Update on the Knitting

On the needles right now are Herringbone Rib Socks from IK last issue (Winter I think.) It all started with a plane ride to San Antonio. Here I am casting on and watching a podcast of LetsKnit2gether.

As I was working these I noticed that the color was pooling into diagonal stripes. The cool thing was that I seemed to have cast on in a slightly different spot for each toe and now the stripes look like they are moving from one sock to the other:

After working the heel this didn't happen anymore. To continue the coolness I decided to make the heel out of a complimentary color and WALA!

We're back in business! Dang! I just realized that I probably didn't need to go out and buy another skein. I have virtually the same brown in a different yarn. It's just as well though. The socks I made out of that yarn have since felted. The yarn for these socks is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway Roadside Gerry. I didn't even think of going back to the stash for the heels because I originally wanted a color to match the orange. They didn't have that but they did have the lovely brown in Shepherd Sock, so at least the fabric is consistent. Josie's Blanket

Underneath the socks is a baby blanket I'm working on for my future granddaughter. She's due on April 4. I've got to get crackin' on the invitations for DD's shower. Here's what they look like and where you can get them too:

Gina Jane's "Little Cards" Pansy Garden Tea Cup Card

The cutting is a B-word since I sprained my wrist on our snowboarding trip last week. But I think the card is so cute!

Here's the blanket so far:

I've done this one before in blue. I liked the yarn much better for that one. This one's Bernat Baby Coordinates. I should have used bamboo needles for it because my Knit Picks keep catching on the fiber and snagging it. I'm stubborn though, so I haven't changed yet. Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday was my birthday. Before I whine I should say that I'm too old to whine about a birthday. It was no one's fault, but I can't help but feel, um, whiny. There. Hey, it's my birthday and I can whine if I want to! DH put his back out last weekend and had an impossible deadline for work, so we didn't get to go out like he said we would. I had to take my mom to the doctor and it was pouring down rain. At the parking kiosk, the window wouldn't return to it's full upright and locked position, so I had about an inch open with rain coming in. Thank God it didn't stick all the way down. My attitude was so bad He could have made it do that. When we got back to her place I was able to pull it up manually. DD called to wish me a happy birthday and asked what we were doing for it. Um, nothing. Well, we got Chinese food and that was ok with me. I had actually decided I'd rather do that before DH suggested that it was too late to go out. The killer for me was when this comedian, Andrew Dice Clay came on TV. I don't like him. Now I remember why. DH snickered at some of the jokes and I asked him to turn it off. He went back to work and I went to bed. The end. My mom wanted to buy me a card right there in the store with me standing there since she hadn't had a chance to earlier. (I'm her means of transportation.) I wouldn't let her. Too embarrasing. MIL just called to wish me a happy belated birthday. She said she didn't get a chance to go out and get a card yesterday because it was pouring down rain. I said, "I know." DS 1 & 2 didn't call. Probably overlooked it. Can I get a WHAAAAAAAAA!?!?!?!?!?!? or maybe just some WINE!

I'm A Broody Broad.

Here I am again. I've become inspired to update my blog while reading other's. One post that really rocked my world this morning was Christine Kane's blog. I stumbled on it from Cast-On. I'm new to Brenda's site, but I've been listening to her podcasts for quite a while now. I started with #1 and am finally up to #69. Anyway, now I'm a Christine Kane fan. You've got to watch the videos on her site, especially the one called "There's No Such Thing As A Girl Like That." It just cracked me up. Here, in case you just want to see that one:

The reason Christine's post spoke to me this morning is because I've been feeling really broody lately. More than lately, I'm a broody broad. They used to say that about me when I was 5 or so. I don't suppose it could be that I'm naturally shy and my parents were always fighting and I probably saw and heard more than a small child should. In my 40's I've learned not to be so moody. Dennis Prager helped with that. His Happiness Hour on Fridays is always a must listen for me. I keep digressing. I have been feeling like I don't know what to do with my life. I've been drifting. See, DH and I have had our own business for 25 years. I haven't had a "real" job (meaning corporate) for that long. I've made it up as I went, using the skills a 20 something had learned from Accounting I and working as a clerk in an insurance company. I learned to be good at customer service, (the customer is always.....?) I learned how to do craft services (we had a video company), I'm a real good go-fer, (I really resent that one, but who else would do it?) receptionist, (don't call me if you're a telemarketer!) dabbled in marketing, shipping clerk, and of course CFO. I was a boss once. I wasn't good at it. Not a good delegator. We closed the video-for-hire side of our business probably about 10 years ago and were left with our product line of instructional videos. About 5 years ago, that started to fail. This was also about the time that our children were ready to fly on their own. God is good! He sustained us for all those years, got us through raising 3 kids and then He said it's time for something new. Only we didn't listen right away. We kept slogging along until our lease on the building was up and we decided to move the business home. Now our offices are in the bedrooms our kids used to occupy. There's still an empty room which is becoming a catch all. It has been available for the rebounders, but I think they are finally done with that. The garage is packed with outdated video gear, and tape, remnants of a past life. DH never was that interested in the instructional video stuff we did. We did another couple of videos and then he decided that he needed to get a job. He now works for the company that we did the videos for. The videos are on their software product. He seems to like what he's doing most of the time. It's like production for him again. Me, I'm just dealing with the remnants of this company, shipping orders when they come in and getting depressed when they don't. My days have become less about business and more about wasting time. My thought process is why promote a business that doesn't put out new product? It's not evergreen. The stuff is getting old. We should just stop, but I haven't wanted to let go either. If I get a sale or two why stop? Probably dumb. I guess I like self flaggelation. It really would take the two of us getting our heads together and saying, "This is it. We're done. It's over." Oh, that makes me want to cry. I'm tearing up right now. So I've got to move on. I've been brooding about this for too long. It's time to move. One of the things I learned along the way is how to make a web site. I've been doing that since somewhere around 1994. Unfortunately, I really only know how to hand code stuff. That takes a long time, but I love it. I also know that I need to get up to speed on the newest ways to do stuff. I used to try WYSIWYG programs but they always messed up my shopping cart. I haven't tried one in years. Lately, I,ve been working on a site for R-Ranch, which we are members of. When they ask me to update the pictures it it tedious and painful. The guy who started the site used some template that I am unaware of and I got into it and figured out how to add a few pics. Last time there were 50 or more and I decided that there has got to be a better way. I know that I could learn from the internet or reading books, but I have tried and I'm not very diciplined. I always want to jump ahead. So I decided that I will go back to school. There's some more brooding attached to that. I'm old now. I know some stuff. Will I be wasting my time? Do I really need to get a degree? I'd like one but it's a big time investment. I need to get a job. I need to pay for my knitting habit. On and on and on.... Last week I had a dream about this that said I should sign up for 2 classes, one online and one on campus. So I did. It's only 4 units. Maybe I should sign up for more. The classes are filling up. On and on and on..... Nope, stick to the 2 and see how it goes. Then next semester you will be in and can get the times and classes you want. Ramp it up, girl. Dip your toe in the water and see if you like it. Big sigh. Ok. If anyone is actually reading this I hope you don't mind all the ranting. It's hard to let my underwear show, but I guess I need this. This blog was only supposed to be about knitting, but I need to let off a little steam now and then. I'd love to have a job where I knit all day, but that's not likely to happen. ;)

Finished!

Today I finished the Oriel Lace Blouse! Whooo Hooo! I'm going to wear it to church tomorrow. It looks great if I say so myself!

I had it done except for the placket and buttons for several weeks. I even got the sleeves done and sewn in a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I was working on them when I lost my cat. He sat with me while I sewed them in. On 8/7 I had the back door open because it was so hot. I heard the dog chase him, but I thought he went upstairs. When I went to bed I noticed that he was missing, but he always shows up in the front yard, so I didn't worry. The next day he didn't show up and I got concerned. The dog looked so guilty when I asked him about the cat. After a few days I made up missing cat flyers and took them around the neighborhood. A few hours later I got a call from our neighbor 2 doors down and she said,"I've seen your cat. He's in Buellton." I said, "excuse me?" Buellton is 130 miles away from my house. Turns out he had gotten into the storage compartment of thier camper and rode all the way up there with them. He jumped out and scared them to death when they opened the door. They tried to get him back and he hung around for a couple of days, but wouldn't come to them. I called the animal shelter, but they haven't seen him. Every couple of days I check www.petharbor.com, but he doesn't show up. We went to Buellton the next weekend, but didn't find him. We left missing cat flyers around, but haven't heard anything yet. I really, really miss him.

Finished Another! Yesterday I had to take my mom to the doctor and the grocery store. It's warm out but when we go to the grocery store I always freeze. I was looking for something to wear and remembered that a couple of summers ago I made a sweater out of a heavy cotton yarn. I ran out before I made the sleeves so I wore it without them as a tank. Turns out the cotton was so hot I didn't wear it much after that. I did go back to the store to get more yarn and finished the sleeves but I never set them in. When I decided to wear it I found the sleeves and decided to sew them in. Yay! Another sweater done!

Front Back It's funny, now that I'm more experienced I noticed all the imperfections in it. It looks ok. It's a little loose, but that's perfect since I overdid it on the carbs this week. It was great for the frigid grocery store. And Yet Another! Today was the day for finishing. I finished my Coupling socks too! I had them done for a couple of days except for the bind off. I did the same bind off that I used for RPM. See the post below. I love them! I'd wear them tomorrow too, but they don't exactly go with the blouse. Oh well, I'll definitely wear them in Amsterdam.

We are going to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks. DH is working, but I'm going to hang out with the boss's wife. I'm looking forward to it. Hope I can find a yarn shoppe! Currently On The Needles The latest project is a wrap. I call it my Simple Sideways Wrap. I got the yarn last week at Unwind. They gave me a pattern for a wrap they have in the shop, but when I got home and cast on it wasn't what I remembered. I fooled around a little and came up with a pattern of my own. It is knit, left leaning decrease, knit, yo. I say "left leaning" because I knit combination and for me it's k2tog, but if you were to do that with western style knitting it looks different. So If you want it to look like mine you'd have to ssk. Or you can slant it the other direction. I think you'd start with the yo, but I haven't tried it myself yet. I started a cozy for my Zen with this pattern and the sock yarn from coupling. It's a yarn called "Maizy" and it is made from corn fiber. The only thing I don't like is that it was spun in Taiwan. Why did they have to do that? I believe that Crystal Palace Yarns is an American company. I guess it's cheaper, but is transporting the fiber back and forth worth the savings? I remember when things used to have a made in USA label on them. Now you don't see that much if at all. My next quest will be to find fiber that is manufactuered in the US.

Knit Knite Out

Last night I went to socialize with other knitters at my LYS. Seems that most LYSs have knitting groups that meet on Thursday nights. I tried to connect with another group, but this one for some reason is comfortable. I also ended up buying a new skein. Oops, that wasn't on the agenda. $40 bucks, but I couldn't resist. I love the weight of this yarn. It is Laurel, 100% mercerized pima cotton from Schaefer Yarn. The colorway is Susan Sontag. It reminds me of the beach. The silver, light brown and white are so soothing. There was a shawl/wrap made from it in the store and it just hangs beautifly.

I cast(ed) on as soon as I got home and quickly discovered that the instructions don't seem to be the same as the wrap in the store. It has a wider rib than what the directions say. Since I couldn't sleep, I fooled around a bit and I think I've got it now. I want to go back and look at the original just to be sure. Also since I knit combination style, I decided that I don't need to k2tog by flipping the stitches around. I did that for like 10 rows which slowed me down and looks kind of crappy. It doesn't matter which direction my rib goes! It's a shawl and it's mine, all mine! ;)

Happy Socks!

I finally finished my RPM socks last night. They are from Knitty.com Summer 2006. I made some adjustments to the pattern. First of all I made them toe up, two at a time on two circular needles. Then I made them much longer than the pattern. They fit pretty good, but when I went to bind off it was too tight. I originally did the sewn bind off, but it was too tight. So I did some searching and came up with the Russian bind-off. You can view the info here: http://wendyknits.net/archives/1152 This bind off came out much stretchier.

I forgot to mention that I also worked the design opposite on each sock. I thought I might look fun and interesting that way. They are made from Knit Picks Felici, colorway Pebble.

Brown, Brown, Everything Is Brown... During the winter I decided that I needed some brown socks to go with my brown slacks. Now I've got 3 pairs and I'm bored with brown! Not exactly a summer color. Think I'll go buy me some new sock yarn. And while I'm at it I need some yarn for the trim on my Origami purse from Folk Bags. I'm not showing you 'till it's done, but it's made from Noro Silk Garden. It seems a little thick, but we'll talk about that later.