Hmmm

Perhaps it's just me, but every time I look at the beginning of my Clementine Shawlette (Spring 2007 IK) I think...

Hmmm, I appear to have just knitted a codpiece.

Oh, I'll keep knitting it, but I'll never get that out of my mind. I have to keep myself from calling it my "Codpiece Shawlette."

Ok - that's just disturbing, however, now it's all I think of when I see it. Perhaps I'm slightly warped.

Perhaps I've just tainted it for you all, too. So sorry.

Real Life Interrupts

The view from my walk this morning... kind of cool and ominous at the same time. Yep, I do believe it's gonna rain today.

But, I have new yarn to keep me company. Too bad I just can't set all the work, and laundry, etc, etc, aside and curl up and knit. Rain and knitting just go together. But, no. People get testy when there are no groceries. They get a little grumpy when all that's left is my non-fat milk. I get comments about having to drink the "blue milk" - or as they call it, "shooting the rapids." My son made the comment that all that was left in the fridge for lunchmeat was "farty little bags of crapity." Well, that's descriptive. Guess I gotta to to the store.

I also used the last of the coffee this morning... now, that's where I'll get testy in the morning, if there's no coffee. All I want is a half a cup... but I really WANT my half a cup.

Come on family.... it's not all about you... it's all about me, and my knitting. Hmmph... they're not buying it.

So, for your (MY) enjoyment.... some KnitPicks Ambrosia in Mulled Wine, for my Clementine Shawlette. I know I'm always saying "this stuff is the softest" about whatever I seem to be knitting with at the time... but, really.... baby alpaca and cashmere - this really IS the softest. I'll be buying this again, and again.

The blue is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, for the Cocktail Capelet, also out of the newest IK. Cashmerino....mmmmm. A very close second for softest yarn.

I'll set it out where I can see it, and feel it.... while I walk by with another load of laundry :o(

Dorothy's View

It was supposed to rain today.

We were afraid it was going to rain today.

But, this is the beautiful view I had this morning. This is the view from our little cemetery, where I said goodbye today to an amazing woman.

God is good.

The sun was shining, everything was crystal clear - as it only looks after a rain. Beautiful blue skies, where we could look across our little valley and town, to the snow glistening on our mountain tops - new snow from last night.

We stood there and mourned our loss, celebrated her life, heard the gospel preached, and there was untold joy knowing Dorothy was no longer in an earthly, cancer-ravaged body, but whole and new, rejoicing with her Lord... and this was our view.

God is good.

I will sit tonight and knit, with my family all safe under our roof, with a slight sadness still in my heart, but even more, the unspeakable joy of knowing this is not goodbye. Knowing that this world, as beautiful as it can be, is not my home. I, too, will someday be home with my Lord.

And this gives me peace.

Thankful

Ene's Shawl is momentarily stalled.

No knitting going on here.

I'm sick..... icky head cold.



I'm REALLY whiny. Just ask Kaity. She's just had just about enough of me and my whining. I do NOT make a good sick person.

I am SOOOO thankful God has blessed me with good health - I am SOOOO thankful I have not had to deal with a chronic illness. I can't even get through a head cold without whining.

I know God will bring me through anything that comes my way, in that I have complete faith.

But my family might leave me.

The Home Stretch

My youngest daughter's boyfriend has been gone to church camp all weekend - a 3-day weekend.

She's sad, she's lonely... she's drawing UN-happy faces on everything....

She told me yesterday - you don't miss daddy this much when he's gone.... I tried to explain that of course I do - but after 25 years I've figured out whining doesn't help the time go faster and no one really wants to hear it anyway....

She didn't buy it.

Kaity told her, "6 months ago you didn't even know him... now you can't take it if he's gone for 3 days?"

"Well, I didn't know what I was missing then...." she whines.

Young Love.... she's driving us crazy.

This morning she says, "It took him 6 hours to get there, and they're leaving to come home today at 12:00.... so he'll be home by 5:00"

How do you figure that?, I ask... if it took 6 hours to get there, it'll take 6 hours to get home.

No, she says.... you know it's always faster going home. Huh?

Love her logic.

However, it is proving true for Ene's Scarf. I tell ya - knitting a shawl starting at the widest point and going to the smallest is the hot setup. Every row getting shorter - I'm all over that. I am headed for home - and, hey, it's always faster going home, so I've got that going for me.

2 hours until the boyfriend gets back. We all can't wait. Or maybe just 1 hour, depending on how you measure time.

Kaity's Handmade

Check it out my friends! My little Kaity's an entrepreneur!

She's been working hard, so go show her some love, if you're in a spending mood :o)

Knitting Conference Call?

I had a conference call this morning. I used to DREAD these, because they are sooooo boring. Without trying to sound too smug, all our conference calls are pretty much for the people who just can't seem to "get it", but we all have to attend. Work is the ONE place in my life where I pretty much seem to "get it," so I'm usually bored to tears, not to mention frustrated.

How ironic, as much as I LOVE to knit, half the time I can't seem to read a knitting pattern to save my life. If we had a knitting conference call, I'd seriously be the annoying one asking all the same stupid questions over and over. I guess I should be more understanding. But, no.... work, I "get." How is that fair. Well, I guess work supports my knitting habit, so it all evens out. I think.

Luckily, these calls only come up about once a year.

However..... that was my take on conference calls before I knew how to knit! Now - bring 'em on. I'll sit there and knit and listen to you explain the same thing over, and over, and over, for as long as it takes for every one to "get it" - as long as I can sit and knit and get paid for it. Sweet! Go ahead, ask the SAME question the guy before you JUST asked.... see - I AM paying attention.

Seriously people - pay attention here - it's not rocket science. Ok, it may be neurosurgery or something, but really, you're supposed to know this stuff. But go ahead and ask - It just means I get to go another row, and get paid for it. Not to mention, I can do it in my sweats and uncombed hair if I want, sans makeup.... from the comfort of my own home, snacks provided.

Did I say "luckily" these didn't come up too often before???? - now I wish we'd have a conference call every DAY. You don't know how excited I was this morning when I woke up and remembered we had one!

But, it's over. Back to "real" work - where I have to type, and haven't figured out how to do that and knit at the same time yet. Bummer.

So - this morning's conference call knitting: I cast on for Bonita. I actually have to pay attention to these calls enough that I didn't think should work on lace - so Ene's Shawl will have to wait for tonight. But casting on - I can do that, and about three rounds of stockinette!

Heh heh - I just got it.... these little knitting blogs of ours are kind of like a big ol' knitting conference call. Ewww... I think I owe you all an apology! I'll try to do better and pay more attention.

Looking for Spring

It may be threatening to rain tomorrow, but Spring has still sprung in my little corner of the world.

So, I'm going into spring knitting mode. I'm going to focus on spring and "cruise" wear from now until after the Sea Socks cruise. That means putting Central Park Hoodie on hold.... but it does mean getting to use this pretty green Garnstudio Safran

for this! The Bonita Shirt, from Summer 2006.

And this... you know, to go with a "little black dress" - toooooo cute, from the latest IK Knits.

.... and I've got a list of others long enough to keep me busy for quite a while.

First, I need to finish my Ene's scarf. I've finished the border, and am QUITE excited about the fact that the rows get smaller and smaller as I knit on. Sweet!

Off to knit.... but first, one more picture for all of you snowed in...hope you warm up and see some spring of your own soon!

Anything Worth Doing...

...is worth doing right.

ya'll are making me a better knitter. Thanks!

Well, That Was Painful

..... or what happens when you don't follow(read) ALL the directions.

That, my friends, is about 3 hours of unproductive making-things-a-whole-lot-harder-than-they-are, and about 1 hour of actual productive knitting.

Last night I had a rare LONG stretch of knitting time ahead of me, about 3-1/2 hours. Pretty much unheard of at my house.

But, I seem to have no project to work on. I've spent all week casting on and off for various things that weren't quite right, wrong yarn for the pattern, just didn't like, too hard... (I never did get my head wrapped around the Swallowtail Shawl - that has been ditched for another lifetime) - just general unproductive knitting ever since I pulled Green Gable from the flames. I'm waiting for yarn for something new, but I just need something to get me through until ye ol' mailperson arrives.


However, I'll be darned if I'm gonna waste 3 hours of my favorite TV and knitting time with nothing to knit.

So, about one good hour was wasted complaining to Kaity and the cats that I don't know what to knit. They really couldn't care less. Then, I spend another 15 minutes trying to make my arm fall off winding 880 yards of laceweight from hank to cake.

Then I decide I don't want to use that yarn after all.

I finally decide on Ene's Scarf, which I have wanted to knit for quite a while now. I read the directions and note that instead of like most shawl patterns I've seen, this one is knit from big to small, instead of starting out with a couple of stitches and getting huge. Hmm.... cast on 375 stitches, with the yarn doubled. That in itself almost stops me - but I am determined.

So I spend about another hour trying to figure out HOW I'm going to do this, and how much yarn I'm gonna need for a doubled long-tail cast on of 375 stitches... but finally end up with 375 doubled stitches successfully transferred from a mess of yarn wound all over my living room, and wound around two helpful cats, along with a bazillion stitch markers - safely to my needles. I thought about taking a picture of the whole yarn/cat mess, but I was having trouble counting to 375.

By the way - the helpful "estimate" I Googled of 1" of yarn per stitch cast on is a HUGE over-estimate. There was a LOT left over for the cats.

WAIT!!! Did I fail to mention I NOW re-read the pattern and note this is supposed to be a knitted cast on.... well that explains a lot. Like the fact that I must be half brain dead. Talk about the villiage idiot...

Anyhooooo - OK. Good to go - sit down start knitting away, thinking that's a pretty clever, if not unwieldly, way to get 750 stitches onto a needle... knitting away, stop to check my progress.... Hmmm, I seem to have finished the pattern, but still have a TON of stitches left on my needle. Hmmm, half to be exact... Oy- I've been knitting into every stitch instead of knitting into them double. They didn't make that part very clear - or at least not clear enough for ME. They only want you to have 375 stitches, I guess the doubled-up part is just so you have a nice thick sturdy border - or maybe just to confuse and test you. They never really explain that part.

Sweet mother of "purl"..... you've got to be kidding me. Tarter SAUCE!!! (I really shouldn't be allowed anything other than plastic needles and acrylic yarn) This is total amateur hour. But, you know me, there's no way I'm going back now and RE-casting on all those stitches. We all learned from my last post - I don't go backwards. WhatEVER the consequences. So, I just cut off all the extra cast on stitches, turn around, and start knitting.

Kaity swears there's a reason I can't do this, and the fact that my cast on edge may now be a little tight, being that I've knit into every stitch, instead of two at a time, kind of nags at the back of my mind.... but supreme hack-knitter than I seem to be lately, I will continue on... and have for three rows. I can ignore that little voice for as long as it takes.

That's right, 3-1/2 hours of knitting time = three rows. Three rows I hope do not come back to bite me on the butt later.

I'll be sure to let you know.

I hope my new yarn gets here soon.... and I can figure out how to read THAT pattern correctly.

EDITED TO ADD: Ok - I did it. I frogged it. I started over. I'm going to do it right. This is HUGE. I am proud. I am NOT a hack knitter.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Wearable

I just love you guys. You silly, silly people. You obviously don't know me very well. "Just frog it and start over." You don't even know how that makes me laugh. I am NOT a frogger.

I don't know exactly why, but I absolutely HATE to, and probably won't, frog more than a couple of rows of knitting. Ever. I'm stubborn that way.

OKAY. Let's start with "The Good." Green Gable - she is finished, she fits, and she looks great from the front.

So, here's "The Bad." I'm about 4-5" into Green Gable, have just finished the lace section, and notice, about 2" up, that I've made a couple of increases in the back of the sweater. I really should have just left well enough alone there.

But, no. I'm telling myself it'll bother me, so I decide to ladder down and take out the increases. Well, there's no picture of that result, but let's just say instead of the increases, I now had a VERY loopy, loose spot in the middle of the back of my sweater. I tweaked and pulled and tried everything I could to try and spread the stitches out evenly into the rest of the work - but no going.

I should have frogged back then.... it was only about 2", but I cringed at the thought of frogging back through the lace panel - and I'm pretty sure I would have screwed that up, so instead I decide to ladder back down and put the increases back in. You can see what that got me. I obviously didn't have a clue what I was doing.

This is the point where I tell myself - just go on, your hair will cover it, you can block it so it's not too noticeable..... lies, lies, lies... but I keep going anyway.

Ugly. (click the pic for bigger, more life-like ugliness)

Now what. It's finished, and it's ugly. A couple of you mentioned frogging the entire sweater and just starting over. Now, that's just the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Start over... uh, no. See, by the time I'm about 3/4 done with ANY knitting I'm pretty bored of the yarn, color, pattern, etc, and am just ready to be done. To start OVER is unthinkable. Huh uh.... can't start OVER.


So here's "The ugly Wearable." I know.... there are some of you out there just shaking your heads, wondering how I could settle. What can I say? Am I pleased with myself?- not really. Even I KNOW and can admit that I should have started over when I was 5" into the whole thing.... but we know that I didn't.

So, I covered it up. I took votes. I polled the family. I got advice. Even the non-knitters admitted it was bad - when non-knitters notice and cringe, you know you can't ignore it. They also admitted I was a little far into it to go back now. So, I had Kaity crochet me up a little flower, and I stuck it over the bad part. We'll just call it a sweater tattoo.

A cop out? Yes.

But, if I had frogged and started over, then I would have hated knitting it. I would have got bored, and mad. As it is, I like it well enough, I'll wear it, I'll call it a design element....

I'll always know it's not what it could have been, but it's okay. I'm okay with that. I turn my back on what could have been, and carry on, on to the next knitting adventure.

I hope those of you who are real knitters and perfectionists (yes, I even envy you a little) still come back and check in on me from time to time.

Distractions

These two lovelies are actually just my sad attempt at ignoring a glaring problem with Green Gable.

Let's not talk about Green Gable just right now.

Back to the lovelies. The one on the left is some swatching for Argosy with some pretty Lorna's that my daughter Lilly gave me for Christmas.

On the right... we have that pretty laceweight Kaity dyed for me a week or so ago, humble beginnings of my Swallowtail Shawl. I've been to this particular point about five times now, then seem to lose my mind. Did I mention I'm a slow learning when it comes to lace. I think I've got it now. I hope.

And, this week's View From A Walk picture? Check it out - if you hike to the water tank on the hill you get a view of the whole town. Yep, that's it - the whole enchilada. My house is one of those on the furthest side. Don't get all impressed, it's not as far as it looks, maybe 2-1/2 miles. But, still, it is a hike up to the water tank, so I'll give myself credit for that.

Green Gable..... (insert wailing and gnashing of teeth here)

Green Gable... oy, what have I done to you. This seriously could be finished in an evening. I only have about 2 to 3 inches to go. But, waaaaaaay back up at the neck, on the back, is a mistake that I told myself would be okay. It's not. It's bad. My hair won't cover it - I tried. It's bad. I can't ladder down and fix it - I tried, and only ended up making it worse. It's bad.

I can't show you now. You'd all kick me out of the club. I had to keep telling myself it would be okay - for the love of Bob, what was I thinking.

I'm still kind of ignoring it. But, it won't be ignored forever, and it's ruining a perfectly good sweater. When I figure out how I'm gonna fix it, I'll document all the gore.... good or bad. I'll finished it, then I'll fess up. Pictures and all.

Dirt Track Date

Last night a customer of the hubby's took us to Supercross in Anaheim. I've never been, but at least we ride motorcycles, so I had some frame of reference..... as in these guys are GOOD (actually, REALLY scary good - the best there are, so I'm told).

It was a fun night, and since the Anaheim stadium is outdoors, I got to wear Rogue which, in looking at this totally unflattering picture of me, obviously makes me look as big as a house. Holy Moly - I swear I'm not this big. Hmmm, that's unfortunate, because I LOVE this sweater and really wear it quite a bit :o(

Well, the hubby looks cute, so that makes up for it :o)

What You Didn't Know...

So, the 2nd meme... tagged by RubiesNPurls

Tell 5 things you've never revealed on your blog before:

1. I played the cello for 3 years in Junior High and loved it. I wouldn't have the vaguest idea how to play a cello any more. It was a pain to carry home from school to practice.

2. I used to be an EEG technician - you know, give people brain wave tests, stick little needles in their heads... (back in the day when they still used needles).

3. The one thing I really want, but will never get, is a tattoo. I am completely fascinated with the idea of getting a tattoo.

4. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education. Let's just say I figured out in time that teaching is NOT my calling.

5. I'm a pretty private person... and I keep thinking of a BUNCH of other stuff I could tell you, but won't. This whole blogging world is very odd to me, but I love it. I just struggle with what to say, and what not to say.

And... because a post without pictures is just boring, here's a random picture of my desk this morning and all the boring things that are keeping me from my knitting.

I really need to go put those two cookies back.

Stuff You Never Needed or Wanted To Know

I was tagged by Kaity, and Gina - for the "Six Weird Things" meme.

Here goes:

1. I've mentioned this before, but I am directionally challenged. If I am faced with any bed, sleeping bag, you name it, other than my own, I don't know which side of the bed is mine. This is a constant source of amusement for the hubby.

In a mall, when I come out of a store I can never figure out which direction I was going.

2. I HAVE to have the cold side of the pillow up when I sleep. This means I have to flip the pillow over, and over, and over.... everytime it warms up, flip it over to the cold side. Kaity and my dad do this, too.

3. Not only can the food on my plate NOT touch, for the most part I will eat one food first, completely, before moving on to another. All the meat... all the vegetables.... all the salad - no particular order, but finish one before going on to the other. No mixing. My husband drives me crazy, yesterday he took the salad bowl after everyone got theirs, put the the chicken on top (I'm okay with that), then the warm butter and garlic fettuchini on top of that and stirred. Sorry, cold and hot do not mix...Ick.

4. I have a fear of wide open spaces... the two times I almost freaked out and totally lost it were at the top of a ferris wheel, and on the ride to the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. Seriously, THAT one is just TOOOOO scary. The way the elevator is made is for optimum viewing, however, ALL you see is view - you cannot see any of the structure of the Space Needle - it's like floating.... I almost didn't make it.

5. Kaity says I sneeze louder than anyone on earth. Huh.

6. I have a "sick dream" I only have when I'm really sick, and it's always the same, and completely abstract, scary, disturbing, and undescribable. Except that my son, ever since he was a child, has had the same dream when he's sick.... he can't describe it either, but when he tried to explain it to me, I knew exactly what he was struggling to explain - it was the exact same "sick dream."

There ya go. Weird? I beg to differ. Let's call it "unique."

The picture at the top? I've started carrying my camera with me on my morning walk. That was a view from yesterday.

Tomorrow, the "Five Things You've Never Revealed On Your Blog" meme.

I know... you can't wait, can you?