Petrified Almonds

In an effort to lose weight and eat healthier (before the beach) I bought these yesterday along with a fruit salad and yogurt for lunch. Of course I was trying to re-create the McDonalds fruit salad that I love, only make it better with strawberries and other fruit besides just apples and grapes. I almost succeeded. I was really enjoying it until I bit into one of these almonds. It was like biting into a stone. The pain just shot up my face. Now I have a tingling and numbness around the affected tooth. I'm sure I'll end up at the dentist unless it's something like a nerve injury or something that will eventually go away. I don't know too much about dental problems. But the moral of the story is... dont' buy these things. The walnuts are ok but the almonds are deadly. (of course I had to try other ones just to see if they were all that way and they were)

I continue to work on Trellis and Vine. Although I am close to the end, it seems to be taking forever and now I am concerned that I won't have it finished before the beach. I know I could do it without the drying and blocking time. It's going to be tight. And I'm so tired at night anymore that I do a few rows and go to bed. Maybe I should consider taking the synthroid that I'm supposed to be taking to alleviate this problem. Yep. Add the pharmacy to my list of things to do. I'm such a bad patient.

Wow! Look what I got!

I got a late birthday gift last night from my sister. This thing is monstrous. It takes up my whole table. Now I just want to block something and I don't have anything to block! When I'm finished with Vine and Trellis (which should be soon), it's going to have to go on the floor. It's too big even for this board and I bought those blocking wires to do it with. They haven't come yet but I'm expecting them this week. The good news is that I will have that finished for the beach which was the plan.

I went shopping yesterday. Most of you know I hate to shop and I go only out of desperation in times of trouble. Our upcoming beach trip to Sea Island in Georgia requires some new attire so I had to bite the bullet. (try buying summer clothes now... ugh.) Waiting until the last minute always comes back to bite you but that's not what this particular rant is about. (you've been warned)... Our Kaufmanns store is now Macy's. You Pittsburgh people will already know that. I worked at Kaufmanns in between jobs once and for some reason, department store psychology is that they think their sales people need to use people's first names and be overly friendly with them. In theory, this sounds like a good idea. But in reality, when I go shopping, I expect the salesperson to be friendly, but I don't feel the need to have them act like we're long lost cousins. What I don't want, and what drives me crazy, is having a stranger act like she's known me all my life and call me by my first name (or any name for that matter) and then go into a canned routine about how much money I could have saved if I had used my credit card (I said I didn't want to use the card and then she said, well, you could use the card and then make a payment right away to get the savings.) What didn't she understand? And then, after that whole conversation she pointed out a website listed on the receipt that I could go to if I had any questions or if I wanted to comment on the service I received that day. What should have been a one minute transaction turned into a 4 minute transaction. Granted, 4 minutes isn't very long. But I didn't want to have that conversation. I just wanted to pay and smile and say thank you and go. I like people. I like talking to people. What I dont' like is forced conversation that you know is only happening because someone told them they had to do it. I wonder if I'm weird. Or anti-social. Is it wrong not to want to be BFF's with department store salespeople?

Crazy Yard Sale People

I had a yard sale this morning. Well, actually, my daughter and I had a yard sale at her house. I dragged about 3 car loads of stuff to her house and nearly broke my already broken back and when all was said and done, I made $27.00. Hmmn. Somehow I don't think it was worth the effort.

So I had 20 years worth of stuffed animals arranged on a plastic drop cloth, each 25 cents. None of them were cheesy. They were all good ones but as you know, a stuffed animal is a stuffed animal. Half of them sold. Only half! At 25 cents! I thought they'd go in a heart beat and I was giving them away just to get rid of them. And one lady, get this, brought one to me and asked if I'd take 20 cents for it. At this point I'm speechless. Yeah, let's negotiate over a nickel. Well I don't know... how's 23 cents sound to you??? Geez!!! Don't get me wrong. I'm used to negotiating. I do it for a living. But a nickel??? $$$ Thousands I get. A nickel I don't get. I wanted to say... let's do this... I'll pay YOU 20 cents to get it out of here. How's that? Would she have felt bad? or embarrassed? Probably not. People crack me up.

Random Blathering (just because it's funny)

BRAD PITT SAYS HE AND ANGIE WON'T MARRY UNTIL THE RESTRICTIONS ON WHO CAN MARRY WHOM ARE DROPPED.

Oh no. Say it isn't so. Do you think we can band together and implore the powers that be into changing how the world works for Brad and Angie?? I mean, really, I won't sleep. We should notify congress. Does the UN have any say? They're living in SIN people! For God's Sake! We have to do something!!

I'm sure their decision has absolutely everything to do with social reform and nothing at all to do with the ol' pre-nup discussion. Give me a break. But I guess you do have to give them credit. Nice save.

Project Runway

Since I have no knitting to discuss, you get Project Runway babble. (I did knit last night. Trellis and Vine. Do you want to see the progress for the 5th time?? I think not. Pretty boring stuff.)





















Re: Laura. This woman designs for me. I have loved every single thing she has created. Now, I wouldn't wear this because I'm too old for it. But lengthen it and I would love it. Like her or loathe her, Laura's got some classy taste in clothes. The other designer that I think is near genius is Michael. I wouldn't wear most of his things but I appreciate them for the younger generation. He has never designed anything that looked cheap or silly. Now, Jeffrey, on the other hand hasn't designed anything yet that I would classify as not silly . Just silly. How in the world could he have remained on the show after what he did last night???




















Why is he still there? There is ridiculous, and there is beyond ridiculous. What is that... thing... around her boobs? I can't stand his attitude and my 3 year old niece could come up with better designs. Personally, I think he's still there for the ratings. I'm sure there is a faction who can't wait to see what the next piece of crap from him will be. People love to hate him. And Bravo loves the hype. I can just picture all the Bravo execs sitting around the table saying... "Can you believe what they're going to be saying about this around the water cooler tomorrow??"

Ok.. I got that out of my system. Sorry for the rant.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Organized

Okay I was kidding. My desk is total chaos. This is why not much knitting is getting accomplished. I'm sure the cleaning people are talking about me and flipping coins to see who has to come in here and deal with this. What is it they say... messy desk, brilliant mind...? Or did I just make that up?

My sister and I have been trying to get together to knit for two weeks and haven't yet found the time. She got me a blocking board for my birthday and it finally came. Now I can block things without towels laying all over the place. I've always wanted one of those. Now if I only had a ROOM for it! I need a knitting room. Like a sewing room. Hmmn... which kid can I throw out?

Couch Potato Monday

Last night I walked in the door at 5:30pm (totally unprecedented) and walked straight up the stairs and put a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms on. I went back downstairs, ate a salad, and told my husband that only fire would make me go back out that door before tomorrow morning. I sat in a chair and knit until 10:00pm on Trellis and Vine. I believe it was the first time I relaxed in about 10 days (or more). If ever there was an evening I should have had a glass of wine (and didn't) that was it. I feel much better for it today. Life isn't supposed to lived at 100000 MPH.
















This is a better photo of the hunting sock I knit at the golf tournament. Not bad for one day's work. The yarn is Summit Hill from Kraemer yarns. 100% wool superwash worsted. It's nice. Just another UFO for the basket. I keep starting them. Finishing them is always the problem.

So the new Knitty is up for Fall. (www.knitty.com) I have to say it's not bad at all. I liked a lot of those patterns. I loved the cover sweater (Viveka) until I took a good look at the sleeves. What's that all about? I'd knit it, but I'd modify those sleeves. That would just drive me (and most people) crazy. The pattern I was most impressed with was Avast. I think that has to be the most professionally and well designed piece I have ever seen on one of these amateur designer sites. I would make that for my son tomorrow if I thought he wouldn't lose it. He loses everything. I just couldn't take the chance. It's an awesome sweater. That designer, Jesse Loesberg, also designed the Danica Scarf (entrelac) that I loved in one of the previous issues of Knitty. All of the sock patterns are nice but I'm not a fancy sock knitter. I like sock knitting to be completely mindless. I like the yarn to do the talking with hand knit socks.

Ok, I better get back to the grind. Have a great day.

Where did that weekend go???

I feel like I never left my desk. But through all the madness I did manage to get Colin's sweater sewn together and trimmed. Kelly really likes it. When she saw I had red buttons for it she was a little surprised but she didn't know about the red blanket stitch until it was finished. I will make the little hat that goes with it too. Eventually.

I worked at the Altoona First Festival at Lakemont Park on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon for Habitat for Humanity. It wasn't so bad. I worked the cash register most of the time so I didn't have to deal with the food which was fine by me. Then yesterday was all about Colin. He was baptized yesterday. So we had a big family party with too much good food. Way too much. We had a great day. The little guy is growing like a weed. The priest annointed his head with oil that smelled like cloves. He smelled wonderful all day. I obviously got it on my shirt because I could smell it all evening.
















The golf tournament on Thursday was a huge success. We are fortunate to have our tournament just keep getting better year after year when others are struggling. I think we owe it to the hard work my brother does to keep it going. He's passionate about it. I actually started a sock there early in the morning and turned the heel before I left that day. It is the worsted weight hunting sock on size 4 needles, so it went quickly.
















So today is Sept. 11th..... I can't believe it's been 5 years. I remember that year we had a decision to make about the golf tournament. It was scheduled for Sept. 13th and no one felt like doing anything but sitting at home and moping. We did decide to go on with it and it was a strange day. Everyone was so quiet. I sat out there all day long on that green just thinking about the ramifications and noticing how quiet it was without any air traffic. (there is a ton of air traffic over that area all the time) There is no way I could have realized that day how our world was going to change after that. A lot has happened since then. A lot of death and destruction.
It's been one year this month since we visited ground zero for the first time and only a few weeks since we've seen the Shanksville memorial site. We actually did see the Pentagon a few weeks after it was hit because we had a baptism in Arlington to go to. I just keep thinking.... how can this kind of hate exist?

I was in a meeting at the Blair County court house when it happened. I didn't know about it until after the meeting. I had my cell phone turned off and when I left there, I had a call from our secretary and frantic calls from my kids. I listened to my kids calls first and I was so confused. How could they be worried about two people in two different cities "because of what's going on"? My nephew worked at the Pentagon from time to time and my niece was living in Manhattan and often worked in the trade center buildings where her company had clients. No one rested until we heard they were both ok. We were lucky. So many were not.

The Great Outdoors

It's really difficult to believe that it's been about 7 years since my sister in law died from the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis. She and my brother were sweethearts (and neighbors) from grade school on. She fought the good fight for a long time and I never heard her complain. I don't think she complained even to her family.

Today is the 6th Annual Anne E. Barnes Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit MS. Time flies. I can't believe we've been doing it this long. My job is sit on one of the greens to verify if anyone makes a hole in one. (They get a car! Someone better be watching!) I love this job. I get to sit outside, all day, in one of the most beautiful spots in Blair County. After a few years they offered to relieve me of these duties and find someone else willing to sit out there all day. Hey! No way sister!

Last year I got half a scarf done for Pete's sake! :-)

Give to MS.

Knitting Night

I was able to add some length to Trellis and Vine last night. I'd say it is about 1/3 complete. I have a long way to go before Oct. 5th. (well, actually, Oct. 1st if you consider blocking time) Ugh. The pressure's on. The Jaeger Matchmaker merino DK is so nice. I highly recommend it. It is so soft.

Colin's sweater is dry and ready to sew. I can't decide between a back stitch seam or a seamless garter stitch seam. I read how to do that on knitty.com, but I'm thinking if I use the back stitch, it will take up some width and that might be good because it looks a little big for him. The floss will be used for a blanket stitch trim around all the edges.































In non-knitting silliness, I got this cool pen in the mail that has a lazer hickey on it. I get all these free pens in the mail because they want me to buy them to hand out to clients. This morning I was playing with it, and the dog noticed the lazer light and was trying to chase and bite it. Needless to say, I ended up having a lot of fun with that. Poor dog. Well I have to get my amusement in life somewhere.

My Dad

Thanks for all the nice messages regarding my dad. The diagnosis is myelodysplastic syndrome. (or something like that) It is a pre-leukemia condition that could turn into leukemia sooner or later. She said you just have to keep checking it. His white cells are WAY out of whack. They are going to treat him for anemia now and chemo later if it developes into acute leukemia. Acute leukemia was my fear. So, when I left there today, I was relieved. I was prepared for the worst.

Random Stuff

I've been a bad blogger. I'm so behind in catching up with everyone's news and knitting. But in my defense, there has been a lot going on. Work is insane with the transition. So much to do to get it completed. Much more than we ever realized. New signs, letterhead, office policy manual to be written, send licenses back to the state, advertising... the list goes on.

I did knit over the long weekend. Colin's sweater is blocking. Vine and Trellis is coming along. Tonight is knitting night so I should be able to put a few more inches on that. I want to get that finished for the beach on Oct.5th. I've decided to send for those stainless steel blocking wires to block it when it's finished. I wished I had had them when I was blocking Lady Eleanor so I know I'm going to want them for this. Then I'll have them for the LACE. I've decided I'm going to be a lace knitter if it kills me.

I am accompanying my father to a doctor appointment today that is very critical. He is getting some blood test results back that could be very bad news. All indications are that it is not good.
Keep a good thought. He takes care of my mother. Life is really scary sometimes.

Tea and Lace

Okay. I have the yarn. Now all I need is the pattern, the time, and the brains. Somehow I think the easiest one of these things to acquire is going to be the pattern. This is Scakel Merino lace weight. It's gorgeous. Unfortunately there are about 8 important projects ahead of it.

This being one of them:
















I know it's hard to tell right now, but these are my boss's hunting socks for Christmas. I scored this stuff at the LYS earlier in the week. It's worsted weight wool superwash from Kraemer Yarns. Warm and washable. What more can you ask of hunting socks?

So this is totally awesome knitting weather. Too bad I have to work all day. I can picture myself curled up in front of the fire just knitting away. Oh, wait, we don't have a fireplace. So I'd be curled up in front of the television with whatever golf tournament happens to be on with some college football game on the radio in the background, listening for the dryer buzzer to put another load in and worrying about what to cook for dinner. Work is sounding better all the time.

Knitting Sabbatical

I didn't intend to take one. It just happened. Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way of your knitting?

I worked on this last night:
















Colin's sweater. I have only the right front to go and it will be finished. Notice the little pocket. I slipped a business card in there. Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I did a pocket. Slick how that works. It looks kind of boring at this stage but I think it will be really cute with the red blanket stitch around it.

As for Sizzle, I've had some comments about taking it in on the sides. I had that done last summer on two of my tops ( Knitty.com's Soleil) The results were ok but not great. I tried it on again this morning and a thought occurred to me. I think I can wear it under a jacket if I pin the hem in the back. I know that's not a very good solution, but I actually do wear a lot of jackets with sleeveless tops to work and I tend to keep the jacket on all day anyhow. At least I'd get some wear out of it that way.

I picked this up in the supermarket this morning:
















It has some really cute things in it. ( and one ridiculously hideous thing... you'll know it when you see it) For those of you who knit for kids, it has two toddler sweaters in it that are absolutely adorable. Check it out.

On the home front, my son, who's old enough to know better, broke his hand last night playing tackle football with no protective gear on. He came in our room at 12:30 and said he was going to the emergency room. I gave him his insurance card and said ... have at it buddy.

Sizzle Fizzle

The Sizzle didn't shrink. Well actually that's not totally true. It did shrink lengthwise. It is definitely shorter now. The problem is, it's still just as wide which was the problem. In fact it just may be wider. Ugh. I see it heading to the Goodwill Box.

No knitting last night. I had a Habitat for Humanity board meeting that ran over time and I was exhausted when I got home. Tonight is MS Golf Tournament meeting and babysitting Benny and Corie. My sister and brother-in-law are out of town so I'm going to be substitute Granny tonight. I'm going to take my STR socks along and try to get a few rows in, but I don't see it happening. That Benny is on the move these days. Terrible twos.

I bought some gorgeous lace weight at my LYS on Saturday. It's pale pink. I have no clue what to do with it but I had to have it. Having lace on my mind and all. I left it there to be wound. That probably took all day. There was a ton of it and it is so fine. I forget the name of it but wow, it's soft and beautiful.

If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see a dancing hot dog. I just had to take a photo. You don't see this every day. (thank god)





















Oh, one more thing... I just read that they dropped their case against John Mark Karr in the JonBennet case. Gee. Go figure. Duh. Was there anyone who actually believed he was guilty?

just wrong on so many levels

Sizzle- definitely looking like maternity wear.















And what about this excess baggage under the arm?
(check out my little star shaped scar - ran into a wire fence at the age of 5)
There definitely should have been some sort of shaping under the arm. As it is, the fabric sticks way out under there.















Form fitting? I think not.

It's in the dryer right now. I forgot to take a look before I left for work.
Hopefully it shrunk. I'd love to be able to say, "Honey, I shrunk the Sizzle!"

Knitterly Birthday

My birthday flowers. Pretty, huh? I love those Bells of Ireland. Our local florist uses them in almost every bouquet. I say that, but actually, maybe they just put them in the things we order because of our last name. They probably just think they SHOULD be in there.
I got gift certificates for here and here. This is a positive thing. My family finally "gets" me. I'm thinking a few new books and lace weight yarn and maybe yarn for a Lady Eleanor shawl for me.

Work is insane. I had to complain about another agent yesterday to her broker. I've never done that before. But in this business when you mess around and procrastinate doing your job, it messes with people's lives. I won't sit back and watch someone's laziness mess with my client's life. There's no excuse. I'm busy too. But you have to do what you have to do if it means missing dinner, or the kid's ballgame. We signed on for this. You have to get it done. Now, of course, every other dealing I have with her will be miserable because she'll have it out for me. But, having said that, the paperwork I've been looking for for a week was on my desk this morning when I got to work. Signed 4 days ago. No excuse. None.

Cate is packing up her things today and taking a load to school. I'll miss her. She still needs a couch. I told her she can line up her kitchen chairs and pretend. We're going to have to find something somewhere.

It's a Habitat For Humanity weekend for me. I'm working tomorrow and Sunday morning at a fundraiser for them at WalMart. Happy Happy Joy Joy. I love the cause. I hate the fundraisers. But, hey, I signed on for that.

They say it's your birthday...

it's my birthday too yeah.





















Yeah, I'm old. Send sympathy. My sister's birthday is on Monday so we're getting together tonight for dinner. Should be fun. We have one of our nutso friends coming and we always have a good time together.

No knitting to report. Cate and I went to the Curve game last night and didn't get home until late. No knitting tonight either. I should be in the throws of full withdrawal by tomorrow morning. I may have to call in sick.

Pssst....How Many Months Along Is She????

That's what they'd be saying if I actually wore this. (and I was 15 years younger)

Sizzle is way too big. What is it with me and summer tops? Every one I have ever made is too big. It still needs the seed stitch trim around the arm holes. I think I'll finish it and hope Kelly will wear it. As much as I like it, I'll definitely try it in a smaller size next summer. And it turned out not nearly as low cut as it shows in the photo on the pattern. Which is good. I thought I would have to wear a camisole under it but I really wouldn't have to.

And, just to amuse you, here is Clifford, the big red dog, and Colin. Clifford made an appearance at my little nephew's birthday party on Sunday. So guess who's in that Clifford suit?? Yep. There isn't anything I won't stoop to.

My baby is 21 today. Where did the time go? I am assuming that this is the handiwork of his girlfriend who must have made a visit in the middle of the night. That poor van. It takes so much abuse. In the last year alone it's killed a deer, been stolen and made a few drug runs to Philly, gets treated like a dumpster day in and day out, and now the humiliation of tacky decor. It will welcome the relaxation of the junk yard some day.

By Jove, I Think She's Got It!

I worked on Trellis and Vine last night but I picked this up this morning before work and tried the mattress stitch again. As you can see, it's a nearly invisible seam with just a few little twists and turns in the road. The increases and decreases cause you to have to switch rows but it looks pretty good in my estimation. The only problem is, when you pull out on it, the seam does not look good. So, if it is tight fitting, which I don't know about yet, I may have to do the back stitch after all. This top is shorter on me than I had envisioned. In Wendy's photos (knit and tonic), the top seems so much longer on her. My guess is that I have a long torso and that is what makes the difference. I still think it will be fine.

T & V is coming along. It's fun to work on. The flash of my camera makes this blue look lighter than it actually is. This is going to be great with jeans and a white blouse and also as a scarf with my winter coat. I know I should be working on Colin's sweater but I can't put this down at night.

The big news around my office is that we are becoming a Howard Hanna franchise. Those of you in the Pittsburgh area will be familiar. I'm pretty excited about it. Our independent office has always been regarded as more of a commercial/appraisal real estate office and we're hoping that this move will improve our residential sales business. I think it definitely will. My hope is that I'll become SO busy with work that I won't have time to knit.

just kidding... c'mon, you know me better than that!

3 Needle Bind-off

Where has this technique been all my life? I can't believe I did this for the first time last night. What a great seam. It beats grafting as far as I'm concerned. The side seams call for the mattress stitch as you would imagine, and while I didn't have any trouble with that for the little multi-color baby sweater, I just couldn't get it to look right on this one. It was almost like it was the yarn that wouldn't cooperate. Tonight the plan is to try to figure out what I was doing wrong, if anything. I almost sewed it up with backstitch to get it done, but I decided to be patient and look at it again tonight. (definitely not like me)

Tonight is housework night because beginning tomorrow, it's all about watching Colin. My son-in-law's sister is getting married and they have a big weekend ahead. We'll watch him tomorrow during the rehearsal and dinner and then take him to the wedding on Saturday in his little kilt (and totally awesome highland socks) and then he's all ours until Sunday morning. I hope I have the stamina for all this! He's still not sleeping very well.

I want to get all my projects finished and start a lace shawl. I am determined. I can't get it out of my head and I am going to beat this thing if it's the last thing I do. I'd love to be able to take one to the beach in October but I don't think that's going to happen. I can have the trellis and vine shawl done by then but that's not really what I want. Why is lace so easy for some and so difficult for others???

I got nutin.

I worked on the brown garter stitch jacket for Colin last night. It's going to be cute but it's so boring to knit I almost have to put a gun to my head to pick it up. And speaking of Colin, here is his 3 month photo. The kid is cute. What can I say?






















I hit my head coming up out of a basement yesterday. I hit it hard. I actually saw stars. I'm not sure how I remained conscious. I realized that I had forgotten to turn a light out so I went back down and I was hurrying back up the steps. Some basements have this hideously low thing when you're coming up out of them. What were people thinking when they designed stupid things like that? It still hurts today. I've had a headache since I did it. Being a real estate agent is a dangerous job. According to statistics, there were 57 violent crimes committed against real estate agents in 2001 and 6 of them were fatal. I'm sure that number has risen in the last few years. But it's going to be the stupidity factor that gets me in the end.

Pooling

Here's proof that knitting with two balls of yarn does not prevent pooling. It just simply "stripes" the pooling.

knitting stuff

The little sweater is all finished. I'm not very happy with it. I think the sleeves are way out of proportion to the body of the sweater. And I had to add a row of crochet around the neck to try to pull it together. The neck was so big it wouldn't have have stayed on the hanger... or on the kid for that matter. And, lastly, I knit to gauge and this was supposed to be a size 12 month. It's more like a 2T. Not one of Debbie Bliss's best efforts.














The start of Trellis and Vine from Magknits. It has those two tiny strips of lace knitting, the exact same sequence of stitches every row, and I'm still biffing it up. I must be either forgetting yo's or not passing the stitch over on the skp's. Hopefully the blocking will hide the mistakes. I like the Jaeger Matchmaker yarn.

Sunday at PNC

Cate and I went to Stitch n Pitch yesterday... or is it Pitch n Stitch?? Well whatever it is, we had a good time. It took us a while to find the Stitch n Pitch table and get our bag of goodies and of course Cate had ants in her pants wanting to get to her seat so she could watch the Pirates warm up before the game. (I felt like I was with her father) The girl has her priorities all screwed up. Good Lord! You would have thought we went to watch BASEBALL!















There was some really neat stuff in the bag. I'll be able to make Colin a cool Steelers hat with the yarn that was in there. And the bag itself is nice too. Yeah, we'll go back next year.

Socks That Rock in the County Clare colorway. Yes, I'm using two balls of yarn this time to prevent pooling. You'll notice that we are sitting in peanut heaven. We (the knitters) had awesome seats but Catie and I moved to be out of the sun. It was just too darned hot.

Stitch n' Pitch

Anyone??? We're on our way. Why is it that every time I'm in the mood to clean, I have to walk out the door?

Houston.... We Have A Winner

Cate says no way. She's not goin in.
Congratulations to Yvonne for being the only one who figured out that the princess would not wear dog poop earrings in this lifetime. (personally, I thought she'd get it too) She made a good point in stating that there is the possibility that it may have been chewed before it was swallowed and if she went through the disgusting task of retrieving it, only to find out that it wasn't wearable anyhow, she'd have to kill herself. Soooo..... Yvonne, something great will be on it's way to you soon! Many thanks to those of you who participated in the contest. It was fun.

Unbelievable

My sister is currently sitting in the Heathrow Airport waiting for a flight to the U.S. in the middle of all of this security madness. They confiscated her knitting!!!

Knitting Plus (lots of other stupid stuff)

ENTER THE CONTEST BELOW!

















Last night I babysat Colin until 9:30pm so not much knitting happened. I did finish the baby socks while watching Project Runway. I will give them to our secretary today.... she's about 3 weeks and counting. Baby Levi will soon be here.

Since I didn't have a chance to do it last night, I picked up the baby sweater this morning and re-visited the mattress stitch to seam stockinette edges. It looks a little funky since the colors don't match but I think it's ok for my first try. Actually I may have done this before about 30 years ago but who could remember??? I hated to put it down to come to work. I was on such a roll.

Ok, Project Runway last night. I was blown away by Angela's dress. I would so covet that dress if it wasn't so low cut. Modify that sucker a little and I'm all about it. It is simply gorgeous. The premise of last night's show was to design for a former fashion icon but modernize the look for today. Angela had Audrey Hepburn and she was dead on. I would love to have seen what Laura would have done with Audrey Hepburn. Her taste is more my taste. I think she would have also done a stellar job. She had Katherine Hepburn. I would wear what she designed. But it wasn't as awesome as Angela's dress. As for Bradley... what was he thinking??? I felt sorry for him. But, man, he just asked to get tossed with that one. Ok, I know I'm talking to myself here. What can I say? I just LOVE that show!

On to the world of work... We are hiring a secretary for our branch office. I am receiving about 50 resumes a day. I am appalled at most of them. You can't believe it. Where were these people in SCHOOL? What happened to the rules of grammar? Spelling? (i'm not the best but I do use spell check when it really counts) Here are two of the sentences that I've read over and over:

I seen your job advertised in the paper....

I done secretarial work in the past.....

I want to call each of these people and help them improve their resumes so they can get a job somewhere else. But there are way too many of them. Actually, that is what I did when I worked at Manpower. People don't realize how much a bad resume hurts them. And bad grammar is the kiss of death. One of the most intelligent people I know had the most horrendous grammar when I met her as a colleague in a former job. She grew up in a little mountain community where everyone spoke that way. She never knew any differently. I don't know what goes on in those schools but I don't think that the teachers could compete with the home environment. Anyway, our boss took her aside one day and told her that if she wanted to climb the ladder of success, she better do something about her grammar and do it quickly. She didn't tell me at the time that he said that to her. She came to work a total mess for a few days and I knew that something was going on. Her eyes were bloodshot. I could tell she had been crying and not sleeping. She was quiet (and she was NEVER quiet) She finally told me what was said and that she had considered quitting because she was so upset. Instead, she ended up working really hard to correct her grammar and her career just soared from there. She has a very important job today. I wanted to kill that man at the time for hurting her like that. Turns out, it was the favor of a lifetime.

FORBES FOREST

FIRST OF ALL... ENTER THE CONTEST BELOW!!

Ok... on to other stuff....
















My yarn came for Forbes Forest. I have to say (don't hate me) that I'm not a huge Knit Picks fan. My theory is that most of the time, you get what you pay for. But in truth, I really haven't given them much of a chance. The yarn of theirs that I used for a summer top last year feels like (and looks a bit like) that stuff you make the dish cloths with. I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but suffice it to say I was not impressed. But I'm willing to give the wool a try. Especially after seeing this:
b r o o k l y n t w e e d: Forbes Forest (or "Finishing What We Start")

I'm hoping to get this finished for my husband for Christmas. He never asks for anything. I'd like to surprise him. Of course I have about 19 projects ahead of this one.

I had hoped to get the baby sweater sewn up last night but it didn't happen. Maybe tonight while I watch Project Runway. I figure that's about a half hour job and then I'll work on the Trellis and Vine Shawl.

God I love to knit. Why can't we get paid to knit??? For ourselves. Wouldn't life be awesome if that's how it worked?

A Contest

What we have here is an earring. A lone earring. It seems the other one has been eaten. Our dog eats jewelry. Some dogs eat socks and underwear (ZOE) and some dogs chew shoes. Our dog eats jewelry and always has. Fortunately for us, we don't have too much good jewelry to be eaten.

The earring in question belongs to Cate. She purchased these earrings in Las Vegas. And while they aren't REAL diamonds, they have some sentimental value and, well, she just loves these earrings. So, last night, the boyfriend du jour decides to go out in the yard and check out the situation. Sure enough, earring found. (are you sufficiently grossed out yet??) So here's the question. Will she, or won't she retrieve the earring?

Comment your yes or no answer to this post. Post by midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on Thursday, August 10th. Those of you who have chosen correctly will be put into a drawing. Make sure your name is listed and your email address. What's the prize? Damned if I know. Yet.

Projects Galore!

Above is a great photo of my STR yarn NOT pooled.
If you'll recall, when I made my socks, it pooled like crazy.
I'm making these little baby booties with the left over yarn.















This is the start of the Trellis and Vine Shawl from Magknits.
After I started it, I remembered that I gave the pattern to my sister
so I had to stop until I can print it out again. Our printer at home is broken... has
been broken for some time. Gotta get a new printer!
















The baby sweater is all blocked and ready to sew up. I have to re-acquaint myself
with the mattress stitch for this one. I'll have it done in time for Bedford Fall Foliage Shelly. I promise!!


Below is a photo of the little present the Ligonier Police Department bestowed upon me on my car windshield on Saturday. In my little town, we don't have to feed the meters on the weekends. Parking is free. I guess our philosophy is that we're just happy to have people visit and shop on Saturday and Sunday. Silly me. I thought everyone did that! Apparently Ligonier is not so generous and forward thinking.