Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Remember when I wrote...

... the flamingo was too cute for words? Well, what say you?



When he was completely finished, I showed him to Rich and said, I don't think I can give him up. He said, "then don't, she (the giftee) will not appreciate him anyway." While that probably isn't exactly true, it gave me a lovely excuse to hang on to him.

He is from a Fiber Trends pattern. And while their patterns are usually terrific in terms of yardage and direction etc. This one was WAY, WAY off. It called for 2 skeins of Brown Sheep worsted pink and one black. I used three pink skeins! It took a full skein just to knit those two knobby legs, because you hold the yarn doubled. The "feathers" are a Moda Dea novelty yarn from Joanne's that I picked up on a whim. I should have paid better attention though as one needs between 30 and 40 yards of novelty, and this skein only had 11 yards!! I needed three and could have used a fourth. In short Franco Flamingo has lots more $$ invested than I intended. (I named him Franco because his soulful black button eyes reminded me of Franco Harris...don't ask.)I'm thinking of knitting a second one for the giftee anyway, but with a better choice for the novelty yarn.

Anyway, I knit him because I needed a little fun in my life. I was stressing about my new job and changing offices and just tons of other things, and this was just a very fun silly thing to do. I took the photo with my camera phone, so it isn't the best quality.

I may need to find some more anti-stress knitting. On Sunday, even though the temperatures were in the low 90s, we decided to go hiking late in the afternoon. We drove out to Penn State's Recreation Center, Stone Valley. We thought it would be cooler, and since everyone else was in town (or should have been) for the Central PA Festival of the Arts we thought it would be quiet. It wasn't quiet on the lake. There was some kind of boating/fishing event, but as soon as we got into the woods. It was very peaceful. Unfortunately, when I extracted a map from a posted sign, I was literally attacked by a nasty flying insect. I'm reasonably sure it was a yellow jacket, though I didn't bother to ask for identification. It hurt like hell! No stinger, got the bump, it went away, I used hydrocortisone, all seemed well except for a little, to be expected, soreness. To make a long story short, by Tuesday morning, I had a VERY swollen, hot, red, forearm, which hurt and was itching like heck. Fortunately the doc had an opening, and I found out that that bugger not only gave me a nasty bite, he also gave me cellulitis. So I'm now on antibiotics, and after 36 hours my arm looks and feels lots better. Still itching like mad though.

The fun just never ends.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Fallen off the face ......

.....of the earth. That's what it feels like, but now, all of a sudden I can come up for air.

I changed jobs June 1, and the remainder of April and the majority of May I spent packing and sorting through 15 years of files. My new position is very much similar to my old, so I have the opportunity to use much of my prior work in my new office. That is a double edged sword. It means that one can haul an awful lot of junk along with them. My old office is also collapsing so I had to opportunity bring a lot of stuff, office furniture and the like with me.

When I arrived I had two days to unpack then had to plan for a course to be taught beginning th 4th day I was in the office. I could barely catch my breath.

Through it all I kept creating, though I can't share it because I do not have acces to a digital camera in this office. I'm hoping that I can get my camera phone working and connected to my laptop.

My FOs include:

A knitted sterling wire necklace and bracelet. Another bracelet in progress.
A bead knitted cuff bracelet.
A flamingo. (Yes a bright pink felted, stuffed, flamingo.)
A tendrils (Knitty) still in progress.

I'm beginning work on some Christmas gifts. The flamingo was slated to be a Christmas gift, but he is just too damn cute for words. So he's going to have to stay with me.

I've cast on for some Christmas socks in a pattern from Nancy Bush's Vintage Sock book, and just ordered lovely yarn for two scarves.

Meanwhile I settle into my new position, and try to enjoy the summer which seems to be slipping through my hands like sand at the beach.