missouristar

Well, I’ll swan.  That was a favorite saying of my Granny, used to express surprise or amazement.  I have no idea of the origins of the saying, but she was from south central Missouri and I don’t think I’ve heard the saying anywhere else.  But it came back to me this week when I thought, "Well, I’ll swan.  You can teach an old dog new tricks."  I have made several attempts to knit socks on two circs, but every time have given up after about 4 rows.  I just hate all those ends flopping around.  On her blog Wendy mentioned that she used KnitPicks 16" circulars.  Hmmm – might work.  So I ordered a pair of size 0’s for my I Love Gansey socks and well, I’ll swan.  They work.  The cable is flexible enough and the ends long enough not to hurt my hands.  And without those ends flopping around, I find it’s not too annoying.  I’m finding this method quite helpful with the complicated pattern:

Will this become my preferred method?  Too soon to tell, but I’ll be ordering a pair of size 1’s in the near future.

For anyone coming here from Marguerite’s blog for the amazing details of our road construction, here’s an update.  We had been informed that Washington State Department of Transportation (affectionately known around here as "washdot") was going to lower  the road at the end of our driveway by 8 feet and close down our driveway at least twice for 24 hours at a time.  We did learn that they are only lowering our road 3 feet, but they are lowering it 8 feet about 100 yards down from us.  That part is just about done.  And after a lot of input (read whining and crying) they have revamped their plans and have informed us that they will try to keep the closure of our driveway down to less than 8 hours at a time.  Most other streets exiting onto the highway in the construction area have other back exits, but our driveway does not.  Why are they doing it?  Because it’s there.  They tell us it’s to lower two hills and increase the sight distance for safety.  But in the 20+ years we’ve lived in this location, there has never been a fatality accident and very few of any kind.    So, anyway – for your edification, here’s the beginnings of the 3 foot ditch:

We’ve been told digging will begin in earnest Sunday night.  I’ll be out there taking pictures to keep you posted. 

Hester says thanks (woof!) for all the get-well wishes:

She came through her surgery with flying colors.  You can see the shaved area on her shoulder, but I didn’t do a head on shot because it’s pretty gross.  She seems to be comfortable and wanted to eat – but then she always wants to eat.  However, I’m comforted by the fact that that indicates she can’t be too sick.  The vet is still somewhat stumped.  There did not seem to be a tumor, but lots of dead tissue.  He said it almost looked as if she has suffered an injury, such as being hit by a car.  But she is never out of our sight and has had no injuries.  I’ve talked with her breeder and she comes up with nothing that happened prior to her coming to us either.  So a biopsy has been sent off and we wait.  In the meantime, she is on antibiotics, which the vet says in a best case scenario may clear up the problem.  We won’t discuss the worst case scenario.  Thank you to all of you for your prayers for her!

Thanks to some long awaited time off, it’s been a busy few days here at Missouri Star, resulting in some actual FO’s.  Dial up users, be forewarned this is a picture heavy post, so be patient.

First off, Ivy’s newborn set is all done except for buttons and ribbon:

It looks alarmingly large.  I was hoping she could wear it home from the hospital, but it may be more appropriate for 3 months or so.  But that will also put it in the middle of Orlando winter, so it might be more appropriate weather-wise also.  Also finished, the Tulip Cardigan:

Yes, I started it about a week ago.  This knit was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.  However, gauge was not my friend.  Yes, I did a swatch and yes, I got gauge.  But when I reached the end, it looked a little small – see it compared to the "newborn" set?

I measured again and lo and behold I was 1/2 stitch per inch off.  Of course, in the wonderful world of baby knitting, both sweaters will fit her at some point.  I only found one puzzling discrepancy in the pattern.  When picking up the stitches for the front seed stitch border, you are instructed to pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows.  However, when knitting the fronts you were told to slip the first stitch of every row.  That results in one edge stitch for every two rows.  I don’t see how you can have it both ways.  I just picked up one for one in each edge stitch and it worked out fine.  Of course, for such a little sweater there were an amazing number of ends to weave in.  This, however, was more than offset by the fact that there was NO seaming!  All, in all, I highly recommend this pattern and I’ve already started on a matching one for Izzy.

Also on the knitting front, I have joined the Six Sock Knitalong.  Please don’t ask me why.  Because it was there?  Anyhoo, here’s the start of my I Love Gansey Sock:

I’m using Regia Silk and I think it’s turning out just lovely.  Certainly not a mindless knit, but the pattern is relatively clear.  I tried once again using two circs, but I keep coming back to my tried and trusted dpn’s.  They just feel so comfortable to me.  My brother-in-law was watching me knit and asked how many needles I had.  I told him five.  He said, "Too many moving parts for me."  But I told him only two were moving at any one time. 

I also had some free time to play with my sewing machine and turned out these cute receiving blankets:

They will be donated to our local Pregnancy Care Clinic, reinforcing my belief that every child is a wanted child – even if some mother only uses it once to wrap up her baby as a gift to an adoptive family.

Thanks to all of you who have send good wishes for Hester our way.  She is scheduled for surgery on Monday for a biopsy.  She goes in at 8:00 a.m., but the vet said she may be home as early as noon.   We just hate sending her "under the knife" because she seems so much better on Rimadyl, but I would hate knowing that there was something that we could fix if caught early and we did nothing.  I’ll keep you posted on her progress.

And lastly, all of the photos in this post were taken with my new Canon SD1000.  Hubby’s camera died and he was looking for a new one.  He headed off to the store to buy for himself and instead came home with a new one for me!  He had heard me saying that I liked my camera but wished I had a smaller one.  So he’s taking my Canon G6 and giving me the new one.  What a sweetie!  Once again he proves he’s a keeper.

Just in case you think that I’m the only creative one in the family, look what hubby made for Isobel:

Isn’t it gorgeous? This is definitely destined to be an heirloom. Sadly, when he went to ship it, he found out that it would cost almost $200 just for shipping! So, he’s told Izzy’s parents that if they want her to ride it, she needs to come here. It’s almost cheaper that way! We’ll hold it for her here at Nana & Grandpa’s and hopefully they will move closer soon or we’ll find another shipping option.

Several weeks ago my best friend, Jan (who reads my blog, is a college English teacher and is probably cringing at the last sentence in the previous paragraph) gave me a gift certificate to our LYS to buy yarn for a project for Ivy. I really tried to wait until she could go shopping with me (really, Jan!), but I was over in Anacortes yesterday to give blood and just couldn’t resist dropping into the shop. Look what followed me home:

A tower of yarn. Actually I cheated and turned the photo on its side. This will be enough yarn for a Tulip cardigan for Ivy and her big sister too. In fact, there will probably be enough yarn to make a bigger size as well so that when Izzy outgrows hers, Ivy can wear it and Izzy will have another one to match! This yarn is Comfort by Berroco. It’s an acrylic/nylon blend, but just as soft as can be. As much as I love the Dream in Color yarn, I just can’t justify the cost – even for the kits. That is, if you can even find them. I’m hoping this will be a good substitute for some sweaters of many colors for the girls.

Lastly, I would like all of you to send up a little prayer for our dear Hester. If God cares about every little sparrow, I know he cares about little dogs too. Hester started limping rather badly a few weeks ago. She didn’t appear to be in any pain and has otherwise been her usual perky self. We took her to the vet and he found a large mass around her right shoulder joint. X-rays were inconclusive, so he sent them off to a radiologist. The radiologist also found them inconclusive, but feels that it is probably not cancer. It could be some kind of connective tissue tumor, however. She is scheduled to have a biopsy on August 13th. We are very worried about her, but determined to be positive. We love her dearly and hope for a return to good health for her.

Ivy’s baby quilt is finished!

This really has been a most pleasurable project from start to finish.  Now all that’s left is the label, but that will have to wait until she is actually born.  Since we will be there in Orlando, I’m going to have to figure out a way to design most of it here, add in the stats after her birthday and print it out onto fabric there.  I’ve already picked out the Bible verse for the the label: "I know the plans I have for you saith the Lord.  Plans for good and not for evil, for a hope and a future."  These words were written by Jeremiah to relay God’s message to the nation of Israel.  They embody perfectly my hopes and dreams for Ivy.

The little sweater set is coming along too.  The sweater is all done except for the neckband, sewing the underarm seams and darning what seems to be an awful lot of ends for a one color sweater!

Once the cap is done I can start picking up some languishing projects, such as Forest Path and the finishing of Abby’s sweater.  Hmmm – any chance I can get that done before our trip?

On Monday I was getting ready to go off to an evening meeting and decided to wear my snappy new sandals:

Notice something not quite right?  I’m wearing wool socks.  In July.  Even for the Pacific Northwest that just doesn’t seem fittin’.

This morning I started a new audio book (Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky) while on the treadmill.  I got this from the library because the plot sounded interesting:  A young woman is raised by a single mom and never knows her father.  She marries into a snobby wealthy family that is thrown into turmoil when she gives birth to a child with distinctively African American features.  She then goes searching for the father she has never known.  Imagine my delight when, in the first chapter, the author establishes that the main character is not only a knitter, but an obsessed one as well!!  She has a disagreement with her husband over how much yarn is appropriate for a 24 hour hospital stay.  She says, "But what if I run out?"  Ah, a woman after my own heart.  Her in-laws are also a little put off by all of the intricate baby items she has knitted because they are not from Neiman Marcus.  She even discusses her stash.  I think this is going to be a great read!

Off to a fun picnic today – our knitting group hosts the group from the adjacent island.  It’s lots of food, fun and great show and tell.  And the door prize is the knitting tote I made, so I’m anxious to see how it’s received.  Toodles!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting, sewing, etc. to bring you:

Or at least that was the way it was going to work.  I planned to put all needlework aside this week while I read.  As it turns out, I sat down to read at 4:00 p.m. yesterday and finished about 24 hours later.  And yes, I did sleep – a full 8 hours as a matter of fact.  It’s been a long time since I read a book that was so intriguing that I couldn’t put it down.  No spoilers here, but the end was heartbreaking yet satisfying and will not please everyone.  Anyone who wishes may email me privately to discuss, but I won’t reveal the ending.  Except for my eagerness to find out the ending, I was really, really sorry for this book to end.  At first I thought that the book was way too adult for Harry’s followers, but it occurred to me that those children that started off with the first book are now in their teens.  My advice to parents out there with younger children would be start them with the first book, but try to parcel them out to one a year so that by the time they get to the later ones they have matured a little.

Three days in Seattle have satisfied my desire for city life for another year or two!  I’ve decided that cities are exciting and fascinating but also hold so much ugliness and sheer craziness!  Seattle certainly has its share of odd characters and I am so grateful for my ordinary if boring life.  The convention was interesting, with some enjoyable classes.  And there was enough down time that I did get knitting accomplished:

Body and sleeves are now joined and the yoke is started.  As I’m decreasing every other row, I am on the home stretch.  With a little over 6 weeks to go, I am in good shape for finishing all baby knitting and quilting with time to spare.  I hope this will be my last week working five days and life will get back to normal by next week.

Earlier this week we awoke to this lovely lady in our front yard:

It was raining and apparently she found shelter under the overhanging trees.  She was sleeping soundly when hubby first opened the curtains and stayed there for about an hour.

Once again, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I’ve just been working, working, working.  I don’t know how all of you out there who work 5 days a week do it.  I feel as if all I do is go to work and then try to catch up on the weekends.  In the evenings I have a choice as to whether I knit or blog.  Clearly knitting wins out because if I didn’t knit I wouldn’t have anything to blog about, but I don’t have time to blog, so it doesn’t really matter anyway!  And for some reason, every weekend since I’ve started this work schedule, I’ve had to go off island for something or another.  Sigh!  Let’s just say that all of the extra money I’m making has gotta go for something really nice to make me feel better.

I really feel kind of blah, too, but I think weariness plays into that a lot.  I miss my Fridays when I get to "play" and refresh.  This too shall pass and with any luck the employee I’m subbing for will be back soon.  I would not trade with her for anything – she had back surgery yesterday and the day before that her father passed away.  My heart really goes out to her and I hope she has a speedy recovery despite a heavy heart.

Ok, so enough whining.  During my spare time I’m been doing a lot of quilting.  All of the hand quilting on Ivy’s quilt is now done and only the binding to do!  I need a block of time to work on that so I don’t rush through and mess things up at the end, so that will probably have to wait at least another week.  The first sleeve on the sweater set is done and the second started.  This week I’m going to Seattle for the Pacific Northwest Dental Convention.  I know, you’re all jealous.  I’m kind of kicking myself for signing up.  It’s not required, but now that my boss has paid my way, I’m committed.  But it is paid time and a nice chance to bond with our staff.  Four of us have gotten hotel rooms so we don’t have to drive back and forth.  Friday afternoon I will take the bus over to Kirkland and meet up with my sister, who hopes to convince me to stay up until midnight and go with her to Barnes & Noble and pick up the new Harry Potter.  I think her chances are about 50-50.  The next day we’re going to the Pacific Science Center to watch the new Harry Potter on Imax.  So, a fun but exhausting week in store.

Today Abby sent me an email proving just how extremely intelligent Izzy is!  She was pointing out her nose, mouth etc. to Ben in English and then turned around and did the same thing to Abby in Chinese – apparently without prompting.  She knows which language to use with which parent!  How very, very clever.  Now she’ll just have to figure out the grandparent thing.  Although Abby’s parents speak a lot more English than we do Mandarin.

I leave you with this cutie – a little corner design done on some fleece.  I think these would make cute receiving blankets and am contemplating doing some up for our local Pregnancy Care Center.  What do you guys think is a nice size for a receiving blanket?  The fleece is 58" wide and if I make them just a hair under 30" square, I could get four out of a little over a yard and a half of fleece.

I’m on sleeve island, and believe me, it’s a teeny tiny little place:

This one’s almost done, then the second, join together and knit the yoke.

Yesterday hubby and I drove up to Bellingham to visit with his uncle who recently had surgery and of course, there was time to go by Marilyn’s.  Sadly the store is closing, but happily there is a liquidation sale going on.  It’s been going on for several weeks, so I was doubtful that I would score anything good.  I had hoped to find some laceweight yarn, but the only thing left were some single skeins of Zephyr in some odball colors.  However, much to my surprise I came away with this:

Well, actually more than that – that’s just a sampling of the colors.  There is enough for a vest for me out of the rose, a sweater for hubby out of the grey and a sweater for me out of the blue.  I was very, very happy!  I’ve so been wanting some Silky Wool and I can’t believe I got the colors I wanted on sale.  I’m going to be very disciplined (yes, you heard it here first) and wait until baby knitting and quilting is over before starting anything.  I should wait until October because I’m going to be taking a class with Elsebeth Lavold!  She is coming to AnaCrossstitch in Anacortes.  I do feel a little guilty – I’m taking three weeks off to go to Orlando, then I come back, work one day and take a day off for the class.  But work is just going to have to deal with it – this may be a once in a lifetime chance.

Speaking of work, I’m getting more than my share of hours this month.  For the past 20 years I’ve worked a four day work week and I really like it.  But this month we are short handed and I’ve been working five days.  I do not like it!  That extra day means a lot more free time.  And I’ve realized that that extra day is also my "alone" time.  Fridays are usually spent puttering around the house and in my sewing room.  Hubby and I check in several times a day, but he is usually puttering in his shop.  I find that I treasure that time that I’m not around people.  I’ve heard that there are two types of people – those that are energized by being around others and those that are energized by time spent alone.  I am definitely one of the latter.  At the end of the month I’ll be ready to crawl into a hole and not come out for awhile!

                                                         

                                                       HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Our town really knows how to throw a Fourth of July parade!

There were flags:

There were jets:

There were pirates,

queens,

and yes, even knitting:

There was even this handsome guy who showed up and circled the parade staging area five minutes before the parade began:

What could have been more perfect?

Life has been pretty busy here at Missouri Star, but knitting (other than sock knitting while waiting around) has been accomplished.  I am up to the underarm on Ivy’s new born set and now need to start some itty bitty sleeves before joining them for the yoke.  I even picked up Forest Path and have almost finished Tier 17.  I figured I’d better work on it now and then so I don’t forget all the little tricks that help make it work.

Back to the grind tomorrow.  Hope everyone had a safe and happy celebration.

It’s been such a busy weekend, I almost forgot to post.  And since I’m a real slacker and only post once a week, I’d better get to it.

My sewing friend Lisa and I participated in the Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop this weekend.  All of the quilt shops in the area get together and offer a fun four days of hopping around from quilt shop to quilt shop, collecting block kits and generally getting acquainted with a lot of different shops.  I can’t quite remember how many there are, but you must hit at least 16 of them to be eligible for the grand prize drawing.  We did four shops on our own earlier in the week, but yesterday banded together to do 12 in one day!  It was fun and exhausting.  At each shop we were given a coordinating quilt block kit.  Some shops were very kind and gave us all the fabrics needed for the block while others made us buy a "finishing" kit – with prices ranging from 50 cents to $5.99. Needless to say, we passed on the more expensive ones.  I’ve started working on my blocks and finished two of them today:

Forgive the slightly blurry photo of the second one.  I could try and get a better one, but the blur hides my less than stellar machine applique.  I feel pretty confident with hand applique and machine piecing, but really need to work on the machine applique.  Also, be assured that they are both square – it’s just the angle.

Not much knitting has been accomplished this week because I’ve been concentrating on quilting Ivy’s quilt.  I hope to get the center done by the end of this week so I can take it to my quilt group for advice on the border.  I did work on the front of my vest at the car show last Saturday, but ended up having to frog everything I put in because I started my waist decreases too late.  Can’t blame Ms. Lavold for that one – purely my fault! 

And, it was a pretty lousy week at work.  Staffing woes continue with one assistant moving away this week and a new, inexperienced one starting.  I think she’ll work out very well, but is so inexperienced that we’re going to be spending a lot of time training her.  Then another assistant asked to have her hours cut and another informed us that she is leaving at the end of the summer!!  It’s getting really hard to find good assistants.  It used to be when I put an ad in the paper I would get at least 10 or 15 responses.  The last two times I’ve only gotten two.  Living on an island certainly restricts your pool of candidates.  Surprisingly I was able to let things go and not obsess about it over the weekend.  Hope I can continue doing that.