Lazy Sunday...

With a full day of rain yesterday, and no real plans today (besides going out to breakfast and texting back and forth with a friend all day), I was able to get a lot of knitting done. Worked exclusively on my project #3.

Finished the colorwork band so here's a photo of the piece and a photo of the detail.

Looks like compared to yesterday, I have absolutely nothing to say. Goodnight...

Planes Departing Logan and Tropical Storm Danny...

The former Hurricane Danny is making its way by Massachusetts. It's raining and cool, so we finally have some decent sleeping weather...or at least normal people do. Saturday mornings are a war of wills between me, Tubby and Munchie; who double-team me when they feel it's time for breakfast. As long as I don't wake them they'll hold out until 6:30 or so, but if I make make an early trip to the bathroom, they inevitably win the battle.
The first plane left Logan this morning at 5:45 AM. (Side note: the first plane to leave every morning is carrying lobsters to the west coast.) The second plane went out at 5:47, and the next one went out at 5:49. Generally, I'm not bothered by the planes at all. I'm not in the direct path of any runway, and unless the planes are departing to the east, I don't even hear them. For the most part, the planes take off to the north or south, but it is dependent on the weather and the wind conditions. This morning, they are leaving to the east. No plane left at 5:51, so Munchie took the opportunity to use this time slot to her best advantage, in the hopes of getting an early breakfast no doubt. I'm pretty certain that Munch thinks I'm a cat, and not just any cat: HER cat. (I'm about to describe her most annoying habit, so if you don't have a strong constitution, you should probably skip down to the last paragraph in which I blather on about my knitting.) Munch likes to "groom" me. She licks the side of my face right along my hairline, with a tongue that is comparable to a 120 grit sandpaper. It hurts, and it bugs the crap out of me. She generally pulls this stunt in the morning when I'm not fully awake yet. After a couple minutes of her trying to lick me while I thrashed around trying to get away from her, the next plane took off at 5:54. Clearly, it was time to get up. My roommate just came out of her room for a sec, and probably thinks I'm insane to be sitting at the computer at 7AM on a Saturday...
It is supposed to rain all day, so I'm half hoping that I'll see my new and improved sump pump in action. It has been so hot lately that the ground is totally dry. Here is my new pump and backup system: just waiting patiently for the water table to rise...




(Yes, those ARE asbestos backed vinyl tiles. As long as I don't touch them, they are no danger to anyone. To remove them I have to bring in a specialist, and after all the repairs made to my house this month, the tiles aren't even on my radar.)






So I'm cruising along on my project #3, which I suppose I can call FMB. It is going so quickly that I should probably get about six inches done today without a problem. I'm probably going to go about eight inches or so in orange before I start a two shade, colorwork band. Maybe I can get that posted tomorrow...we'll see.

My computer is finally home...

So my computer is fixed. It cost a king's ransom, but it's as clean as a whistle. Of course it is completely empty and I need to reload everything, but I'll do it over the weekend. My yard sale has been postponed due to an approaching hurricane, so I'll have lots of time for indoor activities...

The Red Sox are getting killed 9-2, so I thought I'd come load photos of my progress the last 10 days or so. First a quick welcome home to my friend D, who was away at Prince Edward Island on vacation, and didn't see Munchie for nearly two weeks. When she finally came for a visit, Munch immediately sat on her and didn't get up until D had to leave.

My afghan is actually about six inches longer than this photo portrays, but it's a good indicator as to recent progress. I was not yet using the lifeline when this shot was taken. It is saving me a lot of aggravation.

My twirly skirt is showing an inch of its third tier. I don't think I'll get back to this until next week because of my hands. Plus, my third project needs some attention, which leads me to my next photo.




This is the re-do of the gift for my friend S. I cast on differently than the one I frogged in a previous post, so it doesn't have the nifty orange square, but it'll be cool once I get a little further along.















My last photo is of a creature that was waiting for me when I left for work a few days ago. She was so striking that I ran in the house to get my camera. Generally, I'm not that hip into spiders, but you have to admit she's pretty cool looking.

Project Runway is on in about 45 minutes, so that's all for now...

Tuesday is Knitting Night!

It is Tuesday, so my knitting group is meeting tonight. More often than not, everyone comes to my house. We watch the Red Sox (tonight vs White Sox), look at patterns any of us have picked up since we last met, and admire progress made on UFOs. The group started a couple years back with two other founding members. Unfortunately one of us passed away, so my "group" chugged along as a two-some for two years. In the last 6-8 weeks, we've welcomed four (!) new members...five if you count our youngest member who started attending at 2 1/2 weeks of age. She's only been to a couple meetings, so she really hasn't mastered anything to speak of. And she appears to be bored, because she sleeps most of the time...

I've been putting a lot of time into my twirly skirt, and my carpal tunnel is not so coincidentally acting up. I'm a really tight thrower. Between the tiny linen yarn and the size 3 needles, I think I'm doing myself in. I even wore one of my wrist braces to work (which I rarely do) because three of my fingers were numb and tingly yesterday. To give my wrist and hands a rest, tonight I will be casting on the maroon and orange item for my friend S that I ripped out two weeks ago. I'm feeling really guilty that I haven't finished it (or even re-started it) in the promised time frame, so I'll get that cooking. It is Cascade 220 on size 10 1/2 needles for those of you who forgot.

So that's pretty much it. Computer in shop. Tim Wakefield starting tomorrow (sit down Penny, you suck). Not remotely prepared for yard sale. Hand-washing dishes for the foreseeable future. Learning very cool, very complicated stuff at work. Close friends bought a house less than a mile from mine and move in one week from today: might kidnap the wife and bring her to knitting night...

Still no computer...No pictures for you!

My home computer has been down for over a week now; actually IN the shop since last Tuesday. It was awful not having it over the weekend...I raced into the office this morning to check the activity on a credit card that has been MIA for a couple days, and then called the company to freeze the card and order a new one. I realized I didn't have it when I went to pay for a couple patterns at Minds Eye Yarns on Saturday morning, although I didn't really think someone took it. It's probably in the pocket of the pair of pants I was wearing the last time I bought gas, and it'll turn up as soon as I get my new card. Better safe than sorry.

Yes, I went to check out Minds Eye in Porter Square. I was very proud of myself - I only bought three of Jen Hagen's patterns, and I didn't buy any yarn. They have spinning classes in this shop; a tidbit of trivia that I'll file in the back of my mind for later use. I'd love to learn how to spin, but I just cannot do anything else at this time. Seriously. BTW, the woman who owns the shop was very nice.

The weather here is still hot and crazy humid. I just couldn't bring myself to finish the front steps. My yardsale is this coming Saturday, and I'll just have to take comfort in the fact that the stairs look 100% better than they did before I stained them and primed the woodwork for painting. I can only do so much. And to add insult to injury, my dishwasher is now broken. What the hell? In the last three weeks, I've had to repair my central air, I've had to install a new sump pump, my computer caught FaceBook herpes, and my dishwasher died.

On a more productive note, my afghan and twirly skirt are cruising toward completion. I'm probably about 60% done w/ the afghan. I finally broke down over the weekend and started using a life line after each pattern repeat. I think I'm getting lazy, and I was ripping (actually tinking) more than I was knitting. Taking out lace is such a pain in the ass, and I just kept taking out and reknitting the same 12 rows. Now I'm back on track. I have completed one inch of the eight inches needed to finish the skirt. It is really quite rockin', but it is SOOO SLOW...eight gazillion stitches and all. ;)

So last night I added the stitches that start my twirly skirt's third tier. I don't know how many stitches I'm carrying, but it's a lot, and I will now begin my crawl to the finish line. Hopefully I'll get a picture up soon (if I ever get my computer back) showing recent progress.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm hoping to make it out to Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge, but I have chores to do first. (Never painted the stair risers last week. Anyone who knows me well enough to actually be following these posts would've guessed that for sure. At least they are primed and ready to go.) Anyway, when I was out in Seattle last month, I had the opportunity to meet knitwear designer Jen Hagen. (It was really a thrill - she's my new idol.) Through Ravelry she shot me a note saying that Mind's Eye is now carrying her patterns, so I'm headed over there to check out the store. My plan is to maybe buy a pattern or two, but NO MORE YARN...at least for the time being. I'm seriously thinking I may need a storage solution for my yarn. What do people do? Should I give it its own bedroom? I have a spare one. I could go grab an IKEA Pax system, and set the yarn up in style. Now I'm just kidding...I have to pay for my DELUXE sump pump with battery back up system first. Ask me about the yarn closet next week...

A link in lieu of a photo...

So I'm on day four with no home computer...talk about isolation! No email, no mapquest, no google, NO RAVELRY! My friend B said she had a sweater in mind that I would like and sent me the following link:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter07/PATTabotanicity.html

I really like it, and may add it to the queue. (Although I wish it wasn't knit in sock yarn, sheesh. A sweater knit in sock yarn? That's even worse than my slow moving twirly skirt.) I would make it in a lighter color so that the lace skirt is more visable and maybe a smidge longer to be worn w/ leggings and boots. Cute. Thanks, B.

Preparing for a yard sale is a really overwhelming process. I have crap everywhere. Bags of clothing that had been slated for donation, bins of off season (and even current season) clothes I don't wear, bins of craft supplies, books, random housewares...all stuff I need to go through before it makes it onto the mountain of sale items in my foyer. My goal next week is to not beg or pay people to take stuff off my hands. That would rather defeat the purpose, as this IS a money making endeavour afterall.

I also need to put some of my stash up on Ravelry. When Berroco Medley was discontinued, I became obsessed with it and camped out on eBay bidding on every ball that came up. Now I have so much that I can't bear to look at it. It's a really cool yarn that has multi color bits running thoughout. It's great for bags because it felts into a thick, nubby, dense colorful fabric. I'm sure someone at some point will offer to take that off my hands. It retailed for about $8.95 per, and I must have at least 40 in various colors. Yikes...

Sigh...no photos.

So I can access my blog from work to make quick entries, but I won't have my home computer until probably next week sometime.
The plumbers were at the house most of the day yesterday ripping out my old sump pump and installing a bigger, deeper DELUXE sump pump with a battery operated back up pump. Who wouldn't want that, seriously? Don't worry, I have photos... Luckily for anyone reading this, I have no way to post them.
I have about another 1/2" to go until I begin the third tier of the twirly skirt. My afghan is about 36" long at this point. I'm half way done.
I'm planning a yard sale in about 10 days. I've been going through my stash and I'm going to dump most of my novelty yarn. I just sits in a bin, and I rarely touch it, so I'd rather give the real estate to a yummy wool/silk blend. ;)
Off to a meeting...bye!

Technical difficulties and such.

For the time being, my posts will be short and sans photos. My home computer was viciously attacked yesterday by trojans and viruses, and is going to the hospital tomorrow where it will be receiving in-patient treatment until further notice. I stupidly clicked a friend's FaceBook link which was really a disaster in disguise. That's all she wrote.

Last night I tinked about eight rows of my afghan because I found a mistake in the seed stitch border. Bummer. I'm back to the error, but will tink one more row for good measure.

Did everyone catch last night's True Blood? OMG. Jag vill ha en svenska man. Alex Skarsgaard will do just fine. Tack...

Twirly Skirt Update and Random Thoughts...

So I was just browsing through the Fall 2009 issue of Twist Collective http://twistcollective.com/2009/autumn/magazinepage_01.php and found something I really want, but I'm starting to get stressed about all the projects I need to get finished up by Christmas. I don't ususally do this, but I might make a list: Things for me, Things for gifts, and Things for other people that aren't exactly gifts. This is the hat I want to make for myself http://twistcollective.com/2009/autumn/magazinepage_07.php but I need another hat and another project like a couple new holes in my head. I think the perfect compromise will be to buy the pattern and sit on it until I have some time to concentrate on one thing for a few days. I'm planning a trip out to Indiana to visit friends this Winter or next Spring and that might be the perfect project for that trip. Small enough to carry and work on during the plane ride but challenging enough to keep me engaged for a few days with no other projects to turn to for variety. Tell me this tam doesn't scream "HOLLY!!"

Yesterday was blazing hot, but I'm trying to get my porch painted, so I was out there from 9AM - Noon. My room mate was kind enough to put in three hours of hard labor sanding (I have an electric sander, but we both have carpal tunnel and the vibrations don't do either of us any good) and priming. The problem is that we are both too tired and it's already about 85 degrees (at 10AM) so we probably won't paint today. I really want to get the stair risers done because they are all taped, so maybe I'll do that tonight when it starts to cool off.

I probably only did three rows on my twirly skirt yesterday, but I haven't put up a photo lately, and it really is looking good. Munchie jumped up on the island as soon as I put down the background sheet, because she has to be in the middle of everything. Whenever I take pictures of my works-in-progress, Munch is just out of frame. Meow.


So here is my Twirly skirt. The top tier is 5 7/8" and the middle tier is 3 7/8". I have two more inches to go and I'll begin the next tier. I'll be doing some knitting today, but I doubt I'll get two inches done. Plus, I want to work on my afghan.


Like a good doobie, I've been organizing my needles, which is a much bigger project than I thought it would be. The needle organizer on Ravely is pretty cool b/c we can add notes to all our needles. For example, I've found FIVE sets of sz 6 double pointed needles (so far) and I can know what they are without hunting through my zip pouch of dpns. Brittany 5", Takumi 5", Susan Bates 7", Aero 9" and Susan Bates 10". Would somebody please come over and hit me over the head? It appears that I keep buying the same needles over and over....

Thankfully it's the end of the week...

I'm beat. I'm home from work a couple hours early because the HVAC guy is finishing up the major overhaul needed to prepare for the heatwave scheduled to arrive tomorrow. For once, something will be done just in the nick of time instead of a day too late. As soon as he's done, I'm off to the hair salon to have my color done. I know, I know... it looks like it grows in that color, right? Yeah, right. I love hanging out at the salon; it's probably my favorite thing to do, and I go every five weeks. My second favorite thing would probably be the days that my cleaning lady comes (every two weeks). Those are really good days. The problem is that she puts my stuff in piles, which leads to the misplacement of important things like patterns... Right about now, you can refer to the post "Tubby is making this really hard for me..." where I show an example of a lovely blue cabled scarf whose pattern has gone missing.
Wow. I can feel the house cooling down already, and he's only been downstairs about 10 minutes. Of course he spent most of the morning on the unit outside. Life is good.
I'll put up a picture of the twirly skirt tomorrow. Nothing else is showing any progress right now...

At least I'm getting organized.

So the last couple days I've been ripping more than I've been knitting. It's great fun while I'm doing it (as long as I don't think about the time that went into the project), I'm freeing up needles that really need to be inventoried and organized, and I'm dealing with the clutter (disguised as projects I WANT to finish) that is beginning to take over the house. However, today's frog is a mistake that I did NOT want to rip out. There it is above... I had done so many increases that I had 192 stitches on the needles and had switched from dpns a while back.









The next photo is about half way ripped out. My winder is getting the real workout this week. It is amazing how fast the work is undone.

The third photo is of the sad, little balls of yarn that were starting to look like something just a few moments earlier. Sorry, S. I'll cast your present onto the right sized needles tonight, and try to get a move on.












This shot is from last night when Munchie and I were working on my twirly skirt, which is coming along pretty well. I only have two more inches to go before I add the next ruffle to start the third tier. SO cute! Please disregard the Behr paint in the background. I haven't even brushed the dust off that can in months.

Okay. I'm off to check the garden for veggies, feed the cats and find my size 10 1/2 dpns...

dealing with the clutter (disguised as projects I WANT to finish) that is beginning to take over the house.

Here is a quick shot of me and Munchie last night, working on my twirly skirt.

...a froggin' and a bloggin'.

Wow! I can't believe how much I enjoyed ripping out my sweater. What a thrill. All I had left to do was half of one sleeve, about a quarter of the other sleeve, and two inches around the neck. So, here is the obit: From Knitting Pure and Simple, it was the Neckdown Pullover for Women. I don't know what the yarn was, but it was a pretty rough, heathered, heavy worsted weight yarn. I bought it at a yarn store in Brunswick, Maine that hasn't existed for years. (One of my favorite yarn stores has taken its place: Purl Diva. Stop by and see Ellen if you're ever driving through Brunswick...It is on 3 Summer Street, just off Pleasant Street, heading into town.) Anyway, I don't think I would ever choose this yarn again for anything. Yikes-a-rama. There is one other thing I'd like to mention before showing the photos of my frogging session. I've had this Knitting Pure and Simple Pattern forever. Seriously, about 15 yrs. The designer is out of Truckee, California, which I had never heard of in my life until three months ago when I actually visited there. How weird is that? It's the next town over from Lake Tahoe, where my sister H lives.

So Munchie is sitting on the sweater after the arms and half of the body had been ripped out. She has to be involved in everything.

It went directly from the sweater to the winder, and I was left with a pile of yarn that my room mate just said she likes.

Maybe I'll make her something with it. Hmmm... holiday gifts...

A quick thought...

It's lunch time, and I'm planning my after-work activities... I have two (count 'em...two!) rip outs planned which I will document for posterity.
One is a mostly-done sweater which has spent most of the last 15 years on the needles taking up space. I'd rather reclaim the wool to my stash... I have a better chance of turning it into something I might actually use than finishing this stupid sweater. Its only redeeming feature is that it's the garment on which I learned a SSK decrease.
The second frog is a gift I started for my friend S a couple days back that needs to be done on bigger needles. The reason I didn't have size 7 double pointed needles laying around (refer to post "Finally. A break from chores.") is because I've done all the previous versions of this project on size 10 1/2. DUH. What a brain freeze! At least I only have a couple days tied up in it.
Pictures of rip-outs to follow later tonight...

Tubby is making this really hard for me...

She's rubbing her head against my hands and making it very difficult to type. Soon she'll be walking on the keyboard. Meanwhile, Munchie is downstairs crying because she hasn't realized that I came upstairs without her. Oh the humanity! To be left alone for two minutes...

So I mentioned yesterday that I began a thank-you gift for a friend of mine, but I can't say what it is. "It" looks really funny in its current condition, so I'll laugh while I post a couple shots. Feel free to guess what it is. Hint: It's NOT a hat, and it's NOT a brassiere. I should mention that both yarns are Cascade 220, and the orange shade is a 220 Heather.

I'll continue posting photos of my UFOs (that's UnFinished Objects for those of you who aren't fluent in knitty) until I run out of projects. Today's is a good one. It is a really rockin' reverse cable scarf in Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran that is a really pretty, almost-cadet blue. It's for me - which is always a good thing, but the problem is that I misplaced the pattern. Now, I could spend a few hours on Ravelry (not that I wouldn't do that anyway) looking through hundreds of scarf patterns trying to find it, or I could comb through a couple piles of papers where it might be hiding here in the house. Hmmm. Frog? (Translation: Rip it, Rip it, Rip it.) Rummage through papers? Scour Ravelry? What's a girl to do?

Finally. A break from chores.

Yesterday I scrubbed, scraped, sanded and prepared my front steps for staining. This morning I took myself out for breakfast, came home, and had the steps stained by 9:15. I have some purging to do (preparing for a yardsale 8/29), but then I'll have a good chunk of the day to chill and knit. My Red Sox are in crash and burn mode, so I might throw in a DVD for background noise. Although I've been working around the house a lot this weekend, I've also made time to work on my projects a bit.

I went to Seattle on vacation in July, and as a thank you gift, I'm knitting something for my former room mate, S. I won't say what it is, but as time goes on, it should become pretty obvious.

I needed #7 dps for this, and in a shocking twist of fate, I didn't have them. Ten billion sets of needles in this house, and no #7 dps? Wow. I think I have so many projects on the needles that I don't know what needles I have anymore. What I should REALLY do today is frog some old, dead UFOs and inventory my needles. Seriously.

I've been working on my twirly skirt, and I've begun the second tier with a ruffle that is as cute as can be. I'm going to love this! I want to keep working on it as much as possible because if I stop, I'll never pick it up again with as much enthusiasm as I have right now...

Next Project...Flora

So I'll barely mention the performance of my beloved Red Sox last night. It was so bad that I could hardly watch. Luckily my friend D came over to pick up her kayak around 10:00, so that was a welcome break from the carnage.

Today I'll do a couple quick introductions before putting up my next project.

The first photo is my Domestic Shorthair, Tubby. Her real name is Miss Midnight's Starry Sky, because she deserved to have a fancy name like her pedigreed sibling (but we don't stand on ceremony around here).

The second photo is my Oriental, Munchie. Clearly, Munch is fancy. She is a Lavender Oriental Shorthair, and her real name is Sinergia's Princess Violet of Tlu. Imagine a baby that screams its head off non stop, and that's what I live with. For those people unfamiliar with Siamese and Orientals, they are very social, and need nearly constant attention. Maybe someday I'll post a video of Munchie when I run out of knitted UFO's.

Today's work in progress is Flora, by Margaux Pena. I've completed one in brown and multi, and I'm working on one in magenta and lavender. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay silk blend (one hank each color) on size 7 needles, with some of each color left over when the project is complete.

The purple one is resting because I'm trying to make a dent in my twirly skirt. I could probably finish it in two or three hours, so maybe I'll bang it out this weekend...

Ladies and Gentlemen...The Twirly Skirt!

Today I am presenting my Tink's Twirly Skirt by Jill Stover of Yarns in the Farms, Beverly Farms, Mass. I loved this skirt when I saw it on Jill, who is awesome, BTW (Yay Jill!). Nice and light for the summer, and because it's linen, it has a great drape. I'm using four skeins of louet Euroflax 100% Wet Spun Linen in Aqua. The eyelet on the edge is actually the waistband where the i-cord drawstring will go and I'm knitting down toward the knee. I'm on size 3 needles, and the yarn is very fine, so it is kind of slow going. I have about two inches to go before I start adding TONS of stitches, so it'll be getting quite a bit slower according to Jill. The Sox are playing the Yankees tonight, so I'm hoping to get two inches done while watching the game. Ambitious? Yeah, but that's the kind of gal I am. Actually, I want to get this done in time to wear it THIS summer...

Introductions please...

So this is my first post...wish me luck!

I guess I'll call this project #1 because I work on it the most. It is #28 Lace Afghan by Tanis Gray, published in Knit.1 Magazine, Spring/Summer 2009. I'm using KnitPicks Cadena; which is a bulky weight, 70% Wool, 30% Superfine Alpaca yarn. This is on size 13 needles, so it knits up pretty fast. I'm not using a life line, so I'm living on the edge... Actually, last night I knit about one row past where I should've stopped. I tinked half a row so far (to tink is to knit backwards, or unknit stitch by stitch), and I have about half a row to go until I get to my mistake stitch. I'm not one of those people who believe that an error should be left in a project. If I can get to it, I fix it. If it's bad, I frog. This photo was taken last week, so I'll try to have someone take a picture with me holding this up. It really looks good. I love the pattern, and I'm happy with my choice of yarn. If it were for me, of course it would be blue...