Time for a Break

Lie down slowly, MS3. You know how to move slowly. You have been stationary in Clue 2 for a while. We will get back to you later. The rhythm is just not there. Besides, other lace needs to come first. You knew that Print o' the Wave has waited a long time. Now the right yarn is here and the right recipient is ready. C'mon, it's for Mom. Take a moment and look at those two lovely cakes of Zephyr in Mushroom. Is that not perfect for her? I knew you would understand. I will let you rest with other lace yarn. You can enjoy some lavender aromatherapy until it is your time. I know that it is little consolation, but I am setting aside the angel baby blanket, too. You should be back in the active line-up before you know it. I am considering bestowing you upon someone with a birthday at the end of September.

News to Us

Our week has not turned out the way we thought it would. We were supposed to have out-of-town guests, but that fell through. I guess it was not meant to be. We kind of had a feeling that it was not going to work out, but continued with plans as if it were going to happen. I feel bad because it was probably their last chance to make it down before the new school year begins. To put a positive slant on it, at least I was able to spend time with my wheel. They do not quite understand my fiber obsession, but are quite kind about it and muster up as much interest as they can. However, they have invited us up to visit them, but our schedules might not work.

Then we received a phone call Monday morning. We were still in bed and let the answering machine take a message. When I returned the call later in the day, someone wants me to come over and take a look at some knitting. She wants to see if it is something I can make, and if so, she will pay me to do it. This seems to be a somewhat odd request. We head on over. I ask my husband what he thinks the odds are that this will be crocheting rather than knitting. We arrive and there is a package from Mary Maxim. She pulls out a kit she has purchased. I know you are dying to know what it is. I'll wait while you take a peek. That is a lot of pink. As it turns out, she wants this knit for this blanket recipient’s baby sister due in November. I had already planned some knitting for this baby, but I had not yet heard that it is to be a girl. I also learned about another baby due early next year, so I have a lot of baby knitting to do. Anyway, if I knew how to put a jump in a post, I would place a Choose Your Own Adventure thing here. Instead, I will just ask a question--do you think I agreed to knit it? Of course, I said I would. Will I be paid? I have no idea. I am not doing it for money. I am not quite sure why I am doing this. Many things are puzzling me, but I do not have time for that now. I have much knitting to do. While this blanket is not something I would have picked out, it is something I have agreed to knit, and I will keep this in mind when I feel like complaining. This will not stop me from offering up this bit of bitching about the pattern. It contains, of course, the familiar advice To Save Time, Take Time to Check Gauge. Then I read the gauge information. It reads:

Gauge or Tension: One square should measure 10.5" square using suggested needles or any needles which will give the correct stitch gauge or tension.

Yep. That's mega-helpful, Mary. As long as there is enough yarn, it really does not matter. It is a baby blanket. So far, I have one angel square finished. That puts me about 10% finished. I studied it a bit more in the pattern and I may need to change the edging. I know what my real problem with this is. I dislike deadline knitting. I will survive.

Constant vigilance! There are spoilers cropping up everywhere and I do not want my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows experience ruined. Good thing I have all of this knitting and spinning to occupy my time.

New Arrival

I have wanted one for quite some time, but it did not seem like it would happen anytime soon. I focused on what I do have and felt grateful for my many blessings. I tried to push the idea from my head and convince myself that having one would really not be that great. Still, I hoped that one day the fantasy would become a reality. Today, this became this
I am so excited.

Sockin' and Rockin'

I love learning and trying new things. Thirassia is the first pattern I have knit which was written in a language other than English. The presence of a chart made things so much easier. Still, I read through the written instructions and think I spotted an error on Vtas 13 and 15. I am more than a bit impressed with myself. Either I have forgotten less Spanish than I thought, or my knitting abilities are greater than I had imagined. This pattern led me on a learning adventure about Spanish language knitting patterns. Tejemanejes is a nifty online knitting magazine. I first discovered it when one of the Skanky Knitters shared a link to this pattern.

It is a wonderful pattern and a quick knit. It seemed to be something of a magic pattern because I am still left with quite a bit of yarn. My modifications were to knit it toe-up and I did a different ribbing at the top. I also started the first foot on Vta 1 and the second foot on Vta 9 to make mirror image socks. The yarn is Knit Picks Essential in the color Petunia. This was my first time using this yarn and I love it. Speaking of lovely Knit Picks sock yarn, I got to feel a ball of the new Risata that one of the Skanks bought. It feels quite nice.

I am honored to receive this Rockin' Girl Blogger Award from Becky. Thank you so much! I was reading right along and was quite surprised to see my name on the list.

As part of my duties, I pass the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award on to these five:

Margene I love the feel of her blog, and she has been a great inspiration to my spinning.

Laurie Her funny, offbeat stories have brightened many a day for me.

Kimberly I think it is great that she has given fitness a place of importance amongst knitters.

Mandy Her work with Caps for a Cure is one more reason she rocks.

JenLa The pictures and the stories are a great source of entertainment for me.

I may not feel very Rockin', and I feel shaky at best about my blogging skills, but I graciously accept this special distinction. Thanks again, Becky.

I am still patiently waiting for the time that I can share my surprise.

Waiting

Yesterday I returned to my so-called doctor and waited to be seen. I waited for a reason to believe that I was under the care of a competent physician. I waited in vain.

I waited in line at Hobby Lobby to purchase more beads for my MS3 (spending more on this than I thought I would). The wait would not have been so bad if I were feeling better. I almost purchased the latest Knitters magazine because it did not look too bad. I did not trust my judgment. At least I will not wait for the third clue for MS3, but that is because I am behind. I am ready to put in a lifeline and begin clue two.

It is too early to head to the theater to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so I must wait.

There is a mini skein of handspun soaking, and then it must dry. I wait some more. Will it be acceptable sock weight yarn? We will wait and see.

I waited for the pages to load over at the Hurt Book sale. I did not get any books there.

Now, I wait for something even more exciting. I am in a bit of a state of awe and disbelief.

Did I ever tell you that I do not really mind waiting? I am considered a pretty patient person. I have knitting and spinning to keep me company. Still, I am excited!

Socks and Snacks

It is good to be home. I think we were only gone for about fifty hours, we had a good time, but I am still relieved to be back. I still have much to catch up on with Bloglines, but I wanted to share a bit of my out-of-town time with all of you. This picture is more illustrative of the trip than is good for me. We do not have Dunkin' Donuts at home, and have not for years. I missed them, and we became reacquainted quickly.

I managed to visit a lovely yarn store while we were gone. I bought some Warm Wine Corriedale roving and a clearance copy of the Winter 2005 IK. I kind of wish I had picked up the bag of black diamond bamboo roving. Ah, there is always next time. Besides, I have a lot of roving already.

I am wicked behind on Mystery Stole 3. Sign-ups are closing and the second clue is about to here. No need to panic. This is lace we're talking about, not life.

Baby, Baby

I may have bought Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac specifically for this pattern. I think I would like to knit some other patterns in the book, but I know I will knit more of these sweaters. This is the first EZ pattern I have knit. Her instructions are different from others with which I am more familiar, but I made it just fine. I was unsure of how I would fare, so I just grabbed the unlabeled skein of soft, white, acrylic (leave me alone, it's a baby sweater) yarn and knit. It worked so well that I decided to cast on for another. I had the finished white sweater in my bag along with the variegated yarn when I was shopping for buttons and other fasteners. I did not find the right buttons for the first, but had buttons ready to go before I even cast on for the second. Minor mods: I changed this to completely seamless by working the sleeves in the round. Minor oops: She gives the directions for the buttonholes a bit later in the pattern and I had to fix my error. I do not know what I was thinking. I guess I was not.

I am going to see if I have enough of the Moroccan Red Cotlin left to knit one of these. It would go to one of two babies that are in process. I might also like to knit matching hats or maybe socks or booties to go along with these. I think that I have another ball of the variegated mystery yarn and could perhaps knit another set.

In other knitting news, I did not begin knitting for MS3. There is a bead issue. I may try something different. In other non-knitting news, we were missed an adventure Saturday night. Apparently, there were pigs running amok in the neighborhood wreaking havoc. We would like to have seen it, but maybe it was best that we were not here.