Category: Blog

I posted a new photo to apad2.

Phew, 2.4 miles & 18 rows logged today.

I am very much a multi-tasker. Since George & Tracy were working I couldn’t call & bug them while on my walk. Talking is my preferred method of entertainment while exercising. So I thought I would give my very favorite past time a whirl while walking, knitting.

I grabbed the Jaywalkers I started for my mom  a while back using Over the Rainbow Pebble superwash merino, stuck them in my bag with camera, sony discman (I am so old school, I know) with Operation Ivy,  Smartwater and took off.

So I figure if I can keep the socks going to motivate me. Mom asked why she had no new socks. Now I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

I have to say I am rather proud of myself for this one!

If you know me you know that there is NO WAY IN HELL that I can possibly do this

I don’t know if I will officially join because I know I won’t complete the 100 miles but maybe, just maybe it will get me out for at least a few walks a week. I may be thin but I am not healthy by any means. I would like to just say that if anyone wants to join me, great! If not, I totally do not blame you ;o)

So I may have mentioned in my last post that I was starting to inventory and catalog my yarns. Right. Well I have worked daily on it, some days hours & hours, other days just random bits of time here & there. I will defenitely have some yarn with me Thursday night at Java Station to give away. Maybe not much, not nearly as much as the last time. I have done maybe half  of my stash so far (not including bins of cones in the shed). Here is an example of how I am list cataloging things:

Plymouth

Encore Colors– D1 – 20sts US6 – 150 yards

7305 green,yellow,blue, 12+ balls

7301 butterscotch, 12 balls

Manufacturer name

Yarn style name-drawer (or place) it is in- gauge- yardage per ball/skein/hank/cone

Individual color name or number, number of balls/skeins/hanks/cones

Every time I use something, or heaven forbid buy or inherit yarn, I will cross it off or add it on. I think that sounds a lot simpler than it is actually going to be. sigh.

I have been knitting solely on the cashmere plum vest from Vogue fall ’06. I am happy with it so far. The back is done and the front is a couple inches above the feather & fan bottom edge now. I want to be done with it in the next few days but my organizing has greatly taken away from my knitting time.

Yeah, so that’s about it for now. No pictures until the vest is finished probably.

How much stockinette stitch can one person take before they need a break? Well I will tell you, 13″ on size 6 needles. Last night I took it upon myself, after hours of knitting stockinette, to take a break from the cashmere vest and swatch (or start, depending on how you look at it) the maroon cashmere, from Colourmart of course,  for the Karabella Yarns Spiral Hexagon Shawl. I have been wanting to crochet that shawl for well over a year and didn’t seem to have the right yarn. Well, duh! It was sitting there in the drawer calling out to me, but until last night the pattern & yarn didn’t meet in my brain.

So here is the six inch hexagon (there needs to be 15 to make the shawl) washed, dryed and blocked.

It took me about an hour and a half to make. Not bad. And 15 isn’t too overwhelming of a number so I do believe I will make one whenever the fancy strikes me.

 

First, it is our 11th wedding anniversary on the 20th of this month. My husband is a general contractor and has gone through 3 wedding rings. The first (and only one he is still in posession of) is a simple gold band a good 3 sizes too small for him. He has meaty hands I am proud to say ;o) The second ring he lost while building a restaurant in Colorado 7 years ago (after he smashed it so badly he almost had to cut it off his finger, he misplaced it before he could take it to a jeweler to have it reshaped. It’s probably built into a wall or behind one of the huge industrial kitchen appliances), the third ring (which was my favorite by far and closest match to my antique wedding ring) he lost a few months ago playing beach volleyball. He took it off so it wouldn’t chafe and lost it somewhere in the sand. He really was sure he put it in his backpack but alas, it was not there when he went to put it back on.

So with some moneys I made, you read that right folks I earned some money, I just bought him a new ring for an anniversary gift. He was actually really upset he lost the last ring, he liked it too. Here is a glimpse of it. Titanium and 18k gold.

I love it.

Like I love him.

Okay, I love him more.

Secondly, those of you who live or have lived or even visited Santa Barbara know our lack of realistic shopping spots here in town. If we want some place fun (that wouldn’t take an entire paycheck for one item) to shop we have to drive an hour to Ventura. No Wallie world here, no Target for us. But, come April/May we will have our very own Old Navy. You read right folks!! My kids can have cute disposable clothes, finally! I love clearance, I love sales, I love shopping and not having an Old Navy has been a real problem for me living here again. I didn’t even mind it when I lived in the mountains & had to drive down half an hour to shop in the valley. But when I have to go from one urban area to another urban area an hour away from my house for such a popular store I just don’t have it in me. So, Ross will have a serious contender pretty soon. They better woo me with some good deals!

Kinda like the deals I got today at the thrift store. 1 pointelle cardigan, 5 pairs of pants/jeans & 6 pair of shorts for a whopping  $10 total. All in like new condition, all the perfect sizes for the kids. Gotta love that find! It’s like someone that has kids one step above mine came & dropped them off with my name on them. Fan-frickin-tastic!

Now off to do some knitting. I havent’ knit a stitch yet today and if I want to get my cashmere vest done I had better work on it. Do you think I can actually work on it until it’s done without picking up anything else? That is my goal, wish me luck!

Granted, I do start teaching the beginning sweater class next Tuesday so that puts me on a deadline. I work well under time constraints, gets the fire burning under my tush.

 

For weeks I have been trying to build up the strength to go through my stash and organize. My friend Christine over at Tallulah’s World has had a moth infestation and got me all freaked out ;o) In a good way, of course, it put a serious fire under my butt to get my yarn protected.

So, yesterday I started, if you didn’t notice by all the pictures of my sock stash. I decided to go one step at a time. Tracy thinks I should photo my progress for you all. That might scare you all & embarrass myself. I have more yarn than I could ever possibly use in my lifetime. If I knit only from my stash it would take me a solid 5 years to knit it all. Sweaters, blankets, socks, etc etc.

 I got through knitpicks yarns, Handpaintedyarns and all sock yarns. I used Ziploc gallon sized and Ziploc Big Bags size XL, 2ft x 1.7ft.

Sock yarn drawer top view

Sock yarn drawer from front

Handpaintedyarn in an XL bag

Knitpicks yarns in XL bag

Okay, so do you see how this is working out? Those bags will end up in the wool drawer which is above the sock yarn drawer. I still have to actually empty the wool drawer, organize, bag and catalog it. That is my goal today. We’ll see if that actually happens. Whew. Guilt abounds over here at the A household for the amount of yarn I have.

I posted a new photo to yarn.

I posted a new photo to yarn.

34 mph average winds, power outages (or surges as the kids call them), gazebo’s blowing over (and top ripped completely off, beyond repair, lame!), shingles flying off roofs (yes we still have cedar roof shingles),  recycle bins blowing down the street. That was the last 24 hours here in lovely Goleta. We don’t get snow, but it’s pretty much garaunteed that we will get a great windstorm sometime around new years. A little too unsettling for me. I kept finding myself spinning faster when the wind blew harder, slower when it calmed down. I had to just stop & read my Robert Jordan books (finished book 3 yesterday).

Today, a lot less wind, 12 mph average it says. Sunshine but a little nip to it. The kids actually moved all of the gazebo frame pieces off to one side of the yard for me. They were happy to see it down only to be able to ride their battery operated race cars around & around in circles without banging into the corners of the gazebo.

Knitting tonight, Java Station, be there!