Bad Cat Nurse.

This is how my sister described herself in an email to me this morning.

I have to admit, my sister is a great people nurse. Compassionate without sentimentality. Doesn't let doctors bamboozle patients. Tells it like it is. We refer to her, affectionately, of course, as Nurse Rachet. Has been known to crush a few administration and resident "youknowwhats" if appropriate. But she's a dreadful cat nurse.

The good news. Hefner has apparent gastritis. Meaning he ate something. For Hef, that could mean anything that didn't eat him first. The vet's insructions were to keep him away from food for 24 hours to make sure he didn't barf and dehydrate himself, and to monitor his, ahem, leavings. Like the rest of us, she has to work, but leaves at some godawful hour to take report. When she tried to shut him in a bedroom to keep him away from the other cat's food, this is a direct quote:

"He looked at me like your putting me in jail!!!"

And you know what this means. Hefner is now running around the house terrorizing Trixie (aka: Dementia for reasons that will go unexplained). This from a woman who has been known to tell human patients to "suck it up", and "be happy you are alive and recovering" or "don't take your meds and die, it's fine with me". (Now you see the Nurse Rachet reference.)

All I can say is that if I was sick. I'd sure want her on my side.

So for now, all seems well. If more barfing occurs, the vet may have to x-ray him for "foreign objects". Oh glory. What next!

The week from hell...

..is now history. But, naturally, there is cleaning up to do. And frankly, I'm just too tired to do it.

The conference I coordinated went well. I was pleased with the comments (unsolicited) that we received. The anonymous evaluations look good. So all the hard work was worth it I think.

Today, however, the news isn't all dandy. My sister sent me email to tell me she fed her cat some of the poisoned food. Not alot, but enough to worry her. He is going to the vet today for bloodwork. She will be unconsolable if something happens to him. He's not her only cat, nor even her "favorite", but he's a sweetie and has got quite a personality, and I know she'd take his death very hard.

I tried to marshall all my knowledge about kidney disease and poison clearance rates (I did renal research for 6 years, including clearance rates for drug companies.) but I'm not sure I helped much. Now it is just a matter of trying to hope everything is OK.




This is a photo of Hefner in his Kitty Pi Bed. He's even cuter in real life, and you just have to love a cat who appreciates knitting.

The Good, the Bad, and....well more Good ....

This past weekend we were supposed to be doing some fun stuff, but first we had to get there. Naturally, it snowed (and snowed and snowed) on Friday, and that made the traveling we were supposed to do on Saturday a risky proposition.

So I switched our season Saturday night tickets and we ended up doing this on Sunday afternoon. It was fabulous. Etta Cox has some set of pipes on her!


Unfortunately on the way back to the hotel to change here's the bad.....





Sigh. Rear ended at a stop sign on an on ramp to the Ft. Pitt Bridge. Yunz in the 'Burgh know exactly where I'm talking about.












Then..."it was a hockey night in Pittsburgh"! (With apologies to Mike Lange.)







And wow was that fun! It was my very first hockey game. The boys (two thirds of the team are under 23 and a handful, the best players, are under 21, I'm not kidding when I say boys) won! And we saw an overtime and a shootout.












Not the final score, but dandy anyway.
















And Rich was impressed too! He's just very intense when it comes to sports.







You can't say we're not eclectic!

Felting progress....

Franco's sibling is moving right along. He is loosely stuffed and drying after felting. He should be plenty dry tonight. I'll give him eyes and you'll really see his personality come out.

It only took him about 48 hours to be complete dry, but he'll actually be sitting about 72 hours. And I'll let you in on a little secret. I spin cycle all of my felting, and most of the items I wash for blocking. I don't put it through the rinse and spin, but only through the spin at the end of the wash. Since I use a non-rinsing wool wash, there is no reason to rinse. And I know the caveat is that the felting will crease, so far....knocking on every piece of wood in the vicinity....I've yet to have a crease appear.

I then set the piece on the edge of our (unused) kitchen table, where the heat/AC is vented from the ceiling. Easy peasy.

On the fancy ass contact front, my doc is reordering and refitting my contacts, and I will now try tri-focals. I'm wearing my old lenses and they feel very good. My far vision suffers though.

Heading toward the finish line....

I actually started this post yesterday, and phffft! gone. Who the heck knows what I did. But the finish line in question is for this:



Yes indeedy, Franco's brother is this close to being felted. I do my felting on Saturday or Sunday mornings when hubby is dead to the world. Fewer "what the hell are you doing?" questions that way. But since this was brother's state yesterday, today, he is no longer in pieces. He is all ready to pop into the washer this weekend!! Yea! By this time next week I may have twinsies (how does one spell twinsies?)

But what is making all of this harder is that I've just gotten new fancy ass contacts. They are bifocal lenses, and I have great distance vision, pretty good near vision, but NO middle (arms length) vision. Thus, all of a sudden, I can't see the computer screen. And since most of my work is tech based. This is a real problem. I have a very nice optometrist, and I fear this will be quite a disappointment to him. We get three shots to get this right, then I can return them, hopefully for a refund.

So I've been struggling in a week when I really shouldn't be.

Meanwhile, I've started the Rock and Weave socks from STR. They're really going to be cute and I think pretty easy to knit. The linen stitch is simply a two row, two stitch, pattern, but I was so tired last evening, I couldn't remember the pattern sequence. So I gave up.

It really does have the makings of a great "on-the-go" project. Which is good because we'll be really "on-the-go" next weekend. Another reason to get Franco's brother felted.

I'm lazy...

...so there are no photos to accompany this post. I am forging ahead with my new flamingo, which will be a b-day gift for my sister. And I'm putzing around with my Hanging Gardens Lace Stole. I'm using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud laceweight. This will be only the second piece I'm working on using real laceweight yarn. I've knit other lace, but using DK, sport or worsted. I find this much more difficult. Perhaps also because the pattern repeat is like 40-something rows long, AND I'm not a chart fan. I understand the attraction people have to charts, but I don't want to carry an entire chart around. Instead I carry a stack of index cards with each row written out and held together with a ring. When I finish a row I flip the card. That way I don't have to guess where I am. In this case, too, the wrong side rows are all purl. So I only have to note the patterned rows. Note the title of the posting.

In other "news" my Knit Picks "purse" lost an eye. This is the little clutch like piece that attached to the outside of the larger bags. The metal eye just plum pulled out. So I called KP customer service, and as is their rep, they were more than gracious. The only problem is that they are not selling the purse part separately anymore. What the heck is up with that? The customer service person couldn't tell me what was going on so I think I'm going to send them an email because it just doesn't make sense. They gave me credit for the purse, and that is that. I'm really disappointed because I am really liking these bags. I am hauling them everywhere.

One more time....

I tried to organize this post on Friday, and found that I did something amazingly wrong. Instead of a graphic and some text, I got text interspersed with html image code. I have no idea how that happened.

But here we have yet another bmarie bucket hat, modeled by Orsis, my favorite model. You can see that Orsis doesn't care about his robust figure. I like that. Along with the hat is...yes...another mobius scarf. So now this makes three, and ya'll won't believe this, but yes, I have another on my mind. But I'm still working on the lace-one repeat done! And another new project. This one a sibling of an earlier piece. It's going great guns, and I'm shocked at how quickly it is moving along. So soon, I'll have something new to show.

Meantime we are dry and frigid here, but eureka! Tommorrow we are looking forward to snow. All our cars are a mess. Mine still has a "bra" on it. I was pretty good about taking it off and washing the thing to keep the finish from getting messed up, but it has been just too cold to wash anything. The entire vehicle is now covered with a layer of road dirt and salt like I just cannot believe. You can't get in or out with getting filthy. I hate this time of year.

If only....

....I could add up all the rows I've knit (and frogged) on my Hanging Garden's Stole (Harding pattern), I'd be halfway done.

Maybe I am just not cut out to knit lace.

I have no pictures because.....well, there is nothing to photograph when it keeps getting frogged.

Sigh...

What it is they say? Third time's a charm?

Furious and well....

... not exactly fast.

I finally finished the socks I'm giving to my mom for Christmas....Merry Christmas Mom!! They are just a vanilla recipe, made from Knit Picks Dancing in Two Step I think. My mom has delicate tootsies, so I'm hoping these won't make her feet "burn".

Heinz Bear would also like to show you the mobius scarf I just finished, for me, from Ellyn Cooper's Sonnet in gold patina. I am having a love affair with the mobius scarf. I'm finding that it is a very comfortable scarf to wear, and as a bonus, tons of fun to knit!

Here' s a simple purl ridge mobius with an I-cord bind off. Makes the edges much neater than just a loose bindoff.




The close up is a better representation of the colors and you can see the gold that is spun through the yarn. The funny thing is the yarn is 98% wool, and 2% gold patina. I'd love to make something bigger with it, but it is rather expensive (though I did get it on sale), and I don't think I could talk myself into making that kind of investment.

Lastly, here is a Chicknits Bucket Hat made with Patons SWS. Those of you familiar with

Patons SWS will realize that these colors are a tad too saturated. I couldn't seem to get them right even with Photoshop. Also SWS has unique felting "issues". It felts like a wild thing. This hat was as big as one of those Dr. Seuss hats when it went in and in FIVE (count'em 5) minutes was felted to this size. I would have prefered a shorter brim, but sheesh.....If you look at the previous post you can see what happened the last time I tried that. I tweaked B-Marie's pattern to accommodate this, but perhaps not enough. So there you have it....knitting content at last. Feels good!

Finally....

...have a photo of a FO to post. I am experimenting with my new digital camera. This photo is of a reversible bead knitted bracelet. There are things I would do differently, but for for the moment "is gut" (as my Amish friends would say).

The slide clasp is 14K gold filled and cost a [relative] fortune. This is knitted using two colors of size 5 Miyuki triangle beads, so you're not seeing things. The gold beads really are dark on one side and light on the other. I also added off white Miyuki teardrops (also known as tiny tims) for pattern interest.

The odd crystal thing on the one end is a Swarovski button. This bracelet started out life with a knitted buttonhole that one could slip the button through. (I was struggling like crazy to NOT have to buy that damn slide clasp.) Alas, it just wasn't durable, and I had to struggle to put the piece on to wear it, the buttonhole was either too big or two tight etc., etc., etc., . So over the New Year's weekend. I picked it apart and added the slide clasp and now, I'm way happier. I left the buttons (one on each side) just for fun.

I have other FOs, including THREE of b-marie's felted bucket hats. They are all completely different, and not all successful, as the bear in the photo will attest. Cell phone photo, so please forgive the grainy nature of the picture.

I know I have some 'splainin' to do as to how a woman who can successfully felt a flamingo can turn a bucket hat into a WWI helmet.

Wait until you see the other two hats.

The Six (only) Weird Things....

When I first saw this meme I thought....only six? How do I decide?

Here are some of my foibles:

1) I love teddy bears. I own about 30+ all sizes and shapes. They all have names. Somehow my husband peacefully co-exists with the bears which are scattered throughout the house. He does not, however, remember their names.

2) I will watch movies and read books that I've seen/read before--sometimes over and over. I cannot even guess how many times I've read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Use your imagination when it comes to the LOTR films.

3) I hate, hate with a passion, punch. You know that mixed up fruity concoction (sometimes alcoholic, sometimes not) that shows up at parties and it's that time of year, alas. I much prefer plain seltzer or a lovely glass of wine. (Unfortunately, I belong to a family of "punchers".)

4) If it were possible, I'd move into Wegman's (an upscale grocery store in the northeast). I have declared to no one in particular, that I will never [again] live in an area without a Wegman's. (If you had one you would understand......) Wegman's has been Money Magazine's #1 or #2 company to work for for the past 3 years and in the top 10, for the past decade. I <3 Wegman's. I bought my little Christmas tree at Wegman's.

5) I do not ascribe to the current popular dislike of Wal Mart. I believe that stopping Wal Marts from moving into an area is short sighted in the long run, and is discriminatory to the very segment of the population that self-serving activists claim to want to protect. That being said, I do not go out of my way to shop there, and Super Wal Marts give me hives.

6) I like to do other things when I talk on the phone, which isn't often, by the way. I'll cut vegetables, put dishes away, set the VCR, you name it. My husband says that this is unspeakably rude.

Here's a bonus:

Bonus) I have a master's in information science and teach computer science, yet don't personally own a computer.

So that'd be it. Not as strange as some...but I decided to share only the elements that can't get me into too much trouble.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

See yunz in 2007!

It can't be December already!!

This morning when I woke up the nightlight we keep in the hallway was off, and the room was pitch, pitch black. I just couldn't believe that it was that dark and my alarm was really going off. How do people near the Arctic Circle do it? I just cannot wait until the soltice when the days start getting lighter again. Even moments matter.

Meanwhile the miserable storms that have plagued the mid-west are barreling toward us. But you can hardly tell. We have miserably high winds, but so far, only one downpour and now the line of storms looks like it passed us and the sun is actually out at the moment and it is still in the 60's. What's up with this? Of course, tomorrow, when we don't get out of the thirties, I'll be griping about it. No doubt.

Huh?

Not a descriptive title, but the best I can do post election.

If you can't stand a post sans a definite ideology, but with definite opinions, you can skip this.

You have to understand where I'm coming from....the middle folks. I am a "no party" registrant in my state. I've never voted straight ANYTHING in my whole voting life. I've even written someone in. I'm from that group of voters that everyone covets, but no one speaks to.

If you're a survey taker, I'm the person you hate to call. Why? Because I ask more questions than I answer.

Example:

Them: Is XYZ doing a good job? (Implying that they want a yes or no answer...and insuring they will not get one from me.)

Me: In what respect?

Them: Uh...[pregnant pause] I don't know...overall? (Are they asking me or telling me?}

Me: You need to be more specific...the economy? Taxes? Crime?

Them: Overall...

Me: Can't answer that. I'm of the decidedly thoughtful opinion that anyone who can answer a question like that is mostly of the "koolaid" variety. Love'em or hate'em based on ideology. (This means I've been mulling this over for a long time, and can possibly change my mind, but haven't found enough data to do it yet.)

...so there you go. I don't adhere to any particular ideology and find the idea abhorrent. Maybe I can start an anti-ideology party? Of course this means my husband thinks I'm a lefty, and my mother thinks I'm just right of Barry Goldwater (her generation).

I just know this, I find the Republican gnashing of teeth grating and the Democrat gloating equally shudder inducing. I think of my dear departed father at times like this. When it came to politics he said "everyone should get a turn". And so they should. The Democrats, if they can stop grinning and breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for a moment, now have an opportunity to move the conflict in Iraq to a hopefully, safe end. (Though I think Murtha who is from this neck of the woods is apparently on some kind of drugs. That's the only excuse I can think of for his "plan". And no, Murtha, you're not vindicated, you're still an idiot. Nothing new about that. It must be the water in Altoona......) The problem I see is that all the Dems have done for the past 3 years have been bitch, call nasty names, and moan. They have never brought forth a REAL plan. So now they've gotta scramble. But with any kind of luck, for that's what it will take, they can maybe help make something good happen. If nothing happens in two years...Hillary is in trouble in '08 if she isn't already.

As for the chortling I see all over about Pelosi, that's actually the only thing that really disturbs me. A SF leftie running the House is just way outside my comfort zone. (I don't care what gender.) What do I mean? Cradle to grave entitlements with a crushing tax burden to go along with it; a complete disdain for the military (check out her actions and that of the district, not her words); diminishing of parental rights in favor of the government (do you really want ANY government raising your kids? I think it's been tried...it was in Nazi Germany). So I don't care much how many of what flavor sits where.... But 'ol Nancy, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. There's that anti-ideology thingy yet again.

I was in the cultivated generation of feminists. In the seventies we were indignant about so many things. Then the feminists changed, (as did I) and somewhere along the way lost something. I'm coming to the conclusion it is their ever lovin' minds. I was so excited that I would see a female president in my lifetime. But I am appalled and disappointed in a way I cannot describe that the candidate will be Hillary. She is smart, politically savvy, and the most dishonest politician on the scene today. I am devastated and embarrassed. I had these lofty, pie-in-the-sky imagingings that the first woman candidate would be someone with guts and character (I sadly, stupidly(?) set the bar higher for a female candidate. I can dream can't I?). She has the guts, but the character stinks. Sigh. I am disappointed beyond belief. And frightened. Frightened that women will vote with their ovaries rather than their brains. And they will. So I made a decision. When the '08 primaries roll around I am going to change my registration to Democrat, so I can vote against Hillary. (Here in PA you cannot vote in primaries without a party affiliation.) It doesn't matter who she is running against, and it doesn't matter if I "waste" my vote. It is my only recourse. I will pretend to be a Dem for a day. Then switch back to where I belong......I like water lots better than koolaid anyway.

P.S. When I was approached by the hordes outside the polling place on Tuesday, trying to stuff paper into my hands, I told them nothing doing and that I should've brought all the crap they'd sent me over the prior 6 weeks to give back. They did look rather sheepish. I wish I had thought of it sooner, and I would have.

Bass Ackwards

I've been thinking about it and, yup, I'm backward.

I "read" magazines from the back to the front. I've been known to look at the end of a book first. I occasionally will catch the end of a TV show (on purpose) that I'm taping. It's OK with me if I learn the score of a sporting event that my husband is taping and then sit through it with him pretending I don't know the outcome. Why? No idea. Weird isn't it?

It's the same thing with my knitting and beading.

Most people start with the ubiquitous scarf. Me? Nah. I started with a sweater - a striped sweater no less. Never mind that it was made in creepy acrylic. I happily wore it for several years. Then I went on to a ...are ya' ready, a shawl collar sweater for my then "boyfriend". (He's now my husband and we've been married 19 years today....Happy Anniversary to us.) So I knit a sweater as a second project too and thumbed my nose at the "boyfriend" curse. In fact, I had completely forgotten this sweater, until my husband mentioned that he still had it packed away in the attic. (I had long since given my striped acrylic to St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop.) The next one I do remember. It was a short sleeved cotton sweater, in purple, and I had such a hard time finding yarn, that I had to hold two fingering weight strands together to knit it. It had a complicated bells and bobbles front and did I mention...I knit ALL of these pieces in the round. The patterns were not written in the round, but I converted them...including the very complicated front of the purple cotton.

As I look back on these feats, I honestly don't know how I did it. But I did. Remarkable. I also followed the same pattern with beading. I embarked on my beading by creating a complex "stained glass" amulet bag, completely with Mill Hill beads. (Those of you familiar with beading will recognize that this probably cost me a fortune. It did.)

I got back into knitting late in 2004, I actually learned to knit in the mid-eighties. And what did I choose for a first project in 2004. A scarf. A "fun fur" scarf. It was fun, it was easy, and I used straight, single point needles for the first time. Of course, I added Miyuki triangle beads to the scarf. I haven't stopped. I found that I like knitting accessories. Scarves, hats, bags, wraps,....I have one sweater that I may knit in the forseeable future, but we'll see. I've also started knitting socks.

What hasn't changed is that I'm still fearless. I don't care what the pattern difficulty is rated. If I like it, I'll figure it out.
Especially with a little help from my "friends" on the internet. Something we hadn't even considered in the eighties......

Yoi and double yoi!

When I changed jobs I lost access to a digital camera (which I used to borrow to take digital photos). My new position has one, however, the office has lost the CD to install the software to manage the camera. Sigh.

Consequently, I've not been posting since I can't show off my completed lozenge sock from Vintage Socks, my Tendrils wrap from Knitty, my bead knitted bracelets. I'm currently working on three projects, all for Christmas gifts: a ruffles scarf from Scarf Style with Brooks Farm silk/merino yarn (my all time favorite yarn I think); a Liesel scarf with Knit Picks Elegance in lilac, which I think is a fun knit; and the lozenge mate in Trekking XXL. The lozenge sock takes so much yarn, that I had to ask my LYS, Stitch Your Art Out to try and find another skein, which they did (bless them) in the same dye lot even. It looks like I'll have enough for the lozenge pair and a smaller, shorter pair when I'm done.

So where knitting is concerned, I'm afraid this will be a photoless entry, at least for the moment.

I can show you some of what I did on vacation though...we went here.

That's PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not the best team in baseball, but the best ball park. Even if the game isn't good the view is always delightful. That is a view of the Majestic, one of the Gateway Clipper fleet that runs the three rivers, passing under the Roberto Clemente Bridge. That bridge is the main thoroughfare to the ballpark, and is turned into a pedestrian walkway before and after all games.

As luck would have it, the Sunday we were there was Stitch and Pitch day and I had no idea! I would have remained blissfully unaware except during the 7th (or so) inning one of the publicity interns (those poor students who get to do all the bizarre stunts for an internship--what did you do on your summer vacation? I got to dress like Oliver Onion and run in pierogie races!) interviewed some of the women who were sitting and stitching. My sock, alas, remained safely enscounced in our car downtown (across the bridge).

To the wonderful folks who made comments about Franco Flamingo, I spent a few days with my mom when she was having a cataract removed about a month ago and took him with me to cheer her up. (Who in the world can't smile when they see him?) She tried to convince me to go through with my plan to give him as a gift. She was pretty convincing. So much so that I purchased the yarns to make another. Still can't give him up. I don't know if I'll get to it for Christmas, but perhaps an April birthday. I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty behind where I was a year ago in my Christmas knitting.

Also my cellulitis cleared up fairly quickly. My sister a critical care nurse, who is highly allergic to some insect bites and gets cellulitis every time she encounters a "green head" fly, suggested Ivarest for the itching. It is like calamine (sp?) lotion in cream form-very thick and gooey, but it worked and I stopped scratching my skin off.

Thanks for the comments. I'm actually amazed.
I'll try to be more diligent in the future.

P.S. Anyone from Pittsburgh, and environs, will understand the implications of the title of this post.

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.

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.

Too long, too long.....

Since I've done any meaningful writing, either in my personal journal, online, or in my little knitting book. I don't know what's stopping me. I often think about stuff I want to record--just to remember something specific--a feeling, an unusual sight, just a revelation (not too many of these) but I'm lazy or exhausted. Hard to tell the difference.

Today though I have some show and tell.

First it has come to my attention that though I am a rather conservative dresser, think Lands' End, I'm a veritable disco queen (for those younger than say 40, that's when all those funky platforms, and polyester blouses were actually stylish the first time) when it comes to my hand knit socks. Nothing is too strange or bizarre, and I take great pleasure in wearing them. I've been reading blogs where the knitter will actually frog a sock because she is unhappy with collaboration of the pattern and the yarn. I also see many knitters who knit lovely patterned solid socks because the "lace shows best in solids". I simply can't bring myself to do it. If you are one of these fine, careful knitters, the following sock photo may make you cringe so there's the PG-14 warning.



I love how these came out. Feather and Fan from Socks, Socks, Socks in Socks that Rock Carbon. There a bit of pooling on the right sock, but I think it actually adds to the charm.

The second photo is of my favorite part. The Dutch heel. So far I've knit 4 pair of socks, with another in process, and each has had a completely different heel. I think I like the fit of the Dutch heel best for me so far, but I like the construction of the short row heel.

Here's an upclose and personal view of the heel. As you can probably tell, I'm taking these photos myself, hence the dough white appendages.

And these all wool babies are perfectly comfortable in our Central PA 60 degree weather. I don't know about tomorrow though, we're hitting the 70's.


Next is that internet favorite Grumperina's Jaywalkers. Had to try them, and of course, my inner disco queen took over and I used Socks that Rock, Fire on the Mountain. Then....go figure, I decided to try an Eye of Partridge heel. Weird, wild and I really think it's a hoot!!












Finally to take the edge off all this fiber I have this.........

It is the beginning of a crocheted beaded bracelet. I've made dozens of them. It is my quickie giftee when I'm caught empty handed. Alas, I haven't constructed one in so long I forgot a major design principle, and it's working out a bit wonky. I'm hoping I can forgive the wonkiness, and I can find it eclectic. It's for me anyway, and I've worn experiments before.....with my Lands' End wardrobe.

The good, the bad, and the ugly......

Since I'm not nearly as entertaining as so many other bloggers (Yarn Harlot and Franklin), I figured that I'd just steal movie titles. However, as I look at this photo, I can see the good, but can't put my finger on the bad and the ugly....

One good is I'm finallly on track knitting Via diagonale, after four, count'em four, starts. I frogged this damn thing three times. The first because I can't count, the second because I thought it was coming out too big, and made it one repeat smaller (no I didn't swatch, it's a purse), and the third because I wasn't happy with the color contrast. As you can see the blue is varigated in the photo and looks pretty good against the black. However, originally I had it against another shade of blue, and the "diagonale" pattern got pretty lost. I was away over the weekend so I toddled off to what passed as the LYS (A.C. Moore) and bought "Sugar and Cream" cotton in black. It costs about 1/3 the price of the blue and you can tell, it is not nice. But I was away from home, and I was desperate. The other interesting thing is that no where on the ball band did it tell me how much yarn was in there. So I had to buy enough extra, just in case. So I have a feeling that I'll be stuck with black "Sugar and Cream" when this whole thing is done. I'll also have more of the blue varigated stuff. So I may have to go back to my LYS and exchange it for two other colors and make one that I'll like better. I'm still running a little larger than the pattern, so I'll probably decrease it one more repeat if I do make a second. Knitting Rules! (which is quite good, if only I could read more than a page at a time before I fall dead asleep, no fault of the author) and my rapidly fading crocuses are both good as well, so I suppose the Sugar and Cream gets both the bad and ugly designation, even though you can't tell that from the photo.

On another front, I got my sister started on a Kitty Pi Bed. She hasn't knit in years (had vague childhood nightmares of learning), but after starting on Saturday afternoon, she was more than half way finished by the time I left her on Sunday afternoon. In addition, she neglected to do any of the chores my mother had asked her to do. I had to explain to my very affronted mother that it was "knitter's syndrome". She was counting. I'm not sure that she'll continue. I've already got her hooked on beading. But if she does continue, she'll definitely be a "product knitter". Today she called me at work so I could describe binding off to her. I'm now awaiting for the "felting" phone call.

And wouldn't you know, even though her own cats each have a bed, knitted by yours truly, the one wants to sit right in the center of the one she's knitting. I had better get a photo of the finished product!

Who said socks needed to be identical.....

I guess there's a first time for everything. I am not a fast knitter. I'm actually happy not being a fast knitter. Since I do not have to knit for warmth or protection (that's what Kaufmann's is for), I can putz along as I please. But I am going home to visit my mother. When I saw her at Christmas, she asked me to knit her a pair of socks, in the Brown Sheep Symphony colorway. No problem. Well, it has taken me about two weeks to knit the socks. I just finished to take them to her this weekend. However, when I really looked at the pair this is what I saw.

Not only are they not identical twins, they are barely fraternal twins. In fact, it appears that I used two completely different dyelots. My LYS bands together two balls of the same dyelot in their sockyarn so a customer doesn't have to sort through an entire bin. I just grabbed the color I wanted late one evening, and didn't really look that closely. So I've now checked and nope. Both said 004 dyelot. I thought the second ball looked like it had less burgundy, but I thought that perhaps it was just on the "outside". Of course I was pulling from the inside. So now I have two what appear to be mis-matched socks for my mother. I'm hoping she'll wear them until I can get back to the yarn store and buy one ball that appears to have more burgundy to knit her yet ANOTHER sock.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I was experimenting with my camera phone. I thought it was clear enough to get the idea across. Life is never easy.

On another front, I am giving my sister Kitty Pi Bed lessons this weekend. Her kitties love their beds so much her boyfriend wants one for his mother's kitty. I said fine. I'll be happy to teach someone how......