Musings

Today after my seminar I took a walk around the University of South Carolina Campus. And as I walked around the campus, it reminded me of me, 30, yes 30 years ago, walking around the University of Florida campus. A junior, I think at the time I may have been a marine biology major.

It's hard to believe that was me 30 years ago. As I looked at the students, huddled against the cold wind, they looked so young. And I wondered what kind of dreams do they have? Do they worry about shootings that happened on other campuses? Where are they from? Where are they going? And I thought about myself.

I'm not doing what I thought I would be going when I was in Gainesville. Law School had not crossed my mind. I never once thought I would end up in Colorado. I love the water. I used to do teak work on sailboats. There are no oceans in Colorado. I have children. I never planned on having kids. Having 2 brothers and 2 sisters turned me off of that idea.

Hmm, look where I am now. Things change. Doors open, doors shut. People come in and out of your life. Hmm. But things start new. The azaleas are beginning to bloom around the campus. The bright magenta ones are appearing first. I saw tulip trees in bloom today and daffodils. Life goes on, in a different path.

I hope to knit tonight. I think I lost some knitting, but I don't want to think about it, because I still have hope it fell out of my bag on the shuttle from the airport, and I'm checking with that bus driver tomorrow morning. If not, okay, I have to start over, and it's my test knitting. Oh well, there is nothing I can do until that bus is driven over here, and it has not been to the Center since Monday night. I still have some hope.

I did a SWAP

HOLY MOLY, GUACAMOLE, I HAVE THE BEST SWAP PARTNER IN THE WORLD!!!!! HAPPY DANCE IN HIGHLANDS RANCH!

I stopped at the mailbox on the way home from picking up the boys at school, and when they saw the box was for me they said, ah, it’s just yarn. BUT IT WAS FROM SHARON T!! Sharon T is a knitter on Ravelry, and is part of the SheKnits podcast "knitting circle" that I am a part of. So, of course I had to open it. DH is working late, and the boys and I were going out for mexican food (margaritas for mom, it’s been a LONG week), and I asked them should I open my package and they said go ahead. So I opened it and I told them, hey there’s something for you in here. And they ran over.

SHE SENT CANDY FOR MY BOYS!!! Okay, how cool was that? SO many points were scored before I even looked at anything else.

Then, I looked. There was a pattern from Knitspot for the Honeybee Stole and 1200 yards of YUMMY Tupelo Honey Laceweight merino. Okay, two things, one, I’ve ordered from the Woolen Rabbit before and I love the yarn. Second, KnitSpot is the lovely Anne Hanson. Anne Hanson is a lace designer who just was published in the latest Interweave Knits. I have not knit this shawl of Anne’s but I love it.

Then, there was the lace weight. The yarn that I drooled over and wanted SO BAD! And asked, is it mine. AND IT IS. OH SO COOL!!!!! It’s pretty, it’s purple, it’s going to Rockies games. I don’t know as what yet, but OH WOW!! Happy hands hand dyed fingering weight in colorway Northern Lights.

And, then there were the chocolates. These are mine. Not the boys. Not DH’s. Mine. hand dipped truffles from Amy Lyn’s.

Oh, and get this. Sharon T is from Waukesha, WI. I was born in Milwaukee, WI. I am hoping to be going to knitting camp again this summer in WI.

SHARON T IS THE BEST!!!!!! I’ve never swapped before, how cool was this!!!!

Miters, miters, miters

153 squares done. I've either been knitting mitered squares today, or working on EZ's mitered mittens. That's a lot of miters.

Today was a cold, snow day. DH was off skiing. The boys and I stayed inside and did a whole lot of nothing. Well, I knit, did laundry, cleaned the bathroom, they watched TV, played with GameBoys, typical boy things. And now it's Sunday night. Where did the weekend go again? At least I'm off tomorrow, although I do have a class to teach tomorrow night.

I've been listening to podcasts while knitting. I'm enjoying it, which is funny since I DETEST talk radio. Now I'm always looking to see if a new one is ready to download. It's kind of like listening to your friends talk while at a knitting group, isn't it. Kinda strange, like blogs where you put yourself out there and also feel like you know the other person.

Sunday stash report. Okay yarn came in this week, one I knew about which was yarn I had ordered for the Roslin Fairisle Hoodie. I have resisted temptation and have not cast this on yet. I need some more FOs and I think my test knitting charts may be arriving tomorrow so it will be off to the races! The next yarn that came in wasn't planned, but somehow managed to be purchased yesterday at String. We are talking gorgeous, Debbie Bliss 100% pure silk in the colorway #14, a beautiful coral color. It's for the Printed Silk Cardigan in the new Interweave Knits. Oh, it will be pretty. It is also in waiting, because I have projects to finish!

I decided to destash, so I put some yarn up on Ravelry and will probably add more as I go through the stash. Pretty yarns, with no project in mind. Out they go. Early spring cleaning.

Well, it's getting late, I want to knit at least two more squares. Hope you had a great day.

It's Saturday and I'm working

Yes, that's right. I'm working when I should be home doing laundry, knitting, folding laundry, knitting, cleaning, knitting, you name it.

I'm just buried right now at work. A lot of pleadings to draft and I have a discovery deadline looming this week So here I am, looking out my window at a beautiful blue Colorado sky. Oh well! I wish I was at Madrona with Joanne and Patti and Pam and everyone else!

Knitting has been a little slow this week. I've been busy after work with one thing or another, so I am behind in my progress, well, not really my progress, but rather where I wanted to be on the Hemlock Ring and my Mandarin Jacket. My Kauni has been sadly neglected this week and so has any lace. And I got yarn in the mail yesterday that I ordered at the end of December and you know what that means, a case of startitis. But I think I will force myself to wait until the Hemlock Ring is done, we shall see.

Well, enough of a break, it's back to work. Enjoy your day!

Me again, I just finalized my Rockies season ticket plan. Woo-hoo opening Day is April 4th! Man do I love baseball. Nothing better than a day at the park, a hotdog, a cold beer, knitting along of course! Come on Spring!

There's a mess on my desk.

I so have a mess on my desk. Well, okay, it’s not that bad if you ignore all the real work I need to get done, but I had my Harmony needle set out (which I am so in love with right now), a new cable, the end stoppers, the tightening tool, a big honking’ ball of yarn and my project spread all over my desk. Because I needed to change out a cable. You see, I started the Hemlock Ring Throw last night which to me is so easy, and I got to row 30 on the train in to work and now had 112 stitches of fat yarn on the cable. So I needed to go up a cable length. I love these needles!! So easy to knit off one cable and onto another, unlike my Denise needles with joins that love to let go.

Anyway, I’m knitting this up as a class sample as an intro to lace. This seems very easy to me so far so I’m thinking it would be a good project. The only thing that might be tricky to people is the initial cast on, but once you get going, it’s a no brainer.

Another day of being sleep deprived. DH fell asleep on the couch watching TV and when he came up to bed at 3AM guess who woke up and didn’t get back to sleep? Gotta love them circles under these eyes. Hey - finally, tomorrow is the last day of my having to take prednisone. Yeah! No more fat face I hope (I need to work out too! Been a long time since I've worked out regularly since getting sick.)

Madrona is this weekend. Wish I was going, but I’m hoping I got into knitting camp. There are five of us waiting to hear if we got in. Oh the trouble the five of us could get in to.

Well, I’ve got work to do. Have a great day.

Just a short post

Man where did this weekend go? I've been to three yarn stores this weekend in search of stuff for a swap, been to a one year old's birthday party, didn't do enough chores around the house, took a nice walk with the youngest son, and now it's Sunday night. Gees. Where did it go?

I knit a lot of mitered squares. Not much of anything else. Sunday stash report, some Malabrigo lace weight came in the stash. No plans for it yet. It's going upstairs for now. Oh, and I received my new Atenti bag. I will take pictures, but I'm tired.

So, it's a short post. Off to do some knitting.

Man what a day.

Exhausting. That's what today was. I had so much to do at my real job - get a discovery request out, draft an indictment and a pros memo. Too busy. And the lunch bunch was no where to be found. And I had been working on one of the cases since 3:45AM.

But the Purple Princess (http://www.purpleprincessknits.com/) came through. She must have sensed the desperation in my email that I needed to meet a fellow knitter for lunch to escape the madness. And sadly, her week has been the same, putting out fires with a watering can. We both wanted a good margarita, we settled for lunch together at the Corner Bakery and knitting. (Though sadly, I ended up ripping more than I knit, and convinced her to do the same to a project that she is just not having any fun knitting). So we ate lunch, chatted, knitted, recharged our batteries and headed back to our respective nightmares.

That's what friends are for.

Early

It's 3:15AM and I'm up. I've been up since 2AM and I finally decided to give up trying to get back to sleep. Too much on my mind I'm afraid. The 7 year old and I had a huge blow out last night, the kind that make you think why did I ever become a mom. The kind that make you want to walk out the door because frankly you don't need that kind of crap when you come home from work. Not fun for anyone. So, I'm up.

Time to knit before getting ready for work. I knit on the Kauni a bit last night. I need to start thinking about the sleeves and how I want to do them. I've also been doing mitered squares for my Mandarin Jacket because they are pretty mindless. I still am doing pretty good on working from the stash, but am not working on any socks right now after getting pissed off at the short row toe on Saturday. I will pick up a sock orphan on the 15th and finish a pair hopefully this month.

Enjoy the day, hmm, I wonder if we are getting more snow today?

I am so not a fan of short row toes on socks

I'm not. And the sock I cast on yesterday has a reverse stockinette short row toe. Now, don't get me wrong, I like short rows. I have made beautiful Hanne Falkenberg sweaters with short rows. But not for socks. Because of the double wraps. And my perfectionist knitting. I am never happy with how the wraps fall when knitting or purling the double wraps together. Never. So, the toe was ripped out at least seven times yesterday. And right now I've had enough. So I am taking a break. I may cast on another sock, though I am on day three on my 14 days to knit the first sock of the February pair. I don't know. But it will not be a short row toe sock. Not right now. I'm not happy with short rows.

Yesterday and so far today was chore day. Laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping before church. Ugh! The TV is going on in 45 minutes. I am watching the Superbowl pregame to see the commercials of course. I want to see the deaf one, have you heard about it? I also love the Bud commercials. My youngest son is rooting for the Giants cause baby brother (Eli Manning) is playing in the Superbowl, not big brother who always gets the attention. (The little guy is really learning that the baby brother also has his time to shine, and it's not always the big brother who is the best).

Sweaters have been a focus for me, though I need to cast on a mitten today since I have a mitten class tomorrow night at String. Katharine Hepburn, Twist and Kauni will be worked on today and I may swatch (don't laugh) for Silver Belle during the game.

I have an apple pie in the oven. BBQ chicken, roasted potatoes and vegies on the menu for the game.

Sunday stash report. Lady Eleanor out, the Leaf Lace Shawl out, and the Vintage sock kit in. I think I may be getting towards the negative side. I do have some lace weight on the way, but I am using it to test knit when I get my charts from Anne of KnitSpot. Oh, I did buy some other yarn, some Black Water Abbey lace weight, but that is going to be for my first design that I intend to sell, so it's really in a different category.

Well, have a good day whatever you are doing. Me, I have a date with football. I hope it's a good game.

Just a short post

It's 6:15AM, and the house is still quiet. DH and the boys are still sleeping. I've done my favorite blog reading and checked Ravelry, printed out a sock pattern from my downloads and am about to sit down for what I hope is about an hour or so of uninterrupted knitting. So this will be a short post.

I am putting up February's socks. I missed getting sock #1 up on the 1st, but that is okay, I did some good knitting on some sweaters yesterday - Twist and Katharine Hepburn. I worked on Kiri, finally liked and finished the top of the mitered mitten (still need to do the thumb). So, this morning I am putting up sock #1 of Fratello in what I think is a ball of Cherry Tree Hill which I bought at String last year.

Speaking of String, we had a teacher's meeting last night and I think you are going to like what you are going to see in the coming months. Cassidy and Judy have some good things in store and we have some great classes coming up. I'm thinking summer projects already (probably because it snowed again last night), and I've got some designs on my mind.

Okay, got to go cast on. Enjoy the day. I've got chores and knitting to take care of.