Maryland Sheep and Wool - Part II

Below are my photos from the festival. They are just some general photos of the whole experience. There are very few photos of actual yarn vendors because you really couldn't get good photos in the barns as it was too dark for my camera. There are also some photos of the yarn that I purchased. I got a 75% wool and 25% mohair blend hand dyed from The Good Shephard - a Vermont vendor. I'll use this for the "Besotted" scarf. The second yarn is a cotton/rayon blend from Dyed Dreams in Silver Spring Maryland. I'll use that for the Clapotis. I spent a grand total of $80.00 on this yarn. To me, that's a lot for two small projects. The yarn "weren't" cheap folks!!! But it's beautiful yarn.


Rest room line












I wish you could see these colors. There is no way to tell from these photos how nice this yarn is.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

Where do I begin? First of all, I was unaware. About a lot of things. It was much bigger than I thought. There were more people there than I thought. There was much, much, much more yarn there than I thought. I didn't go quite prepared enough. Next year I will sell a house and dedicate the commission to that trip alone. (over my husband's dead body) I went with the thought that I would not spend money on yarn similar to that which I could purchase from the LYS locally and I kept my word on that. But I definitely needed more money. I'll dream about that yarn at night that I wanted to buy and didn't. (ok, I'm getting a little carried away here but I'm telling you .... it was truly sensory overload) There was a silk-merino blend to die for at $40.00 a skein. It would have made the most fabulous clapotis.

I was there from 9:30am to 2:30pm and I know I didn't get to see everything. Many of the vendors had small box-like cubicles with their yarns in bins and you couldn't get near it....too many people. So, some of the yarns I really wanted to see, I couldn't. The lines for the bathroom were incredibly long. The lines for the food were even longer. Getting there early, we didn't have to walk far but some people were parked so far away that it was an actual hike for them to get to the fairgrounds. There were cars in that parking lot from every state in the country.

I watched a border collie exhibition that was fun. Those dogs really can herd sheep. And it was interesting to see all the different breeds of sheep and shearing being done. There were people everywhere with huge bags of fleece that they had purchased. I kept thinking, wow, there are more people out there who spin than I thought. That is something I have NO desire to do. Talk about taking time away from knitting!

All in all, it was an excellent "Mother's Day" weekend event. I was in what my kids refer to as "mommy heaven". Next year I vow to take more money, perhaps stay longer, and go with a better plan of what I want to purchase. (I thought I had that one covered until I actually got there) Photos tomorrow.... my camera cord is at the office.

holly stuff

I love "holly" things. (go figure) I found this the other day while searching websites trying to locate my cascade 220. I have to have it. I have to make it. I'll put it in a box for a grandaughter to be named later.

Holly Hat

Ugh!

If I read one more blog that says "this is what I'm knitting to wear to Maryland Sheep and Wool" I'm going to scream. Apparently it is going to be a fashion show of hand knits. I was unaware. I am unprepared. All I have are socks. Dammit.

Not to switch the topic or anything but I was watching the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" last night and Reese Witherspoon had on the cutest basketweave stitch shawl. It was something I could definitely see myself wearing. It reminded me of the Lady Eleanor shawl in ScarfStyle a little bit but it was less fancy. I just loved it. Another future project. I really don't need more future projects at this point. I have so many now I can't keep them all straight.

My New Obsession

Here she is. I want her. I want her in cotton. From Vogue Spring/Summer 2005. I am enjoying the "Butterfly" mercerized cotton so much that I want something for myself made from it and I think this is the thing. When I get the monster baby jacket finished I'm all about this sweater. But hopefully I'll get another pair of socks done in between.

Cate is home. The house looks like a bomb went off with all her stuff everywhere. How does one dorm room hold so much crap? I don't know where we're going to put it all. And, get this, the air conditioning in our van blew when Cate and DH were on their way home. All I can say is that I hope it's not warm on the way to MS&W because there certainly isn't enough time to get it fixed before 7:00am tomorrow. Sorry ladies... we're going to have to tough it out. Thank God it's not July or August. I have not gotten organized for the trip yet. I have to decide what I'm looking for when I'm there. I don't want to get there and not have a plan. I know more Clapotis yarn for sure but I can't decide what else. I have visions of cashmere scarves for Christmas. I hope I can muster up some restraint. I'm thinking I should take cash and no credit cards. I'm usually pretty good , but this is YARN we're talking about here! And lots of it!

Posting just to Post

If you're looking for exciting blog content today you've come to the wrong place. I wanted to add a photo of the baby jacket today but I forgot to take my camera home from the office yesterday so that won't happen. I may not be using that jacket for the baby gift after all. I think I'll keep it in case the jolly green giant ever has a kid. I'll be so prepared.

Cate comes home from school today for the summer. She still doesn't have a job and I'm starting to panic. She REALLY needs a car for next year and she REALLY needs to help pay for it! She'll be wanting help with her Sophie bag which she is currently in the middle of. I thought about finishing it for her but I never did. I'm glad I didn't now because it will give her something to do until she finds a job. She has real knitting addiction potential. Like mother, like daughter. Too bad she can't go to MS&W. The bus is full.

I posted to KnitList to try to find my blue Cascade 220. I've gotten some responses from some really nice people. No solid leads yet but a few maybes. There are other people out there like me who do not keep the bands from their yarn. I'm glad I'm not the only one. I have learned though, that from now on, I will keep at least one when I purchase multiple skeins. At least if I ever run out again, I'll know exactly what I'm looking for.

Knitting News

Last night was knitting night at the LYS. I worked on my Opal sock and we finalized our plans for Maryland Sheep and Wool. There will be 7 of us going and I will drive our 7 passenger mini-van so it all worked out pretty well. I have visions of having to stop at the closest Sears to buy one of those "luggage bubble" things for the top of the car to bring home all the loot. I told them it IS an "extended" van but let's not get carried away!!

In non-knitting news our dog has recently been hacking up a lung and I was sure something was caught in her throat. My husband called the vet (who is our friend) and told him about it. He said, "Well, is she dead?" My husband said, no, she is decidedly NOT dead. To which the vet replied, "then she doesn't have anything stuck in her throat and she has kennel cough". I'd like to know how a dog who has no social life whatsoever (sort of like her owners) ends up with kennel cough. She has not been boarded, she has not been walked (we're terrible dog parents), and she does not have any close doggie friends other than the dogs in the neighboring yard who also have no life. Anyhow, he said to give her Robitussin cough syrup. YOU try giving a 85 lb. dog digusting cough medicine. Not gonna happen. Strange that at 9 years of age it's her first bout of kennel cough.

I've made progress on the Debbie Bliss baby jacket. I have to say that it is turning out much larger than anticipated. I did not swatch it to get the gauge correct because I didn't care if I didn't knit to gauge on this. I mean, it's gonna fit the kid at some point, right? I just didn't anticipate the fact that the kid would have to wait until 5th grade to wear it. I think Debbie Bliss is British, right? They must grow 'em big over there. :-)

The Dump Truck From Hell

On Sunday I had an Open House at one of my new construction listings. It's a beautiful new home in a nice development. I expect lots of people to show up. I never bothered to tell the contractor that I was having an Open House because the house is finished and I can pretty much just do as I please with it at this point. As I approach the house, THIS is parked in the driveway:



Yep, it probably would have been a good idea to tell him about the Open House in advance. So no one bothered to approach the house with this monstrosity in the driveway and I got about a half of my second Opal sock finished!!! Everything happens for a reason ;-)

So much for socks and stash reduction...

Traveled the 40 miles to State College, PA, to go to Barnes and Noble Friday night in search of a "baby knits" book. The choices were endless but I finally decided on this one:



I don't think there is a pattern in this book that I wouldn't make. Every single one is cute. I think it's a book I will use over and over as (hopefully) grandchildren come along. So, since I got the book, of course I had to get the yarn for the baby gift I have to make. The pattern calls for Debbie Bliss (of course) cashmerino aran yarn but I didn't want to make it in wool so I settled on this:



It is "Butterfly" mercerized cotton in DK weight. It's braided so there is no splitting and I am enjoying working with it although I usually hate knitting with cotton. I will definitely use this yarn again. The project is a very simple garter stitch jacket and hat on size 8 needles. Here's the progress so far:



I found out yesterday that the lady who said she had the skein of my Cascade 220 yarn that I need to finish my big sweater was actually mistaken. She only "thought" she had it so the hunt is still on for dye lot 8811. I need so little of it! I can't believe it's been this hard to locate it.

Knitting Weather is BACK!!!!

It's cold. It's rainy. It's dreary. It's knitting weather. I'm not sure what happened to Spring. I have made some serious progress on my other Opal sock and I'm trying to talk myself into starting the cashmere socks next. I'm sort of "socked" out though. Why did I buy so much sock yarn knowing that I have the attention span of a person with serious ADD?

Work is crazy. It's that time of year. I love my job but 10% of the time, the stress could kill you and I'm livin that 10% right now. I'd love to know why Dentists have the highest suicide rate among the professions. What's so stressful about filling teeth? (It's stressful for the drillee but I can't imagine why it's so stressful for the drillor) Try dealing with people fighting and crying over the home of their dreams when you have multiple offers. THAT'S stress. I find it amazing that realtors aren't at the top of that list. I think we're all just too crazy to ever do anything that crazy! That must be it.

Next weekend is the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I'm looking to do some serious spending there. The list of vendors is very impressive so I have to be organized and know exactly what projects I want to buy for. I definitely want to do another clapotis in fall colors and I'd like to do several of the scarves in "Scarf Style" for Christmas gifts. I also REALLY covet Lady Eleanor in that book for myself. I have a feeling when I come back from there, I truly will be HIDING yarn.

Interweave Knits - Summer edition

I stopped by the grocery store on my way to work this morning and I always glance at the magazine rack when I walk by to see if there are any new knitting publications. I saw the new Interweave Knits summer edition so, being the cheapster that I am, I picked it up and studied it before deciding whether to purchase it or not. I was less than impressed. First of all, maybe I'm just too old but I don't get the whole "shrug" thing. You talk about a fad that's going to disappear, that's it. I'm not sure why someone would spend time making those things when in a short amount of time you wouldn't be caught dead in one. (I've been known to be wrong before and I'll be the first to admit I could be wrong about this too but I still don't get it) I sort of liked the lacy leaf pullover although I don't understand why the sleeves were so long. That would drive me INSANE. I really liked the dylan goes electric pullover for men but my husband would never wear it and my son would never wear it so I guess I don't need that pattern. The baby stuff is cute, but not cute enough to warrant spending $7.00 on the magazine so I put it back on the shelf. I know....picky, picky, picky.

Look! A Finished Sock!

Well I'm still boiling mad but I've decided to be an adult about this and move on. (@#*&%$#)
Regarding my last post.... I apologize for my bad behavior. I promise never to do that again. At least not until he p----- me off again.

I finished one Opal Sock. If there is a better superwash wool sock yarn out there I want to know what it is. I've used Regia, DGS, Lana Grossa and a few more but this stuff beats them all. It just looks and feels better.

I'm seriously having trouble finding time to knit. I obviously don't feel the need to hibernate when the time changes and it stays light longer. It makes such a difference in my state of mind and energy level. I am NOT a winter person.

I do have a baby gift to knit and, wouldn't you know it, this couple has to be one of the few these days that DO NOT want to know the sex of the child. So that means I have to wait until the little bugger is born to decide what to knit. I hate knitting greens and yellows and white for babies. If it's a boy I want it to be something cute (and maybe nautical) in blue. If it's a girl, I want it to be girlie. Darn these two! In all honesty though, I never wanted to know either. The surprise was always the best part.

Warning: No Knitting Content... Only ranting and raving.

Let's talk about men. I'm going to write a book entitled "The Top Of The Microwave Oven Is NOT a Cutting Board". And it's not a plate either. Food really shouldn't be consumed from the top of a microwave. And another thing about food is this: It doesn't put itself away. You actually have to pick it up, wrap it up, and place it back in the refrigerator.

And while we're on the topic of explaining basic life skills to the male gender, here's another clue for them. There is no drain in the middle of the bathroom floor. It is not the garage. The water, after you step out of the shower onto the floor dripping wet, isn't going to magicly disappear down some invisible hole in the floor. Nope, it's going to stay right there in the sopping wet bath mat until the mildew turns the rubber layer underneath a nice black color. Then, it's going to seep into the tile grout and before you know it, the whole floor will begin to crack and come up. I know this might come as a surprise, but it IS possible to dry yourselves off BEFORE you step out of the tub. Honest. It's been done.

Let's move onto the dirty clothes lesson. Men, women cannot wash your dirty clothes if they can't find them. Search and rescue missions apply only to people and pets, not clothes. We have better things to do with our time than spend it looking under beds and in the corners of the bathrooms for your smelly socks and dirty t-shirts.

Moving on to reading material. If the last 20 years worth of Golf Digest (240 issues?) haven't improved your game by now, they probably never will and it's more than likely ok to get rid of them at this point. If that article in the May 1984 issue is so important, rip it out and put it in your wallet but the piles have to go. This also applies to The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated (ESPECIALLY THE SWIMSUIT ISSUES), Golf, Streets and Smith, etc. Trust me, your kids ARE NOT going to want these when you die.

Just a few more helpful hints:

Ovens are self-cleaning. Basements and garages are not.

Weddings were not invented to torture you although it may seem that way to you.

The fact that a light was left burning in an unoccupied room probably won't cost you as much as the Big Bertha Titanium Super Duper Driver with the Nasa approved sweet spot quaranteed to cut your score, straighten your trajectory and have you on the tour by next year golf club that you bought at the pro-shop last week.

Just because YOU only need 3 pairs of shoes does not mean that women only need 3 pairs of shoes. The fact that every purse and every pair of shoes does not go with every outfit is a fact of life. Accept it and move on.

Peanut butter is not healthy when consumed in jar size portions and pretzels are not to be considered a good diet snack when eaten by the bag full.

Ballgame scores are published and announced in the news. The world won't end if you're not home in time to see the game on TV. So relax. It's OK. There's no need to pop a vein over this. You WILL be able to find out who won.

And speaking of ballgames, excuse us if we don't get too excited when we get invited to go along, like it's some dream come true thrill of a lifetime date. (Gee, can I really go along? Really?) Did you ever notice that ballgames are the only thing that HE suggests for a night out? Sure, you may go out to dinner or to a movie occasionally but pay attention to whose idea it was. Probably not his.

Lastly, whatever you do, never, EVER, tell a menopausal woman that you have to cancel a trip that she has looked forward to since September because you forgot about a charity golf tournment that you have to play in that particular weekend. God only knows what she might do.

Look closely.....

If you examine this photo (poor quality that it is) closely, you will see that I managed to put about an inch on this baby in the last 4 days. I REALLY miss knitting. It's safe to say that the spring real estate madness has finally hit. I've been working my butt off.... got home last night at 9:30pm after starting my work day at a 7:00am breakfast meeting. I'm not complaining, believe me, but, I REALLY miss knitting. I'm sure I won't be doing any knitting until possibly Sunday at an Open House that I don't expect to be well attended. I've got my brother coming in from Florida tonight and daughter and son-in-law coming from Delaware tomorrow. So it's family and work and no knitting. Did I mention that I REALLY miss knitting?

Socks and more socks...

These are the Opals I started again in the basic regia pattern. This yarn is great. It feels good. It looks good. I think it has more spring and memory than other sock yarns I've worked with so I'm optimistic about the K1P1 ribbing not stretching out with this. Who knows? It probably won't be any different than anything else.



These are the DGS Confetti superwash socks I finished in the basic regia pattern on size 2 dp's. They turned out well. One of my daughter's will end up with them for Christmas I'm sure.

I still have lots of bigger projects rolling around in my head but I'm going to try to stay on the sock bandwagon until I use up some of this yarn... and there is LOTS of it. I feel like I'm in sock prison and there's a sweater out there somewhere trying to break me out.

How Long Will This Last??

Nice tidy yarn basket. Like my kid's rooms, it will probably only look like this for a day. Before I re-organized, this basket was piled so high with junk that I couldn't have fit another needle in it!

I frogged the Opal sock. The K2P2 ribbing just wasn't cutting it. It did not do the yarn justice just as I knew it wouldn't. I wish I would learn to trust my own judgement sometimes. So I guess it's back to the Regia Basic Sock Pattern. The photo of my confetti socks turned out all blurry (gosh, I hate that camera) so I'll have to try it again tonight.

I fear I'm going to have to cut back on my knitting now. My garden is begging for attention and I have so much Spring cleaning to do. I might have to do weekly updates for a while at Finnegan Purl Knits. Plus I need to WALK some of these winter pounds off in the evening now that it's nice. No excuses anymore.

Oh... some promising news! Some lady on the west coast left a message for my LYS proprietor that she thinks she has my Cascade 220 # 8811. Gosh I hope so. I have that sweater layed out on the dining room table and I just want to get it finished.

Weekend Stashbusting

I spent Saturday night going through boxes, bags, baskets....you name the container, it had yarn in it. (yes, Saturday night, I have no life) I reorganized the whole huge mess and I now have a tidy "to do" basket and two "leftovers" bags, one with only sock yarn. I threw out a bunch of acrylic leftovers that have been senselessly hogging up space in my stash and I feel great about finally ridding myself of them. After the whole de-stashing experience, I have reaffirmed my commitment to do socks and nothing but socks until some of this sock yarn gets used up. I will have to buy some solid color fingering yarn to use up the leftover patterned yarn and make some "remnant socks". Those are actually the most fun to make if you haven't tried it before.

I started a pair of Opal socks today and the quality of the yarn is impressive compared to the DGS Confetti yarn I used for the last pair. Of course, to be fair to DGS, Opal is a lot more expensive so it should be better. They are both superwash wools but the Opal has such a better feel to it in the finished piece. I'm doing a 7 inch K2P2 ribbing for the Opals and I probably shouldn't be. That is certainly not the best way to view the pattern in the yarn but I'm so tired of the Regia Basic Sock Pattern that has the 2 inch K1P1 ribbing. That pattern displays the yarn extremely well but I have found that the 2 inch K1P1 ribbing really stretches out which is another reason I didn't want to use it.

I've decided that once I get the socks finished, I'm going to do Tempting. (knitty.com- in the archives) In a dark green with a red ribbon. I'm finally losing weight and I'd like to do that for the holiday season. I usually don't like short sleeves in the winter but to wear that, I'd suck it up. Photos to come... stay tuned.

Happy Birthday Catie!!

So my little Cate is 21 today! Hard to believe. Seems like it was just yesterday that she was begging to go back to see the penquins on the counter at Sea World. (Penquin Encounter) Sorry Cate, I had to throw that in there. Here she is with Brandon, the man who puts up with her on a daily basis at Slippery Rock U. They did a little celebrating last night at midnight so I'm sure that morning classes are going to be little...um... painful this morning.

Lonely Little Yarn Ball

Here's what's left of my Cascade 220 hanging out on the plant in my office. It's just hanging out waiting to meet up with some long lost friends from the dye pot.

I knitted on my socks a little last night but not much. I actually went and tried spray tanning... a unique experience to say the least. I am a reformed (at least I hope) tanning bed addict. Lately I have noticed my skin begging for mercy so I have decided to go a different route this year. All in all, the air brush spray thing wasn't too bad. The girl had a hand held air brush and she just sprayed me all over with it.. twice. The worst part was just standing there to dry for 20 minutes. The results? Well, it's a light, but noticable tan. With the tanning bed, I would continue to keep going back until I got a nice dark tan. I don't think I can do that with this spray on tan because the spotted fading you get with fake tanning products is very ugly and noticable when the tan is very dark and begins to fade. I'm just going to have to be satisfied with a light tan and go again when it fades to almost nothing.

The Hunt is Officially On...

....for Cascade 220 dye lot # 8811. Neither of the two skeins of blue yarn at my LYS matched the yarn. While they nearly matched each other, they didn't come close to matching my yarn when I got them home. So my LYS lady will put the word out with other vendors but if anyone is making a trip to their LYS soon, and they carry Cascade 220, please check it out for me. I never did find any of my yarn bands but I found the receipt and fortunately, my LYS proprietor always puts the dye lots on the receipts.

If we don't come up with the yarn, I've decided that I'm not going to get all whacked out about it.
It's only a sweater. It can be frogged and made into something else.

My son's friend's little 13 year old brother dropped dead in gym class yesterday from a heart attack. So I won't be worrying too much about yarn. If you know what I mean. Things have a way of being put into prospective.

Continuing Saga of the Sweater Yarn

Well of course the first thing I did when I ran out of yarn was to send the LYS an email and tell them to pull a skein of my blue yarn off the shelf and save it for me. So I stop there at lunch time to find two skeins of it sitting on the counter. And I said, "Oh thank goodness you still have some of this. I only need one skein." And the girl proceeds to tell me that they are TWO DIFFERENT DYE LOTS and which one did I have? I'm telling you if there was any difference in the colors of those two skeins of yarn I'll eat my hat. And of course I didn't keep the bands off of any of the original skeins that I bought. (Big lesson learned here, BIG) This leads to a very interesting question. If there were two different dye lots on that shelf, and I pulled six skeins off the shelf originally and took them to the counter and paid for them, did I even GET six skeins of the same dye lot to begin with? Maybe not. I've decided that after all this I need to come up with a good name for this sweater. The pattern doesn't have a name... unless you like "easy bulky sweater" which doesn't really appeal to me. I'm thinking of something like "blue madness". Whatever. Life goes on.

Let There Be Socks

Since I never stopped to pick up the additional sweater yarn that I need (maybe I'm afraid to) I decided to finish the socks that are on the needles. I'll do what I did last year and just knit up a whole bunch of socks, give some as Christmas gifts, and keep the rest. I obviously was not on my "A" game this morning when I took this photo. It's a mile away, off center, stuff in the background, etc. Probably too much caffeine. But you get the picture (ha).

I love sock knitting. It just seems to go so fast. I need that instant gratification I guess. I have some great Opal sock yarn that I bought on New Years Day just begging to be used. And I completely forgot about the cashmere I bought for my husband's socks until I saw it in the bag last night. There's a good chance that I'll stick to socks for a little while now just as a diversion and to do a little de-stashing. I have a good bit of traveling to do in the next month or so and socks are an easy "take along" project. So I am officially declaring Spring 2005 the season of socks. Ain't life exciting??

Now What?

Did you ever have one of those weekends where you're just coasting along smoothly into Sunday and then all hell breaks loose? I'll spare you the personal details but as for the knitting content, I actually ran out of Cascade 220 for my sweater with 4 inches of the second sleeve to go and a few rows on the neck. I'd be totally freaking out right now but I think (THINK being the operative word) that there is more of it at the LYS. I saw it not long ago when I was looking in that direction contemplating making a few more Sophie bags. I didn't even know I was running short. I thought I had another skein of it in a box in my spare room. Imagine my terror when I realized I didn't! To make matters worse, when I realized I was finished for the day with my sweater, I started a scarf, worked on it for about two hours and ended up frogging the whole thing. Instead of writing the rows down, I thought I could remember them in my head, and I did about 5 rows out of sequence and didn't realize it until I had about 5 inches of scarf finished.
Geez!
All this while I was watching a movie that didn't end until Midnight which is WAY past my bedtime. I am currently in a state of sleep deprivation which is not a good thing for me. If people know what's good for them they'll steer clear of me today!
On a more positive note, we went to see FEVER PITCH on Friday night and really enjoyed it.
A very cute movie for the baseball fanatic or anyone else for that matter.

The New Knitty

new knitty

CLEAVES - I don't get it. I don't get who would get it. I don't get why the person who does get it gets it.

W - Love it, love it, love it - want to make it.

MARIPOSA - Nope, not in this lifetime.

CAMBIO - Cute, but not for me.

ASANA - Very cute. But I'd be afraid I'd have to exercise if I made it, and, sorry, we can't have that.

XBACK - Adorable, just adorable. I could see Cate in that.

SOLEIL - I'd make this. In fact, I'd make several of these.

I DO - Well, I don't. (but I could see where a bride might)

SPRING FLING - Once again, cute, but not for me.

TIE ONE ON - That's cute, but I'd never wear it.

BRANCHING OUT - Lovely.... could be my first lace project.

HOT TAMALE - I was born WAY too soon for this little number.

CECILIA - every little girl should have one.

VIA DIAGNONALE - Like it, would carry it, probably wouldn't take the time to make it.

COCKTAIL MONKEY - Hey, how cute is that? Really?

ITSYBITSY AND KITCHEN SINK BAGS - just not my style

WHEELIE - um, just, no.

PETALS - Cute and fun.... what more can you say?

Congratulations to all the designers. Not everything is for everyone. Different strokes for different folks and all that. They are all creative and unique designs.

Current Sweater Knitting = BORING

I'll never do another easy sweater again. Yes, it's easy. But it's killing me. Another thing that's bothering me is that it's all sewn together at this point and I hate having to turn the whole big bulky sweater around with every row of the sleeve. Is that laziness? Probably. One thing is for sure, I better get it finished before hot weather because having that monstrosity on my lap in 80 degree weather isn't going to happen. That thing is HEAVY.

I was thinking I could make some major progress on it this weekend until I realized it's Penn State Orientation for my son which will consume a day and I will most likely work on Sunday since the weather is supposed to be nice. My garden will soon need attention too and my daughter has requested my presence in Delaware to help her with her's. I think my only option to find time to knit is to quit work. I wonder if anyone ever quit work to knit. Of course if I did that, I'd have to figure out a way to pay for the divorce. :-)

Elle est finie!!

This is my last clapotis post...I promise! She's done and I love her. After much deliberation and searching other knitting blogs I have decided not to block her. I found more regrets about it than satisfaction. The beauty of this thing is that it's "springy". It collapses into a scarf-like appearance but easily opens into a wrap. I don't want to lose that bounce that makes it what it is. I do have a slight problem with the fact that the edges and the corners turn up a little but I guess I'll have to live with that. Because I loved making it, and because I know other people will love it, I plan on making more of these. The next time I will use wooden needles and stitch markers that don't separate. The yarn kept getting caught in those markers and the metal needles were way too slippery for the rayon yarn. If by chance you are contemplating making one of these, don't let the directions scare you. It looks very daunting but the only changes in the pattern are at the beginning and end of each row. The pattern is repetitive and easy to remember... you don't have to think and you can definitely watch televison while knitting. The length of the pattern is just a testament to how well it is written and easy to follow. You'll see.

So last night was LYS knitting night. We have decided to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on May 7th. 2005 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival - Home I am so excited about it.
The women in the group are wonderful but I really don't know any of them very well. I wish Cate would be home from school by then to go along but it's one week too soon. When I told my DH about going to a sheep and wool festival it was all he could do to hide his amusement. They just don't get it, do they?

I put a few inches on the sweater sleeve after finishing clapotis. That made me feel good. But the whole time I was working on it my mind was racing about which project to start next. I keep trying to remember that my goal this year is to learn new things so maybe a lace scarf might be in order. I could use that as a Christmas gift for someone. I've never knit lace before. Oh well, whatever I decide, you'll be the first to know.

Phew! That was a close one!

Well it would appear that Clapotis is ok. I dropped stitches through the disaster zone and they don't look any different than anywhere else. Which makes me wonder about the whole "knit through the back" thing. I know when I picked all those stitches up and carried them up through the piece that they did not end up as they should have. I would have thought that would mess it up...I mean why do it that way if it isn't going to make a difference one way or another? I don't know. My mind doesn't work in a manner that enables me to figure it out. I'm just HAPPY that all's well that ends well. I should have some photos of the finished product tomorrow. I have a few more rows to do tonight and it will be finished.

Tonight is knitting night at the LYS. I have almost an entire skein of clapotis yarn left and I was thinking if I buy one more I could do the honeymoon cami out of that. I'm in the mood for a summer knit. However, just so you know, I WILL finish the sweater before casting on for the cami. Yeah, right..... if you believe that I have some land in Florida.....

Tonight will tell the tale

The orange marker is where I picked up the multitude of accidently dropped stitches. As you can see, I will begin to drop stitches through that area when I knit tonight. I have no idea what is going to happen since I retrieved the stitches and put them back on the needles without a clue of how to twist them as I went up the rows with the crochet hook. I don't know if they will drop or not....or more accurately, drop correctly. If this thing is buggered up I'm going to stick with socks for the rest of my life. I have yet to mess up a pair of socks.

I worked on this all weekend. I didn't think it would need to be blocked but if I ever do finish it, it will definitely need blocked.

I'm anxious to pick the sweater back up and get it finished as well. After that I think I'll work on reducing some of my sock yarn stash. Speaking of stash, apparently April 1st was "show your stash day". Somehow I missed that. Mine isn't that impressive but I saw photos of one girl's stash in a blog that just BLOWS MY MIND. And she said she has only been knitting for a year.
She had to take 3 photos to fit it all in and she said her HUSBAND helped her lay it all out to photograph it. He must be from Mars. My husband would have laid ME out if I had that much yarn. And, it was GOOD yarn too. God bless her. She obviously knows some kind of trick or secret that I don't.

Houston.....we have a problem

There I was, quietly knitting along watching Law and Order, when the phone rang and I had to take a call in the middle of a row. (the nerve of someone wanting to have a conversation with me about perhaps the largest financial decision of his life while I'm KNITTING) Anyhoo, I put the needles down with half the stitches on one needle and half of them on the other needle. I'm still not clear about what happened when I picked them back up. All I know is that about 25 stitches or more came off the needles and those slippery little devils ran like the wind down that piece of work. It took me 2 HOURS to pick them up and get them back on the needles. Now my dilemma is that I know they are not on the needles correctly and I don't know how to fix it. It looks fine. But when I get to those rows and have to drop stitches, are they going to be ok? I doubt it. Because half of the stitches are supposed to be "knit through the back" and when I put the stitches back on the needles, all I know is that they have the knit side on the knit side and the purl side on the purl side. I'm sure they are not twisted correctly and I do not know how to fix that. Even if I frog the whole thing down past the disaster zone, I still won't know if I'm putting ALL the stitches back on the needles correctly....that could make it even worse.

This is a lesson learned. I was using cheap metal needles left over from my childhood. This slippery rayon yarn did not want to stay on those needles from the beginning. I knew all along that I should spring for wooden needles for this project but did I do it??? Nooooooo. I was too cheap! If I end up having to frog this whole thing you'll hear me screaming from wherever you live. Believe me.

Keys Found!

It's nothing less than a miracle. The keys just appeared on my desk at home. Out of nowhere. My son said he found them on the floor behind the desk. What was he looking for behind the desk? Has he ever truly looked behind the desk before in his lifetime? Could it possibly be that he DIDN'T use the spare set the last time he drove the car like he said he did and the last time the keys were seen? Could it be that he actually found them in one of his pockets today and just SAID he found them behind the desk? I think so. Teenagers. Can't live with em, can't live without em. (I should use that pepper spray on him....JUST KIDDING)

On the bright side, I haven't bought any yarn today. I haven't even looked at yarn online today. Might I be on the road to recovery? NO. I was too darn busy working today. I have to do something every once in a while to pay for all this yarn and today was the day.

Whoa!

I just found a "scarfSTYLE" knitalong. Very cool. Check - it - out!


Scarf Style Knit-Along: October 2004

Scarves, Scarves, Scarves

I arrived home yesterday to find this in my mail from Amazon. (please ignore the desk...I know it's a disaster area but I DO work here) I like this book although it looks like they borrowed MY camera to take the photos. (and that's a bad thing) The patterns are interesting. I especially like the "Here and There Cables" (Norah Gaughan) pattern that has no right and wrong side. Having a wrong side in a scarf makes me crazy.

But THIS is the pattern I LOVE:



Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole by Kathleen Power Johnson
Could someone make this for me please? I really don't have time. Ha ha. Seriously, I don't know if I love the yarn or the pattern. I looked the yarn up online (La Lana Wools Forever Random Blends 60% wool, 40% mohair - Faerie Queen) and I'd have to sell my house to make this thing with that yarn. So, do I settle for it in less expensive yarn or just scrap the whole silly idea? I know... this will be my "after I win the lottery" project. There you go. That's settled. I love it when I make decisions.

Clapotis is clicking along, the sweater and socks are in limbo, and all I can think about is buying more yarn. It's a sickness I tell you. A sickness.

Camera found...keys still lost!

I'm amazed at how bland this looks in the photo. In looks so pretty in person...really, honest, I wouldn't lie about this. I still can't find the perfect dress for it. It occured to me the other day that this may be the first time I looked for a dress to go WITH an accessory and not the other way around. I know what I want, I know I could make the dress, but that would take time away from knitting and I'd actually have to hunt for my sewing machine so forget that idea!

I really have the bug to do a summer top. Since I like this yarn so well (Wool In The Woods...100% rayon) I think I'll just get some more of it in another color for the top. The cost of it is very reasonable which is really a bonus. I usually only want the yarn I can't afford.

I'm depressed today because I found out my son will probably have to quit a job he loves because of his asthma. He just can't take the dust and fumes. He is so disappointed and frustrated. I feel bad for him. You wish you could just make it all go away for them but you can't. But it's times like this that I think, wow, it could be so much worse and we should just be grateful that it isn't. He'll figure it all out.

I'm in Love....

with this yarn. I SOOOO want this yarn in "Tropical Sunset". Isn't it beautiful?

Silkmerinoyarns

Easter Monday... Can It Get Any Worse?

Yes, of course, it can always get worse but this day is the day from HELL. Can't find my car keys, can't find my digital camera (after laying Clapotis all out on the table and arranging her nicely for the photo), my cell phone isn't working, my daughter's cell phone isn't working (gee...are you seeing a pattern here?) We switched from AT&T to Cingular for the cell phone and the bill is now coming in a large envelope which my DH thought was junk mail and chose to ignore it. (ugh!)

ON the bright side I managed NOT to poison anyone yesterday but I also would never have pulled that dinner off without my mother coming in and taking charge. ThankGOD. I was in way over my head on that one. I think I just need to stick to knitting and forget cooking. I know my limitations.

So I tried all afternoon yesterday to follow the directions that Jillz ("purl up with a good yarn" blog) was kind enough to send me to activate my blog buttons... I failed miserably...sorry Jillz...after all that work sending me that stuff. I will keep trying though.

Cate came close to finishing her Sophie bag before having to go back to school. If I had had more time to help her she could have done it. I'm tempted to finish it for her but that won't help her learn so I guess I'll let it sit until she comes home again.

I'll drop the third row of stitches on Clapotis tonight. I am enjoying this project more than anything I've knitted in a long time. I keep waiting to get bored with it (I have a small attention span) but I'm loving every minute of it. (have I already said that? about 100 times?) I'm already envisioning the yarn for the next one.

To Knit or Not to Knit... that is the question

I did NOT have time but I did manage to sneak in a little knitting late last night. Catie and I knitted until midnight. Her sophie bag is taking shape (after a few minor mishaps) and she'll soon be ready to start the straps. I dropped my first row of stitches on Clapotis. What a feeling. I wonder if anyone else got knots in their stomach watching those stitches run the whole way down to the bottom. I mean, really, what is the one thing you DON'T want to happen under normal circumstances? That! So from what I can tell, you drop stitches at this point every twelve rows. It really keeps you wanting to knit ahead quickly so you can repeat that process. I'm lovin it. Just like Sophie, I see a few more of these in my future. Happy Easter to everyone!!

Madness

Ok, so let the madness begin. I have 2 days left to do 2 months worth of housework to prepare for my houseful of company for Easter Dinner. I have to work today, I have to work tomorrow and I have a hair appointment after work tomorrow that will take a few hours. So, yes, panic is setting in big time. The good news is that I got the grocery shopping and the wine shopping done last night so I consider that some type of progress. I guess I should just be happy that it's not 10 - 15 years ago when I was worrying about easter dresses, easter shoes, easter baskets, dyeing eggs, and all the things that come with having 3 little kids to get ready for Easter. In spite of the craziness, I'm looking forward to having everyone there. I'll miss my sister visiting her daughter in London and my oldest daughter who can't come home from Delaware. But, hey, more ham for the rest of us, right??

No knitting news to speak of. I got to the point that I could drop stitches on Clapotis last night and couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to get into it. What a disappointment. And I don't see that I'll be able to pick it back up any time soon. Since I started Clapotis, the sweater has been sitting in a corner begging to be worked on but I'm too enthralled with the pretty green yarn and interesting pattern that I can't force myself to go back to the sweater just yet.

I noticed a honeymoon cami knit-a-long going on. That pattern scares me for some reason. I love it, but I think it's the decreases for the fitting that sends the chills down my spine. Everyone seems to have trouble with left-facing and right-facing decreases. Without someone sitting beside me and telling me what to do, I don't think I'm quite ready for that.

I finally ordered the scarf book that I wanted from Amazon.com. I looked at it at A.C.Moore and loved some of the patterns in there. Definitely good Christmas knitting material.

Well, keep good thoughts that I get my house in order and don't poison anyone on Sunday.
(not to worry family... I have it all under control...honest)

Hooray!!!

I found my blog button on a knitting blog today! That certainly made my day. Thanks to Tara at Dirty Purls for adding my little Westie. Tara's blog is WAY entertaining for those of you who would care to visit there. (dirtypurls.blogspot.com) I have her blog button on my sidebar but I'm still trying to figure out how to make them "active". At this point they go nowhere when you click on them and I can't seem to figure out how to make them link to the blog. Maybe they have one of those "dummies" book for blogging. You know, Blogging for Dummies. That's what I need.

Cate's Sophie

This is Cate's first attempt at picking up stitches and knitting in the round. She got it with no trouble at all. Yes, I'd say we have a third generation knitter on our hands. Good job Cate! She informed me that she has seen many versions of Clapotis on other knitting blogs which is an indication that she might be getting a little addicted. Let's hope that knitting time doesn't interfere with studying time!! Maybe I should have held off teaching her all this stuff until after graduation.

Progress on Clapotis

A few more rows and I'll be finished with section 1. I think I'll be able to drop some stitches then but I haven't read ahead yet so I'm not sure. As you can see, I got nothing but knitting done again last night. But in my defense, I'm still sick and my back is killing me so housework and shopping are out of the question anyhow. I'm wishing now that I would have made a few more of those bunnies because they would have been cute decorations and gifts for Sunday. My problem is too many projects and not enough time. It is pouring rain here today. Totally miserable. But I see that part of the country is getting pounded with snow so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I'll take the rain over snow any day.

I'm Hiding My Knitting!

I've decided that the only way I am going to be able to prepare my house for the Easter festivities is to have my husband hide my knitting. I'm telling you that the Clapotis pattern is TOTALLY ADDICTIVE. Once I get started I can't put it down. The variety of stitches almost insures no boredom. And you just have to keep on going knowing that soon you'll be able to drop those stitches and see the pattern emerge. I can't get anything else done...so, yeah, he's gotta hide the knitting. I have NO will power.

On an unrelated note, I won our family blog limerick contest! Yay me! I gotta tell you there was some stiff competition. I think WAY too many of us have kissed the Blarney Stone! Anyhow, that was a fun little March distraction to pass the time until Spring. My winning entry was in reference to my sister's two big dogs who both passed away last year (not at the same time and under totally different circumstances) They now have a little Westie that is the cutest thing... I gotta get one! Anyhow.... here is the winning limerick:

The Stapelfelds used to have dogs that were tough
with tails like big guns that would knock over stuff.
They now have a terrier
that fits in a carrier.
Poor Ben, that's gotta be "ruff".

Well, whadaya think?

A Banner Day!

I was reading all my blogs this afternoon when what did I come across????? This is very exciting folks.... I came across a link to my blog in another blog! Hurray! I feel so official! Now, it was only the name of my blog and not my button so that will be the next step. (hey, as Michael would say, "it's a start".) When I see that little Westie on another blog that will really make my day!! So, c'mon, steal that thing people!! Go ahead... MAKE MY DAY.

I'm feeling under the weather the last few days...terrible head cold.... the kind where it feels like your freaking head is going to blow off. The kind where you don't even feel like knitting ...I know, hard to believe. But I've been lucky this winter. This is the first malady of any type.

A Sleeve!

I managed to find the time to start a sleeve on the sweater. Yes, this sweater will be finished just in time for me to put it in storage for the summer. But I'll have something to look forward to when the cold weather starts creeping up. This bugger is going to be super warm!

Holey Clapotis!

So it turns out that the holes were SUPPOSED to be in Clapotis! Who knew? Anyhow, what a fun pattern after you get the hang of it. You can't tell from this photo, but the yarn is shiny and I'm really happy with it. I'm glad I took my time searching for the yarn for this because it's just perfect. I'm picturing this wrap with a camel colored linen sleeveless sheath dress. Now if I can only find that somewhere!

Clapotis

I did cast on for Clapotis yesterday in spite of every effort to talk myself out of it. However, I am running into a snag. After not understanding the instructions, and visiting the LYS to get the stiches explained to me, I still have a little hole in the same place on row 14/15 every time I try it. It know it has to do with the last yarn over on row 14 but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Ugh! I guess it's back to the LYS at some point this week. So frustrating! But the good news is that this yarn is so fabulously beautiful knit up that I can't describe it. I can't say enough good things about it. It does separate, but if you could see how it looks, you'd know it's worth the effort to put up with that. I never dreamed I could love 100% rayon, but I do!

Clapotis... Thy Name Is Green

Wow... beautiful yarn. I can't wait to get started on Clapotis. I looked for a LONG time for the right yarn for this project. I wanted the drape to be perfect and this should do it. I wanted to clear up some other projects before I started this but I don't know how I'm going to resist. I have so much to do to prepare for Easter and just tons of other things on my plate as well. I'm feeling a little stressed out right now. I know I need a vacation.... I can feel it. Well, stay tuned to find out how long I can go without casting on. Anyone want to take bets?? :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Big doins in the O'Connor family tonight! Everyone will be wearin the green. Got the soda bread baked and the whiskey cake too. There are two cups of irish whiskey in that sucker! Look out! The fumes alone will kill you! My sister is in charge of the corned beef and cabbage (yum). We had a St. Patrick's Day limerick contest on the family blog and all entries will be read aloud tonight. It should be fun.

So, on the knitting front I purchased the yarn today for my clapotis. This was supposed to be for a gift. The more I think about that yarn and how nice it would look with my camel coat, the more I think that this first one could be for MOI. I am so excited! The yarn is gorgeous. There's no other word for it. It is green "Wool In The Woods" rayon. I'll post a photo as soon as I get it. My LYS lady is being kind enough to wind it for me and I'm picking it up tomorrow. Interesting that I chose green yarn on St. Patricks Day. I never gave it a thought until the LYS proprietor mentioned it. Well, it's appropriate! Erin Go Braugh!

Front of Sweater

The front of my sweater is blocking. I sort of had a dilemma with this. The instructions say to sew shoulder seams together and pick up stitches for the sleeves at the shoulder. So, do you sew everthing together and then block it? Or do you just block pieces as you go? Because when I do block the sleeves, they are going to be attached to the sweater. I guess I'll figure it out. I will be so happy to finish this. I am NOT a big project type person. I get bored so easily. But I am going to LOVE this sweater. It feels so good.

In looking at other blogs, I'm seeing so many things I love. The "Tempting" sweater is so cute. It looks like it would go rather quickly. I don't know that I'd want it for myself, but it would make a great gift. (ok, I'd LOVE it for myself...but only if I could lose about 20 lbs. before having to wear it) Wearing ribbing from top to bottom doesn't hide any flab if you know what I mean!

Tonight is baking night. There will be no knitting tonight for sure. I will make Irish Soda Bread and an Irish Whiskey Cake. Big St. Patrick's Day bash at my sister's house tomorrow. Admission requires the wearin of the green. Which also means that I have to find some time today to go shopping because I don't have anything green that actually fits me. The pressure is on!

Knitting Night

I actually did a lot of knitting last night but nothing worth taking any photos of. I made progress on the sock and nearly finished the front of the sweater. I knit while watching a Pittsburgh Pirates pre-season game on TV. No, I'm not a big baseball fan...but, you know....when in Rome.... In our house you don't have much choice if you want to sit in the living room and knit using the best light. We have other televisions, but that's my knitting spot and if I want to use it, I have to deal with the majority when it comes to the TV.

Today I will stop at the LYS to check out some more Cascade 220 for a few more Sophie Bags and I also want to find some good, soft worsted for another Irish Hiking Scarf for my son in law for Christmas. I'd love to find a "tweed" look for that. Any suggestions? My LYS proprietor is searching for a good yarn for me for the Clapotis I want to do for my sister. She got some great Wool In The Woods cotton/rayon spring yarns in but the colors are not right. I'm picturing Fall colors for that project.

Wow.. so many projects, so little time. I want to win the lottery so I can knit all day long. I've heard that you actually have to buy the little tickets in order for that to happen. My chances are slim... very slim.

Felted Sophie

Wow is this bag cute. I could become addicted to felting in a real hurry. Surprisingly (to me, anyhow) the Aran yarn didn't felt as well as the Cascade 220. But I don't care. I still love it.
And speaking of Cascade 220, I love working with that yarn. I highly recommend it for 100% wool worsted. I can see a large stash of that stuff in my near future.

New Socks on the Needles

I got this yarn (confetti by DGB) on Ebay about a year ago. I didn't like the colors on the skein so I just let in sit in my yarn stash. But I'm really liking it knit up. I had to start socks or go crazy. I MUST use up some of my stash of sock yarn. It's taking over the house. (or so I've been informed) I had to crack up at the name of a blog I saw the other day. She named it "I Hide Yarn". Funny! Been there. Done that. Still doin it.

Blocking

Wow. What a difference blocking makes. I have only knit about 3 or 4 sweaters in all the time I've been knitting but I never blocked any of them. I always skipped that process in a hurry to wear, or give, the finished product. I can now see the error of my ways. I unpinned the back of my sweater from the blocking process this morning and I immediately began to understand the importance of this step. It has a more finished and "stable" (for lack of a better word) shape. I'll never skip this step again.

Cate's Landscapes Scarf

Close up of the Landscapes scarf. Love those colors.

Lion Brand Landscapes

Here's Cate (and Irish) modeling her recently completed Landscapes scarf. Good job Cate! Very cute! Landscapes is a fun yarn. You have to love the colors. I think Cate has mastered the garter stitch... and it's time to move on. Maybe mittens next?

Finished Sophie Bag - Before Felting

Here's the finished Sophie. Cute, huh? I'll felt it this weekend.

I was looking at the book "Scarf Style" by Pam Allen at A.C. Moore yesterday. While I find scarves very boring to knit, I was thinking that is the perfect book to get me out of my rut and learning new techniques. The scarves are gorgeous and every one is different. And who doesn't love scarves? By Christmas I will have learned a lot of what I want to learn and have a great collection of gifts all ready to go! Sounds like a plan! My only problem with that book is the photography. I thought there was something wrong with my glasses at first. Why all the blurry photos? Yeah, the models look great, but shouldn't we be focusing on the SCARVES??? Stupid.

It occurred to me yesterday that I haven't followed through on my promise to myself to improve my skills this year. Not one project that I started so far has had any challenge whatsoever. I vow not to put anything on my needles (other than socks, of course) after the sweater is finished that does not include some new technique that I've never done before. Oh wait! I really DO need to make a few more of these Sophie Bags so they are an exception to the rule. I will re-phrase... no more BIG projects without some sort of a learning curve. How's that?

Sophie Could Become Habit Forming

I can see many more of these in my future. What a fun knit! I've never felted anything before and I'm really excited to see how this turns out. I was going to make it solid and then I spied the leftover aran yarn from my mother's afghan and decided to make the stripe and one strap rope from it.. knowing for sure that it will felt.

The St. Patrick's Day parade in Pittsburgh is this Saturday. All the Irish gear I knitted to wear to the event may be for naught. It's supposed to be 30 degrees and snow. I don't think I can stand outside for three hours watching a parade in that, so I'm majorly disappointed. Last year was sunny and 50's. We may still go...I don't know. I HAVE to have that Primanti Bros. sandwich. I think I was looking forward to that more than the parade!

Sophie Bag

Here is the start of my sophie bag. (free pattern - www.magknits.com) It's Cascade 220 and I started it last night at our monthly knitting group and then couldn't stop when I went home. I really had trouble putting it down to go to bed. It's a fun project. I just wish that I could put the lining in it myself when it's finished but I know I'll have to find someone to do it for me. My sewing days are long gone. And since I didn't buy ENOUGH yarn earlier in the day, I had to purchase THIS last night at our group:



It's beautiful wool, and my first purchase from a local spinner. She brought her yarns to group last night and I wanted all of it...of course! This will be the next Coronet Hat. (free pattern - www.knitty.com) And this time I will FOLLOW the directions and not make them up as I go along! Yes, there is a reason I don't design. :-)

And lest we forget to mention the progress on the sweater:



I'm ready for the decreases on the front...finally. I saw my oldest eyeing this up over the weekend... so, let me repeat....IT'S FOR ME!!!. Oh, speaking of my kids... hey kids... notice how my digital camera photos....um... suck? Hint Hint. Great Christmas idea, huh?

New Sock Yarn

New KnitPicks sock yarn arrived on Saturday. I love the colors, and it is so soft. This is the Cape Cod colorway. My daughter's golden retriever really liked it too... I rescued one skein shortly before it went down her throat. She loves to eat socks, why should sock YARN be any different? I'd like to have a lot more of this...it's wonderful.

I made progress on the sweater this weekend. It's coming along nicely. I can't decide whether or not to make more of the bunnies. Maybe one is enough for this year. The bunny was done in Paton's Divine. While it turned out very cute, I did not enjoy working with that yarn. I don't like fuzzy yarn at all. If I had to make a whole sweater out of that stuff I'd go crazy!

Mystery Project

Here is the beginning of the project.... who knew that a simple square could be transformed into this:

Lots of Knitting!

Last night I made progress on the sweater AND the afghan. I also started the mystery project which I cannot name here because I have Cate totally guessing what it's going to be. Thanks to Alyx from the Sock It To Me KAL for the pattern. All I can say for now is that it will be a 6 inch square when it's finished. Sort of. :-) It's pink and a little bit fuzzy. Keep guessing Cate... photo to come later!

Another "no knitting" Night

So last night was shopping. I hate to shop. What I really hate is WalMart but I had to do it. There was no escaping it.... even though I tried. I always march up and down the yarn aisle when I'm at WalMart hoping to reward myself for the brutal reality of having to be there, but of course there is never anything on the shelf worth putting in the cart. When I got home I stared at my knitting for a little while but never picked it up.... too exhausted from the trauma that IS WalMart. But, let's face it.. it IS one stop shopping. While I hate it, I'd hate going 3 different places even more.

Cate is coming home tonight for Spring Break. We're going to strip wallpaper. I know that's exactly what she wanted to do instead of go to Cancun. Oh well, hopefully someday she'll really appreciate what other people take for granted.

I've been reading so many knitting blogs and I love the "100 things about me" posts. Funny thing... this morning I read two of them that said the author is "afraid of clowns". I have a friend who is afraid of clowns. I didn't realize it was such a "thing". I also find it interesting that many knitters learned early...like around 1st to 3rd grade... gave it up totally shortly thereafter, and then went back to it in adulthood in a major way. (like me) The ones that really astound me are the ones that say they just started knitting last year and have photos of finished projects that I can only dream of completing. I think understanding complicated knitting patterns draws on some of the same brain power that doing math requires. I think you have to have the ability to think "spacially" and "numerically" to grasp the concept of reading and understanding the patterns. It's difficult for me. The people that design really blow my mind! Oh well, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Right?

Blog Button

Hey! Check out my new blog button. Thanks to my niece Erin for creating it exactly the way I wanted it. So now I have the button, all I need is the real dog! Somewhere out there, there is a little Finnegan Purl just waiting for me to come and get her.

Sweater Progress

When I started this sweater I wanted a project that would be mindless knitting. I was burnt out on the Irish patterns...cables, honeycombs, chevrons, you name it. Too much thinking. I just wanted a project that I could sit back and knit while watching tv and not have to concentrate. This sweater certainly meets that criteria. I love the wool. I love the colors. I love the pattern and I will wear this sweater into the ground I'm sure. But it is boring me to death. To DEATH I tell you. I guess I liked to think while knitting more than I thought!!

Look...I'm NOT a yarn snob!

Yes, it's acrylic. Actually it's TLC by Red Heart. (no heart attacks please!) Would I want to WEAR acrylic? No way. But I like how this is turning out. I like the look and feel of it...for an afghan. And these little pieces are fun to make. It's a great break from the sweater boredom. I have lots of pieces completed but just one little strip sewn together so I could see what it looked like. I forget what magazine this pattern was in but if anyone wants to know, just email me and I'll dig it out.

No Knitting For You!

No knitting last night.... watched Baby Ben all evening. He was a little freaked out for a while being left with "strangers". He lightened up after about an hour of the lip and intermittent wailing. What a cutie! I'm going to order some sock yarn from KnitPicks today. Adelle from the "Sock It To Me" knitalong couldn't say enough good things about it so I guess I'll try it out. I have one of their catalogs and I was considering it anyhow. You can check out their stuff at www.knitpicks.com. That's all for now... on to working for a living.... let the stress begin. (It's that time of year)

Finished socks... you can't tell but they have pretty Fall color specs in them. It's Sirdar Country Style DK weight wool yarn. They'll be warm. Hand wash only unfortunately...but, hey, you have to take the bad with the good, right? No more socks until the sweater is finished. (yeah, right)