Knitathon

Clap On


Clap Off

Hideous pun I know, but I couldn't resist. The fabric the Artyarns Silk was producing was not sturdy enough to show off the dropped stitches. I could have gone down to a 5US, but there was something about it that just was not working. I find it interesting that Artyarns recommends a 7US needle for this yarn. I can't see it. I think it will work divinely for Soleil (which is knit with US5). I realize that I am not discussing gauge at all here and that gauge is more important than needle size. But I usually knit fairly true to gauge on a yarn so it's really odd for me to have to go down two needle sizes to get a fabric I like.


A cap sleeve top for Bean. Knit out of some Pingouin Corrida something (3 or 5 I can't remember) that has been marinating in my stash for a long time. Long enough for Pingouin to go out of business!


The back of the Cookie Sweater. Also for Bean. Knit in Cotton Ease. I knit the largest size which is supposedly a 3-4 year. This sweater is 32 inches around. That's one big 3-year-old. I added 6 rows to the stockinette section to balance the width out. This will be rather large on my daughter this fall, but I hate to put in all this effort for something she can only wear for one season. And she's growing like a weed. She's gone from a size 7 shoe to a size 8 in three months.

Panic button

Go read this. Warning, put beverages down before reading.

Dude, typing whilst under the influence of sake is really freaking hard. I spent the better part of this afternoon having the worst panic attack I've had in quite some time. Sake is a good cure. I may regret it tomorrow, but I'm in a really good mood right now!

I think I'm going to rip Clapotis and use the Artyarns Silk to make Soleil instead. I'm not feeling the love on the clap this time and I hate to waste yarn. Much less really lux yarn. The ripping will probably occur tomorrow but I'm betting it's going to be a while before I start again.

It's my party!

Although I have no inclination to cry. It's my birthday today! I was greeted with my recalcitrant child telling me that she didn't want me to come get her but rather Hubster. She made up for it by later singing a very nice rendition of Happy Birthday to me.

I promised knitting pics yesterday and didn't quite get to them. Here they are:


A sock for the Bean. I'm calling it the BroadBean sock. It's an adaptation of the Broadripple sock I modified it to work with sportweight yarn and to fit a toddler and also so that the pattern on the top of the foot rather than all the way around. I find that patterns on my soles bug me. I thought Bean and I could put some puffy fabric paint on the soles and she could wear these as "slipper socks" this winter.


The Flower Basket Shawl for my mother. I finished the sixth repeat. One more repeat to go and then the edging!


The Artyarns Silk Clapotis has been pulled out of the "later" basket. I'm still not sure I like this yarn as Clapotis, but I can't think of anything else to do with this yarn and I am definitely enjoying knitting with it. I wanted to come up with a lace pattern. I couldn't really find anything I thought would work and the colorway needs a pattern that shows off the variegation.


Pieces of the felted bag from the kit Maureen made up for me during SP4. I haven't knitted with Lamb's Pride before. Very enjoyable. I'm having fun deciding on a color pattern.

I'm also to the heel on the Beige Dad Socks for my Father. And seaming Ines, although it will be too hot to wear her until this fall.

So far, it's a very nice day.

There is knitting going on. A sock has been completed. A heel has been turned (on a different pair of socks, natch). The Flower Basket Shawl has been allowed back in competition and it's sixth repeat has been completed. Much other knitting as well.

Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow because Birthday Week is commencing with dinner out with a few of the girls tonight. In my neighborhood playgroup, four of us have birthdays in the next 10 days! We're going out for Thai food. Nevermind that I went to a party last night where Thai food was served.

I think maybe sushi tomorrow.

Grumpy

There are a few other dwarves around here along with some of the Duffs as well.

The Biddy Who Hit Me (you can substitute another word of one syllable for Biddy if you so desire) has cooked up a story that we were both changing lanes at the same time. While this is patently untrue, there are no witnesses and no physical evidence on either car to prove either story. Ergo, her insurance is going to give me zip to get my car fixed. This means I either have to cover the costs myself or go through my insurance. I have a $500 deductible and the major damage to the car is a bent rim ($129 to repair) and a dent in the door that might cost around $500 to fix. Yes, there are scratches down the side of the car, but I can fix that myself. There are scratches all over the damn car, so I could care less as long as they won't rust.

What irks me is that TBWHM is being such a jerk about the whole thing. She was easily in her seventies and looked at me (dressed in workout clothes) like I was some irresponsible teenager. She decided it had to be my fault. Lady, I'm going to be 41 on Tuesday. You never expressed the least bit of concern about my health or the health of my child. You can tell me all you want about how you were going to your church group, but it's words not deeds, honey and your actions show that you haven't the slightest clue about what it means to be a good person. Here's hoping you come back as a cockroach. I've got Raid.

The second half of our trip. We travelled back roads so one of us always had to navigate so there was very little knitting time.


Friday night we stayed in a caboose! There was a picnic table and a nice gas grill outside. Not that we cooked. We drove into Marble Falls and had a noteworthy meal at Cafe 909. You do not expect a restaurant of this caliber in such a small town. I had sweetbreads to start and had to restrain myself from licking the plate.


The view out the front door of the caboose.


The interior looking back from the front door. In the very back is a queen bed. To my immediate right are two tiny bunks and to my left is a small loveseat. There was a tiny kitchenette where the wood paneling ends, the world's smallest bathroom is behind the paneling, and, opposite the kitchenette, you could climb up into the cupola into two tiny benches.

Saturday we drove to Fredericksburg when we went to the Fredericksburg Herb Farm where I bought "Sniffle Relief" shower gel, lotion, and a candle. This stuff honestly works!

My indulgent husband also let me stop in at Stonehill Spinnery.



Two skeins of mohair from El Coyote Ranch. Yes, I know, I hate mohair. It makes me itch. It makes me sneeze. But this is not a really hairy mohair and it is a sublime color with a sublime sheen. I had to have it. And it's from a small Texas producer which makes it even more fun.

Also, a huge skein of handpainted Woolpak 8-ply. Not sure what I'll do with this. Stonehill doubles Woolpak as their main felting yarn. I think the variegation would really be pretty in a bag.


And, I succumbed. I bought an Ashford drop spindle and a bag of roving. I also learned why they call it a drop spindle at which point Hubster and I decided that we needed to carry out further experimentation at home on the carpet rather than on the restored floors of a 1901 Victorian hotel.

Then we went to Becker and Fall Creek wineries. Fall Creek makes excellent wine and the best mustard I've ever had. Becker makes award-winning wines that are beginning to get national notice.


The Becker Winery


A small house on the property.

Curses!

The woman who ran into me has decided that I was changing lanes at the same time she was, which is why we collided. This is patently untrue, but no one was kind enough to take time out their busy day to stop and be a witness, so it's her word against mine. Which means I'm screwed. I'm trying not to be bitter but with only moderate success. I almost always stop to give the people in an accident my name and number. It's irksome when karma refuses to return the favor. I guess I could track down the number of the bus next to me, but I'm not sure that would help.

The good thing is that, although the estimate was $2000 worth of damage to my car, most of it was minor scratches, so there is just one big dent and a bent rim that I would have to fix. If worse comes to worse, I'm going to get an estimate on those two things and see what it would cost for me to get them fixed myself rather than going through my insurance. I really don't want my rates to go up because of a bunch of scratches on my car. I can live with scratches. The car is five years old and already has a ton of scratches.

I alternate between wanting to cry about the whole thing and then realizing that it's just a damn car. I'm fine and, even more importantly, my daughter is fine. I'm blessed by that. Oh, to hell with it, I hope the old bat is affflicted with incurable and highly embarrasing personal itching.

Now, if only I had a few minutes to sit down and KNIT. Hubster doesn't get home until late and Bean goes to bed in half an hour. After she goes to sleep, I'm going to pour a glass of wine and get out a sock.

Whirlwind

Thursday morning, Hubster and I left town for a three-day weekend without the Bean. It was wonderful. This is the first time I have ever spent a night away from her and I hate to say it, but I didn't really miss her. We had some much-needed time to ourselves. It was lovely and quiet and wonderful.

Day1:

Austin. We splurged and stayed at the Four Seasons which is luxurious to say the least. L'Occitane toiletries in the bath. I covet the bathroom. I didn't take a picture but we're talking marble countertops, lovely bath that was big enough for me to lay down in, down comforters which required us to turn the AC down to an obscene level. Even the bar snacks were plush - wasabi peanuts, candied pecans, and three kinds of olives presented on little trays on your table. And they don't anything so crass as to deliver your morning paper by leaving it by the door.

They hang this on your door.


Here is a view of the sunset from the hotel's dock on the lake. You can see all the people lined up to see the bats. Yes, bats. The Congress Street Bridge in Austin is home to a huge colony of Mexican Freetail bats and every night people line up at sunset for a view of 1.5 million of bats taking off for their nightly feed. It's amazing.

Fiber fun in Austin was found at the lovely Hill Country Weavers.

The turquoise yarn is a skein of Lamb's Pride Burlyspun. The color is much more intense in person. I fell in love with the color. And two skeins of the elusive Koigu!

We went on a tour of the Capitol as well. I've been through this building a number of times but it never fails to be interesting to me.


The dome. If you stand in the exact center of the star in the floor underneath the dome, you can hear an echo of your own voice if you are talking normally. But you have to be exactly in the center or you can't hear it. Very cool.

The details in the building are amazing.

The hinges at the capital building in Austin.

More fiber frolic and a stay in a caboose tomorrow!

I'll take a bed frame and a hard drive, please. From lovely Kingsland, Texas. A town of not much although they have 4 computer repair shops within a few miles of each other off the highway.

The trip was lovely and there was some fibery goodness. I'm preparing a trip report. I plan on turning this into a few days worth of blog fodder because all I have around here to report on is teaching art at Vacation Bible School and the damn accident.

In accident news, Team 12 of State Farm Insurance is a huge collection of drooling morons. Every person I speak with tells me a different story. They have yet to do anything about my claim because "they have not yet established liability." Evidently, State Farm holds the same views about physics as the woman who ran into me. How there can be a question of liability when we were parallel to each other (seriously, there is damage along the whole side of my car) is beyond me. State Farm is also insistent about sending out an estimator to my house, but they can't tell me when that might be. They won't let me take the car in myself to an estimator. It's very odd.

There I was, driving along in the middle lane when, suddenly, a woman to the left of me proved several laws of physics involving the existence of two objects of the same physical mass occupying the same space. She claimed the the last time she had seen me was when I had been behind the bus. I hadn't been behind the bus since before the light. You remember, lady, that light THAT WE ALL FREAKING STOPPED AT.

I'm fine, Bean is fine, the car will be fine after a stay at the spa and the repair of the front quarter-panel, the driver's door, the rear-view mirror and a new rim.

It doesn't look that bad in the picture and, really, it's not that bad. But it's an awful lot of minor damage to an awful lot of my poor car!



The biggest pain about the whole thing is that this is the car Hubster and I were going to take on our little jaunt tomorrow. Good thing we have two more cars. (Yes, we have three cars. For two people of driving age. One is Hubster's Corvette. It doesn't really count as a car. It's more of a girlfriend.)

Orangutan arms

Um, oops

Contrary to appearances, the sleeves are the same width and length up to the cap. Then, something went terribly, terribly wrong. the problem is that I'm not sure which sleeve is correct. However, I do know that the sleeve on the left is the length I was aiming for. So, I'm going to sew the front and back together and pray that the left sleeve fits the armhole. If not, I have to rip both sleeves to the cap shaping. If yes, then I only have to rip the right-hand sleeve.

I'm trying to figure out my road knitting for the Austin trip. I think I'm going to take Daddy's sock and start the felted bag my SP4, Maureen, sent me. And maybe the Artyarns Clapotis. Not that I think I'm going to complete any of it; I just get bored easily!

I cooked risotto for dinner tonight and made the mistake of having half a glass of wine whist cooking. I'm now in the throes of a Grand Mal Hot Flash. Lovely.

If this post wasn't a head-spinning enough concatentation of subjects for you, you must have a small child as well!

What the?

Phil Spector

Words fail me.

One of our local chefs has been invited to cook at the James Beard House next month. Last night, he had a trial run at his restaurant and we were lucky enough to be invited to attend.

The menu was as follows:

Passed appetizers paired with Jean-Laurent Blanc de Noir Brut Champagne, Napa Valley. A very nice non-vintage champagne.

Blue point oysters on the half shell in a warm balsamic and roasted shallot dressing (These were my favorite.)

Cinnamon and cayenne rubbed Broken Arrow Ranch venison with a peach salsa

Jerked pork loin on almond parsley risotto cakes with red pepper oil

Tuna tartar with poppy seed and flying fish roe vinaigrette

First Course

Pan seared Hudson Valley foie gras with fresh black-eyed peas sauteed with applewood smoked bacon and sage and finished with a balsamic-blackberry syrup paired with Royal Tokaji (5 Puttonyos) 1996. He always does a great foie gras.

Second Course
Grilled Boston lettuce with a warm stilton dressing paired with a Patz and Hall Pinor Noir Sonoma 2003

Third Course
Chilean sea bass with smoked tomato risotto, squashes and scallion oil. Paired with Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Marllborough, New Zealand 2003. Normally I'm not a fan of Marlborough SBs, but this went really well with the sea bass. Probably my favorite dish.

Fourth Course
Tenderloin of beef stuffed with manchego cheese served with chorizo cheese grits and a cilantro cream sauce. One of his signature dishes. Paired with Chateau Musar, Bekka Valley Lebanon 1994. The wine was really flinty but it was fabulous with the richness of the steak.

Dessert
Granny Smith apple and golden raisin bread pudding with homeade buttermilk ice cream and caramel paired with a Montevina Zinfandel Port. His wine rep was there and brought out a muscat as well that most of us felt went much better with the dessert.

It was a really fabulous meal. Needless to say, I didn't get any knitting done last night!!!

Returns Only

I spiffed up my Grimley hair into something sufficiently punk and Hubster and I went out last night. We ran into some friends who had just gotten engaged. This led to us staying out later than we usually do (almost midnight as opposed to our usual 10.30) and freaked our babysitter into calling us to make sure we were coming home! Bad us! We had a lovely time.

The bar we ended up at usually has a fairly interesting crowd, but this evening it was further enlivened by the presence of all the people who had lost interest in the Gay Bingo Party (that's what it said on the marquee) next door. Apparently, the ability to consume indecent amounts of shots is a prerequisite for Gay Bingo parties, because the shots were flowing fast and free. Random strangers would walk into the bar and start sending shots around. I only had one, but I had a couple of beers as well. In my partying days, this would have been no problem. However, those days are over. I haven't had a shot getting pregnant. I had a rather Big Head today until a visit to the greasy hamburger mecca of Jake's has cured my malaise.

This all reminds me of a cartoon I used to keep on my desk. I will try to find it and scan it, but until then, it features a man in the Returns line at a department store. He says, "I'd like to return to the days when I could stay out all night partying and still go to work in the morning. Here's my receipt."

Many thanks

Thank you to all the people who commented today. I'm hoping that Haloscan will make commenting easier on everyone. Admittedly, part of the reason for blogging is self-gratification (wonder if that will get me any weird hits from Google?), but it's nice to know that someone out there is reading this!

Bean had her three-year check-up today. She did admirably and did not fuss. Last year, she loathed the whole experience but this year she found it all very interesting. And no shots, which is always a plus for a pleasant doctor experience! For a treat, we took her to Fuji, which is one of our favorite sushi places. She's addicted to edamame.

I need a test volunteer

Can one of you lovely souls leave me a comment to test the new Haloscan comments, please? I'm trying to see if it is, indeed, far easier that the craptastic Blogger commenting system and to make sure that it is, indeed, working.

Thanks

It's a long way 'til the end

Fiery Bolero is going well. It's alot of stockinette at a small gauge so it's taking a while, but it's an interesting pattern. There are a number of similarities to Lara in the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk book. Instead of knitting from cuff to cuff in one piece, the bolero is knit from back to front in one piece. Bliss does specify the cable cast-on for this piece; a tidbit of information she neglected to put in the Lara pattern.

Fiery Bolero requires you to cast on at the back and then cable cast-on on successive rows. This will create a curved back when the ribbing is added at the end. Then you knit part of the back and cable cast-on the sleeves and then separate for the neck and fronts. The really tedious part will be the ribbing. The plus is that you knit the ribbing before seaming which means you only have to worry about 300 stitches for going around the fronts rather than the close to 500 for the whole thing ;>

As far as the yarn, I do like Cathay. It has a lovely sheen and I think that I will enjoy the drape of the finished project. I have some of the now discontinued Bliss cotton/silk which knits at a larger gauge (18 sts/4") and does not have the viscose in it. Cathay is an improved blend. The viscose adds some much-needed bounce to the yarn and makes it more forgiving of small stitch imperfections. I'm also knitting the Flower Basket Shawl in Cathay in a dark pink. The problemsare that the yarn can be a bit splitty and that whoever wound the balls was insane. I have had to rewind every single ball in both colors before they are usable.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Woohoo! The only bad part is that it deleted all my past comments. Ah well. It was such a pain to post comments before that few people attempted it regularly (seriously, I had comments on what a pain it was to comment!).

OK, I admit it

I'm bitter. Maryland and New Hampshire bitter. I'm even bitter about the roving and I don't spin. I spent the weekend trying to figure out the least number of planes I would have to take to get to Albany. Sigh...

Hot Tamale!

Pictures will be taken tonight when Hubster gets home.

SO, I finished two medium objects which means I am not going to feel guilty about buying all the Cotton-Ease left in Dallas. I found a huge supply at a Hancock's. The only issue was that I couldn't find more than 5 skeins of any one dye lot. Fortunately, that mattered very little, since I bought most of it to substitute for Rowan All Seasons Cotton to make some of the Miss Bea patterns for the Bean.

I did buy enough to make myself this brilliant pattern, though. I can't help it. Must. Have.

Shades of Grimley

I got my hair cut on Friday. It's extremely short. Understand that my hair is normally maybe two inches long all over my head, so when I say extremely short you can visualize that most of it seems to be about half an inch long with some two inch long choppy bits sticking out at the top. Unfortunately, she also decided to make the top part way longer in the middle of the top of my slightly pointy head. If I don't put some goop in it and make it lay right, the effect is somewhat like this only much shorter. No, there will not be a picture. Not quite what I had in mind, but my hair grows fast so, what the heck.

In other news, my knitting is completely boring. Fiery Bolero is like a mini-Lara. Boring. The Triada scarf from the new IK? OhmyGOD is it boring - pretty but BOR-ING. Miles of rib. You'd think I'd learn to really read the pattern before jumping in.

Ines is still lovely and fun, however, I made a mistake on one of the sleeves and do not feel like ripping it back right now.

T-minus one and a half hours until the Survivor finale.

My child rocks!

Today, she once again insisted on going to the yarn store. Unfortunately, it was after 3pm on a Friday and there is no way in hell I'm going on the freeway at that time of day. So, tomorrow morning she gets her wish.

Meanwhile, I cast on for Fiery Bolero.




No, I don't have startitis, really...

Note to self

The commercials all feature lovely dishwashers that you can put food-stained plates into. You don't have one of those. Even though it was only little bits of chocolate lava cake, you still have to rinse the plates first.

Her Mother's Daughter

Bean looks like her father and acts like her father in many respects. Sometimes, I have to look for elements of myself in her. But, yesterday, we were out running errands and she pipes up, "Mommy, I don't want to go to Target, I want to go to the yarn store!" I had not mentioned anything about going to the yarn store to her nor had she seen me knitting in the last two days. I have no idea what prompted this concept and, if my LYS wasn't half an hour away on the freeway, I would have taken her. But it was a proud moment in parenting ;>

I'm beat. Yesterday was my turn to host cards so I spent most of the day in a frenzy of cooking and cleaning and then stayed up past my usual bedtime playing cards. As usual, it was an absolute blast.

What I don't understand is how, when I've already been to the grocery store twice times this week, I can be out of so many things. Ah well, SuperTarget here I come. But not until much later. This morning, The Bean and I are going to lay around and watch TV and hang out. We haven't had a pajama morning this week so we're overdue!

This afternoon, Bean has an eye exam. She isn't scared of the exams or anything and, blessedly, they don't have to dialate her eyes every time, but she gets extremely bored at identifying the pictures and letters, especially when it's on the second eye. She's bored by then. Also, the people can be a bit rigid. The letters they show the kids are bordered by lines. They show Bean an "O" and she says, "A 10 with a 1." I had to explain to the nurse that this was, in fact, a correct interpretation of what was on the screen. Fortunately, it's a pediatric specialist so they understand that children don't always do what you want!

Loop-d-Loop

I bought Teva Durham's new book Loop-d-loop the other day. (I said I was going to try not to buy too much yanr; I said nothing about books! Besides, I hade a coupon at Borders.)

What a cool book!!! I really liked the lace leaf pullover in the new IK and I can say that there are tons of patterns in the book I'd like to knit. My only problem is that most of her designs are knit in very bulky wools which I have very little need of. However, her approach is very refreshing compared to your average Rowan design so, I feel fairly confident in doubling a cotton/acrylic or something like that to come up with a design that is more wearable in my climate. She has an interesting approach to knitting and it will be nice to have a book that encourages me to take a few more risks in how I approach knitting rather than just a more challenging pattern (although there are plenty of those!).

I am almost finished with the back of Ines. No picture because it looks exactly the same, just longer. As with most Rowan patterns, no hint is given on a good way to approach the decreases in pattern so I always have a good time sitting down and figuring out exactly what needs to happen, keeping in mind that the YOs in this pattern need to not interfere with seaming.

I also tinked out about 12 rows of the Flower Basket Shawl. I really want to start knitting on that one again, but am going to wait until I can get up to my LYS and confirm that I have, indeed, gone back to beyond the problem. I also put in a new lifeline and knotted it so The Bean can't floss with this one!

Stash

I have enough yarn in this house to last me the next couple of years. Granted, this is truly an amateur stash as compared to many, but it's enough to give me the heebies jeebies at times.

In order to get some sort of grip on the stash, I am going to try to knit at least one large (sweater or pair of socks) and one small (scarf, felted bag) project from stash for each new project I want. (It takes me as long to knit a pair of socks as it does a sweater at this point so I'm calling socks a large project.) This seems a reasonable approach to encourage me to knit stash projects while still getting to buy new projects. Most of the yarn I have was bought with a specific project in mind, so it's not like I'm waiting for a project to be "worthy" of the yarn. They are all projects I really want to knit; both for the process and for the finished item. The yarn is all fairly high-end. There is no excuse for me not to knit it just because it has sat in the cupboard for a while..

Here's the really nutso part: I'm going to attempt to maintain this feat of stashbusting until the end of the year. Although, if I go to Rhinebeck, I will give myself a budget after which all bets are off!

There are two caveats: the first is that I will buy what I want during my trip in June. The second is that if Elann brings back the Den-M-Nit, I can buy some.

Think I can make it?

Thank you Secret Pal!

My secret pal turned out to be Maureen of Irishknits. There was something of a saga involved with the whole SP4 thing. My original pal accidentally emailed me with her real name and blog. So, Jacqueline set me up with a new pal. Who was my original secret pal? Maureen of Irishknits! Hee! They bamboozled me big time. Of course, in a rare move for me, I did not make any attempt whatsoever to find out the identity of my secret pal.

My final gift was four skeins of Lamb's Pride in gorgeous colors and a cool felted bag pattern. I've never used Lamb's Pride before so this will be a real treat. I was a good girl. I did take a picture. Somehow, my computer does not want to recognize the fact that I downloaded the picture and, in a fit of efficiency, I've deleted the original off of my camera so I'll have to take another pic.

Thanks again for being such a great Secret Pal, Maureen!

In other knitting news, I completed the Brainwash Shrug (which looks pretty much the same as it did Saturday). And, Ines is coming along swimmingly. I'm about halfway through the back.



The pattern is reminiscent of Butterfly. It took me a couple of tries to get the patterned decreases correct, but I finally have it planned out. I really like the Rowan Linen Print. The texture of the yarn is on the rough side, but the color variegations are really beautiful.

Brainwashed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIA!

The Brainwash shrug lacks only the picking up of about 200 stitches and a 6 row border of 2x2 ribbing to be complete.


It also makes a lovely dog sweater!

I tried it on today and, oddly, it looks rather good. By all accounts, as a short and busty gal, I should not look as good in this sucker as I do. So, my paranoia 'bout the Debbie Bliss Fiery Bolero has lessened somewhat.

I remember wearing a bolero jacket in the early 80s, but I also sported these* (shoe shot for Jodi!):



You can also see part of my fabulous bathroom. The color is "Sorcerer".

*Of course I still wear the Docs. Why would I let shoes this fabulous languish?

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Because it is still all about the margaritas.

Actually, it probably won't be about the margaritas today because of another "m". The one that starts "migraine".

I wasn't kidding about the inflatable moose head.


I'm about one-third through with the Brainwash Shrug. Not only is it a shrug, it's ribbon yarn.



Truly, I have fallen to the dark side. I must go roll around in the Rowan Magpie Julia sent me. As penance, I'll work on un-knitting the 10 (or so) wonky rows in the flower Basket Shawl. I think it's been in time-out long enough to contemplate the error of its ways.

I miss the margaritas

It was a fun weekend but we are all now completely exhausted. Add to that trying to plan a trip to San Francisco and the environs and Hubster and I have decided that the Hill Country would be much more relaxing. Plus, there is wine made in the area! Drinkable wine even! And Guero's in Austin. Because it's all about the margaritas, baby.

There was precious little knitting over the last week. I did make a trip to my LYS to pick up some needles. When I got there, one of my friends said, "Did you see the sign on the door?!" And they all made me go back outside to read the sign on the door. At this point, I'm thinking up all sorts of horrible scenarios in which, despite all appearances of screaming success, my LYS is going to close. Nope. It was a sign proclaiming 20% off of everything in honor of Mother's Day. Whee! Yarn sales always fog my brain and I end up with things I'm not sure I should have bought. The result, I'm knitting a shrug. Yes, yes, it's almost as bad as a poncho. But it's so cuuuuute. And red.

I also bought the yarn to make the Debbie Bliss Cathay bolero in the new Interweave Knits and the Rowan Linen Print to make this. I'm using the same main color but Crush and Refresher for the stripes. And, because my lucky star was really pleased with me, the Rowan rep was in the store and I was treated to a preview of some of the new yarns (Spray is going to be very cool) and some of the new patterns (kid's stuff to dream about)

And now, I must go watch America's Next Top Model.

MMMMMMMM, Margaritas

We have guests in town from England this week so posting will continue to be non-existant until Monday. Knitting is fairly non-existant as well, as all of our time has been spent on food and beverage consumption. And a bit of shopping.

They brought Hubster an inflatable moose head. Picture on Monday.

whee!

I have pretty pink toes. With sparkly flowers on the big toes! I treated myself to a pedicure today. I am now the most relaxed human on the face of the earth.

Since I skipped SnB on Sunday and instead went gallivanting around with the Bean, I'm going to pop up to my fave yarn store today since it's close to Lowe's/Home Depot Expo, etc. (OK, not really close but on the same side of the highway so I'm justifying.) Hopefully, I will find some curtains at Expo. At some point, curtain manufacturers decided that everyone wants pocket or tab curtains instead of old-fashioned pleated curtains. We have a bay window. We need regular ole curtains. Just some nice, sandy-colored, semi-sheer curtains. You'd think they would have them everywhere. Nope.

Tomorrow, our friends arrive from England. I only have about two inches completed on his scarf (oops). Nevermind. It's too hot to wear it right now anyway! I can't wait for the orgy of food and wine that will proceed from this weekend. I met them through a combined culinary endeavor, so it's a guarantee that we'll eat some fairly fabulous food and drink some fairly fabulous wine and beer. Tomorrow, I'm making homeade pizza. Now I just have to plan tonight's meal for us. I'm thinking pasta with Tomato Vodka Cream sauce sounds pretty darn good.

Sleep good

Spent most of yesterday sleeping. It's been quite a long time since I've done anything like that (being in bed from the flu most definitely does not count). Didn't even knit, just laid there.

Today, my Stitch n Bitch group meets. We only meet twice a month and I haven't been in 6 weeks and I'm still wondering if I'm going to muster up the energy to go. We have guests arriving from London on Wednesday meaning I need to clean the house and straighten up the guest room. And, it's not quite fair to the Hubster to leave him with Bean this afternoon when I spent most of yesterday unconcious ;> We'll see how it goes. I may pop down for a bit and then come home.

Just in case you were wondering...

... no ill befell Bean, despite the removal of my Sacred Floss Line of Life.

I will have to unknit back to a good spot in the FBS. Therefore, the FBS is on hold until May because there is no way in hell I'm going to have the time or energy to concentrate until after the houseguests have come and gone next week.

Yesterday, I was reading Phyl's blog in which she posts about the new Kim Hargreaves web site. I went to the site and was doing the happy dance because all of her new patterns are in Rowan Denim and Rowan Summer Tweed, two yarns that I have quite alot of in the stash. Then, I realized that she doesn't sell the patterns. Only kits. I don't want a kit. I have the yarn. I'm trying to find something to knit with the damn yarn and this is not going to do it. We used to cut up our sweaters that way when I was in college. If I were still in college, I'd go for it if I had the hundred bucks it would take for the yarn. Twenty years later*, not so much. I was thinking more along the lines of Harmony or Glimmer. And for Denim: Joy . But no, you can't get just the patterns.

Then I looked a bit more. You are supposed to order a kit based on your bust size, but none of the patterns offer schematics or any details at all. Soooooo, I'm supposed to pony up around $90US for a kit, not including shipping, on the basis of a pretty picture. Sorry, Kim. Lovely patterns but no can do. Publish a book and I'll buy it.

Amusing Beanecdote of the day: Bean likes old school punk rock and 70s disco. We were listening to the Violent Femmes yesterday when I had a sudden heart attack realizing what the next verse was going to be on "Add It Up" (Why can't I get just one fsck?). Thank goodness for CD fast forward. Must remember to make compilation CDs of songs in which the references to sex and drugs are incomprehensible.

Floss This

About a week ago, we started flossing the Bean's teeth. She's getting into the swing of things. Yesterday, she came up to me with a rather long length of floss and asked to floss my teeth. I sat down and let her fool around for a few minutes. But I was puzzled at where she'd gotten the floss. I knew it wasn't from the trash can. I'd just emptied the trash. I figured I needed to put the floss where she couldn't get at it because, while she had figured out how to use the cutter correctly this time, there might be a next time in which we wouldn't be so lucky.


And then I had a horrific thought.



A project.



Using a lifeline.



Of dental floss.



Yes, Bean removed the lifeline from my Flower Basket Shawl and "flossed" my teeth with it.

Funny, no?


Especially since there is a big, honking wierd spot that started about 10 rows back.

Sigh.

Monday Monday

We boarded the dog over the weekend to avoid any potential birthday party problems including lots of children and hyper dogs and the chocolate cake issue. She had a nice bath and we thought it would be more relaxing for all of us. Apparently not. The dog is now having excessive stress-related digestive issues. We have added $25 to the cost of the weekend for a prescription to help her and I spent the past hour cleaning my kitchen. Enough said. Poor Molly-dog and poor me. She just ate a bowl of chicken and rice, so that should help her tummy.

I did leave the house to make a grocery run and go to the vet to pick up the meds for the dog. While at the vet's, I spotted some really cute shoes. And I really needed some cute shoes for tonight. And the store was on the way home...


Interchageable flowers! Whee!

Fantasy World

Birthday parties: 5
Knitting: 0

OK, maybe it's not quite that bad. I am in the 6th repeat of the Flower Basket Shawl. But we've had 5 birthday parties in the last 8 days including Bean's 3rd (!) birthday party. 8 of her friends showed along with various parents and siblings. It was a nice party. Perfect, perfect weather in the 70s with a nice breeze and glorious sun a blue skies with a few nice fluffy clouds. I couldn't have ordered a better day from a catalog. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and "bonilla" ice cream was devoured by all.

I have promised myself that tomorrow, after the grocery run, I'm going to put in Singin in the Rain (Bean's favorite movie) and finish the 6th repeat of the Flower Basket Shawl. Tonight, I'm going to cast on for a scarf that I need to have finished by the 27th. Oh, and I need to have most of a sock finished by next Saturday. In an ideal (fantasy) world, I'll finish the FBS and have it blocked for wearing on Friday; have most of a sock finished for Saturday; and finish the scarf for next Wednesday. I've always had a rich fantasy life...

Let the frogging begin

Ran into a little problem with the Flower Basket Shawl. UPDATE: Problem fixed.

Today, the Bean and I plan to sit in bed and watch movies and be slothful. Bean also plans to give everyone in the house a checkup with her "stefoscope". She's discovered where we keep the bandaids and, how to open the bandaids. I have seven bandaids on various "boo-boos" right now. I have managed to convince her that Molly the Razor-Blade-Eating* Dog would not be real happy with bandaids on her paws.

*Yes, my goat dog once consumed the better part of a safety razor including most of the blade. She's fine. She has a steel-lined digestive system. Vet knows us by name.

Wild and Woolly!

What a week! I have been meaning to post for something like two weeks now and have been too busy to think. Today alone I have:
Taken the Bean to get her glasses adjusted
Taken her for a haircut
Been to the party store to pick up Minnie Mouse party supplies for her 3rd birthday party this weekend
Been to the grocery store
Finished stuffing, sealing, and stamping the last of 500 envelopes for a charity to-do next week (because I don't seem to have enough to do on my own so I need to add volunteer work with a 24-hour turnaround time to the mix)

Last weekend we had three parties. Friday at the Tompson's, Saturday at the Thompson's, and Sunday at the Thomson's. The all-t(h)om(p)son weekend!

Yes, there was knitting:



Bias Stole
2 sk Fiesta Yarns La Boheme
Tutti Fruitti colorway




Clapotis 2: Electric Boogaloo
Artyarns Royal Silk

The jury is still out on Clap2. Right now it's Clap On the needles but it may be Clap Off before the week is out. I love the yarn but am unsure that Clapotis is really the right pattern. The reason?


Flower Basket Shawl
Fall 2004 Interweave Knits
Debbie Bliss Cathay in Fushcia

I'm loving this pattern and wondering how it would look in the Artyarns Royal Silk. Would the variegation of the yarn overwhelm the pattern? Would the pattern not do the yarn justice?

Opinions gratefully accepted.

Overall, I don't think the Royal Silk would make a good garment for me. Too fragile. I'd be waiting for "occasions" to wear it rather than really using it. A shawl would get alot more use. It's getting to be perfect shawl weather in Texas. Once it starts heating up, everyone jacks up their air conditioners to the point where you could hang meat. I take a sweater or shawl everywhere in the summer.

So, lots of knitting last week. Lots of running around.

And something lovely came in the mail as well! A few weeks ago, Julia had a caption contest on her blog. I won and received my prize in the mail last weekend!


Lovely Rowan Magpie!!!

Many thanks to Julia for a fun contest and such a luscious prize!

Things you don't want to hear and a recipe

Things You Don't Want To Hear:

Uttered by my husband while he was sweeping the kitchen floor: "Some of this dust has legs."

Ewwwwwww.

Recipe (cause the above makes you hungry - admit it)

Zucchini Boats.=

I don't remember the original name - Stuffed Zucchini or something like that but one time after my mother had made this something like three times in two weeks there was a comic where one character was complaining about his mother's cooking and referred to "Zucchini Boats".

You'll need a 13x9 inch pyrex dish
5 medium to small zucchini
1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 onion, diced and sauteed until golden and limp
2 t oregano
1/2 t cayenne
1 t cumin
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook the ground beef. When the beef is about halfway done, season with salt and pepper and add oregano, cumin and cayenne. Cook until beef is done all the way through. Add onions, tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook on medium-low for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the zukes in half and use a spoon to scoop out the middles. Add zucchini guts to the beef. Arrange zucchini halves in glass casserole dish.

Add rice and corn to beef and cook for another 10 minutes.

Pour beef mixture over zuccchini halves. Don't worry about actually "stuffing" each individual zucchini - just pour the beef stuff over the top of all of it. Top with cheese and bake for 45 minutes. You may need to turn up the heatto 400F at the end to make sure the cheese is all melted and bubbly.

Mmmmm.

You know what's good?

The Jack in the Box Bruschetta Chicken sandwich.

Really. I was impressed and I used to work in a cooking school so I flatter myself that I know something about food.

Too much of a muchness

The Rowan Cotton Tape is too expensive (11 skeins needed for a 3/4 sleeve shortish pullover at $10 a skein - yikes), too heavy (it's in the 80s here already), and too bright (really bright pastels - I like bright but couple with the expensive and the heavy...).

If I were really smart, I'd start on the socks I want to knit for Dad for his birthday (3 weeks away), or finish the Lollipop cardigan for my daughter (only the buttonbands left) or knit the His scarf for the British couple who will be visiting us at the end of April.

Somehow, the combination of spring and sickness has made me a bit selfish. We'll see what happens.

Good Ness

Blogger went wonky on me and wouldn't let me post yesterday.

At some point last week, Hubster took Bean to the park and picked up a stick on the wheel of the stroller (it's a jogger so the wheels are inflatable rather than the hard plastic on regular strollers). He removed said stick and the wheel deflated. He threw said stick on the floor of the garage.

Yesteray, I discovered that there was a huge freaking thorn on the stick. I discovered this with my foot which now has a nice hole in it. Oh well, at least the Bean didn't discover the thorn with her foot. I never really liked those shoes anyway ;>

In knitting news, there is no knitting news. I did finish my socks (YAY!). I think I may trek up to my LYS and check out the new Rowan Cotton Rope. I want a sweater that's a reasonably straightforward and quick knit and I'm a slut for Rowan.

I have a number of projects I was thinking about before The Flu, but now I seem to have lost some of my momentum.

Returning to normalcy

OK, returning to what passes for normalcy in my house. Bean slept all night last night. I went to bed at 8.30pm and slept all night as well. Hubster is still sleeping in the guest room so that I don't wake him with my tuburcular coughing fits. So, aside from Bean waking up at 6.45am, we're all doing pretty well. Unfortunately, Bean has not been without fever long enough for me to feel comfortable arranging a play date so we're getting a bit stir crazy. In a bit, we're going to go to the SuperTarget and buy stuff to make chocolate chip cookies. That ought to buy me a large chunk of the afternoon. It's nasty and overcast outside so the sandbox is out. Rats.


Knitting? What knitting? Today is the first day that the mere *thought* of knitting didn't turn my stomach. I think this is the longest hiatus I've taken from knitting in quite a while. And, of course, now that my interest is returning, I don't have anything I want to knit out of yarn I have in my stash. I'm thinking I may go buy some of the new Rowan Cotton Rope at my LYS. There are a couple of sweaters in the Cotton Rope book I like and it would be a quick knit. I think I am in need of some (semi) instant gratification to get back in my groove.

Fever n' Ague

There is a scene in one of the Little House on the Prarie books in which the Ingalls family catches "fever n' ague" (now known as malaria) and Laura goes to the water bucket to bring back a dipper for Mary. I felt like that yesterday. Bean was sucumbing to the Vile Flu and I was not yet ready to be up and about. I'm much better today but there were a few moments yesterday where I honestly felt just about like crawling on the floor to bring Bean a sippy cup. I had the presence of mind to call the pediatrician Saturday night when we realized she had it. He sent over some "Tamiflu" which is the new miracle flu drug. Of course, what I should have done was take her to the ped the second they got the flu shot back in. Lesson learned. Next year, I'm going to be first in line for flu shots for everyone in case they run out again.

Today is much better, although Bean refused to sleep last night. Still, I'm vastly better so I don't care so much. The only lingering effect is that I have a cough and my ears are stopped up. I feel sort of like I'm in the next room and I can't quite hear myself.

I feel better

if you define "better" as not fatal.

This is kicking my hind end all over the place. This is the first day I've been able to get out of bed since Sunday. Let's hope things keep trending upwards.

FLU

There's a reason that flu starts with "f" and ends with "u".

Sometimes they really should not allow me out of the house

This morning on the playground I overheard one mother ask another mother, "My God, what do they feed that child for breakfast?" I realized that this comment was addressing my own sweet Bean who, at that moment was hopping across the playground like the Easter Bunny on speed. I leaned over and smiled sweetly and said. "Coffee and Girl Scout Cookies - Breakfast of Champions."

My child overhears me saying "coffee" and pipes up, "I loooooooooooove coffee!"*

The responses were as follows:
Mother #1 : goggles at me
Mother #2: tentatively laughs as if she's not sure whether or not this is a joke
My response: get up and go hop across the playground with my child

Heh heh heh.

*Note: Said child has never actually been given coffee but on weekends she demands that Daddy let her smell the coffee beans before he grinds them.

Phew!

Man, I'm tired. My friend came over with her daughter (Bean's best friend) and son and then another friend came over with her daughter and we all decided to go to the mall and get the kids' pictures taken with the bunnies. You'd think that 3 adults to wrangle two not-quite-one-year-olds (both of whom are walking) and two not-quite-three-year-olds would work out in the adults vs kids ratio. Not even close. We all got some adorable pics but we were all pretty much a mess by the end of it. Lunch after the pics was the deal-breaker. Bad decision by hungry moms. Ah well, Bean and I are home now and watching Singin' in the Rain (Bean's favorite movie).

I'm lucky

My daughter has a best friend. Together, they are adorable. The second they get together, they run off to the resepctive host's bedroom, strip, and begin a long process of dress-up. Last week, Bean put on a princess costume, got out the doctor kit, and informed me in an imperious tone of voice that she was "Doctor Princess Bean". I love it!

I'm also lucky in that the mom has become one of my close friends. She's great. In a little while, they are coming over to play. Bean is running around the house screaming, "C is coming!" I hope that they can remain friends for a long, long time.

Off to plan lunch!

Hey Lolly Lolly

Lollipop is nearing completion

A quick and enjoyable knit. I don't like the collar so I'm ripping it and doing the button bands first and then doing the collar.

I'm also working on my second pair of socks. I have not fixed the problem in sock #1 nor have I finished it's mate. All in good time. Just not right now. I think I'll also bandwagon Kay and finally cast on for Creeper. I share her Rowan Denim mania and have been debating between Creeper and Voyage. Creeper is a bit more straightforward and I need some mindless knitting in my life. The Bean got her share of the Denim; it's my turn now!

Lollipop!

I dug into my stash of luscious Katia Cotton Club and ...


Lollipop! Wear your sunglasses next time you see The Bean! There is no way you can be angry knitting such soft cotton in such lovely, bright colors.


And, last weekend, I whipped out this:

This was the Lopi sweater


Now, it's Rita's Bag. Very hairy but I like it that way!

I Hate Nicki Epstein

The digital camera is hiding from me so no pics today. The way today is going, I'd probably just break it.

Today I finished the Rowan Denim jumper. It's adorable. It's a good thing it's adorable because I also finished my first sock (had to miss class last night after all) and it's a bit too short.

I wasn't even very discouraged by that until I felted the roses for the godforsaken flower basket bag. I didn't sew them up quite firmly enough and they all turned themselves inside out. Two cannot be salvaged. And we won't even discuss the leaves. They look like crap - even the ones that might work look like crap. Most of them kind of fell apart. Peruvian Highland Wool felts horribly unless it's a tight gauge. I've been underwhelmed by this bag the whole way and am to the point where I'll finish it but I'm not going to like it. I'll save it for a Christmas gift.

Two knitting disasters in one day. OK, one novice learning experience and one disaster but still. The worst thing is that I'm still pretty much bedridden so I really want to knit but at this point am a bit intimidated.

Grr. Time for a SWEATER!!! Creeper is going to be moved up on the do list.

Surviving

Because all the cool kids are doing it:

10 Things I Have Done That You Probably Haven’t

1. Worked sound and lights for REM. Ditto The Fixx, Thompson Twins, Bangles, and Zubin Mehta.

2. I usually am given at least one round of free drinks in any bar I go into. Anywhere. Regardless of whether I know anyone in the bar. (I once was given free beer for myself and my husband at the Iowa State Fair from a guy at the Turkey Council booth.)

3. Been whitewater rafting down the same river as in the movie Deliverance.

4. Been hit by a car as a pedestrian.

5. Dated a professional skateboarder.

6. Busted my ass (broke my tailbone).

7. Won a food grossout contest between myself, a friend from Japan and a friend from India. I won with a can of Armor Brains in Milk.

8. Hitched a ride in Ireland with the owner of the local taxi concession.

9. Knew at least one person everywhere I went for several years. (Seriously, on a 48 hour trip to Chicago I knew someone in the row in front of me on the plane to Chicago, ran into someone I knew while in the city and on the plane home, sat behind someone I knew. I had never been to Chicago before.)

10. Engaged in synchronized burping on a friend's radio show on a mjor station. During a song.

Over the last week, I've survived a week-long incursion by the out-laws. Actually, that's uncharitable. They are lovely people and the Bean adores having them. And it's certainly a nice break from the constantcy of toddler-care for Hubster and me. Nevertheless, it's still a week of someone else living in your house. No matter how much you like them being there, it's kind of a relief when they leave. (And before anyone suggests that they limit their visits to shorter stays, it was my idea that they stay a week. Bean doesn't get to see them but every few months and it's important both for her and for them to have the time together.)

I've also had a flareup of a painful but minor physical malady I won't discuss in detail except to say that I'm in alot of pain right now but I'll be better in a couple of days. I'm probably destined for surgery (outpatient) to fix said issue but right now I just want to deal with this and get back to where I can concentrate. Hopefully, I'll be able to go to sock class tonight.

Thank you, Secret Pal!!!

Wow, what a lovely gift to receive.

My secret pal rocks. She sent two skeins of Wildfoote in a really pretty dark red with a black tweedy sort of stripe running through it, an equally gorgeous skein of Sockotta in brights in the exact colorway I've been coveting at my LYS, a set of Clover size 2 dpns - my favorite brand of needles, and a Yankee Knitter sock booklet that covers fingering through worsted weight yarns in sizes for the whole family. AND, if that's not fabulous enough, she included a beautiful hand-knit bookmark.

Thank you so much, Secret Pal. You are really spoiling me!

Progress and a big thank you!

First, a long-overdue thank you to my SP who sent me Jelly Bellys and one of those adorable lamb tape measures that I have been coveting. Fabulous, fun gift.

Progress on the Denim jumper: I will hopefully finish it this weekend.


The Nicky Epstein felted bag from VK has been felted.


It's still huge

The roses are also knitted but not sewn up or felted. I'll finish the leaves and then felted the lot and get my sturdiest sewing needle out. So far, I'm not feeling the love. It's done properly, it's just awfully big. I knew what the finished measurements were, but somehow that didn't translate into my brain. We'll see how I feel once the roses are on. If nothing else, it's a really cute project bag.

Note to anyone considering felting with Peruvian Highland Wool form Elann. It felts up nicely but it's the hairiest stuff known to man. Seriously, hobbit feet had nothing on my bag when it came out of the washer. It didn't need a razor, it needed Nair.

um...

Bean sick, in-laws arrive tomorrow. Knitting but no pics. More tomorrow when in0kaws can distract Bean because it's too hard to type with her on my lap.

I'm going to knock 'em off.

Socks, that is.

Yes, tonight, I learn to sock.

We'll see if my patience holds out. Sure, I have no problem with intarsia. Yes, I like fair isle. But socks? Here's hoping.

Second verse, same as the first

The second side of That Damn Felted Bag is complete. Actually, it's the third side. Had to frog one back to a painful point and decided it was easier to frog the whole thing than figure out where I was in the trellis pattern.

The 19 needles are killing my wrists. I'm going to be very happy when the roses and leaves are complete. I think I'll like the bag (and, if not, it'll make a fabulous gifty for someone), but I think I prefer pulling things out of my head for felted bags rather than knitting from such an exact pattern.

In other news, tomorrow I begin the journey of learning to sock!!! Frighteningly, I already have yarn for five pairs of socks.

Yarn lust: Rowan Denim. Must. Have. More. Almost finished with Bean's jumper (there are two pics on that site - front and back - it's the little girl with the stuffed puppy on her head) and now I want this!

A big pile o' yarn

Before


After

Nothing I could do about the off-center arms except frog the blasted thing. Felted bag, anyone?

I have very little novelty yarn in the stash. I took two balls that were previously assigned to become a fairly boring scarf, made a few purchases, and this emerged:


Very pink and very green. Somewhere in my knitting funk, I've been seduced by the glittery dark side. HELP! (I'm a bit tired of sweaters. I've knit a sweater a month for the last six months in addition to a bunch of other stuff and I've entered a phase of felted bags and fuzzy oddities. I have plenty of yarn for sweaters stashed away for when I emerge from my funk.)

WWBBD?*

My daughter has been sleeping through the night for 10 days**! Yes, you remember right, she's going to be three soon. She's never been a sleeper. Nap, no nap, activity, food; nothing made a difference. About two weeks ago, she started making another one of those big developmental leaps. She also gave up her nap completely. And now, she's sleeping.

I'm not. Yet. I still wake up a couple of times a night. But it's getting easier and easier for me to get back to sleep. I'm more well-rested than I've been in a good 3 1/2 years. It's kind of freaking me out.

*What Would Brian Boitano Do?

*OK, she's woken up one night out of the ten, but she had a case of gas so bad I would not have been suprised if flames had shot out of her butt along with a satellite dish.

Afghans Ahoy

First of all:
I have a huge urge to see this knitted up in red with the dingle balls in green.

What happened to the five skeins of Colinette Point 5 that I bought on sale?


Afghan: Colinette Point 5 in Toscana, something fuzzy, and Rowan Big Wool It measures approximately 50 inches by 40 inches.


Closeup

This is the final time I am knitting this yarn. In the last month, I have knit two ponchos and a shawl out of this yarn before coming to my senses and realizing that it wanted to be a small afghan/lap blanket. I still need to put a crab stitch edge on it (HUGE thanks to my Secret Pal for pointing me to a website with details) and some big old tassels on the corners.

Flower Basket Bag

I started the Nicky Epstein Flower Basket bag from the new VK. The trellis pattern, while interesting, is a pain in the wrist on 19s. I'm knitting the bag in the same colors but out of Peruvian Highland Wool, doubled. I'm not much of a green person and there is an awful lot of that olive. I think I'll like it better felted. I have a feeling I'll be knitting a second one with roses in pink and red, green leaves (natch), and a black and gold trellis. But next time I'm going to just lay out the trellis on top and knot it. Same effect but much less work.


Peruvian Highland Wool for VK Flower Basket Bag


One side of the bag


Also, I keep meaning to post a picture of the nice present Chrissie sent me!



Roak from Chrissie! Patons Chacha and a pattern booklet

Seating for 300

Nothing like being in charge of seating for a charity ball. I have to seat 300 people and make them all happy. I have three meetings this week on seating arrangements! Everyone wants their hand in the pickle jar. Fine with me, more shares for the blame if someone is unhappy ;>

This is shaping up to be a doozy of a week!

In knitting news, I have complete the pocket, bottom, and handles as well as one side of the VK Flower Basket Bag. I've also finished the knitting portion of the Colinette afghan thingy. Hopefully, the sun will cooperate and I can get some decent pictures up later today!

Knitting goals for this week. 1.) Undo the wonky arm seam on Cate and redo it. My LYS has some variegated ribbon that should make a really nice tie. Then she'll be Sensible Cate (with a ballet-style tie on one side) rather than Big Fat Unwieldy Tie Over My Stomach Cate. Once again, never trust a picture. 2.) Cast on for the second Silk Garden scarf. And, 3.) Cast on for side two of the Rowan denim jumper.

The other goal is to resist casting on for the other side of the flower basket until next week. Man but that sucker is going to be HUGE! I am already planning a second, much smaller version in brighter colors.

Too much about me

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end and/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? Baby, I am a yarn snob. Really, I have tried. And failed. I tossed Hallowig because the Red Heart gave me the heebie jeebies. I tried Wool-Ease but it kept squeaking.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? No and no. I'm actually a bit interested in spinning but I think the fibers would mess with my allergies.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Mohair, angora, smoke, cats, cats, cats (I can tell if you have a cat within five minutes of entering your home ;>), and I'm not much on strong perfumes.

4. How long have you been knitting? Twelve years off and on.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Citrus. Candles are great, but I have sensitive skin so I'm sort of picky about bath products. (Yes, I'm a pain in the butt.)

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? And a salty tooth! Chocolate is a weakness but I also like trying wierd things from other countries or other areas of the US. (Pocky!)

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? My hobbies are knitting and tormenting my child ;>

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I'm open to anything except Enya/KennyG/Bolton/Celine type music. And country music that's not in the Johnny Cash drinkin' and killin' vein. I grew up on 70s classic rock and then went punk. My music tastes are eclectic to say the least.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Red, pink, and I love chartreuse green.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Husband, daughter who will be three soon, 4 year old medium black dog. True story about the dog. She's a pretty dog and someone once insisted that she had to be a full breed something. I told the woman that Molly is a Madagascar Tick Hound. Very rare. (Molly is mostly Border Collie with Lab and godknowswhatelse thrown in. And she was found as a pup with her littermates in a junkyard. So she's an honest junkyard dog.)

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) There's that one with Alan Rickman. Uh, I mean, well, nothing...

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I love handpainted yarns like Mountain Colors and Cherry Tree Hill, as well as anything Rowan. I think bamboo and soy silk are also cool.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Mohair, angora, 100% acrylic (unless it's something that's one element of a scarf - like Ironstone Yarns Pizazz),, anything scratchy. I'm not a huge Noro fan. I tried but it's *hot*.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? It varies from day to day. I keep a variety of projects going, so that I always have something to fit my mood. I try to keep a mix of simple and complex.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Sweaters. The other current mania is felted bags.

17. What are you knitting right now? A pinafore for my daughter in Rowan denim, a secret present for Hubster in Araucania Nature Wool, a scarf out of Noro Silk Garden (not for me), a baby blanket, and the Nicky Epstein purse in the new VK. And I'm seaming a sweater in Colinette Giotto.

18. What do you think about ponchos? I look better in things with a defined waist.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circs.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Clover bamboo circs for almost everything. Or Addi turbos.

21. Are you a sock knitter? Just learning!

22. How did you learn to knit? I took a class at a now defunct store.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? 10 years. It's an intarsia coat sweater with 11 color changes.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Powerpuff Girls Buttercup. I used to have a flippy bob and the resemblence was startling.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Any day I get to sleep late is a holiday!

26. Is there anything that you collect? Looking around, I'd say laundry and bills... (I'm not much of a collector. )

3 going on 13

I go in to wake up the Bean and pull the covers from over her head (she is so like her father) and she glares up at me and hisses, "Leave. Me. ALONE." And yanks the covers out of my hand and pulls them over her head again.

Once again, I laughed in front of her. Really, I try. I'm sure it's crushing for her ego and will leave lasting scars like when I was 13 and my mother refused to by me Candies because they were "hooker shoes"*. I just can't help it. She's too funny. The upside is that she frequently tells me that I'm funny. So at least it's an even trade with the ego crushing.

*Sarcasm alert. I received a lovely anonymous email from someone telling me I was a horrible parent. To which I reply, "Bless your heart, you must need a humor transplant."