little bit of crazy leaking out

Yesterday, I swallowd my pride and returned to the place of my mortification.  I am so glad I did, I had such a good time and I met so many nice, local knitters; several I knew from their blogs or from KALs.  It was nice to be able to put a face to the names.

After the incident last weekend, since I had a whole ‘nother week before the knit-in, I started a small vest from the Warm Wollies pattern.  I was able to finish it at the knit-in, it would have benefitted from a bit of blocking but, all things considered, I think it turned out well.

pattern:  Warm Woolies Good Friends Cables Vest size 3-4
yarn:  Knit Picks Wool of the Andies in Asparagus, doubled
needles:  Boye Needle Master US10.5
cast on: May 20th   cast off:  May 27th
notes:  I changed the cable to one from Inspired Cable Knits, no reason in particular, just liked this one.  It would have benefitted from a good blocking, but as the party was over at 6pm and I cast off at 6:15 or so, I decided it was fine without the blocking.

We all received cute little gift bags with a button, a magnet with Dulaan the alpaca on it and a stitch marker that Ryan and TMK made.  Daughter wanted the stitch marker for fishing, I vetoed that idea.

Frankie was such a trooper with all us strangers invading her house, but she was all tuckered out by the end of the evening.

No, really, I used to sew - a lot.  I sewed almost all of the kids clothes, I made baby quilts as gifts for friends, I sewed bags and purses, and accessories for the home.  Now, not so much.

I was looking thru some things on the computer and found the backups for two old web sites I used to keep up, mostly they were a place to keep track of my sewing projects, but they have been long since deleted from the internet and only exist on my lowly computer. 

I decided to add my old projects to this blog, and started doing so this morning.  The ones added this morning were from 2004: January, February, March, April, May, and June. 

There are gaps in the time line.  Like between June of 2004 and October of the same year when I started my blog at Blogger.  I also found projects from 2002 and 2003, including my very first knitting projects.  I will continue adding these early projects over the next week or so, we’ll see how it goes.

Yesterday after my MoRH(tm Brenda Dayne) I bought yarn,  nothing like a little retail therapy.  I needed some red cotton for the mid-May dishcloth for the Monthly Dishcloth Along.  I hit Fred Meyer because they had a buy two get one free deal and they carry Lion Cotton, I picked up three balls, but no red.  BTW, Fred Meyer carries a few colors of Lion Wool. 

Still in search of red I headed over to JoAnn, where I went a little cotton crazy.  I had stopped at Costco on my way to the Knit-in (sigh) and picked up Mason*Dixon Knitting and Inspired Cable Knits, while looking thru them I found that quite a few of the projects in Mason*Dixon were knit with kitchen cotton.  I especially like the little baby kimono.  So, I did a little stocking up on kitchen cotton, including some red, just in case, I also picked up a couple of patterns so I can get a start on my summer sewing for Daughter, Color-splash Dishcloths by Evelyn A. Clark and a piece of muslin for a doll.

When I got home I cast on for the Dishcloth Along and then finished it up today.

pattern: Go Red For Women by Sarah Wennagole
yarn:  Lion Cotton - Poppy Red
cast-on:  May 19th
cast-off:  May 20th
notes:  This pattern is to remind women that heart desease is the number one killer of women (and men).  Find out more at www.goredforwomen.org.

For most of the last three weeks I have been cooped up at home with two sick children.  Oh, the joys of motherhood; fevers, cough, vomiting and laundry.  Just the tip of the iceberg.

Today, I was thrilled to pack the knitting bag, some snacks and a chair and head off to the Dulaan Knit In.  Wait, you say, that isn’t until next weekend.  Yeah.

The door opened partially and a woman peeked out, “Hello?”

“Hi, I’m here for the knit along.”

There was a pause, then, “Oh, for Dulaan.  That’s not till next weekend”

To say I was embarassed would be like saying the ocean has a few fish in it.  TMK was very kind and invited me in, and I was able to meet Frankie, who is, I think, one of the cutest dogs I have ever met. 

As we chatted my embarassment chaged to moritfication as I realized this was prime blog fodder. OMG!  I am glad Ryan wasn’t there, and wasn’t expected back until much later, or TMK suggested she may have tried to get me set up . . . knitting . . . alone . . . for the blog.

Let me just add, that I don’t deal with embarassment well, or, at all.  As I drove home I went thru the “five stages of blog denial”

Denial - TMK will tell Ryan about how embarassed I was and she won’t blog about it.  (ha, right!)

Anger - I am such an idiot!  Can’t I even read a calendar?  (followed by a bit of bad language)

Bargaining - Oh great blog goddess, if Ryan doesn’t blog about this I will be a better blogger.  I promise.  I will get a cat so I can post cat pictures with wry and witty captions.  No, really I will.

Depression -  I can never show my face again, I have to delete my blog and go into internet hiding.  Where’s the chocolate?  I need a stiff drink.

Acceptance - I might as well post my side of the story and hope for the best. 

My husband commented, “Well, at least they know you’re eager to knit for Dulaan.”  How come that is of very little comfort?

. . . a finished object.  I have been working on too many projects at the same time.  This makes for lots of knitting but no finishing.  That is, until today.  Today I sat down and knit up a washcloth from the Dishcloth a Month KAL and it felt very nice to actually finish something.

pattern: flower dishcloth from the Dishcloth a Month KAL
yarn:  Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Cotton in Hot Green
cast on/off:  May 19th

Today is the start of the Bazaar Socks KAL and we already have some questions from our participants. 

Gail asked:  I’ve had a problem already not understanding PGR provisional cast on.  :-(  After several hours of frustration, I just used the crochet provisional cast on.  Is there a tutorial anywhere showing the one referenced on the pattern?

Yes, Gail, there is a wonderful video tutorial at KnittingHelp.com.  The tuorial is about half way down the the page.  I think I will be using the circular needle version, looks like it would be easier to start knitting the other way with.

This will be an adventure for me as I have never done a toe up sock.  I have my sock yarn, but I need to figure out how I am going to mix the colors.  Time to pull out the colored pencils and graph paper.   I think it will be a couple of days before I will be starting my socks since I have sick children at home right now.

Anyone else?

Random musings mostly on knitting: 

I was able to spend the morning with my daughter at the clinic.  She has had a cough for almost 2 weeks, so after a blood test and chest x-rays (both were fine) we were sent home with two prescriptions and instructions to return if she wasn’t better in a week or so.  I’ll be taking the son in later as he has been coughing too.  It’s hard to get over something when you aren’t sleeping, so after lunch I’ll bundle him off.

I was able to do some knitting on my Lupine Lace socks while waiting.  I am really enjoying this pattern, so easy to memorize, and it has that nice little bit of lace.  Speaking of lace, I joined yet another KAL.

The plan is to complete several lace projects this summer; the Flower Basket Shawl will be the main project, but also finishing Branching Out and a couple of pairs of socks.

I have been knitting lately, just not blogging about it too much.  I have finished the main knitting on Molly from Junior Knits by Debbie Bliss for Daughter.  I need to seam it up and knit the ribbing on the cuffs.  I used Mission Falls 1824 Wool, I really am loving this yarn.  I have enough, in my stash, for two more sweaters, in theory one for the son and another one for the daughter.

Yesterday, while at Costco to pick up just a couple of things, I took a stroll thru the book section. Oh. My. Goodness.  There was a huge stack of knitting books from Potter Craft.  The titles included:  Big Girl Knits, Morehouse Farms Merino Knits, Mason-Dixon Knitting, and Inspired Cable Knits.  They were all $18.49! 

These are the two that followed me home and will go back for the other two soon.

I have been swatching for a new project, a felted knitting bag.  I found some lovely Noro Kureyon, color 81. it has purple and green, which are my colors, with white and brown.  Brown, not my color.  Not at all. So I edited my Kureyon.

Does anyone else do this, or have I commited a sin in the world of Noro knitters? 

I think I will use the edited out bits to knit up the felted bowl that is in One Skein.  For the bag I will be using some Cascade 220 in a dark purple, the same one I used for my Hermione Mittens, and I’m swatching to find a white/natural yarn that will felt.  I know pure white, that has been bleached, won’t felt, so I’m trying some Cascade 220 in Natural.  I have knitted the swatch but still need to throw it into the washing machine, to see how well it felts.

I guess I’ve rambled on enough . . . I’m going to go outside and enjoy the day.