missouristar

Ever wonder what 1532 stitches on a needle looks like? Wonder no longer:
Yes, it looks like one, big huge mess. Actually, it’s not too bad now since I switched to a 60 inch needle. That many stitches on a 40 inch needle was no fun at all! It was little difficult getting the pattern set up, but now that it’s established, its going along smoothly.

In looking at my last few posts, does it sound as if I am slightly obsessed by this shawl? I admit I probably am. I’m sure that my husband would attest to the fact that I can get pretty wrapped up in my projects at times. It usually happens at the beginning, when I’m infatuated, or at the end, when I can see the end in sight. This can especially happen when I’m reaching the end of a very lengthy project, such as this shawl. And of course, when I have a deadline that I’m working toward. And I do have one – the wedding has been moved up! Right now the proposed date is August 7th. I’ve been looking online for a very basic, dark dress – probably sleeveless or short sleeved in case the weather is hot. I think the shawl would look fabulous against a dark background. My sister and I did some preliminary shopping yesterday and narrowed down the field. Shopping is definitely not at the top of my list (unless it’s yarn or fabric!), but we persevered and hopefully I can narrow the field down further this next weekend.

And, speaking of yarn shopping – here is my latest purchase. Fifteen skeins of Noro Silk Garden in color #86. Yummy! And here is the intended project. My LYS is doing a knit along and I couldn’t resist. From what I understand, the knitting is pretty easy, but the finishing takes awhile. AAH – my favorite part. But I think the end result will be worth it. Of course, I need another project like the proverbial hole in the head, but when has that ever stopped me? This will probably end up a gift – does that excuse it? And for that matter, why do we feel we need an excuse? Maybe just our guilty female nature, huh?

TA DAH! The body of the Mediterranean Shawl is done! That’s one of the reasons I didn’t post yesterday – I was on a knitting roll and didn’t want to stop. I’m happy so far with the results – I love the shape and think it will be a pleasure to wear. However, now I have to pick up stitches all around the outside and that’s a long, long way!! 1532 stitches to be exact. I think that will be a record # of stitches on one needle for me. But the border is only 50 rows and since it’s such a long way around, each row should be easy to memorize. Ya think?

I did take time out from knitting yesterday to go to the movies with my husband. We went to see “The Day After Tomorrow”. Now you know my guilty secret – I love disaster movies! And really awful “B” science fiction, too. You know, the ones where giant insects eat Cleveland. However, I draw the line at Godzilla – I do have some taste (although my husband might beg to differ). Anyway, as disaster movies go, this one wasn’t too bad. Had a lot of the typical disaster movie cliches, but it didn’t beat them to death. And it had Dennis Quaid. What can I say?

And, on a sad note – we say goodbye to Kermit this week. Kermit is my husband’s lovingly restored 1958 BMW Isetta. Everyone is quite surprised that Bill has sold him, but the time (and price) just seemed to be right. Bill had a great time restoring him and has had five great years of car shows and first place trophies, but decided the time had come to move on to something else. So Kermit is headed off to San Francisco and Bill is eyeing the originial Mini Coopers. He’s hoping to get an original fully restored to match the 2004 MINI I will be getting in July. A (somewhat) matched set! So, although sad, it is the end of one era and the beginning of another.

Very little interesting knitting content to post. I have made a great deal of progress on the Mediterrainean shawl, but it’s not too exciting to talk about! Since Thursday a great deal of my time has been spent playing with my new toy. I got a new laptop. My old one was slowly dying and the budget approved a new one. I consulted my son, the computer expert, while he was here and he strongly recommended a Mac. It was a great leap of faith, but I heeded his advice and got an iMac G4. So far I really like it, although it’s taking some time to learn all the differences. The only glitch is in the photo editing program – I can’t get it to work at all. So no photos this week. But the nice people at the Apple Store in the city said to bring it in and they would help me, even though I didn’t buy it there. Now that’s customer service! Is that why Mac people show such loyalty? I also need to figure out how to get it to work with my Palm. I also bought a recipe editing program so I can try (again) to get organized in that area. I became a vegetarian about 8 months ago and meal planning takes a little thought, since my husband still eats meat. He’s very accomodating, so I try to plan meals with both of us in mind. Not impossible, but takes more thought than before. Hopefully by next week I will at least have photos to share. Of something!

Lots of progress on the Mediterranean Shawl. Not much during the week, but I’ve been able to do some marathon sessions on the weekend. So, it should be done in a couple of months so I can wear it to the wedding. As long as they don’t move the date up (hear that guys?)! My husband laughs at me because I get very excited when I’m only months away from finishing a project. He says most people don’t get this excited until they’re days (or even hours) away. But being the obsessive personality that I am, I tend to pick very intricate patterns in fine yarns that take a long time. People say I must be really patient, but I’m not. In fact, I’m extremely impatient (just ask my husband!). But I am stubborn (or should that be doggedly determined?).

Speaking of stubborn, this might be a good time to address the title of my blog. Missouri Star seems like an odd name since I live in the Pacific Northwest. But I was born in Missouri and although I didn’t spend an enormous amount of time there because of my Dad’s Navy transfers, it still remains the “home” of my childhood. Several years ago my son was going to help me start a website. He had seen a quilt pattern called Missouri Star and thought it was an appropriate reference to my roots. Although the website didn’t pan out at the time, I liked the name and kept it. And we Missourians are know for our stubborness!

No knitting photos today, but how about some excessive pet sentimentality? This is Kirby, my Lhasa Apso. In this picture he is pouting because Abby (my future daughter-in-law) has just left and there is noone to spoil him rotten anymore. It is appropriate to show his picture because a little bit of him is knit into every project. His favorite place is next to me in my chair with my knitting or quilting draped over him.

What a whirlwind week! Ben and his girlfriend didn’t arrive on time because there was a problem with her visa. It seems the American embassy didn’t tell them that she also needed a Canadian visa, even though they were only changing planes in Vancouver. So they weren’t allowed to board the plane. It was a tense 24 hours while we waited to see if they would be able to come at all. But after a night in London and an hour standing out in the rain in front of the Canadian embassy all was resolved and they were able to catch the same flight 24 hours late. We had a wonderful time while they were here with just the right mix of sightseeing and sitting around the house relaxing and visiting. We laughed ourselves silly making an angel food cake with the cute egg separator Abby sent me:

Before they left, the happy couple invited us to their wedding! They had been waiting to set the date until they talked to us and found out when we could come. Tentatively the wedding will be sometime in the fall somewhere in the U.K. I offered the bride my (as yet unfinished) Mediterranean shawl for the wedding, but since she is from China they are considering a more Oriental theme. That’s ok (really, Abby, it is!!) because I could finish the shawl for me to wear. OR – I could start something new! I can always use an excuse to start something new!! I have been itching to make something from Koigu. Anyone have some ideas for a Koigu shawl?

And, since I don’t have any new projects to show off (despite a whole basket of sweaters just waiting to be sewn together – can you guess what my least favorite part of knitting is?) – here is a picture of a Dale of Norway sweater I completed this Christmas. Of course it is attached to a delightful young lady named Gracie. This was my first official Dale sweater although my first Norwegian sweater was done about 10 years ago. I wrote my own pattern using the guidelines in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “Knitting Around” book. Not knowing any better I made it out of fingering weight alpaca. But it was a huge success and remains one of my favorite sweaters.

The house is a buzzin’ because my older son is coming home tomorrow! He’s been living in Engand for about four years. This is his first visit home in about two, although we’ve been over there to see him twice. So we’re killing the fatted calf, etc. and generally working ourselves into a frenzy doing housecleaning that I’m sure he will not even notice. He’s bringing his lovely girlfriend with him. This is her first visit to the United States and we’re really looking forward to showing her our little corner of the country.

I’ve joined the Ingeborg knitalong and have gotten a bit of a jump start by casting on and working about 1/2 of a repeat. However, I think I’m going to put it aside until the official start and work on some other UFO’s. My goal for the next two and a half weeks is to finish the body of the Mediterranean Lace Shawl (Maureen Emlet in A Gathering of Lace). The back is done and the left side should be finished tonight. If I can do 1/2 a repeat everyday (easy without houseguests, problematic with), then I should have the right side finished in about three weeks. RATS – my goal was two and a half weeks. We’ll just have to see what transpires. But that would just leave the border to do, and looking at the length of it that just may be a year’s project!

And, speaking of lace, here is a Shetland Lace shawl that I did about ten years ago. It is my own design, cobbled together from ideas from several different books. The center panel was a small lace pattern from a Harmony book. Once that was done I chose another pattern that would increase well, picked up stitches all around the center panel and knitted circularly, increasing at each corner every other row. The border was from one of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s books and was knitted sideways, joining as I went. It was great fun, albeit a very lengthy project. As I recall, it took about four years, although life and other projects came and went during that time. As I learn more about how to use this blog, I hope to post more of my past works. By the way, the little creature in the corner is Kirby, my Lhasa Apso. It’s somewhat fitting that he should be in the picture as, being the lap dog that he is, there is a lot of Kirby hair in whatever I knit.

Welcome to my blog! I have finally decided to take the plunge and join the world of blogging. Most of my content will be knitting related, although I hope the knitters out there will forgive a few quilting related posts as well. I find myself constantly torn between my two somewhat obsessive hobbies! I have been knitting for almost 40 (gasp!) years and quilting for 25. Knitting seems to be somewhat in the forefront lately, probably because it is a little easier to pick up and put down when I have short moments. I’m currently working four days a week and working on my Bachelor’s degree at Washington State University, so sometimes short moments are all I have. As soon as I figure out how to do it, I will post some pictures of a couple of finished projects, a list of WIP’s and information about me and my family. My goal at this point is to post at least once a week and more often if time permits. I hope that I can offer some interesting content and add to the base of knowledge regarding knitting and quilting.