Category: Blog

My Secret Pal, Catherine, revealed herself to me in a fantastic non-fibery package. SHe knows us so well, Donald (a Thomas & Friends engine for those of you not in the know) for Trevor and the 311 Greatest Hits album. Let me tell you, you can never go wrong in this house with 311 & any Thomas accoutrement!

Thank you Catherine, I now look forward to snooping on your blog & leaving random, sometimes meaningful, comments!

And in other sp news, I can reveal who I have been sending to, Shara of Shara’s Chatter. It was a great round this time & I am so pleased to have ‘met’ both of these gals! I hope we can keep in touch! Thanks for making this so fun!!

I have myself all psyched out about George’s sweater (see ‘Knitting is fun in the rain’ post from yesterday). I cast on, got the ribbing done, the screwed up completely on the increase row. The instructions say ‘inc in next st’. I am so used to doing a M1 that I kept doing it without realizing that was how I was increasing. I would get the the last dozen stitches and realize I had a few more than I should, rip it back, put it down until the morning. it’s probably not smart to cast on a sweater after 11pm Okay, next morning, third time was the charm so I move on. I get through a full cable repeat and then some without any trouble. Sweet! My allergies start to act up, which they really like to do when there are clouds in the area, and I put it down because the focus factor is completely gone! The good thing is that the my granny square blanket is going to grow rather large on the breaks. Tracy & I meet downtown to do a bit of shopping in the rain, not the most brilliant idea but it was kinda nice to be out in it, and some coffee with knitting on the side. I pull it out & start going. Lo & behold I make a mistake on the first of 6 rows that I get done in that half hour. I get home & have to rip it back. I redo the row & decide I best put it down until I have my confidence back to pick it up.

Now,there are not many things that bother me like this. I would like to blame it on the lack of concentration with my head full of nasty mucus  but I am not sure I can blame that. I think it’s the garter stitch in between the cable sections. I am not a fan of g stitch so I avoid it whenever I can. But in this pattern I rather like how it looks so I have kept it. I will pick up that sweater & not have any more ripping out until it is finished!  Which needs to be done in 2+ weeks from now so that George can wear it on his ski trip. That is a lofty goal, even for me the sweater a week girl! So, if you see me working on other projects, scold me! No, not really, I bite back.

I have been knitting I just haven’t been talking about is so much!

I started a homespun blanket using leftovers from the other 2 blankets I made. This one is my own granny square rendition. It measures about 21″ across right now.

The pictures may be hazy because I was outside taking pics of the rainy mess and didn’t give the camera enough time to dehaze.

Here are the colors of Homespun that I have to work with. It will be funky & colorful to say the least!

Next up are the yarns that Tracy & I dyed on Saturday. They didn’t come out quite as well as we would have liked due to the fact that the Caramel colored dye didn’t do crap to the yarn but turn a few spots this awful diarrhea yellow color. Uch! So we had to overdye them with teal & turquoise. You can see a bit of the uch in the ball on the lower left. The red is so bright it just flares out the picture.

 

George finally decided that I could make him something. I guess all the cold & rain made him feel the need for a new sweater. I showed him some pics & he chose a sweater out of Rowan 38. They call for Rowanspun Aran, I have Rowanspun dk in my stash so that is what I am using. George does not like heavy sweaters so the lightweight, airy feel of the dk works nicely. It matches gauge, which is convenient, but it is rather holey. He likes the feel of it so that works!

Of course I still have 3 pair of socks on needles but since George is taking a ski trip to Tahoe in 3 weeks I thought I would set some of them aside to have his sweater ready for the trip.

The blanket is one I can’t wait to have finished, so cuddly and yummy! I will work on it to take a break from the sweater. Using a size K crochet hook & thick yarn makes for quick growth!

I just found this shirt & I think it’s a must have.

There are so many knit t’s on cafepress but these take the cake for ‘cool’ I think.

I don’t think my husband would be too happy with more than one knit bumper sticker on the family wagon. But he may not get a choice in the matter! Anyone else in on an order to combine? I just don’t want to pay the shipping for one or two items.