Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Stitch and Pitch

Saturday night was the second annual Stitch and Pitch for the noon-time knitters (minus two) at Coors Field. Here we are Sharon, me in pink, Denise and a new addition to the group - Denise's daughter Renee. She's not a knitter but give her time. We were missing Leanne and Kris, although we DID call them from the game and they didn't answer their phones! Imagine that, the nerve! Denise was working on socks, Sharon - lace (learned my lesson last year and brought something else), and me on a Vivian Hoxboro shawl.
But we did have fun, beer, hot dogs, knitting, lots of knitters, boys playing ball, who could ask for more? And of course, the Rockies won, which was icing on the cake. I did have fun walking from the train to the field. I was checking out people's bags to see who had yarn and needles in them. These people did:
Knitters all over this section. Our other noon time knitter Cathy was sitting way up in the nose bleed section, but she said that there was a lovely breeze up there.
But it's back to work this week, and back to knitting that needs to get done. A lot of work on the Hanging Garden stole needs to be done, and on everything else. Working is getting in the way of things that are more enjoyable. Hmmm. Need to win that lottery!
Enjoy your night, the boys are playing the Fish (Marlins) and Holiday just hit a 3 run RBI. Got a game to watch!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium..

I'm thinking about vacations. Maybe it's because it's so hot here, or maybe because I just bought the tickets to go to Florida in November, or maybe it's because a friend of mine is going to Hawaii on Friday. (Hawaii in the summer though, not for me!) I want to go somewhere, preferably cool, maybe with snow, just no heat, I want out of this heat. The Alps maybe, or the North Pole, anywhere I can wear a sweater would be fine with me. But.....if I have to be in the heat, then I want to look like a 20 year old with a fabulous bod, and be lying on the beach on an island somewhere with good looking men fanning me and getting me cold margaritas. Yes, that would be okay.

But I'm here where it's hot. This is me knitting outside of the Denver Children's Museum on Sunday with the birthday boy. The white thing is a pattern hanging out of my knitting bag. My baby's birthday. It's a big deal because he wasn't supposed to make it. When I was pregnant with the little guy the doctors said doesn't look good, probably won't make it. But he did. And look at him now, my baby is 5. Wow! So he picked the Children's Museum as the place he wanted to go. He and big brother love the fire truck (actual fire truck parked inside the museum), and of course the ant hill. They dress up in ant costumes and if they had their way, they would stay in the ant hill all day. Though older brother decided to dress up as a bunny this time. They had fun.

Since I'm not on vacation, I have to go to work. I finished some pleadings today. Total page count including all the supporting documents - 127 pages. I am so glad that is done. Someone is going to be very unhappy when they get served with those. I can't wait!
I started this on the way to work. On the bus. I don't know if you can see the beads, but they are a bear to get on this yarn because the yarn splits. It's about 8 stands of cotton, so when I try to pull it through a bead, it ends up leaving one strand or two outside and I have to start over. But this should be very pretty. It's a Rowan tank I am adding beads to. I wonder how fast it can be knit?
Anyone going to Stitch and Pitch on Saturday? Speaking of the Rockies, the other half is at the game tonight, because I got to go knit last Tuesday night. But he goes out of town tomorrow, so I think he got the better part of the deal.
Well, I need to check on the boys outside. Rain anywhere? Nope. I'm hoping for snow.




Thursday, July 19, 2007

Some progress

Wasn't such a bad day today. I am starting to see the glass top of my desk, which has been covered in piles of paper. Five different sets of pleadings were drafted, so there is progress.

And some knitting was done. The Sangria skirt has 4 new rows of the second to last border. And here is a picture of the Crystal Cove pullover. Not sure if this will be the front or the back, but I finished the coral color and added the light pink today at lunch.

It's an easy knit with short rows. I hope to knit some more on both projects tonight while watching the Rockies game, who are winning right now.

Check out this link, you will not believe what you are about to see! And I thought mine was out of control.

http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/?p=111

Have a good night!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

So terribly unorganized

I am so unorganized right now, both at work and at home. All the traveling has finally caught up to me and I am surrounded by chaos. Piles here, piles there, things to do. Chaos.

But I hope to be home for a while, so that gives me some time to fix this. And baseball season is almost over for the boys, so the practices and games will be over, but then we are back to swimming lessons. I think I need a wife.Isn't this pretty? It's some flowers on my butterfly bush that seemed to double in size while I was in Michigan and Indiana last week. I hope to see some more bees on it. It's really sad that the bee population is dwindling. I don't let the boys near any bees because I don't want them disturbed.

Projects - hmm. I want FOs this month, but the main projects, Lady Eleanor and the Hanging Garden Stole need a lot of work. And I want to finish the Sangria skirt, and the Crystal Cove pullover. Don't think it's going to happen though.

I spent an enjoyable evening with Leanne (http://www.purpleprincessknits.blogspot.com/) and her "gang" at Knit Nack last night. Grabbed some supper and a glass of wine next door at Bliss then went back to knit. There had to be at least 16 knitters hanging around last night. Judy (Fiber Experiences) and Nachele were there too. Different projects, young knitters, "older" knitters all. Nice night.
Well, it's back to school night (year round schools) and then straight to baseball practice. I've got to grab some knitting and run. Enjoy your night!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

What a week!

I flew to Detroit on Monday. It was supposed to be my last trip of the summer teaching Laws of Arrests to Inspectors. And everything went according to plan in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday. We then got on a plane Wednesday afternoon and flew to Indianapolis. When we arrived there, I called the domicile and that's when things went crazy.

We were asked when we could get there and basically hit the ground running. There was a Postal carrier that had been missing and hadn't been seen since 9AM that morning. It had only been reported to the Inspection Service about 1 hour ago. So we got there as fast as we could and they started handing out assignments. I ended up being the public information officer. I had a short training class about 3 years ago, but had never been on live TV. So after having about 1 1/2 hours sleep in 40 hours I did 5 TV interviews, 3 of which were live. I was live on the radio and spoke with 3 newspapers. I did manage not to swear or give away information that the press did not need to know. But I had the carrier's picture all over the news in Indy. I flew back home on Friday and was supposed to fly back this morning to relieve the PIO who filled in for me.

Well, our guy was found yesterday. He's in a whole lot of trouble - he was trying to walk away from his life. I can't wait to find out all the details. Guess what - he was recognized by someone who had seen his picture - I did good!

So I am not going to Indy in 3 hours. I have my life back, and last night got a decent amount of sleep. And I got to have a pedicure and knit on lace while having it done. My travel schedule will be much decreased. I still need to teach Field Legal in Indy at some point and have to go to DC in August (HOT - YUCK!)

But I am home with the boys. The tomatoes are growing. It's a beautiful day out there. The only thing that could make it better is buying a new pair of shoes at Nordstroms.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Hot Hot Hot!

Detroit is very hot! And humid. It took forever for my hair to dry this morning.

I had no idea that Canada is right across the Detroit River which is right by the building I am in during the day. Canada is actually south of the US in this part of Michigan. Didn't know this.

We are staying at the Ritz (very nice hotel) in Dearborn, MI which is where Ford has it's headquarters. I have never seen so many Mustangs in my life. There was one that pulled up to the hotel last night, which must have been a brand new model, and it just purred. Wow, nice car.

Not much knitting is getting done because it is so hot. Worked a little on the Lady Eleanor, and 2 shawls last night. It was hard to get sleep because they are 2 hours ahead of Denver. Haven't found any yarn shops to go to yet. Oh well.

Enjoy your day.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy 4th of July!

What did you do last night? This is where I was with the boys.



And here are the boys with dad of course. Where was mom? Right next to them, knitting (always) and drinking a beer (already ate the hotdog). My kind of evening? You bet!
Did it rain? Nope! Did the Rockies beat the Mets? Yep, spanked them 11-3. And we saw these:

And many others.

We have a neighborhood parade in about a half hour. Then it's a lazy day at the pool, and the Pirate flag is going up across the street so that's where tonight's party will be.

Enjoy your 4th in this great nation we live in.



Monday, July 02, 2007

A little Koigu anyone?

This is me knitting outside on the front porch. Okay I know I need to trim the bushes, but I'm knitting. I have the house decorated. I put the bunting up for the Fourth of July, along with flags. What am I knitting - Koigu. And I need to knit my Koigu.

(I am going to show you something. Don't count the skeins, because I really don't want to know. It's a down payment on a car - I am sure. Call Knitters Annoymous for what I am about to show you).

I have too much Koigu by anyone standards. ANYONE. I know the stash is huge, and I have so much Koigu. And I'm not parting with it. What is on my lap? A Koigu coat. Lots of skeins.
This is what it looks like. Isn't it pretty? These balls are some more of the yarn for the coat.


What is this? The yarn in the plastic bags is 2 balls of each color of the Koigu for the Mandarin jacket, you know the one, where the back went sailing away on the cruise ship? The yarn in the other bag is replacement yarn - Ouch!

This is an almost finished kimono jacket. The mitred squares are done, it just needs to be finished.

This is a bag of yarn for a long skirt, a top, and a shawl. Yep - all three!

This is Koigu for socks, or mittens, or whatever. Not all the balls I have, just what could fit in this box. (And what I could find).

We have Koigu for scarves,

And shawl(s) - more than one I am afraid.

And last but not least, the Magique Cloak. At last 40 skeins.By the way, this is not all the Koigu in the house. This is bad, really bad.