as her blog. She seems to have recovered quite well from the wineglass incident and was knitting happily away on a sock.

Because of the aforementioned bridge closures and Seafair, we decided caution was in order and did not make it over to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop. However, we stopped by a little yarn shop around the corner from my sister’s house and I was able to find the yellow Dale to go with the other colors I have for Izzy’s Christmas present:

I also picked up some lovely pale green Crystal Palace Kid Merino to make my sister the Cocoon scarf from Fiber Trends. This is to make up for the fact that I outright lied to her by telling her in July that I would bring her birthday present with me when I came this weekend when in fact I hadn’t even bought her anything yet. Sigh! In my defense, she is getting darn hard to buy for because she has everything she needs and pretty much what she wants too. So my penance will be knitting mohair in August. However, if our cooler weather holds it may not be all that bad. Stay tuned!

Introducing Estonian Scarf #2:

It’s hard to to get a good picture of such a long project. Here’s a close up of the end:

Is it redundant to say again how much I love this pattern? It has so many things going for it: It’s got a center section that’s almost mindless – eight rows that are easily memorized, a flurry of activity at the end with a little raised blood pressure with those nupps (I’m still not satisfied with them) and with the Alpaca Cloud, it makes a really inexpensive gift. Of course those of you on my gift list should not construe that I don’t care for you and am giving you a cheap present. I’m just thrifty where the yarn is concerned – there are many hours invested in this. And the end result is so ethereal and soft that I keep picking them up and just running them through my hands. I’ll wear them out before I gift them!

I’ve started a third one, this one in moss green. This will be my trip knitting because I’m getting a mini vacation this week! I’m taking Thursday off and with my usual Fridays off, will have an extra long weekend! I start on Thursday by going to meet the Yarn Harlot!! I am too, too excited, but know when I meet her face to face I will either become a blithering idiot or totally speechless. Shall I take my Estonian Scarves to show her? I wish we could just take an afternoon and knit over coffee, but I’m sure I’ll be one of a mob waiting to meet her.

After that, my sister and I will go to the Seattle Street of Dreams and drool over million dollar houses. I will take my camera in the misguided hope that I might find an idea or two that I could actually afford to incorporate into my humble domain. Some of these houses have kitchens that are larger than my whole house! On Saturday I’m attending a scrapbooking seminar, the highlight of which is a class on using Adobe’s Photo Impression (my photo editing software). And we end the weekend on Sunday with a trip to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop (my favorite yarn shop in the whole world) and a visit to the Pacific Science Center. Whew – I need a nap already! I am so looking forward to the break in routine and a nice visit with my sister.

In closing, here is an picture of my adorable granddaughter in the adorable Baby Surprise sweater that her adorable Nana made for her:

Well, we’ve still managed to dodge the heat here in the Pacific Northwest. Although it got up to almost 80 today (hot for here), it has cooled off nicely at night. I haven’t even switched to our summer blanket yet. It has made for nice knitting weather in the evening.

I’m continuing on the second Estonian scarf – no progress pics because I think fine lace is pretty unexciting until it’s blocked. As I mentioned, I do like this scarf – lots of mindless lace (if that makes sense!) and an exciting part at the end. I mentioned a while ago about people in my life that I considered lace knitworthy. I think I’m adding some people to the list. I have some quilting buddies who have been meeting with me for almost 10 years in a Round Robin quilt group. Here is one of my quilts that they helped me make:

Each year we give each other a small gift. I think this year I’m going to present them with my Alpaca Cloud collection and let them each choose a color for an Estonian scarf. It may take me a year to complete them all, but I think it’s something they would really appreciate. There’s only four of them, so we’re not talking mega knitting here.

And here’s the start of my Barbara shawl from the Stahman book:

I’ve actually made a lot more progress, but now it’s starting to bunch up on the needle so you can’t see the pattern as much. When I started, I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to go really fast!” Of course, I forgot that my repeats are increasing exponentially and it’s really slowing down! But it’s a pleasant knit and I love the Silky Wool. It’s going to be such a nice shawl to wear. I can see myself throwing it on, even over a pair of jeans, for a quick run to the store on a cool fall evening.

And speaking of lace (has there been anything else during the “Summer of Lace”?), here’s the first page in my lace notebook. Of course I’ve been too busy actually knitting lace to do any more samples, but I think this will be a fun long term project.

Ain’t it a wonderment? Two FO’s in one week! Here they are happily blocking together:

The red is the Catarina Seaman’s Scarf from Myrna Stahman’s book. The yarn is DK Elegance from KnitPicks. This was a great yarn to knit with, but the color bled horribly when I washed it for blocking. The white towel is stained underneath. I don’t think this will be a major problem, but should be taken into account before washing this with anything else. The teal is Evelyn Clark’s Estonian scarf in Alpaca Cloud. What, you say, are those little dots at the end? Could they be? TDP’s (the dreaded Nupps)? Why yes, they are. I did the k1p1 versions so they are a little more bobbley than the k1yo version. I’m not entirely happy with them. On my Lily of the Valley shawl, the yarn is a little “woolier” and the nupps stay compact and together. With the Alpaca Cloud, the yarn is a little slippery and the nupps look a little sloppy. So, I have started another one and am determined to conquer the k1yo version for a flatter nupp. This scarf will go to a non-knitter, so I don’t think they will notice. Not, of course, to anyone who reads my blog. I would not want any of my relatives who read my blog (Hi Mom & Dad, hi, Ben & Abby) to think that anything less than perfection would do for them. Of course, assuming I would tell them in the first place!

To reward myself, Hester and I hied down to the LYS and bought this:

Eight skeins of Silky Wool! This is indeed a splurge, but one I have contemplating for a long time. I love, love, love this yarn. I’ve seen it made up in projects by several friends and am very excited about knitting with it. This will become a Faroese Shawl from the Stahman book – probably “Barbara” for any of you who have the book.

And I will close with this picture. My son took this one of my granddaughter and I think it is the sweetest thing in all of its innocence and simplicity.

Brrrr! It got so chilly last night (and not from air conditioning, mind you) that I got up and put on an extra blanket. Welcome to summer in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. But I’ll take this over the heat humidity that the Midwest and east are enduring – any day! It even makes you feel like actually knitting.

I received my order from KnitPicks yesterday. As usual, I love the yarn. I am, however, just a little annoyed that I have to pay Washington state sales tax, but have to wait for my order to be shipped from some place back east. I’ve rarely received my order in under 10 days. I guess you can’t gripe with free shipping though. So without further ado:

I got more Alpaca Cloud and three skeins of the DK Elegance. Of course, I had to cast on right away for one of Myrna Stahman’s seaman’s scarves. Looking through her book for a design I was reminded again of what a treasure this book is. I think I “need” to do a Faroese shawl. Here’s the scarf I started:

This will go in my Christmas stash. I do like this yarn (the Elegance). After working with the laceweight, it almost feels like rope, but it is very soft. Because of the silk it has a little less “spring”, but it’s still very nice to work with. I see more of it in my future. After knitting with that all evening I went back to the Alpaca Cloud and it was like knitting with string! And it’s ok that I started something new because I finished one of the Estonian scarves. Pictures will have to wait until I have time to block it this weekend.

If it seems like I’m in Christmas knitting overdrive, you’re right. But all because I know it will come to a screeching halt in about a month and a half when school starts again. I will be glad when school is all over! By the time I’m done, it will have been about a 10 year stretch. I’m nothing if not stubborn. As much as I’d like to envision a Master’s, I’m not sure I have that much in me. I’m pretty sure I have the ability – I have a 3.9 grade point average – I just don’t think I have the energy!

The observant among you may have noticed that I am back to my original design. I liked the knitting theme, but the pictures were huge and the font small and I don’t have the time to dink with it. So I have gone back to the tried, true and probably boring, but predictable.

How do you like the new look? It’s not terribly originial, but apparently TypePad must have a lot of knitting blogs and have come up with a look just for us. This has been a terribly busy week. I started out by finishing my last paper for my Sociology of Aging class – the professor graded it promptly and I got an A in the class. Now I’m done with school for about a month! First, though, I finished my first Summer of Lace project – the Dainty Bess scarf. Here it is pre-blocking:

During blocking:

And the model shot:

I don’t know, I think the first model is far more fetching. Now I’m working on two Estonian scarves. This is the Fiber Trends pattern and it is so far a great knit – very easily memorized. I’ve reached the point on the first one where I will soon start the second lace pattern. Since I was going to a two-day dental conference, I decided to start a second one so I would have some fairly mindless knitting to do for long meetings. Although I ended up not knitting so much during the meetings, I got a lot done on the drive up and back and during breaks. Now I’m spending the weekend recuperating – I must be getting older, but the conference really wiped me out!

I’ll close with this handsome guy:

We used to have lots of quail around our property, but feral cats took their toll and we went several years without them. This year they have made a comeback and we have several families. Moments before this picture was taken, the whole family was lined up on the rail, but I couldn’t get to my camera fast enough. All I can say is that nature photographers must have loads of patience – or luck!

When I get stressed, I babble. And my last post was definitely babbling! Thanks to all of you for putting up with it and for your expressions of concern. Thanks to my husband for putting up with my occasional tears. And thanks to my son, for not harping on the obvious – that I can’t protect him all of the time. Besides babbling, when I get stressed, I knit. So obviously this has been a good week for knitting. Look:

St. Enda in all her glory. Yes, I know the original St. Enda was a guy, but this one’s a girl. And of course, Kirby was helping. Those of you who know me know that this is where my projects hit the wall. I hate sewing up! But fortunately there is no hurry on this one as long as it’s done in time for our Christmas picture. Plus it looks as if we are finally going to get some summer here and we’ll be roasting this week. Temps in the high 70’s – my goodness! No smart remarks from Mom and Dad please. Yes, I know that it is probably in the 90’s with 90% percent humidity in Missouri. That’s why I’m here instead!

I couldn’t resist starting the Estonian Lace scarf and I am loving this project! The row repeat is very short and easily memorized, so it’s pretty close to mindless knitting. I think it will go fast. I’m using some Alpaca Cloud in Tide Pool left over from my Pacific Northwest Shawl. No pictures yet because I’m too lazy to walk into the living room to get it. Did I tell you it’s hot? Almost 70 I think!

So, I will quit whining and leave you with a picture of Hester:

She is very submissive to Kirby (even though she outweighs him twice over), except where her Kong is concerned. She will guard it jealously every time he walks by. What she doesn’t understand is that Kirby has abosolutely no interest whatsoever in her Kong. But she seems to think she’s getting away with something, so we don’t let on.

This has been a very distressful twenty-four hours. To know that something so horrendous could happen in a place that your children and grandchild should have been, but weren’t, is indeed a scary thing. All in favor of them moving back to the states to live in my spare room where I can take care of them forever, please raise your hand. Ah well, I know that is not very practical, but at this point it has a certain appeal. In some ways this has been more distressing to us than 9-11. New York seemed so far away – we have never been there and don’t know anyone there. However, we have been in and out of London multiple times – our last trip just in May. And my children go in and out on a regular basis. They had planned to go into London yesterday to turn in Abby’s immigration paperwork, but for whatever reason changed their mind. They would have gotten off at Kings Cross station to catch the underground from there. They have decided at this point to mail the paperwork and hope for the best.
To add to the general bizarreness of the day – we had a 10-inch water main break at work. We looked up to find a torrential river flowing down our parking lot. I was able to get my little car out – I was parked at the high end of the lot, but a couple of others weren’t so lucky and their cars got flooded. We actually had fireman diving in our parking lot trying to find the drain! Normally this would have been disastrous because yesterday was our day for general anesthesia cases. We should have been right in the middle of one, but the anesthesiologist showed up and discovered that he was missing a vital piece of equipment. It would have been a four-hour drive for him to go get it, so we had to cancel the entire day. Who knew that would have been a good thing? Since there was no water or suction, we closed the office for the rest of the day.
We used the “found” day to take a drive over to the mainland. My best friend gave me a gift certificate to the yarn shop with the provision that I had to use it to buy yarn to make something for Izzy – a difficult task, don’t you know. I won’t show the yarn here because some was out of stock – I’ll wait to have it all in one place. However I did buy Fiber Trends Estonian Garden shawl and scarf pattern. Wednesday night at our knitting group a lovely lady named Rachel and I were talking. Rachel is European and she and I have often discussed our love for the “old ways” of traditional knitting and she has been very appreciative of my lace knitting. She asked if I had the book “Heirloom Knitting” by Sharon Miller. I told her that I didn’t, but it was on my wish list. But it wasn’t something I’d be able to get any time soon because of the price. She mentioned that she had the book and had enjoyed looking through it, but didn’t think it was anything she’d pursue. She wondered if I’d like to have the book. I told her yes, of course and asked how much she wanted for it, hoping to get a good deal. She said, “You don’t understand, I want you to have the book. I want to give it to you.” She went on to say that she feels I am a very talented lace knitter and it makes her happy to encourage that talent. I almost burst into tears on the spot. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. So, I think the Estonian scarf will be an appropriate, “Thank you,” don’t you think?

To all of my blogging friends out there who know my son is in England – he and family are safe! He, his wife and my granddaughter were supposed to be in London today, but changed their mind at the last minute. Thank you, God! Will post more later when I know more.

What a great start to the weekend! Today I met my first blogging buddy. Li of Life’s a Stitch was down from Canada and met me at our LYS. Well, as local as it gets around here – we both had to drive about an hour to get there. It was funny hearing my friends’ and relatives’ reactions when I told them I was going to the mainland to meet someone I had only previously met on the internet. “How do you know she’s who she says she is? What if it’s some kind of predator just pretending to be a woman?” Really now. Do you honestly think that someone would spend all that time knitting on Marina just to lure middle aged women into yarn shops for nefarious purposes? I don’t think so. Although she did make me buy this:

Other than being a terrible enabler (although you should see what SHE bought, so I’m an enabler, too), Li was a perfectly lovely lady. Despite the fears of my friends, I didn’t get the least hint that an axe murderer (or murderess) might lurk beneath her congenial exterior. We gabbed for two hours as if we were old friends. Lynn, her friend who came along for the ride, was very patient with us and a capable photographer. Thanks, Lynn. And of course, there was yarn:

And more yarn:

And Li brought me these:

She meant for them to be used as stitch markers, but my husband said they would make great earrings, so I’m not sure yet which I will use them for. What a thoughtful gift! Li also brought Marina, who was even more beautiful in person. I’m so impressed with the progress she is making. And I shared my lace with a very appreciative audience. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a nap. I’m exhausted!

Ah – the sweet smell of success. After last week’s negative knitting fiasco, I have actually made progress. I decided I was not satisfied with the purple lace scarf – just too much air and not enough yarn for me. So I tried this:

Much better! The exciting part about all of this (at least for me – remember, my life is pretty dull if this constitutes excitement!), is that I charted this pattern from written directions. To find a pattern, I went to this book in my library:

Take a look at the price. Yes, that’s right! I paid $1.48 for this book – eons ago and who knows where. The problem is that the patterns are not charted, they are written out. Well, I’m a charting kind of knitter. I just refuse to do lace or Aran patterns that are not charted. In fact, I have a pattern for a beautiful Celtic cardigan that I would love to have, but have been putting off because it is not charted. However, I downloaded the Knitter’s Fonts and decided to give it a go. Here is the result:

Pretty cool, huh? It was challenging at first. Although we may read left to right and top to bottom, we knit in exactly the opposite directions – right to left and bottom to top. Therefore the pattern must be charted in that direction, which means reading the pattern that way. Once I got the hang of it, though, it wasn’t too terribly hard. So far, I’ve charted six patterns and test knit one – the purple scarf. I thought this would be a really fun project – making up a lace notebook. I could test knit the patterns out of scrap lace yarn (I have loads!), then mount them on the page with the chart. It would be a nice reference and would give me the opportunity to constantly cast on a new project!! Woo hoo! Semi-guilt free, too, because I wouldn’t be taking on a large project. Sometimes I just amaze myself with my ability to rationalize. But then I remind myself – this is a hobby, for Pete’s sake. I don’t need to rationalize!

Rats! Dagnabit! Poop! I hope no one has been offended by my outpouring of profanity. I spent last night in what I euphemistically call “negative knitting.” You know, the times when you sit down to knit and end up with less than you started with? The problem began when I picked up the Lily of the Valley stole. I hadn’t knitted on it in a week or so because I really wanted to finish this:

Yes, the only positive element of the week (knitting-wise, anyway) – I finished the front of St. Enda. As I was working along on my little nupps, I thought, “Gee, these aren’t as hard as I remembered.” After four rows I realized there was a good reason for this. I was making 5 stitch nupps instead of 7 stitch nupps. Since it was only four rows, I laboriously tinked back. I was ready to start again, when I realized, to my great horror, that about halfway down there were a couple of nupps where I had not picked up all 7 stitches and there was one lone little stitch poking its head out! How in the world had I not noticed this before? Now, the directions tell you this can happen and that you can just go back later and tie them in. But I have this great aversion to having extra yarn ends to weave in, in addition to having a somewhat obsessive personality. And since I was still so early in the shawl, I decided to frog. So I took it off the needles, frogged back to one row before the errors (at least they were on the same row!) and tinked from there.

I have discovered the way to prevent this in the future is (drum roll, please), to actually PAY ATTENTION to my knitting. Novel concept, huh? It is a relatively easy task to check each nupp on the return knit row. You can obviously see if any stitches have failed to catch on the previous purl row and correct them immediately, without frogging, ripping, tinking or anything resembling such. And I found two on the very first row. Made a believer out of me.

Anyway, I was so upset that I decided to cast on for another scarf. I know, I have the attention span of a fruit fly. However, after three tries, I was not pleased with any of the patterns. This is the latest attempt – what do you think? I think it is too open – not enough “fabric”.

Meanwhile, Izzy, back in England, was blissfully unconcerned with all of this, because she found someone to hold hands with while she sleeps.

Ain’t these purty? (Oops! My Missouri accent snuck in there):

My Knit Picks order came yesterday. It took about 10 days – a long time to wait, but I guess you can’t complain with free shipping. The photo doesn’t do them justice, not just because it doesn’t adequately show the soft, heathery colors, but because you can’t pick them up and cuddle them. This yarn is so soft and wonderful. I started right away on the Dainty Bess from the Elizabeth I pattern and I’m zipping right along:

I thought about stretching this out for the photo, but decided to wait. The magic of blocking lace in the end is what makes it all worthwhile, so I want to hold off on the prize! If you’re on my lace knitting gift list, you might want to pick your color now, except for the purple, which I’m sure my mother has dibs on. How do you know if you’re on my list? 1. You are related to me by blood. 2. You married my child. 3. I am your “Secret Santa” at work and then only if you are really, really nice to me and make my job easier. That’s it. Oh, and maybe my best friend who oohs and aahs over everything I do and generally tells everyone I’m a genius. Oh, and you have to promise to wear it faithfully and take good care of it. ‘Nuff said.

I have not abandoned the Lily of the Valley stole. In fact I’ve made quite a bit of progress (you might want to click on the photo for a better look):

I have made peace with the nupps and as long as I remember to keep them loose, they are, if not exactly a piece of cake, at least a crumb or too. I like the more compact nupp that the K1 P1 makes instead of using the YO method. I have also not abandoned St. Enda. I only have one more repeat on the front before decreasing for the neck. I won’t post a picture because guess what? It looks exactly like the back so far!

Am I the only one that wakes up in the night with the most amazing and interesting posts floating through my mind? I don’t know if that’s why I can’t sleep or vice versa, but by the morning it’s all gone with the wind. I should get up and write it down while I can remember! I suppose if I worked on my writing a little more I could come up with some zingy posts. My best friend, who was also my English 101 professor (we got special dispensation from the head of the English department who pointed out that some professors had their own children in class) told me I am a very good writer, but also drilled into me the value of not going with your first draft, but revising, revising, revising. Something I’m not willing to do for weekly posts. And she would kill me for that incomplete sentence. And starting a sentence with “and”.

Well . . . I was determined that hell or high water, I was going to start some lace this weekend. When my Knit Picks order did not arrive, I was forced (yes, forced I say!) to start the Lily of the Valley shawl. This, however, is not going to be a quick summer project so I reserve the right to start several scarves in the meantime. The problem is TDN – The Dreaded Nupps. You may also substitute another word for “dreaded”, if you catch my drift. Nupps, for those of you who are blissfully ignorant, are not just glorified bobbles. They are quite challenging! They call for you to make seven stitches in one stitch and on the following row, purl all seven stitches together. Sounds simple, huh? NOT!! After much trial and error and some advice from other bloggers, I offer the following tips for those who might see nupps in their future:

1. Make those little puppies far looser than you ever thought possible! In fact, when you think they’re loose enough, loosen them up a little bit more. It may be possible to make them too loose, but not in my experience (limited though it may be).

2. The directions instruct you to K1, yo in the stitch for a total of seven stitches. Debi suggested alternating K1, P1 instead. This works much better. It gives the bottom of the nupp a little stability for the return trip. It also seems to make for a neater, more compact nupp. Technically, this may make them more bobbles than nupps, if you really want to split hairs, but the difference is too minor for me to worry about.

3. Watch your stitch count! It’s easy on the purl row to pick up an adjacent stitch. It’s almost impossible to count the seven stitches, so just watch the stitch count before and after.

4. I’m knitting on size 4’s, but I’m keeping a size one double point handy for those nupps that I make just a little too tight. I can purl them with the size one and then slip them back on the size 4. But with practice, I’m finding I don’t need to do that too often.

And without further ado, because I know you’re just waiting with baited breath . . . Nupps!

This shawl is made in the Estonian manner, so this is the border, knitting outward, Soon I will, cast off, then pick up stitches from the provisional cast on and start knitting the body of the shawl, ending with knitting the second border. That way both borders are identical. I have never used a lifeline before – in fact, I had never heard of one until I started blogging. But if I am ever going to use one on a project, it would be here. We’ll have to see. When I finally did get the hang of nupps, it was like an epiphany and it’s gotten easier ever since. Maybe I’ll even pick up a little speed.

And, in case you think St. Enda has been totally abandoned – I’ve made progress on the front. Our weather has been relatively cool lately, so perhaps I’d better knit on that before it becomes too hot.

Oh no!!! I signed up for the Summer of Lace knitalong and in preparation was updating my finished projects photo album. I realized that I didn’t have a picture of the Shetland Lace shawl I designed and knitted about ten years ago. So I laid it out on the floor to take a picture and found this:

Yes, that is a m**h hole!! And I found not one, but two. Several years ago I pulled my woolies out of the winter storage box and found out that the m**hs had eaten up my favorite cashmere sweater and chewed a few holes in my Starmore gansey. The cashmere (thankfully store bought, not hand knitted) was toast, but I was able to laboriously repair the gansey. I thanked my lucky stars that my shawl was not affected, or so I thought. I guess I didn’t look closely enough. I am heartbroken! Although I have great confidence in my skills as a lace knitter, I do not feel confident as a lace repairer. Any suggestions out there?

This just about put me over the edge and caused me to cast on for the Lily of the Valley stole, but I steeled myself to work out my disappointment on St. Enda (too bad he’s not the patron saint of lost causes, or m**h holes). I have two repeats done on the front and have just started the third. I think I really want to wait on starting any lace until I get my package from KnitPicks.

And look at this – isn’t this a face to die for?

No, that is not Hester, that is Edward. We received an e-mail from the breeder asking if we were interested. Apparently Edward, although quite handsome, does not enjoy being a show dog. He is just a little too shy. We were tempted for a few minutes, but decided that two dogs is the max for us. And I’m not sure Kirby would forgive us a second time!

I cannot tell a lie. Marguerite made me do it! I tell you, that woman is a bad influence on me. First, she blogs about how exciting it is to start a new project, and the next thing you know – I’m casting on! Then she blogs about her new Knit Picks order, which of course causes to me pull out my newly arrived catalog and bingo! I’m hitting the “Checkout” button and an order is on its way. Ok, I can’t really blame her. I’m really entranced by the new Knit Picks offering. So far I’ve only tried the Alpaca Cloud, but who can resist their prices? This time I also ordered the Alpaca Cloud – seven skeins in a variety of colors. A true bouquet! I also ordered the Elizabeth I scarf pattern, and as all of these will be destined to be gifts, it was a pretty guilt-free order. What a deal – a stunning present for $3.99 and a labor of love. Perhaps these will give me a lace fix and keep me from casting on for the Lily of the Valley stole, at least until I’m finished with St. Enda (here’s a link to the real St. Enda , courtesy of Lorette). Speaking of which:

A completed back! This has got to be a record for me – I cast on for this last Sunday. An entire back on an Aran sweater in less than a week. I did have some extra time, though. I was off for the week. I told my boss it was not in his best interests to ever let this happen again. The week after I bought our non-refundable tickets to England, he announced he was going to a dental conference and the office would be closed for a week – the week after I returned. I was a trifle annoyed because if I had known earlier, I could have coordinated my vacation with his. As it was, I returned to work for two whole days and then was off an additional week. It was actually quite wonderful, but it gave me a little taste of what retirement looks like and you know what? I liked it! So I told my boss he’d better be careful. I’ve already told him he only has me for another four years at the most, but I think he’s living in denial.

Anyway, I’m pleased with the progress on St. Enda. I was a little suspicious at first. Usually on Starmore sweaters I have to go down at least 3 needles sizes to get gauge. This can be especially challenging on her ganseys when she starts out with size 3 needles! This time I only had to go down one, but my gauge across the middle is spot on. I loosened up a little at the shoulder level, but I can use a little width there so I’m not worrying. I think the Cascade 220 may be slightly thinner than the yarn she recommends, but I like the fabric it’s making.

I got a little discouraging news on the school front. I thought I would be an official senior when I finished my current class, but I received my new study plan from my advisor and it appears I miscalculated. Can you tell I’m not a math major? I will actually need 3 more credits (one class) before being a senior. Ah well. For those of you new to the blog, I am a late-in-life student working on my bachelor’s degree at Washington State University. Since I work, I can only go part time, so by the time I’m done, it will be about a 10 year endurance test. The good news is that my grade point average is 3.88 – only .02 points away from summa cum laude status. Way to go, me!

Blessed, welcome rain! You can tell you’re a dyed-in-the wool Pacific Northwesterner when you’re actually glad to see the sun go away for awhile. Especially when the temps have been in the upper 80’s.

About a year ago I received a bonus at work and used it to purchase a swift and yarn winder. They have more than paid for themselves in time and frustration. Sunday afternoon it took me about half an hour to turn this:

Into this:

All of which should give you a hint at (drum roll please!) the coveted “Dorothy’s Next Project Award”, which goes to: St. Enda, by Alice Starmore. The link takes you to the inimitable Wendy’s interpretation. I believe she has made at least two of these. And lookie – I may not be as fast as Wendy, but I’ve completed two repeats of the pattern:

I would like to thank the Academy and everyone who sent suggestions on what I should do. I got links to some wonderful projects, all of which shall be put in my “Future Projects” file. I also found that I was not alone in my angst. I did some minor soul searching over this whole thing (don’t want to make a huge deal of this – it’s not world peace, after all) to try and discover why this was such a big deal. I realized that there are times in my life when a project really does have to be a big deal. Quick socks, purses or scarves just won’t hack it. I need something to capture my attention and “speak” to me. My Shetland lace shawl that I designed myself did that, as did Rogue, Aranmor and Tilt. Perhaps they come at times in my life when either too much is going on, or not enough. Who knows – it probably doesn’t do to over analyze this whole thing.

Anyway, this project fills the bill on many levels. First of all, it’s from my favorite designer – Alice Starmore. I love most everything she’s designed and have made four so far (I really should get some more pictures in my FO album). I was fortunate enough several years ago to take a class with her and found her to be an wonderful teacher. I hear she doesn’t travel much anymore, so I may never get the opportunity again. Secondly, it’s complex enough to be interesting, but not so complex that I have to keep referring to the chart. I’ve got the pattern memorized already. Thirdly, it’s yarn from my stash! Now, I don’t have the extensive stashes some out there have – mostly odds and ends. But I had completely forgotten about the 10 balls of Cascade 220 that I bought when our LYS went out of business several years ago. This was a shop that mostly carried acrylics and novelty yarns, but down in a bin I found this unopened package. At the time I really didn’t know what a treasure I was buying – only that it was 100% wool. Since then, I have made several projects from the Cascade and it is hands down my favorite worsted weight wool.

Of course, when my Lily of the Valley stole pattern arrives from Fiddlesticks I will probably cast on for that right away. I have the attention span of a gnat! But for now I am blissfully knitting away on St. Enda (Who was he or she anyway? Gotta look that up.) and the blahs are postponed for another day.

On the school front I am working away at my Sociology of Aging class. This one has proven to suprisingly upbeat. The outlook for seniors is better than it has been in decades. Retirement has certainly seemed to be a positive thing for my husband! Our next assignment, however, is on Death and Dying and as part of that we have to write our own obituary. That should prove sobering!

I have knitter’s angst, ennui, the blahs, whatever you want to call it. I feel at a loss without something to work on, but nothing I have appeals to me. It’s too hot to work on the Norwegian sweaters (or at least I use that excuse). I have started and abandoned several projects as either too boring, too ugly or too complicated. I guess I want something that is sort of mindless, but not boring. That doesn’t necessarily rule out complicated lace or Aran patterns if they are logical and can be memorized. The Pacific Northwest Shawl didn’t fall in that category – I had to keep the chart nearby and mark off each row with a highlighter as I went along.

The problem is that if I have the yarn I don’t have the pattern, but if I have the pattern, I don’t have the yarn. I do have enough cream Cascade 220 to do a cardigan that I’ve really been wanting to do. But when I pulled out the pattern (a Celtic cardigan) I discovered to my dismay that it is not charted and I just refuse to do anything that’s not charted. I’m contemplating Janet Szabo’s Son of Aran cardigan. It’s knitted top down and seems quite intriguing. There is some thinking involved, as she doesn’t give exact numbers and you have to gauge, measure and then knit to your measurements. But once the actual knitting begins it’s a nice, rich Aran with predictable twists and turns in the cableing.

What I really want to do is Alice Starmore’s Fulmar, but even using Knit Picks less expensive yarn, it will cost about $100 and I just can’t justify that expense right now, not after a trip to England and a husband who’s now retired. You know the old joke – twice as much husband and half as much money. But enough whining! We have plenty of money to meet our bills and I have sweaters started I could work on and a small stash that I can choose from. I need to accept that I just can’t run out and buy whatever I want whenever I want anymore. I need to learn patience and saving up for what I want. I think one other blogger said it well, though – “Instant gratification isn’t fast enough”. Kind of funny isn’t it, coming from someone who often does projects that take years instead of months? But when I want to start something, I have no patience at all.

I wasn’t going to post a picture today, but remembered that I promised a picture of all of Izzy’s things that I made for her:

That helps my mood a little bit, to realize that I’ve been pretty productive over the past year!

I think what I’ll do after church today is maybe tidy up my sewing room (what a mess – again!!), start winding my cream Cascade 220 and let it speak to me. Then I’ll peruse Alice Starmore’s Fisherman Knit book and see if something there also speaks to me and then will see if I can get gauge (always a challenge with Starmore patterns – man, does that woman knit TIGHT!). If that doesn’t work, I will seriously give the Son of Aran cardigan some consideration. No guage to “meet” on that one – you do a swatch with yarn and needles you like and then adapt the pattern to your gauge. That’s certainly intriguing. For anyone valiant enough to make it through this entire, whiney post, I will keep you informed!

So . . . would anyone like to hazard a guess on how long it takes to go from this:

To this?

Not as long as you might think – about half an hour. It never amazes me at how much less time it takes to frog something than to knit it in the first place. I decided last night that this wasn’t coming out as lovely as I hoped. Certainly not enough to justify the terminally boring knit. I’ve never been reluctant to cut my losses in knitting, so out it came. And I’ve ordered the pattern for this. I’ve heard good reports on the Fiddlesticks patterns, and this looks intriguing. Of course, it has bobbles – in this case “nupps” – so I may be kicking myself down the road, but isn’t it pretty?

However, until the pattern comes it leaves me wondering what to do. I may need to start a small lace scarf to preserve my sanity. It’s way too hot to knit on the two Norwegian sweaters. Yesterday Seattle set a record high of 87 degrees. It was probably cooler here, but not by much! That may not seem hot to those in other climates (especially with our lack of humidity), but we Pacific Northwesterners are real heat wimps! We can take any kind of wet the weather sends our way – clouds, drizzle, rain, sleet, hail, snow – but we melt in the heat. In our defense, although most businesses are air conditioned, few homes are. The saving grace is that it cools off in the evening. And no matter how hot, our bedroom seems to stay relatively cool.

Hester is glad she got rid of most of her winter coat before this heat wave. We were warned that Corgis shed, but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for this:

We were getting as least twice that much every day! I’m surprised she’s not bald. I was a little alarmed when we came back from England – she looked so skinny – but realized it was mostly the lack of her heavy coat. At least she likes being brushed. When she sees us pick up the brush or shedding comb, she comes running over and plops down on the floor and closes her eyes in bliss. In fact, it’s funny to watch the two dogs try to push their way in front of each other to get brushed. Sure makes grooming easy! Well, it’s 5:45 a.m and I’ve been up for almost an hour. I still can’t manage to sleep any later in the morning. Maybe it’s my imagination, but it seems as if jet lag gets harder to adjust to as you get older. Just don’t call me at 7:00 p.m. tonight – I’ll probably be in bed!

I’m baaack! Seriously jet-lagged, but back. According to my body, it’s now 1:00 in the morning and I should be sleeping, but I’m trying to hold out for at least another three hours. Tomorrow it’s back to work.

We had a wonderful visit with our son and daughter-in-law in England and what can I say about Isobel? She is perfect!!! The only thing that could compare with holding my granddaughter for the first time was when I held her father for the first time. So without further ado – here are pictures!

In the first picture she’s lying on the quilt that I made for her and wearing a little sweater set that I made for her father thirty years ago! In the second she’s reclining on her heart afghan and wearing the set I made especially for her. Is she not the most beautiful baby ever? For those who just cannot get enough, I’m going to try and post a photo album in the sidebar. That is if my foggy brain can wrap around the task. And, just to prove that I did indeed get in a little knitting, here’s a picture of me working on my lace shawl on the train.

That sparkly expression of interest is a ruse. This is really proving to be a pretty boring pattern although I think it will be quite lovely. But it’s not the most interesting knit in the world.

Now I suppose I have to start addressing all those tasks that I kept saying I would do “after I get back from England.” I’m really itching to start a new project, but I know if I do some of the things I’ve been putting off (like starting the sleeves on Kongsberg) just won’t get done. But, as Scarlett says – “Tomorrow Is another day.” But for now think I’ll take a little nap (just a wee one you understand).

The last of the hand knit items for transport is done. The Baby Wallaby:

I always advise beginning knitters NOT to point out the shortcomings in their projects. But just know that if anyone should ever come up to Izzy and ask her, “What a charming handknitted sweater. May I look at the underarm seam?”, Baby Isobel will be instructed to answer, “My Nana says, ‘NO!'” Just thought you ought to know. And yes, I do know that it will not fit her for quite a long time, but in case they are still in England then, I don’t want to have to pay to ship it.

I put all of Izzy’s hand made things on the bed and took a picture – will post when I get back because some of it is a surprise. But suffice it to say that with what I’m taking and what other people have given us to take, this kid needs her own suitcase on this trip! I either need to do a lot of souvenir buying over there or we’ll be coming back with one empty suitcase! If anyone knows of a good yarn shop within public transportation distance of St. Alban’s, let me know. I didn’t have much luck last time.

And here is an example of why I like living in the Pacific Northwest:

Rhododendrons as big as a house! The shrub on the left is a rhody, but hasn’t bloomed yet. Strange, since they usually bloom together. Before I moved out here I thought rhododendrons were these shrimpy little shrubs. I have seen some here that are bigger than my house!

Must go and pack! Was it the Yarn Harlot who said that you know you’re a knitter when it takes longer to decide what knitting to pack than clothes? That’s me! Heaven forbid I should be stranded in an airport or on the plane without something to take my mind off the insanity of hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles an hour in a skinny metal tube. I WILL NOT think about it. Valium anyone?

Introducing Isobel Ling (aka Izzy):

Is she not the most beautiful baby ever? And this from a totally unbiased source! I still don’t think either I or her grandpa have come down to earth yet. I think we’re going to like this grandparent business. And it’s brought out such interesting facets in my husband. He visited his mother in the group home to give her the news and she gave him some money to buy Izzy a present. I volunteered to go shopping on my day off, but he insisted he wanted to do it. All of us at work had a good chuckle visualizing him in the little pink lacey baby aisle sorting through stuff. And he did a great job:

I am SO ready to leave on vacation. You can tell how bad it is when I start looking forward to the 10 hour plane ride because I can just sit, read, knit and do nothing (I HATE to fly!). But I am so stressed out at work. I love my co-workers and boss, but the weight of responsibility I’m carrying right now is pretty heavy, plus trying to make sure as many loose ends are tied up as possible are combining to give me a lot of headaches and shoulder pain. I should get back to doing some yoga to relax. I need to keep reminding myself that the dental field doesn’t produce many life and death emergencies – at least ones that I’m responsible for and that the crew will carry on nicely during my absence. I told them the goal is to screw up just enough that I know I’m needed, but not so badly that it can’t be fixed. They assured me they are up to that challenge.

No knitting pictures, because I’m just finishing up odds and ends before I go, but I will leave with a sneak peek at Izzy’s quilt. This is the label I made for it:

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but after about 10 tries, that’s the best I could get. I should be able to post while I’m gone – the blessings of visiting technologically advanced children. So stay tuned for more pictures of Izzy. I’m sure I will bore you to tears with news and pictures of her, as I have all of my friends, acquaintances and total strangers on the street!

IT’S A GIRL! No details yet – my son was instant messaging on his cell phone from the hospital and had to get off before they caught him and kicked him out (no cell phones allowed in the hospital). As soon as he can get to a phone where he can make an overseas call he’ll let us know the rest. But she’s healthy and mom is tired, but doing fine after about 15 hours of labor. Thanks for all of your comments and emails with good wishes. We are flying’ high!

Well, no baby yet. We’re having to practice a great deal of patience waiting for this first grandchild. However, there should be news by midweek. The doctor has promised a baby by then, one way or another. Wednesday is Bill’s birthday, so we figure as long as we’ve waited this long, that sounds like a good day. But . . . babies have their own agenda.

My knitting has been the beneficiary of all this grandmotherly anxiety. I finished the Baby Wallaby and just have to darn in ends and graft the underarms. I was trying to decide what my next major project would be and spent a whole evening gazing fondly through books and magazines. I have always wanted to make Fulmar (from Starmore’s Fisherman Knits book) and gave it some serious thought until I calculated how much the yarn would cost me. Almost $100 using KnitPicks yarn and twice that using Starmore. Yikes! I was getting a little discouraged when I realized that I already had two major projects that had been languishing for quite a long time. I had spent about that much on yarn for each of them and decided they really deserved my attention. I’m glad I did! I had put Kongsberg away because I was stymied by the neckline. The pattern instructs you to bind off the middle neck stitches and then start working back and forth. Of course, we all know this is bogus because working back and forth in color pattern is, well , just wrong! But the pattern has you binding off a certain amount of stitches at the beginning and end of each row for about 20 rows. I couldn’t figure out how to do this with a neck steek. Thank goodness, Chery came to the rescue! I emailed her for advice and here’s what she suggested: Instead of binding off the stitches, just purl them. When you come around again, just incorporate the stitches above the purl into your steek. When I stitch before cutting, I will just follow the line of purl stitches and then after stitching will cut about 2 stitches above them, leaving a small seam allowance. Ingenious! Thanks Chery! Since this started making my steek pretty large, I decreased occasionally as I went along, making for a pretty odd looking steek, but it will mostly cut away. So without further ado, Kongsberg’s front:

And back:

I really love the back detail on this. And once I resolved the problem on the neck, I found myself getting very excited about it again. I guess you just have to give old projects a second chance. Also on the needles is Ingeborg. I started it as a knit along, but I think everyone else finished about 6 months ago. So it’s on to Kongsberg’s sleeves.

And for once, it’s a different model posing with my knitting. Don’t let this sweet little face fool you. Did you know that Corgis shed? A LOT!!! Actually, we were prepared for this. The breeder warned us, but also asssured us that it only happens twice a year. It’s manageable if we vacuum at least every day or so, and we even taken to vacuuming her. She doesn’t really seem to mind. It’s a good thing it’s spring and I’ve put my black away. But a little dog hair in the soup is a small price to pay for such a sweet friend.

And the lace goes on:

I felt at a loss not having a lace project going, so I cast on for a new shawl. This is the yarn and pattern that I received as a gift at Camp Knitaway this year. We all bring a gift and they are totally random, so you don’t know what your wrapped gift contains when you pick it. But the lady that brought this said she thought of me as she was wrapping it. She was right on! Both the project and yarn are perfect for me. As you can see from the second picture, I have my usual model hogging the picture. It’s not that he actually likes having his picture taken – he just likes lying down on knitting, or quilting, or anything handmade. What can I say? The dog has taste!

At first I felt a little guilty casting on for yet another shawl. I mean, how many lace shawls does one person need? But then I read “Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much” and my guilt went away. If you haven’t read this book yet, you must!! I laughed out loud while reading it and was constantly telling my husband, “Put the tv on you hold – you gotta hear this!” He was quite patient with me and laughed in all the appropriate places.

I did finish knitting on the little Baby Wallaby – just need to darn in ends and graft the underarms. I’m not completely satisfied with the grafting on the hood, but I had to remind myself – this is a knitted sweatshirt for a toddler. How perfect does it have to be?

No baby news yet. But my son has an hour and a half phone interview for a new job on Wednesday, so I figure that sounds about the right time for baby to arrive – don’t you think? I have visions of him interviewing and taking occasional pauses to yell, “Push, Abby, push!” So please send positive thoughts and prayers toward England this week.

And . . . I did a little housekeeping on the blog today. I started a new photo album (check the sidebar) of finished projects. I still have more to add, but this is a good start. If nothing else, I need it to remind myself that I don’t just start projects – I DO finish them!

This week I have been blown away by the thoughtfulness and generosity of my co-workers. A little background first: for the past 19 years I have been the office manager for a children’s dental practice. This can be a difficult position at times – being supervisor to an office full of women. It’s hard to be “friends” and at times it seems that I’m kind of alone. This Wednesday we were supposed to have a staff meeting. I spent most of the morning working on the agenda. We had run a little late with the last patients and I was still finishing up at the computer when the ladies started walking in with all kinds of hot dishes. I was a little surprised – sometimes we have a potluck for staff meeting, but this wasn’t one of those times. I asked, “Are we having a potluck? I didn’t bring anything.” At this they all started laughing and the doctor walked in with a big bouquet of flowers. He said, “We all want you to know how much we love you. This is a “Grandma’s Baby Shower!” To say I was astonished is an understatement!! It took me a half an hour to stop crying. And it was all the more special because I never had a baby shower. When my son was born we had just moved to Alaska and didn’t know anyone. So this was my first baby shower ever.

And what a shower it was! The gifts were actually for me, not the baby. All of the ladies had gotten together over the last few months and made a scrapbook for me. This is not just any old scrapbook either. It was coordinated by our head dental assistant’s daughter, who does this professionally. But everyone made their own pages with their own personalities reflected in them. One page has the subject “TGIF” (This Grandma is Terrific). There is a set of two pages with a beautiful green background overlaid with vellum with the word “grandmother” in many different languages, and a matching page with “grandfather”. There is a page dedicated to the relationship between babies and dogs (you know I love dogs and so do my son and daughter-in-law), another about bathtime and one entitled “Families are Knit Together With Love” with a tiny little garter stitch swatch knit with fingering yarn and toothpicks! I could go on and on. All I have to do is supply the pictures! I have often thought about making a scrapbook, but have wondered where I would find the time. I am still in a state of shock and can’t think about it without puddling up again. I don’t think I will ever feel unappreciated at work again. And despite the fact that this is not the most flattering picture in the world, here I am, tears and all:

And here is Gracie (our head dental assistant’s granddaughter) in the sweater that I made for her. She is a little confused. First of all, she couldn’t understand why being happy made “Grandma Dorothy” cry, and secondly she thinks I am having the baby!

And lest you think that all this emotional upheaval has made me completely useless, I have my double pointed needles and have made progress on the Wonderful Wallaby:

More to come later – new lace and the Yarn Harlot’s book. I can’t put it down. Must go read more!

In the five minutes it was actually not raining this week I managed to get down to City Beach and get some nice spring pictures. This is what it looks like in my neck of the woods (between torrential rainstorms):

I’m really taken aback on a regular basis at what a beautiful place I get to live in.

Not much knitting accomplished this week because I’ve been working on Izzy’s quilt. I put the last stitches in today! All that’s left is to design and stitch on a label. I’ll get the basic design drafted out on the computer, but will wait until the baby’s born to put the final information on and print it out. You’re going to have to wait for a picture, though. Ben and Abby are regular readers of my blog and since I’ve published photos of all my knitting projects, I decided I wanted the quilt to be a surprise.

What little knitting I have done has been on the little Wonderful Wallaby sweater. I’m almost up to the armholes:

It’s not really as grey as it looks in the picture. It’s actually a very pretty heathery blue with purple flecks in it. This is Plymouth Encore and I think I’ve mentioned before how much I like this yarn. It’s a perfect choice for something that’s going to worn a lot (especially by a child) and thrown in the washer. It’s got just enough wool in it so that it doesn’t feel like plastic in your hands.

Once again, however, I find myself stymied by the lack of needles: #7 double points for the sleeves. And once again my LYS has failed me by not having them in stock. At least this time I had the common sense to call before driving down there. But my sister has come to the rescue – she will get them at her LYS and my husband will pick them up when he sees her this week. He’s driving down to do some work for her company.

And I finished my class on Child Abuse – with an “A”. One class closer to my degree. Between finishing that and the quilt, I’ve completed everything that had a deadline before leaving for England. Anything else done is gravy! So glad to have the pressure off!!

The plan today was to go down to City Beach and take some pictures with the new camera to show you how beautiful it is in spring in the Northwest. Should have done it yesterday! It was beautiful, sunny, and in the high 50’s. Today it is overcast, cold and windy. Probably more typical weather for spring here, but not very conductive to picture taking. So instead you get model shots of the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

My husband says I look like Batgirl in the second shot, but I think it shows off the shawl nicely.

I’m still waiting on the needles so I can start the Wonderful Wallaby sweater. I can’t believe that with all the circular needles I have, I don’t have the right sizes. I also can’t believe that my LYS didn’t have them either and I had to mail order. The only yarn store on the island is quite small and only open limited hours. While it has a fairly decent supply of yarn, this was the first time I’ve needed needles (say that three times fast!) and was shocked at the paltry selection. I guess I could have gone off island, but they’ve been doing earthquake inspections of the bridge (for which I am eternally grateful) and traffic was down to one lane. Deception Pass is one of the most beautiful spots in the United States – go to this site to see some pictures. But it can be headache occasionally when you really want to go somewhere.

However, the break in knitting time has given me free time to work on the baby quilt. I realized that if I didn’t want to be panicking at the last moment, I really needed to get cracking on it. If I keep up this same pace I won’t have any trouble finishing it before we leave – only one month from tomorrow! I’m also finishing up my class on Child Abuse. I got the grade back on my term paper – 98 out of 100, plus 5 bonus points for handing it in early! Whew!! I told my husband I don’t know why I agonize so much over these papers, but maybe agonizing is why I get good grades.

And here is a picture of Kirby scoping out Hester. He hasn’t wanted much to do with her, but a few minutes ago I looked over and he was just sitting there, watching her sleep and wagging his tail. I think he figured she was safe if she was sleeping.

Another one bites the dust! The Pacific Northwest Shawl (designer Evelyn A. Clark) before:

And after blocking:

Gratuitous pet photo at no extra charge.

I was surpised at how quickly this project went. I started it on February 28th and finished it last night – just a little over a month! And it wasn’t even the only project I worked on – I went to knitting camp and made a pillow, started and finished two baby surprise jackets, worked on a baby afghan and wrote a term paper. Plus keeping up with other schoolwork and working! No wonder I’m tired!

I can’t say this was the mostest fun project I’ve ever worked on. It certainly wasn’t a mindless knit – I had to keep the chart close by and marked off each row with a highlighter. There wasn’t a lot of instant gratification, either. The designs really didn’t pop out until I blocked it. And I can’t say I liked working on lace with size 6 needles. But I loved the yarn! Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, two skeins of tide pool. Total cost – $7.98!!! Be still my cheapskate heart. All in all, I really like the finished product and am glad I did it.

Now I really, really need to get busy and finish the baby quilt before I find myself in a panic, stitching until midnight the week before we leave. It’s hard because I’m really in the mood to knit. My next knitting project will probably be the toddler size Wonderful Wallaby. By next week I’m hoping to have some really dynamite pictures for you. I just ordered a new digital camera – a Canon G6 (7.1. megapixels – woohoo). It’s probably more camera than I can handle, but I’d like to learn more about photography and since I got a bonus at work, figured this would be something both Bill and I would use a lot. After all, gotta have a really good camera to take pictures of the grandbaby – three weeks and counting!

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “It’s deja vu all over again.” Once again I find myself working an endless border around a shawl. This time it’s the Pacific Northwest Shawl. Of course, it hasn’t taken me nearly as long as the last one. I think I started this one only about a month or two ago – it’s really knit up fast. But I am really tired of the border and so have put it away for awhile. But I did finish another Baby Surprise sweater. The fun part of this design is that when you finish knitting you have this:

And then you do a little folding and you have this:

What a surprise! Hester, however, was thoroughly bored with the whole thing:

After all, no doggie treats were involved. She and Kirby are getting along much better. He seems to have accepted the fact that she is not going away and is practicing tolerance (most of the time). Several times he has completely forgotten himself and started to play with her, but he quickly comes to his senses and begins to ignore her again. Hester has become so comfortable with her new home that she has even started to get into a little trouble. Although well behaved the first week or so, she has proceeded to completely demolish the wicker basket she was sleeping in and started chewing on anything else she can find at night. Today we bought her a crate and she is quite happy with it. She hopped right in and went right to sleep. So no chewing for her tonight.

A Happy Easter to everyone – we’re having a family get together with younger son and my sister. Wish you were here Ben and Abby! Less than a month to go before the baby – we are all getting very excitied!!

Is it possible that there will be peace in our lifetime?

The lion will lie down with the lamb.

The Arab and Israeli will be friends.

The Serbs and the Croats will make peace.

The Republican and the Democrat . . . . . Nah! Too unlikely.

But we do have this . . . . .

This was not staged! It was entirely voluntary. Hester jumped in first and Kirby followed. We immediately rewarded them with a biscuit and then Kirby realized the enormity of what he had done and jumped out. He then resumed his normal pattern of ignoring her until she got too annoying and then snapping at her. But there is a ray of hope. They spent the night in the same room last night and there was no bloodshed, so we are making progress.

And these pictures are for Marguerite who was bemoaning the lack of color in her landscape:

Before you get too jealous, Marguerite, this early spring comes at the price of a severely low snow pack. They are predicting drought for this summer, we will be paying for all this beautiful color.

On the knitting front, I have made progress on the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

I was thinking even as I took the picture that I was still disappointed that you couldn’t see the pattern developing. But I was surprised when I viewed the picture that you can see it quite well. I feel a little bit like I’m working blind. the only thing that I have to tell me that I’m doing ok is that the stitch count comes out correctly. I am not particularly liking working lace on such big needles (size 6), but I think I will be happy with the outcome. It’s coming along fairly quickly – I’m at the next to the last pattern and then just the border to do! After the Mediterranean Shawl, this border will probably seem very quick! I hope!

Not much knitting content today, but pictures of our new family member:

We picked up Hester on Tuesday. On the 45 minute ride home, she calmly gazed out the window and then laid down and went to sleep. She is truly the sweetest puppy – very calm. If we had to choose one word to describe her, it would “lady”. She has settled right into our routine at home and learned to use the doggy door and so far only one accident inside. Kirby, on the other hand, is NOT pleased, as you can see from the picture. That is definitely a doggy pout. For the first four hours he barked at her every time she moved – gave me a splitting headache! Now he’s decided that since yelling at her has not driven her away, he will try ignoring her. He will not even look her in the eye. Hester, on the other hand, has decided to be more proactive. She’ll go up to him, bump him with her nose and then flop over onto her back to say, “See, I’m not a threat – you can still be top dog. But can we play?” Kirby will have nothing to do with her. She’ll keep persisting until he gets annoyed and chases her away. Then she’ll sit across the room eyballing him for awhile and then start all over again. I think she will wear him down eventually.

And another picture of how sweet and cuddly she is:

I started another Surprise Jacket, this time in a worsted weight. I also worked a bit on the Pacific Northwest Shawl, but no progress pictures that are the least bit exciting. This weekend will be taken up cleaning and studying for the most part, so I don’t expect to have much more to show. But maybe more cute puppy pictures!

I had a great time this weekend at Camp Knitaway. This retreat is held every year on the mainland and this was my second year. Nothing to do but relax, knit and eat! All meals are provided and the rooms are nice – four of us from Whidbey Island shared a small room and bath. This year the teacher was Chris Bylsma and she taught her Crayon Box Jacket technique. I have to admit going with a bit of a closed mind. I was just going to sit and observe – the jacket is pretty funky artsy with lots of novelty yarns –not my usual style. But I have to admit to enjoying the class very much. I did make the sample (will post a picture when it’s completely done) and liked it so much that I ordered the pattern for her poncho. Just goes to show it’s never too late to learn a new trick or two. I loved coming in from the outside and seeing the tables crowded with yarn – so colorful!

During get acquainted time one elderly lady introduced herself and said that she had been knitting for over 50 years and back in the 80’s went to a knit camp in Wisconsin. She didn’t know if we had heard of this woman – Elizabeth Zimmerman! A collective gasp went up from the crowd. I have actually taken a class from her daughter, Meg Swansen (a little shameless name-dropping here). In fact, while we’re name dropping, for living in a remote corner of the Pacific Northwest, I’ve been able to rub shoulders with a lot of famous knitters without leaving the island – Lily Chin, Eugene Bueghler, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Nancy Bush to name a few. The ironic thing is that as knitting has grown in popularity, the big retreats on the island have died out.

Part of the fun this weekend was a gift exchange and door prizes. I got this:

A lovely skein of Mountain Colors wool for a pair of socks (plus pattern) and this gorgeous!!! pink and blue lace yarn. Although the gift exchange was random, the lady who brought this said she thought of me when she brought it. She was right on target- both the color and medium. Also included was a pattern by Mary McCall for a shawl based on EZ’s Pi are round shawl. I think I will use it with this yarn, but with some adaptations. The pattern calls for size 9 needles and the finished product is 9 feet across (yikes!!). I know the theory is that if you use larger needles with lace you get a lacier effect, but I just don’t like the process with larger needles. So I will use about a size 3 or 4 and get a more manageable project.

And, during our free knitting time I began and finished this:

A baby surprise jacket for Izzy. I can’t believe I’ve been knitting for so long and been such an Elizabeth Zimmerman fan but have never knit one of these. What a fun knit! And it is indeed a surprise when you finish knitting this odd shaped piece and it folds nicely into a little jacket. I think I will try it next on worsted weight. This one will have little lady bug buttons if I can find them.

One thing I’ve discovered about blogging is that you make rash comments and then feel you have to explain when you don’t follow through. Of course, I really doubt that anyone out there in the blogging world (all twelve of my readers!) are actually going to hold me to anything. The first of the year I mentioned that one of my goals for the year was to do more charity knitting and that I wanted to do at least one pair of socks a month for CIC. Well, so far I have finished one whole sock. No, not one pair, one sock! Of course, my FIL’s death in January put me behind on everything, but that’s not really the excuse. I have come to the realization that I’m just not that fond of knitting socks. It’s not the dreaded “second sock syndrome”, it’s actually the “first sock syndrome”. I don’t mind making a pair occasionally, especially those designed by Marguerite, but as a regular past time, I’ve come to the decision it’s just not my cup of tea. SO – I am redirecting my charity knitting to the Guidepost Knit for Kids Project. We’ll give this a try (“we” being the royal “we”, of course). This will make for some mindless car knitting, although car knitting for me doesn’t necessarily have to be mindless – a great deal of the Mediterranean Shawl was knitted in the car. But the first car show of the season was this weekend and I got a lot done on the trip and during the endless sitting around.

I’ve also begun the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

The Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud is wonderful to work with. I’m finding the pattern fairly easy so far, although I have to keep the chart fairly close at hand. The only thing that I’m concerned about is that the design is not looking very clear at this point. It’s hard to tell because very quickly the project gets scrunched up on the needle and will look completely different once it’s stretched out. But so far the patterns don’t look as obvious as in the pattern picture. I think it’s because of the garter, rather than stockinette stitch, but am not sure. All said, I think I will keep plugging along and let the chips fall where they may. So far it’s been a relatively quick knit, but it’s getting exponentially larger as I go (it’s knitted from the neck down), so will start to slow down considerably.

And, of course, Rogue pictures:

I finished putting on the attached I-cord border. This is the first I’ve done and I’m very pleased with it. And I’m especially pleased with the sewn cast-off – see how pretty?

Thanks to Eilene for pointing me in the right direction – EZ, who else?

And, only two weeks to go now before we get our new little puppy. She was spayed yesterday and came through with flying colors. Ten days of recovery and she will be ours. Kirby is oblivious to how his little life is going to change! I think it might be a shock at first, but he spent the first 9 years of his life with another dog and I think (hope) will adjust quickly.

What a great weekend! My incentive for finishing my Sociology class was to treat myself to a trip to Seattle and The Acorn Street Yarn Shop . My friend was supposed to go with me, but she bailed at the last minute, so I invited my sister. She is not a knitter, but she is so patient about joining me on these outings. Of course, she is often the recipient of my labors, so maybe she has an ulterior motive? But she is definitely knitworthy and one of the few people that I knit for. We had a great day poking around University Village and then the yarn shop. I treated myself to a great book on Orenburg lace shawls and this lovely blush pink lace yarn:

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I’m afraid the picture doesn’t do it justice. So far I’ve changed my mind about three times on what I want to do with it. First a scarf, then a stole, then a shawl and back again. so I think I may let it percolate a bit while I decide what to do. And also because I received this:

Eight skeins of Knit Picks new Alpaca Cloud. I am very impressed with this yarn so far. It is soft and lovely and the colors are heathery and beautiful. And the price can’t be beat. The whole lot was about $30 with free shipping! At that price I need to go back and look again. Wouldn’t it be fun to have one of every color? My first project will be with the “Tide Pool” – the darker teal. I’ll be making the Pacific Northwest Shawl from Fiber Trends.

And Rogue hasn’t been forgotten. Our knitting group meets this Wednesday and the subject is knitted on I-cord edgings. I’m going to take Rogue with me to get some advice. With any luck I can start picking up around the edge and have something rather mindless to work on this Saturday. It’s the first car show of the season, which means lots of sitting around. And, of course, I really need to get studying. I got so spoiled last week with most of the week off. That meant I could study during the day and knit at night. I got my new study plan from my advisor and she confirmed that by the end of the semester I will be a senior. I thought the day would never come – the light at the end of the tunnel!

I was very remiss in my last post in not crediting the designer of the Mediterranean Shawl. The shawl was designed by Maureen Egan Emlet and is featured in A Gathering of Shawls (see sidebar). In restrospect this was a very challenging knit and not for the fainthearted. But would I do it again? You betcha!

And I can’t resist introducing you to the newest member of our family. Here’s Hester:

We had been considering getting a puppy and were investigating the King Charles Spaniel. Unfortunately, we found ourselves priced out of the market. They were so expensive and hard to find. After perusing the AKC site, we decided to investigate the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and really liked what we found. We did give some consideration to getting a “pound puppy”, but in our area it is very rare to find a small dog – they are all lab mixes. We found a very reputable breeder right here on the island. She has been breeding and showing for almost 30 years and has quite a few champions. She has even shown at Westminster (impressed me!). She was very excited about Hester and felt that she had great championship potential. But just before embarking on the dog show circuit, Hester failed her OFA hip exam – she has displaysia in one hip and so cannot be bred or shown. Kathi said she cried for two days. She really considered keeping her as a pet, but they are very committed to the show dogs (they have 10 or 12), so they are placing her with a good home. And because they cannot guarantee that there might not be some problems later on with the hip, they are only charging for the cost of the spay.

So, we hope Hester will come to live with us in about a month, after she is spayed. We passed preliminary approval yesterday and Kathi said barring any unexpected circumstances, she is ours! The owner may want to come out and inspect our house, but she will like what she finds. Hester has the sweetest disposition. She crawls up in you lap and looks at you with adoring eyes as if you are the most special person in the world. And this only five minutes after meeting her. Corgis do SHED like crazy, but generally only twice a year. Then you have to brush every day, but we’re used to that with the Lhasa Apso. We told Kirby he was getting a little sister and he seemed excited, but that may have been all the great smells on us when we got back home.

And here is a picture of Bill and me with a lap full of Corgis. Actually, a couple more jumped down just before the picture was taken.

On the knitting front, I am up to the armhole on the second sleeve of Rogue! That should be done today. I didn’t start on the I-cord trim yet. I wanted to consult with a friend since I’ve never done it before. I cannot believe what a quick knit this has been! But that may have been because I worked on this exclusively – something I don’t normally do. No pictures because I’ve been having way too much fun taking pictures of little dogs!

These are for Marguerite.

I wore my shawl to church today and am so very happy with it! I got several compliments on the shawl itself, but the compliments that pleased me most were “My, don’t you look pretty today”. Don’t you think that’s the ultimate test of any wardrobe item – that it makes you look and feel good instead of drawing attention to itself?

The big day has arrived! No, not the birth of my new grandchild, although you might think this is right up there (not really kids!). However, it did take a lot longer than 9 months and there was indeed a great deal of labor involved – some of it painful (remember the frogging of over 6 months knitting?). The delivery of the Mediterranean Shawl is now accomplished (ta da!) I had set aside a whole morning for blocking this puppy, but it actually only took about half an hour. I used blocking wires for the first time and all I can say is, if you don’t have them, run, don’t walk to your nearest retailer and invest in some. It is SO much easier, especially if you do a lot of lace. So without further ado – first the shawl in unblocked form:

And then in blocked form:

Kirby not only approves, he helped (well, kinda):

You will, however, have to wait for a modeling picture. I really can’t do it justice wearing jeans and my LLBean shirt, which would entail changing into something dressy, so you’ll just have to bide your time for THAT to occur. I have the whole next week off and dressing up will not be in my vocabulary!

There is something about blocking lace that is akin to magic. The beginning article is pretty, but kind of crumpled and just okay. Once blocked, it becomes something almost ethereal – light and floaty and drapey and just exquisite. If I had to choose only one type of knitting for the rest of my life it would be lace, without a doubt. Now that this is done, I need to start looking at a new lace project. I think it will be the Pacific Northwest Shawl. I am dying to try out the new Knit Picks yarns. I’m excited about their offerings and especially the prices. I could certainly indulge my habit a lot more with those price ranges – hope the quality is there. They seem to emphasize alpaca pretty heavily – a good thing in my judgment since alpaca is just about my mostest favorite fiber to knit with (and wear)!

And no, Rogue has not been abandoned or forgotten. I actually finished the hood (except for grafting the center section) last night. I think I will pick up around the front edges for an attached I-cord before I start on the sleeves. I’m posting a photo, but just don’t seem to be able to get a good true color. And it certainly doesn’t do it justice to have it crumpled up on the floor. I wish I had a lovely mannequin like Ei – her’s is looking lovely!

Don’t you just love a good makeover?

Before:

And After:

The change is actually more dramatic, but it’s hard to catch a moving target!
On the knitting front, I have continued to work on Rogue. I know – I said I needed to work on some other projects, but since when have you believed anything I had to say on that score? I just have the right front to finish from the armhole to the shoulder and the body will be done. I am really anxious to get to the hood – that’s what drew me to the pattern in the first place.

On the school front I finished the last paper for my sociology class (do I hear a few strains of the Hallelujah Chorus?). Just the final and I will be done. Then I start on the Sociology of Aging. I think this will be an interesting class. One required reading is “Tuesdays with Morrie”. Finally, something fun to read! My prize for finally finishing the sociology class is a trip to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop in Seattle. My friend and I will probably go Feb. 26th.

Good news – My kids called this week and they are moving back to the States!!! They’re not sure exactly when – probably after the baby is born. It makes a lot more sense to have Izzy in England since they are covered under National Health. I am so excited about having them closer. And my daughter-in-law is becoming a true knitter. My son complained that every time he asks her to do something she says, “Just one more row!” Way to go, Abby! She finished her first scarf and is now working on a poncho. She even offered to knit me one! No one has ever offered to knit me anything. I may have to wait awhile because her life is going to very, very busy in about two and half months. But I shall be patient.

I am such an idiot! I know, there are probably those out there (my siblings?) who are saying, “It took you this long to figure that one out?” Actually, I’m probably not an idiot, but there are some nights when you should just throw in the towel and figure out sooner, rather than later, that knitting is just not in the stars for you. I was so tired last night (first clue), and was ahead on my studies, so I decided to treat myself to a relaxing (?!) night of knitting. I started working on the little baby sweater that I am test knitting for a friend. I’m at the point where you start knitting the shoulders together. Ok, simple enough, right? Except that at the same time, you are doing short rows, kind of like rubbing your tummy and patting yourself on the head at the same time. The first time through I got about half done and realized that I was knitting from the outside rather than inside edge on one piece (or is it the other way around?). So I frogged. Second time around, again about halfway through, I realized that I had the sweater twisted, with one side outside in, the other side inside out (or is it the other way around?). I didn’t even have the heart to frog, just threw it in my knitting basket, where it still resides.

Now, at this point, a perfectly sane person would have seen the light. But oh no, not this girl. I picked up Rogue for a little relaxing knitting. Right. I ended up twisting cables the wrong way, not once, but TWICE!! Long story short – I knit for about 2 hours and ended up frogging every stitch I made. I realize I probably could just drop down the cables and pick them up correctly (and still may do so), but I knew better than to try it last night.

So, no knitting content. But Ann at Purling Swine has started a new web ring – Knitters with Minis. So for anyone logging on from the ring (see new button on the sidebar), I introduce Limey (1973) and Agatha (2004).

My husband says that my mini (Agatha) is larger and more luxurious, but his mini (Limey) is smaller and cuter. That’s up for debate – well, the cuter part anyway. Plus, Agatha has a really cool license plate:

Although my husband has been obsessed with cars for years, I have never been much of a car person – until now. This is the first time I’ve ever had a car that I thought deserved a name. It’s fun to see the reactions you get from all kinds of people – older couples, hippies, bikers and even high school boys. The other day a whole gaggle of teenage boys gave me a thumbs up. Not bad for a 55 year old grandma, huh?

What week! My husband and I both came down with a bad bug, although he got it worse than I did. The worst part is that the doc told us we were to stay away from my mother-in-law since her health is so fragile. This was kind of upsetting because she just moved to an adult group home and we wanted so badly to be there for her to help make the transition. We kept in touch by phone, though, and the good news is that the transition has been a very good thing for her. She is dealing well with her husband’s death and is actually making tremendous progress, healthwise. As long as she stays away from us! I think that we’re on the road to recovery at last, though.

One thing about being sick is that it gives you an excuse to just sit on the couch and knit. Which I did!

The color is not real true, but this shows the detail well. I find knitting on this to be almost hypnotic. Must be why everyone gets hooked on it. I have to admit that this was my second start on it. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I initially started the 48″ size. Only in my husband’s dreams am I that busty!! I got as far as starting the pocket and realized the error of my ways, frogged and started over. I’m glad I did – I probably could have worn the larger size, but it would have been pretty baggy.

I really do need to put it aside for awhile, though (hmmm – have I said that before?) because I have some other projects that really do need to take precedence. I really, really need to finish the baby quilt so I’m not stressing at the last minute, I need to get cracking on my toddler socks for CIC (finished one, but will wait to post pictures until both are done) and, of course, school. I did manage to get a lot done this week. The tough thing is that my class on Child Abuse is really, really depressing. The Sociology class is almost done, though! One paper left on: 1. Compare the theories of Durkheim, Simmel, Gans and some other guy whose name I can’t remember (yeah, you’re waiting with baited breath on that one, aren’t you?) 2. What should the government do about obesity (ban Big Macs?) and 3. Is civil obedience ever justified (the American revolution, the underground railroad, Gentiles who hid Jews from the Nazis – need we say more?). So there, once again, you have subjects on which I have to expound for nine pages. Then a final exam and I’m done! Well, at least for that class. I’m really have to give myself some pep talks to keep going. I should have done this when I was younger!

Well, I succumbed – to Rogue. But then, you knew that, didn’t you? It didn’t take a psychic to predict that I would. It all started innocently enough (as these things usually do). I bought the yarn for Rogue with the gift certificate my parents gave me for Christmas (Thanks, Mom & Dad!). Of course, once I got it home I just had to wind at least a few skeins into balls. And what harm could there be in doing a gauge swatch? This was actually quite an advancement for me. My history with fit on my sweaters has been hit or miss, mainly due to the fact that I hate to do swatches. I always figure it will fit someone! But this time I really wanted it to fit me, so I not only did a swatch, I washed and blocked it. See?

Exciting, huh?

Then one fateful evening a couple of days ago, my husband had gone to bed early because he didn’t feel well. There I was, in between projects (more on that later), unsupervised (yeah, like he really would have stopped me) and with three hours of Mystery to watch (which just begged for a new project)! Next thing you know, I had cast on and was knitting merrily away. I have to tell you I could probably knit with nothing else but Cascade 220. I love the feel of this yarn! The colors are probably a little plain Jane, but then, so am I. And I can tell this project is going to be lots of fun. Here is my progress so far:

I have reached the point at which the pocket begins and will lay it aside for a few days (yeah, right) because I promised a friend I would test knit a baby pattern for her. But it’s on Encore, size 8 needles and should go quickly. And, I can begin Rogue without guilt because in the last 6 months I have finished: a baby afghan, two baby sweater/hat sets, two pairs of socks, the Viking Turid for me and the Aranmor for my husband (both started at least two years ago) and (drum roll, please) THE MEDITERRANEAN SHAWL! Yes, indeedy – I finished it! I underestimated how quickly the border would go, and along with my obsession with it, voila! Fini! Pictures will follow as soon as I can set aside time to block it. That may take almost as long as the knitting.

On the school front I am making great progress on my Sociology class. I received my grade from the midterm – 92!! And this morning I submitted my fourth written assignment. In it I answered the following questions: If a lie detector could be made 100% accurate, where and when should it be used? (Nowhere! Freedom of thought is our most precious liberty and thought without action does not constitute a crime). Do immigrants benefit the U.S.? (Legal, yes, illegal, no, although in all honesty we must admit that cheap illegal migrant workers allow us cheap, abundant produce. Culturally, immigrants provide our otherwise ethnocentric society with valuable cultural diversity). Does free trade help or harm the environment? (Harms, because it allows large multinational corporations, who are not known for their social consciences, to export harmful environmental practices to poorer nations who are willing to trade their environment for economic advantages. We should be just as mindful of the environment of poorer countries – and their workers – as we should of our own.) So there you have my opinions in a nutshell. All I had to do was expand those thoughts into 9 pages, along with references and citations. Piece o’ cake. Rattling on has always been one of my long suits!

ob-ses′sion n. 1. Being haunted by or troubled in mind. 2. Preoccupied.

Well, that about sums up my attitude with the Mediterranean Shawl. I seem to be obsessed with it this week. Part of it, I know is because I can see the end coming. Progress has been much speedier than I expected, and if all goes well, it may be finished (at least the knitting) by the end of this week or next. The blocking is another matter – I may need to set aside an entire morning. That puppy is HUGE! The other reason I think I have been obsessed is as an escape. This has been a very stressful week and working on the shawl, with its repetition and precision has given me at least a semblance of control in one area of my life.

Thanks to everyone who sent condolences on the loss of my husband’s father. I’m sure that all of you can identify with the fact that any large gathering of family (and my husband’s family is large), with its disparate personalities (I’m being kind here) can be quite stressful and unpredictable. I’m happy to report that everyone, with the exception one in-law, was quite well behaved. It was great to catch up with everyone and some of the kids were too cute to be believed. (At one point my great-nephew, 4 years old and dressed up as Batman, came running into the room and yelled, “I need a skinny girl!” You can imagine the hoots of laughter from a bunch of waistline-impaired middle-aged women! We never did figure out exactly what he needed a skinny girl for.) My husband’s brother did an excellent job of eulogizing a father who caused a great deal of pain to his children. Without glossing over his faults or vilifying him, he thanked him for all the things he did give his children, and pointed out that his father was in need of forgiveness from God, as we all are, because we are all sinners. There was a wonderful turn-out and I was so pleased to see several people from my church and my work who did not know my father-in-law, but were there to support me and my husband. I am glad, however, that the week is over. I’ve determined that I need a certain amount of quiet and solitude in my life and that has not been in great abundance this week.

For lack of any knitting progress to show, I will show my new stash:

The heather grey is Cascade 220 and will eventually be a Rogue. The multicolor sport will be a Baby Surpise Jacket for the grandchild. After watching Eilene’s blog, I am so eager to start Rogue, but am trying to restrain myself. I need to finish “The Shawl” and I am so behind in my school work. I know that if I start Rogue I will not want to do anything else. I also need to finish the baby quilt I have started – I don’t want to be under pressure at the last minute. But I was a good girl and studied for over 2 hours today, so I’m going to reward myself with a movie and knitting. Have a great week all!

It’s been a sad day at the Waite household. My husband’s father passed away yesterday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. What amazed us all was how shocked we were even though we’d been preparing for it for a long time and even praying for it. I guess you never can be fully prepared. Bill’s mother is not doing well. She is physically frail to begin with and had just gotten out of the hospital after a bad fall. She was brought up in a generation that seemed to make women feel guilty about everything. For some strange reason she blames herself for her husband’s death. She also feels that she has lost him twice – once to Alzheimer’s and now to death. It can’t be easy to lose your companion of 59 years. This is the first parent either of us has lost.

My father-in-law’s relationship with his entire family has always been a little dysfunctional. Without going into private details, he was a very narcissistic man who only thought of his own wants and needs. But he did manage to raise (with a great deal of influence from their mother) some very fine children, including a son (my husband) who is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. One of the other daughters-in-law said that she had recently read an article that said there are four things you must say in order to come to terms with a loved one’s death. “I love you, I forgive you, forgive me, and goodbye.” Even if the words are not said before death, there is a great deal of healing in saying them after.

On a happier note, I am off to Seattle for the weekend. I was going to cancel, but my husband insists that I go. My sister and I have had this weekend planned for a long time and he has plenty to keep him busy. In fact, he will drop me off at my sister’s and then continue on to SeaTac Airport to pick up his sister who is flying in today. For Christmas my sister gave me tickets to “The Lion King”. Everyone who has gone to it has raved and I’m very excited. I’m also going to take my gift certificate that my parents gave me to the little yarn shop around the corner from my sister’s house. Plans right now are to buy the yarn for Rogue, but those plans could change once I start fondling all that beautiful yarn. So I’m going with an open mind.

Next week will be a busy one with family, services, work and school, so I will probably not get around to posting for at least a week. Great progress has been made on the shawl (much better than I anticipated), so who knows! Maybe a surprise?

The light at the end of the tunnel! And I don’t even think it’s an oncoming train, but I could be wrong. I finally finished ripping out about 6 months worth of work on the border of the Mediterranean Shawl, the last few rows very, very laboriously because I was working with “live” stitches. I picked up on the other sides of the shawl to make a total of 1308 stitches around, did a row of faggoting (k2 tog, yo), and then one row of knit to stabilize. Then came the task of picking out a border. I decided on a very narrow border with a short repeat (8 rows), so I could go around the corners without having to miter. And because I’m lazy and sooo ready to be done with this shawl. But I think it’s kinda pretty:

I figure that at a minimum of 20 repeats a week (just guessing), and 4 stitches of the shawl being eaten up with each repeat, it will take me approximately . . . . gasp!! That can’t possibly be right!!! 32.7 weeks? Some math wizard please tell me that can’t be right. That’s almost eight months. Well, I’ll either have to develop a lot of patience or increase the number of repeats I can accomplish each week – 20 was only a wild guess. But I can’t just work on this or I will go mad. Mad, you hear me, mad!! So we will just have to see.

Despite dire predictions to the contrary, we didn’t get any snow at all other than a really light dusting this morning. I was quite disappointed. We had plenty of groceries, plenty of yarn, no committments for the weekend and I was ready to be snowed in. Now that a week full of work and meetings commences, we’ll probably get snowed in for sure. Hmmm – I wonder how many repeats I could get done? Mad, you hear me, Mad!!!!!!

Addendum: I redid my math – if each point eats up 4 shawl stitches and I do 20 points a week, that’s 80 shawl stitches. 1308 total divided by 80 equals 16 weeks. Much better!

AAAGH!! My eyes, they are a-burning! I was such a good girl today and forced myself to go to the library to take a proctored Sociology exam. It was hard!! But I was prepared and think I did well. There were 60 multiple choice questions worth one point each and two essay questions worth 20 points each. I love essay questions. My theory is if you can’t impress them with facts, you can baffle them with bulls**t. And I’m good at that! Actually one of the essay questions was about a study by McClanahan and Sandefur on single parents and that was one area I studied extensively, so I nailed it. This is a Sociology class that overlaps from last semester. All I have left on it now are two nine page papers and the final exam (did I say that’s all?). My other classes start Monday and I will be taking the Sociology of Aging and a class on Child Abuse. The great news is that by the end of this semester I will officially be a SENIOR!!! WHOO HOO!!

Anyway, that’s not the only reason my eyes are burning. To reward myself for taking the test and for deep cleaning the kitchen, I pulled out the Mediterranean Shawl. Yes, that really was a reward. I am so anxious to knit some lace again. I have finally finished all the ripping out and am now picking up stitches around the outside edge (again!). 271 stitches down and 1036 to go. Yes, really! And this was a reward?

And, in a blast from the past – here is the little sweater set I knitted for my son before he was born almost 30 years ago. It’s hard to believe he ever was this tiny – he’s about 6’6″ now:

And the first FO of 2005 – my Old Shale Two socks with the not-EOP-heel.

The color is a tad washed out, but ain’t they purty? They fit well too. I have a feeling they are going to be favorites. And I will definitely make them again. In fact, I think a pair will end up under the Christmas tree next year for some lucky recipient (but not this pair!). Thanks Marguerite!

And, I did some housekeeping on my sidebar. There are two new buttons. One is for Susan’s Hugs and Kisses Socks. She is donating all the proceeds to tsunami relief, so hop on over and purchase the pattern. I think these will definitely be my next pair of socks. And Brenda has started a blog with some great quick recipes. Check ’em out. Heavy sigh – now back to picking up stitches!

Hey, it fits! The blocking was successful and the weather cooperated, so here are photos showing the detail on Viking Turid:

This is a rather close fit, as it was designed to be. In fact, it’s a little closer that I am used to, although my husband endorses it wholeheartedly (no ulterior motives there, eh?). He is of the opinion that I wear my clothes too baggy. What do you guys think? The only change I will probably make is to adjust the neckline. It’s choking me! I adapted the pattern from a boatneck to a crewneck and should have gone lower an inch or two. When I picked up for the rolled edge, I picked up 3/4. I think I will frog that and pick up 1/1 and just do a backward crochet edge (one of my favorites). That should make it a little stretchier and a tad lower. I didn’t mention the yarn I used – it’s Louet Gems Merino and I love, love, love it! It’s soft against the skin and has a lovely finish. It is a DK weight. I just can’t say enough about how much fun Elsbeth Lavold’s patterns are! They are a challenge and you have to read very, very carefully, but once again I feel as if I have created magic. I have a feeling knitting Rogue is going to give me that same feeling.

Why looky! Another FO:

That picture shows the color, but not the detail – here is the detail with washed out color:

This is Elsbeth Lavold’s Viking Turid from Knitter’s Magazine Best of Arans and Celtics. It was a very, very fun knit. Making the Celtic knots appear in the middle of plain knitting is just magic! The jury is out, however, on whether it’s going to fit. It was hard to judge while I was knitting because the edges curled so much that it was difficult to measure (we won’t even discuss the issue of gauge – an invention, I believe, of Satan!). I tried it on just after seaming and it was, shall we say, snug? As in I-wouldn’t-wear-it-out-in-public snug. However, when wet it seemed to cooperate and I was able to block it out a few more inches. So we shall see. I know it looks a little odd shaped, but unfortunately it does resemble the shape of my body : ) Here is a detail of the sleeve:

I will keep you posted on the fit. I feel pretty good about now. The only large projects I have left are two Dale sweaters, Kongsberg and Ingeborg. I think finishing Kongsberg will be my next goal. I’m up to the shoulders, but followed the pattern and started knitting back and forth at the neckline. That was a mistake. I do not like the uneveness compared to the rest. So I’ll rip back to the neckline and do a steek. I really love the detail on the back:

When putting up the Christmas decorations I found the box containing my son’s baby clothes. In the box was a sweater that I knit for him before he was born, along with various knitted items I made for him when he was little. I’ll post some pictures later in the week. It will be so much fun seeing his child wearing them!

I just viewed my site and the first two pictures are really awful, but they’re the best I could get. The one of the sleeve is pretty accurate. Maybe if we’re blessed with sun tomorrow I’ll be able to get better ones.

Aah – the New Year! A time for reflection, for looking past and looking forward. I have to tell you I am a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I know, most of them are probably broken. But when have any of us started a new habit without a few false starts? Resolutions give you a chance to make a fresh start and to try again to improve. I only have a few this year. Number one is to simplify! That means not starting so many new projects. Now don’t get me wrong – there is nothing morally inferior to starting lots of new projects. But when I completed those two sweaters within a week, I had such a feeling of relief! I realized that having baskets of unfinished projects around was cluttering up my life and causing me stress. I know that I do need different types of projects to keep me going, but it does seem a little much to have THREE Norwegian sweaters going. So I am going to start finishing and then limit myself to one of each type of project. Remember, you heard it here first and you are perfectly welcome (if you remember) to gently poke me if I stray. Gently.

The second resolution is to be more frugal. I like the depression quote, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” So I’m going to try and not buy so much this year. Whew, I’m glad we’ve already replaced the dishwasher! The government finally saw fit (after 3 months of retirement) to let us know how much we will be getting. We ran our budget and will be fine without Bill working at all if we’re careful. He will eventually do something, but in the meantime it will not hurt us to learn to economize. My airfare to England to see the new baby is already in savings so there shouldn’t be a whole lot we can’t do without.

And finally, the third resolution is one I make every year – to lead a healthier lifestyle. Mostly for me that means getting up and getting exercise. I’d so much rather sit in my chair and knit or quilt. I’ve read before that the key to a healthy exercise program is finding something you love. I hate it all! But the exercise I hate the least is my recumbent bike. There’s something enticing about being able to sit down while you exercise. Do I sound lazy? I’m not really – I very rarely just sit. But at least with the bike I can listen to books on tape to help the time pass. And I could kill two birds with one stone and study as well.

So there you have it folks. I encourage all of you to make resolutions! We can hold each other accountable and if not, at least be there to forgive each other when we stumble. And, in the light of my new resolutions, I am really, really hoping to have a FO to show you next post. Hold onto your hats! That would make three within a month!!

At times like this it seems somewhat frivolous to post about knitting and Christmas presents and things that all seem so trivial. I guess what we can do is appreciate the many things we are blessed with and share what we can with relief organizations. Our Christmas was relatively quiet, dampened by the fact that my mother-in-law was in the hospital. The good news is that she seems to be better, although that is a relative term. She has been released to a nursing home and will hopefully be able to move back into the assisted living facility within a couple of weeks. Sadly, she seems to be losing a lot of her cognitive abilities, although that may be due to some of the strong pain medications she is on. Only time will tell in that area.

My sister’s sweater was a big hit! Although she knew I was working on it, she seemed genuinely surprised that I got it done in time for Christmas. Oh ye of little faith. The gorilla sleeves really were too long for her, so while my hubby cooked Christmas dinner (turkey and all the trimmings – although some of us helped with the trimmings!), I snipped the sleeves and knitted the cuffs down. She wanted a turn back cuff. I let her get away without a picture, though. My husband made me a beautiful corner cabinet! I knew he was building something, but expected a small box, not a piece of furniture.

And here is a cute picture of Kirby tolerating (barely) a little puppy that barks “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.

The only glitch in Christmas dinner was the dishwasher door getting stuck in the closed position (hey, at least the dishes were clean!). By the next day Bill had gotten it open and figured out a way to rig a little handle to open it up. However, when I tried it, a shower of sparks ensued and I suspected a new dishwasher was in our future. I know – we could certainly do dishes by hand, but a dishwasher is one of the luxuries we allow ourselves.

Post Christmas knitting has been Marguerite’s Old Shale Two Socks. Sock #1 is finished:

The heel is slightly different than her pattern. Why, you may ask? Ok, since you asked so nicely, because I misread the pattern. You just had to know, didn’t you? I was knitting merrily away doing what I thought was a standard slip stitch heel (which Marguerite called Eye of Partridge), when I realized that hers was a little different. After a flurry of emails with her I discovered that her slip stitches are offset, forming a little honeycomb (hmmm – eye of partridge?), while mine were lined up like little soldiers all in a row. I’m not going to rip this, but will try the EOP heel on the next pair. Yes, there will definitely be a next pair. I am loving this pattern! Thanks Marguerite for sharing. The only intentional change I made was to lengthen it a little after the cuff as I like a little higher sock. And I urge one and all to head over to Susan’s blog. She’s posting a cute sock pattern for sale and all the proceeds will go to Oxfam for tsunami relief.

‘Tis the season for FO’s (and more than one post in a week – aren’t you impressed?)! I was so pumped full of adrenaline from finishing my sister’s sweater that I thought I ought to keep going. I had Starmore’s Aranmoor all knitted and just sitting in my basket waiting to be sewn together and finished. So, in a marathon finishing session, I completed it:

What a handsome guy! This was made from some Tivoli that I bought when we were in Ireland years ago. This is one thick sweater! I believe he will be able to weather any storm in this. But he is quite pleased with it. In fact, he is sitting here now in his recliner, reading and all wrapped up in his new sweater. At least until the heat kicks in. Then he’ll either have to shed it or freeze me out. I realize the picture doesn’t show the detail real well, but I can’t get it off of him to do better pics. I think one of my projects over Christmas break will be to start a photo album of my FO’s with better details.

And despite my better judgement, here are pictures of Tilt on a body.

I am not especially photogenic – in fact I think the one from the rear definitely shows my better side. This was a fun knit, but I would not do it again. I never can get my horizontal and vertical gauge to come out comparable. Usually that doesn’t matter because you just get horizontal gauge and knit until it’s long enough. However, the yoke on this was knit on the diagonal and had some very complicated shaping, so there was no way to adjust. So the sizing was pretty dicey. And it was almost impossible to estimate the sleeve length. As you can see, the sleeves would fit a gorilla (and they’re rolled up). Despite what I may have told my sister growing up, she is not a gorilla, so I may have to undo the sleeve seam, snip and knit the garter stitch cuffs over. However, as EZ would say, I AM the master of my knitting and can do that if necessary.

Now I am all freed up to do some really fun knitting! Old Shale socks, here I come!

Tilt is done!

I had to really scrunch the sleeves to get it all in the picture. Once it’s dry I’ll put in on a real body and you should get a better idea. This is my sister’s Christmas present. It’s ok – she doesn’t read my blog. Or if she does, it’s at work since she doesn’t have a computer at home (Shame on you Claudia, if you are reading this. Get back to work!!). And, it’s not a total surprise. I gave her the yarn for her birthday with the promise of the sweater for Christmas. Lately about all I’ve been able to finish are things that have deadlines! Except this:

I was noticing that my iPod was getting scratched. I looked at cases, but they were so expensive. I just used some leftover sock yarn and voila! An iPod sweater. My son is convinced that I could get a little cottage industry going making these, but I’m not so sure. For one thing, to sell something you need inventory, which means knitting whether you feel like it or not. And that takes some (or all) of the joy out of it. Anyone out there knit for profit? Any input? I have knit for barter. A dentist I worked with once was a very talented potter. His pots sold for upwards of $200 and at the time I certainly could not afford that. He wanted an Aran knit sweater and offered to barter for it. In the end, he was so pleased with his sweater that he gave me two pots, a bowl, a colander and a set of goblets. He made the point that time-wise he still got the better bargain and he was probably right.

Now that my deadline baby knitting and Christmas knitting is over, I need to get back to some languishing projects. There are two Dale sweaters, plus an Elspeth Lavold and an Alice Starmore that only need to be sewn together. I think for the new year I’m going to make myself the challenge to knit a pair of CIC socks each month. That shouldn’t be too hard – a little toddler sock should only be one or two evenings’ work. And I think I will start with the Toddler Basketweave socks – courtesy of Marguerite.

Well, gotta run and get ready for a party. It’s the last of the Christmas parties tonight and I’m so glad. I am NOT a party person. I’m not really shy, but I can deal with people one-to-one much better than in large groups. I tend to be a wallflower and look for an available excuse to go home. After all, I could be home knitting!

I feel a little guilty . . . I’ve been keeping up with everyone elses’s blogs, but haven’t posted here in awhile. I hope you all have me on Bloglines so you’re not continually checking here for nothing! But I will have you know, I’ve written two nine page papers and taken a final exam, so I’ve been busy nevertheless. Still don’t know what grades I received, but hope springs eternal for A’s. And I’ve not been entirely lazy on the knitting front. I finished this:

It’s the little girl’s set! I really love the little hat with the ruffles! It sure does look small, though. I need to dig out one of my son’s newborn sweaters and compare. I remember thinking they were really small, but some of them didn’t fit him until he was a month old and he was average size.

I gave in to the temptation to start something new, too. But really, I had a good reason (really!). I was going to my knitting group and didn’t have anything mindless to knit on. So I started another baby afghan:

But I promise to be good and not start anything else until the one Christmas present I have left is done. Promise. Really.

And you have to check out this site.
These really are some ugly sweaters. I wonder if he has any takers on his calendar?

A fun weekend coming up – my sister and I are spending the weekend Christmas shopping and generally having fun in Seattle. I have to find my husband something else for Christmas. He gave me a wish list, but every time I turn around, he’s bought something off of it. As I recall, he did this last year, too. So he’s just going to have to settle for something I pick out for him. What a concept, huh? We have some friends who buy their own Christmas presents “from each other” and I just don’t understand that. If you buy it for yourself, it’s not a gift from the other person. My friend insists that’s the only way you can insure you’ll get something you like. But I think that’s missing the point – a gift is something the other person wants you to have. Over the years, my husband and I have had some hits and misses, but we always know the gift is from the heart and it means so much more that way.

Hope I’m not so long in posting next time. Semester is over and although I have a class that extends into next semester I have no deadlines. Hooray!

To knit or not to knit, that is the question. Well, not in general, but specifically I’ve been pondering whether to continue in the Six Sox Knitalong. I guess I should make a decision today because the next pair is due by the end of November and I haven’t even started! I would like to start another pair of socks, but think I want to pick something on my own. I haven’t been too happy with the fit on the last two pair. And, since I just don’t have the time to keep up with the posts, I’ll probably just drop out. I’ve been such a good girl about not starting anything new and have actually finished a couple of things.

This was a baby afghan I started just to have something to put aside for a shower gift. Last weekend I really needed the emotional satisfaction of completing a project and it was the closest, so I did.

And I completed this last night.

I know, it’s not knitting, but most of my friends know me as a quilter, not a knitter. In fact, I got some puzzled comments from them when I started my blog – “Why knitting?” I don’t know – is there a quilting blog community out there?

For Thanksgiving we did something new and volunteered at our local community Thanksgiving Dinner. This was started three years ago by a local restaurant owner. For years he had provided free dinners at his place for the needy. With the help of the local Elks Club he decided to throw it open for the entire community. All are welcome, whether they can afford it or not and donations are accepted from those who are able. It is already becoming a tradition for those who don’t have family around and even for those who do – entire families come and a great time is had by all. My husband, sister and I spent the afternoon delivering dinners to those who were housebound and to employees at the few businesses that were open. On a sad note, the man who started the whole shebang was out back cooking turkeys when he had a heart attack and died. But I couldn’t help thinking – what a way to go. He was doing something he loved, feeding others, and has left a wonderful legacy. I think the community dinner will go on because of him.

Tomorrow it’s back to work after six days off. Sigh, it’s always hard to go back, but I’m usually ok once I get there. More term papers and finals due so I’ll be busy for the next few weeks, but will try to post. I’m hoping to finish another project this week.

Ok, I think I’ve gotten hold of myself now. Actually this is part of what caused my meltdown:

And this:
.

My sewing room (actually, I think I’ll start calling it my “studio” – so much more elegant) regularly gets like this. When it gets really bad, I go on an all day cleaning jag, get back to square one and always promise myself I will NEVER EVER let it get this bad again. And then, a week later . . . well, you get the picture. My husband says the same thing happens with his shop.

I promised myself (for about the hundreth time) that I am going to get more organized and will not, repeat will not, start anything else until I get at least one, and maybe two, other projects finished. Well, we all know about how long that lasts, huh? This time it lasted until we drew names for Secret Santas at work. I drew the name of Jyoti, a beautiful, beautiful Indian girl (India, not Native American). I just knew I had to knit something stunning for her. This is the result:

No, it is not a multidirectional scarf! I didn’t even realize it had made that lovely zig zag pattern until I took the picture. I got the idea from pictures on Siow Chin Yeo’s site. I just pretty much winged it from the picture and came out with a pretty nice result. I won’t tell you that the pattern is one stitch off on one side, because with the fuzzy yarn you can’t tell. I used Trendsetter Dune and it was great fun to work with and a very, very quick knit. An easy two evenings worth of knitting. I might actually allow myself to do a couple more before Christmas. Now see, there I go again, planning new projects when I should be working on papers

Somebody stop me! Before Christmas I have the following on my plate: three exams and three term papers, one promised Christmas sweater (about ½ done), an appliquéd square for my Round Robin group (barely started), two hats for our knitting group’s Christmas project, assorted Christmas parties, and of course, work, housework and normal daily responsibilities continue. And this doesn’t include the two sweaters sitting in the basket waiting to be sewn and the two (yes, count ‘em, two) Norwegian sweaters started. Oh, and the Mediterranean Shawl sitting in my sewing room with the border half frogged. Yet, all I want to do is start something new. I bought Cat Bhordi’s book, Magical Knitting (see sidebar) and all I want to do is cast on for one of her beautiful Moebius scarves. I need to have my head examined!

However, I am making progress. This is the first of the two hats for the Christmas project. Our knitting group is making hats for Children’s Hospital in Seattle. This is such a great project. The 12-year-old son of one of our members has a number of serious medical problems and has to make regular trips down to the hospital. He dreads these visits so much because they are never pleasant. But we have made him our emissary and he is responsible for delivering the hats. His mom said for the first time he is so excited about his visit to hospital because he gets to hand out hats. Neat, huh? So far I think we have over 50 of them!

And this is a picture of the side panel for the Christmas sweater. The pattern is Tilt and is great fun. The yoke takes a lot of concentration, but the lower side panels are a no-brainer. Haven’t looked as far as the sleeves yet, but putting it together is a breeze – three needle bind off throughout with the bind off showing on the outside.

I did discover one time saving device. If you haven’t signed up for Bloglines yet, do so now. It is so nice for keeping up on your favorite blogs, especially those (like mine) that don’t post daily, or even on a regular basis. I have put a link on my sidebar. I’ve found that it doesn’t work for all blogs – you have to have an RSS feed. But please don’t ask me what that means or how you get it if you don’t have it!! One other thing that I would love to learn more about, but simply don’t have the time.

Here’s what little puppies get into when Mom and Dad are away:

The little one up to his eyeballs in toilet paper is Pistage while Blue looks on from his beanbag saying, “Who, me? I’m innocent!” These little darlings belong to my son and daughter-in-law.

And tomorrow, Bill flies out to pick up his new toy:

Some of you may recall that he sold his 1958 BMW Isetta this summer to a guy in San Francisco. This is the replacement and Bill is going down (to San Francisco, no less) to pick it up. I told him he could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had found it earlier and combined the trips. He’s going to drive this back to Washington, but it’s equipped with more up to date safety features than original, so I feel a little better. But it’s still awfully small to be out on the road with all the big guys.

On the knitting front I am taking a break from baby knitting on tiny needles and am working on Tilt (see June 6th post). This is Noro Silk Garden and I do like working with it, despite the occasional piece of grass. It’s fun watching the colors develop. This has been a relatively quick knit and now I’m on the long straight pieces – no shaping, just stockinette stitch, which is nice for a change. I know I’ll get tired of it soon enough and want to go back to intricate stuff on teeny weeny needles. But I do need to get cracking on Tilt, because it’s a promised Christmas present for my sister (it’s ok, she doesn’t read my blog and she already knows it’s coming) and I certainly don’t want her to think she’s less important than the new grandbaby.

Got lots to do today before we leave for Seattle – bills, laundry, all those fun things. Have a great weekend all.

Wow – two posts in one week! Just goes to show what can happen when I don’t have to work. I’ve had most of the week off and only have to work tomorrow (whine, whine). I’ve gotten a lot of school work done and taken one exam. I thought the exam was terribly hard and then came to find out that the professor had sent all the students a study guide for the exam. Except me!! Talk about feeling paranoid. All of this came to light because she returned a paper I had written with a B+, indicating that it was very well written and would have been an A if I had followed the guidelines she had sent the class. And I wrote back – WHAT guidelines? She checked, and sure enough, no guidelines for me. So she’s going to revisit my grade on that and will perhaps even cut me a break on my exam. Sigh!

And look at this – cute, huh?
This is the little boy set, all done except for buttons and blocking. I’m not making any booties because I hate knitted baby booties – they won’t stay on. I’ll buy some of the little stay-on socks to match. I’ve cast on for the little girl set. At this rate, I’ll be done by Christmas! Just a little grandma adrenaline going, don’t you know?

Being this far ahead has gotten me interested in revisiting some languishing projects. Remember the Mediterranean Shawl? Absence really has made the heart grow, if not fonder, at least less nauseous! I made a decision – I will frog! I know, I know, that’s about 6 months worth of work, but I am a firm believer that continuing a wrong does not make a right. In pulling out the shawl and looking at it:

I realized that it is already HUGE! Trying to plug on and getting a dubious match on the yarn resulting in a mismatched border just doesn’t make sense. (For those of you just tuning in, I ran out of yarn on the border). So, I am ripping and will find a small edging border to replace the very wide leaf border. It’s already got some beautiful patterns in it and I don’t think leaving out the wide border will diminish it in any way. Of course, it will probably take me a while to rip it out, winding the yarn as I go and when I get down to the shawl itself I will have some “live” stitches that will take some real finesse not to drop. That will have to be done on a day when I can devote my full attention to it. So, it sits in my sewing room in the corner with the yarn winder to await periodic attention.

And, breaking news! Just got an email from my professor that she is raising the grade on my paper to an A+. She reviewed the outdated syllabus that I was using, and she said I followed those guidelines perfectly and it was an outstanding paper. Yahoo!!

Rain, rain everywhere. I think fall is officially here. The ground is squishing and mushrooms have overtaken our front yard. So nothing to do but sit inside and knit! Well, and study too. I spent so much time on my paper Friday I worked myself into a bad headache. Gotta learn to pace myself. I did take time out to take Kirby to the groomer. This is a new lady and he came out a little shorter than I really like, but doesn’t he look cute in his little pumpkin scarf?

I also made progress on the blue baby sweater:

I also have one sleeve done and am up to the armhole shaping on the other. I should have that done today and then need to start sewing. I absolutely hate sewing up sweaters. I have an Elspeth Lavold sweater for me that is sitting in the basket all finished except for the sewing up. I just can’t make myself do it. This should be a little better because those are pretty short little seams. As I mentioned before, the Stork is a lovely yarn. This is my first experience ever knitting with cotton and it can be a little tiring on the hands.

And, Friday night Bill and I went out with my boss and his wife to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary. Thanks sweetie – it’s been a great 32 years – here’s to 32 more!

This new grandchild is going to be one lucky dude (or dudette)! The day after I announced the impending arrival to my mom, she started on a quilt. And it’s done already! Can you tell she’s excited about her first great-grandchild? The quilt arrived in the mail the other day and it’s just too cute. I wasn’t able to get a very good picture, but here it is. If you can’t make out the detail, it’s Noah’s ark with all the little animals.

Of course, not to be outdone, I completed something as well:

This is made from Plymouth Encore. It was good to knit with – more acrylic than I prefer, but enough wool to make it acceptable. But the good thing is that it can be used and thrown into the washer without fear. I must admit, though, that I caved and decided that I really need to make a more heirloom style blanket, so have started on an Estonian Shawl in white Baby Ull. This yarn is perhaps my mostest favorite that I have ever worked with. It has all the qualities of 100% wool, but is very, very soft. Although it is machine washable, I don’t machine wash my projects anyway. I made myself a sweater from it several years ago and it is one of my favorites.

The Stork sweater is coming along nicely, although cotton on size 0 needles does tend to be a little hard on the hands. I give that as my excuse for starting the shawl – so I have something easier to trade off with.

And, the benefits of having a computer literate daughter-in-law. Abby is working on a program to help me keep track of all of my yarns, needles, books, patterns and projects. It will be available in Macintosh format and is in the testing stages now. She hopes to market it, so I will keep all you Mac addicts out there informed!

For now I am going to get off the computer. I have spent the last 5 hours working on school papers. For my Sociology class I had to write three (thankfully short) papers on the following subjects: Should violent content in movies and video games be censored by the government? (No, but they should be labeled), Is Sweden correct in outlawing corporal punishment? (No, but the government should step in when a child is in danger of physical harm) and Should drugs be legalized? (No, but some minor possessions should be decriminalized and more money should be diverted from enforcement to prevention). So there you have all of my opinions in a nutshell. The real challenge was stretching them out into at least three pages each. Actually, not as hard as it sounds – I tend to run on and had trouble keeping them to three pages. So, a break is in order and I’m off to knit!

And the baby knitting continues! I’m only three repeats away from finishing the baby afghan, so I cast on for this. This will be the “boy” set in blue Dale Stork. I really like this yarn. It is soft and knits easily, although you do have to be careful of splitting, especially with yarn than has been frogged a couple of times. Yes, ripping has been done. I seem to have a terrible time with gauge on Dale patterns. I did a gauge (my LEAST favorite part of knitting) and was about ½ stitch per inch off on size 2 needles. So, I naively thought that if I went down one size I’d be just fine. “Hah,” she says, “Hah!”. I blithely cast on and after two inches measured. I was still ½ stitch off. So I ripped and decided that rather than go down to size 0 I would go back up to 2’s and just rewrite the pattern. Now, I am perfectly capable of doing this. I have knit several sweaters and a Shetland shawl of my own design. But after a few inches of this, I changed my mind and decided I really didn’t want to have to rewrite the whole pattern. So, I ripped again and decided to proceed with size 0’s. I’m not even going to measure gauge – I will just let the chips fall where they may and assume that this sweater will fit the baby sometime in his life – who says I’m not a cockeyed optimist? Since the “girl” set is also Dale and in the same weight yarn I will do the same thing. I think there is no chance that it will be too small – if anything a little large. The funny thing is that my LYS has the same sweater knit up in the same yarn and they are also ½ stitch per inch off! Go figure.

On the non-knitting front, I am now the wife of an officially retired firefighter. The first few days have gone very well, but I think the last week of work was rather emotional for him. The hardest was saying goodbye at the Daycare Center on base. Bill has been responsible for years for fire safety education and fire drills at the center. All the staff and kids know “Fireman Bill”. The center director was in tears when she said goodbye. His first day of retirement, Bill went down and had coffee with his car club buddies (think a male “Stitch and Bitch” without the stitch). That was great fun for him and I think will be a good replacement for all of his work buddies. Wouldn’t you know though – we went out to dinner to celebrate on his last day and ran into another old retired fireman who insisted we join him for dinner and then regaled us for an hour with old fireman stories. The perils of living in a small town!

Ain’t these purty? The fire department sent these to me as thanks for supporting Bill through his years of service. Of course, Bill says the flowers are mine, but he gets to keep the little fire truck! Thursday will be his last day and it’s been a little emotional at times. Since he’s on days and won’t spend another night at the fire station, he cleaned out his locker last week. Twenty years worth of stuff was spread out over our living room floor as he went through it.

While he was doing that, I was spending most of my week at the chiropractor. I’ve been having some fairly significant neck and shoulder pain. It’s been bothering my work for a while, but when it started interfering with my knitting – well, something had to be done. Seems like my neck is severely out of alignment due to years of poor posture (no surprise there!). The problem is that when I practice good posture, (shoulders down and back, chin tucked down) I lose my chin altogether. Now how fair is that? Of course, I came to terms a long time ago with the fact that most of the time you can look good or feel good. That’s why my high heels only come out on special occasion. The good news is that not only have the treatments made me feel better, but this doctor believes in curing the underlying problem rather than just treating symptoms. So I am on a regimen of exercises, and friends and family have been given permission to nag me about my posture. So . . . if you see me slouching, tell me to STAND UP STRAIGHT!

And the other good news is that I’m knitting relatively pain free and have made quite a bit of progress on the baby afghan:

The colors look a little washed out in the picture. They are a little more vibrant, but still pastel. I’ve been feeling so much better that I even started quilting on a quilt top that I had made years ago and put away for my first grandchild. But tomorrow I go back to work after a five day break, so knitting and quilting time will diminish considerably. I think I need to retire too!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted. Plus, I think I goofed in my archiving choices because my previous post has already been archived. I guess that’s how you learn about blogging – by trial and error! But never fear, I’m still here. Becoming a grandma has not caused me to go completely over the edge! Part of the reason for falling behind is that I’ve been too busy to take pictures and I much prefer blogs with pictures. I’ve also been terribly busy with school. This past weekend we took a drive across the state to WSU so that I could attend a seminar and my husband could attend a football game. Both were successes. WSU won by a huge margin and the professor said those of us attending the seminar did not have to submit a paper! I found that being on campus and meeting with my advisor and fellow students really gave me a lot of encouragement.

I am in full gear on the baby knitting front. I decided on a unisex color for the afghan and bought both blue and lavendar of the Dale Stork for sweater sets. Pictures will follow later in the week. I have some time off from work, so in between studying I hope to get in some blogging catch up time. See you then!

I’m going to be a grandma! Ooooh – thiat sounds so good, let me try it again. I’m going to be a grandma! Wow, sounds just as good the second time around. The newlyweds have wasted no time in starting their family. Thanks guys! Although, sorry about the morning sickness, Abby. I have promised my husband I will not go overboard (tho his idea of “overboard” and mine may vary), but I couldn’t resist buying my grandchild his/her first stuffed animal:

A sheep, of course. And of course, baby knitting must commence as soon as possible. To that end, I hope to go yarn shopping tomorrow. I’m thinking a newborn set out of the new Dale Stork cotton. Has anyone out there used it? Any feedback? And of course, a baby afghan. I’m feeling particularly ambitious right now and am thinking one pink, one blue, just in case. But cooler heads will probably prevail and I’ll go with a unisex color.

And Bill’s retirement has come through! As of September 30, he will be officially retired. He’s already using up some leave and has been home for the past two weeks. He’ll go back about a week before retirement to tie up some loose ends and then that’s that! He is outrageously happy and wanders around with this silly grin on his face, although becoming a grandpa probably has something to do with that, too. I am somewhat envious, as retirement is still a few years away for me. But I must admit that he is taking over a lot of the household chores and has taken a huge burden off me. He will probably get some kind of part-time job for awhile and I will miss having him picking up the slack at home.

I do have an FO to report:

I finished my Making Waves socks. I like the look of them, although they could fit a little better. I was reading another blog (sorry, but forgot whose) and she mentioned liking the fit of toe-up socks better. I think I have to agree. The flap heel always comes out a little bulky for me. A short row heel seems to be slimmer and more snuggly. In light of recent events, I may have to pace myself and will probably drop out of the Six Socks knitalong, although I have some time to decide. Must get priorities straight. And working, school and knitting for baby will leave plenty on my plate!

I’m sitting at the computer watching the rain pour down outside. It looks wonderful! We Pacific Northwesterners love our rain and it has been a really dry summer. I’m so anxious for fall to come. It’s hard to knit when it’s hot and humid.

This week has really been a tough one for us. Neither one of us has bounced back from our jet lag very well. Just getting old? It could be too that we spent more time there and our bodies were more adjusted to London time. But we’re getting there. We can actually stay up until 9:00 p.m. now! Just like the grown-ups. Bill still hasn’t heard about his early retirement. The deadline was supposed to be the 16th, but this is the federal government, so what can you expect?

On the knitting front I’ve been plugging away on my Making Waves socks. I was distressed to discover that I am running out of yarn, even though I supposedly bought the right amount. Fortunately a speed run to the yarn shop yielded the last two skeins in the right dye lot. Do those of you with a LYS nearby really appreciate it? I hope so! I have to go off island – not a terribly long trip, but can be dicey if there’s an accident on the two lane road. Which there was today. Coming home I barely got onto the island when I got caught in a several mile long backup due to an accident. But I got a few rows of knitting done while waiting and was grateful I wasn’t actually in the accident – thank goodness it didn’t look too bad. But even a fender bender can tie traffic up for an hour.

School officially starts Monday, so my knitting progress may come to a screeching halt. For those of you who don’t know, I am currently, at the belated age of 54, working towards my bachelor’s degree. I am a junior at Washington State University, but have been plugging along for about six years now. I figure by the time I graduate it will be a ten year process. But there’s only so many credits I can take and continue to work full time. However, by the end of next semester I should be a senior!! I’m hoping that I will be able to keep up on my blogging, at least on a weekly basis, but we shall see.

And, no knitting photos this week, but this cute picture from our vacation. Three worn out little boys! The one without fur is my husband.

My namesake was right – there really is no place like home. I just wish I had some ruby slippers to click together rather than traveling the traditional way. Maybe I’m just getting older, but this trip home really wore me out! It was fairly uneventful – except for horrible traffic in London that turned an hour and half trip into almost double that. Fortunately we had left ourselves plenty of time and got there with just the right amount of time. The flight was long and boring and by the time we collected our baggage and got across the Canadian border to home, we had been up almost 24 hours. Neither one of us can sleep on planes. Kirby was ecstatic to see us – if you can imagine a dog crying with joy, I could swear that was what he was doing.

And now comes the job of easing (or jumping) back into the fray. We were both up at 4:00 a.m. this morning, but that’s an improvement over 3:00 a.m. yesterday. At this rate it will only be a couple more days before we are back on track. Today Bill finds our whether his application for early retirement has been accepted. Scuttlebutt around the fire station is that all applications have been approved. Financially it’s a good decision for us because it comes with a huge bonus and no reduction in retirement benefits. But it is a huge change and I think we’re both a little nervous about it. Even good change can be stressful!

On the knitting front I haven’t touched a thing since I got home. Probably a good thing because with the jet lag fog I’m in, I’d probably end up frogging anyway. However, here is a progress photo of my Making Waves socks.

I like them well enough, but would probably not make them again. A little too slow going for me with all the cables. I like my socks to be quick, whip ‘em out projects. I’ll save the cables for Aran sweaters and the like.

By the way, it probably was just as well that I didn’t finish the Mediterranean Shawl for the wedding. It was so hot and muggy in London that day that I wouldn’t have been able to wear it. Now that I have some distance I’m really considering ripping out the border and just starting over with new yarn, providing I can find a close match. It’s pretty generic off-white so that shouldn’t be a problem. But it will have to wait a few months. School starts next week and then I’m really off and running!

Well, we survived the wedding! It was a wonderful, exciting, fun and exhausting day. Everything went off without a hitch, and the ride on the Eye was a piece of cake. It was so smooth and slow, with no sway at all, so you really didn’t feel the height. I even walked over and looked down! The ceremony was beautiful and we were all doing great until Abby started crying. That loosened up everyone’s tear ducts and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house (or in the gondola, as it were).

And here is a picture of me with the lovely ladies of the wedding party:

For more pictures of the wedding and our travels in England, look in the photo albums in the sidebar.

Yesterday we spent touring Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath. Today we are relaxing and tomorrow we will spend the day in St. Alban’s. Then Saturday it’s home and a whole day to recover before going back to work. That’s probably rather poor planning on our part – we should have had an extra day in there to get over our jet lag. I guess the positive thing is that at least we won’t have any trouble getting up to go to work. We’ll just be ready for bed as soon as we get home!

I have accomplished some knitting while I’ve been here. I finished Blue’s sweater and started on my Making Waves socks. With all of the waiting time during our trip home I may even get the first one done. I haven’t found them to be a particularly quick knit, but I am using a cable needle and that slows me down. I tried doing the cables without, but the stitches are so tiny and my yarn is a little slippery and I kept dropping stitches. At least with the cable needle I’m not constantly picking up stitches.

After 5 days in England I think I am finally starting to get over jet lag. I still tend to fall asleep about 2:00 in the afternoon, but I’m not up at the crack of dawn. We’ve had a wonderful time visiting with our kids and doing touristy things. Yesterday we went to London and visited the London Eye and talked to the wedding planner. Afterwards we took a lunch cruise down the Thames. Tomorrow is the big day and I think everything is ready! A limo will pick us up here in Harpenden and drive us into London to the Eye. There we will be escorted onto our own private gondola where the ceremony will be performed 400 some-odd feet over London. On the way down we’ll celebrate with champagne. From there we walk to a French restaurant where we’ll have a celebratory dinner. The limo will then take the newlyweds to a hotel and drop us off back at home. It should be a fun day!

While sitting around visiting with the kids, I did finish this project:

Doesn’t he look elegant? I think Blue is quite pleased with himself. It was kind of fun knitting something so small – it went very quickly. Who knows, I may knit another one while I’m here, although I’m kind of keen on casting on for the Making Waves socks. Hmmm – I’m sounding like a Brit already. Hopefully sometime tonight my kids will help me set up a photo album where I will post all of our England and wedding pictures.

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 . . .