Ending up short.... again.

Clare's "Bubby"

I have one full row left to do, and then the top triangle row.... and a ball of yarn left about the size of a golf ball. And we all know that ain't gonna cut it. Ugh. Every time. %)#!@($&*#

The colors in the photo are not really true. They are much softer than this in reality. I guess I better start to hunt for some of the skein bands so I can figure out what to order and pray I can find the same dye lot. I guess I actually could make it smaller, but it's small enough to begin with.

On the yarn shopping front, Cate picked this out here for her annual "Christmas" socks. It's "Jitterbug" and it feels awesome.

And for something REALLY special, I got my handspun 100% Shetland Wool yarn from Shelly yesterday. I wanted this for a pair of men's fingerless gloves. I can't wait to get started on them.

There is something I LOVE about working with yarn that is handspun by someone you know. It makes the project that much more special. Thanks Shelly!

Beaded Scarf

I can't remember the name of the pattern (I'm at work) or the yarn... but here are the photos.

If anyone wants to know either of those things, let me know.

Great yarn, great pattern.

I just got back from the beach with the beach babies and a few days with Cate in Charlottesville.

Great vacation... visited three nice yarn shops. One in Lewes, DE, and two in Charlottesville, VA.

I think that was the motivation I needed to get started again. And I better because, Christmas is coming!

This is funny...because Steel Blue is one of my favorite colors.

you are steelblue #4682B4

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Knitting With Beads....

If you haven't tried it yet, do. It's actually very easy. I meant to take a photo of the scarf I'm making with beads last night but I forgot. I'll try to remember this evening. While I don't think I'm addicted, I am enjoying it a lot. I was wondering who I would give it to for Christmas, but I like it so much I may just keep it for myself.

When I started knitting again, years ago, I did so after being motivated by reading a lot of knitting blogs. I kept up with most of them on a daily basis for a long time. Then, as time went on I sort of left them behind, only to visit them once in while. Today, on a whim, I clicked on one of them that I haven't read in a long, long time. The woman has MS. As most of you know, that is one of my pet causes. I had a sister in law die from the ravages of MS and my niece has MS. I always marveled at how upbeat this woman was all the time even though she spent most of her time in bed. She's a sock knitter. Socks, socks, socks. My kind of gal. Her husband had a multitude of health problems as well. I believe he had an amputation due to diabetes. The daughter looks to be a teenager. So the first post I came across this morning was describing how her chemo therapy was going. Chemo? For MS? That didn't make sense to me. So I scrolled down, and down.... She has two types of cancer now and a poor prognosis.

I got to wondering. Why does one family have so much to deal with? I don't know. I guess no one really knows. And even with all this, she writes her blog with humor. Still. I wonder how hard it would be to hold on to the humor.

I don't even know what she looks like. But I know one thing. She sounds like a person you would be lucky to call your friend. Next time I start complaining about something, I hope I remember her.

Colin at age 2

Negative People

Are you a negative person? I have moments of negativity. I think my rant below kind of proves that statement. I think we all have moments of negativity brought on by frustration. But in general, I think my personality is sort of on an even keel. If I had to analyse my personality, I'd say that I'm quiet and more serious natured than silly. But I'm not overly negative by any means.

There are people out there who are negative on a regular basis. They are miserable, hate their lives, and have decided that if they are going to be miserable, then everyone else should be miserable too. They ooze misery from their pores.

When this particular type of poor attitude worms it's way into a group of people, a few things happen. Some buy into the misery. They climb aboard the misery ship. A once semi-normal person who had a decent outlook on life before becoming infected, will begin to exhibit signs of the misery disease. This happens to the vulnerable ones. The easily swayed. These weak minded people really don't stand a chance when a miserable person infiltrates the fold. Negativity begets negativity. If you think it's not contagious, think again. One bad apple can certainly spoil the bunch.

Then you have the strong minded people. These people have no intention of sailing off on that ship. They recognize the danger of that journey and fully intend to keep their feet on dry, positive ground. Unfortunately, these people still have to put up with the infected people until they do in fact, sail away. It's not easy. At all. And these people really never sail away soon enough.

Life is tough and it's getting tougher. Being negative isn't going to help the situation. We can all have little pity parties for ourselves in the privacy of our own .... well.. privacy. But the better person puts on a positive face when meeting the world in spite of the problems.

I'm going to try harder to be positive. I don't ever want to be one of those people.

And the truth is, no matter what the miserable person brings to the table in terms of knowledge, experience, or success, that person is still a cancer to the others who might have been even better had they not been led down the path of pessimism and disillusionment.

Summer Photos

Who has time to knit???

The Little Princess Clare

A Rant

I can't give my money away. Oh, right, I know you'll take it, but the question is... where are all the store clerks? I can't tell you how many times in the last few weeks I have walked in to a store intending to spend money and then walked back out after not being able to find anyone to wait on me.

Admittedly, I'm a tad impatient. But I have to say I gave it a fair shot on every occasion. I walked around. I looked. But no one. So I storm out telling myself they didn't deserve my business in the first place and I'll just go to such and such place to make the purchase. The problem is, I'm so frustrated by this point that I just say.. screw it and go home empty handed.
And believe me, I don't shop unless I need something. I'm not a hobby shopper. So it's doubly frustrating for me. If I'm there in the first place, it's usually desperation time. I've already waited until the very last minute to get what it is I'm there for. So, yes, this thing I have about putting things off until crunch time doesn't help my mental state one little bit when these things happen.

Ok. I know stores are cutting back on help because their revenues aren't the greatest right now. But it's a double edge sword, isn't it? They can't make any money if they don't have anyone there to take it.

I stood in line at the supermarket the other night for an unbelievable amount of time. I was sixth in line, and the line behind me was half way through the store. There was one lane open. I saw people with a few things sit them down and walk out rather than get in that line. I had to stay. We needed the food. But I SO wanted to walk out of there.

In case you haven't guessed, this whole situation is, without a doubt,

driving. me. crazy.

Wait. One last thing... with knitting content.

Is this guy just amazing or what????


brooklyntweedvest

Summer Hiatus

It's time to take a break from blogging.

I'm not knitting. I'm not really even sewing anymore.

I've been putting off a lot of home improvement projects that I can do myself because I just wanted to sit and knit. It wasn't good. Now I'm not feeling the knitting so it's time to paint and clean out the attic and basement and light a fire under my husband to do the things he should be doing.

I'll be gone a while.

But I won't be gone for good.

Have a glorious summer. Look for me in September. I'll be back.

I'll leave you with some cute photos.

This is what it's all about.

Baby Clare - One week old today.

Mr. C. loves her. He really does. He has been a wonderful big brother so far.

Meet Clare

May 18, 2008

11:34AM

8 lbs. 3 oz.

20 inches long

Happy Anniversary to Me... (I mean us)

31 years. Wow. I've been with him 10 years longer than I was without him.

That's incredible.

Not much knitting to report. Ok. Let's be honest. NO knitting to report. Oddly enough, I'm still interested in READING about knitting and patterns and so forth, I'm just not interested in doing it.

On the other hand, I made myself a dress. I tried to get a good photo of it, but in spite of the fact that it turned out great, it didn't photograph well so I decided to chuck that idea. Anyway, it's beige linen with little embroidered circles in the same color going all through it. I saw the bolt of fabric at JoAnn's when I wasn't even considering sewing myself a dress but it screamed... "Me". So I found a pattern that I liked and bit the bullet. This dress would be so perfect for so many occasions. It's dressy, but not too dressy. It would be the perfect dress to wear to a wedding of which I have two this summer. I set the zipper in pretty well for not doing it in 20 years. When I look at it, it doesn't look home-sewn. I don't think I'd know if I didn't know. It's beautiful actually.

Too bad it's two sizes too small.

Ugh.

Baby Clare should be arriving on the scene any day now. I thought she would be a nice anniversary gift, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. HAVE TO GET THAT BLANKY DONE!!!!

De-Stashing....

The guilt has finally gotten to me. I have too much yarn. I had good intentions but no follow-through.

Anyhow, remember the whole Noro Kureyon fiasco? When I thought my husband threw out my remaining yarn while I was in the middle of a project? Guess what recently surfaced....

And when I think what I went through trying to find the correct color and dye lot to replace it! Geesh! So.. really.... shhhh! Don't tell him I found it!

This stuff is going on ebay. I know I won't use it. It made a lovely Lady Eleanor which will match almost everything I wear. (I'm into black and gray) It will match my camel dress coat and my black dress coat. And I love it. But I know I won't use this left over yarn.

I have 9 skeins of color 149 Dye lot E. (100% wool... great for felting) It's up for grabs for my "Pittsburgh" buds or anyone else who may want it before I put it on ebay. I paid $80.00 for it. I'll sell it for $60.00 and I'll pay the shipping. Let me know.

Sewing

I was late with my SIL's birthday (as usual) but in my defense, I couldn't decide what to get her. She's into golfing so I made this for her. It's a travel bag for her golf shoes. They get pretty yucky and this will keep everything else in her suitcase clean. I like it.

As I was leaving the house this morning, I realized I wanted to stay home and work on the baby's blanket. I think that's a good sign. I'm digging into that again tonight. Yay knitting!

A few rows....

That's all I've managed lately. I put a few rows on a pair of socks at an open house. I felt good about sock knitting. I think I could definitely get back into that. But then I'd feel guilty because the baby bubby is still just sitting there. I figure I have one or two good weeks to get that finished and I can't talk myself into picking it up.

Anyhow, Mr. C will soon be two. The party was held early in the event his mom winds up in the hospital. She feared he wouldn't get his party. He got it and he liked it. Especially the cake.

The terrible 2's. Let the fun begin.

Mystery of the Disappearing Obsession....

I don't know what has gotten into me. I don't want to knit. After years and years of near obsession, I'm just not feeling it.

So, while I will talk myself into finishing the baby's blanket, I think I'm going to take a knitting break for now and try to get it back eventually.

For a while, I thought sewing was taking over, but I really don't want to do that either. Could be time to get caught up on my reading, or do a little home improvement. There are walls that need painted for sure.

Below is a completed sewing project .... diaper bag and changing pad for Clare. I'm rather proud of this project. I never made anything like this before. It didn't require a lot of skill, but it was new for me. It's cute, don't you think?

Weekend Update

No knitting was accomplished...

King's Family Winery

Catie and Joe at Monticello

Anyone wanting to take a nice weekend trip from PA... I highly recommend the Charlottesville, VA area. It's beautiful. Beautiful scenery, beautiful university (UVA), and beautiful wineries!

Happy Weekend!

Is it just me, or would it be nice if this actually FIT her?

Off to Charlottesville to see Cate.... have a great weekend.

So Much For Secrets

Posting has been light due to the fact that everything I'm doing right now is a secret... or WAS a secret. This is Clare's blanket. (or "bubby" as Mr. C. refers to them) It was exactly where it was supposed to be hiding in my knitting bag. As it would happen, very pregnant daughter strolls into the house, walks over to the chair, and proceeds to snoop in the knitting bag. Before SHE started knitting, she would have never even dreamed of looking in that bag. So the cat (or the baby gift) is out of the bag.

This entrelac pattern can be found at www.magknits.com. I was going to link to it for you, but their website appears to be down at the current time. The yarn is Art Yarns Supermerino (color sm127) which is machine washable. It's turning out great.

And there is still one more surprise that she hasn't found yet.