Wooden Needles...

I am beginning to hates them. Circular ones that is. I WILL NOT purchase anymore of them. I tend to snap the smaller varieties, snapped off approximately an inch or so of the tip on a size 4 Ebony circular awhile back. This morning I decided I needed to cast on for the felted bag/purse that I purchased the yarn for last evening... so went through the needle stash to find the appropriate size; 10.5 US. Well, the only set of those I have free at the moment is a bamboo pair of circs. Not my favorite, this pair is blunt and non slippy. But they are workable, (or so I thought).

So I cast on, and proceeded to start work on the bottom of the bag. Have ~80ish stitches on the needle when the needle disconnects from the wire leaving a fair bit of stitches flapping in the breeze, literally as I was outside. Shove the needle back together, give it a bit of a tug, it holds, so I scoop the stitches back on and then try to resume my knitting when the bastard pops off again. Stitches are secured, and I am going to go look in the stash again and see where the other 10.5 needle is. I suspect that it (an Addi -Turbo) is in a half formed felted slipper.... which will shortly be on a yarn holder. I love the addi's as they are slippy but wish they had pointier ends. The lace ones do.. I know, and I will be purchasing more of them in the future as I need more needles. No more Wooden Circs for me!

Growl! This is cutting into my sunshine time.

More Sunshine

Glad that the wonderful weather stuck around for the weekend, better chance to enjoy it, tho it also brings work in the form of weeding and mowing. Ah well. I will manage to sneek some knitting into the day somewhere. Taking a break from the "housework" at the moment. Got the laundry hung outside to dry before 7 am. Took some of my indoor plants out, watered them and put them in an area where they will get lots more light than being inside. Mostly Jade and succlulents. Might take the orchids out for a bit too. Need to finish the vaccumming and then the house will be in order. Oh wait. There are a few dishes left from breakfast, gotta do those too. Then Knitting time for an hour at least! Need to run out to the store and get some crackers and meats and cheeses this morning. My Mom is comming over for a bit today and I don't have any snacky stuff other than pop corn.

Purchased some yarn for a "Lucy Bag" for my brother's girlfriend and I want to cast that on in the worst way. But I also need to work on finishing up some of the other things that are already on needles. Anyone know a sure way to contract a severe case of Finish-itis? :-) I needs it!

Knit Happy!

A bit of excitement.

Knitting at TAP this evening, when the fire alarms started going off. Of course everyone excited the building. We did all grab our yarn as it was obvious that there wasn't any real emergency right where we were. Fire department was called of course, they had to check out the building and reset/shut off the alarm system. There are apartments above the TAP and Subway in this particular building. As far as we know, there wasn't a fire, but the Firemen did take an exhaust(?)fan (that's what it looked like to me) up to the second floor. People on the second floor did have to wait to return to their apartments, but everyone else was allowed to return to the building after stuff was checked out. We were all standing out on the corner waiting and most of us knitting. Wish I would have had the camera. Got to have a "practice knit in public day." You know I Never do That.... :-) hee hee hee.

Worked on the afghan last night, just wasn't in to sleeves. Finished the 3rd square and started on the fourth. This particular pattern is flying right along, and is perfect knitting for reading. I decided to start "Gone" as it is just a single book as opposed to the Anne Rice books.

Well, it is after my bed time and need to get to bed. Yea! Tomorrow's Friday!

Knit Happy!

Reading

Just finished re reading a few books, last read them in Jr. High I think. George Orwell's 1984, finished it this afternoon, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I finished up last night. I'm wanting to re read some more of the ones I read umpteen years ago. Not sure what is up next, tbo will probably be Anne Rice's Vampire series (haven't read these yet, but they look good and I do like some of her other books). Just purchased them a few weeks ago but they have been sitting. Also have Gone, by Lisa Gardner to read, it was in a "help yourself" stack at work.

Still working my way down the first sleeve of the Braid's Cardigan.

Had to rip out the other sweater, the one that I started for my niece. You know those instructions that say "join, being careful not to twist"? Yeah. I wasn't careful. Six rows into it I reailzed that it looked a bit funny. Colorful words were said. Grrr. Haven't done that one in awhile! Sweater will basicly be a simple seed stitch with a touch of ribbing at the sides and I'm going to stick a pair of cabled trees in one of the lower front quadrants. (sweater pattern pretty much using EZ's percentage system tho I'm not doing raglan sleeves, and the tree pattern is from Barbara G. Walker's Thrid Treasury of Kniting Designs pg 101) Anyway, have to cast it back on again. Must be done before Dec. Yeah there is plenty of time, but Procrastination seems to be my middle name.

Happy Knitting!

A bit bummed...

There were a few (4) classes that I wanted to take at the Sock Summit, (I had made up my mind to just choose one tho) but the sign up was at 10am PDT today at which time I was at work. And while we do have computers at work, and some of them even have internet access, it was not possible for me to even have the time to think about registering for classes at that time. We are just slammed with clients around the holidays. I just logged on the Sock Summit web site @3:20pm (as I just got home from work) and of course all the classes that I wanted were full, I knew that they would be but of course I had to check. There were only a very few classes that still had openings. Ah well! Maybe one of these days the sign ups will be at the stroke of Midnight. :-) At least then all I would have missed would have been a bit of sleep and I would have at least had a chance. And I am so glad that I didn't reserve a hotel room prior to registration, as I think that they were filling up fast and furious.

Reached virgin yarn on the sweater sleeve around 2pm yesterday. The K3P1 ribbing is working great. The decreases are coming nicely and I need to check for fit today before I pick it back up to work on. Might want to increase the frequency of the decreases. Jessica's hat just needs the button sewed on and one yarn end to weave in. Then I have to contact her granny to get her address.

Garden is doing well, 45 baby corn stalks (the ones from seed) and another 7 that are about 3 weeks ahead (starts). More corn should be coming up the rest of this week. Based on the "pattern" my husband planted by, should be roughly 30 more. Tomato plants are still bitty but there are 5 flowers between the 3 plants. We should have a bumper crop of strawberries. Tons of flowers and baby berries coming on and the plants are quite tall as well, in fact they are almost as tall at the moment as our artichoke plants. Wish that I had a camera here. The strawberries 2 years ago that were in planters,(and still in those planters and doing well) 2 strawberry pots and 2 wooden "flower box" type planters, all sent out runners and now the back section is carpeted in strawberry plants. Blueberry bushes are loaded with flowers and baby berries, we have several different kinds, some early, mid-season and some lates. Potato plants are popping up everywhere. found 4 in the garlic beds and 6 or 7 under the newest cherry trees. I think that we must have had some potatoes in the compost that we added to the garden beds. hmm. Squash, zuccini, eggplant, beans and peas all doing well so far. May need to learn to can. :-) Have already had some lettuce for sandwiches the other day. yummy!

Happy Knitting!

Thank You...

To all our men and women in our Armed Forces that have served and continue to serve, and to all those who have lost their lives in service to and defense of our country. We know that Freedom isn't Free, and we have you to thank for our country's freedom. We will always have you in our thoughts and wishes and prayers.

Yesterday I managed to spend outside, mowed the lawn as soon as I heard one of the other neighbors fire up a lawn mower. Didn't want to be the first to break the silence of a Saturday morning. Finished by 11ish (only had the back yard to do thanks to my neighbor, he mowed my front yard on Thursday) and spent the next several hours parked in a lawn chair knitting.

Almost back to virgin yarn after the sleeve rippage. Much nicer with the additional stitches picked up. Decided to go with a K3P1 ribbing down the sleeves, which is what the base pattern is on the sweater itself. The directions for the sleeve call for a K2P1, but we all know that didn't work out well, tho to be truthful, it might have worked with more stitches to start with. Will have to pull out the directions soon, see what the sleeve decreases are and then go stand in front of the mirror and decide if I do the decreases as specified, or modify them somewhat. Am I even capable of following directions as written? hmmm.

Hubby comes home sooner than he had originally planned. So by mid June he should be back instead of at the end of June. Works for me! I don't mind doing the yard work so much, but it does cut into knitting time.

Spent the morning on the computer looking at photos and such. Need to drag the spinning wheel out of the corner sometime to day and practice. Need to fire up the other computer and print out some stuff. Need to go shopping sometime this morning. Store I need to go to should be open in an hour so better get out of my jammies and take a shower. Need to try on the hat for Jessica and decide if it will fit a nine year old, or do I need to rip and restart.

Need to walk away from the computer now.

Happy Knitting!

Long Day

Dislike the days right before and after any holiday. They make for very, very, long, hard and hot work days.

Going out to a friends house for supper tonight, so I will miss my usual knit night. It wasn't an invite I was willing to pass up. She is an awesome chef.

The sleeve stitches have been picked up. Thanks Megan! ... She picked them up for me the other night, she knew I was frustrated with it, and she enjoys picking up stitches. huh.... who'd of thunk it? Well, everyone is different right :-) ; and even I don't hate it as much as I used to so maybe one of these days I may even learn to enjoy that process too. Who knows?

I may even knit some this evening if possible. My arms and hands hurt so bad I right now I can barely type.

Must. Go. Need. Hot. Shower.

Knit Happy~

However....I may be lucky...

I stopped into my local Sheriff's department just a few minutes ago to discuss what I should do about this little situation, and they suggested that I call the RCMP (that's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to double check all the information. As soon as I got home however, I received a call back from the ICBC and went over Lic plate#'s, where the accident occured etc.

There was a transposition... in the letters and I just may end up lucking out here people. If the letters are as correct on the RCMP paperwork they are transposed and they are someone's plates from Bellingham and NOT mine. (My local sheriff ran the number/letter combo with and without the transposition.) So... I call the number for the RCMP for the city in which the accident occured and give them my name and the police file number and all the pertinent info and they are double checking to see. They will be calling me back soon.


WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!! The RCMP fellow called me back while I was typing that last sentence! I am sorry for the people in Bellingham who owned the car with the plates... but they aren't mine. Gotta call my husband!

KNIT HAPPY !!!!!!!!!!!

Not a scam....

...Though that might be preferable at this point.

I looked online for the ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) called their toll free phone number on the web page, and confirmed that the phone number that I was given, and the person I spoke with last night was a member of their corporation and that it was indeed a valid number. Just can't be too cautious about some things, and I do feel better now that I have checked.

I am still waiting on a call back from her however, and I am still looking for the plates here... even tho.. (One can always hope right?) I also called my insurance lady and told her the details so that if a claim did come through she would have a heads up. I still need to go to the DOL and the sheriff's department, and let them know about the disapearance; and since it is a knitting guild night I had better get moving.

There will be something knit (is that the right tense?) tonight. (knit, knitted, knat, ...) help me out here people my brain is fuzzy, not much sleep was had last night.

Thankfully I have a simple knit to work on this evening. Hat kit from Fancy Image Yarns I purchased this during the yarn crawl. I don't usually purchase kits for hats... but this seemed perfect for my little friend Jessica that has just finished her six weeks of radiation. She's just now starting to lose her hair. I can only try to imagine how hard that would be for an adult, but she is only 9 and I can only think that it would be so much harder at that age. Any how, it is in girly colors, and has some fun fur and a cute button, friends of mine who have daughters all say it will be a "winner". Can't trust my own judgement in this... I was a die hard tomboy and wouldn't have been caught dead in it.... well maybe for a double dog dare if the stakes were high enough. :-)

No photos. The camera is with the hubby. Knit Happy!

There has been a thief...

Got a phone call today from the Insurance Company of British Coloumbia, Canada. Apparently there was an accident in British Columbia in November of 08 involving a car bearing the plates of one of our vehicles. (It was a newer model car, and not one of ours) The vehicle the plates are registered to is sitting in my drive way. Dead-lined as they say in the military. Head gasket issues for some time now. Because of the engine issues, the new plates were never put on the vehicle, the emissions wasn't done and the tabs were not renewed. The plates WERE somewhere in the house. (I say somewhere... as it was dear hubby who stashed them in the china cabinet he THINKS) I have been looking for them, in places other than the china cabinet as well, but not finding them.

Tomorrow... one more phone call to canada at least... I want the lady that called me to re-tell me the lic. plate number, vin number, and any other numbers/names that she has (I won't be giving her any of my info) . Also phone calls to my insurance company, and a stop by the local sheriff's office. I'd rather do that in person than on the phone.

Don't worry... I did not and will not give out any personal information out to anyone over the phone just in case it happens to be some sort of scam. It is very freaky knowing that some one WAS in the house and I'm wondering when... was it someone who was invited in? ARGH!!
But for the phone call... I would never have known that someone had been in my house.

Rippage...

No... Not on the shawl.

I did finish a few more repeats of the lace edging tho, so I now have a few less than a hundred repeats to go. :-) No, I came inside around 3:30 and switched to easier knitting so that I could watch a movie. And the rippage wasn't due to watching the movie either. Knitting K2, P1 ribbing down the sleeve of my Braids Cardigan was easy peasy all during the movie. Pattern was already established, and there were no increases or decreases to worry about, just chugging around in a circle.

Then I took a break and tried on my sweater to see how long the sleeve was and how much farther I would be knitting. I was about 1/2 way down the sleeve as the live stitches were just above my elbow. Unfortunately, the sleeve was "quite snug" ... over a bare arm ... as I am wearing a tank top today. Snug enough that my fingers would have gone numb in short order had I not removed the cardi. This does not bode well for a cardigan when I will most likely not be wearing it during the summer and over summer weight clothing for only five minutes at a time, but over a regular shirt or even :::gasp::: a long sleeved shirt during the fall and winter and early spring.

I was yankng the needles out as soon as I had it off my arm. Only a few live stitches to worry about, just the ones under arm this time instead of the 80 when I ripped back the button/neck band. :::::RIP::::: They are now all safely picked up and resting on a dpn. Going to give it a day (at least) in time out, then pick up MORE stitches around the arm hole and then will most likely say screw the pattern (K2,P1 ribbing) and just do a stockinette sleeve. I don't like snug sleeves and ribbing does what ribbing does, and THAT is pull in.

Rip it, rip it... it has been a froggy sort of night!
Pass the scotch!
Night night!

Oh Beautiful Day!

Just inside for a brief bit, spending the day outside in shorts and tank top knitting on a lace border for my Pi shawl. It had been in time out, not for being bad, I just needed a break from it. Decided that the edging needed to be finished so that I can block and wear it. Only 100 more pattern repeats to finish this puppy. Eight row repeats so not a whole lot of stitches in each repeat.

Using Barbara Abbey's "Knitting Lace" book and the #1 Very Narrow Lace Edging . I recently obtained a copy of her book, tho this particular edging can be found in several other sources. The pattern as written in her book and the symbols that are used are a bit unfamiliar to the modern knitter. You will most likely need to read over the symbols page :-) in order to work it out. In fact, if you get the book or borrow it from the library, go ahead and read the intro and the first 2 chapters before getting to the Lace patterns in chapter 3 it's interesting reading.

Sunshine and Lace are calling me back outside...
Happy Knitting!

Yarn Crawl 09

It was a fun trip this year. I went with friends, and we split it up into 2 days so there wasn't such a rush as last year when I went at it alone. I drove on Friday along with one other lady, but today we were all able to fit in one vehicle. We had some who weren't able to do both days. Yesterday I had a bit of "excitement" after dropping every one back to their vehicles, we decided to do Fiber's etc. & Lamb's Ear as well, and follow each other there in our own cars, then each heading for our homes afterwards. We all found parking on the street above Fibers, which was nice since there is construction in that area. When we came out, my Left rear tire was flat. :::grrrr:::: Hubby had just had that tire fixed on Tuesday, as he had punctured it on his way home from friends. Anyhow, out with the spare and got it changed. Did have a bit of help from a fellow passing. He was wearing a suit... but didn't want to "not help", lol, so I went ahead and let him. The tire could have gone out in Paulsbo or elsewhere on our trip which would have been so not fun. So for all the frustration it was at the best spot possible really. Only had to remember to drive slowly home and not hit any potholes and such. Yes, I did stop at Lamb's Ear after putting on the spare ... it was on my way home anyway. :-)

Hubby has the camera.... so no photos of purchases. There weren't many anyway. Just a bit of lace weight, in Cranberry... I am not a red person but this called my name in a bad way. also 3 balls of sock yarn 2 in earth and grey tones and one in a green and yellow. (have to look in the stash and see if I have bought duplicates of stuff I already have, that has happened before) Cookie A's new book. Oh, and 4 ounces of spinning fiber. The colors in the roving aren't what I would normally choose, they have a strong teal cast, but when spun on the fold... the resulting yarn looks darker. I wouldn't have thunk it but the lady I purchased from showed me what she had done with it spun straight off the roving then off the fold. The color change was dramatic.

Happy Knitting!

Photos

Here is one load of the Romney drying. I was spinning a bit while outside. This is a shot of my "help" They can't let the shawl blow away you know. I gave up on keeping them off. I'd remove them and they would hop back up within moments. Ah well, they kept they kept me company outside.

Knit happy!

Sometimes you just don't see it...

Until you start to bind the F*&^%er off. Frog pond baby. Just look at the ripples.

The button holes turned out nice tho. Elizabeth Z's Knitters Almanac pg 80. Excellent button hole and extreemly easy.

Live stitches... 80 of them that I had forgotten were on 3 yarn holders were all successfully re-captured, Yarn cake rewound. One day's worth of knitting is history. Whisky poured.

Cheers!