March 3, 2007

They are so cute....when they're asleep!

Here's your dose of cute for the day. She fell asleep watching TV.

Joansie's been sharing some of her cross stitch with us, so I thought I'd see if could find some of mine. Much of it's still packed up from the move. Here's one that's on display.

The pattern is taken from a quilt pattern called Around the World. The actual cross stitch section is about two inches square.

Here's the ball of yarn from the skein I dyed the other day.

I think it looks gorgeous and just can't wait to start knittin' it!

F came over yesterday and we (read he) made some progress on getting the back door fixed. There is no hole in it anymore. Okay, so there still is a hole, but you can't see it and dumb doggie can't make it worse. We (read he) still have to fix the molding and put another piece of metal above the door nob, but, it's arrested the problem!

We looked at screen doors. Home Depot has a wrought iron door on sale for the same price as the cheapie vinyl one. $64. Then add in additional hardware, and possibly a door knob/dead bolt. F said he might have those.... A screen door would be really nice to have, but this is going on up towards a possible $90. (Think how much yarn that would buy!) I'm having heart palpitations thinking about spending that much money on something I really don't need. We have to decide quickly, tho, as when these doors are sold out the next cheapest ones are around $90.

If you checked out F's blog, he was making one of those pinwheel sweaters, too. Last Friday when I visited I noticed one cuff was knitted inside out. (This was after a whole sleeve had been knitted inside out. That was cut off, and Kitchenered back on.) So in exchange for fixing the door and giving much needed input on purchasing the screen door, and just because he's my bestest friend, I reknit the cuff on the sweater for him. It was just 80 sts around and I did 11 rows of K2P1 ribbing. Now it's all done and ready to be shipped to his MIL.

Ran to the store quick before my daughter had to leave for work at 7 am to pick up KA so I can dye some more yarn today-Goddess willing and the creek don't rise. F helped me rewind the skein from one yard to a two yard skein. So I have lots less bulk and more repeats to make. Should be lots of fun!

Oh, and my sock. Got some knitting done last night while watching Practical Magic with my daughter. I think I've got about two inches before the toe decreases!

If y'all haven't been, check out kimba's blog! The last several entries have to do with Peeps. Hilarious!

February 10, 2007

More Socks!

I found another sock pattern I wanted to try while waiting for the pattern that Joansie's mailing me. It's Joan's Socks which is a very nicely written beginner's pattern. Nice thick socks made with two strands of WW. I'm using Colorado Yarns Super wash. I don't know if I've mentioned here that I learned to knit so I could knit socks. But I could never get the hang of it. I read in so many groups and on so many forums that people considered them "quick" projects. For me they were long and torturous projects that ended up in the frog pond. No Longer! I feel like I can now begin to tackle more complicated st patterns in them, as well as different types of heels. (Remind me of this tomorrow when I lament how hard doing the toes is!)

Spent the afternoon with my friend, F, yesterday, and talk about knitting adventures! He was about 25% done with the second sleeve on his Pinwheel Sweater adventure, when we realized he'd knitted it (in the round) inside out. The St st was on the inside and the Reverse St st on the outside. Talk about a major trip to the frog pond...no, frog sea! Now, on the up side of all this, remember yesterday when I told you I figured out how to double knit flat? Well it works to make sleeves (although decreasing for shaping is a bit of a mystery yet), fingers for gloves, or anything that is knit in the round. So, when F went to pick up the sts to begin the sleeve again, he did it so it could be knitted in the round flat. Much progress was made once he got in the k1 sl1 k1 sl1 rhythm.

I, too visited the frog pond and frogged the Thinking Woman's Shawl. It just wasn't going to lay flat no matter what I did. Now I have to decide if I'm going to try other borders or just chalk it up to experience.

Projects for today include a little house work (maybe), finishing up my first lavender sock and CO the second. Then taking inventory of my WIPs and make appropriate promises to work on them in a timely manner!

Edit: I have a sock!

January 31, 3007

Finished the Pinwheel Sweater!

It's done! Finished! And the baby hates it. She screamed bloody murder when I tried it on her. All that work and it's going to go on a teddy bear in my room till I find a baby that will appreciate all the blood, sweat, and frogging that went into it! [/melodrama] However, melodramatic or not, it's all true!

Oh well.... I think it turned out nice.

Knitting class was quite the fiasco. Down to three people now. One woman bound and determined to learn and is doing well. One who is knitting very well, and one who is "just too stupid to learn this." She left at a dead run in tears. I personally think it's a bid for attention or she was having a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

She arrived at class with about two inches of very good knitting. Looked even, no obvious flaws... and the kept saying she couldn't do it. "I don't know how to do it." "I can't figure out how to keep going." When I tried to show her how to figure it out for herself, she just wanted me to do it for her. I wouldn't, got mad, and said, "Just do it for me." I said, "When you give a man a fish, he has a meal. When you teach him to fish he'll never go hungry." She accepted the logic of that, but still refused to listen or try to figure it out.

Oh well, again.... What leads me to think it may have been just drama, was that no one else paid much attention to her grand exit.

Had a quiet evening in my room watch TV and knitting a wash cloth. Thought this might go in with the pirate gifts!

January 28, 2007

The Thirteenth Tale

I spent most of yesterday reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It's a Gothic ghost story that is scary in the Alfred Hitchcock sense rather than the Freddy Kruger sense. I have 70 pages to finish and am looking forward to sitting down with my coffee and bagel to do it! Edit: I just finished it. What a wonderful story. I hope somebody with a lot of intelligence and integrity makes it into a movie. It would be fantastic! If you enjoy reading, good ghost stories, or just "can't-put-em-downs" read The Thirteenth Tale. You'll love it. Of course then I have to start knitting again. I'm stalled out on the Pinwheel Sweater as I'm at the point of knitting about 8 inches of ribbing on each sleeve. There are only 30 stitches or so on each sleeve to knit in the round so it's a constant turning and untwisting the sleeve. No nice rhythmic knitting... And we won't go into how much I dislike doing ribbing....

And I need to look through my stash of bookmarks and see if I can find something to make for one of my grandson's birthday. He (see pic above) turns 5 in mid-February. We got him a collection of pirate accessories.... If I was fast and experienced I would knit this

for him. This is a copy of a pic on Fireworks* . The pattern is from Adorable Knits for Tots by Zoe Mellor. A variation of this I saw had a black sweater body with red and white striped sleeves. But this is still a pipe dream for me. I will learn to knit with colors like this eventually, but not right yet. Isn't this a cute idea? And this one I could make.... Oh, here is a Pirate Birthday! Too bad his mother isn't speaking to me, or I could organize the whole thing! Hmmmm maybe I could try this pirate scarf.

January 25, 2007

Same Old, same old....

Here's a pic of son #3 with his brand new son born in December. I was lucky enough to be at the birth, a feat I've managed for all but one of my six grandchildren.

Nothing new and exciting here. My friend sent over some Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Hysan Hua Tuo Medicated Plasters (better known as bruise plasters) for my knee. They seem to be helping with the pain. I didn't take any pain relievers last night when I put the plasters on and did fairly well all night, despite having to get up twice to go to the bathroom as well as climb down and up the stairs to let the dog out.... Walking and climbing aren't too bad, but if I forget and twist my knee (and you'd be surprised how often we twist that knee joint in the course of daily life) I really know it. What still suprises me is how quickly it gets stiff. I get up, walk around to get rid of the stiffness, do the dishes, etc., sit down, and ten minutes later I'm starting all over again having to walk off the stiffness.

Don't know what my knitting plans are today. Probably some work on the controversial Multidirectional Scarf. I'm saving the Pinwheel Sweater till tomorrow, I think. I'm visiting my friend, F, and we can work on our sweaters together.

However, this Harry Potter cell phone cozy, and The Weasley Sweater call out to me. The only problem is I don't have any of the yarns needed to make them. Guess that's a good thing!

January 22, 2007

So, I'm on the last leg of the first sleeve! (How's that for a mixed metaphor?)

I attached the sleeve and began the tedius round and round. The ribbing is about 8 inches long so there is plenty of grow room in it. So I have bit to do on that and thinking I could get it done over the weekend kinda was a dream instead of a guesstimate!

I've got a cold! It's not a bad one, just one enough to be annoying. Rought throat, runny nose... blech! Guess it's a good day to sit and knit!

Watched a really good movie yesterday- Mozart and the Whale. Okay, it's not going to every get nominated for any big awards... It's a love story about two people with Asperger's Syndrome. I, along with my mother, daughter, two sons, and two grandchildren have AS. I also have a grandson that is Autistic. The story is about how difficult it is for two Aspies to live with each other...but I wish it had touched more on how difficult it is for Aspies to live with Neuro Typicals (NT). That is what most of you people out there are.

Most of what one reads about AS is how it affects children. I wish there was more out there of what it's like to be 54 and have internalized all the pain and struggle of being different, trying to be normal, and just never being able to succeed. And never knowing what it was that caused the problem. Not only not have a diagnosis, but never being able to see/understand what the behavior was that was unacceptable. So, one finds that seclusion is the better than the pain of rejection. Enough. It begins to sound lik whining.

My granddaughter was just notified she has a snow day! Mixed blessing....

January 22, 2007

Sleeves, and Mozart and the Whale

So, I'm on the last leg of the first sleeve! (How's that for a mixed metaphor?)

I attached the sleeve and began the tedius round and round. The ribbing is about 8 inches long so there is plenty of grow room in it. So I have bit to do on that and thinking I could get it done over the weekend kinda was a dream instead of a guesstimate!

I've got a cold! It's not a bad one, just one enough to be annoying. Rought throat, runny nose... blech! Guess it's a good day to sit and knit!

Watched a really good movie yesterday- Mozart and the Whale. Okay, it's not going to every get nominated for any big awards... It's a love story about two people with Asperger's Syndrome. I, along with my mother, daughter, two sons, and two grandchildren have AS. I also have a grandson that is Autistic. The story is about how difficult it is for two Aspies to live with each other...but I wish it had touched more on how difficult it is for Aspies to live with Neuro Typicals (NT). That is what most of you people out there are.

Most of what one reads about AS is how it affects children. I wish there was more out there of what it's like to be 54 and have internalized all the pain and struggle of being different, trying to be normal, and just never being able to succeed. And never knowing what it was that caused the problem. Not only not have a diagnosis, but never being able to see/understand what the behavior was that was unacceptable. So, one finds that seclusion is the better than the pain of rejection. Enough. It begins to sound lik whining.

My granddaughter was just notified she has a snow day! Mixed blessing....

January 21, 2007

I finally got the darned thing finished up to putting in the sleeves! And in retrospect, I really fussed with it more than I needed to. It would have come out just fine if I'd have kept going. Oh well, live and learn. And to quote Hilde "Trust the pattern."

With that said, let me tell you how I changed the arm hole area. The actual pattern made absolutely no sense to me. So I figured I could use the concept used for an afterthought heel. Here's what I did. When it got time to set aside the sts for the sleeves, I grabbed a piece of waste yarn, knit across the prescribed number of sts for the arm hole, turn and knit back with the waste yarn. Then I picked up the working yarn and kept knitting, repeated for the second arm hole with another piece of waste yarn, and then knitted on to finish the circle. Today I'll go back, pick out the waste yarn, pick up the live sts on dpns, and make the sleeves. At least that's the plan. More on that tomorrow!

I've had this old sweater for many years. It's a cheapy machine knitted thing, but, hey, it keeps off the chill. However, the cuffs stretched out in the bag on the way home from the store. I wore it for years, rolling up the sleeves, and then rolling them up again ten minutes later. Then they'd fall when I pushed them up.

So, all the sudden it occurred to me that I could knit some cuffs on. I started the first time by picking up sts all around, but decided that was too tedious for this sweater. So I did a round of single crochet, then picked up the sts, and knit the cuffs. They are a little snug, and I can't push them up at all, but, I can wear the sweater without the cuffs falling over my hands. Maybe someday I'll frog them and do a better job.

January 21, 2007

Pinwheel Sweater Milestone

I finally got the darned thing finished up to putting in the sleeves! And in retrospect, I really fussed with it more than I needed to. It would have come out just fine if I'd have kept going. Oh well, live and learn. And to quote Hilde "Trust the pattern."

With that said, let me tell you how I changed the arm hole area. The actual pattern made absolutely no sense to me. So I figured I could use the concept used for an afterthought heel. Here's what I did. When it got time to set aside the sts for the sleeves, I grabbed a piece of waste yarn, knit across the prescribed number of sts for the arm hole, turn and knit back with the waste yarn. Then I picked up the working yarn and kept knitting, repeated for the second arm hole with another piece of waste yarn, and then knitted on to finish the circle. Today I'll go back, pick out the waste yarn, pick up the live sts on dpns, and make the sleeves. At least that's the plan. More on that tomorrow!

I've had this old sweater for many years. It's a cheapy machine knitted thing, but, hey, it keeps off the chill. However, the cuffs stretched out in the bag on the way home from the store. I wore it for years, rolling up the sleeves, and then rolling them up again ten minutes later. Then they'd fall when I pushed them up.

So, all the sudden it occurred to me that I could knit some cuffs on. I started the first time by picking up sts all around, but decided that was too tedious for this sweater. So I did a round of single crochet, then picked up the sts, and knit the cuffs. They are a little snug, and I can't push them up at all, but, I can wear the sweater without the cuffs falling over my hands. Maybe someday I'll frog them and do a better job.