Idiot knitting.

I needed some idiot knitting. Something that I didn’t have to think about, or follow a chart, or use or not use a cable needle, and something that wasn’t hot to carry.

So – I cast on a Clapotis. I had 5 skeins of Koigu, wasn’t going to knit the poncho it was for (yes – me too, I don’t know why I had a momentary loss of sanity). So this Koigu in bright pinks, purples, wines and a little bit of black are being knit, rather rapidly I might add. I cast it on yesterday and I am almost to skein two. (I wonder if these will be the colors that were picked out for me. We shall see).

We all need idiot knitting. Something to work on because heaven forbid that we not knit. But rather something that we don’t have to think much about. Some people knit socks. I get bored easily with socks, so I always look for idiot knitting in other types of projects.

Hey – have you been watching So You Think You Can Dance? Man, these kids are great. I always wanted to be a dancer – took ballet for 18 years, and look what I am doing now. Ha Ha.

99.5 the Mountain just finished playing some Beatles songs, always a good choice to put you in a good mood.

Well, today starts the beginning of the increase in heat. I guess we will get to 100 on Monday. But the gorgeous blue sky is back, and I could see the mountains. Can’t argue with that!

Enjoy your day.

My Colors are done.

Before I tell you about it, I just want to say that Leanne www.purpleprincess.blogspot.com did not get her way, and silver was not added to my colors to match the grey in my hair, even though she tried! I did get reminded several times to look up and not at Leanne's knitting while I was at Cynthia's.

So I got my colors done last night. Hmm. Bit of a surprise. It still seems a little wierd, strange.

First of all, I knew there would be the neutrals. I have always had the khakis, and the various shades of tan brown and cream. And I knew that winter white was a good color choice. Oh and of course, there was a myriad of pinks, which are plentiful in my closet. (Okay – Okay, I know I wear BORING clothes to work, mostly blacks and whites, but there is color in my closet). And there were shades of coral.

The first surprise for me was red. I always thought I looked good in red, but my reds did not go as bright as I thought they would. Now if I wore dramatic eye makeup I can still wear them, but I was surprised. My reds were more of the strawberry nature, and not deep, and they sure did not go to cranberry or any wine type color. And not to aubergine which of course is in the stash to knit a dress.

The next surprise was that there were hardly any golds. Now I knew there were only 2 shades of yellow I could wear, which she picked out for me (nice to know I was choosing good colors), but I thought there would be golds. Greeny golds and browny golds. Nope – weren’t there. Wow. That still is hard to believe. There were metallics, great because the girl likes bling, but no regular golds for yarn or fabrics.

Go ahead and laugh. I have purple, as a matter of fact at least five of them. Who knew? The yarn gods were telling me to buy that color and of course the current projects are mostly purple. I have little or no blue. I knew this. I didn’t expect to see any, and the blues were more of a green blue.

I do have green, sage and apple and khaki green, but no deep green. Again, a surprise. Also, she gave me this weird green, and three to five shades of it. The only thing of that color I could find in the house last night was the top of a sippy cup. What does that tell you?

I walked in the closet, not too many things that are bad. Though I have a lot of black, so again I need to do dramatic makeup to wear it. The yarn room is different. It will be slow going. Looking at things, seeing what type of item is being made out of the color and whether or not I think it still should be made.

So today’s knitting is on the purple cape. It’s a safe choice. And I am in the mood to cable.

Weird weather outside, air was ugly and I couldn’t see the mountains from the train. I’m hoping it’s not an inversion. Enjoy the hump day. I’m getting breakfast. ANd I'm leaving early - been up since 2:20AM, and need to go back to bed.

A little of this, a little of that..

I thought it might be the same color, but my yarn is more lavender.

This yarn is really nice. It is ShineSport from KnitPicks, and I am really liking it. It can be machine washed which makes it a possible choice for baby gifts. Hmm.

There is a lightning storm all around us. Lots of lightning, thunder, but no rain. We need the rain, but it looks like it is evaporating before it hits the ground. It's like Highlands Ranch has it's own micro climate and the rain just seems to skirt around us. Come on rain!

Busy busy day today. I was working on some pleadings and would just like to get them done. You know those projects that just suck the life out of you and you just want them done? I have about 3 of them to do. Oh well.

I'm knitting alot, but nothing is getting finished. Too many projects going on at once I'm afraid. I'm getting my colors done tomorrow and it will be interesting (hopefully not depressing) to see how many colors of projects that I have on needles, which are not right for me. Leanne http://purpleprincessknits.blogspot.com/ is going with me, so we can laugh together. The funny thing was, the woman told me to bring makeup remover so I can take off my makeup when I get there. Little does she know that this woman hardly ever wears makeup to work because I could care less and there is no one there I am trying to impress. I have never been one to wear much, a little shadow, some mascara and the girl's good to go.

Well, there's a good hour and a half of knitting time ahead. Enjoy your night. Oh, I almost forgot, enjoy this link. http://www.threadbanger.com/post/433/the-top-10-geekiest-yarn-creations-on-the-web

It's hot!

It's hot outside, and it's hot inside. Know what I'm doing? Sitting here knitting, watching the Rockies and the Blue Jays, waiting for the air conditioner repairman to call and tell me he's 15 minutes away. Yep, the air broke last night. So it's 80 degrees inside, and 84 degrees outside. Kind of a toss us which feels cooler, or hotter....

It's been one of those days. I couldn't sleep, like that's something new, so I left to go to the office for a few hours at 4:30AM. So I was driving down the road, luckily not speeding which I normally do early in the morning because no one is on the roads, when out jumps a mama deer in front of my car. Holy Shi*! I slammed on the brakes and barely missed her. I told god, I saved one of them for you, because only he knows how the heck I missed hitting her full broadside. Man, it was white knuckles for the next few miles while I got the composure back. I have never seen a deer in that location. Where she came from, I haven't a clue.

So here I am, back home, barely moving anything except my fingers. You know what's funny? I'm knitting a lot of purple things, and it's not even a favorite color of mine. Let's see, there's a purple cape, shawl, top, hmmm, what else? This is funny. I never buy purple yarn. I wonder if it will be in my color palette. Yes, I am going to get the colors done. The consensus was do it.

I'm back, had to go wash the sweat off my face and go check the game. Rockies are trying to rally. Oh good, they just tied it up.

What's your housecleaning chore you hate the most? I think I am going with vacuuming the stairs, just because I have to lug the vacuum cleaner behind me as I go. And cleaning toilets, is not high on the favorite list either.

I no longer have a child in preschool as of yesterday. Wow! My husband and I shared a bittersweet smile over that fact today. My babies are big.

Well back to knitting. I finally got to decrease on the cape from 374 stitches to 329. Now the rows feel a little shorter. I want finished objects this month! Though not as bad as I want that repairman to get here!

Enjoy the day, stay cool.

Man Am I tired!

I'm tired. For those of you who know me well, know that I am not a good sleeper. I take pills to stay asleep. 6 hours straight is a luxury. For a while there after I returned from the cruise I was sleeping past 5 AM, but now I'm back to waking up between 2:30AM and 4AM. So, I'm tired. And today I was out in the sun all day at the range in 90 plus degree weather, so add that to the lack of sleep and I'm a tired, irritable woman. My poor family.

Speaking of irritable, did you read the Harlot's blog? Makes you wonder what comments were put out there. I remember reading a blog a few months back and the author was on a tirade over some comment someone put on her blog about her need to wear makeup to look better in her photos. I was thinking to myself that the reader had crossed the line when making a personal comment like that, but then I was also taken aback by the blog owner's comments. You know, we feel we know others just because we read their blogs, but we really don't. We all share this crazy addiction to knitting, but if we didn't have that, would we want to know the other bloggers? Maybe so, maybe not. I know there are a couple that I would like to hang out with to see how their days are. What do you think?

I pulled out a Debbie Bliss to work on last night. I know I have projects that I want done this month, but I had a hankering for some cables so out it came. Oh my friends, too many projects and too few hours per day to knit on them.

I have been reading some new books, set in a needlework shop in Minnesota. Who is the author? Oh crap, I think the one I am reading now is upstairs in the bedroom, and I don't dare go up there because my bed is calling my name.

Hey - have you ever had your colors done? Leanne http://purpleprincessknits.blogspot.com/ just had hers done, and I am thinking about doing it. If you have done it, do you really follow the suggestions?

Well, there is some daylight left, Rockies are playing the Yankees, so I am going back to the Debbie Bliss. Bye!

I am going to knit this

After seeing Diane www.knitabulls.blogspot.com work on this, I have added it to the must knit for summer list. And it's only $22 worth of yarn from Knit Picks. Throw this over a tank T with some white capris and I think it will be so cute. I am going to make one in purple.

The Dale Knitters met today. It's hard to work on wool sweaters when it's in the 90s outside, but progress was made on some sleeves.

I'm almost done with the Sangria skirt. There was some knitting done on it this week, but I really would like to finish it so 1. I can wear it, and 2. move on to some other projects. Some I am keeping secret for a while.

Another ball game later today, though there looks like a storm is trying to move it. Tomorrow the boys and I are taking the other half to the Rockies Devil Rays game for Father's Day.

Enjoy the day.

Last night in Chicago

Last night was my last night in Chicago. We decided to take the EL over to Old Town and go to Twin Anchors, a tavern which was supposed to have great ribs, and which was a hangout of Frank Sinatra. The ribs were great, so were the baked beans, and the beer was nice and cold. Very enjoyable. Then we went for a long walk back towards downtown on Wells. I really enjoyed that.

After the guys split off to go home, I walked on over to the Mile and decided to shop, again. I went into Brooks Brothers because of a dress in the window. They didn't have my size, but I walked out with a suit and a blouse, all 40% off - great deal. I wanted some slacks, but they didn't have them in my size.

Worked on the Sangria skirt. I think I have 31 rows to go, and there should be a lot of work done on it while I am waiting for my plane later today, and on the plane. I also knit on Brian's Dale yesterday.

Another gorgeous day in Chicago. Enjoy your day.

Okay - I went to a Yarn Store

After today's class it was time for another long walk. So on went the jeans and running shoes and I set off to find Loopy Yarns. The Chicago book in my room featured them, so if it was good enough to review in the hardcover local interest book I needed to go find it.

35 minutes later and 2 miles away, a nice walk down the Magnificent Mile, past Millennium Park and over to State Street, was the store. Small in size, a little larger than the front room of String, the store was very nice. I did buy some sock yarn, don't have it with me, but it's something I haven't seen in my normal haunts, a new Lexi Barnes bag (Leanne you are going to want this one) and some knitting mystery books by an author I haven't read. The store manager was very nice, told me about 3 designs she is about to get published (she also had some awesome tattoos) and then pointed me in the direction of getting great, Chicago pizza. I had tried a traditional Chicago hot dog for lunch, now it was time for pizza.

So I set out on the two mile walk back towards the hotel, enjoying the architecture of the many beautiful buildings around town, over to Pizzeria Uno where I sat at the bar, drinking beer, watching the Cubs and eating great pizza. True Chicago experience.

Well class is going to start soon, enjoy your day.

Off to Chicago

Yesterday I caught a flight to Chicago. Flew into Midway, which I have never done, but I wanted to stay away from O'Hare. Flew on a different animal - Rudy the Raccoon, Frontier plane of course.

Three knitting projects came along, the Sangria skirt, Brian's Dale and the Sindwinder socks. All of the knitting so far has been on the socks, but I am not happy with the toe increases, so I will be ripping back for the 3rd time today.

After setting up for my meetings, it was back to the hotel to change and explore. First stop was Rosebud's - one of my favorite restaurants one block off the Magnificent Mile on Rush and Superior. I had some linguine with shrimp, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms in a garlic olive oil sauce. With a nice glass of Sonoma Cutrer. Of course, I dined outside and worked on the Sidewinders between eating and sipping my wine.

Then it was off to do some shopping along the Mile. I walked and walked, didn't buy much except lotion to match my new perfume Armani Code. So many stores. Lots of temptations.

I then walked back towards the hotel and walked through the Northwestern University Medical Center campus down to Lake Michigan. Beautiful landscaping with some of the biggest Hostas I have ever seen. I was going to knit down by the lake, but after sitting for a while I realized it was PM, so I went back to the hotel.

Well, class is about ready to start. Enjoy your day.

Can you say stupid?

Or dumb as*? Or are you kidding me? Or can't you follow directions, or better yet didn't you read them?

There is a reason they put warning labels on medicine. It's to WARN YOU! Yep, we know that and we heed the warnings don't we? Ah hah, some of you are saying yeah right. Now you are thinking, what did she do?

My antibiotic - yes the expensive one, said avoid exposure to sunlight. I read it, I did. Know where I'm going here? Today was picture day for the youngest. We went over to the ball park, the big one with all the fields. And we were out in the sun. Then we watched the big boys play (11 year olds, that's BIG BOYS to my guys) and ate hot dogs before we had to get to the first game at one. Now I put sunscreen all over the boys before going to their games. I put it on my arms and legs. What did she just say? Arms and legs. There was nothing on my face and neck. And no moisturizer. Now we just bought a sun umbrella to cover both the chairs at the games. I sat under that baby from 12:45 to 4:15PM. But not this morning. I was in the sun from 10:25 to 12:30PM.

MY FACE IS SCREAMING!!!!!! I look like a red and white raccoon. OUCHHHHHHHH!!!!! My neck is fried too. I haven't been this burnt since I was a kid and we went to Florida during Easter vacation. OUCHHHHHHH!! And I look terrible. And I'm teaching laws of arrest in Chicago all next week. I hurt and look like crap.

But I did knit today. Not much got done on the skirt. I brought a small Koigu project along. No, it's not the Mandarin Jacket. That was never found, and I haven't replaced the yarn yet.

The boys are next door including the other half. Beer brewing day. And some sort of impromptu tasting. Yeah, they are over there, and I am here. Yippee, I'm going to watch the end of the Rockies game (tied top of the 9th) and knit. I think I am going to have some alcohol. Can't douse the fire on my face, might as well just dull the pain.

To the couch.

It's a beautiful morning...

Remember that song? Did you see the sunrise this morning? Granted, it was an early one at about 5:15AM. But boy was it pretty, pinks, oranges, purples. Quite a show was being put on.

It’s Friday – Yippee! This week has dragged for me, and I am ready for the weekend. I am starting to feel better; hopefully by the end of the weekend, I’ll be back to my old self.

The Sangria skirt is coming along nicely. I have 2 repeats of porcupine lace to knit and then the cat’s paw bottom edging. Oh yeah – still have the I Cord tie string to do too, but we are getting close. I also worked on some Koigu last night.

Have you seen Nona’s Sidewinder socks over at www.nonaknits.typepad.com? They need to be knitted just so you can say you did.

Well, a breakfast quesadilla is calling my name. Have a great day.

Unbelievable!

Okay, so the girl is still sick. I left work yesterday after only 4 hours and went back to the doctor. The chest is killing me, I'm still full of snot, can't hear because of fluid, and so on. I told the doctor that I've had enough! This has been going on since May 26, the other medicine didn't help a darn, and I'm tired of my kids asking me, mom are you still sick? Why can't you hear what I said? And today I had to do Defensive tactics at work. 4 1/2 hours of handcuffing, kicks, strikes, ground fighting, hand gun retention, not things to do when your chest hurts like hell (and I hate this required training). I had to go, this was the make-up day, or my butt would have been home, where it was as soon as the training was over.

So, I'm on 3 new medicines. Here's the unbelievable part, the one that should clear up things is medicine that they give to pneumonia patients. And it's TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS A PILL! This is before insurance, but unbelievable! How do these poor people who can not afford health insurance buy medicines for their family members that cost that much? It just boggles my mind.

Okay - off the soap box. It may not have looked like it lately, but I haven't been buying yarn. Okay I know I bought some for the skirt and the summer sweater, but these were additions for this summer. I am trying to knit up the stash. I made a list of projects for potential classes, and things that I want to finish. I am starting small, because I need to also work on the Dale and Forest Path. But June's list isn't too long, the Sangria skirt, the new sweater, 2 shawls, 2 pairs of socks. Okay, maybe it does seem long. But there will be FOs this month. The skirt is more than 1/2 way done. I'm still not sure about lining it. It is being made to wear below the belly button, so I am not sure how my half slips will work. I am leaning more and more towards lining.

Total change of subject, but the wind outside is really blowing. Three of my rose bushes have had branches broken (of course the ones with buds on them) and my neighbors tree was snapped at the base like a twig. Very unusual, and the temperature is going from the 80s today to the low 60s tomorrow. I guess God wants to do a little bit more spring cleaning before summer is officially here.

My youngest graduated from preschool this afternoon. My baby. That's after he got home at 11PM last night after having a boy's night at Coors Field with Dad to watch the Rockies. They grow up fast don't they?

I'm hoping for a good night's sleep, the Albuteroll is keeping me awake. Good night.

Where do the weekends go?

It always seems to be that you zip on home Friday after work, and before you can blink your eyes, it is 9PM Sunday night. What happened? The work week never goes that fast. I need a two day work week and a five day weekend. What do you think?

This was the first weekend of baseball games. As we were driving to the oldest’s ball game, I said to my husband, this is what the next 13 to 14 years are going to be like, driving the boys to games. The oldest’s team came out with a bag, beating the other team 27 – 6 (They are only 7 year olds). Then off to the youngest’s ones T-Ball game. Now, if you have never seen a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds play T-Ball, you need to go watch. It’s kind of a cross between trying to herd cats and watching a circus. And how a kid doesn’t get beaned with a ball when they all try to throw the runner out at first is beyond me. Of course, my youngest got hit on the foot by a ball because he wasn’t watching the batter – he didn’t cry he’s tough. Anyway, the youngest was SO PROUD of his Devil Rays jersey that he wanted to wear it on Sunday too. So cute. By the way, you don’t keep score for the little ones, the entire lineup bats, then the other team’s entire lineup, and so on…

By the way, I am still sick. This is frickin unbelievable. I am still loaded with snot, and I hear like I am underwater. I just want my head and face back to normal. I’m sick of sneezing.

There was knitting this weekend. Saturday I had a class at String http://www.stringboutique.com/ .. I am teaching this beaded bag class, and how the designer put this together is strange. I would have made the pattern very differently. Then Saturday night, it drove me crazy about how the bag was to be seamed and how I thought it should be lined. I was grabbing hand towels and pinning them different ways as models, trying to make it look better. I am going to email the ladies some suggestions I have after my many hours of fiddling with this bag.

After class, I met my friend Leanne http://www.purpleprincessknits.blogspot.com/ in Arvada. She kept telling me about this cute store in Old Downtown that I had to see. So I drove up there. As I walked down the street, on one side of the street was a weaver’s gallery with a woman sitting outside on the sidewalk spinning, and I thought oh this is cool. Across the street was Knit Nack - a new knitting store and coffee bar. Do you ever walk in a place and feel like it was something you read about in a book? This place reminds me of what I pictured A Good Yarn would look like (from Debbie Macomber’s book). The walls are brick, and she has cherry cabinets. Three huge tables for knitting and comfy chairs. And the wall hangings are beautiful, bright, quilted pieces on consignment from a local quilter. Gerri Bragdon is the owner, who is making a leap of faith and taking a year off from teaching to make the shop a go. The regulars (Leanne’s merry gang) are very nice, and I can see Leanne’s influence as many were sporting Zhivago knitting bags (which of course I found first and showed to Princess Leanne).

And what do you ask is the piece of knitting I am working on? It my dears, is a skirt. I have wanted to make this skirt since last summer, but never found the yarn anywhere. Guess where I found it – at Knit Nack. The yarn is Classic Elite Classic Silk, and the pattern is Sangria by the wonderful Anne over at http://www.knitspot.com/ . I should have this baby knit in a week, I just haven’t figured out if I want to line it, or just wear a slip under it. It’s so cute.

Well, I have to get to work. It’s a beautiful day outside, of course. We are at work.