piece of string

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

2011-08-16T16:58:00.001-05:00

There color is teal, so I am working on a teal hat to put in the store window! Then I am going to work on something else that's teal. Anyone else in the mood for teal?

2011-08-16T16:53:00.003-05:00

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Its been so long...

2010-10-18T11:16:00.003-05:00

I have totally been slacking on posting. I had a hand injury way back last February and knitting really took a hiatus, and posting on the blog has certainly suffered more than usual. I'm at home with a cold today so hopefully I can start a new streak of blogging.
I've been knitting some fall pumpkins

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/5078544246_058d271db0_m.jpg

that's a cell phone picture they look much cuter in real life!

Apolo Ohno

2010-03-11T12:21:00.002-06:00

Apolo Ohno recently came to my work and we all had the opportunity to get our picture taken with him and ask him questions.
I stood in line debating on if I should ask him to pose with Knitted Audrey Hepburn (KAH) or not. Not everyone would ask an Olympic gold medalist to hold a knitted doll in front of all their co-workers. He was actually really great about it and asked who she was. Everyone has commented that my picture is the only one where he looks like he is genuinely smiling. I'm choosing not to believe it's because he thinks I'm crazy!

Annemor Sunbo

2010-03-09T21:42:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday I had the change to take a Setesdal embroidery class with Annemor Sundbo, it was great. The picture above is me and Annemor and Knitted Audrey Hepburn (KAH). The class was hosted by the Windy City Knitting Guild. I wish there meetings weren't mostly in the city.

I haven't been knitting that much lately my hands have been hurting. I went to see the Orthopedic specialist today and the news wasn't that bad, but I do have tendinitis in both hands and in my left wrist.

I have some physical therapy to do and hopefully that will help and I can get some more knitting done.

Coupons

2009-12-01T09:43:00.001-06:00

So I've been very neglectful of my blog. I've been doing a lot of Christmas knitting so not too much that I can post about.
But I did set a new goal starting today to save $30,000 using coupons. When I get to my $30,000 goal I will use the money to buy a Camaro. If I want to do this in a year I would need to save $77/day - so more than likely this will take me more than a year.
I installed a ticker at the bottom of my page to help track my savings. I collected $2.50 this morning so I am on my way!

More Sock Summit Stash

2009-08-23T18:05:00.003-05:00

So from left to Right: Sophies toes just a small gathering of friends, skacel zauberball, cashmere sock by mackintosh yarn, malabrigo sock, rock candy by huckleberry knits, stevanie pico for Cascade yarns handpaints, 3 skeins solid CTH and on the end some mini skeins
The mini skeins were obtained through strong armed tactics......

One Thing I bought at Sock Summit

2009-08-11T20:58:00.002-05:00

Was this really great knitted rug by Lantern Moon. It proved you can fit a rug in carry-on luggage : )

I think if I could have I would have bought 2.

For $10 it was a great deal!

Really Needs to Post more often

2009-06-22T14:13:00.003-05:00

I even finished a project recently...

I finished knitting the absorbo bath mat from Mason Dixon Knitting... I think I started this some time in 2007 from the best of my estimates : )

I also went to the Fold Saturday Night for Toni's summer solstice sale, I got some new yarn (shocking at a yarn store) and the Baby Yours pattern, which I thought would be good for some of the gender neutral babies coming in the near future. I didn't buy any yarn to make this because I wasn't sure what a good gender neutral color scheme would be. Then I got home and thought RED!

Winner

2009-04-19T14:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday at the North Suburban Knit Out I won the fastest knitter contest and won this great basket of Noro! I got three balls of silk garden, a ball of kureyon, two balls of Kochoran and a ball of Silk Garden Sock Yarn. I also won a sock book as a door prize it was a really good day! I never win anything.

Vacation

2009-03-12T21:17:00.002-05:00

I finished my lace ribbon scarf, but sadly my camera is already packed up to go on vacation. So picture at the end of March sometime. I have also made a little more progress on my fishy mittens and have two sock knitting projects in my bag for France!
So more after the 28th!

My memory

2009-02-18T21:15:00.001-06:00

Does anyone remember seeing a hood scarf? it was red and ribbed and I remember seeing it somewhere, and thinking it might be cute to make. Anyone have any ideas where I could have seen this?

Calorimetry

2009-02-04T19:46:00.003-06:00

Super Bowl Sunday was used to knit a nice quick little project a friend had requested. I had started this before and worked 2 rows before deciding it was going to come out to large. I ripped it and let it sit for a few weeks. I cast on 100 stitches instead of 120 and I worked fewer repeats of row 5 than required to make it wide enough but not too wide.

I think it turned out really cute and think I may make one for myself.

A few straggling projects.

2009-01-26T19:27:00.003-06:00

I don't know how it always ends up being so long between posts.

I made Isaac a sweater to match his brother and sisters... His birthday was in the middle of January so his sweater was knit after Christmas.

I also made a scarf for myself.

Christmas Knitting

2008-12-29T20:30:00.005-06:00

Jonah and Elizabeth got sweaters....

Owen & Noah got hats...

Isaac got a stocking for his first Christmas...

and Samantha got one to match the rest of the family : )

Driving

2008-12-09T19:07:00.002-06:00

Driving today was I'll say unpleasant, took me two hours to ride home from work. The ride in wasn't as bad, but wasn't good either. It did have a bright spot though - when I was almost to work I was behind a car, and the car was full of boxes. One of these boxes made me smile, it was labelled "knitting".

Stockings Done

2008-12-01T19:33:00.001-06:00

Stockings for the 2008 Christmas season are officially finished : ) now on to more Christmas knitting...

Stocking

2008-11-13T21:30:00.002-06:00

Well I finished the knitting portion of stocking number one last night tonight and am working on weaving in the last of the ends. Then I get to sew up the edges and put on some jingle bells, then I'll be half way done with stockings for this year...

Box of Yarn

2008-11-11T18:06:00.002-06:00

Nothing makes a Monday like a box of yarn, my brown Lanett came yesterday, with some white and red thrown in for a pair of mittens. So it's my official post Christmas project to start working on my fair isle sweater.

Finished

2008-11-03T20:03:00.001-06:00

2 pairs of socks done and going to their homes. The second pairs matched up really well without much work so that was nice.

Knitterversary

2008-10-28T22:06:00.001-05:00

So today it's 4 years. I don't really feel like I've accomplished much this year. I feel like I'm always knitting something in a rush but don't really feel like I have piles of knitted things everywhere. Maybe this next year will be better, I really need to knit myself some sweaters.

Hat

2008-10-14T20:13:00.003-05:00

So now that this gift is given I can post it - I made this hat for my brother for his birthday. It's made out of some Alpaca yarn that he got for me in Bolivia so it's sort of regifting but it should keep his head warm this winter : )

Pants

2008-10-09T17:38:00.003-05:00

So today I had to bid a fond farewell to a pair of pants that I've worn to work a few times a week since I started working or close to it. Probably close to 7 years of service totally trashed. I'd made a few repairs in the past and it was finally time to give up when a new hole appeared.

So that's my excitement sadly I'm working on Christmas projects so can't post any knitting pictures.

Mittens

2008-09-28T13:46:00.002-05:00

I finally made a pair of these in red & white... I think they look good.

Made out of Patons Classic Merino Wool.

Started September 16th finished September 21st.

eek

2008-09-24T20:56:00.003-05:00

So I said I would post last week - my sock club delivery and I still haven't - so I couldn't find my camera cord - then my camera wasn't charged - and now Project Runway is on.
So maybe tomorrow - and I made some red and white mittens...

Socks Done

2008-09-16T21:22:00.002-05:00

Sunday evening while watching a movie on TV I finished the socks I started back in July while teaching sock class. Basic socks pattern made of Cascade Sassy Stripes, which is a surprisingly nice yarn for the price.

I also started a few other non-postable projects that are in my ravelry notebook but not for the general public.

I got my first Wollmeise sock club package today too - I'll have a picture later in the week!

time goes by

2008-09-11T19:43:00.004-05:00

I finished Elizabeth's pillow, I probably should have started it earlier, It took me a lot longer at the end to finish it than I thought it would, a almost 2 hours to kitchner the top seam, but the gift was liked so it was all worth it.

Melissa's new pattern was published in knitty yesterday check it out : )

Monday

2008-08-25T19:39:00.003-05:00

and no more Olympics... this means I either have to watch TV and knit or do housework = I did get about 1/2 of a 2nd sock done while yelling at Phelps et al and have started some Christmas projects 4 months to go

Knitting

2008-08-18T21:45:00.001-05:00

How can anyone knit or sleep with all these Olympics? Can't stop watching... who knew I liked sports this much.

Finished

2008-08-10T20:00:00.003-05:00

My rainbow socks are finished, I got to work on them in the car on the way to and from Milwaukee on the way to my cousin's baby shower. I really enjoyed the color stripes and they did match pretty well, it's about a half a stripe off but I reknit once and figured it I kept reknitting it wouldn't be perfect anyways. Next I have to start Christmas projects.

yarn purchases

2008-08-02T15:34:00.004-05:00

So I bought some yarn to make Christmas projects, I have a few more Christmas projects in the works and only my rainbow socks to finish before I get started.

So I'm on the 3rd stripe of the 2nd rainbow sock

and here's the pottery piece I mentioned the other day... aren't the little sheep medallions adorable?

Pottery

2008-07-31T21:14:00.002-05:00

So when I was at Norbyfest this past weekend, we went to the Art Fair on the Green put on at the UW LaCrosse I came across a great potter Joyce Dively, and bought a kitchen utensil holder to hold my knitting needles, it even has sheep!
Here's the link to her site: http://joycedivelypottery.com/
I'll try and post a picture soon! Along with my yarn acquisitions.

Rainbow Brite

2008-07-22T21:13:00.002-05:00

So finally one sock is done I don't know how it ended up taking an entire month but it did.... It looks really good, the pattern looks completely different when you put it on then it does on the needles. Sock class again tomorrow and then hopefully the 2nd sock will go quickly.

Finally

2008-07-08T17:42:00.006-05:00

Finally finished the aquaphobia socks, the slipping stitches was getting to me at the end.

I also got some alpaca yarn from Bolivia that my brother bought me in La Paz.

I also got a little work done on my Wollmeise socks

Wimbledon

2008-07-07T12:32:00.003-05:00

I loved watching Nadal win yesterday. It was a great match, and I loved that Nadal won and that Federer lost. If anyone missed it, it was the longest final in Wimbledon history, and I couldn't knit a stitch.

Estonian Knitting word

2008-06-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

Knitter -
Estonian
N
kuduja

Yarnapalooza

2008-06-26T18:54:00.004-05:00

So this is a picture of my haul from the Fold last Friday. I feel like I really need to get knitting. I am planning to make a sweater with most of it we shall see how it goes.

Estonian Knitting Word of the Week - mitten
n. labakinnas, käpik

My New Favorite Word

2008-06-24T08:10:00.001-05:00

flocculent[fr. L. flocculus + English -ent] /FLOCK yu lunt/1) of the character of wool: woolly, flocky

Yarn Harlot Day

2008-06-21T21:03:00.003-05:00

We got up yesterday morning and drove out to the Fold in Marengo, and I bought bunches of yarn, it was nice to get some things I had been wanting on sale for the Summer Solstice Sale. Then we went to lunch and drove to Nana's Knitting shop and saw the Harlot early. I think some of the other pictures turned out better, Stephanie is holding Helen - Christine's baby but Christine is blocked out of this picture by Michelle who isn't looking. Her talk at the hotel after was great and both babies made it through and were very well behaved.

Another baby present completed

2008-06-07T19:04:00.005-05:00

It seems like every time I get in the groove of working on projects for myself I have to start working on a baby present. So here should be the last baby gift I have to knit this year ; )

And I got some more done on my aquaphobia sock. I had a Dr.'s appt on Wednesday and ended up sitting in traffic for almost 2 hours for a 4.5 mile drive so I got some rows done then, and now this is my project focus again.

how does time go by so quickly

2008-05-23T21:26:00.003-05:00

Okay so time goes by so quickly between posts! I finally finished my pair of hippo socks. I got quite a bit done last weekend in WI. I visited the Door County Shepherds market and didn't buy 2 much 2 skeins of some naturally colored shetland alpaca blend that I plan on using for some fairisle

Baby Socks

2008-05-13T18:52:00.002-05:00

I used the sample sock I made for my sock knitting class and made another one to make socks for Trella. I hope she likes them, they are made of leftover yarn from the baby blanket that our knitting group made for Melissa.
I've still been working on my Hippo socks the second one is to the heel turning - and I've only knit the 10 rows of the cuff of aquaphobia.

One for the frogpond

2008-05-04T21:29:00.003-05:00

So I decided that I wasn't ever going to like Sitcom Chic and today when Melissa, Jeff and Alice (Melissa's mom) stopped by to pick up her completed baby blanket we ripped it out. Well Alice and I did Melissa was working on her Aquaphobia socks. So know the cotton ease is sitting piled on my couch. I just decided the shape of the sweater just wasn't going to work the way I wanted it too. Sitting next to it is a skein of Lorna's Laces Vera which is for my Aquaphobia socks that I am starting on Tuesday.

The Harlot

2008-04-25T22:27:00.002-05:00

So today I went to go see the Harlot took a half day of vacation and met up with the girls. We had a great day, then sadly the Harlot got stuck in Toronto because of the weather, I felt so bad for her she's going to feel terrible and really there was no riots no boos nothing, just some clicking of needles. I just hope I can go next time she comes, maybe it will be a weekend. The only thing is Melissa won't be able to come being she's due on Sunday but these things happen, it was disappointing because being that pregnant she totally would have made the blog.

So...

2008-04-19T16:41:00.002-05:00

My foot surgery went fine - I am sitting with my leg on an ottoman and doing a little knitting today. The Dr. lied to me and told me I wouldn't have to use crutches then in an evil twist of fate waited for me to be drugged up and handed me crutches... I can still walk on my foot I'm just not supposed to put a lot of weight on it yet. I have to get my bandages removed Thursday and am hoping that I won't have crutches after that at all.

I did finish my socks for class so I need to bring the 2nd sock to Kathy sometime soon. I've been working on my Pomatomous socks (sp?) again and am almost done with the 2nd leg repeat, it's going pretty quickly but every time I need something and have to get up it takes a while so only have gotten 11 rows done today. I'm hoping to finish the first sock before I go back to work Tuesday.

It's been a while

2008-04-03T20:23:00.002-05:00

I've been working on a secret project and have finally finished so I should be back to more regular posting :) The picture above is the sample sock I made for my sock class, it's knit with Cascade Sassy Stripes which really has a nice hand. The stripes are fun too they aren't like the Regia Mini-Ringels they keep you guessing a little more and the colors are fun.

Another finished project

2008-03-13T20:09:00.003-05:00

So I finally finished another project... a pillow for my new nephew's baptism. He apparently has an outfit that has the same stripes we'll see if it works like camouflage.

how time flies

2008-03-03T21:02:00.004-06:00

I can't believe how long I've been taking between posts, between the weather and the cold I have, I haven't been getting too much accomplished. I finished this last Monday but just got around to posting it. It did take longer than I thought it would and it has a zillion ends to weave in but I think it looks adorable.

still knitting

2008-02-20T19:10:00.002-06:00

I finally started knitting the sleeve for sitcom chic - I'm about 1/2 way done, the more I think about finishing this sweater the more I think about other things to knit - mostly things for all the babies that seem to be popping out right and left : ) So instead of the traditional baby blanket I'm knitting a baby bolero - it helps pick out knitting projects that take yarn you already have - and not being a blanket I hope to finish tonight or early tomorrow.

Enough with the cold and snow

2008-02-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

So yesterday was another day of below zero weather, which induced me to knit an alpaca hat... It was a very quick knit like maybe 3-4 hours it's hard for me to judge because I made dinner and talked on the phone during the time I made it. Tonight I went to Joann's and got the button which I think is subtle and cute.

The hat was knit up a little different than the pattern - I knit it on 10 1/2's because that's what I had with super bulky yarn instead of just bulky... I also didn't knit the entire depth of the rim because with the super bulky yarn it would have been 1/2 the hat.

Tonight it's supposed to snow another several inches, maybe even 7, and I don't want it too... there's already huge piles of snow everywhere, and my TV cabinet supposedly arrived (after 4 days, they said 7) so I have to pick it up tomorrow and don't want to trudge through snow and ice to get it...

Progress pictures

2008-02-10T16:11:00.000-06:00

So I've made some progress on sitcome chic it's pretty boring right now - just plain stockinette though I am ready to cast on for the sleeves, so hopefully that will be more moti.vating. I also restarted the hippo socks, I started them once over christmas and the cast on row was pulled of the needles so I started them again and have about 1/2 repeat done so far... I haven't really been to movitated to work on any of my knitting, despite the cold weather... though it has been nice to be able to wear some previously made knits and stay warm

Bored at work? Make your own tombstone...

2008-02-06T09:28:00.001-06:00

Tombstone Generator

My TV came today

2008-01-23T21:37:00.000-06:00

So my TV came today - for some reason they left it on my porch
these are the two boxes that were left on my porch

This is the size of my porch.... I had a great time standing in the snow and cold trying to get the 70 and 40lb boxes inside my house... I'm letting the TV warm up until tomorrow (mostly because I'm watching PR right now)...

Another nephew

2008-01-21T19:29:00.000-06:00

So last Tuesday my new nephew finally came.

I quickly made him a hat on Thursday which he wore to his birthday party : ) I hope he wasn't crying because of the hat.

Glass Making Pictures

2008-01-05T20:07:00.000-06:00

I promised glass making pictures then discovered there are 30 or so, so I'm posting one and the rest are on my flickr account... if anyone wants to check them out.

I

Christmas Projects

2008-01-04T21:01:00.000-06:00

I sold 2 Christmas stockings, artfully photographed on the front seat of my car and the counter and the post office.

Then my dad's packer socks which were thankfully wide enough... they were a bit loose on the cuff at the bottom but I'm guessing they'll be worn around the house and it won't be an issue.

I made my niece mittens, which she modeled along with her egg nog mustache.

I made 2 scarves the same for my two nephews who live in MN a nice bulky scarf for extra warmth.

And the gween sweater..... which I bound off too tightly and reknit the neck on - so no Christmas modeling : )

what happened yesterday

2008-01-02T21:35:00.000-06:00

So I left my parents house to go the Fold at around one, after about 20 minutes I had slide sideways into the opposite lane of traffic, luckily no one was coming and I straightened myself out very quickly. I drove another 15 miles when is slide sideways off the road and into a ditch. The snow on the passenger side was up to the passenger side window and the wind made it extremely difficult to open the door (and impossible to close without shutting my hair in the door). A county sheriff appeared after about 15 minutes after leaving another can in the ditch about half a mile north of me. He said I needed to have the car towed immediately because of how far I was still in the road, he got the tow truck driver from the other car to pull me out. When I was out and down the road further to pay and realized (after 3o minutes of getting pulled out) that I knew the tow truck driver... so thanks Trent! I was halfway between where I was and where I was going so I kept on... and after a few more miles of bad drifts and ice I came to a few miles of clear road and it was mostly clear after words and only a little more sliding occur ed. I finally arrived at the fold at 4:15 and was greeted by many hugs and was told by Toni to sit down and eat cake : ) The yarn sale prices were awesome and I got some great bargains and a great and generous gift from Toni.

I'll be posting Christmas projects and glass making pictures soon!

New Years Resolutions?

2008-01-01T21:47:00.000-06:00

I wasn't going to buy any more yarn until March or April
so I bought 35 balls today - anyone have any ideas on new resolutions?

I'll post more tomorrow with pictures of Christmas projects!

it's been so long

2007-12-07T13:11:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks...
I have been knitting Christmas projects and Christmas projects and Christmas projects so sadly no pictures to post - after Christmas I will post pictures of everything.
Tonight is the meetup Christmas party so that should be fun I still need to go home and wrap my gift exchange gift and make my dip so hopefully traffic will go quickly on my way home
I also need to go pick up some gween yarn ; )

not much happening

2007-11-14T19:46:00.000-06:00

So the only project I've been working on is a Christmas project so sadly I can't post any pictures, though I will say I grossly underestimated my yardage requirements and had to get double.
This time of year is hard for posting because of project sensitivity, but I did have some good luck on ravelry with people finding a similar pattern to something that was sold at Anthropologie last season so that's exciting... it's amazing how everyone remembers things they've looked at.

a sad state of affairs

2007-11-07T20:12:00.000-06:00

So I finished knitting up this bracelet for a coworker....

I started knitting NHM#9 from Selbuvotter it looked like this last night... tonight it looks like a pile of yarn.........

I also started knitting some plain socks to counteract the lasting effects of Bayerische...... I knit about 3 inches before it also turned into a pile of yarn.

Hopefully the next projects started will turn out better than these.

Finally

2007-11-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

Finished... started June 21st finished November 1st....

Ravelry

2007-10-25T19:07:00.000-05:00

Is a great website and an amazing time sucker. My other big time sucker has been yarn untangling the yarn I dyed came out of it's rinse cycle a huge and gigantic mess and now it's in a ball and knitting is ready to be started. Well once Bayerische is finished it's only been since June so I'm sure it will be finished pretty soon. The second sock has gone by easily but it's still slow going, it doesn't seem like it's nearly as hard to knit as the first one was but they are never-ending.

Another Tuesday

2007-10-16T10:16:00.001-05:00

It Only Tuesday

More Stash

2007-10-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

So this past weekend I made another trip to the Fold. Toni helped me get the wheel I got at the beginning of summer back in working order. I also bought some Merino to practice with. I took my spinning class over a year ago and definitely need more practice.

I also picked up some more STR mediumweight (Carbon Dating) and some Blue Moon Silk Thread which I've found is too fine for the intended project but I like it so I'm going to try to make it work.

I bought a new pink counter - I wanted another one that locked and this one is bigger than the mini green Clover one I have so that's nice.

I also bought a miscellany of needles that I needed more of...

Tonight I also finished my Red Scarf Project which needs to be mailed off tomorrow, hopefully during my lunch break at work. I used the famed twisted stockinette stitch made famous be the pidge. I also got a full repeat of chart A done on Bayerische just a million left to go.

Backwards

2007-10-03T15:42:00.000-05:00

So I took Bayerische to meetup last night and came home with 4 less rows of knitting then I started with... that's not the kind of progress I was looking for. I started knitting row 5 and realized that it was just wrong I switched charts B&D and then switched back and then swapped again for maximum sock wrongness : )
So I think the lesson I've learned from this is I can't knit Bayerische at meetup anymore. I need to come up with an easy project or at least easier than Bayerische and more portable than the rug with 3 lb cones of yarn to bring along...

Back to my regularly scheduled knitting

2007-10-01T21:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I'm such a sucker for knitting Christmas stockings but I just finished making 2 and am getting ready to send them off to GA so I'm excited about that. Now I have to go back to Bayerische which I think I started in July and it's now October.

I am also reworking the sleeves on the peapod baby sweater to lengthen them so my niece can get another season out of the sweater.

I feel pretty relieved to have this big project of 2 stockings done in 4 weeks!

I'm just hoping that I can finish Bayerische by the end of this month...

Very Bad Things

2007-09-26T21:22:00.001-05:00

I went to the Women in Business Fair today at navy pier and had lunch with Martha Stewart, the governor and the mayor. I Kinneared Martha and the governor as well as the state treasurer. I had a very bad day.

I was supposed to be on a 7:22 train. I got there 20 minutes early and missed the train because there was no parking spots. Then I could have taken the 7:42 if I would have been able to find a parking spot.

Finally in tears I got out of my car and asked the police man in the parking lot where I could park he suggested (without sarcasm) another train station I went there I missed the 7:57. I went in checked the schedule and learned the next train wasn't until 9;04 so I had an extra hour of waiting and I was going to be late - I had wisely packed knitting a new basic sock to start. So I open my purse and no yarn. I have my needles and no yarn. I walk back to my car check under the seats no yarn. I had an hour wait and no yarn an hour train ride and no yarn then an hour home and no yarn. To make it worse I ate dinner with Melissa and rode back on the train with her and she knit in front of me the entire way home.

candy show

2007-09-18T15:44:00.000-05:00

I went to the candy show downtown again this year and her is my stash of candy, I don't think this picture shows the depth. My favorite thing was the Eiffel bonbons, you can see part of the tin I got in the middle which may help give you an idea of the depth of this pile, it's about 4 inches high. We used to sell these bonbons as a fundraiser for my French club in high school so it was fun to see them. I haven't tasted them again since I ate so many other candies while I was there. I have to pack them up in my bag to bring to work tomorrow luckily I got some to keep and some to take to work.

On the knitting front it's 90 today so I had to turn my A/C back on and when it finally cools off I'm going to refinish the toe of stocking number one and start stocking number 2. I started working on untangling the yarn I dyed (which several people said "it's not as bad as you think it is) I got about 3 yards untangled in an hour last night... so feel free to come over and untangle.

Oops

2007-09-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post, time has certainly gotten away from me.

I got a grab bag of sock yarn from someone on Knitters Review so I have some more yarn to knit more socks. Melissa gave me More Sensational Knitted Socks for an early birthday gift at my blue party so I'll have lots of options when I pick out the first pair I want to make.

This weekend I had a blue party, we had both blue drinks and blue food. I really felt like in order to properly celebrate I needed to fit in with the color theme. I also had my nails done but I ruined on of them about 10 minutes after I had them done.

I also worked a little bit on my absorbomat and knitted one of the two Christmas stockings that I am currently commissioned to do. I did actually finish the first one then realized I had missed several rows on the foot and had to rip back and wasn't in the mood to redo it right away, I may have slightly frustrated with myself for not noticing that it didn't look right sooner!

Starting Christmas Early

2007-09-03T19:06:00.001-05:00

So I got out my dye stuff on Thursday night and started working on Christmas projects this weekend. I had my mom pick up a pair of these busing tubs which worked out really well for my dying, I was using two colors and it was easier to keep the poured on colors separated in the little wells while the dye was exhausting. I had to do three applications of one of my colors, which won't be shown here so it took longer than I had anticipated to get a darker color, I ended up using a combination of kool-aid and Wilton cake colors.

I also picked up these two items at Coach Saturday night which were both on sale for the Labor Day weekend : )

It is also suddenly Christmas stocking season : ) I have two to work on in the next few weeks and spent some time working on that over this holiday weekend after picking up the yarn at the Yarn Exchange in DeKalb.. there's a link to them in my sidebar. I think they have every color of yarn that Brown Sheep makes, they really have an amazing selection.

The color blue

2007-08-29T13:20:00.001-05:00

Everyone should read about blue foods here:
http://www.colormatters.com/appmatters.html

speaking of color - I left a comment on Mason Dixon and spelled green wrong (maybe I'll pretend grean is a British spelling)

catch up & demolition

2007-08-20T19:40:00.001-05:00

So Saturday I (well my Dad) ripped out the cupboards that were in my garage so I can put in open shelving. We put them on my curb and hoped someone would take them. No luck so tonight after work I spent an hour hammering and hacksawing and unscrewing and they are mostly taken apart.

I also did a few more rows on my 2nd Bayerische.

And started working on an absorbo mat (from Mason Dixon Knitting) which is quite the change from Bayerische. Going from size 0 to size 17 is a bit of a shock to the system but the knitting sure does go faster.

Finally

2007-08-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

So I am finally done with the first sock of Bayerische. I can't believe it took as long as it did to finish just the first sock but it is finally done... and now I have something to look forward to... sock two......
I finished with a small ball or yarn left I probably would have had plenty of yarn to knit another repeat on the leg portion if I would have wanted to do that (I wear size 8 shoes). I wish that I would have changed the toe and knit a few more rows straight and then grafted more than 16 stitches.
I did feel slightly smug that there was a mistake in the toe directions, a small victory but it made me feel a little better none the less.

Here are my purchases from Stitches this past Saturday. We loaded into the car around 11ish from my house and got back close to 7 and this is the only yarn that I got. 2 skeins of lightweight STR Love in Idleness and Minestone (which I thought said Minestrone, which maybe should inspire me to dye sock yarn and name it after soups per Melissa's idea) and then I got 1 skein of Scottish Highlands medium weight which I am planning to use them for some mittens.

I also picked up some glow in the dark yarn from Jessica which I plan on delivering Thursday at meetup.

almost done

2007-08-09T20:05:00.000-05:00

So I have about 1/2 repeat to go before I can knit plain and do the toe.

I'm hoping to finish before stitches on Saturday so I need to work on it tonight and maybe tomorrow.

I just wish this was the second one instead of the first one.

Jangy

2007-08-07T11:40:00.000-05:00

jan·gy /jange/

–adjective, -i·er, -i·est.
1.
very attractive or pleasant to look at extremely painful or time consuming to knit; offensive to the sense of ever knitting anything else in your life; something so beautiful it tricks you into knitting it

[Origin: 2007; jangy, www.pieceofstring.blogspot.com]

Bayerische

2007-08-06T20:48:00.001-05:00

So I've finished 3 repeats of Chart D on the heel and I'm hoping that I can to the toe decreases tomorrow night at meetup. I feel like there is finally an end in sight for this sock, I wish it was both socks but if I only do 4 repeats of chart D for the foot that means 2 more 7 stitch cables on sock one and 14 on the yet to be started sock 2.

Heel Turned

2007-08-04T12:19:00.000-05:00

So Thursday night

I finished turning the heel of my Bayerische sock and started working on the decreases. I think it looks pretty good, there are a couple of spot that you can tell one of the plies wasn't knit in but not much I can do about that.... one of the corners is a little holey but I picked up an extra stitch and knit it through the back loop and it doesn't show too much when you put it on I think the 2 circs might just put more pull on it while I am knitting then wearing them will...

I can't believe when I am done with this sock I have to make another......

Wii

2007-07-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

I got the Wii all set up and working in about 2 hours.
It took about 10 minutes to get the wires hooked up and everything plugged in and then another 1hr and 50 minutes to make the sensor work right... well mostly right the reaction seems to be really off so I need to put new batteries into the wiimote and see if that helps...

What I Did Today

2007-07-26T18:08:00.000-05:00

So here's the picture of what my hair looked like this morning...

Here's where my ponytail is now.

And here's my the rest of my hair, it's a little bit shorter than I would like but it'll grow back.
Tomorrow I'll be packing up my hair and mailing it to Locks of Love. Do it too!

Kissing Booth

2007-07-25T18:43:00.000-05:00

The last time I was at the Fold in May it was the weekend of Maryland Sheep and Wool, so Toni the owner was in Maryland and she left her son in charge of the shop. Melissa, Erica and I arrived and shortly after two other fairly large groups arrived. There were probably about 15 women in the shop all together. I'm sure the giggling and general girlishness were at top levels. When we were going to check out Melissa was still questioning her purchase and I reminder her that there was one skein of STR lightweight out, hearing me say this Toni's son mentioned that they shouldn't have it out. I went and grabbed it and asked him if I got a prize. He said, "This isn't a kissing booth." which is probably the oddest thing you'll ever hear in a yarn store, to which I replied, "So you're telling me you don't want to kiss me." So his face turned bright red and he may have stuttered for a few seconds, I'm not sure if it was out of shock or embarrassment.
The rest of the day of course anytime anyone questioned something or said something one of the three of us would say, well this isn't a kissing booth and then fall into hysterical laughter. He was also working at the Midwest Folk and Fiber Festival this past weekend and every time we saw him one or more of us would burst into laughter, I'm fairly certain it didn't have the impact on him that it had on us because he didn't seem to remember any of us. A problem that I took care of by telling the story to his mom and suggesting that maybe Kissing Booth would be a great name for a colorway of Socks that Rock... we'll see if it comes out soon.

Folk and Fiber Festival

2007-07-23T19:18:00.000-05:00

So to build up nourishment for our foray to the Folk and Fiber festival Melissa made these sheep cookies. Guess what kind of sheep they are.
The festival was great I would go again. I didn't really buy anything but that was mostly because I've been thinking about how much stash yarn I have and feeling a little bit guilty.
I've also been knitting a lot of interruption projects, things I have to stop knitting things for myself and just get done.
One of my favorite booths was Jennie the Potter her stuff was awesome - she'll be at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. I bought a small magnet from her but would love to buy more when (hopefully) I get to WI sheep and wool.

I also made a little progress on Bayerische, I worked on it Thursday at knitting and then a little bit today. Because I was joining the masses and reading Harry Potter yesterday. I finished it in about 8 1/2 hours which wasn't too bad. I got done just in time to get to bed.

Birthday meme

2007-07-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

it's Erica's bday so I'm hopping on the bandwagon...
September 23
Events
1.1889 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
2.1122 - Concordat of Worms
3.1962 - The Jetsons aired for the first time.

I finally got a Nintendo Wii - well it's been purchased so I threw that in there, I went to Worms last year, and who doesn't love the Jetsons.

Births

1.1930 - Ray Charles, American musician

2. 1949 - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter

3. Okay I'm only supposed to have 3 but in honor of Erica and Lizzie Borden

1869 - Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid (maybe this is why we are friends)

Holiday
1. In ancient Latvia, the second day of Mikeli. In honor of Latvian mittens.

Want to play along? The rules:
Go to Wikipedia
Search for your birthday Month and Day
Pick 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday

Blanket

2007-07-17T17:50:00.001-05:00

So I finished the blanket in time for it to be gifted : ) It end up

33x33. It's funny to look at it and notice the way the different skeins patterned.

I also worked on the sock but I only got 2 rows done before I was too busy sitting in a lawn chair to knit any longer : ) So tomorrow or Thursday we shall have some Bayerische progress.

Updated Progress

2007-07-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

so here's the

picture of the blanket after the first 100 rows

And here's the picture after 150 rows that I finished last night. I got my 25 rows done today and then have another 25 and the bind off to finish for tomorrow...Looks like I will be able to finish tomorrow.

Here's the picture of the progress of the Bayerische socks from most of our knitting group participants. Mine is of course the one with the least progress though after I'm done with the blankets I hope to catch up a bit I'm pretty sure I won't finish by tomorrow and beat Melissa but what can you do?

Blanket

2007-07-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

So I finished 96 of the 100 rows I wanted to get done over the weekend. My allergies got the best of me so I went to bed early instead of finishing the last four rows.
I made up for those 4 rows yesterday and did one extra so I have finished 126/200 and have until Thursday to be done. I won't be gifting it until Saturday so I will have extra time to weave in ends if I need to. Though I will have a long drive to Rochester, MN, for Norbyfest 2007 on Friday night so being done Thursday really would be the best option.
I also noticed that the variegated cotton tots only have 3oz instead of 3.5oz so I need to go and buy one more skein on my way home from work tomorrow.
I'll post a picture of the first 96 rows tonight or tomorrow : )

Another blanket

2007-07-07T10:09:00.000-05:00

I finally cast this on Thursday night around 9:30 while watching Wimbledon. I worked on it last night sadly while watching Andy Roddick lose. He was playing so well at the beginning I really thought he was going to win and have a chance against Federer. I still have hope that Nadal can take Federer in the final and that Andy will take a few notes and be able to win the US Open.

So I've got about 10% of the blanket done and ned to have it finished by Thursday so I am hoping to get at least half done over this weekend.

I'm also adding another picture of the bubble cable blanket just because one doesn't seem like enough : ) I took the pictures of the bubble blanket at my aunts house so I have a nicer backdrop than my couch or my kitchen table!

A little catch up

2007-07-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

So here is the blanket that I finished for my aunt. I really enjoyed the bubble cables. I finally got my camera back after 2 weeks and got to get my pictures of this off of it.

Here's my updated picture of Bayerische as well. I finished the 2nd full repeat last week on Thursday and haven't worked on it since. I've been supposed to be working on this and knitting another baby blanket that has to be done by Friday the 13th. (maybe I should have taken that as a sign) My yarn is purchased and ready to go so all I need to do it cast on and knit. I should have plenty of time to work on it this weekend. I'm trying to get some of my housework done tonight so I can knit knit knit all weekend.

Bayerische

2007-06-26T17:51:00.001-05:00

Here's the group photo from last night's meetup

My sock is the blue one, Erica's is green, Michelle's is red and the brown one is Melissa's

Erica was kind enough to take a picture since my camera is loaned out.

And what's the point of knitting these socks if you can't prove it : )

I thought I posted this then looked today and it wasn't there oops

Bavarian Twisted Stitch

2007-06-26T16:55:00.001-05:00

has now officially been renamed to Bavarian Torture Stitch

blanketing

2007-06-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the baby blanket and started working on my cabled blanket again. Right now the cabled blanket is about 36x38 now I've been thinking 36x48 would be good proportions.

I have to have it finished by Saturday around 2 after driving to Green Bay so I need to allow in a few hours for driving and sleeping between now and then would be good ideas as well : )

Hopefully I can make more progress tonight than I did this weekend.

The new Knitty is up today as well! go look!

hurry

2007-05-31T19:26:00.000-05:00

apparently I like to wait until the last minute to finish projects
I haven't made any progress since Sunday on the baby blanket and still haven't worked on the cabled blanket since April but I have 2 weeks left I'm sure I can finish it...

Spinning Wheel

2007-05-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

My Sister in Law, Samantha, was out garage saling and found this spinning wheel for me for under $50 isn't that awesome? it's fully functional it needs a new bobbin and an orifice hook and I'll be set to go. I have no idea what kind it is but it does come apart so that's interesting.

I thought that having stacks of shoes behind the wheel would make the picture a lot better sort of like staging : )

Sheep

2007-05-18T10:46:00.001-05:00

I went to the Fold in Marengo a few weekends a go and got to see the cutest little lambs the one in black with white on his forehead is mine. He's so cute and he moo's like a cow.

We also went to the Yarn Exchange in DeKalb and I picked up some more yarn - the entire pile is here. I got socks that rock medium weight to experiment with and some yarn to make my aunt some baby booties when her baby is born at the Fold. Then at the Yarn Exchange I got some alpaca to make a scarf and some black cotton fine to make a lacy cardigan.
I haven't made too much progress on my blankets but did realize that I have about 2 weeks to finish the baby one and 2 more after that to finish the cabled one - so I need to be more motivated to finish those!

it's been so long

2007-05-03T09:07:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's almost been a month since my last post - I need to get back into the habit of posting.
I have made a little progress on the bubbles cabled blanket and started a baby blanket for a former co-worker. I made a chemo cap for my knitting group's charity project and really that's all the knitting that I've done.
Buying the yarn for the baby blanket -4 skeins of cotton tots was the first yarn I've bought this year - maybe that's what is making blogging unappealing I haven't been making enough yarn purchasing to find it exciting : ) We'll see if I can't change that!

sheep and socks

2007-04-04T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of the baby lambs I got to see on Saturday at the sheep shearing festival with my niece and nephew and mom and sister in law : ) The lambs were less than a day old. The sheep were all shetland sheep.

Then tonight I finally finished my jaywalked socks that I started last September. I am happy with the way that they turned out I think they look really good. I would make the socks again but maybe trying to use some self striping yarn just to see the zigzags with more definition.

Perfectionism and the Knitter

2007-03-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone else struggles with perfectionism like I do - in my mind I'm the only crazed lunatic who wants everything perfect and without struggle and without trying. I know on some level I'm not the only one that's ever worked hours on a project only to discover the pizazz I originally saw in my head or in a swatch (sometimes I do swatch, well in my life I have) just doesn't come out the same way as I wanted in the real project and then I throw my hands up in disgust lay my needles down and do what any person would do - ignore ignore ignore. I mean why tackle the problem head on get it over with get it fixed get it right I think it's a much better plan to pretend like the project doesn't exist leave it in your knitting bag untouched for weeks and when you walk by with pieces of mocha microspun screaming at you like they are your best friend you haven't seen since high school pretend you have no idea why.
I'm a little disgruntled with my blanket progress. I haven't worked on it since my aunt said something like "it should be twice as long as it is now when it's done right" I know she was just trying to picture what the world's greatest gift was going to look like once finished but I can't help but go into ignore mode. Even knowing this I haven't touched it but I did knit a few rows on my jaywalker sock so at least that's something.
It seems I've hit one of those sluggish knitting periods when it just isn't tempting to knit anything and I should just continue to look at pretty pictures of yarn and pattern books until I just want to get all my unfinished projects out of the way. Though I do have some projects that I started 2 years ago that aren't any further than they were last time I put them down but I'm sure the urge will strike they are pretty cables after all.

what's been going on....

2007-03-21T16:41:00.000-05:00

So nothing too exciting knitting wise has been happening the blanket looks the same it's the same cable over and over again.... I didn't finish it yet I was supposed to have finished it by last Friday but what I thought would be 10 repeats to make to length will probably be more like 20 repeats - my aunt seemed to want the blanket more of rectangular that square as was my plan but she really liked the pattern so that was a success.
I haven't finished my jaywalker socks yet either - which I am sure is a shock to you all since you know I started them in September of 06 I guess it's better than starting them in September of 05.
I am however tempted to drop everything and go to NYC to represent but my old bosses retirement party is tomorrow so I'm going to that tomorrow which sadly is knitting night so I have to miss that this time.

Blanket Progress

2007-03-14T19:41:00.000-05:00

So progress has been made

on the blanket I've done almost 6 full repeats though I may have to do 11 or 12 to get the length that I need.

I'm hoping I can get at least to the 10th repeat by Friday if my hands can keep up.

I do exist

2007-03-07T21:37:00.000-06:00

Here's version one of the blanket I am making for my aunt with Microspun in Mocha. I worked 11 rows before I decided if I have to give up and double up the yarn and try and make things go at least a little more quickly. I have worked 3 days and I'm almost done with one repeat and I'm hoping to get it done by Friday the 16th so we'll have to see how far I can get.

Monday I also got a lot more done on my jaywalker sock I have about 5 rows and I can start the toe decreases and the sock I started in September may finally be finished and I can have a whole pair and actually wear them.