Mountain Purl

Just Checking In...

2012-02-01T05:13:00.002-07:00

February 1st already! How did that happen? I think with all of the events of the past three months that I have gotten very disorganized and lost track of time and things. I need to do something about that.

Update on the knee. Well, still doing physical therapy, but down to one day per week. I am going to the gym and riding the bike, and then walking 4 laps, and trying to jog 2 laps and repeating that three times. My speed is definitely slower than pre-surgery, but I am getting better. I will be happy when I am off of the coumadin hopefully later this month, because it has caused swelling in my feet which makes it had to exercise. My therapist thinks I will be skiing this season, but I think I am going to give it a pass.

Work, well it is going well I think, but working full time again is a drain. But, it is for a good cause and I just have to look at it that way. I have questions every day, but my boss thinks I am catching on quickly. Hmm.

Knitting, no new finished objects to report. Haven't had that much time to knit this past month. I am trying to get some projects finished, so hopefully this month there will be some progress. Most of my time is spent knitting on sweaters, but I did finish one toe-up sock, well, it needs to be bound off, so almost finished I guess.

Books read since December 15, 2011:

2. The Litigators by John Grisham

3. The Bible

4. Unraveled by Maggie Sefton

5. Skeleton Letters by Laura Childs

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T15:15:00.001-07:00

2011-12-29 22.20.35.jpg, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

I meant to post yesterday, on January 1, 2012, but one thing led to another and here I am a day later. So Happy New Year! And start as you mean to go on...

This baby blanket is my last Finished Object of 2011, the Sleeping Baby's Castle Blanket http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sleeping-babys-castle-blanket. I knit this for my niece's new baby girl. I knit it out of Caron Simply Soft in the color Lavender Blue. This yarn is very soft to knit with, but it might not have been the best choice for something with so much detail, as the cables tend to pull the blanket in after I took it off of the blocking board. Nevertheless, I think it turned out rather nicely and I gave it to my niece on New Year's Eve.

Knitting wise, I didn't finish a lot of projects this past year. I have so many projects on the needles but not a lot to show for all the knitting time. This year I really have just two goals, get organized and finish what I start. I also am continuing my goal of reading at least 26 books during the year, as counted from my birthday. So,

Books read since December 15, 2011:

1. Flowers on Main by Sherryl Woods

Knee Saga. Well, I had to go into the hospital on December 22, 2011 and they put me under and forcibly bent the knee. Yep, as awful as it sounds. My knee was stuck at 110 degrees and now there has been improvement to over 130 degrees. Physical therapy sucks, but I am off the crutches as of a week ago. I want my knee back to normal. There won't be any skiing for me this season.

I started a new job on December 27, 2011. I am now working as an Investigative Case Manger/adjuster in Worker's Comp for a major insurance company. My co-workers seem really nice. There is a lot to learn and a lot of government regulations that you have to be aware of. I am enjoying it so far and like my boss. I guess that is all you can ask for.

So I think it is time to sit and knit. I cast on Kingscot on New Years Eve, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kingscot in some Navy Berroco Pure Merino DK. I don't have any blue sweaters so this will be a good addition to the wardrobe.

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-12-15T00:11:00.001-07:00

Another year older! Boy, where did the year go? I had some firsts this year. I had the garden in the open space and enjoyed the fruits of my labors. I learned that 9 tomato plants are too many and that I needed more time to harvest corn. I also learned that acorn squash and I just don't have a good relationship! My best crops were the squash, tomatoes and cucumbers. Next year I will also plant zucchini and maybe try some greens.

Reading, well only 38 books since my last birthday, compared to 48 the year before. I really enjoy reading, but I don't read as much as I used to because I watch and listen to many podcasts and television shows. So, starting the annual list, books read since December 15, 2011 - none. I will finish the Bible again this year as I listen to the Daily Audio Bible.

Knee update, well, another set back. The knee had to be drained again this morning for the 4th time and I am back on crutches. Sigh, Happy Birthday to me! But hey! It sure could be a lot worse! I start physical therapy on Friday and if they can't get the knee to fully straighten or bend beyond 110 degrees, I get to have the surgeon do it while I am "sleeping." So either way it's going to hurt like blue blazes. Here's to finally getting a working knee back.

Christmas, well, I haven't done any shopping, we don't have a tree up yet. My goodness. See what happens when a surgery issue occupies your time for the past 35 days? I think the internet is going to be my friend and there are going to be some late gifts this year. I don't even want to think about Christmas cards. Maybe we will do New Years cards this year.

Knitting, well, slow is the name of the game. There are lovely things that I want to finish and two KALS that I am participating in, one that is starting December 26, 2011 and one that I am moderating and starts January 1, 2012. The first one is the Takoma Cardigan http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/takoma which is a lovely stranded cardigan from Knitty Deep Fall 2011. Mine is going to be in shades of grey, natural and turquoise. I really am looking forward to wearing this cardigan and as it is knitted in Cascade Eco Wool and Eco + it should be a quick knit. The KAL is one I am hosting in the Black Water Abbey group on Ravelry. We are having a cardigan knit along, but if you want to knit a pullover, that's okay too. I will be knitting Trillium http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mountainpurl/trillium in the colors of Bracken and Ecru and I think it is going to look very nice. You have four months to finish your cardigan in this group.

My goal this year is to Finish what I start. Now I know I have numerous projects on the needles, and I want to finish many this year. There are just too many pretty things that I want to wear before they are out of style.

My birthday knitting this year will be the Sheep Heid hat/tam. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sheep-heid. As a knitter and a spinner, how could I not knit this hat? The stranded work will keep me interested, plus it's just too cute not to knit.

Crochet. I had started on my Rowan jacket, but it is slow going as I need to ensure that the squares are uniform. There are 4 different square patterns for a total of 96 squares. When I did the original 4, 2 came out a little bit larger than the first two. So, I am going to crochet patterns 3 and 4 first and then make sure the other two patterns come out the correct size.

Well, that's about all. I start my new job ob December 27, 2011 and I am looking forward to learning something new.

Happy Birthday!

Christmas Cactus

2011-12-04T07:31:00.001-07:00

2011-12-04 07.12.42.jpg, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

Aren't they pretty? I don't know how they know to bloom in December, but my Christmas Cactus always seem to know.

Update on the knee - after a long three and a half weeks, I think I might have had a turning point this weekend. I have had to have the knee drained three times since the surgery, and the last time was Wednesday morning. The knee kept swelling above the knee cap, which in turn shut down my quad muscles, so basically all I had was dead weight. For a week I had a splint from upper thigh to ankle to immobolize the knee and control the swelling. I have kept off of it (yes, I am SO sick of crutches, been on them for 3 weeks now) and it doesn't appear to have filled up. Yeah! I am walking on it a wee bit around the house and I am hoping that this is the end of this ordeal - except for the Coumadin for 3 months, and I can work on strengthening my leg.

Knitting - working on a baby blanket, a cowl, and a sweater. I hope to soon have some FOs to share. My knitting mojo had left during most of the knee ordeal, and now I finally feel like knitting again. Looking forward to knitting during the Bronco game later today.

I applied for a new job and was given a job offer. I am going through the background check process now, so when that is done and everything is finalized I will be happy.

Reading, well it's almost my birthday, so I need to update the list:

Books read since December 15, 2010

37. Finger Lickin 15 by Janet Evanovich
38. Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons by Blaize Clement

Cross Stitch and a Clot

2011-11-19T18:48:00.001-07:00

2011-11-19 18.41.19.jpg, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

Multi-craftural. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed other crafts besides knitting. So while I have been home recuperating I decided to pull out some cross stitch. These get tied over a pillow as part of holiday decorations. I have one more to complete - a cute Christmas one.

As for the clot. Let's just say an unwanted complication after my surgery. A blood clot in my calf. So I get to have shots twice daily in the stomach and take coumadin for 3 months. And I need to be careful. Could be worse....

Hmm, what craft next? Probably crochet. I love the Rona jacket in Rowan 46. Hmm....

Nice Knee!

2011-11-16T08:07:00.001-07:00

2011-11-16 08.03.17.jpg, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

Like the knee? That's 7 days after surgery. At least my toes aren't swollen any more. I go to the surgeon this morning to get the stitches out. And see if I get to ski at all this season. I was doing okay until last night until it started swelling above the knee cap. You see, I fell during skiing in March and messed up the knee and the collateral ligament and didn't get it checked out until 6 or so months later. I thought - I can walk, how bad can it be? Yeah, should have checked it earlier.

Speaking of getting things checked out - do you get bone density scans? Are you around my age then you should. I had my second one in 2 years 2 weeks ago. Well, let's just say - guess who will be starting osteoporosis medicine next week? They are almost positive it's heredity and that I just don't absorb calcium. So there you go.

One thing about having surgery, you have a lot of knitting and reading time if you don't have to take serious drugs. So I have been knitting and reading a lot lately. I should soon have some finished objects.

So books read since December 15, 2011:

32. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

33. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich'

34. Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs: a Dixie Hemingway Mystery by Blaize Clement

35. Cat Sitter among the Pigeons: a Dixie Hemingway Mysterys by Blaize Clement

36. Hiss of Death, A Mrs Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae Brown

I came across this list....

2011-10-24T19:05:00.000-06:00

I came across this list put out by the BBC. Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. So I decided to go through the list and see how many I have read and highlight them and italicize the ones that I have started but not finished. The funny thing is, some of them I think I have read, but can't remember so I didn't mark them off the list. And, if I listened to them I think it's okay to mark them off. Hmm, maybe I should start working on this list too?

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

But I continue to read mysteries and whatever suits my fancy and this week it was:

31. 44 Charles Street by Danielle Steele

Knitting - I cast on http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gwendolyn-3 the other night with an insane idea that I could knit this sweater in 2 weeks. Yeah, right. But I am working on both sleeves at once! Hmm...

A video that knitters will appreciate

2011-10-17T16:52:00.012-06:00

Books read since December 15, 2010:

29. Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues by Blaize Clement

30. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

Okay, so I am a bit behind

2011-10-07T19:17:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am a bit behind in my blog posts. So I decided to do a neme.

Here goes:

A. Age: 53
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: ironing and grocery shopping
D. Dogs: Daisy a Shiba Inu
E. Essential start to your day: Diet Dr. Pepper
F. Favourite colour: yellow
G. Gold or Silver: gold
H. Height: 5' 3 1/2"
I. Instruments you play: Used to play clarinet and oboe. I own a harp.
J. Job title: working on this one
K. Kids: two
L. Live: Colorado
M. Mother’s name: Irene
N. Nicknames: At one time it was Walter, another time Moose
O. Overnight hospital stays: having children
P. Pet peeve: kids not listening to me
Q. Quote from a movie: "Luck favors the prepared darling - Edna Mode from The Incredibles
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: 2 brothers and 2 sisters
T. Time you wake up: between 4 and 6 AM
U. Underwear: Whatever
V. Vegetable you hate: brussel sprouts
W. What makes you run late: kids
X. X-Rays you’ve had: just about everything
Y. Yummy food that you make: Kahlua fudge cake

And speaking of lists: Books read since December 15, 2011:
26. William and Kate Their Story by Andrew Morton
27. Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement
28. Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund by Blaize Clement

Knitting - working on my http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mountainpurl/rib-it Rib It cardigan. I bought this kit at Stitches East a few years ago and dug it out of the stash to work on. I am now on a mission to finish it and wear it this fall. I have knit almost 100 out of the 250 mitres. Yes, I am bored with knitting them, but I am plugging away trying to finish this.

Garden - I need to pick my three pumpkins and then rip the gardens out. I had a good crop this year and have learned what will do well here. I will change things up for next year, not so many tomato plants.

Carry on...

And here we go again!

2011-10-07T19:01:00.000-06:00

September 15th - can you believe it? Christmas is only three months away, well my birthday is three months away, then Christmas. So I guess that is 13 weeks until December 15th. Boy, I sure am not going to make my goal of reading 52 books this year. Not even close. It's not like I don't have a lot of books to read, because I have a stack of library books sitting on the floor by the bed. I guess I haven't been reading as much as usual. Although I am almost through the Bible. I have been listening to the Daily Audio Bible, so technically someone read it to me, but I am going to count it anyway. So seven more days to get through the whole Bible.

24. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
25. Buttons and Bows by Monica Ferris.

Well at least I will average a book every other week.

As for the title, here we go again, I am looking for a job. I had an interview for one last week. I was second choice. I don't know about you, but I think I would rather come in last. Because second, you are so close but they just didn't want you enough. Sucks. So I am looking again.

A finished object

2011-08-15T16:01:00.003-06:00

CIMG1332, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

I finished some socks last night. Which for me is an accomplishment because I am the self-professed Queen of the one sock. These were started in March and the yarn is from the first Sea Socks cruise in 2007. Well, at least I went stash diving right? The pattern is Hermione's Everyday Socks.

Reading, well only one more book to add to the list:

23. Blackwork by Monica Ferris

I really enjoy her books. They are mysteries set in a needlework store in Minnesota. I have one more of her books to read that I got from the library. Maybe this week.

Knitting, whole lot of knitting going on and not a lot of progress. Back to the knitting ADD, flitting from project to project. I am designing a triangular shawl though. I am not too sure about the yarn. I had ordered some Todd and Duncan cashmere singles from Colourmart that I had spun into a 2 ply. I am now wishing I had ordered a 3 ply. I have to use a small needle, I am thinking I am on a US 1 to get the textured knitted fabric I want. So knitting is slowwwww......

The garden. Boy am I getting tomatoes and cucumbers. The jalapenos are smoking hot. Lots of produce - I am happy.

That's all for now, time to go knit!

Vegetables

2011-08-05T09:03:00.001-06:00

CIMG1329, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

With all of this rain the garden is really starting to produce vegetables. Here is a picture of what I picked this morning.

Frost Flowers Stole

2011-08-01T16:47:00.003-06:00

Frost Flowers Stole by Charlene Schurch http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mountainpurl/frost-flowers-stole

DSC_0412, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

What do you get when you cast on 992 stitches and work towards the center, and then kitchner it together? A Frost Flowers Stole. Isn't it pretty? I blocked it yesterday. This yarn has been in the stash forever it seems. I think I bought it at a yarn store in Florida maybe 6 or so years ago. It is Jade Sapphire 100% cashmere. I think it turned out very nicely. The kitchnering of the almost 500 center stitches wasn't too bad once you got into a rhythm.

What has been going on? Well, today is the second to the last day of summer vacation for the boys as school starts Wednesday. Let's just say not much of anything has gotten done (including cleaning the house) while they have been home. The garden is about the one thing that has shown a lot of progress. I have harvested squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and radishes. There are so many tomatoes that are just waiting to turn red that when they do I am going to be inundated.

Knitting - well I have been trying to knit from the stash for months. I really can't remember the last time I bought yarn. I just have so many pretty things that I want to finish. I am still working off my list of top projects, though it might get modified now that it is getting closer to the fall. I haven't felt like working on any heavy projects as it has been so hot lately, so socks and shawls have had top priority. I think this week I am going to really look at things on the needles and see what I really want to wear this year. I also have a lot of socks to knit that I have cast on one and then it has languished in the yarn room. I don't know how people just crank these out.

Reading. Books read since December 15, 2011:

22. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

Hmm, only have about 19 weeks to go. I don't know if I will make my goal of reading one book a week if I keep at this pace. I have been watching too many video podcasts instead of reading I think. I have so many that are in the queue. I wish they would keep them to 30 minutes or so instead of the hour shows.

Well, oldest son and I have plans to go to dinner as DH is out of town and the youngest is at Grandma's and we need to stop at the library. I am hoping it rains and that God can water my garden for me today. Yes, that would be lovely.

Happy knitting!

Quote of the day:

" I will continue to freak out my children by knitting in public. It's good for them."

— Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much)

A good laugh...

2011-07-11T19:06:00.002-06:00

I was reading posts in Ravelry the other day and I came across this link to this blog post, which made me laugh and laugh.....

What I wouldn't give for a chicken!

http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/

Books read since December 15, 2010:

21. The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini

And then there were two

2011-06-12T08:04:00.007-06:00

CIMG1313, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

Here's a picture of the "girls" Blanche and Sophia. I picked up Sophia yesterday when I went up to the Estes Park Wool Market. I decided to rename my Matchless since her name never really felt right. So, her name is Blanche and my new Sidekick is Sophia. I'm happy.

Books read since December 15th:

15. Family Affair by Debbie Macomber
16. Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski
17. Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson
18. Snow Day by Billy Coffey
19. A Peach of a Murder by Livia J. Washburn
20. A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber
(7 books short of reading one book per week)

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-29T08:17:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I am a day early, but Happy Memorial Day! The bunting is on the house and a new flag is on the flag pole. Did you know that Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day and was enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers that died during the Civil War? Anyway, thank you to all of the soldiers who died while serving their country.

So what's been happening in the past week? There has been some knitting done. My knitting projects currently in the rotation are:

1. Summer Mystery Shawlette by Wendy D. Johnson, knit out of Malabrigo sock.

2. Mad Color Weave Socks by Chrstine Lorin, knit out of Koigu.

3. Rib It by Melissa Lapid, knit out of Koigu.

4. Traveling Sweater by A. Karen Alfke, knit out of Woobu, and
5. Guld by Kerstin Olsson which is a Bohus.

All of these projects received some love this week. I am doing very well in my resolve to knit from the stash until September. My biggest problem is that there are too many projects that I want to work on and not enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Gardening - Things are starting to sprout. Out in my community garden plot, the radishes, cucumbers, squash, and onions have come up. The watermelons, corn, pumpkins, carrots and jalapeno seeds still have not come up but I am hoping they will this week since we are due for a spell of warm weather. I have some more plants to put out there today and then I think I won't add anymore or it will be too crowded. In the backyard garden I have some beans and 2 tomato plants, keeping that garden simple this year.

Reading well I did manage to read a book this past week:

14. Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

Sewing. Yesterday I hit a big sale at Joann's and bought $75 worth of outdoor fabric for about $10. I have a cushion to recover for the front porch glider and I will probably make some pillows and a pad for the back rest since I have extra fabric. I also bought fabric to sew some bags that I am thinking of selling on Etsy. So, I have a lot of sewing coming up and now that I bought a chair that is a better height for my machine I am thinking I will make time to sew more often.

Well, that's about it for the past week. Have a good rest of the weekend!

Knitting quote for the week:

It's such a human condition, whether you're a great track star or a great knitting person or you paint watercolors - someone knows who you are.

Tony Curtis

Making a List and checking it twice.

2011-05-20T14:29:00.063-06:00

CIMG1281, a photo by Mountain Purl on Flickr.

I know it has been a long time since I posted. And it's not like I haven't thought about posting. I guess other things have gotten in the way since I sat down to write in March.

Let's see. I had started running again and was doing quite well. Until I fell skiing in late March. Waiting in the lift line my youngest son had skied over my skis and down I went with my legs all twisted up under me. Oh yeah, can you say the knees hurt? But up to the top I went and then skied down. And caught an edge which launched me and I came down hard. And I was done. I told DH that's it, I'm done and I skied down. So, the knees have been slowly getting better, but not much running has been going on.

I have two gardens this year. I was lucky enough to get a space this summer in the community garden in the open space near my house. It's a 10' x 20' plot and I have planted corn, watermelons, cucumbers, various varieties of squash, onions, radishes, carrots, nine varieties of tomatoes, and edged it with some California wildflower seeds that should make it look lovely. But of course, it snowed after I put it in after three days of 80 degree weather, and it's been raining quite a bit (which we badly need). So, what seeds will come up? We shall see. And the jalapeno and tomato plants look a bit beat up, but as I look at it, this is a test year to see what will really grow out there. And I have my backyard plot where I put in several varieties of beans, and I have basil and parsley in pots on the deck. I have high hopes for a lot of veggies.

Reading, oh, I am so behind on my reading. And I think it has to do with the explosion of video podcasts. There are so many that I watch and they can really be a time suck, that I guess I justify because I sit and knit while I am watching them. But...it has been 22 weeks since my birthday and I like to average a book a week. Hmm, not even close. And I have a stack of books, several of which I have renewed more than once. I need to get reading.

11. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich

12. A Catered Birthday Party by Isis Crawford

13. A Catered Thanksgiving by Isis Crawford

Knitting. I have been knitting, and along with everything else in my life, I am determined to get organized. Because somewhere along the way, I became a starter and not a finisher. And I don't know if it was like other things in my life that I got bored. But maybe so. I know I am a process knitter, I like to see what the yarn does, what the pattern looks like, but having the finished object was not really a priority until I would go to knitting events and wish I had some more of my work finished. And something else bothered me, but I won't go into that. But it did.

So I went through the yarn room and made a list. And I really did check it twice. And it represents the projects that I really want to finish this year. And I made categories with five lines under each category. (And socks don't count, just like sock yarn does not count as stash). So here are my categories:

Stranded colorwork

Bohus

Cables

Lace

Japanese

Black Water Abbey

Double Knitting

Miters

Misc. projects/techniques

Oh, it looks rather daunting doesn't it? Not all categories have 5 projects in them, and there are other categories that could have many more added. But these are my priorities. And I am trying not to buy yarn from the time I left Spring Fling until the fall knitting retreat I attend. I went to the Spring Fling last month and bought yarn but I stuck to what I wanted to do - spend less than $100 at the Loopy Ewe - 1 skein Needle Food sock yarn, 2 skeins Malabrigo sock, and some spinning fiber. I also came home with 2 skeins of Wollmeise, a skein of Skinny Bugga and a skein of the new Loopy Ewe self-striping. But they were gifts or prizes,and all sock yarn so they don't count do they? And really, we all know I don't need any more yarn. I may go to Estes this year, but that would only be for spinning fiber or spinning related tools. But this girl has enough fiber to keep me busy for a while.

I have been knitting and actually there has been some finished objects. This is my Shipwreck Shawl when it was drying after I blocked it. I knit it out of some Woolen Rabbit Lark in the colorway Forever in Blue Jeans. This yarn is just lovely - alpaca, silk and cashmere. I have one more skein left. I haven't decided what I am going to do with it yet. I thought I finished something else, but for the life of me I can't think of what it was.

I am hoping to blog more - at least once a week and update on my 2011 knitting list. And my garden. We shall see. Baseball started this past week so I definitely have some dedicated knitting time. Not sure I if I will be the scorekeeper for youngest son's team or not, probably will since DH is the coach. But practices = knitting time, which is fine with me.

Well, the boys should be coming home soon as their school lets out in 10 minutes.

Quote of the week:

I have written some songs, but I would really call what I've done poetry at the end of the day, because I'll sit with my guitar for hours and hours on end for, like, a week and then I won't touch it for a month. I also just have no confidence. And you know what? I don't have time, because I'd rather be doing other things, like knitting.

Amanda Seyfried

Marching along

2011-03-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

It's March. Can you believe it? It feels like Spring already, but Colorado can fool you. You will have these beautiful days of 50 degree weather and you see buds on the lilacs and some trees. If you are like me and have allergies, you feel the pollen from the elms and you start thinking of Spring and planning gardens. And then whammo! Another major snow fall. Got to love Colorado.

What have I been up to? Still working for the Judge. Hmm, it gets a little crazy. And I started going to Jazzercize which I love. I forgot how much I enjoyed aerobics and dancing when I was in my 20s. So I go to class a few times a week and dance my butt off.

And today I started the coach to 5K program. Now, I used to be a runner. When I lived in Tennessee I belonged to a running club and ran races all the time. Now, my mind still thinks I am this fast 30 year old and my body just laughs and says yeah, go ahead and think that. I was going to the gym and running a lap/walking a lap on the track, but with my surgery and starting working again, the workouts were hit and miss. But I found a running podcast cast thanks toSillyFru over at http://frusmuse.blogspot.com/. She mentioned the Chubby Jones podcast on her recent podcast and I added it to my LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG list of podcasts I listen to and watch. So, this morning I started my program.

By the way, have I mentioned that along the way I have lost 5 pounds? Which I think is great. I want to lose about 10 more so I can weigh what I did when I got married. Yes I know how old I am and what happenes to us "girls" when we get older. But I have hopes in my head this is possible (I hope it's not like the running where the body is laughing at what the head thinks).

Knitting, well lately I have been working mainly on 2 projects. A Habu jacket made out of stainless steel and silk, and a double knitting project. I won't mention what this is, but it is a major project that I am probably kidding myself that I can knit in a month and wear next month.

I have hopes.

Let's see what books have I read since I last posted:

8. Kansas Troubles by Earlene Fowler

9. The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

10. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

February and some finished objects

2011-02-02T18:26:00.007-07:00

DSC_0310
Originally uploaded by Mountain Purl

Groundhog Day. Hmm, and there was sunshine here. But Punxsutawney Phil, America's favorite groundhog, predicted an early spring when he failed to see his shadow this morning at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. So, will we see an early spring? You know, it doesn't matter to me except these sub zero weather days are wearing thin. -16 at night. I'm just not used to that.

But with the cold weather came two days at home with the boys because the schools were closed. And I put yesterday to good use and finished some knitting. The first were these socks. These are the Par 5 socks and the yarn I think is some Socks that Rock that I pulled out of the stash. It was already wound and didn't have a label but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. The other finished object is DH's Cobblestone. No pictures yet because he is on a business trip and has no idea that I finished a sweater for him. So, hopefully this weekend I will have an opportunity to take some pictures.

Now that these projects are out of the way, I can work on some sweaters and other things for me that I want done by the end of April. I also am going to continue with my finish a pair of socks a month. I may cast on a new pair tonight although I have plenty on the needles that need to be finished.

By the way, I did win the contest and I received a lovely shawl pin from Romi. It will look nice on several of my shawls.

Books read since December 15th 2010:

6. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
7. The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini

Do you have some spare change?

2011-01-25T18:59:00.001-07:00

Dear fellow knitters.

Please read this :http://www.fiberfarm.com/2011/01/a-friend-in-need

If you have a few dollars to spare, let's help this guy out.

Thanks

My other favorite

2011-01-21T10:53:00.002-07:00

CIMG1249
Originally uploaded by Mountain Purl

Couldn't show the skull boots without showing these. By the way, the person I guessed has seen these also. When I was modeling a shawl I knit. At Stitches. At the student banquet. And of course commented on them. Over the microphone.

The red shawl didn't quite go with the boots. But I couldn't leave the boots in the room now could I? I think this was Stitches East. Am I right Kris?

So I entered a contest

2011-01-21T10:48:00.003-07:00

CIMG1250
Originally uploaded by Mountain Purl

I was reading some of my favorite blogs the other day and I came across this posting over at Romi's Studio:

http://rosemarygoround.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-think-i-can-i-think-i-can-i-think-i.html.

And there was a contest to identify someone's shoes that she had taken a picture of at TNNA. As soon as I saw the shoes I was pretty sure I knew who they belonged to. And no, I wasn't at TNNA. I was here in Colorado, probably knitting or working for the judge. Who by the way, has been known to wear cowboy boots under her robe.

Anyway, the reason I think I know whose shoes those are is, well....we have a couple of things in common. For one, well we both can be a bit of a Diva, although mine doesn't come out too often, and well, if I am right, the rest of you can make your own judgments on his Divaness. And two, well, we both have a "little Bit" of a shoe problem. Let's just say, one of my favorite places to shop is the Nordstrom's Shoe Department. And that I am lusting over some Christian Louboutin's. Love the red soles. Oh yeah.

So I thought I would share a picture of my favorite cowboy boots. And I have shown them to the person I guessed in the contest. At Stitches South, or was it Stitches West, or maybe Stitches East? Now do you know who I guessed?

I wonder if I am right?

Time to knit!

You know, I have been knitting....

2011-01-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Really I have. I have two pairs of socks in the current rotation, a shawl, and a stranded knitting project. Which is a sweater. Make that a coat. Make that a swing coat. On size 2.75mm needles. Did I say the biggest needle currently being knitted on is a 3.25mm for any project? Yeah, the fingers do get tired, and the hands get cramped.

And I have been spinning. Mostly because of a big box that is staring at me in the front hallway. And the contents that are mocking me. Two fleeces. Processed and made into beautiful pin drafted roving by Morro Fleece Works. Did I mention that there is more than enough for me to have wool for two sweaters? One fleece is for my oldest son. It is a Jacob fleece, and he loves Jacob sheep. So that sweater will be for him. The other fleece is a beautiful brown CVM. That's for me. But I want to practice more before I start on these fleece. So spin a bit a day until I have the nerve to dive into the box. Hmm....

Reading, I have been reading also. Adding to this year's list are the following:
2. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
3. Fool's Puzzle by Earlene Fowler
4. Irish Chain by Earlene Fowler
5. Fiber and Brimstone by Laura Childs
I have more books to get to upstairs. Now if I could only, knit, spin, listen to podcasts, watch my DVR'd TV shows and read at the same time I'd be doing okay.

Time to knit.....

Another Year Wiser?

2010-12-16T06:48:00.001-07:00

Another year in the books folks. Yes, my birthday was yesterday. I look in the mirror sometimes and find it hard to believe that I am this old, but again there are days that I feel like I am closer to 80, and then there are days that I feel like I was back in college at the University of Florida - usually when some song comes on and I start dancing around the house or singing at the top of my lungs in the car. By the way, you will be glad that my singing is by myself in the car, because this girl is not known for her ability to sing.

Well, first things first, let me finish my countdown of books read since my last birthday. I did quite well with this goal of mine - I wanted to read at least 26 books during the year. And the final count since December 15, 2009:

45. The Quilter's Kitchen by Jennifer Chiaverini

46. A Quilter's Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverini

47. While My Pretty One Knits by Anne Canadeo

48. Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo

Not too bad, almost averaged a book a week, which is something since I always tend to be knitting in my spare time. So, I am going to continue with my reading goal for next year, and since I finished a book last night -

Books read since December 15, 2010:

1. High Five by Janet Evanovich

I need to place a library hold on the next book in the series - Hot Six. I also have 6 or more library books checked out, and some of them are in the quilt series by Earlene Fowler. So I have plenty to read for the next few weeks.

Knitting wise, well, not very much in the way of progress over the past year. I think I have ripped out more projects in the past year than I have ever ripped out before. I don't know if this is due to my perfectionist attitude when it comes to knitting, my inability to decide on sizes for myself when it comes to sweaters (and I know this is due to body changes as we girls get older if you know what I mean), or boredom with projects.

I have been on a sock kick lately which is strange for me since I consider myself a sweater knitter. I have been knitting with some really nice sock yarns lately - Madeline Tosh, Casbah Sock by Handmaiden, and one of the nicest yarns that just feels so great in the hands - Serenity 20 by Zen Yarn Garden. I have a couple of books that I want to knit many pairs of socks out of - Wendy Johnson's books and of course Cookie A's. And since I have an enormous sock yarn stash, I have plenty to keep me going on my quest to finish at least one pair per month.

Shoulder update - Well I go back to the surgeon this morning. I do not have a full range of motion back, but it is improving. The hardest thing for me is so far I cannot use my poles while skiing,or it sends a jolt up the arm into the shoulder. We went 2 weeks ago, and using my poles on the flats at the lift lines hurt. I am getting a little concerned because we have plans to ski for six days straight. Oh well, I can always go knit while DH skis and the kids are in ski school right?

Next year I would like to go to some knitting events that I haven't attended in the past - maybe the Taos Wool festival, and some others. So no Madrona or Stitches West for me in 2011, although I might go to Stitches East or who knows Rhinebeck.

Knitting goals, well to take a page from Jasmin over at the Knitmore Girls, Kathy 2011 is going to be about finishing projects and knitting socks. Identify the ones I really want done and get to them. I am still on a cable kick and also color work, and have many beautiful sweaters in the queue. So, let's see what Kathy 2011 can accomplish.

Job - I love working for the Judge. Let's just say I have NEVER worked in such a nice environment (now I am talking the people I am working with, not some of the crazies who are getting divorced or have child support or maintenance issues). She doesn't knit, but appreciates the things I work on. She makes jewelry which is lovely. And I have NEVER had a boss who treated me so kindly on my birthday and I have only worked for her for almost 3 months. So, thank you Judge.

That's about it for the update. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season.

Socks again

2010-11-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I cast on a pair of vanilla socks. We had hosted Thanksgiving and even though I had high hopes for knitting on a Dale sweater, there wasn't much chance of that happening. As it was, I cooked and baked for most of the day, and didn't sit down to knit until after dinner. Earlier in the morning, I had decided to dig through the sock yarn stash and find something I wanted to knit with. I found numerous skeins of Opal printed sock yarn.

Now, I have patterns for some of this yarn, but most of them involve using 72 stitches, and that creates a sock that is much too big for this girl's size 6 1/2 feet. So I just grabbed some Opal and some size 0s, cast on 64 stitches and away I went. So far there's about 3 1/2 inches knit. Brainless potato chip knitting which I haven't done in a while.

So, I decided to start a year of socks. Now, there is no way that I would ever join the 52 pair plunge, because frankly, I like knitting sweaters too much, and socks are always way down on my knitting list. But, I was thinking - how many pairs of hand knitted socks do I have in my sock drawer? And the answer was a big, fat Zero. The only hand made socks in there are hand-cranked socks, and they weren't even made by me, even though I have a sock knitting machine. So, I have decided, a year of knitting socks - minimum of one pair finished per month. That's one sock every 2 weeks, and if I feel adventerous, I can shoot for knitting a sock a week.

And I will confess that this won't even put a dent in my sock yarn stash. But sock yarn doesn't count - right?

Whew, been a while hasn't it?

2010-10-04T08:53:00.007-06:00

It has been a long time since I posted to the blog. You know what's wierd - Blogger posted this with the wrong date - it is November 7, 2010. My surgery was about 6 weeks ago, and on Thursday I went back to the surgeon, and she told me that I was going to hurt for a while. She said, you know I really jacked it up in there and it needs to heal and that she had filed the ends of 2 bones, and had to cut part of a tendon to get to one of the bones she needed to work on. But, I am released to go to physical therapy finally, so I am happy about that. I asked her when I could ski, and she said whenever I want. But she also said, you have a season pass, it's not like you spent $100 a day to go skiing, and if your shoulder can only handle one run, so be it. And, she told me not to over do things. I will tell you that I can feel the changes in atmospheric pressure and there are days when it just aches. But, I am hoping for a shoulder that is much stronger than it was, so we shall see.

Another thing has happened since I posted. I have a job. Yes, that's right, Miss Retired is working. DH and I have things we want to do, and possibly things to purchase and I decided to look for a job. That wasn't fun, because basically I was over-qualified for just about anything I applied for, so no interviews. Then I found the job. I only wanted to work part time during the day. I am now working as a Law Clerk for a Family Law Judge in Castle Rock. 20 hours a week - two and a half days a week. Perfect. I like the Judge, she's very well respected in her field, and she really was excited that I came to work for her. Perfect. And I get to say "All rise" when I go into the courtroom with her.

Knitting. Hmm, well, again lots of ripping going on. But, I went to A Knitted Peace yesterday to get some Heilo colors for some of my Dale sweaters and I am going to work on Dales for a while. I had cast on one during the week, but there was no way one of the accent colors (50g) was enough to complete the bottom casing and then have enough for the accents in the color work. So I ripped out 2 days worth of knitting on the St. Moritz 2003 sweater and bought some more Heilo. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/st-moritz And because I was irritated and my friend Robin liked this sweater when I showed it to her, I cast on sweater Nr. 10003 from the Dale Nr. 100 book instead of the St. Moritz. Back to knitting what feels like the never-ending casing, but I am hoping maybe to get to color work today.

Let's not talk about sock knitting, because I ripped 2 pairs out recently...

I missed going on my annual fall knitting retreat this year because the kids were on fall break and we had planned on going out of state until I found out I had to have shoulder surgery. That makes me sad, I love going and hanging out and knitting. I ended up taking the boys up to their great uncle's ranch near Laramie. Even hit two yarn stores including Cowgirl Yarns in Laramie.

Well that's about it except for updating my reading list of books I have read since my birthday last December:

36. The Quilter's Legacy by Jennifer Chiaverini
37. The Master Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
38. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
39. Family Ties by Danielle Steele
40. The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
41. The Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
42. Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
43. The Quilter's Homecoming by Jennifer Chiavereini
44. The New Years Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

I did it....

2010-09-16T10:45:00.004-06:00

I had shoulder surgery Tuesday afternoon. The MRI had shown that the tendon was really thin so it was time to do something about it. And I am glad I did. The bone spur had shredded the tendon and I was lucky that I wasn't skiing or doing something and the tendon ripped in two. So the bone spur was removed, work was done to regenerate the tendon and I believe there was some bone shaved off the end of my back shoulder too.

So I am sore and not much knitting has been going on. The pain pump came out this morning, I finally could take a shower, and I picked up some knitting because I need to use my arm. So there has been some slow knitting going on, but I am knitting. I have been knitting with an ice pack on my shoulder. I get my stitches out in the first part of October and there will be some work to get this shoulder in shape, but I have hope it will be better than ever. And ready for ski season :)

And hopefully pain free...

Books read since December 15th, 2009:

31. The Cross Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
32. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
33. Skein of the Crime by Maggie Sefton
34. Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs
35. Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini

Whole Lot of Ripping Going On

2010-09-06T08:27:00.003-06:00

About 10 days ago I decided to clean out the yarn room. So, out it all came. Every tub of yarn, projects that were on the bed (okay it is guest room but you would have to "find" the bed under all the yarn and projects to sleep in it), yarn that was in the tall boy dresser and yarn that was on the floor. Books, patterns, magazines. I didn't go through the yarn and projects in the closet - I had to stop somewhere.

And I went through everything. Some of the yarn got moved down to the basement (did I mention I have tubs of yarn down there too?) And I sorted and decided on what things I really wanted to work on.

And then I decided to rip. I ripped out single socks, shawls, cowls, and sweaters. I even ripped out DH's damn sweater for maybe the 6th? time. If I wasn't happy with something - it got ripped out. A whole lot of ripping going on.

So now I am knitting on things I want to finish this year. The first is Lorelei from the Fall 2009 Twist Collective http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lorelei-5. I am making it in Debbie Bliss Rialto in a lovely purple. I also have a lot of Twist Collective sweaters that I want to knit. I'm thinking that there might be quite a bit of Twist Collective and Habu fall knitting done this year.

Still getting vegetables out of the garden. I have several ears of corn I am watching and hoping I will get to harvest before it starts to turn cold. I have cucumbers finally and an acorn squash. Never got any pumpkins and had to rip them out due to powdery mildew.

Happy Labor Day!

Books read since December 15th:

30. The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini

Still here...

2010-07-25T14:41:00.004-06:00

Before I forget, books read since December 15th, 2009:
25. Oolong Dead by Laura Childs
26. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
27. A Body to Die For by G.A. McKevett
28. Wicked Craving by G.A. McKevett
29. Death Swatch by Laura Childs

Boy it's been a while. Funny how time flies when the boys are not in school and I am playing cruise director, trying to keep them busy and not bored. But, they went back to school on Friday, so it's time to get back into some semblance of a routine.

I am still going to physical therapy for the shoulder. Some things don't hurt as much, but the main complaint is still there along with the pain. I go back to the orthopedist at the end of the month so we shall see.

The garden is doing well. I have harvested tomatoes and green beans so far. I have tassels on the corn so now I am looking for the ears to grow. I have plenty of flowers on the squash, eggplant and pumpkin plants, but alas nothing forming from the flowers. We shall see.

Knitting, hmm. Nothing finished and not much to show for my efforts. I have been working on a linen skirt, but I am not sure of the size I am knitting. I have knit with this linen before, but the skirt looks too big, so now it is hibernating until I figure out what I want to do. I may knit up a swatch and wash it, which I have done before. I just don't know. I'm thinking I'm going to cast on some socks while I think this one over. I have some sweaters in progress but it's been so warm lately that it's hard to sit with a wool sweater on your lap. I'm ready for fall so I can knit what I want.

Well, not a very exciting post, but that's all I have for now.....

Shoulder It

2010-07-07T08:06:00.002-06:00

I guess I never really thought about how much you use your shoulders. Of course I have heard about baseball players throwing out their shoulders, and I dated a guy MANY years ago that had his baseball career ended in college due to shoulder problems (he was a pitcher) and have had friends tear their rotator cuffs, but I never really gave it much thought.

Until mine started to hurt. And I lost range of motion. So I had x-rays and have seen my doctor and am now going to an orthopedist next week. And what is going through my mind? This had better not interfere with my knitting. After all, it's my right shoulder, and I'm right handed. But I knit continental and I'm a left hand thrower (I know, it's weird, but that's how I knit). I'm thinking I may be okay with whatever happens.

Knitting wise, one sleeve is done on the Tangled Yoke and ready to be attached and knitted with the yoke, and the other is pretty close. I am ready to get to the interesting cabling on the yoke, because I for one and really bored with the stockinette. I also cast on a pair of of Tyrolean Stockings http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tyrolean-stockings this past weekend. I am almost done with the leg of the first one. Worsted weight on 3mm. Pretty stiff right now, I am interested to see how they soften up after washing.

Gardening, well I have harvested 2 fingerling tomatoes. First veggies of the season. The garden tarp has come in quite handy and so far has gone up three times in the past month. Thank goodness we put it up on the 4th of July because we had hail ranging in size from nickle to quarter size. And nothing got shredded in the vegetable garden (we won't talk about my roses or my hosta).

Reading, well I have a couple books that I am reading, but nothing finished to report today. Enjoy your week!

July Already?

2010-07-01T09:59:00.003-06:00

Oh my, July 1st already. Half of the year is past. Whoa, how did that happen?

Before I forget to post this, books read since December 15th, 2009:
22. Casting off by Nicole R. Dickson
23. Frill Kill by Laura Childs
24. Sweater Quest, my year of knitting dangerously by Adrienne Martini

Okay, so what have I been up to? For one, baseball and more baseball. The boys are on summer break and with both of them playing ball, we have at least two practices a week and up to four games a week. Now, I am not complaining, because can we just say PRIME KNITTING TIME? I have been working on three sweaters, my Acer cardigan, my Tangled Yoke cardigan and my Bohus. And throw in there my Par 5 socks, which I have finished and kitchnered one toe. Seriously, I have had those socks finished for a couple of weeks, so what is the deal with kitchnering the toes? Maybe tonight I'll get the other one done and cast on a new pair. That way I can start something new, and not the new sweater that I bought yarn for this week.

The new sweater, honestly I wasn't planning on buying any new yarn. The boys have been at Vacation Bible School this week at a friend's church (since ours held VBS at night which doesn't work with baseball practice) and I had a doctor's appointment near the church and needed to kill about an hour and a half. So, I thought Knitty Cat is nearby, let's stop in and look around since I haven't been in there in ages. Oh boy, she's now carrying Amy Butler fabrics (which I was good about and didn't purchase, although if she would have had Anna Maria Horner I think I would have gotten into trouble). Well, I picked up a Jean Moss pattern book and ended up purchasing Araucania Ranco for a sweater and the coolest buttons which look as if they were made for this sweater. I haven't cast it on, yet....

Gardening - well the corn is actually looking good and may hit knee high by 4th of July. I also have tomatoes and jalapenos on the plants. ALTHOUGH, I have aphids. I am not happy. They are on the tomato plants and I am using the dish soap and water method to go after them. I don't know who is winning yet, but the 2 pots on the deck which look the worst have new aphid free growth. The battle is on, and I am determined to beat these bastards.

I went to the Estes Park Wool Festival. The boys had 2 baseball games that Saturday which were canceled due to the heavy rains we were having. So, I decided to hop in the car and drive myself up to Estes. So I plugged in the Ipod and drove. I believe the only time it didn't rain was when I was going out to the car with the drum carder I purchased. Thank goodness for that reprieve, a wet drum carder would not have been good. I was on a mission to buy a fleece and ended up buying two - a Jacob fleece to knit a sweater for my son and a CVM. I debated processing the fleeces myself, but ended up shipping them to Morro Fleece Works to have them made into pin drafted roving. I'll spin them when I feel my skills are at the level I want. DH did give me crap about buying a drum carder and not processing the fleeces. Imagine that.

I am going to do the Tour d Fleece this year and my only goal is to spin every day and work on my skills. I am still frustrated and hoping for this beautiful handspun that friends of mine produce, but they have been spinning for years. I need to have patience....

Well, that's it for now. Happy July everyone!

June

2010-06-02T16:02:00.006-06:00

The garden is in. And, I might be losing the corn. What can you do? I grew seeds in the house, and then transplanted them in the garden. And then the wind blew. And blew, and blew. I'll give it some more time, and I may even plant some seeds out there. But what is the adage, corn needs to be knee high by the 4th of July? Last year it grew too slow, and here I thought I was ahead of the game. Oh, this veggie gardener is learning a lot. But, I still have beans, lima beans, peas, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, white eggplant, acorn squash, yellow squash, greens, basil, chives and spinach. Oh, and jalapenos and pumpkins.

Knitting - well I am on a sweater quest of sorts. I have several sweaters in my queue this year to knit. The first one I hope to have off the needles is my Acer Cardigan by Amy Christoffers. This is a relatively new pattern and I am knitting it out of Dream in Color Classy in Midnight Derby, which is a gorgeous kettle dyed midnight blue. I am looking forward to wearing this with a white Tee and dark washed jeans. I started it on May 27th and I am 25% completed. I am almost to the arm holes so I can split for the fronts and the back. The next sweater in line might either be color work or intarsia, or a Bohus. Not sure yet, but some sort of color work is high on the list.

I am teaching knitting again at String in Highlands Ranch. I am going to be teaching a three part cast-on series, and going through as many cast-ons as we can cover in each session. I taught a three hour version of this a few weeks ago and my "students" gave me the feedback that covering as many cast-ons as I did in one setting kind of over whelmed them. So, I am splitting it into 3 two hour sessions.

Spinning, well, I need to concentrate on my spinning. I received a sampler of various fibers in a swap and I need to find time to sit down and spin. I'm thinking if I shoot for 10 to 15 minutes a day I will end up spinning for more than that and get some consistency going. I also have some nice braids of fiber to spin, plus some carded fleece that I need to spin. I was debating going to Estes Park next weekend to buy a fleece, but I'm thinking I have a lot of fiber already and I should concentrate on it.

DH and I went to San Francisco for four days without the boys. Can you say that we had a great time? We have not been out of state by ourselves since before children. We had so much fun. We rode the cable cars and muni everywhere, had a private boat tour out on the bay, ate good food and saw good friends. Oh, and it was our anniversary.

That's about all to catch up with. Time to take the boys over to the pool.

I signed up for the summer reading program at the library along with the boys. I only have to read four books. Easy peasy.

Books read since December 15th:
19. Silver Needle Mystery by Laura Childs
20. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
21. Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

That's 21 books in 24 weeks. What was it, did I want to read 26 books this year? I need to go back and check.

By the way, I finished my Rockies purple Sasha Skirt. You can see it here on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mountainpurl/sasha-2
The picture is from DH's and my trip to San Francisco. I'm in the elevator in the Queen Anne Hotel where we were staying.

Rocks, Rocks and more Rocks

2010-05-11T16:13:00.004-06:00

I have been moving rocks. You know the kind, the landscape river rocks that range between a quarter and a half dollar size, along with the bigger ones around the edge. And, it's not fun. Moving rocks is very hard on the hands, and your knees and back. And this area of rocks has about four to six inches deep of the stuff. So why am I moving it?

For my garden.

You see, I was hoping to get a plot in the open space garden. But, it appears so was everyone else. And, I was too far down on the waiting list. And I want my vegetable garden. Last year I had such high hopes, but to be honest, my best crop was the tomatoes. And this year I started seeds (which are getting very tall by the way). I planted pumpkins, cucumbers, yellow squash, spinach, basil, tomatoes, green beans, peas, catnip, cat grass, corn, jalapenos, strawberries, numerous greens, cauliflower, broccoli, the list goes on. And now I need a place to plant them. And let me tell you, my garden plot from the past seven years just is not going to cut it. I need room for all of this.

So, I'm moving rock, after rock, after rock. And it's supposed to snow tonight, so I worked out there for two hours this morning until I couldn't take it anymore. I still have rocks to move, and then till the soil, amend the soil, place the boundary wood, build supports for the chicken wire to keep the bunnies out, and then, plant my plants. Which are getting tall. But we are supposed to have snow. I may have a jungle in the toy room where the seeds are in the sun before they finally get planted. And can we just say I BETTER BE HARVESTING VEGETABLES BESIDES TOMATOES!

Knitting, well, I'm knitting on a skirt, a pair of socks (okay yes you all may laugh but I am going to turn into a 2nd sock knitter one of these days and finish up some of the pairs in the yarn room), numerous sweaters and a secret project. Yes, I should be knitting, instead of sitting here on the computer at the library.

Another book read since December 15th. Yes, another murder mystery.
18. Motif For Murder by Laura Childs

At least I'm not moving rocks right now.

It's May

2010-05-03T07:48:00.005-06:00

First of all, let's start with the books I have read before I forget what number I'm on, so books read since December 15th:

14. Photo Finished by Laura Childs
15. Bound for Murder by Laura Childs
16. Days of Gold by Jude Deveraux
17. How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron

So what have you been up to? I went on a few trips during the latter part of April. The first trip was to Yarnover. I am a member of the Minnesota Knitter's Guild and I attended this annual event. Yarnover has been held for the past 22 years. It is a one day class and market event. They bring in numerous teachers such as Meg Swansen, Cat Bordhi, Lily Chin, Beth Brown-Riensel and so on to teach classes at this event and you can sign up for a 3 hour morning class and a 3 hour afternoon class. There is also a market with indie yarn dyers, local shops and farms who bring in fiber and other goodness. I took 2 classes, one was 7 Ways to Make or Break a Sweater with Margaret Fisher and Photographing your Stash with Franklin Habit. Both classes were good, however the class with Margaret was a bit below my skill level. It was aimed more towards newer sweater knitters. The class with Franklin Habit was great. He knows his stuff and is a very good speaker.

The following week I headed off to Atlanta with Leanne and we attended Stitches South. We took an excellent Intarsia class with Jane Slicer-Smith and an informative Knitting Ergonomics Class with Carson Deemers. We enjoyed spending time with Susan and Liz from Fine Points and of course bought items from them. We bought scored some Sanguine Gryphon yarns (we hit that booth first at the market) but mine were for gifts. All in all a good time.

So projects. I am on an Intarsia, Rowan, Jane Slicer-Smith, Habu and Maggie Jackson kick right now, along with knitting with Louet linen. Three of my top projects are coats, one being a Rowan, mid-calf length Intarsia masterpiece. Can you say not travel knitting? Let's just say I have PLENTY of projects in the queue and that I want to wear.

My garden. Well, I am expanding the garden in the back yard and I planted seeds that are inside until at least after Mother's Day. With these snow pellet showers we have been having, I am not putting anything in the ground yet. So, I have lots of seeds sprouting. The radishes, cauliflower, broccoli and greens have sprouted. I am still waiting on the cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, spinach, etc. I also planted some flower seeds, but where these are going in the yard remains to be seen.

Well, that's about all for now. Can you believe it's been a year since I retired?

Can you say Yarn Diet?

2010-04-10T13:43:00.003-06:00

Today is April 10th, 2010. And I am on a Yarn Diet. So for the foreseeable future (except for already allotted purchases at Yarnover and Stitches South which will be budgeted), unless someone gifts me yarn, or I have a gift card, there will be NO yarn purchases. Matter of fact, there won't be purchases of much of anything else by me.

Why? In a nutshell Taxes. And the bill is something that is a lot more than I thought. Enough that I will probably look for employment. So much for retirement. But I need to be realistic and I want this taken care of in the most expeditious manner possible. So, I'm getting a job.

So, stash diving will be the order of the day. And I'm starting with my stash of Black Water Abbey. Lots of sweaters waiting to be knit. So today I sorted through the stash. All the BWA is now segregated and in two tubs that I can easily get my hands on.

Now I just have to figure out what sweaters I want to knit out of what color. See, a diet can be a good thing. Goodness knows, I don't need any more sock or lace weight.

Time to look at patterns...

Books read since December 15th, 2009:

12. Keepsake Crimes by Laura Childs
13. Dragonwell Dead by Laura Childs

Been a while

2010-03-23T08:55:00.002-06:00

Wow, a month since I last posted. Well, I know I have done some reading because I have books to add to the reading list:

9. Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs
10. Double Black, A Ski Diva Mystery by Wendy Clinch
11. Lavender Morning by Jude Deverauux

And I have been knitting, but with a whole lot of ripping going on. You see, I am enamoured with Maggie Jackson patterns. I have her book Maggie's Ireland, and besides drooling over the pictures and wanting to go to Ireland to see it for myself, I love her designs. Mainly because they are unique. I have yarn to make many of her things in the stash (okay so I know that is NOT a surprise) and I recently bought yarn for her most recent design that was in the Stitches West fashion show - a suit comprised of a skirt, tunic and shawl in a light pink linen with angora and silver. Oh, it is pretty.

So I have been knitting and ripping, trying to get gauge with the Maggi's Linen. Sigh...
After reading the boards in her group, I have decided the heck with the row gauge and just knit the number of inches required in each stitch pattern and go with the stitch gauge. And I'm working on another suit first in natural linen, with white and silver. Let's see how it goes. I really want to wear these suits. Oh, I have a coat to knit also, and another wrap and 2 tops. Yes, I like her designs.

Now I just need to knit them.

How can it be almost March?

2010-02-24T16:16:00.005-07:00

Okay, how can this be? It's the last week of February. Now granted, my butt has been glued to the television ever since the Olympics started. I love watching the Olympics and it's hard to find a sport in the winter games that I don't want to watch. I've even watched some of the USA curling games. So yes, I like them all, especially the Alpine events.

And, I participated in the Ravelympics and already have been awarded two medals - one for the event hat half pipe and one for the event cable. And I am finishing up my Cavendish today, so that will get me a medal in event WIPS dancing. So, not too bad. I have been trying to get a lot of projects finished this month. So far I have finished projects totally over a mile of yarn. (Not that puts even the smallest dent in the stash...)

Speaking of the stash, I am off to Stitches West this week. Meeting up with the girls that flew out to California today. I don't care if it rains all weekend, I'm going to have some fun. Yarn, a knitting class, a fashion show, and hanging with friends, who could ask for more?

I am still keeping up with the reading, as a matter of fact I am at the library right now.

Books read since December 15th:

7. Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs

8. Dropped Dead Stitch by Maggie Sefton

See a pattern here? Almost all are mysteries. I love mysteries.

A sad farewell

2010-02-15T17:06:00.003-07:00

I miss Cochise. He was a beautiful, golden, Maine Coon cat who came into my life in April 1995. He left us on February 13, 2010. Bye buddy. You were a good friend.

Tedious and boring

2010-01-25T16:15:00.005-07:00

I'm not a swatcher. I'm one of those knitters that jumps right into projects on a wing and a prayer, hoping that the finished, washed and blocked object is what I originally wanted. And for the most part I end up with what I wanted. Not swatching, well it's probably that I don't have much patience. Now, don't get me wrong, I can sit and knit for hours. I can untangle the worst tangled up mess of yarn and not throw it away. I just want to start the project when I want to start it. And not knit a tension square, that needs to be washed and blocked.

But I have been doing a lot of ripping out lately and it is not because the project as finished is not what I want. Rather it is because I'm not liking what I am turning out on the needles. I think I have ripped out 4 sweaters recently. I knit and knit, and then look at the sweater and say, nope, not liking what I am seeing. Not this sweater in this yarn. Or not the feel that I was going for. A lot of dissatisfaction.

So, I'm doing some tension squares with different needles that I might use on some projects. And stick a needle in my eye, it's boring!!! Well, at least I'm not ripping.

Books read since December 15th:

3. The Jasmine Moon Murder by Laura Childs
4. Swine Not? A Novel Pig Tale by Jimmy Buffett
5. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
6. One Day at a Time by Danielle Steel

Cinderella and Chili

2010-01-12T16:23:00.005-07:00

I started reading when I was very young. Before I started school, I could read. I was enamored with books. I would ride my little blue bicycle to the library and check out books. As many as I was allowed to take home. I always participated in the summer reading program, usually finishing the required number of books in record time. You know the programs, read 5 books or ten books. I would read 20 or more. Books took me to places I had never been. And books taught me most of what I know about knitting.

I started knitting when I was 5 years old. I knew how to do the knit stitch, and I knit miles of garter stitch. Then my 3rd grade teacher taught me how to purl. We were allowed to bring hobbies to school on certain days to work on. And of course, I brought my knitting (by the way, my friend brought her crocheting and that's when I learned to crochet. She was making a ripple afghan.) Anyway, back to my story. Luckily for me, my teacher was a knitter too. She took the time and taught me how to purl and the door was opened. And I started checking out knitting books from the public library. I learned almost everything I know about knitting from those books I brought home. I poured over those books. I knit clothes for my dolls. If a store was going out of business, I would talk my parents into going in, and I would go look to see if there were any knitting needles on sale. I probably had a complete set of needles by the time I was ten years old in every size. Nothing scared me about knitting, because if I made a mistake, I ripped it out. I learned a lot of things by making mistakes and reading those books. You know, I never took a knitting class until I was 40 years old and went to Stitches West. And wow, who would have known they offered knitting classes?

Anyway, why am I thinking about this? My recent project reminded me of a book I checked out when I was a child. I would often check out books by the Brother's Grimm. And I loved Cinderella. In the book, Cinderella gets a blue dress from her fairy godmother. And that dress was trimmed in ermine. Oh, did I want a dress like that. And a floor length cape. Oh, a girl could dream....

So, in the past week, I cast on the Shawl of Cables from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/05-shawl-of-cables I had purchased some Alpaca with a Twist Highlander and in colorway 0096 Birch. And when I cast on the shawl, that's when I noticed it. I was knitting my cape, well shawl in yarn that looked like ermine. And it took me back. Back to my little blue bicycle, and checking out books, and Cinderella's blue dress trimmed in ermine, and imagining being a princess. Hmm...

I still love libraries. I'm sitting in one right now. With my sons. A great place to be.

Books read since my birthday:

#2. The Purrfect Murder, A Mrs. Murphy Mystery, by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

And what does chili have to do with Cinderella? Well, nothing really, except I made white chili in the crock pot today. And it's at home finishing up. I really don't even like chili, but this is white chili. And I threw a half can of chopped jalapenos in it. The boys said it was good, but hot when I gave them a taste test before we left for the library. And, I'm thinking I might like this chili.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken, cut into small pieces Soy sauce (to coat chicken, about 2 TBSP)
48 oz jar Great Northern Beans
14-16 oz jar salsa (w/ corn & black beans works great)
8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
8 oz Pepper Jack Cheese
1 soup-sized can of chicken broth 1-2 tsp cumin (to taste)
Directions: If you have time, coat chicken in soy sauce and bake at 350 until cooked through.

I would add the jalapenos.

Challenges

2010-01-07T13:55:00.004-07:00

I heard an interview the other day that got me thinking. It was an interview of Barbara G. Walker. You know The Barbara Walker of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns fame? Or Knitting from the Top? An amazing woman, who sleeps 4 to 6 hours a night. And she is going to be 80 years old on July 2nd!

In her interview she stated that she didn't learn how to knit until I think she said 35. It was her practice to learn something new every winter. She would go to the library and basically give herself a course on a topic. For instance, she studied architecture. And one of the winters, she taught herself to knit.

And I was thinking, what a wonderful thing to do. Take the time, when the earth is taking a rest, and learn something new. For you see, I have been a bit of a procrastinator in the past few years. I think it started when I was beginning to get burned out at work, and it spilled into my personal life. Which is strange for me, because in the past when I wanted to do something, well, I just did it. I decided to go to grad school and get an MBA and I did. I thought I could pass the CPA exam, so I took classes while working full time and took the exam and passed. I decided to become an attorney, and went to law school at night for 4 years while I was working 50 hours or more a week, and I finished and passed the California bar, one of the 3 hardest bar exams. So I have a history of taking on challenges and meeting them.

But somewhere in the past few years, things have changed. It's not like I haven't wanted to do things, because that certainly is not the case. It's just that I have had ideas, with little or no follow through.

So, I am going to borrow a page from the formidable Ms. Walker, and take on a challenge. I have signed up for photography classes, both through the local community college, and through the camera store, and I am going to learn about photography and how to take pictures with the new camera this winter. I am also doing another project, one that will cause me to do research at the library, complete assignments and accept criticism. I am not going to say what this project is, because it's something I want to keep to myself for a while. But, I did go to the library today. And I did do some reading today for my project. I have some other things to do to get the ball rolling. I have a starting point. And I have taken the first step.

I have accepted the challenge. Let the adventure begin!

10 in 2010

2010-01-03T12:50:00.003-07:00

Happy 2010 everyone! A new decade. It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since the Millenium.

Like the new picture? DH and I were skiing on this trail at Steamboat Springs the past few days. It was so beautiful up there, lots of new powder and we all had a great time. The boys had fun in ski school, and DH and I had three days of uninterrupted skiing. Can I just say I love ski school?

I'm not setting any New Years resolutions, but I am setting some goals. And I like 10 in 2010. Finish at least 10 pairs of socks. Knit at least 10 rows on a sock a day. Put at least 1o things away when I pick things up when I see the house is getting messy (what am I saying - it is messy). Lose 10 pounds. Get rid of 10 old emails when I start deleting emails. 10 in 2010 is easy to remember.

I started my book reading project and have finished book #1 - The English Breakfast Murder by Laura Childs. I'm enjoying reading her series "The Tea Shop Mysteries." I need to start reading the Bible to accomplish reading it in a year. I have a One Year Bible, which gives you the date and what you are to read. I need to read 12 pages today to catch up since it wasn't with me at Steamboat, and then I should be on track.

Well, I have tons of laundry to do today and I'm thinking I'm going to bake some banana bread. And there is football, reading and knitting on the agenda for today.

Happy 2010!

Confession Time

2009-12-22T09:51:00.002-07:00

I have a confession to make. I have a sock drawer. And it is filled with socks. But on to the confession. None of them are handmade. All right, there is a pair of handknit socks in there, but they were made on a sock machine, but not by me. I even received 2 pairs of socks for my birthday, both store bought.

The funny thing is, I have taught sock classes, both top down and toe up. So where are my socks? I'm thinking in the yarn room waiting either to be finished, ripped out, or started. It's not like I don't have yarn to knit, because anyone who knows me, knows that is far from the truth. It may be that I am a sweater knitter and a lace knitter, and that is what I would rather be knitting. I don't mind the small needles, so that is not the problem, in fact I have some sweaters to knit on size 0 and 00. So, what is it? It may be the boredom of knitting the second sock after the first is done. It's definitely not a dearth of sock patterns, because I have patterns and books aplenty. And, it's not that I don't bring knitting along everywhere I go, because I am never found without knitting close by.

So, I have decided to set a goal. You see, my birthday was a week ago, and I was thinking about some of the things I would like to do before my next birthday. And one of them was to knit up some of that sock yarn. Into socks. Not lace, not gloves, but socks. And my goal is at least 12 pairs by next December 15th. So, I cast on a pair last night.

I have also decided to read more. I love to read, and knitting has interferred with the amount of reading I used to do. So, I am going to try to read a book at least every 2 weeks. So, 26 books by December 15th. I would also like to read the Bible in a year.

Lastly, I am going to take photography classes. My birthday/Christmas present was a Nikon D90. I want to become a good photographer. I have signed up for some classes at the local community college, and my camera also came with 18 classes, so I will be signing up for them next week. Colorado is God's country, and I want to take beautiful photographs of it. I also want to take better pictures of my knitting.

And, I am going to knit and finish sweaters. On Friday, a friend told me that I must have such a fabulous wardrobe of sweaters. Little did she know that I do, but they are in various stages of completion. I need to work on that.

So there it is. And it's time to knit!

Got Gauge?

2009-11-24T17:00:00.002-07:00

A funny thing happened on the road of retirement. Or maybe it's not so funny.

My gauge changed.

I used to be a consistent knitter, having to go down one needle size usually when I knit a pattern. I could tell you what my gauge would be with different yarns. Not anymore. Now I don't know what the heck it is. So, now I'm having to swatch for just about everything. Yes, the dreaded swatch. I spent Sunday afternoon swatching Dream in Color Classy. Using, 6s, 7s, and 8s. Yuck! Not my idea of a good time. My modified Forecast sweater from Knitty, Winter 2005 is now being re-knit. Again.

Because, I have been ripping. And ripping. All the knitting I did at the High Fiber Diet Retreat - ripped out. Two half finished sweaters in Dream in Color Classy, ripped out. Two Malabrigo worsted weight sweaters, ripped out. I started four different sweaters for DH, ripped out. Seeing a pattern here? And it's not just worsted weight. So, do I have any sweaters finished since I retired?? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Welcome to the Frog Pond!

P.S. Leanne, don't even mention getting twice as pleasure from knitting the same yarn twice!!

Julie and Julia

2009-08-31T13:27:00.003-06:00

I just got back from the movies. Funny, I can't remember the last time I went and saw a movie that wasn't a child's movie. I thought and thought and frankly couldn't remember. I think DH and I went one on a day we had off from work, but it must not have been a memorable movie. Today I went with the girls - Patty and Laura and we saw Julie and Julia. I liked the movie.

Even before seeing the movie, knowing the premise of the movie, it had gotten me thinking. And after seeing the movie, I know how Julie felt, the feeling that you haven't really accomplished anything, and you have started many things, but not completed them. The need to set a deadline. And go for it. And it struck a chord.

Because I have seen some things that others have accomplished, and I have thought to myself I can do that. And I have felt some jealousy, and then I have told myself, they have gone after what they have wanted to do, and are now succeeding. And I also have told myself "You have Not!"

So I think it is time to stop talking and start doing. Because I can't really think of anything I have tried hard for in a very long time, except passing the Colorado Bar exam. And I have some things up my sleeves that I want to try, so I need to try and if I fail, try again. Some I will blog about, and some I'm just going to keep to myself. For now :)

Wednesday...

2009-08-26T18:09:00.008-06:00

I joined a new knitting group. The sweater club. We meet on Wednesdays at 10AM at String in Highlands Ranch. And, we knit sweaters. And we talk, and eat lunch, and knit and talk. This as my second time knitting with them. I found this group last week when I walked into the store, looking at the yarns for potential projects for classes to teach. Yes, that's right. After about 10 months or so, I'm thinking about teaching knitting again. So while I was in the store, I sat down and knit with the group. On a skirt. Oh well, I didn't have a sweater with me in the knitting bag. They are a nice groups of gals.

I went to Stitch and Pitch with the girls Friday night - Sharon, Sheri, Kris, Robin and Denise. And I saw Judy there, and Cathy (thanks for the book by the way!). I also saw people from the Denver Knitting Guild. We had a great time, although the Rockies didn't win.

I've been reading a lot, since I now have time. I have recently finished First Family by David Baldacci, Dyed in the Wool by Mary Kruger, and Back to Blosson Street by Debbie McComber. I have been going to the library at least once a week. I got in the habit when I was taking the boys to meet with tutors over the summer. And yes, I read while I knit. I use a book weight to hold the pages open.

As usual, I have many sweaters on the needles. I am hoping fall will bring many finished objects. Can you believe it's only 4 months until Christmas?

Where in Colorado is Mountain Purl knitting?

2009-08-17T08:53:00.003-06:00

Where did you knit in public this past weekend? This is where I was knitting yesterday. Devil's Head fire lookout is in the Pike National Forest at an elevation of 9,748 feet. We hiked up to Devil's Head yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful day here in God's Country, perfect temperature for hiking. We had a little bit of rain, but mostly sprinkles. Gotta love Colorado!

A Mile a Month

2009-08-08T09:56:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking lately about how much I knit. Now, I know that there haven't been finished objects lately, but, I knit every day. Most of the knitting is doing a repeat on one project, then doing a repeat on another, and so on. So, there is progress, but not completion.

And, since I knit so much, I was wondering just how much I knit. And whether it would amount to a mile a month, twelve miles a year, or would it be more? When you look at it, a mile a month would be 5,280 feet of yarn a month, or 1,760 yards. Surely I knit that much. And if you wanted to knit at least twelve miles of yarn a year, it would be 63,360 feet or 21,180 yards. I think I knit a lot more than that!

So, I am going to keep track for 2009. But, I am only entering the yardage from COMPLETED projects. I counted it up. Right now I have only .49 mile of completed projects for 2009. That is pitiful!

I guess I had better get knitting!

Sunday Musings....

2009-08-02T12:51:00.003-06:00

It's August 2nd and I find that a little hard to believe. Because it's been three months since I retired but it doesn't feel like a quarter of the year has passed.

I have been busy. The boys and I have been together pretty much 24/7 since the last day of school on June 5th. And now, we meet with their new teachers on Wednesday and they go back to school on Friday. We have gone to the pool, and on many walks with the dog. We have been to Rockies games and have eaten out way to often. There were many baseball practices and baseball games, which all ended yesterday with the last games of the season. The oldest's team beat the only remaining undefeated team in the bottom of the last inning 10-9, and I'm proud to say he had 2 RBIs as part of that score. The youngest had his last hit sail into the outfield, and I was so happy for him. They ended up tying, but to 7 year olds, that's the same as a win!

We have been to some beautiful state parks this summer - Cherry Creek, Castlewood Canyon, Chatfield, Eldorado Canyon, Eleven Mile, Golden Gate Canyon, Mueller, Roxborough, and Spinney Mountain. Whether we will go to any more before Friday, I am not sure, but I had fun hiking with the boys and playing in streams and lakes.

Knitting. Well, I have knit, but I don't know if I have one FO to show for it. But that is okay. I bought myself some new tools, wonderful needles and books. I will have time to work on the projects that interest me the most. That is, if I get away from the time suck that is Ravelry. It's so easy to spend hours on the computer, and not knitting!

I also have started to spin. It's not perfect by any means, it's lumpy and bumpy, but it's getting better with each time I sit down at Bella. Bella, my wheel.

I also have a sock knitting machine that needs attention. And my new sewing machine that is still in it's box, yet to be unpacked.

But it's all okay, because I soon will have time. For me. Time to work out, time to read, knit or do whatever I want, even lay by the pool. Drive my new car. Because school starts Friday. I love my boys, but, oh boy August 7th! Who's counting the days?

Nothing to show for it!

2009-07-02T07:19:00.004-06:00

I just got back from a walk with my dog. And, it kind of made me want to burst into a rendition of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," but then it would not have been a beautiful morning when others heard "my" singing. However, beautiful the day is. That gorgeous Colorado blue sky, only 58 degrees, no one else was out on the trail except a runner. I didn't run into any coyotes this morning. And I saw 4 hot air balloons out over Chatfield lake. Yes, a beautiful morning. And the house is still quiet, but I am sure not for long...

I have been retired for 2 months and how time has passed that fast I do not know. I have had the boys now for the past almost 4 weeks 24/7 and, well, that has been an adjustment for me. To go from working full time to all these years, to having kids around, who do not do what I say immediately, well, let's just say, mom has been "pissed." And my workout routine has gone out the window, and the knitting time has decreased immensely and I feel completely unorganized. I guess that sums it up.

So, I have nothing to show for my knitting time. No FOs. I know I have been knitting. I have been knitting on a pair of socks, a shawl, another shawl, a sweater, a skirt, and who knows what else. But there is not one FO and frankly, I don't remember my last FO. It might be a shawl. I did join a group on Ravelry - WIP Wrestlemania 2009. You try to finish as many of your WIPs in July. I have high hopes, but it's the second of July. Let's see if I'm smiling on July 31st!

On another note. I have a new acquisition. Her name is Bella. She is my new Schacht Cherry Matchless spinning wheel. Whoo Hoo! I had my name down on a waiting list for one of these wheels and they finally came in last week, so I picked mine up on Saturday. I start spinning lessons this month up in Boulder.

Well, the house is starting to wake up. Happy July everyone!

Added at 6PM. Oh, my goodness, you just have to check this out! Just don't have anything in your mouth when you do, just saying!

http://pictureisunrelated.com/2009/06/30/made-for-the-modern-woman-about-town/

Musings on a Monday

2009-06-15T08:56:00.002-06:00

Boy, it's pretty outside. A beautiful, almost summer morning. Can you believe it's almost the first day of summer? I for one, am tired of all the thunderstorms we have been having. Very unusual. I just went out and examined the garden for hail damage and of course, the big, beautiful Hosta is shredded. And there is some damage to the leaves of the vegetables. Oh well, it could be worse. I think though, whenever I'm thinking the Hosta is looking great this year, that's a cue for hail.

The boys have been off from school for a week, and we have started our summer exploration. There are 42 state parks in the state of Colorado, and we are trying to see how many we can visit during their vacation. Last week we started with Eldorado Canyon, which the boys really loved. We saw Prairie Falcons and mountain lion tracks. The boys waved to the rock climbers as we hiked along a trail. The next park we explored was Golden Gate Canyon after we went to Lookout Mountain and visited Buffalo Bill's grave. We had a great view of the Continental Divide from Panoramic Point and enjoyed hiking until rain chased as off the trail. The last park we explored last week was Chatfield Lake. The boys had fun in the lake until another thunderstorm came up and we raced for the truck. We have more exploring planned for this week.

We went to the Estes Park Wool Festival on Sunday. The oldest fell in love with the Jacob sheep and the youngest wanted a Vicuna. I bought some mohair from Neota Designs in the colorway Purple Mountain Majesty for a shawl, and bought some beautiful grey alpaca from Paradise Valley Alpaca Ranch for a scarf for DH. I'm thinking the shawl will knit up fast. We ran in to Joanne at the festival - Hi Joanne!

Well, time to figure out what we are doing today. Have a great week everyone.

Happy June 1

2009-06-01T06:01:00.004-06:00

Okay, where did May go? I know I for one thought I was going to get SO many things done in May, including finishing many knitted items. So where did it go, because, I'm looking around and I'm not seeing ANY FOs!

Well, I do know that I did not spend as much time knitting as I thought I would. I am still trying to get into some sort of routine. I have gone on school field trips with the boys. I am trying to work out more. I have spent a lot of time out in the yard. The bush beans have come up and are now about 2 to 3 inches high. I have yellow flowers on the tomatoes. The squash and zuccini have new leaves. The cucumber is very slow growing. I have not seen anything yet of the sun flowers or the corn. Hmm, I wonder why? And, the new rose bush is in, all the rose bushes have been fed, and all but the new one have rose buds. So, we have progress outside.

The knitting, well, that is another story. I have knit on my Sasha skirt. The inner lining is a stockinette tube, which is I think, 190 stitches around, and goes forever since I am making the 30 inch skirt. So, I knit on the lining for a while until I want to poke my eyes out. I have knit on some lace. I have knit on a couple of sweaters. And, I worked on some toe-up Monkey socks.

Okay people, WHY AM I SO PICKY ABOUT SOCKS? They are just socks for goodness sake! I hate the heel on these. I've turned the heel and thrown the sock down. Disgusted. I haven't decided if I will rip the whole thing out or just put another heel in and just rip this heel out. Right now the heel has me IRRITATED!

I am going to organize the yarn room this week. I need more room. I'm also drooling over an Elna 7300 sewing machine. Guess why I need more room?

Finally!

2009-05-20T09:44:00.011-06:00

You know, knitting blogs should have knitting content. And it's not like I haven't been knitting because, I knit every day. But, was there something to write about? I have something today.

Meet, Olivia, my new dress form. Quite attractive eh? I have been wanting a dress form for the longest time. I have been knitting on sweaters and not finishing them. I have a list of UFOs that would make you run away screaming. And most of that is due to the fact, that I have gotten so particular about my knitting, that the sweater MUST fit the way I see it in my mind. And I am short waisted. Probably at least an inch shorter than most commercial fitted garments are made. And most knitting patterns are written. So things just do not fit. So, for the past 2 years I have been searching for a dress form. And, I debated the duct tape method of making one. I also debated having a dress form made. Now, I wasn't deterred by the expense of having one made, but, you were stuck with the size. So to alter it if you lost weight, or heaven forbid, added a few pounds, good luck. Enter "My Double" Deluxe. The size small, which I purchased has adjustments for bust, waist, hips, back waist length (Can we say Hallelujah?) and neck. So I added a bra and some "padding" to get the right cup size, and DH helped me measure her and set the stand to exactly my height and I'm ready. And, I'm going to start sewing again, because now I can alter patterns and things will fit! This model even allows you to fit pants and skirts. Cute summer cotton skirts are in my future. And you know the best part? I had a 40% off coupon and a gift card, which knocked a lot off the price. So, now I can knit my coats to fit. And my sweaters. And if I get in better shape, I just change the adjustments and off I go. Yes, I'm a happy girl! Oh man, I just thought of something, I can now knit my Ann McCauley dress to fit. So cool.

So, what else is new? I'm retired. Yep! As of April 30th. What am I doing? I'm SLOWLY cleaning the house, bit by bit. I planted a vegetable garden with summer squash, zucchini, early girl and cherry tomatoes, bush green beans, cucumbers, corn and some sun flowers. I have planted stargazer lilies and anemones and 3 other flowering bushes in the garden. I am waiting on a new rose bush to arrive, a gorgeous lavender rose, Sweetness, which is the 2009 Grandiflora rose of the year, which will replace a rose bush I lost over the winter. Oh, I love lavender roses!

I bought a sock knitting machine. I haven't played with it yet. But I have LOTS of time. And, lots of sock yarn.

I'm buying a spinning wheel. A Schacht Cherry Matchless. I don't know how to spin. But I will. I'm going to take classes from Maggie Casey this summer.

I'm knitting. Mostly on linen and cotton right now. I bought lots at Stitches South. Oh, did Leanne and I have a GOOD time! So, I have cast on some new Maggi Knits in her Maggi's Linen. And, I cast on a pair of socks on Mother's Day at the Rockies game. I need to work on those socks.... And, I have sweaters to work on :) The boys started baseball practice this week. Four practices a week for now and then the games start. A lot of prime knitting time.

She's back........................................

Now you know....

2009-03-31T10:22:00.001-06:00

Well, two people in less than a week asked me about my blogging, and I have to admit I have been remiss about sitting down and writing. There are several reasons for the lack of blogging but a few main ones.

The first one is Ravelry. Because I go on every day and talk to people in a few groups I’m active in, I forget to blog. Or, I feel like it’s already been said and that blogging about it is repeating myself. The second reason is, I forget to blog. I went into Blogger a few weeks ago to try to make some changes to my page. The changes were not working and I got frustrated and just logged off without making an entry. And then I forget about my blog and get busy with something else, and weeks go by.

The third main reason is that about a month or so ago, DH and I came to the decision that it is time for me to retire from my job with the Federal Government. Stick a fork in me. I’m done! I had reached the point where I didn’t want to go into to work in the morning and would lie in bed when I woke up trying to think of excuses not to do so. I have worked 50 hour work weeks for over twenty years. Throw two kids and a husband in the mix and I finally reached the point where it was too much. I was leaving the house before 5 in the morning and picking the kids up from after school care at 5pm. Then it was a rush home to either do homework, or eat and off to swim lessons or baseball practice or football practice. And along the way, I became a mom who easily lost patience and yelled. So, enough is enough and I will be retiring on April 30th.

Along the way I have been knitting. I am trying to finish sweaters this year. And I am buying a sock knitting machine. And I’m thinking about teaching knitting again. I haven’t taught in over six months.

So now you know. Big changes this year. And I’m celebrating my upcoming retirement at Stitches South. Anyone going?

January and the Damn Sweater

2009-01-27T08:03:00.002-07:00

It’s been a while and I have meant to post, and have even written the posts in my head, but just haven’t sat down to write. And now January is almost over, one month of 2009 already gone and it’s been a month since Christmas. Time sure goes faster when you are older, doesn’t it?

I’m now eligible to retire. It’s nice having that bullet proof feeling. That I can walk out the door when I want. I wish the economy was better, and that I could find a part-time job during school hours. So for now, I wait and figure out what is best for me, yet I know I am tired of having 12-hour days when you add in my commute to my 10 hour work days.

Knitting, oh, let’s talk about knitting. And the damn sweater. Have I told you about this sweater? Well, here goes…

I’m trying to remember when this started. You see, I started dating DH in 1994 and then we broke up and then got back together, and sometime in that period between 1994 and 1998, we bought some yarn in a store which no longer exists, called Placerville Yarns. It was a lovely yarn store, in a mountain town on the way to Lake Tahoe that I used to stop at when I lived in California whenever we went skiing. Anyway, I told DH I would knit him a sweater and he picked out some Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd Sport in a lovely color way Pewter, and a complicated aran pattern which was to be knitted on size 4 needles. (To tell you how old this yarn is, Lorna still owned the company and dyed the yarn at her home in Placerville!)

Enter the problem. The pattern has errors. This is a raglan. Knitted in pieces. The pattern of the cables does not match up when the pieces are knit. There are cables that run up the front and the sleeves that look like arrows and they are to merge into each other. I think it only works in one pattern size of the instructions. I have knit and ripped out this sweater more than once. I have changed it and knit it in the round. I even asked Meg Swansen for advice about this sweater. So it gets knit again, and banished again, and knit again and banished again, back to a closed closet in the yarn room. And I know it’s been over a year since I re-knit it for the 4th time. And stopped again.

So, Saturday morning. I frogged it again. Yep, the WHOLE THING. This is a man’s 44 inch sweater. Knit 4 times. Frogged again. All the yarn had a day-long bath. It is now dried. Sunday, I cast on again, after converting the whole mess to a top down raglan, using the charts from the original pattern. I think the sleeve charts are the problem from the beginning.

I don’t like it. Back to the Frog Pond. Number 5.

I’m looking for a new pattern. I surrender.

2009-01-12T12:46:00.002-07:00

The Florida Gators are again the National Champs!

It's Great to be a Florida Gator!!! It doesn't matter that I graduated from Florida a long time ago, I'm still an obnoxious Florida Fan!

2009 is just around the corner...

2008-12-31T21:37:00.003-07:00

Another year has just about come and gone. Just flew by didn't it?

I have decided not to come up with any resolutions, or look back at what I did or didn't do over the past year.

What I decided to do is come up with a list of things that I am looking forward to in 2009. So here are some of the things I came up with:

Starting something new careerwise, and walking away and shutting the door on this chapter in my life
Finishing some beautiful sweaters, as many as I want, and enjoying wearing them and saying proudly, "why yes, I did knit this sweater"
Knitting more small projects and finishing them - gloves, socks, things that just need one or two balls of yarn
Going to Stitches South with dear friends, seeing knitting friends from around the country, and seeing my college roommate Lorretta
Planting different types of flowers in the garden and tending to my roses
Maybe taking the summer off and spending it with the boys
Being in better shape, back to where I was before I let myself get too busy
Trying the new contacts to see if finally there is a type that works for me
Finding a new knitting retreat (I have one or two in mind for October.......)
Reading more books and finding more authors I like
Less stress and more patience
Spending time with friends
Exploring different parts of Colorado with my family

I think that is a pretty good start to what I am looking forward to. I wish all of you a Happy and Healthy 2009!

Okay, I just had to add this link, just do not drink anything while you watch it or you make spit it all over your computer screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiXy55OHyY

Forever 39

2008-12-19T16:01:00.001-07:00

Okay, I will get to the title a bit later, but first I need to get to a VERY LONG OVER DUE THANK YOU!

Approximately a month ago, I received this package. I was one of the lucky three winners on Coggie's Blog Anniversary give-away over at her blog, http://www.coggiesyarntale.blogspot.com/. And it has been sitting right next to the computer, waiting for me to take a picture to show off all of my goodies and say thanks. And being a very bad blogger, I haven't blogged much, and alas, my thanks are way over due. Miss Manners would be appalled. So, I am going to thank Coggie here - THANK YOU and privately, and now I will show off my goodies. I have kitty sticky notes, and two other note pads. I have a button with my Ravelry picture on it that I can now wear to Stitches South - so Cool! I have candy that I am not going to share, never mind that I stole the Milk Duds out of my kids' treat or treat bags, these are MOMS!!!! And I have Gold Nuggets which are ChocoRocks which I know youngest son will try to snag, but then, I am faster than him even though he says he is the King of Chocolate. Never mind that I am the Queen of Everything! Anyway, back to goodies, I have new yarn, which is not entered into the enormous stash of hell yet, but oh, this is NEW yarn which I have never seen before. It is Socktails by Carpe Dye 'Em (Cute name eh?) in the color Royal Matador. Now isn't that fitting for the Queen of Everything? 400 yards. Oh, Coggie, are you trying to make me finish a pair of socks and enough already with the orphans? Okay, back to the goodies, the last thing is a wraps per inch key from Hornshaw Wood Works http://www.hornshawwoodworks.com/ (by the way go over there and look at the swift and the sock blockers), which is great because guess who wants to learn how to spin in 2009? And asked for donations for a wheel for Christmas instead of presents? So, again, thank you Coggie, what a great package, and I apologize for being a slug.

By the way CoggieTM and BammerKT have a great podcast - The High Fiber Diet. Go over to ITunes and check it out.

Okay, what other thank yous? Thank you all who wished me a Happy Birthday this week. I'm staying 39 forever, like Jack Benny. I think he celebrated his 39th birthday 41 times. Some of you know how many times I have celebrated it don't you? But I'm younger than you!

Knitting, shall I call it project flitting or knitting ADD? I think the reason that I cannot really concentrate on one project is that I am trying to figure out what I am going to do. I want to retire as soon as possible, but I need to do something else. That something else is the problem because I don't know what it is. I know I want to work part-time. I am done with working 50 hours a week. Anyone got any ideas? Know of any positions? Have any friends?

Some FOs

2008-11-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of FOs just in time for the last day of November. The first one is my Langsjalid Barur. My 8 year old son took the picture yesterday out in the snow.

The second FO is my Norwegian Woods Shawl. I had finished it earlier in the month, but had not posted about it. There are alot of beads in the edging, but they are red and blend in with the red Malabrigo lace weight in the picture.

Enjoying a lazy day today while it is snowing again. I am working on some mitered squares for now, but may choose another project for later that involves some thinking.

You're from Colorado...

2008-11-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

A winter statistic:
98% OF AMERICANS SCREAM BEFORE GOING IN THE DITCH ON A SLIPPERY ROAD. THE OTHER 2% ARE FROM COLORADO AND THEY SAY, 'HOLD MY SODA AND WATCH THIS.

You're from Colorado if You'll eat ice cream in the winter.

When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.

It snows 5 inches and you don't expect school to be canceled.

You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature. (My DH thinks I'm nuts!)

You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.

'Humid' is over 25%.

Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the mountains.

You say 'the interstate' and everybody knows which one.

You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.

You buy your flowers to set out on Mother's day, but try and hold off planting them until just
before Father's day.

You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat. (This was the first year the kids had shorts on underneath their costumes).

You know what and where the Continental Divide is.

You don't think Coors beer is that big of a deal.

You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and as an adult.

You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.

You always know the elevation of where you are.

You wake up to a beautiful, 80 degree day and you wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.

**You don't care that some company renamed it, the Broncos still play at Mile High**

Every movie theater has military and student discounts.

You actually know that ** South Park ** is a real place not just a show on TV.

You know what a 'trust fund hippy' is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder.

You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags.

A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you.

Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the crap out of the Raiders.

When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.

You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels 'sticky' and you notice the sky is no longer
blue.

Stitches East

2008-11-10T09:06:00.001-07:00

Wow, is it the 10th of November already? Where did this month go and better yet, where did the year go?

I just got back from Stitches East last night. I’m tired. A lot of staying up late and too little sleep. And there were travel issues this time too, not for me, but for my friend Robin who didn’t get to fly home on the same plane as me and had to get to DC from Baltimore on a bus to catch another plane because United switched her reservation. Not fun!

I took classes – Bohus Strickning, wow were the sweaters beautiful, a beaded bag class, a toe-up sock class, and a long-needle knitting class.

There was stash enhancement even though the market seemed smaller this year. Yarn for a shawl, 3 sweaters and a skirt. Two of the sweaters are versions of a sweater from AlterKnits and one is a new Vivian Hoxboro design. The skirt is a linen skirt to go with one of the sweaters. The shawl is one made out of some JoJoland yarn.

I wasn’t too impressed with the fashion show this year. Only bought the pattern for the skirt. Usually I see more sweaters or shawls that catch my eye. There were pretty things in the student fashion show. Brenda from Philadelphia had a gorgeous geisha inspired wrap that was just stunning and there were some beautiful Fair Isle sweaters. I modeled my Rowan denim skirt and my Sivia Harding shawl.

So I’m back. And back to work.

NaKniSweMo

2008-10-31T14:54:00.000-06:00

Every year, http://www.knitgrrl.com/ readers knit alongside the writers over at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). So this year, I decided to join in the fun, and I'm throwing down the gauntlet to all my friends. I dare you to join in the fun!

How it works with NaNoWriMo is that the authors have to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. As they say on that page: "This is not as scary as it sounds." Okay, I'm not writing, but I will knit.

So, for you knitters joining NaKniSweMo, you have to knit a 50,000-stitch sweater in a month. If you divide your chosen sweater pattern's rows or rounds by 30, you'll have an idea of how many rows you need to knit each day to make it. I know, counting all those stitches is crazy, but I think it's going to be fun.

So, I am going to try to finish as MANY sweaters as I can in one month. I did cast on a new sweater 2 days ago, and I'm hopefully going to resist casting on the new one that should arrive from Jane Slicer-Smith any day now. And, did I add, I'm going to Stitches East with Robin next week, and those of you who know me, know that I usually cast on a sweater while I'm somewhere on a knitting "va-cay?"

Join me. Go to the NaKniSweMo group on Ravelry and join in on the fun. I DARE YOU!

It all starts tomorrow.

Hey a Contest!

2008-10-30T15:23:00.000-06:00

Over there at Rhythm of the Needles, my friend Joanne is holding a contest. And, you can win some yarn! Go check it out and see what you think. Hurry, it's only for like 2 days!

http://rhythmoftheneedles.blogspot.com/

Joanne and I will be at Stitches South together in April. Whoo Hoo!

What to knit? What to do?

2008-10-12T22:25:00.000-06:00

I hear the rain outside, and I keep checking to see if it has turned to snow, but not so far. It's about time for our pre-Halloween snow, I still have roses on the bushes and there's a few tomatoes on the vines, but it's cold out there. And maybe we will have a little snow tonight and that's fine, because it's a three day weekend for me and I don't have to work tomorrow.

All this uncertainty about the economy has made me wonder about what I am going to do about retiring and when I am going to do it. I know I do not want to work 50 hours a week anymore, but it's hard to make that leap from a secure job to another when the market is so bad and everyone has taken such a hit. So I sit and think, and try to figure out what to do, knowing that I am not sure and really wishing I was. Crossroads, choices.

And I think the uncertainty has spilled over unto my knitting. I have drifted from one sweater project to another this weekend, and finally picked up the Norwegian Woods Shawl and worked on that for a few hours. And I think about teaching, and if I want to continue teaching knitting, or if I just want to knit what I want and not worry about anything else.

But right now it's so easy not to think about things and just read blogs and knit, so I don't have to make decisions. Chicken.

Texture

2008-09-21T16:26:00.000-06:00

My knitting and focus on projects has been a little different lately. Those that know me, know that I am a small needle girl, most of my projects, we are talking sweaters here, are knit on size 2 through size four needles. And, I am a fan of colorwork and complicated designs.

But lately, I have becomed enamored with texture. And I am using worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles for almost all of these sweaters. I have one sweater, the February Lady Sweater, that has the lace body. I have the Silver Belle on needles, that is just one cable after the other, as is the Aran Wrap from the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting.

And then throw in two Norah Gaughn designs. One is a coat, and the other a cardigan.

Texture, texture, texture. I just can't seem to get enough of it. Yes, a different focus for me, but I like it. Luckily I have been able to fit in a lot of knitting lately, at the boys' football practice, at their games, and at the Rockies game last night, because I have so much on the needles that I want to WEAR!!! And class projects to finish, but we won't go there right now will we?

It's Fall, isn't it?

2008-09-14T07:15:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here looking out the window, and it's overcast, so I'm thinking that today might not be as pretty a fall day as yesterday, but oh well, I have SO much knitting to do, and there is football to watch later today, so no big deal.

I have been knitting for the past 2 hours, I woke up at 5:00AM and have taken advantage of a quiet house and been in the yarn room listening to podcasts and working on a class sample for a class I'm teaching next month at String. I listened to The High Fiber Diet this morning which is a new podcast. They are having problems with the sound quality, but once they iron the bugs out, I think it will be one on my continuous download list. Two gals in Michigan who love to knit.

I have so many things I want to get done. I made a list of the high priority items and holy crap I think I have 17 sweaters on it to finish. I have several that I would like to get done to wear to Stitches East, so we will see. I cast on Silver Belle this week, the yarn has been in the yarn room for a year, and as much as I love to knit cables, it was time to cast it on. So between it and lace, I am trying to work on a million other projects. And, I told the boys yesterday that I was going to knit them Transformers hats, so I need to get the yarn for those. Luckily I knit stranded knitting fast so I can get those done before our pre-Halloween snow that we always get in early October.

Youngest son's football game was postponed yesterday due to the field being wet, poor guy was so disappointed, especially since his brother's game went on as scheduled - his team won. Hey more knitting time for mom!

I was one of the lucky few that got in the Wollemeise sock club (actually got in by way of the 2nd lottery drawing - I didn't think I got in) and received the first package this week. Two skeins of beautiful yarn, one in elderbush and the other in box wreath, some Holz & Stein DPNs, a ruler, a piece of candy (okay I ate it already - yummy) a beautiful sock pattern and a letter from Claudia. SO COOL!!!! I am being good though. I am going to finish September's socks - just turned the heel on the first sock yesterday, before I even think about another pair. Oh that's right, add socks to the mountain of knitting to finish..............................

Well, the sons just came downstairs to see mommy, my quiet time is over.

Have a good day everyone.

Well, lookey here, she posted!

2008-08-21T15:25:00.000-06:00

What have you been up to?

I don’t know about you, but 2008 has just seemed to fly on by. It’s almost September already, and where has the time gone? I certainly have do not have the pile of finished objects that I thought for sure was going to happen this year. I walked into the yarn room the other day and wondered, what happened?

I know I have been knitting, because I knit Every Day. I knit on the bus and train to work, I knit at lunch, and then I knit on the way home. If I am lucky, I get some knitting time at night, either while the boys are at some type of sporting practice, or while I am watching TV. (Speaking of TV, did you watch last night’s Project Runway with the Drag Queens? Oh my goodness, that was a hoot!)

But where are the FOs? I still have too many things on the needles. I have sorted things into high priority projects – the things that I had really hoped would be finished this year. And I had hoped there was going to be some designing going on. Hmm, things did not happen. Now, I know I am not good with project monogamy. Okay, I know I SUCK at project monogamy, but I have worked steadily on a number of projects.

I need to go back in the yarn room and figure this out. And make a plan. Before I cast on. The mittens from the cover of the latest Vogue. And before my yarn arrives for the Aran Wrap. From the same issue of Vogue. Yep. I need to figure this out.

Yeah, Yeah, I Know!

2008-08-01T19:03:00.000-06:00

I know it's been ages since I have blogged. But, I have a good excuse. See who is looking at my Kauni sweater (okay - yes that is me with big hair, I was in Wisconsin you know where there is HUMIDITY)? Yes, that is Meg Swansen. Holding my knitting. Yep. Cool, huh? I think so. I was asking her some questions about the hem I had put in, because she recommends 10% less stitches for hems and I wanted her opinion if she thought I should rip mine out (she said no, I had a nice loose cast on, asked me how I had done it).

You see, I was at Knitting Camp with Robin, Leanne, and Pam. We had a great time. Now, I will not bore you with the travel NIGHTMARES that I had getting there and getting home, and the details of my solo 225 mile drive from Milwaukee to Knitting Camp while Robin and Leanne got to fly there (flight screw ups). But I will tell you that we had a great time. Meg of course is fantastic. Joyce Williams is awesome. Amy Deitjen is a hoot and the reigning Queen of Purple (someone will have to ask about a purple starter kit comment), and Spotted Cow is the beer to drink when in Wisconsin! The girls across the table can knit with us any time.

A good time was had by All!

Okay, so it's been a while!

2008-07-13T07:46:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I have posted. All I can say is that I have been knitting.

But, I'm also trying to finish things in a ridiculously short period of time. For instance, Tuesday night I bought yarn to knit a skirt. To bring to knitting camp. This week. Knit a skirt in a week. I don't even know if it will fit or look good on me. Then there is the other knitted knit that is halfway done. I am trying to finish that skirt. To bring to knitting camp. This week. I leave Thursday morning.

I leave Thursday morning with Leanne, Robin and Pam. I bet they are not knitting 2 skirts last minute.

What am I, an idiot?

Andrea, aka dnaprice on Ravelry, advised me yesterday, ala Brenda Dayne, to "Knit, Knit Like the Wind." I'm trying, though it didn't help that I ripped out 20 plus rows on the new skirt yesterday because I miscounted some increases.

Back to my knitting.....

I'm blaming it on Stacey!

2008-06-28T06:30:00.000-06:00

This one is not my fault. I was sitting at the computer. Working on my Lacy Skirt with Bows (Leanne and Cathy - this is probably when I knit one whole repeat too many), reading blogs, and then I read Sheep in the City. And what did Stacey post? That Colorful Yarns had Dream in Color Classy in stock. What? That stopped me dead in my row. In stock, with "lots" of yarn still there? I wonder if they have that tomato red color, hmm? Or the sage green color. Oh no. Oh this is bad. And Stacey brought up the February Lady Sweater that I have been looking at and looking at, and is in my Ravelry queue. Crap, I don't need more yarn. I have projects to finish before going to Knitting Camp in three weeks. Don't go there!

Now, did I go? Of course. There was the yarn siren calling, or screaming at me to get the hell over there before others realized the yarn was in stock. And there were only 2 tomato reds. Bummer. But, there were four Spring Tickles that had my name all over them. And three funky buttons to make the sweater pop. And this sweater happened to jump on my needles last night.

It's all Stacey's fault!

I have been tagged

2008-06-26T08:17:00.000-06:00

My partner in knitting crime, another enabler extraordinaire, Joanne tagged me with a meme so I need to answer these five questions:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was working in San Francisco. I had just graduated from Law School, got married the next weekend, and immediately started studying for the July California Bar Exam. Working full time and trying to cram lots of law in my brain!

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
(1) I have three court appearances
(2) Work on my Lacy Skirt with Bows
(3) Take youngest son to baseball practice
(4) Do laundry and bills
(5) Post this meme on my blog

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Almond M&Ms, Yogurt covered raisins

4. Places I have lived:
West Allis and South Milwaukee, WI; Plantation, Gainesville and Hollywood, FL; Memphis, TN; Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Martinez, CA; Highlands Ranch, CO

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Take my knitting friends on Jean Frost's Gardens and Mills tour in the UK; become a Bull Gator; donate a huge amount to my church; start a scholarship for working women going back to school; donate to charities supporting breast cancer, juvenile diabetes, allergies, take my dad and mom to the Kentucky Derby, these are just a start.

The rules say I have to tag five people now. The people I'm tagging are Leanne, Cathy, Judy, Diane, and Tim. I wonder what they were doing 10 years ago?

Have a great day!

Kathy and Cathy

2008-06-22T18:39:00.000-06:00

What did you do last night? This (not so great) picture is Cathy and Kathy at Coors Field. We took in the Rockies-Mets game and I have to say, had a marvelous time. I introduced her to garlic fries, which she swears must have crack in them because they are so addictive. We screamed, we high fived, did some dancing, she wore her new Matt Holliday jersey, and the Rockies won. And they scored seven or more runs for the cheap Tacos at Taco Bell, which my family took advantage of today.

Went to Castlewood Canyon today and went exploring through the Canyon with DH and the boys. Here's a picture of us near the ruins of the Castlewood Dam which broke in August 1933 and caused the second worst flood in Denver's history. We had fun hiking along Cherry Creek near the ruins seeing the ecologically unique Black Forest region of Colorado.

What's on the needles, working on my Lacy Skirt with Bows, and trying to figure out what I will attempt to finish for knitting camp. Decisions - Decisions. Too many nice projects and less than a month to go.

I am going to Stitches East this fall, and looks like I will be going with my friend Joanne in February to Stitches West to celebrate a major milestone with her. Fun, fun.

Well, things need to be done, the weekend is almost over. Enjoy what is left of it!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T17:08:00.000-06:00

Here's DH and the boys at the spillway at Evergreen Lake. We went up there after church and had a nice time walking around the lake and then going into town to get pizza and ice cream. A nice relaxing afternoon with the boys to celebrate Father's Day.

What's on my needles? Well, I was busy going to my sons' ball games yesterday and couldn't attend any World Wide Knit in Public events, but as usual I was knitting in public. I cast on the Lacy Skirt with Bows from Greetings from Knit Cafe, in the hope that it will be one of the items I will manage to get done before Knitting Camp next month. If I can knit this skirt in a week, I may be on track. I have a sweater I would also like to knit, but I might be pushing trying to get that done too, along with 3 other projects that need to be finished. (I know, I know, way too optimistic!)

I am waiting for my new roses to start putting out new growth. If they are going to make it, I should see some progress this week. The others are starting to flower, and as long as the wind doesn't beat them to death and break them, they look beautiful.

Well, here's hoping this week will be a good one. Enjoy the rest of your day!

What have you been up to?

2008-06-08T10:55:00.001-06:00

Baseball, baseball and more baseball. That's where we were yesterday. Started off yesterday morning when son #1 had his first game of the season in his first kid pitch game. And this proud mama is happy to boast that he had an RBI and scored a run! I'm smiling just thinking about it. Then right after lunch we were off to son #2's game. He is in coach pitch ball, where all the kids still get to bat in each rotation, and he got up there and as we tell him to do "hit the dog snot off of the ball."

Then, Saturday night, DH and I went to the Rockies game. Perfect weather for a ballgame, not too hot, in fact I needed my fleece because of the breeze. That's me working on a Rockie purple cashmere stole at the game, which of course the Rockies won. Can we finally see a change for their season? Let's hope so!

I'm working on projects that I want to finish this summer, especially those I want to bring to knitting camp. I have one really calling my name right now, a sweater in the stash that I am going to pull out and look at today. I really think it is in the infancy stage, and I have other things that I really want to get done before winging my way off to Wisconsin with Leanne, Robin and Pam for so much FUN!!!!

What else? This gluten free lifestyle is not fun for me right now. Finding foods is hard enough, and I'm not a big drinker, but I am finding that having a glass of wine and a half without being able to eat a bread product with my nice meals when we open a bottle of wine makes me feel so sick the next day like I had drunk perhaps a whole bottle of wine. So I need to find something that I can eat with my meats or fish that will absorb the alcohol, because the potato dishes I have tried don't work, nor the meat, neither do nuts, and corn. Who would have thought?

Well, I want to knit, and I have chores that did not get done yesterday while we were running around with baseball.

Enjoy your day!

Just a quick post

2008-05-30T19:42:00.000-06:00

I just finished blocking what is probably my last finished object for the month of May. This beauty is the Serenity baby blanket, pattern by Laura Wilson-Martos. Knit out of Lion Brand Cotton Ease, it was an easy knit and it will be shipped off to our Nation's capital for a gift for someone I work with. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Busy day tomorrow, the oldest son is having a birthday party, so I will have my hands full. I still have things to do. Have a great weekend!

Has it been over two weeks?

2008-05-25T07:13:00.000-06:00

Wow, has it been that long? I looked at the last posting and today's date and realized it's been over two weeks since I have posted. It's been crazy, hectic around here, and I for one am waiting for things to get back to normal.

I had a college roommate in town from Atlanta. It was great to see Lorretta and to get caught up. It's hard to believe we met each other 30 years ago at the University of Florida - Go Gators! A lot of things of happened in those 30 years, she has a daughter, I have the boys and we live on opposite sides of the country.

DH also had company. His best friend was in town, also from Atlanta. So he had time to spend with Paul.

The boys started baseball. Practice is now in full swing, the oldest is now in kid pitch, the youngest in Advanced TBall. We got lucky this year, only one Saturday with games at the same time, though we will be driving all over town on Saturdays to get to games.

I was in LA this past week, for a hearing on a case I have worked on for 3 years. A case I detest. Now it's a waiting game until we get the decision from the judge. I never wanted to work labor law, and hope to never work another labor case again.

What's on the needles? I am trying to finish up a lot of projects. You know I am not good at project monogamy, but I need to get some presents and class samples done! Right now the main project is the Serenity blanket. I am on row 100 of this blanket with 460 stitches per row, not bad since the blanket started with 8 stitches. I am finally into ball 4 of 6 so I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am now a fan of using the twisted German cast on for any knits joined in a circle, like circular shawls.

I did get yarn in the mail this week, but I will post about it later, as the boys are up and I need to get off the computer. Have a great day everyone!

Busy

2008-05-10T17:48:00.000-06:00

What have you been up to? Me - what's that old saying, busier than a one-armed paper hanger? That's me. At work there is some turmoil, and I am also in the middle of getting ready for a hearing on the 20th and the 21st. So I am reading, and reading, and interviewing witnesses, and reading... I am so sick of this case.

In the middle of this, I have managed to finish some projects. The pink shawl is the Triangles within Triangles Shawl. I had this knit without the edging for months, and had decided I did not like the edging when I first knit it. But after seeing my friend Patti's at the beginning of April (hers is a beautiful shade of purples which she claims I talked her into purchasing the same day I bought the yarn for mine at Lambspun in Ft. Collins), I realized that the edging in fact was a good addition to the shawl, so out of the stash it came and I knit the edging. Tuesday night, while DH and the eldest son were at the Rockies game, this was blocked. I think it came out nice don't you think?

This baby sweater is a sample for a class I am going to teach at String. Isn't it cute? It is out of 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon. I changed the pattern to knit the sleeves in the round, and I am happy with the yarn I wound off for the sleeves. I think the colors matched up pretty nicely.

So that's about a 1400 yard dent in the stash for the month so far. Not too bad.

What's on the needles, oh way too much. I am working on the Roslin hoodie today. I was hoping to get the color work section completed today, but I am thinking I might have been too optimistic. I hadn't planned on taking a trip to the mall with the youngest to buy him shoes, and to buy a graduation present. DH has been next door brewing beer most of the day, so I thought I would have serious knitting time. Oh well, I still have tonight to work on Roslin.

They are saying freeze warnings tonight. I am so glad the three new bare root roses have not arrived, or I would not be happy. I lost three rose bushes in the same place in the garden for the second year in a row. I am going to be removing the soil, looking for anything that could possibly be in those areas before the new bushes go in. My other five bushes in the same general area are doing fine. I know hybrid teas don't do as well here, but they are my favorites, I just have to figure this out. I had 34 beautiful rose bushes in California, and I will get these eight to be gorgeous some how.

Well, I hope you have a great rest of the day. Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all of you Moms!

534,559.5

2008-05-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know I have been missing in action lately from updating the blog, but I’ve been busy.

This is why. 534,559.5 yards of yarn. That’s right. That’s about 101.2 miles of yarn. Wait a minute, that's not right, it's 303 miles of yarn! I’m not sure if that is all of it, as a matter of fact, I know it’s not, because there are miscellaneous balls without labels, and some kits that I just didn’t want to figure out the yardage, and then there is the yarn on the cones that I have no idea what the yardage is. But that, my friends, is what Ravelry tells me I have in the yarn room.

Okay, let’s all say it together, Holy Crap! I can also think of other words not suitable for print. Whoa!

But, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I didn’t hit 1,000 yarn items. I think I stopped at 788. And, now I have a great spreadsheet so I know what I have. And, I know people who have more than I do (thank goodness!) Okay, I'm adding this later in the day. At lunch time, after talking with Kris and Robin, I realized that I missed entering about 5,000 more yards of Skaska lace weight and Angora Cottage yarn. It keeps growing, and growing....

Yep. That’s a whole lot a yarn. I had better get knitting! One skein at a time...

Some yarn and a sock

2008-04-22T17:08:00.000-06:00

I'm back from the mountains. A quick over night up to Beaver Creek (near Vail) to give a presentation. I have to admit, the drive was one of the easiest I have ever had up the hill. Probably because ski season ended over a week ago. And it's very strange to be up there because there is still SO MUCH SNOW! Loveland and A Basin are still open, but all the other ski resorts have closed because their leases are up for the season with the National Park Service. So all this beautiful snow, and quiet chair lifts and no one skiing. And Beaver Creek was virtually a ghost town. I walked into shops where I was the only one in the store.

So, I decided to make the most of my time and hit a yarn store on the way up, and two on the way back to Denver. The first store I stopped at was the Yarn Studio in Minturn. Kathy is the owner and we had a great time talking and I found out I had seen her at a Rockies Stitch and Pitch game in 2006. When I went upstairs in the shop while she wound my yarn, I saw a framed picture of that game that was in the Rockies Magazine. Guess who was in the picture? Me. There I was sitting a row or two behind her knitting away on a shawl. I need to try to get my hands on one of those magazines. I want the picture. Any way, the Tahki pattern book is from there, I am going to make the sweater on the cover, and have ordered the yarn. This is a stretch for me, because anyone who knows me, knows my favorite size needles are either 2s or 3s and this is knit on 10.5s. But it is such a cute sweater that I had to get the yarn.

The purple yarn is from the shop too. It is Suri of the Western Slope in Bright Purple Melange and so far it is only sold at the Yarn Studio. It has 5% Magenta Flash, a sparkly thread plied with it, and has 465 yards fingering. Oh this is pretty. The little glass heart is also from the store, and is fired glass and can be worn as a pin or a necklace. I'm thinking it might hold a light shawl.

The colorful yarn with purple and blue and yellow and orange is also some local yarn. It is sport weight for socks, hand-dyed by the Leadville Ladies and sold at the Tea Time Quilting and Stitchery in Breckenridge. For all you quilters, oh my, you should see the fabrics in this store. Makes you want to jump right in and start a quilt.

The last store I stopped in was in Frisco - What's Needling U. The owner was very nice, but they were out of a KFI pattern I wanted for a zippered hoodie. She's going to call me when it comes in.

I didn't get much knitting done last night because I ended up being social and not going to my room as I had planned. I ended up dealing Texas Hold'em for 2 hours and giving the players a hard time. The April sock needs some work, but it is coming along. Still haven't finished March's but you know me, the sock orphan Queen.

Have a good night, me I'm trying to stay inside, even though it's pretty out there. Too much pollen and mold I'm afraid. I went to the allergist on Monday, and they are going to do more testing on me a week from Friday. There is something in the air that this nose and these eyes just don't like! I am hoping to get to the colorwork on the Roslin Hoodie tonight.

Whoops, I forgot to talk about the skein of yarn on the right side of the picture. This is also sock yarn in the colorway Goody from from Tempted Bad Grrl Hand Painted Yarns. I got this in the mail from Loops in Tulsa. I get interesting sock yarn from that store, things I have Never seen before.

Happy Earth Day.

Today

2008-04-20T17:18:00.000-06:00

Today sure was a pretty day. I think it managed to get to 70 degrees, but it was a blustery day, so at times it felt a little cooler. But the sky sure is a pretty blue, and there are tulips and trees blooming.

So far, not much knitting has been done today. I worked some on the Roslin Hoodie while the oldest son was at a birthday party. I decided to enjoy the time he was in one of those "bouncy places" and bought myself a cold Diet Coke and pulled the car under a tree. I proceeded to listen to podcasts and work on the hoodie for an hour. So, that's about the extent of today's knitting so far, but at least that was a quiet hour for myself. Yeah!

I have to drive up to Vail tomorrow to give a one hour presentation Tuesday morning. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but there you have it. I am going to make it a leisurely drive after I go see my allergist and stop when I want to and get there when I feel like it tomorrow. I will have to see if there are any yarn stores along the way, make it even more enjoyable to stop.

I was hoping to have a lot of FOs this month, but oh boy today is the 20th. I don't know. I haven't worked on the Mandarin Jacket because there have been too many interruptions. I will have to look at what I thought I was going to accomplish again. Hmm.

Well, have a great rest of the day. I hope you had some of this nice weather like we did.

Whew! That's a lot of Koigu.

2008-04-15T05:38:00.000-06:00

That is a picture of 300 mitered squares. 11 colors of Koigu, knitting time approximately 1/2 hour per square so about 150 hours, eight pieces to assemble. Yes, the miters are done and now the finishing begins. So far I have attached one band to one sleeve, easing 104 stitches into 88. This is slow going. I am using black Koigu and picking up stitches along each edge and then using a three needle bind off to join the pieces. I am not sure how I am going to do the underarm seams yet. Right now the sleeve bands are first, then the shoulders, then the neckband, then attach the sleeves, then I will think about the underarms. There is also a crocheted edging around the entire edge.

Today is tax day, so that means eight months until another birthday. That's one way to look at it. I don't want to think about how much money we paid!

Spring is finally here. Boy, yesterday was gorgeous, in the 70s. But along with the Spring comes pollen. Anyone else sneezing? My poor nose and eyes aren't very happy this morning. And today is a fire danger day. I guess since not much has started to grow and with all the dead grass and stuff from the winter, you add that with expected high winds and a warm day and you might have trouble. I hope not. I'm just looking forward to another nice day before the temperatures drop again.

Well, time to get this day started, I hope you have a good one!

What is the deal?

2008-04-10T14:12:00.000-06:00

Okay, it is supposed to be Spring right? What’s with the blowing snow? All right, it has stopped snowing, but my goodness; I was bundled up and bent over against the wind and snow this morning. I wonder if the boys - Rockies are playing this afternoon. There was supposed to be a 1:05PM game. Oh, no thank you. No snow baseball for me. Oh, just saw that it is postponed until June 16th; hopefully there won’t be snow on that date. You know, I just got off the phone with an attorney in St. Thomas. He told me it was a “cold” 79 degrees and sunny. Man oh man. Sounds nice doesn’t it?

I had a toe up sock class last night. A good group of students. Good knitters and we laughed a lot. My kind of class.

What are you knitting on? I am trying to finish projects. Four squares to go on the Mandarin Jacket and then I will start the finishing work. I pulled out the Marilyn cardigan which has been in the stash FOREVER! I ordered a Habu cardigan out of wool and steel – can’t wait to knit that! April is definitely a finishing and prioritizing month for me. I am also going to be doing some knitting for a friend who needs samples for TNNA. Keep on knitting, keep on knitting!

Well, got to get back to work. Still thinking of the beach in St. Thomas……

Darn, it's Sunday night!

2008-04-06T21:22:00.000-06:00

Yes, that's right - Sunday night. I spent an enjoyable weekend in the mountains with a group of great knitters, just hanging out knitting, eating, laughing, and having a good time. Thank you Judy! And you ladies from Colorado Springs, it was great meeting you! Princess Moonbeam, you are something else.

Didn't go crazy buying yarn either. I am really concentrating on finishing some projects and getting some designs down on paper. I was pouring over some stitch books tonight, because I have an idea for a shawl that I'm working on which will combine lace and cables. I have the center panel worked out in my head, but need to work out from there and swatch it. Hmm.

So I don't have much to write about now, I need to get ready for bed, knit a row or two and then get to sleep. Back to reality tomorrow.

April 1

2008-04-01T13:28:00.000-06:00

Is Spring finally here? Okay, we did have some snow this weekend, and the breeze today is feeling really kind of cold, but what do you think, have we finally turned the corner? I have my fingers crossed. I really like Spring. I like the colors, watching the grass change from shades of brown to green. I like the buds on the trees, and then the explosion of flowers and leaves, and the “rain” of petals if you walk under a flowering tree when there is a good breeze blowing. And I like daffodils and tulips and robins. Oh, and don’t forget the start of baseball! Yes, I like Spring.

So I am trying to finish up projects, and looking to work on new things that have more of a Spring feel to them, and I am also looking to start the design process. Because it is time. I need to get the ideas down. And there are some “hopefully” good ones which I have in my head right now. But they will need to be swatched, and written down, and charted, and rewritten. A work in process. But it is time. Time for something new. But I am still working on the miters, because the end is very close for this jacket. 26 more squares and the finishing begins. It’s also April 1st, and I have sock number 1 of April’s socks on the needles (okay – they were March’s socks, but I don’t care, they will be completed in April!)

And, I’m thinking of taking a spinning class. I KNOW! Before you say it, I KNOW! I am so busy now. And I’m not talking April fool. I’m thinking maybe this summer, not right now, but maybe then. To see if I like it. And I am talking about on a wheel. I have taken a drop spindle class, and I did not like it. But I want to try a wheel.

Did you get on Ravelry today? How fun! Little hats on your Avatars in the small talk groups – mine was a Cat in the Hat hat. Finding a Fabio book and a Happy Hooker book in your library. Very fun and creative.

I have a knitting weekend and opening day to look forward to this week. Yeah! Not so bad for the first week in April. Alright, time to get back to work, darn!

Bad, bad Blogger!

2008-03-25T17:33:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know I have been a bad Blogger! Part of it I can blame on Ravelry. Okay, don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ravelry, but it is a major TIME SUCK! I find myself on the computer for hours, talking to my friends in the various forums, researching patterns and yarns, looking for new ideas, and boy the time flies! Knitting time is gone. Blogging time is gone. Housework time is gone. (Okay I don't care about the last one!)

But I have been knitting. Miter after miter and cable after cable. And I have been listening to podcasts and books on tapes. I have listened to Pride and Predjudice and Frankenstein. I have also listened to various short stories and poems.

I did finish the younger son's pirate hat. Made out of Dale Baby Ull, on size 1 and 2 needles. And he did get to wear it before Spring decided to show her face this week.

Let's see what else, received some Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 from Canada for a shawl this week in beautiful shades of red with a tiny bit of goldish yellow. Oh, so pretty!

There are some changes ahead for Mountain Purl, but I won't go into that now. I have some knitting to do. Enjoy the rest of the day!

Start as you mean to go on.....

2008-03-18T09:21:00.001-06:00

The problem is that I want to do this now.

I have reached a point in my career that I am ready to move on. However, having the job that I have, and working for the government, you cannot easily make that change. The Federal Retirement system issues must be considered. Age is a consideration. I have what I term as a “golden handcuff” and I can’t just walk away now.

However, I am done. I just do not want to work 50 hours a week anymore. Add in the commute, and you now have 60 hours. I don’t want to go to work in the morning. And after what happened yesterday in court, I thought to myself, I am too old to have to put up with this crap anymore. And I just don’t want to!

So the problem for me right now, is amassing any type of desire to go to work and finish this. The 300 or so days left, or 440 or so days if I wait until the boys are out for the summer in 2009, seems like a never-ending task that I do not want to perform. And it makes me tired, and short-tempered, and I miss things that I should do. Little niceties for people that make you a good friend.

And I wonder if that is poring over into my knitting. Lately I need to get things organized and off the needles. Working on the yarn room. I don’t want to buy any more yarn because of what I know is in the yarn room that needs to be started, is a WIP or needs finishing. And I get that feeling of knitting to nowhere, though I did finish the little guy’s pirate hat. And the pretty things that are in there, that at one time or another were on top of the must knit now list.

And starting as I mean to go on. I want to start designing now. I have some ideas for a coat floating around my head. And ideas for a shawl. I am not a patient woman; no matter how patient I may seem to others when I teach, or take a class, or show something to a fellow knitter, and when I rip things back to fix them, or how long I will work at a project. When it comes to things that I expect for me, or if I expect someone else to do something, I want it done expeditiously. This is not a good trait when you have young children. DH calls me patience because he says I have NONE.

So, I’m not depressed or anything, I just want to escape. I want a change. See, I never got that when I passed the California or the Colorado bars, I just kept going at this job which I’ve had for almost 20 years, a job which I totally disagree with its merit system. I watched my friends go on to something new. I see my friends rewarded in their jobs and get promoted and I am happy for them. I however, just want to go, and I hate the wait.

On a side note, I did get new yarn in the post these past few days. Some sock yarn which is red, and purples, in honor of the Red Hat Society and the poem that I think goes, when I am old I will wear purple…. I have friends who would just love this yarn because of that. It made me smile when I opened the package up. (I am in a surprise sock yarn club. I don’t check the website and I just like opening up the package each month and seeing the new yarn). And I got some wool that I ordered from Montana for a Cobblestone that I will modify for DH. Beaverslide Fisherman weight. Very nice wool, and feels soft, which REALLY surprised me.

Okay, I need to work.

What's up?

2008-03-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

So, what have you been up to lately?

I’ve been very busy at work and at home. Rushing from here and to there, a never ending madness of trying to get somewhere on time or get things done on time. Whew!

We did manage to go up to the mountains this past weekend, which bought me some knitting time. We drove up to Winter Park on Saturday and spent the night at the Vintage hotel. We put the boys in ski school on Sunday, for their first time ever on skis. I think they had a good time, and to my surprise, the oldest skied faster. He is usually the one that doesn’t like to go fast, and he had fun going as fast as he could until he would fall down. Me – I haven’t been on skis since the oldest was about 6 months old. So I took a 2 ½ hour lesson and then took it easy. I had a good time and I remembered how much fun it is. So, I think we will be doing a lot more of this with the boys in the future.

What is on the needles? Too much. I am still mitering and mitering on the Mandarin Jacket. And working on lace for Whispering Pines after losing the first shawl on my trip to South Carolina. And I need to do my swatches for my Saturday class with Jean Wong. What I want to do is dive into the yarn room and organize it. Must be a case of spring fever. I did sell some yarn on Ravelry and I am going to go through the stash and see if there is stuff that I am just not going to use. If so, it’s going up for sale. The yarn room is a mess, I don’t know what I have in there.

Belated stash update. Hmm, I really don’t know. I did buy some Beaverslide Fisherman weight to make the Cobblestone Pullover for DH, but that is on order, and I am not starting that until May in a KAL. I bought some sock yarn but only two skeins. You know, I just want to get some feeling of organization. I want to pull out projects and organize them in what should be finished before summer. 1. What I want to start soon, 2. what is close to being finished. 3. What is finished but just needs to be put together. Yep, it’s time for a dive in the yarn room. I also want to work on two hoodies, that are perfect spring causal wearing sweaters. Man, work is just getting in the way! I should be at home figuring this all out!

I took this test yesterday, to find out what kind of yarn I am. Here is my result:

You are Mercerized Cotton.You are always very crisp and neat. You are very playful and are happiest while outdoors in the sunshine. You are sometimes accused of splitting hairs, but in the end people find you pretty easy to live with.

What do you think?

Knitting to Nowhere!

2008-03-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I’ve been knitting and knitting and knitting. And knitting, and knitting, and knitting. A little ripping thrown in and back to knitting. And I feel like I’ve gotten nowhere. Yep, nowhere.

I’m thinking it’s the miters. I’ve been working on them. And some entrelac. And a sock. So to a corner and back. Knit back backwards. And knit in a circle. No wonder I’m getting NOWHERE!

I think I’ve got the winter blahs. Enough already, I want spring! Baseball season. Of course we are in March, our snowiest month, with two snowfalls already this week. Add to that I’m buried at work. So between snowfalls and piles of work, I’m back to wanting that island again…..

Was knitting with Sharon at lunch today and this VERY TALL guy walked by where we were knitting. I asked her, “Isn’t that Shaquille O’Neal?” It was, the Suns are in town playing the Nuggets tonight. Should have taken a picture of him with the two of us knitting. See what happens girls when you don’t show up to knit with the lunch bunch?

I’ve got a sock class tonight . Eight knitters. Boy that will keep me running around the table. I ripped my sock back to the ribbing this morning. I just didn’t like the eight stitch repeat I was using, so back on the needles and on to a new stitch pattern for the leg.

I have two new knitting bags to show at home, one is from Rowan – the Nolita Bag, very cute!

Well, I need to get back to attacking the piles in my office. Enjoy the day though it’s VERY grey out there!

Musings

2008-02-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-02-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-02-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Here's a white flag

2008-01-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, what is that poem, Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? That's today. Start with a two hour drive to work because of snowy streets, and end with a bus driver driving away when I was 20 feet away from the bus, and a LYS that was closed at 4:45.

So, here's my white flag. I surrender. You win, I lose. I'm going to go knit on something I like, listen to a podcast or two, and happily watch the backside of January 2008 fade away into the sunset. Good bye, good riddance, adios, don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out.

On a happier note, I close the month with two Finished objects:
Lady Eleanor
The Leaf Lace Shawl

Blame it on Ravelry

2008-01-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, I am not taking the blame here. I have been following the rules. I have been good on the knit from the stash diet (though not so good on the buying new yarn bags diet), and really haven't bought "that much" yarn in quite a while. I have been sticking to the knit 2 projects of one type at a time rule, and am adding the cast on a sock on the 1st of the month, and cast on the second sock on the 15th of the month rule (maybe we will have pairs of socks in Mountain Purl's future, there is hope). And, of course, class projects don't count, because I need to work on them for my students and to have them for the LYS. But, I'm falling off the wagon.

So, number one, I am blaming it on Ravelry. You all know I can't sleep. So since I woke up at 1:30AM and there were 300+ others of you on Ravelry along with yours truly looking around. And I found a shawl. I wasn't looking for one. There is a knitter in Boston who has three projects in common with me, The Leaf Lace Shawl, Lady Eleanor, and Diamond Fantasy so I went looking at her projects which are very nice I might add. And there was the shawl. KIRI. And I read All Tangled Up, why I never saw this pattern, I do not know. And I have a ball of Blue Blood Red Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb that is perfect for it. And I know I could knit this baby in less than two weeks if I wanted to. So, needles, yarn and pattern are in knitting chair number one downstairs, waiting for me. So that will break the two lace projects rule. BUT, I only have 16 rows to go on the Leaf Lace Shawl. That's right, I am to the edging chart. So there will be some blocking in the near future, But, I am going to break the rule tonight. Soon. But I may be doing some edging lace first. Maybe.

Number two, podcasts and my lack of will power. Too many people said "Lace Cardi." I think I even heard it on What Not to Wear. So, what has been calling ever so quietly and then screaming in my ear "KNIT ME NOW?" The Katharine Hepburn Cardigan. And it's also been in my stash since last year when I had Cassidy order me the yarn. Louet Sales Jems Opal. In Cherry Red. I caved. It's been up, frogged (I am casting on in pattern and having major brain farts) , and is going back up. So there goes the two sweater rule. And I also need to put up one (Silver Belle) for a sweater workshop I'm teaching. Oh boy. I'm in deep knitting trouble.

Number Three. Red. I love red. These yarns are beautiful. I don't care that I mostly wear black to work, sans makeup. Pretty picture, no? Anyway, who can resist red? And Valentine's Day is 2 1/2 weeks away. Enough excuses. It's so pretty.

So I'm breaking the rules. I'm casting on.

FYI, I had margaritas last night. Just what the doctor ordered for this girl who has been sick since FOREVER!

Okay, what else? The Modern Quilt Wrap Knitters met yesterday at String. Oh my, too gorgeous. Marcia and Ann's are beautiful. I'm only on tier one. Lynn wasn't there but I want her colorway and I'm still looking for Erin. Everyone who saw these at String yesterday oohed and aahed. A must knit. You too can cast on.

Saw a lot of friends yesterday. Robin, Lisa (hey - did you have enough to finish the footies?) The normal String knitters, Tim, Kate, Diane, Dani, Jody and others. The store was so busy. Max is getting big. Cassidy has really cute hair. New classes are starting soon. There's some lime green lace weight mohair that has summer shawl written all over it. Didn't buy the new Noro sock. I want to feel someones after it's washed before I cave.

Sunday stash report. Nothing out permanently but very soon. Two skeins of green Lorna's Laces sock from Knit Knack. I also traded colors of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Blush pink for a peach which is in my colors, the pink really wasn't after I had my colors done (this is for Silver Belle). Two new size 0 Addi Turbos (Knit the socks Kath and you won't be needed to buy these!) A new Atenti bag was ordered from Dreamweaver Yarns - I know this was very bad, but look at Palms and Fronds and you will understand.

I think that is all. Chinese food for supper, yum. DH is on his way to pick it up.

I need to cast on.