Get Ready, Get Set, Monday!

Hey Flan,

If this was the cabin weekend I hope it went well, if not, then I hope it goes well. My weekend, well, really just Sunday as Sunday is now my only day of rest, was really nice. A truly shocking amount was accomplished and we watched a great movie. Much like "Spellbound" and the Scrabble movie, "Wordplay" is a fascinating look into the world of crossword puzzles. It was also oddly compelling and I'd recommend adding it to your Netflix queue.

Let's see... knitting content... The Dad's sweater is trucking along, despite the fact that I've nicknamed it "The Rotting Pumpkin". The orange-y of the main colored tweed, plus all the multi colored tweedy bits all seem quite reminiscent of a rotting pumpkin, at least to my poor muddled brain. There's only an inch or so of mindless stockinette remaining before I can switch to mindless ribbing and the body will be done (!). At that point I have to seriously convince myself that he really really doesn't want a vest and the darn thing really should have sleeves.

MS3 update: there has been progress! Friday I first got into a tizzy and then had to tink back the 6 rows of progress which had been the grand total of what I had done the previous week. I then trucked on and noticed, approximately 20 rows later that there was still a mistake and I hadn't tinked back far enough. I told myself one of those lies that we knitters do- it will block out. At this point I'm choosing to believe the lie and am hoping that if the blocking doesn't fix it that The Grandma, whose eyes will be 90 like the rest of her, really won't notice. It is kind of obvious but I'm leaving my faith to the blocking.

Yesterday I meant to sit down and make it through Clue 2. However, the lace mojo and I never quite found our groove and there was serious tinking to the point where we went on mutual time outs. I think I'm on row 135 but don't really remember. It turns out that I make lots of mistakes after working 13.5hr days, so the MS3 and I are probably on sabbatical until next Friday.

Happy Monday.

Fires and Lace

Kathleen-
I'm so glad the house and your parents are safe. It seems to me that you make a bargain when you live in much of the West. You get to live in truly beautiful, spectacular places, and in return, you run a risk of fire as the forests renew themselves. Having been on both sides of an evacuation threat (as an evacuee and as a dispatcher), I always breathe a great sigh of relief when the danger passes, and life returns to normal.

This has not been the most productive knitting week in recent memory. Too much work combined with a migraine on Monday night means that the only knitting accomplished since the weekend happened at Knit Night on Tuesday. I'm trucking along on the heel of the first of my sockapalooza socks, and I should get some good knitting time tonight and tomorrow night, so I think the first sock may be finished by Monday. That would be ideal, given that the socks are supposed to ship the first week of August.

I've also knit a few rows on MS3- though I'm a bit behind for tomorrow's release of Clue #3. With luck, it'll get done tonight, but we're hosting game night, which is sometimes functional for knitting lace, and sometimes not so much. After all, I knit the first half of Clue #1 while playing a board game about British history. If there's no MS3 knitting tonight, I'll be knitting on my sockapalooza socks and hoping I can make up the difference on MS3 this weekend.

As for your question, I think I read somewhere that the stole is going to be asymmetrical in pattern (though not in shape), so I don't think we'll be re-knitting the same clues later on.

I'm also beginning to plan- we've scheduled a cabin trip for the weekend after this one- will I bring the MS3, or is that asking for trouble? Should I just bring socks to knit on? As usual, my knitting packing for the trip is happening in my head long before I pack any clothes!

Out of Danger.

Hey Flan,

It seems the fire is out, thank goodness. On one level I know that the forests and other parts need fires and that fire is vital to the forest ecosystem. On another level it's just freaky when your parents could be homeless because the house you grew up in has burned. They think it was started by someone playing with fireworks.

I have been thinking about the MS3. I will say that I have never ever ever knit a lace stole, however, after you get to a certain point isn't it just the whole thing but flipped upside down?? I suppose my question is: isn't this really half of a mystery? I assume that the stole will have some sort of symmetry, so won't the last triangle look like a reverse of the first triangle? It seems that we should be able to flip the charts upside down and finish it without more clues. Is that completely nutty? I'm probably missing something.

Sadly, the only knitting completed yesterday was 20 sts on The Dad's Sweater while waiting in a parking lot and the only progress on the MS3 was the above pondering. I was talking to The Grandmother about my new part time job and she asked when, after all that time spent at work, was I going to find time to knit. I love that she was concerned about the loss of knitting time.

Happy Tuesday.

Fires

Hey Flan,

As you know, it's fire season. We both come from deserts and are well aware of fire season. However, there's a fire burning very close to my parent's house. Usually, fires in Western Washington burn in either of the canyons north of my parent's house. The fires are usually in the forest and are important aspects of forest maintenance.

However, this one is dangerously near their house. If the wind stays how it is then they will be alright. If it shifts there could be a significant problem.

Pray for cool temperatures and no wind and that everyone fighting the fires are safe.

Too Early to Be Awake

Hey Flan,

For some reason that will remain unknown forever, I woke up at 5:37 on a Saturday morning. During the week when there are such horrors as going to the gym I will occasionally be awake during the ungodly hour of 5 am but this should never ever occur during the sanctity of a Saturday. After it became sadly obvious that I would not be sleeping any more I decided to get up and negotiate with my camera so that I could have photos in the post.

Alas, now am I not only awake far too early, I can't find the camera connecty bit. The Hubby rearranged the computer stuff not too long ago and seems to have disappeared the connecty bit. Naturally, he is asleep and it just seems wrong that more than one of us should have to be awake right now.

The "no it isn't" baby blanket is finished! Ends woven in and blocked and everything. I love it. The Hubby loves it. I was showing it off and he was loving it and then he asked, "um, how much do you like the person you were going to give it to? 'Cause if you don't like her that much, um, I'd be happy to use it." I informed him that, although I don't know the intended recipient all that well I know and like her mother quite a bit, so he couldn't have it. I will show off pictures in November when it is gifted at the baby shower. The pattern was very fun to knit and anything on 9s goes pretty fast and I love Cascade Sierra, so I told him I would make him a "grown up" one... at some point.

After basking in the glow of a FO I managed to get through a whole 2 rows of Clue 2. So far so good.

Last night, before waking up at a truly absurd time, I dreamt about the fair isle hat from brooklyn tweed. Somehow in the dream I had knit the entire thing in an afternoon or some craziness like that but had neglected to do the lining and was freaking out. Sleeping can be so stressful. Now the question is: should I start the hat? Was the dream a warning against fair isle? Is it the universe telling me I learned nothing from my aspartame hangover last Thursday and punishing me for having a diet drink yesterday? I'm voting for the latter and going to try and find some water.

Slowly Mysterious

Hey Flan,

Have you read Stephanie today? She's joined the Mystery Stole too! I so excited that the Harlot herself is doing the same project as we are. However, there was something that made me a little shocked and a bit surprised all at the same time. The person Stephanie was referencing said that the first clue took only ONE AFTERNOON to complete. Who is this woman and how fast is it that she knits??!! Good grief.

That was a big ol' slice of humble pie. It took me 2 tries and 4 days to do the first little bit. I have to have almost complete silence and go very very slowly in order for it to come out remotely close to correct. I feel like I'm on a track for "special" lace knitters and should just sit quietly on the sidelines (muttering "yarn over, knit two together" to myself) and watch all those fast people speed past.

[Sidenote: I wish people would refrain from posting finished pictures until the next clue comes out. It seems to spoil the mystery.]

The only consolation at all is that I am getting blessedly closer to the end of the "no it isn't " baby blanket. I was stuck in the black hole of having something 1/2-2/3 done and no matter how much you knit it doesn't seem to make a difference. I watched a Miss Marple and refused to let myself knit on anything else. I think it's about 3/4 the way done and am extraordinarily relieved.

A new clue comes out tomorrow and I really hope it's the slow tortoises among us who will faithfully plod along and actually finish. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself while everyone finishes it before I have a chance to click "print".

Happy Independence Day!

Kathleen-
Happy Independence Day! Mine was graced with good food, a day full of board and party games, knitting, and fireworks. What more could one want?

Your Tuesday storm sounds a little too exciting! We need the rain badly here- even with rain on Tuesday, we're still well below normal, and my gardens show it. However, we're not nearly as bad off for rain as my hometown, which canceled its fireworks show for the second year in a row (and I think the 6th time in 8 years). It turned out to be a good precaution, as a neighboring town that opted to go on with the show managed to start a small fire!

Tuesday, armed with Knit Night companionship and a deep breath, I ripped the heel and gusset from my sockapalooza sock, put the stitches back on the needle, and recommenced knitting. As a result of my lovely day yesterday, I've reknit most of the gusset, and hope to knit the heel tonight.
After all, tomorrow Clue #2 of Mystery Stole 3 will be posted! I'm very very close to the end of Clue 1- maybe 5 rows away, so that should get finished tonight for optimum knitting over the weekend.

A Perfect Afternoon

Hey Flan,

So today we had a thunderstorm. Not all that unusual really, seeing as it's monsoon season. Typically, every afternoon there will be a brief but serious thunderstorm. It happened last year but hasn't really this year. You sort of get used to unplugging all electronics before going to work, should the storm hit while you are away. It hit today and apparently ripped the roof off a Wal-Mart and flooded it's parking lot and the cars parked therein. Just goes to show you that you probably shouldn't be shopping at Wal-Mart.

The roof in our room started leaking and the power went out for awhile at work, but other than that we were fine. My co-worker and I watched the storm out the windows and chatted. The surprising byproduct of thunderstorms is that they make me really super hungry. Not hungry for just anything, but for carbs and fried food. Really, really hungry.

On the way home I stopped by the new, locally owned market/ deli and got myself some pulled pork, whipped potatoes and macaroni and cheese and they even added a corn muffin for good measure. I was so excited I had a few bites in the parking lot and it was all amazing. Trying to be considerate to the other drivers on the road, I restrained from eating anything besides the corn muffin on the trip home.

Once home I was relieved to find that, although we had lost power, it had returned quickly and I was able to eat my delicious carb laden feast while watching my mysteries on DVD and while wearing old stretchy sweatpants and one of The Hubby's t-shirts.

I followed all the eating with some very restorative knitting, then a nice cup of tea and a snickerdoodle I made yesterday.

It was a pretty perfect afternoon and I hope yours was just as nice.

Question of the Day

Kathleen-
Last night I knit, tinked, and knit again, and only made about two rows worth of progress on the Mystery Stole. I think I just completed row 67, so I'm still on track.

Here's the question: will I be too distracted at Knit Night for successful lace knitting? Should I take the Mystery Stole, or take socks?

Which means it's time for a confession: I think I need to rip out the heel on my sockapalooza socks- the heel that I turned last week at Knit Night. Last night I tried the sock on, and the length fit me. All very well and good except for the part where my pal has bigger feet than me! This would, of course, also require the ripping out of the gusset, which I now think I started too early. Perhaps I'll bring the sock to Knit Night for moral support.

After deciding I was done with the Mystery Stole for the night last night (and watching the Twins lose to the Yankees), Mike and I watched the final episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip-Aaron Sorkin's latest show. Sadly, it never seemed to get any traction, so it was canceled, and we've watched the last few episodes online. While watching, I knit on the socks newly dubbed "the Kermit Socks." These would be the ones that you started the toes, and gifted me with in April. One heel is now turned, and I'm working up the leg, and the other is in the midst of the gusset.

So tonight, what should I do? Bring the stole in case I have enough concentration? Knit only on the sockapalooza socks (or rip and re-knit, as the case may be?)?

Lacey

Kathleen-
I'm glad to hear that you might be the subject of future therapy sessions for someone else's child. It makes me wish there was more latitude on "baby colors" among more of the population. Not that there's anything wrong with rainbow sherbert colors for those that like them, but for parents or kids who don't, what's so wrong with branching out?

On Friday I cast on for Mystery Stole 3, and knit about 4 rows, but Saturday I settled in for some serious knitting. Despite a fair amount of tinking back (my own fault, I was trying to knit lace and play an 8 hour board game about British history), I finished row 55 without too much incident. The first picture is pretty accurate for color, while the second shows the lace a bit better.


Of course, my steller pace on Saturday meant that I got much less done on Sunday. I think I was at row 61 when I stopped knitting last night. I'm not sure how much knitting time I'll have this week, but I'm trying to assign myself 10 rows a night so that I can complete the clue by Friday. The good news is that I should have plenty of knitting time this weekend to catch up if neccesary!

Given my record on knitting on deadlines, I'm not totally sure that I'll be able to keep up, but so far, so good.

Recombobulated

Hey Flan,

For some reason last week was especially crazy and, although the weekend will probably be just as nutty, at least I don't have to go to work. The Hubby and I actually took ourselves out on a date last night and had a fabulous time. Sometimes I forget how much fun I have spending time with my husband and it's always nice to be reminded.

How is your mystery stole coming? I gave myself a certain number of rows for "homework" each day. I think I got to row 34 or so yesterday and am very excited about today's section. While I was working on it I was thinking about what on earth I'm going to do when it's done. Then I remembered that The Mommy's Mom is having her 90th birthday in September. (She's the one that doesn't want to get older than 80, so we've had her 80th birthday every year since.) I probably won't be able to go, but I could send her a hug in the form of a knitted stole. She probably won't wear it, but I think she'd like to have it.

I've also been working on a baby blanket. It's sage green and turning out just fine if I do say so myself. I happened to have it at work yesterday and was showing it to my co-workers. One of them loved it. The other one thinks I'm even more nuts than she did before. She first asked me what on earth that thing was, and when I said it was a baby blanket she flat out disagreed. It wasn't in the proper colors- blue, pink or anything found in rainbow sherbet. I tried to tell her that the expectant mother is a hippy chick that wants browns and greens. My co-worker just doesn't agree and claimed that the future child will be quite upset when they grow up to find out that their mother didn't give them only baby blankets in "proper colors". Somehow I think this future child will be a bit more grounded that than, but you never know, I might be the subject of future therapy sessions as the woman who knit the wrong color of blanket.

Gracie and I are headed to the Farmer's Market this morning. Last we we each bought watermelons and had to schlep them a very long way back to the car. Maybe this week we'll stick with lettuce and other light things.

P.S. (Two hours later) The Mystery Stole and I are currently not speaking. I knit a row and thought I had was one short, but re-counted and thought I was ok, until I knit the next row and still was one short. I then TINKED back to the "lifeline" (what a joke) where I left off last night and SOMEHOW I have one too many! We're on an official time out and I think this is knitting that must be done in tranquil silence, only punctuated by my murmuring, "knit 3, yarn over, k2tog..." and rocking.

We do not want your Money

Hey Flan,

I have been reading knitting blogs and something keeps coming up. Several knitters have decided to raise money for various causes. Many of these causes have noble pursuits, such as ending famine, encouraging education and research to put an end to devestating diseases. There are several success stories such as individuals having raised thousands of dollars.

However, it seems to be like there is now an Expectation. It seems like there is an Expectation to Give; an Expectation of Generosity. This increasing expectation makes me incredibly sad. It now seems that in order to be a respected, full fledged member of our "community" you must purchase the membership.

Knitting has become my haven. It is the one area of my life that can drown out all the horror of the world, all the catastrophic things people do to each other, it can drown out the pain and suffering and stress. It does not ask me what kind of car I drive, nor what I do for a living, what level of education I have or what I'm planning on fixing for dinner. It asks little of me and I can choose how much of myself I give to it. I think that is one reason that the increasing fundraising saddens and frustrates me so. It has infiltrated the place of respite and retreat.

The Expectation is incredibly pervasive; not only with pressure to knit for charitable causes, but also to generally knit for others. A few months ago a blogger wrote that she typically knit only for herself and received several shocked comments. People were more than a little surprised by her apparent selfishness.

The fact that we are all knitters should be enough for membership in this community. Nothing more. Membership shouldn't be granted based what I knit or how I knit or for whom I knit- just that I knit.

Summertime....

Kathleen-
I'm with you on the summertime knitting. I have very limited ability to knit in the summer in the absence of air conditioning. At the moment, we only have one of our air conditioners installed, so the master bedroom is nice and cool, but the rest of the house has a tendency to swelter. As I watched the 10:00 news last night, the words "tropical dew points" came out of the weather woman's mouth, and I knew I was in for trouble today.

Sure enough, it's already hot and sticky. Thank goodness for air conditioned offices!

I too have many projects, but I'm trying to focus at the moment.

1. Sockapalooza socks! The deadline is early August, so I'm doing my best to get them done sooner rather than later to remove the deadline.

2. Babies. I'm with you, babies are popping up all over the place. (None from me). So there's some baby knitting going on. A few pairs of booties, and maybe a couple of EZ baby sweaters are in my future.

3. Lace! So funny you should mention this. Yesterday after I posted, I was exploring the internet, and decided to sign up for the Mystery Stole 3 KnitAlong. The premise is that each Friday (with one exception for the Harry Potter release) the moderator posts a clue, and we all knit along with that clue. There is no picture of the finished stole in advance...thus the mystery! The first clue goes up this Friday, and sign-ups for the group are closing on July 5th....so if you're interested, sign up sooner rather than later. It's already got over 3000 participants.

I haven't swatched for it yet, but I've got it narrowed down to two yarns. Either Misti Alpaca Lace in a Lavender (from the Borealis Memorial Day Sale), or Blackberry Ridge Silky Merino in Samarkand Blue (from Shepard's Harvest).

As for the question of the day, I can only answer with my current answer: Priority 1 is the sockapalooza socks since they have a deadline. Priority 2 is to keep working on baby booties in small amounts, and Priority 3 is the Mystery Stole 3 KnitAlong.

The Queue

Hey Flan,

Way to rock the socks! They seriously look so much better when you do them. PLUS, you have an invite from the awesome Shelly to go dye. How lucky are you??

Last night, while watching yet another informative show on my beloved PBS I was knitting away when it hit me. Summer knitting is incredibly deceptive. Summer seems really long and like you should have lots of time to get all those projects done before the hustle and bustle of the Fall.

After reading your last post I realized why there is a hustle and bustle of Fall- Summer is really freakin' hot. Really, really, REALLY freakin' hot and the humidity and heat combine to render people immobile. Less movement= less knitting.

HOWEVER, there is LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of projects to work on. Darn time lines. So far, I am feeling pressure from the following:

1. Babies are due. No, thank goodness, not from me, but other people are expecting and for knitters that means get busy. I found a Jo Sharp pattern I like and then did some math to make it fit. That baby blanket is about 1/3 done and I started it less than a week ago. That baby isn't due until January and the party will probably be in November, but I'm trying to capitalize on the new project enthusiasm and keep working.

2. There's a fun event coming up in about a month and I thought I might knit something for that. Good in theory. Reality is that it means I actually have to KNIT something for an event that has a deadline. I started once and got about half way through before I decided the whole thing is awful and must be frogged.

3. There's another fun event in the early fall. Gracie and I (ok, in the spirit of full disclosure, I came up with this truly crazy idea and then convinced her to join in the insanity) are thinking about doing a combo LACE project. We are freakin' nuts. Lace is nice and light, so good summer knitting- but freakin' insane nonetheless.

4. All my other current WIPs -2 sweaters, 1 pair of socks, 1 scarf and something else I'm repressing- seem to be demanding attention as well (though stuffing them in individual sacks so that they can't mount a rebellion seems to make them a little quieter).

So... The question of the day is: how to decide what to work on?? Do you go by deadlines? By project size and portability? Do you slog through wool sweaters while sitting under fans and air conditioners so that you can have something done? Do you just cast on everything in sight because that doesn't take much space on your lap? How do you decide what gets first billing in the line-up? Do some projects jump the queue and get to the front or do they have to wait their turn?

The Hubby has caught the cold I had last week so tonight instead of Knit Night I'll be home with him. Maybe all the WIPs and I will sit down and have a chat.

All Socks, All the Time

Kathleen-
This weekend was about socks.

Friday night we went to the Groveland Tap with friends, and I knit along on my sockapalooza socks. I finished the gusset, but decided trying to turn the heel using a pattern I didn't know well while in a bar was perhaps not a good idea. Tonight I plan to turn the heel and start the heel flap.



Saturday night we went to a St. Paul Saints game (they won, 11-1). I was anticipating spending all day Sunday at Twin Cities Pride, so I wanted something simple and cotton to work on. The mohair content in the Bearfoot is lovely, but sticky in the hot and humid. So I returned to the socks you had started and given to me in April. I was unhappy with my previous gusset increases, so I ripped out to the beginning of increases on both socks, and reknitted. Between the Saints game and working at my organization's booth at Twin Cities Pride, I'm ready to turn the heel on one sock, and have started the increases on the other.


It's really too hot to knit anything but socks at this point, though I am thinking longingly of lace and of cables. Once my sockapalooza socks are done, I may retreat into air conditioning so I can knit lace and/or cables to my hearts content!

Stormy Weather

Kathleen-
Not much knitting to report. My Dad was in town to speak at an event, so I've been busy with him, and on Wednesday night I was drafted to play softball on Mike's team because they were short on women, so I lost a normal knitting opportunity.

So no knitting pictures, but I do have a fun weather picture to show:

We were about to go to bed Wednesday night, and I went to put something in my car, and there were amazing storm clouds- so dramatic that I couldn't resist a few pictures. We got some pretty good rain out of the storm, but no severe weather in our neighborhood, although others were not so lucky.
By the way, it's hard to take pictures of lightning in the dark with a digital camera that has shutter lag.

I'm just starting the gusset on the first sockapalooza sock, so heel turning is in my near future. I think I'm going to use Wendy's pattern for a slip-stitch heel on a toe up sock. This weekend it Twin Cities Pride, and my organization has a booth, so much of my weekend will be spent at the Pride Festival, where hopefully there will be a bit of knitting!

Happy Graduation!

To The Sister!!

She's now an official graduate from WWU with a Bachelor's Degree from the College of Business and Economics with a degree in Business and Operations Management -AND a brand new inductee of the College of Business and Economics' Honors Society! We're so proud.

The whole family showed up...

... and promptly froze our butts. Notice the plethora of sweaters. It was MID JUNE and we're ALL freezing. The highs were alleged to be somewhere in the 60s. Mighty chilly if you ask me. (Notice the lovely sweater worn by The Brother?? Yup, it's the one he was gifted with last Christmas. He would like me to make some "slight" modifications, which mean I "get" to re-knit both sleeves- again.)

Before Graduation there was a backyard picnic and I thought my siblings just looked adorable. This also gives a good shot of The Sister's startlingly short hair. Damn it all that she can't chop it all off and still be a cutie.

We also got to meet The Girlfriend. They're so cute together.

She's done with college and ready to head overseas for the summer. I'm so excited for her.

There were also yarn stores and some fabulous yarn I found, but more on that later.

Finally Socks

Kathleen-
Oh the starts and stops that came with these socks! You see, the lovely Alison arranged Sockapalooza 4 (with a new baby no less). I participated last time, and it was lovely, and I got a wonderful pair of socks, so when sign-ups opened, I jumped in!

We got our pals, I chose my yarn (Mountain Colors Bearfoot), and I began to knit. First one pattern, then ripping as I found it didn't show well. Then another pattern, which I discovered drew in too much to fit well. My sock pals feet are a bit bigger than mine, so a sock that would fit me was not going to do!

I knit again, ripped again, and cast on yet another time. Last week at Knit Night, I ripped one last time, and contemplated toe-up socks. I'm worried about running out of yarn, you see. I journeyed to the back room of Borealis, and found some lovely Louet Gems in a complementary colorway, and cast on for a toe, and began to knit. Finally, things were going my way. Last week I knit the toe, switched to the Bearfoot, and began to knit the pattern. After an inch, I looked at it carefully. This would not do. Too busy a pattern. I ripped back to the toe again, and browsed for inspiration. I stumbled across Thuja, and knew I'd found my stitch pattern. So finally, here is my progress on my first sock.

Now that I have the right pattern/yarn combination, the socks are flying! I haven't had much time to knit, but it seems that even when I steal a few moments, a half inch of knitting comes off my needles! (Quarter included for scale).
It's hard to get a good picture of the pattern, but I'm hoping once I progress further, it will become more clear, since I love it in person!

So finally, my socks are progressing, and I'm not worried about the mailing date!

Cars!

Kathleen-
Last week truly disappeared in my world. Mike and I spent most of it dealing with the paperwork and more paperwork that comes with buying cars.

So without further ado, here is my new car (that'd be a 2007 Toyota Matrix XR in "Indigo Ink Pearl")

And Mike's (a 2007 Toyota Rav4 in Classic Silver Metallic).Knitting? Well, I have been knitting. They look at you funny when you sit and knit in car dealerships, by the way.

After many false starts, ripping, and more ripping, I have significant progress to report on my sockapalooza socks. However, that deserves a post of its own once I get home tonight.

Hope your week is starting well!

Shrugging

Kathleen-
Well, I did it! The shrug was finished Thursday night, blocked Thursday night into Friday, tried on with the dress.....and then we had dinner with Mike's relatives, and my clothing plans changed for Saturday night, and the shrug wasn't worn.
I don't have finished, modeled pictures yet, but I do have a picture of my progress on Thursday morning.

The party was a great success, marked by absolutely perfect weather for cruising down the Mississippi, lots of family and friends, and only a limited amount of discussion of hockey!

Now that the shrug is done, I'm buckling down on my sockapalooza socks, and some baby booties for the pregnant ladies in my life just for fun!

Happiness and Joy

Hey Flan,

I am delighted to report 2 things.

1: THE YARN IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dear Yarn Store, I am sorry I ever doubted your methods. You are right, I was wrong and need to learn to be more patient. Regardless of my error-filled ways, I have been rewarded with the BEAUTIFUL yarn. The BEAUTIFUL yarn is made from fiber I've never knit with before, but have always wanted to. Nope, I'm not saying what it is. The potential project is super secret for now, so now it's y'all's turn to be patient.

2: The knitters of moBEEL totally represented for World Wide Knit in Public Day. When I sent out the email asking the knitters if they wanted to do something for WWKIP day they all said yes, but it turns out that they thought I was making it up! How obliging are they that they would agree to show up for what they thought was a completely made up holiday??!! It cracks me up, but it's also very sweet. We comandeered the front room of a local coffeeshop and represented.

That's all for now. I have already been to the grocery store today and saw all of the "regulars" (yes, it is scary that there are enough of us that have our schedules routinized to the point where I recognize them). People should seriously prevent you from grocery shopping when hungry. I think I just purchased more food than I have ever before in my ENTIRE LIFE. The Hubby's so happy. I made him carry in the bags. It took him 3 trips. It would have taken me 14. I love that he's home to carry stuff. Happy Sunday.

Dear Yarn Store,

I sincerely love your website. You have a physical store but it is thousands of miles from me, so not really convenient for a quick visit. I thoroughly enjoy perusing the online photos of the gorgeous yarn, needles, books, etc.

I have noticed that you insist on posting photos of the yarn. This is probably just good marketing, but it really is starting to effect the amount of funding available for the groceries. So far I am hoping that my dear husband has not noticed that we have become vegetarians. He seems to believe me when I tell him the dish in front of him is, by all means, chicken.

I admit that I was seduced by the clever marketing scheme of photos. This, in addition with the other super clever marketing scheme of the word SALE and DISCOUNT had the sought after reaction of me pulling out my overwrought debit card (it cried a little, I merely giggled with anticipation), clicked on the quantity and hit "purchase".

Immediately, there was a sale confirmation waiting for me in my inbox. Oh the joy! Again, very much anticipating the imminent arrival of the most fabulous yarn EVER, I emailed others, announcing that I had purchased yarn on the internet and it was going to be FANTASTIC. I was not even missing the immediate gratification of buying yarn in person and being able to cast on that very minute.

However, dear Yarn Store, I have yet to receive the email saying that my beautiful, perfect, ON SALE WITH A LIMITED QUANTITY yarn has been shipped. For the first couple of days I tried to stay calm. I went to your aforementioned fantastic website, obsessively checking the quantity listed, first nervous because the number had not gone down then, when it had, I thought maybe someone else who wanted MY yarn had purchased EXACTLY the same amount that I had and that all the good yarn was going to THEM!

It has now been a couple of days and I have to say that the distance between my current mental state and one of complete obsession and paranoia is quickly growing smaller and smaller. WHY won't you announce that you have shipped my beautiful, perfect, ON SALE WITH A LIMITED QUANTITY yarn?? My email account has gotten tired from me constantly clicking "check mail". I really will give it a good home. Honest.

For the record, I have been quite loyal to you, oh Yarn Store. Before ordering from you last December I had NEVER ordered yarn online. Since that first happy experience I have never strayed, never ordered from ANYONE else. Before you, I had always patronized Local Yarn Stores. Always. However, YOU offer things that cannot be found at my LYS and I went out on a limb, put my faith in the internet, and ordered. You made it so easy. I didn't have to have an account, a login or a password. There were blessedly few clicks between the yarn and me. I will admit that I have not always been very patient while waiting for my yarn, but have tried to contain those ugly episodes to the confines of my house. You have a good record, oh Yarn Store, of sending the amount I ask for and the yarn is always more beautiful in person.

So PLEASE, pretty pretty PRETTY please, send me the email saying my beautiful yarn is on it's way.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Kathleen

The Youth of Today...

... know nothing of history.

Hey Flan,

I hope the new job comes with a clothing allowance because now you have to be all official all the time and someone else should have to pay for that.

Ok, the title. Sunday, The Hubby (who has RETURNED from Field Camp!!!) and I went grocery shopping. I had an overwhelming craving for a lemon poppyseed muffin. I was going to purchase said muffin mix at grocery store, but was hungry didn't want to wait for the baking. We went to baked goods store #1, found lots of muffins but NO lemon poppyseed. We then went to coffeeshop#1, which sells baked goods, found no muffins at all. Off to coffee shop #2. I asked the teeny tiny pre-pubesent worker if they had any lemon poppyseed muffins. She looked at me completely bewildered and said, "What's that?? I've never heard of that kind of muffin"

I was stunned. I was trying to be polite and asserted that it really was a very popular type of muffin though not, apparently, in our part of the deep South. I looked at the second employee who had walked up, trying to find someone who had heard of this type of muffin. To my relief he shot teeny tiny pipsqueak a withering look and agreed that the type existed and was popular, though, sadly, they did not have any.

In the end I stopped at a second grocery store to buy a stupid mix and then had them bake while I put away the groceries. It was far more stress than a muffin should ever incur.

Knitting news... Let's see.... There is none. I was starting to make a cute little skirt for Gracie's offspring. Until I measured the child and discovered that I had made it too small. Stupid fast growing children (not stupid children, just the rate at which they grow). I decided that the EZ February Sweater I was going to make for E&H's baby looked good but I was definitely going to run out of yarn. I have not yet had the courage to rip, but have liberated the needles and stitch markers. I organized my notions bag as well as all of the WIPs. They each have a separate bag so it doesn't look like there are as many as there are- sort of a divide and conquer. Thankfully, tonight is for knitting, so I will hopefully get some work done on The Hubby's sweater.

Blocking, Ripping, and Knitting Again

Kathleen-
I'm slow at posting, which is a combination of new work responsibilities and the beautiful weather making it hard to concentrate.

I therefore present the short version of my knitting life since my last post:

• I finished the shrug and blocked. I then ripped out the edging to continue knitting. Still working (big black blob!)
• I ripped my sockapalooza socks for time #4. I'm now happy with the fabric I'm getting, and just starting the pattern, so I hope it'll work this time. The good news is that the Bearfoot seems to be amazingly resilient to the ripping
  
• I knit a pair of baby booties for H & E. Just seaming is left. They're really cute!
• I spun quite a bit last weekend, but have nothing to show for it. That's the problem with spinning laceweight yarn.
  
• Jess brought birthday cake to Knit Night, and it was amazing and delicious.
  

Other than that, my life is consisting of work and car shopping. It's true. I'm looking at replacing my approaching vintage 1991 Toyota Camry Station Wagon with a brand spanking new Toyota Matrix.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Hey Flan,
I am happy to report that after two thoroughly miserable, overly emotional days it seems that the phase is over. Thank goodness. Right now I'm exhausted but doing better.

The Hubby's Sweater and I are again on speaking terms. I think it will turn out well but my fingers are still crossed. For a control freak such as myself, EZ's decidedly freeform guidelines are pushing the boundaries of my comfort level. She gives two different ways to do the decreases in Kw/oT and then a third way in Knitter's Almanac. The problem is that I really like whatever Mr. Jared did and I really don't like one in the picture of Kw/oT and I can't figure out which is which. There should really be a Kw/oT for dummies, but I suppose it would sort of negate the whole spirit of Unventing...

Anyway, The Hubby comes home tomorrow (!) and I have a meeting with an extra important person today, so I should probably focus on the latter and not the former.

Happy Thursday.

Pity Party

Hey Flan,
You're probably still very busy with your new job and everything. I can't remember if you posted about this or not, but the head of the organization for whom Flan works resigned to go work for another org. What to do whilst the search for a new head honcho went on?? Have Flan run the org! While this is fabulous and totally beats the crap out of anything I could put on my resume, it seems to have the unfortunate effect of stealing absolutely all of her time, leaving none for emailing, telephoning, sleeping, etc.

The Hubby comes home Friday!! I'm so excited I could scream and it's making me even more distracted than before. It's also making me acutely aware that he's been gone for almost a month and that two weeks ago I told him that I feel that he's learned enough and why doesn't he come home NOW?? It didn't work.
By the way, he's decided that not only should you and M get married, but that y'all should get married at the Grand Canyon and time it for during a meteor shower. You probably didn't know that my husband had so many opinions about your completely theoretical wedding, but there they are.

Bottom line: he's been gone a really freakin' long time and I miss him and I'm tired of missing him and the whole world sucks.

The knitting has also been proving more difficult than it should. Gracie and I started our mini Knit-a-long last week. We had been making about equal process up until the weekend or so. Then I decided I should focus on The Hubby's sweater so that it could get done before he comes home (stop laughing, it's theoretically possible). While I was knitting the second sleeve Gracie was trucking along, staying focused. This morning I opened my email to find that she is COMPLETELY DONE with the WHOLE THING. I am happy for her, but not only does she have a 6 month old infant, she also has a husband and a dog to care for and she still found time to get hers finished. My husband is thousands of miles away and whilst he's been gone I've been on sabbatical from cooking, so there are very few demands of my time and I'm still inches from getting anywhere close to being done.

To top it all off, there have been issues with The Hubby's sweater. None of them stem from the "unventor", all of them are solely my fault. I was trying to debate whether or not to do the Seamless Saddle Shoulder Sweater or the Seamless Hybrid. I mistakenly thought that both had the same percentage on the underarm threads and that both were joined and knit for an inch before shoulder shaping started. Nope, not so much. Last night, after a deep breath and a group consensus that the Hybrid really is better than the SSSS, I ripped. There was only about an inch of ripping or so, but they were really, really long rounds.

Pretty gloomy in my world, and the clouds and rain outside aren't helping. O Woe is me... But not for long because The Hubby comes home SOON and chocolate, if nothing else, will help me get to then.

Confused

Hi Flan,
I have a knittery question for you and whomever else might be reading this. Gracie and I are doing a mini KAL with a tank. It's got a nice big V at the neck and the usual ribbing around the bottom. For the past couple of days I've been pondering needle size and ribbing and have come out very flummoxed.

Ok, here are the two parts that form my befuddlement.
1. Ribbing makes the knitted fabric tighter. If you're just knitting along and then, using the same needles, start ribbing it will get tighter - hence the whole point of ribbing (besides having a life goal of driving me crazy).

2. Going down needle sizes bumps up gauge, creating a denser, tighter product. Messing with needle size, and therefore gauge, is usually intentional- bigger needles= bigger knitting & vice versa.

So... if ribbing makes something tighter AND smaller needles make something tighter WHY on EARTH are you supposed to use BOTH methods when doing the hem areas?? Ribbing alone seems sufficient, why do the seeming redundancy of downsizing needles as well??

The combination of the two seems to make the hems oddly out of proportion to the rest of the garment. If you do an entire sweater on size 8s, then do 2 inches of ribbing on size 6s doesn't it result in really tight hems, clinging to the stomach region - a region not particularly known for being flattered by close fitting garments?? I'm very confused by the combo of these two techniques and am considering heedlessly flouting them.

"Of course, Hunters can mate with Knitters."

Hi Flan,
The above is a direct quote from a story in today's Seattle Times. The story is about relationships. The implications about relationships are not all that complimentary, but neither are they all that rosy for knitters.

Here is the entire paragraph (again, this is from the Seattle Times, the link is above- we strive to be a plagarism free zone- italics added by me), "Of course, hunters can mate with knitters, Republicans with Democrats, Jews with Christians and the filthy rich with working stiffs, but if more than two stark differences are there, the relationship is in trouble, Dobransky says."

Apparently, knitting reflects beliefs as significant as those of FAITH (see Jews and Christians comments). As much as I enjoy knitting, at the end of the day it is a hobby and a creative outlet, not a religion. I have opinions regarding knitting, but none of them are held as fervently as my beliefs regarding politics or religion.

Apparently knitting is on an end diametrically opposed to hunting. Hunters like animals and don't usually hunt the ones whose fleeces knitters enjoy and knitters don't usually knit from those that hunters enjoy. It would probably shock Ms. Dobransky to know that some knitters hunt and some hunters knit. Why wouldn't she have used "hunters can mate with vegans"??

My little rant has very little to do with the actual point of the article. I guess it's just a crabby Thursday. But the rant is not over and I have just one more thing to say. I was at a 3 day training earlier this week. Before we began yesterday I had pulled out my knitting and was sitting quietly, thinking about the day, with my knitting near my lap, partially under the table. I was not knitting something brightly colored. I was not talking to people about my knitting. I was reading through the presentation materials and sitting in a chair. If you didn't look closely you wouldn't have known I was knitting. One of my coworkers said, " I could never do that, I am the type of person who just likes to blend in."

Not only are knitters all Bambi-loving granola crunchies, we also don't blend in while sitting quietly.

Rant over.

Happy 250th Post!

Gauge is a Fickle Beast

Kathleen-
This entry brought to you by Gauge is a Fickle Beast. Now showing wherever I'm knitting, for the foreseeable future.

So in my search for the perfect shrug pattern, I looked at lots of patterns and lots of yarn. I chose the lovely Royal Bamboo for its silkiness and fair price. After a false start involving the bolero from Vintage Knits, I decided on the One Skein Wonder pattern that has made its way around the blogs. Let me say up front that I love this pattern, and the problem is not with the pattern.

I made a gauge swatch. My gauge was terribly compressed. I did math. Lots of math. I triple checked. My swatch and the math told me that I could knit the largest size, and it should fit me. So I cast on. After knitting a few inches, I measured again. Right on track. So I kept knitting.

Which brings me to last night. I sat down to watch TV in the evening (two episodes of West Wing on DVD), and knit happily along. I knew I was approaching the end of the knitting of the main part of the piece, and then would need to knit the border. After two episodes, I counted stitches. I was done with the main knitting! Then I draped it around myself. Not happening. Several inches too small.

I measured, and lo and behold, the gauge was off. Way off. After a small fit of frustration, I decided to set it aside for the evening (measuring and knitting to resume tonight at Knit Night).

Then I started watching the end of the Minnesota Legislative Session. I know, I know. What an exciting life I have. Watching the legislature isn't generally too exciting, but with a midnight deadline and chaos threatening, it was actually pretty entertaining. As the evening wound down, I found myself ripping out and re-casting on for my sockapalooza socks for the second time. Apparently I really can't be trusted to count.

Tonight my Knit Night agenda involves reconsidering the pattern for my sockapalooza socks and deciding how to proceed on my one skein wonder. Wish me luck in my continuing battle with the fickle beast of gauge.....

PS: Hi Kathleen's brother.....

This One's for You...

.. my brother.

Hey Flan,
Last night a few of us were headed up to Gracie's for a fabulous dinner. The Brother called and mentioned that he had read our little blog. So this post is for you. Also, here's a big cyber Congrats on your Masters!

Oh my the planning. Waaaay back when, your mother was visiting and I don't think you had graduated yet and all three of us went shopping. After an expensively successful trip to the Rack we were at the Yarnery. I succumbed to y'alls peer pressure to purchase some Artful Yarns Fable (color: the three little pigs- how cute is that?!). It was on sale and I had been lusting after it for months. Later I found more at Borealis. Also on sale. I ended up with 5 skeins of one dyelot and 3 of another.

Gracie and I found a very cute little tank pattern over at zephyrstyle. She's using the 3 of one dyelot for hers and I'm using some Cascade Sierra. Oh, if you end up doing the "Ms Marigold" the needle recommendations seem not to be based in my knitting reality. They recommend size 5s for 5 sts/ in. I had been trying to use DK weight and it was not going well. I'm now going to use size 7s and worsted wt and everything is looking up.

THEN I realized that the 5 skeins are EXACTLY enough to make the world's most adorable shrug/ sweater thing (pattern courtesy of the fabulous, but blogless, Jacquie). Absolutely perfect. Just goes to show that the perfect pattern will come along as long as you have patience.

The day long trainings continue. Yesterday was a review of the 3 day long training we underwent in February. They even used some of the same photos. I spend a lot of time wondering if I promised them that I remembered if I could be excused. Hopefully today will be less painful.

I'm so jealous about the Jon Stewart! Have fun housesitting and give Sally a nice pat from me. You sound less stressed, so I hope things are going well.

Reading Weekend

Kathleen-
Mike and I are house and dogsitting this week, which presents an opportunity for a slower speed of life.

Have I mentioned that our friend C, who just graduated from college found himself without a place to live between graduation and his new lease beginning on June 1? So he's staying at our house, and we're at Mike's folks.

The weekend started with a bang, as on Thursday one of my office neighbors came over and asked if I'd like tickets to see Jon Stewart on Friday night! Of course! So I procured four tickets, and Mike and I took C and his girlfriend out to dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar, and then off to see the show for free! Jon Stewart was fabulously funny, and since he was doing two shows, we were out early, and went out for drinks afterward.

I of course knit through the entire show, much to the bemusement of some of our neighbors. My current no-thinking, knit in the dark knitting is those socks that you started and then left with me. Mike sadly rejected the colors, so now I'm making them for me, and I'm loving the way the yarn feels. Any memory of what it is? It feels cottony and cool, but doesn't hurt my hands like cotton sometimes does.

After that start to our weekend, we deliberately planned to slow down for the rest of the time. Saturday I spent most of the day reading on the couch, and Sunday I alternated between reading and watching the Twins play on TV. The only knitting that got done was some work on my bamboo shrug, which is fast advancing. The body of it is almost done, and then I need to knit the edging, and I'll be all set. A good thing too, since the event the shrug is intended for is just a couple of weeks away.

It should be a good week for knitting though. I'm planning on finishing the shrug, working on my sockapalooza socks, and doing some spinning for a change!

Hope your Monday is going well!

Two Woohoos and an Arg

Hey Flan,
I've heard good things about Shepherd's Harvest and it sounds like it was good. Not so much sheep down here in lower AL.

Woohoo #0: It's FRIDAY!! Always a good thing.

Woohoo #1: SOCKS ARE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!! I cast off last night. I was a little surprised that the second one went so quickly. I did the toe Tuesday night, the foot and heel Wed. and the ankle Thursday! They are drying in the back of my car, I'm hoping it's very warm in the car and that the next 6 hours will produce happy, dry socks. It's kind of hard to believe that they didn't even exist a week ago.

Woohoo #2: The number on the scale sayed down for TWO days!! I have been at the exact same weight for so many days it's not funny. Once, a couple of weeks ago it went down a pound and a half. I was excited. The next day that pound and a half was back! THIS time, the scale went down yesterday and I was cautiously optimistic and today it was STILL GONE. I guess slow and steady is good.

The Arg: Yesterday I tried to embellish things in LeBlog. Specifically, I was trying to figure out where the sidebar thingies were so that I could add some "on the needles" and some blog linkies. No such luck. Apparently LeBlog and I need to have a sit down and work out our issues.

This weekend is house renovation! Custom made curtains will be hung, chairs will be sanded, primed and painted, then topped with custom made cushions, pictures will artfully grace the walls and, hopefully, it will stop looking like the reject pile from the Goodwill and start to have some homey cohesiveness.

Catching Up

Kathleen-
Here I am, it's wedensday and I feel like I'm just catching up from the weekend.

Last week at Knit Night, we were talking about Shepard's Harvest, and suddenly we had plans to carpool! So Saturday afternoon off went a carload of happy knitters to Shepard's Harvest. A lot of shopping, sitting on the grass eating lamb gyros (yes, we understand the irony) and drinking lemonade, and petting the lambs in the sheep barn ensued.

There may even have been a wee bit of stash enhancement. Which brings me to my next point. I think I'm officially off the wagon for the Knit From Your Stashathon. I did well on it right up until THE Event, so I'm not feeling too much guilt. I also don't anticipate feeling the need to buy yarn this summer, so that helps. Stash enhancement pictures to follow at a later date (the camera is having a fit at the computers).

The other yarn I've bought recently is Royal Bamboo in black. I'm making the famous One Skein Wonder shrug for Mike's family anniversary party in June. I'm going to wear that lovely black and white Ann Taylor dress, and now I'll have a little coverup available if it gets chilly on the riverboat!

Other than that and a little sockapalooza knitting (which will be more detailed in a later post), there's not been a whole lot of knitting going on recently. I blame it on a packed schedule and enjoying our recently warm and lovely weather by gardening and such.

Hope your sock knitting is going well and that the third time remains the charm!

Third Time's The Charm

Hi Flan,
I hope you had a nice weekend. Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of you out there who are, will be, or just think about being mothers. Mothers are angels and heroes all rolled into one and we are lucky to be your children.

This week begins week two of The Field Camp experience. I'm doing slightly less well than I was for week one. The reality of bills to pay and heavy things to carry is a hard one to confront on a daily basis. However, there has been knitting. Friday I went to the fabulous public library and got some of Geraldine McEwan's "Miss Marples". One of my most favorite characters no matter the actress, but I have to say I especially enjoy Ms. McEwan's interpretation.

The oddest Start-itis hit Friday night. I wanted to knit socks. I know! ME knitting SOCKS?! But there it was, regardless of the fact that I had just purchased needles for a completely unrelated project. I pulled out my dpns- not circs- and some beautiful cream Regia Silk happily swatched. These are intended for one of the SF Aunties. Short row toes and heels with a single cable up each side of the ankle. While watching Miss Marple I finished the toe. Saturday I went over to The Grandmother's in anticipation for Mother's Day. I made 2 layer Key Lime Pie (so good), we ate dinner and then watched TV. Enough TV to complete the entire foot part of the sock. I never knew watching home improvement shows could be so productive for knitting.

Yesterday I came home early, rearranged parts of the storage unit and knit the short row heel. Then I decided I didn't like the short row heel and it went on Time Out while I knit on The Broad Street Mittens for awhile. Still not liking the heel I finished the first sleeve for The Hubby's Sweater and cast on for the second sleeve. I finally ripped out the heel. Watching even more Miss Marple I did the heel again. It came out worse than the first time. Thoroughly upset with the entire heel process, I decided to go to bed. This morning I got up early, cleaned a bit of the house, then ripped again. I think the problem was that the yarn wasn't tight enough on the knit half, making it loose and holey. I am proud to say that, before getting to work, I managed to re-knit the stupid heel a third time and it looks much better and we can all move on with our lives.

The only thing I have to say now is that I am so happy she has small feet.

Happy Monday.

Slogging Along

Hey Flan,
Thank goodness you're alive, doing well and survivied The Event! It sounds like you had a fantastic trip with your mom and had some amazing yarn finds. I'm so jealous.

Monday I finished The Hubby's socks. It was a happy day. All ends are woven in and the pair is safely ensconced in the bottom drawer of the yarn storage area, hidden until his birthday. I cast on for the Broad Street Mittens. I was going to do two on one long circular, got 2 rows in and absolutely hated it. I'm headed out to find some dpns and hope that they will make everything better.

The Hubby's sweater is also coming along. I finished the body!! 48inches around x 15 inches long = a whole lot of knitting. Oh yeah, I now have an excuse for not having any photos- The Hubby has the camera so for the next little bit there will be no photos. I worked on the first sleeve, faithfully increasing until EZ had said to stop. However, that only got me to half of the total length. The calculations seem correct according to the recipe, but I got out the sweater upon which I'm basing the calculations and decided to increase some more.

Artyarn supermerino is the best damn yarn there has ever been. Period. Inspite of my undying love of alpaca even it cannot beat this yarn. Best Ever. I'm working on EZ's February Sweater for E&H's baby (as I've decided they're having a girl or a boy that will have to wear purple). I did have to rip out a couple of rows- apparently I can't count to 7 repeatedly- but this yarn makes me smile. It's just that fabulous.

I did it. I actually told someone in the knitting community that I didn't like something. In the world of knitting I try to keep everything positive. People might make something that makes me cringe, but I try to remember that not everyone's asthetic is the same as mine and that at least they are contributing to the Knitting World. There's usually always something nice that can be said about the knitting (the knitters however are sometimes a different story). But the new IK layout is something I just don't like. I tried to keep an open mind with the first edition of the new layout, but the second edition came in the mail last week and I just don't like it. I actually emailed them about it. I know that I welcome change the same way mothers-in-law welcome daughters-in-law, but I rarely tell the people about the stuff I dislike. Something made me email them and they emailed one sentence back, thanking me for my feedback.

I'm off to prep for a meeting. Tomorrow is Friday and I'm trying to keep that in focus.

Alive and Relieved!

Kathleen-
I'm alive! And very relieved that my event is over for another year!

My lack of posting can be blamed on the event that ate my life, and on my mom being in town for a aforementioned event. Having survived the event and the inevitable next day cleanup, Mom and I took off for Duluth for the weekend, which was a welcome respite.

As you can imagine, I don't have too much knitting progress to report. I did spend a good deal of time this weekend knitting on the socks that you had started and gifted to me during your visit. I'm enjoying the fabric they're making, and I need to get Mike to try them on this evening to see if they'll be for him or for me.

I also knit quite a bit on the lovely lace shawl I've been working on, but progress beyond those two things has been slim.

Not nearly as exciting as your discovery, but pretty amazing none the less, I did happen to buy some yarn while up north.

Mom and I visited a lovely Duluth yarn store on Saturday (a great shop with excellent selection), and then decided to take a scenic drive up to Two Harbors. I had browsed the Knitty and Knitters Review yarn store threads before we left, and saw mention of another store in northern Minnesota, this one with an official highway sign marking its location. Not knowing the area all that well, I noted with interest, and kept going. But as we drove north, I started seeing signs for Knife River, which I remembered to be the town in question. Sure enough, just around the next bend, there was an official highway sign that said "Yarn Store." Naturally, we had to stop! So we discovered Playing with Yarn, right on the shores of the lake! After much browsing and pattern gazing, Mom and I both left with sock yarn: she bought Tofutsies in a bright pink variegated colorway, and I bought some Panda wool in a (big surprise) teal shade.

Then on the way home, we stopped at what was advertised as an antique shop, but was so much more. TONS of books, glassware, cds, etc. I ventured upstairs, strolling past bin after bin of knitknacks, and spotted something that looked suspiciously like a bag of yarn. Further investigation revealed sever bags of navy blue wool, totalling something approximating 5,000 yards, and feeling like a light fingering weight. Each bag was marked .75, so I bought the whole lot for $5.25. I've been eyeing Ann's Starlight Evening Wrap, and now I have (WAY more than enough) vintage wool to complete it!

Since I don't always want to be knitting with navy, I'm also contemplating overdyeing at least some of it, and whether that would involve bleaching first....

So I'm back! Pictures tomorrow, assuming that camera talks to the computer tonight!

(Hope the husband is safely embarked on field camp!)

Done!

Hi Flan,
So- are you done?? I haven't heard anything this week and I'm starting to get nervous. How was the event? Oh, I just realized that your mom's probably still visiting, so you're probably very busy running around with her, making victorious "I'm so happy the event is done" purchases.

Sidenote: while I was writing this I looked over at the 4 cup coffee maker I use to heat the water for morning tea. It was overflowing. I just got to clean up a hot, soggy mess. Happy Friday to me.

Clapotis is finished! I was madly decreasing last night and made it to the end! I completely loved this project from cast on to cast off. The yarn instantly relaxed upon hitting the water and laid down perfectly, making blocking a breeze. It's on the floor of the second bedroom drying and I can't wait to show it off.

The Hubby leaves for Field Camp Sunday. The vans pull out at 6 AM and he wants to be there no later than 5:30AM. In all honesty he would like to be there earlier, but I refused. Also, the knitterly brunch is Sunday. I'm so excited. The menu is still shifting as I decided there wasn't enough food. I never think there will be enough food. Oh well. Have a fantastic time with your mom and I hope you have a great relaxing weekend.

Magic Numbers & Cow Udders

Hi Flan,
Again, I hope everything is going well with the impending crazy. We had a very productive, if not very restful, weekend. Saturday morning, as my crazy garbled message said, we were at the Mobile Public Library's Annual Book Sale. That's where I found THE book. One of the knitting world's holy grails- for $0.50. That's right, fifty cents. I looked up the book when we got home and people sell it $200-$400. After I found it the world got a little wobbly, but I couldn't let anyone know what I had found, so I tried to act nonchalant, but was completely paranoid, so probably came across as a nutcase. I have the receipt, just in case the public library gets mad that they could have made $199.50 more if they had noticed the incredible find, and I can prove that they didn't want it and even stamped "discard" on the front.

I pulled out all the UFOs and I think there are 6. I decided that I am going to try and focus on two at a time, one that's straight, solid, unending knitting (it is the year of the sweater) and one with a pattern. So far The Hubby's Sweater has 10 inches of the body completed. That's 2/3 of the total body length. I'm so excited.

Clapotis is coming along. I decided to go for broke and try to make it as long as possible instead of trying to have enough left over for a second project. I'm completely loving how it's coming out.

The Hubby met with his advisor last week. She has been working tirelessly to get him finished and has been negotiating about how much the current University will accept from his transfer credit. After Field Camp he only has FIVE classes to go! Two in the summer and three in the fall! I almost cried.
The Field Camp List is having things slowly crossed off. I'm so tired of buying stuff and spending money. We don't have everything, so there will have to be some more buying and there's $900 due tomorrow. We bought a cot so that he can be as comfortable as possible whilst camping in the desert. It was the only extra long in the store and the regulars are too short. The stupid thing is too long to fit in the blessed tent! Now we either have to borrow a bigger tent or take back the cot. Oy.

Now, the "Cow Udder" part of the title. Last night The Hubby and I were watching our usual geek tv fare- Antiques Roadshow, followed by Nature (it was all about dogs and actually very interesting) and then IT came on. Completely unannounced. And IT was amazing. The PBS website describes IT as such:
"...step inside the colorful and competitive world of "Show Cattle" and follow the trials and tribulations of competitive cows in pursuit of the ultimate honor - "Supreme Champion" - at one of the most prestigious cattle shows on the East Coast, the Fryeburg Fair. See inside the little-known world of bovine makeovers, where pride and determination, not to mention steel-capped boots, transform a barnyard cow into a regional celebrity."

Oh yes. Competitive Cow Showing. Complete with nearly pornographic udder shots and in depth descriptions. The phrase "mammary system" has a whole new meaning. There were even allegations of sabotage. Never has there ever been such a thing on TV and everyone should have to watch it. It was fantastic.

Rambling Random Friday

Hi Flan,
Here's a whole bunch of random:
1. I got 11 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Please don't throw things at the screen, it wasn't my fault, honest. I was reading after dinner and, next thing I knew, it was two hours later and The Hubby was waking me up to ask if I wanted to stay in the guest bed or move to our room. Sleep is the best facial a girl ever had. This morning my skin looks great. Or maybe my eyes rested. Whatever it was it worked.

2. I decided E&H need to have a little girl. Firstly, it would be fun to see E raising a little girl and secondly, I had a "stash rememberance" and recalled that I have 2 skeins of lavendar Artyarn that would look fantastic in EZ's February Sweater. Plus they live in Michigan, so the child-to-be can't have too many sweaters, right? We should email H and let her know she needs to order up a girl because I don't think they want a purple sweater for their little boy.

3. Today is Buy The List Day. Technically, the list is comprised of 12 separate lists. Yes, that's right, TWELVE. There was the big professor issued list and it had to be broken down into the stuff we have, the stuff we can borrow and then stuff to be purchased, separated by store. All in all that's 12. Then we "get" to label every single little thing with his name. Thankfully, it's short.

4. We found the connecty-bit from the camera to the computer. It was next to the computer the entire time. The Hubby is no longer in charge of looking for things. There was a successful transfer of photos to computer A, then computer A to USB drive. I successfully ejected USB drive and put it into computer B- and then everything went south. Computer B no longer thinks the USB drive is formatted- ACK! So I unplugged it from computer B and called The Hubby. He said to try to plug it into computer A. So I did. Computer A (instigator of the whole problem) now thinks the USB drive is not formatted. Don't worry- the photos of The Harlot are still in the camera and computer A so even if the USB drive has gone kaput we still have the photos. I have successfully used this USB drive in both of these computers before, so I think they need to sit in the corner and think about their actions and then apologize to both the USB drive and to me.

5. Mistislav Rostropovich passed away last night. He was 80 and had intestinal cancer, but it's sad. He was an incredible cellist and maestro. I remember being in master classes and watching videos of him. He had the most incredible hands and his expertise was both humbling and inspiring.

Hope things are at a manageable amount of crazy. Remember to deep breathe and that we all love you and that Wednesday will be over soon.

Finals

Hey Flan,
I hope things are less harried than they were yesterday. It's Finals time down here, so that's fun. Lab final for the Hubby tomorrow and a class final next week, though he's not sure exactly when. Oy.

In addition to trying to get him ready for Field Camp (a losing battle by the way) there has been knitting. I found the needles I had been using for The Dad's Sweater. They had been needed for a different project but whatever that was is now done. Sunday I found the needles and put the project back on them. It seems happy.

Clapotis is trucking along. There was some progress last night while waiting for The Boys to grill kebabs. Kebabs are seriously the fastest things to grill, 5 minutes total if you're slow and the fire is too. They managed to take a very long time, so I knitted.

The Hubby's sweater is actually coming along nicely. I have not only flipped the hem, but am about an inch and a half past that point. It's now the project I work on during my lunch hour. So much faster than The Garter St blanket on 3s. The LYS owner seemed kind of confused about why there is a different color for the hem/ lining part. Brooklyn Tweed's was done that way and it looked fantastic, so I'm doing it that way too. I'm such a follower.

I'm thinking about frogging The Mommy's Socks. I don't wanna knit socks. I don't like knitting socks. I realize I will be taken to a remote location and severely poked with sharp sticks for that last sentence, but some of us just don't knit socks. Every other knitter (all of whom knit socks like there's no tomorrow) on the planet needs to take a deep breath and accept it. The yarn, which The Mommy says looks like a box of crayons, would be good in a kid's sweater, or really anything other than a pair of socks. I just don't wanna.

Happy Blogiversary (slightly late)

Kathleen-
It's hard to believe that its been a year (and a day, but who is counting?)

I've been trying to write a post in my few free minutes this week, and so far its been a total failure, so I'll do a short version now, that I can hopefully fill in over the weekend.

Since I last posted, I have started two new projects, one of which is about to get ripped as I need to come up with a new plan for it. The weather has decided to be spring (complete with predicted severe storms this weekend).

Work is busy busy busy, as you know.

More later in the weekend, and congratulations to us on a full year of blogging!

Happy Blogiversary!

Hi Flan,
Happy Blogiversary to us! It was one year ago today when you were sitting on the only remaining chair in the apartment as The Hubby and I were madly packing and we decided to launch The Blog. Why a blog? Because I am not so good at responding to emails (though I am trying to be better) and you don't like to answer your phone. It seems The Blog has been a good compromise.

No one has ever asked about the name, but seeing as it's our blogiversary I feel like reminiscing. Flan had been so kind as to come over and assist with the nightmare that was packing. The Hubby and I were leaving MN to move to AL, hence a lot of packing needed to happen. Flan had brought over dinner from Panera and I had mixed cosmos (this was way back when Flan was still drinking). However, in my enthusiasm- or desire to try and use up the Sam's Club sized Vodka- I had sort of gotten the proportion of vodka to cosmo mix 'slightly' off and "Emphatic" cosmos were born. They had an amazing amount of power- one that sort of explains the randomness of what was packed with what that night. Yes, we named The Blog after the strength of our drinks that night.

Congrats to us! We made it one year and tonight I will have a drink in honor of our blogiversary.

P.S. Thanks to Flan I learned that the first anniversary gift is paper, but since this is a digital age in which we live I'm choosing to ignore that. And I couldn't make the post it note thingy work properly.

Curl Up & Dye

Hey Flan,
I hope the nutty is going at a livable pace.

This weekend we were hit by a truly astonishing multi-hour rain storm. We discovered that my car really does have a leak, though unlike The Hubby's car, the water in mine comes in on the driver's side floorboard, not through the sunroof.

What to do whilst it is pouring outside (during the less intense downpours the boys were swimming in the pool)? Dye some yarn. I had collected a bunch of Kool-aid and some jars. Gracie also had some Kool-aid in the cupboard. Yes, there are pictures, no, we have not yet found the connect-y bit. We had approximately 6 different shades of red/pink. My inexperience with Kool-aid made me believe the different flavors would be different colors. I used all the different colors of reds and pinks, separately and in conjunction. Almost ALL the yarn came out red. Really really red. There is a small bit of difference between the 4 different dye pots of red, but not enough to suggest there are 6 different colors involved. I now have 2 skeins, each dyed into (theoretically) 3 different colors. There is a lot of red and one part of dark purple and one part of lighter purple.

What to do with 500 yards of worsted weight in reds and purples? So far I'm thinking of doing a Clapotis, using both balls, switching every 2 rows so the different balls will work together to make a nice (?) combo. I suggested making felted tea cozies and The Hubby looked at me like the Kool-aid fumes had gone to my head.

On happy knitting news, my finger no longer hurts! I did something to the back of my right hand between the first and second fingers, making the index finger hurt when curled. The index finger and only the index finger. There had not been any knitting for 4 days and everyone was getting on edge. I'm happy to report that it's doing much better and the Clapotis and I are trundling right along.

"Is that handpainted merino?"

Hey Flan,
I hope your week improved as it has gone on. Mine certainly has. My meeting yesterday was surprisingly not horrible and my meeting scheduled for today has been moved. Pretty good way to start a Friday.

The Hubby and I had one of those moments the other day. The moment when he says something knitting related or asks a knitting related question that makes me think he really does pay attention when I blather on and on about The Yarn or The Knitting. I was happily going on and on (and on) about how much I was loving The Clapotis. In a "No wonder everyone else on the planet has made one already" type of manner. I found some Artyarn I had purchased at LYS and hadn't known what to do with. I pulled it out and showed it to him as a Clapotis contender for either The Mommy or The Best Man's Mom (who loves the color but does live in AL- so not much opportunity to wear merino, especially if you are at the "power surge" stage of life). And then it happened. He was looking at this fabulous yarn and said, "Is that handpainted merino?"

I almost fell over. This man, the man I married and pledged to love forever in front of lots of people, the man who loves rocks above almost all other things had, apparently, come out of the rock loving haze long enough for some of the knitting chatter to sink in and asked a beautiful, insightful knitting question. And got a great big kiss.

Excused

Hey Flan- or whomever might be reading this.

This is just to let you know that Flannery has been excused from regular blogging. In every life there are seasons and, so far as I can tell, there are two ultra crazy ones in "The Life of Flan". The first season she goes into hiding is around the elections. Elections are what she does- not all of us understand, but we're usually happy that someone gets elected and that Flan helped make it happen. The second is the month or so before the first Wed. in May. The org to which Flan gives her time, effort and energy has a humongous event. Flan is the "go to/do" person. The Event is less than 30 days away, so Flan is currently hunkered down. We hope to see her again around Mother's Day or so. Fingers crossed.

So for now, y'all are pretty much stuck with me until Flan re-emerges.

In knitting news...
I have completed the increases in Clapotis and am starting my way through the straight rows. There was not much progress last night as we had The Best Man and His Mom over for her birthday dinner. Dinner turned out well; pork tenderloin with a maple glaze, cheese grits, salad with toasted walnuts, dried cherries and avocado. Dessert of chocolate strawberry shortcake was good too. After dinner the boys did the dishes (I almost took photos) and His Mom and looked at all my recently organized yarn and current projects. She knits a little and crochets some, however her obsession hasn't reached the level that mine has and I think she was a bit taken aback. At one point she said, "do you do anything but knit?" She looked through my library and found some nice patterns for the upcoming baby boom occurring at her work. It was a nice night.

Freakin' Fabulous

Hi Flan,
Can you believe we made it on the blog?? She, and the freakin' fabulous talk she gave, are still making me happy. I know, I know, I sadly do not have any photos up- yet. The Hubby was gracious enough to offer to help and then couldn't find the part that connects the camera to the computer. Since I was unloading the dishwasher, finishing laundry, talking to The Mommy and cleaning at the time, all with the tv turned to his program, I was not much help. Fingers crossed that today we pry the things out of the camera for the world to see.

I hope you had a happy Easter. The cheese blintzes were completed and actually came out pretty well. Also, people had fun decorating egg shaped cookies with mounds of colored frosting. We agreed it was more fun than decorating actual eggs.

Last night, while trying to work through the piles that had exploded from the many suitcases, I realized there was a lot of yarn to be put in the wardrobe. Then I realized the drawers were in sad disarray. We watched "Antiques Roadshow" and I organized the heck out of my yarn. It's so pretty. As long as the neurotic OCD applies only to myself it's alright- right?

And then there was casting on. Under quasi-instructions from Stephanie, I decided that I too needed a Clapotis. Since apparently every other knitter on the planet seems to have one (according to the Harlot Gospel) I was feeling left out. Gracie had gifted me with a beautiful ginormous skein of handpainted yarn, so I knew I had something in the stash that would work. So far I'm completely smitten- and the blue that had dyed my fingers last night is mostly gone. I was so struck by the fun it's being (at a whole 20 rows in) I have scoured the internet looking for possible yarns for which to make something for The SIL and The Sister for Xmas. So far I'm besotted with Artyarns' Regal Silk. It's pretty and it's varigated and it's silk. All good things for gifts. I know I know, apparently I think I'm going to win the Lotto, but it's nice to dream.

The Harlot.

She came. She talked. We were stunned.

There is more but we are overwhelmed (but not too overwhelmed to eat cake and buy yarn).

Snow.

Helloooo from MN!
The minute I landed the snow started. Sort of a cruel "up yours" from good ol' Mother Nature right there. There is now snow on the ground (which is fine) and a really really cold wind (which is not fine). I took photos and thought wistfully of the sunny, 80s that The Hubby is having right now. Sadly, Flan has to go to work today. I'm trying to convince her that she needs to get a "crushing headache" and not be able to go to work today. Her darn work (and a big meeting tomorrow) have her chained to the desk. It's sad.

Flan and I went to SNB at Borealis last night. I love that store. It's happy and there's a coffee shop connected by an archway so the knitters don't even have to get cold in pursuit of the caffeine high. Yarn was purchased. It took 2 hours to decide on what to get. There was the initial craze of running around like the true nutter that I am, grabbing everything in sight, but then there was serious contemplation and sorting. After a final edit I have some fantastic things. Even the morning after they look good (even better than I do).


On the plane I knit on a sock. After turning the heel I realized that there were 4 extra stitches. Well, not really extra, they were supposed to be there, just not on the heel flap. They were supposed to be waaaaay back there on the instep. We went on time out for the remainder of the flight while I read a trashy mystery. Last night, in the presence of truly talented knitters I took a deep breath and ripped. The flap looks better now.

Today's agenda (in chronological order): Shopping, meeting with a professor, and.... The HARLOT. I hope she likes the coffee from Carpe. I thought about bringing yarn but decided that caffeine is never a bad idea. Now I just have to find some warmer clothes....

The Lists

Hey Flan,
Here's a paniky post in addition to the nutty email I just sent.
At 7:43am the day before departure (btw: in 23 hours I should be landing in Atlanta- oh Lawd).
The Lists:
List A:Remind The Hubby to do whilst I'm gone and how to fake it so I won't know he hasn't done them upon my return- 4 items.
List B: Food to pick up whilst in MN- 4 items at spice store, 3 at grocery store- remember to write down list off white board in kitchen.
List C: Stuff to pack- have realized I won't be gone for a month and can bring fewer than 1 pair of shoes per day. Am trying to remember that shoe space could be better used by yarn.- items undetermined.
List D: stuff to remember to put in carry-on (also, remember carry-on)- items also undertemined, though pile is large.
List E: wish list of yarn to purchse- constantly growing (seriously, they could derive mathematical formulae from the life cycle of this thing)
List F: where to go in MN- so far 3 or 4 yarn stores, 2 malls, 1 jewelry store, 2 cooking stores.
List G (G for Gracie): Gracie's List- book, (got to remember to have her book signed), stuff for baby- approx 5 items.
List H: places to eat in MN- 3 items so far.
List I: stuff to remember to do before I leave- this is also changing and it's the one that's currently freaking me out.
List J: what on earth am I going to knit on the plane??- 2 items so far with stuff for third.

Ironically, now that I have listed my 10 lists I feel much better. Whew. Only 70 minutes until my meeting where I can write all the itemized lists down. Will try to remember to only drink decaf.

28.5 hours to go until I land!