Making Life Easier

Ten Inventions That Have Made Life Easier

1. Refrigerator
2. Indoor Plumbing
3. Air Conditioning
4. Automocar
5. Washing Machine
6. Computer
7. Telephone
8. Microwave
9. Automatic Dishwasher
10. Water Heater

Monday Meme

Cara tagged me. Although she offered to take the bad luck, guilt, dropped stitches, and foot odor she imagines accompany not making the required post, I have decided to play along.

1. Link the person who tagged you.
   
2. Mention the rules in your blog.
3. Tell about 6 fun quirks about yourself.
   
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
   
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I do not like sand
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

That is all you get. It was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. I guess these memes are not much my thing. Hmmm...to tag or not to tag, eh? Nah. Instead, take a glimpse into what it took to sort out Cara's yarn.

Required Report

Norma says that Fridays Are Garden-Along Reporting Days, and who am I to refuse? This week we have a new garden hose attachment because the last one leaked. We got new plants and sowed seeds. The 'yummy' orange petite sweet bell pepper plants look like they are going to make it. It was iffy for a while. In addition to the orange, we have a new red bell pepper plant. We got a new okra plant and thinned out the other okra spots. There is also a hot banana pepper plant and eggplant new to the garden this week. These are from my sister. She lamented that we should have planted the garden at our house. My husband stated that it is about a fifty-mile round trip for watering and weeding. She said she could water, but was not too thrilled about the idea of weeding. Also, she did not know that watering would be more than a once-a-day event. I think by the end of that conversation she knew that it is good the garden is here. However, if all goes well, she may put in her own garden next year. Besides, we see each other at least twice a week, so she will be in on the harvest. Buying things for the garden gets you in on that. My nephew tried chewing on a mint leave he picked from the plant. He decided that perhaps he would like it when he is older. This is progress for him in so many ways.

Now we get to the seed news. The corn seeds have sprouted! That was most exciting. I went out just after midnight to inspect the garden when I discovered the green bits. I also spotted the first tomato bloom of the year. I had an accident with my lavender. I dumped the pot over. It is unhappy, but will probably be OK. I want to be successful with lavender. Maybe the lavender seeds I planted will grow into something wonderful, too. We still have more corn seeds and radish and turnip seeds, but the last two will not go in until July and August.

Somebody's birthday brings another goody for the garden, but that will have to wait for next Friday.

If Ten Turns to Twenty

It can easily turn to thirty. That is what happened when I took the wheel outside. I grabbed a folding chair, a yoga mat, and spent a nice time outside spinning. The weather was perfect. I thought that I would only have about ten minutes before this changed, but it just kept with the lovely. Neighbors stared, and I did not care. I only had to get up once when a stray cat was about to do something horrible to a squash plant. Before I knew it, a half hour had passed and it was wonderful.

I have been enjoying the ten-minute a day spinning challenge. Tamara commented to me that it would not work for her. I understand that this is not a good plan for everyone. However, she also hit on a key component for making this work. I must choose ten quality minutes. Any ol' ten will not do. I can grab just about any ten to do a little ab work or dishes or straightening our home. This is not the case with spinning. I must get in the right frame of mind and free myself from distractions. It reminds me of conversations I have with someone in which I urge her to take care of herself everyday, even if it is just for ten minutes. Making the time to spin means I am taking the time to care for myself, re-focus, and relax. So often, I put things off for later. I wait for the right time instead of changing things to work for me. Through the spinning challenge, I am also building a new skill. I am improving my ability to stop and bring myself to calm.

Sweet Honeybee of Infinity!

I nearly missed out on setting my summer knitting goals and entering this contest. Other matters have occupied my heart and mind. In such times, it is often helpful to push forward, lest I find myself buried and stuck. Perhaps it is with this in mind that I set these ambitious summer knitting goals.

1. Finish EPS FIYC.
I am sure it is further along than I think, but I do know it has spent a long time on the needles and deserves to be finished.

2. Finish Icarus.
Those rows get so long, but it is lovely lace.

3. Finish test yarn socks.
This will be easy once I settle on the pattern.

4. Knit baby sweater and mail it
I added the last part in hopes that there is not some baby shower lurking around the corner and I will need to knit quickly.

5. Knit from handspun.
It does not much matter what I knit. It could be a swatchy bit from some small amount of something I have spun, or it could be a grand project. I just know that with the ten minutes a day thing I will definitely have something with which to knit.

6. Explore at least one sockitecture from the Cat Bordhi book.
It really does seem like a neat book, and I want to get to know it better.

7. Start new lace.
I suppose I could fold this into another one of the goals, but I probably will not, unless it is the handspun.

Happy WWKIP Day!

How was your WWKIP Day? Mine has been fabulous. Weather moved us from the proposed park location to Starbucks. Woo-hoo for coffee and air conditioning!

I got some new yarn to test knit socks.

Someone learned that he does like to knit.

In fact, he knit his first scarf.

Someone else paid serious attention to a complicated baby blanket.

No, these are not all my drinks, but I am the dyer of the test yarn.

Starbucks brought us over a fabulous French Press of Tastiness and a plate of coffee cake bits. I drank most of the coffee. There was one small problem.There were others in attendance, but not all of the pictures I took were flattering. I need to improve my photographic skills. It was a great day, and I even managed to knit a few rows.

Take Ten

I have missed spinning. I think I am ready to return to it. When I saw this over at Carole's, I knew it was for me. I'm getting back to spinning, ten minutes a day. Time to grab Kiwi, oil, and fiber. I am going to have ten lovely minutes.

Back from the 'ham

A trip to the Birmingham VA Medical Center takes a lot out of us. June is shaping up to be a BVAMC-heavy month. We went the third, the tenth, and have an optional event on the twenty-third. Generally, a trip to the BVAMC is an all-day endeavor. It starts the night before when we usually have difficulty sleeping. Then there is the drive. For some reason, the trip home seems much longer. Anyway, the appointment on the third went well. We were able to take care of the scheduled business as well as two other matters. Besides the car ride, I did not have much time to knit. They were just running that smoothly.

The tenth was a little different. We will begin with a positive. The coffee shop on the ground level, which proudly serves Starbucks learned something new. They learned that when I ask for a nonfat, iced, caramel macchiato, it is not necessary to steam the milk. Ah, but the application of the caramel sauce still needs a bit of work.

Anyway, I needed the big caffeine drink because I had to drive us home. My sweetheart had a rough visit. We arrived on time and he was called back almost immediately. He was back out to the waiting room sooner than I had anticipated. There was a problem. Do you see the letter beneath my coffee and knitting? Here, let me give you a closer look. He had been through the preparatory phase for this procedure. The orders were for a different one. Not upper, but lower, and not swallow but.... Yeah. They did not know if they could proceed with the ordered test, as he had not been through a preparation that is more thorough. They took a quick scan and we waited. They were pretty sure we would need to re-schedule. We did quite well to stay calm. I began a mental checklist of people to speak with to straighten things out if we had to come back another day. That is one of the tricks of the VA--finding the right person. Anyway, after an hour we went back to the reception desk. After a phone call from the clerk and a few more minutes, someone called my husband's name. It was a go for the procedure. I got in some nice knitting while I waited. He looked rugged when they were through with him. I felt so sorry for him. It was time for him to eat, a short wait, and then we could go.

It was a long day for me, but it was much longer for him. Still, I managed to mess up my knitting. The Pi Shawl you see in the picture is being frogged. Also, it would seem that many people do not know what a shawl is. When they asked what I was knitting and I told them what it was, they looked like I sprouted a third ear from my forehead. One person finally understood after some explaining. Another walked off in confusion. Anyway, somehow I turned my yarn into a tangled mess. Ugh! I want to get this back on track for WWKIP Day on Saturday.

We Hereby Claim This Land

There is hot, gardening action over here. We have taken over a little bit of land next to us and are growing good food. We are a curiosity to our neighbors. Of course, that was true even before the undertaking of this latest endeavor. Anyway, one woman is quite interested in just what we are growing and says she is going to raid our garden. She just might be serious. I do hope the harvest is plentiful enough for us to be able to share with family, friends, and neighbors. I am not much of a gardener, so I am following the direction of my husband on much of this. Still, I was upfront about the amount of time and effort I am prepared to dedicate to the project. He has grand visions of our garden, and I am not up for the challenge of all that he would like to do. Neither is he. I think we are getting close to overdoing it. Tonight I will drift off to sleep with dreams of swapping the ever-elusive okra for yarn. Oh no! Now we both have gardening related delusions.

Changing World

Ten Ways the World Has Changed Since You've Been in School

Internet
Cell Phones
Digital Cameras
Fuel Prices
Computers
Digital Music
24-hour News Channels
DVD
Caller ID
WiFi

Finally!

Months ago I was working on Super Secret Knitting. It was my square for a blanket. The intarsia cabled square was my contribution to this group gift. It was a new technique to me, and since it was a gift, I was nervous. However, it did not take long before I found my rhythm. Having the right bobbins made a difference. Margaret, the organizer of this gift, also embroidered the leaves on the square I knit. I helped finish the center square while Elisabeth was out-of-town. We knit the blanket out of Berocco Comfort. Margaret did the bulk of the work on this project. She put the squares together and lined the back with fleece. It was such a great idea to use the Great American Kid's Afghan for this project. It will be a great blanket for this little boy for years to come.


Since the blanket was to be lined with fleece, I could have worked my square with floats. However, this was a gift, and I wanted to do it right. Also, I would not have tried out a new technique, so I wound seven bobbins for the white cable bits. Both the front and back of my work turned out quite nice, if I do say so myself. Now I share with you what is beneath the cozy, blue, fleece back of the blanket, hidden from the world.

Ten Favorite Time Wasters

On a given day, any one of these can rank higher on the list. Sometimes one will eat an entire day.

1. Blogs
   
2. Wii
3. Ravelry
4. Fiber-y Pursuits
   
5. Television
6. Daydreaming
7. Music
8. Books
9. Talking
10. Sleeping

Seemed Like a Good Idea

I thought I should wait to post until after I was caught up with everything else. Everything else is a continually renewing list. I also missed more opportunities to spend time doing the things I enjoy whilst in the grips of this poorly thought out time management strategy. I tried something, and it did not work out the way I hoped it would. I think I was less productive this way. It's OK; I will try something else. In the meantime, I am still way behind with almost everything.
Anyway, we do have another distraction in our home, the Wii Fit. I like it. It is nifty. On the balance board, you can see my first amigurumi attempts. I like them. I keep forming small plans for more of these little critters.

Also on the board, you see the answer to a previous mystery. The shirts I showed beneath my books the other day match these little locking stitch markers. Perhaps my less than stellar photography made this one tough to guess.

Busy Can Be Good

Last week was full. However, fun was what kept me on the go. I made it out to be with knitters five times. Yes, five times. There was Skanky Monday at Barnes & Noble. Tuesday was a lonely NAKG at Books-A-Million. Although I was the only one there, I did venture further that day and visited a bit with a wandering Skank when I bought my new books. Wednesday was another Skanky night at Starbucks. Saturday was a little stash enhancement. Friday was Stitch 'n' Pitch: The Skanky Edition. I do not know who won, but I can say a skybox is the best way to do the baseball thing. Bonus entertainment included these bizarre inflatable critters throughout the game, and ended with fireworks.

Thrilling Thursday

I went to out to knit with the NAKG Tuesday afternoon. However, I was the only one there. I did not mind. I got in some nice knitting. I'm sure it was more than I would have done if I had been knitting with friends. Also, I probably would have spent more time talking, and not have made my way to these three books. I do enjoy the promise of new books.

I have been working on some mysteries around our home. The first was missing underpants. It is not completely resolved, but we have made our way away from being in a state of emergency. The second was a mystery aroma in the kitchen. It was not far from becoming unpleasant, so I gave this one serious effort, and it is taken care of. I know, you are seriously jealous of my exciting life.

Speaking of mysteries, beneath my new books, you can see two new shirts. They were on clearance, and I thought this was my only motivation to purchase them. I later uncovered another reason why I was drawn to them. Do you know what it is?

Cardigan, Begin Again

I mean this only in the sense that I have returned to regularly knitting on my EPS FIYC. It has sat and waited patiently for far too long. There are some other projects that are calling for their turn, but they must wait for now. I enjoy the mindlessness of this knitting. I did change my mind and added some shaping. I love that I can knit and knit on this without looking or paying attention. Still, it is not much to look at, and does not make for the most interesting of posts.

In more exciting news, I am in the running for prize-y goodness. The voting is open until May 14th at 6pm (EDT). I knit number eight, Shady Madness. All of the patterns for Sock Madness have been great. I want to finish the pair from the round in which I was eliminated. Then I can look to knitting the newest pattern. It has a cute, lacy folded-over cuff.

H is for Heart

Please, take care of yours!

Untangling Tangles

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but backed-up piles of work threaten to fall on me. While I have read more than a couple posts voicing a concern that Ravelry is quieting blogland, I am still woefully lagging behind on my reading. I suppose I am fortunate that the forums have not captivated me, or I might be lost forever. I know that I am quite blessed that these are some of my petty complaints for the day.

Icarus is just fabulous. Unfortunately, until I make it to the next chart, there is not much to show. I do enjoy knitting it. Most of the time, I only need to be able to count to seven. That is within my range of abilities for today.

Today's post is not completely lacking in entertainment value. First, I entertained several neighbors who saw me posing for the camera. The light kept changing, and this was more difficult than I had anticipated. Without further ado, I present my TYC!


Details: Pattern: Tangled Yoke Cardigan (Ravelry link) by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style Hollyberry, 11 skeins
Needles: US 4 Knit Picks Options
Time to Knit: Uncalculated

Mish Mash Monday

My Monday was great because I got to knit with my Skanks! I have missed them so much. I managed to show restraint and not go about creating an uncomfortable situation by hugging everyone. It had been way too long.

I am out of the running to become Supreme Sock Madness Champion. It seems like it was a rough round. Several knitters seemed so tired at the start of the round and ready to admit defeat just after the pattern release. For a minute, I thought that might give me a chance to make it through, but the three spots in the Tennessee Twisted Knitters division filled up quickly. Go, TTK! I do have one completed sock to show for my effort. I think that there might be a couple of problems with the pattern, but my brain was fried. I might try to tackle it later.

My Icarus is coming along, but not quickly. If I do not have the right rhythm, the rows drag by and I only complete one or two. Otherwise, I can complete a chart repeat. Still, the rows are getting longer, so it makes sense that they are not sailing along. In interesting news, my shawl has an admirer who inquired if it might be for her. The color changes of this yarn still entertain me.

Everything turned out fine with the daughter. It was just one of those unlucky things for her. The upside to the situation is it inspired her to register for classes.

I figured out yesterday that I owe an H post for the abc-along. I thought I had another week. I will try to get it done soon.

I have made a mad dash through my backlogged blog reading. This means I did not make too many comments. Sorry! I do not want to make grand announcements about how I am going to do things differently. However, I have noticed some areas that are in need of improvement and within my ability to change.

Amazing Madness

Much of our Monday went something like this:












The medical drama is a continuing saga without many answers and several frustrations. We will not get into it for now, lest this post require a Rantdom Wednesday title. We shall just say that so far, everyone is fine.

Anyway, times of concern and waiting can equal excellent knitting. I did not accomplish much at the hospital, but at home, it was another story. I just kept knitting. I love this pattern. The cables and lace are beautiful, quick, and fun to knit. I was unsure about the afterthought heel, but when I finished the first and tried it on I was sold. Anyway, I knit all night long, and before my husband was up the next morning, I had a new pair of socks and a spot in the competition for round five of Sock Madness.

The next pattern release is Sunday morning and it will have a Japanese short-row heel. Only the first three finishers in each division will advance to round six.

Re-Icarusing

My Icarus restart is a success. The Jojoland Harmony is much nicer to work with, and the slow color changes are entertaining to me. Nora asked for more photos, and I am not one to turn down such a request. You see my experiment with the blue. It looks nice, but it just was not right. I am more pleased with the new one.

I neglected to mention that I made it through the third round of Sock Madness. Arrival of the fourth pattern could happen at any moment. I was knocked out of the competition last year in round three, so I have already made it further this time. This is about the only kind of deadline knitting that I have been able to enjoy. We will see how this goes. I just got off the phone. One of the kids is not feeling well, so we may have waiting room time ahead of us today. I was called upon for my knowledge of the location of the appendix. I hope it is just gas.

Hope for Harmony

I've been sick with the crud. The good news is that I have finally gotten some sleep. The bad news is that my sleep is at odd hours and I am still missing out on life. Actually, that is fine, because I have not been up for much else.

I finished my experimental Icarus. I had intended to do more, but I accidentally pulled the needle out and then decided to be done with it. The yarn is not right for this project, but then I remembered the other yarn I had in mind for it. I have never knit with Jojoland Harmony before, but think it will work out nicely.

G is for Gauge

Take time to save time; check gauge.

Lace on Lace

This week has wiped me out. I think the fact that I celebrated four consecutive hours of sleep today as an accomplishment has something to do with the way I feel. I nearly burst into tears when I could not join the Skanky Knitters on their Yarn Harlot adventure yesterday. You can see Jaspher and his first pair of socks over there.

I got just the boost I needed today when we went to the Cracker Barrel for supper. I was a bit dizzy and in a haze when I caught familiar faces. Since there were two empty chairs at their table, and because they are so fabulously nice, Christina and her family invited us to sit with them.

I think that this is what gave me the boost to be able to begin the latest round of Sock Madness. This is the infamous laceweight round which has been the subject of much fear and speculation for many participants. I decided to bring another Skank along with me (I miss them so much) by using some yarn that Laura gave me. You can see my progress atop my experimental Icarus.

That rumpled mess is all the knitting I have been able to accomplish this week. Yeah. Anyway, I am hoping for sleep tonight, but if it stays away, maybe I can make progress on Sock Madness socks. It does not look great for either.

Knitting With

Sock Madness is between rounds. My EPS FIYC is coming along nicely. It is wonderful, whenever knitting. Still, I need something else to knit. I keep missing opportunities to knit with my friends. I need lace. It has been nearly a month since I have had lace on the needles. Then I saw a nice lace-along that interested me. While I am not giving up on getting together with my Skanks, I am pleased to have the chance to knit along with online friends.

I am going straight for Icarus. There are two reasons I chose this pattern over Forest Canopy and Flower Basket--I have wanted to knit Icarus since I first saw it but never got around to it, and it is the only one of the patterns I already own. So now must dig through to the magazine so I can make my working copy of the pattern. That is more of an ordeal than it should be, but I am continuing to work on this issue. Anyway, I have some pretty, blue, laceweight, mystery yarn picked out. I may add beads, but I have not thought that far ahead.

Mad Reversai

I had a hard time getting my Monday going. I thought about getting up more than once, but I never made it. I finally gave a big effort so that I might make it out to knit with the Skanks. I checked the email and discovered that I had been gotten. It was a pre-April Fool's Day surprise from Sock Madness in the form of an early release of the pattern for round two. I was over eight hours behind. I grabbed some yarn and then had a few moments of panic when I could not remember the great place I had stowed the sock needle stash. I cast on and got going, and never made it out to knit with everyone. In truth, I was not quite up for getting out, but I do miss being with them. I hope I can make it next Monday. Anyway, Tuesday ended up being topsy-turvy, too. I really needed a couple of thirty-minute naps, but I only managed one. I was unsure about the sock pattern at first, but before long, I knew it was a good one. It has a different stretchiness so that it can accommodate different foot shapes. My choice of yarn (Lang Jawoll Superwash) obscures the patterning, but I liked what I was getting. As I knit along, I thought that these might be good for my husband. Then he saw and admired them, and I knew they would be for him. He thought the yarn I was using was the stuff I had bought for him. Guess I should knit that pair soon, too. Anyway, I made pretty good time knitting these socks. I think it is so neat that these are reversible socks. Another reason they are good for the hubby. My actual knitting time was about 22 hours, but I took breaks and kept up with life as best as I could. Knitting the toes took forever, and by the time I was working that portion of the second sock, I was more than ready to be done. On breaks between those last few rounds, I changed the way I was moving my fingers with a typing test Norma shared the other day. It was with much relief that I scared my husband out of a restless sleep to put on a completed pair of socks so I could take the picture and upload it to the flickr group. This was another fun pattern. Our Sock Madness hostesses picked another winner.

Spring Things

I do not give much thought to the change of seasons. Much of this is due to our weather. We can have a run of days where the temperatures are in the seventies in the middle of December and then snow the next day. Falling leaves could mean autumn, or that there was a hiccup in calculating and using defoliant on a nearby cotton field. However, I have read many posts written about the new season, and when I read Mim's request, I decided to think about my favorite sign of Spring. I no longer look for the first robin to announce that winter is leaving. Instead, I eagerly anticipate the blooming of the violets.

F is for Futurama

I love this silly cartoon. I own the first season and will one day have the other three. I have yet to see Bender's Big Score, but hope to soon. I call it one of the most quotable cartoons ever, but when asked for an example, I say things like, "Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor." Ah, that is just another way I am weird.

I crocheted this Brain Slug the other day. It is a semi-recurring alien from Futurama. It was quick to make. I can attach it to my head and wear it about, but I have not been brave enough to actually do it. I did try to place it on the head of a stray cat and take a picture. I am sure you can imagine my level of success.

Busy Spring Break

This past week has been full. We kept a nephew from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. Guess what? He is spending the night tonight here, too. We are not used to such excitement. Consequently, many things did not get done. I have not worked passed the hem on my EPS FIYC, I missed getting the garbage out to the street on Thursday, and I did not make it online much. It was fun, but I hope next week is quieter. Two new items made their way into my home this week. I look forward to getting to know them better.

Zombie Madness

Somehow, the Zombies got my brains before I ever received the pattern. I am missing large chunks of last week. I am blaming it on Zombies and not worrying about the rest for now. You may be wondering why there is all of this Zombie talk. Last week, Sock Madness 2 began. If we had waited at home for five more minutes, I would have had the pattern as soon as it was delivered. Instead, I had it two hours after it arrived in my email inbox. I cast on and knit away. At first, I did not have any strong feelings about the pattern but soon enjoyed knitting it. It has such a wonderful rhythm. I liked the dropped stitches, and before I knew it, I was turning the heel. I motored on through without sleep. I missed a birthday party. No, it was not because of the knitting, but due to other bits of life jumping up and changing my schedule. I felt bad about missing the party. I just kept knitting. I caught little naps and continually refreshed the pool of pictures for the group over on flickr. I finally finished the socks in time to assist with a day of multi-vehicle maintenance. That kept us out until 2:30 Saturday morning. I caught up on a bit of sleep over the weekend. Now it is Monday, and there are still chances for many more knitters to make it to the next round. Although it is clear that I could have knit at a gentler pace, the frenzy of socknitting was good for me. Still, I am glad for the break until the next round. Time to cast on the body of the EPS FIYC.

E is for

Several years ago, I participated in a research study. It took about two hours to drive to the facility, and then two more hours to drive home. It was a tiring process. I recall returning from one visit and sitting at a stoplight. I was probably fifteen minutes from home, and I was ready to be out of my car. I do not know whether the exhaustion was more mental or physical, but I certainly was done for the day. Brief bits of the medical appointment flitted through my brain. Anyway, as I waited for the light to turn green, I saw a large truck drive past. This is what was written on the side: EGG PRODUCTS. I tried to comprehend it. Among the things I had just been through were an EEG, and an EKG. I kept thinking, and remembered that an EKG is sometimes called an ECG. Then my mind finally cleared, and I had to laugh. Yep, I had been puzzled by the word egg.

This brings me to my E entry in the ABC-Along. E is for Eggs. I look forward to filling these plastic eggs with candy, hiding them, and watching the kids find them. One day this week, my nephew and I will probably dye hard boiled eggs. I hope we have better success with the endeavor this year.

Wii-Hoo Wednesday

The Nintendo Wii that my husband won arrived today. This is going to come in handy when we are watching the nephew for much of Spring Break next week. We have had fun with it today. My husband just laughs at me while he watches me play. I have not been able to convince him to give it a go. Anyway, this has been a great way to recover from yesterday, and prepare for tomorrow. I suppose that I ought to clear a path to my box of sock yarn. Sock Madness 2 is about to begin!

I SpunKnit

While I was unable to get in as much spinning as I would have liked to during NaSpiMoMo and the Redux, I did spin some. After seeing the Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush in the Jan/Feb08 Piecework, I thought that my Shetland/Angora yarn could be nice match. I wondered whether I had enough yarn and what size scarf I would get, but did not fret a bit. After all, it is a scarf. I could always change the number of stitches in a row, the number of repeats knit, needle size, or frog it if nothing worked. Then I saw the SpinKnit idea slated for March, and I knew I wanted to try it. I was also ready to get some lace back on the needles. I have enjoyed the sweater knitting, but it is not laceknitting.

This was a quick and easy knit. The charted pattern is a twelve-row repeat, but it is much simpler than that. Even after having memorized it, I still kept the chart by my side to mark the number of repeats I had knit. By the time I had knit the chart fifteen times, it was clear that I would not be knitting it the thirty-one times as written in the pattern. My handspun was a bit more substantial than laceweight, I bumped up a needle size, I never looked at the listed gauge, let alone check my gauge, so I was unsure of what scarf I would end up with when I finished knitting. I knit something like eighteen repeats plus the first eleven rows of the chart, and sweat my way through those six rows of garter stitch and the stretchy bind-off. I knit up every bit of my skein of yarn. I wondered about the length. Then it was blocking time. I was able to try for the first time my interlocking flooring squares and some checked cloth I had bought for blocking. After I pinned it all out, I tested out the ability to set the whole thing up on its side in the other room. It worked! After unpinning, I have a new 10"X60" scarf. I was going to give this to a friend, but I know she has some allergy troubles, and am unsure about how she would do with the fibers I used, but I really wanted to knit something for her. The length of the scarf ended my dilemma. It is too short for her. I will have to plan something else for her. Besides, the yarn I spun is not as soft as I would like, especially for a gift.

Anyway, I have had the scarf done since Saturday, but did not get any pictures taken until today. We had a small adventure. The new car bug bit my husband, so we ended up driving to Atlanta to check out the Smart car. It was nifty, but I do not think we are getting a new car in the near future. It was a long day, but it meant something to him for us to make the trip, so that makes it worth it. I slept through much of the trip. It was more comfortable for my back to be reclined, and I just kept falling asleep. Besides, I was in the sun on the way down and not up for having a pile of wool on my lap, and it was dark on the way home. Speaking of, I am glad to be home.

Pre-Madness

No, there is not some mysterious part of my past when I was mentally healthy. It is March, and I am getting excited about Sock Madness 2. I think that my desire to not be eliminated from the competition stems not from a need to win nor fear of losing, but rather a desire to remain in the fun frenzy. Yes, it is still fun from the bleachers, but being in the thick of it is great. This is such a great event that our two wonderful hostesses have organized. I know they put in a lot of work for us to have fun. What also impresses me is the great spirit of the competitors. When people talk about knitters being the best kind of people helping each other out, this is a great example.

Speaking of the organizational talents of our hostesses, they pegged me perfectly when they placed me in my division. I am part of the Tennessee Twisted Knitters. Go ahead and laugh. I did. Ours was the last division posted, and I am glad to see that I am the only Skanky Knitter there. We have two Skanks over in the Baylor Ball Bands, and one in Maryland Merino Madness. The only division in which we are not represented is the UConn Cast Ons.

Anyway, I have done almost no prep work for the competition. I have perused the supply list. I am relatively certain that I have all that I need to compete. I wonder about the laceweight round. I think that I am going to use some of the Bare Laceweight from Knit Picks for those socks. It is already in the stash, but just needs to be dyed. The sock needles are already naked and waiting. They should begin to itch about the time competition begins.

Distracted By Shiny

Have I finished any sweaters lately? Did that stop me from casting on a new project? Do I feel bad about any of this? No, no, and not a bit. I waited for March to cast on for some SpinKnit lace. I took the hank of pink Shetland/Angora that I spun in January to the swift and wound up a nice cake of yarn. I had already made my working copy of the pattern, so I was ready to cast on. I am knitting the Stork's Nest Scarf from Piecework (Jan/Feb '08) by Nancy Bush. I made it through the first ten percent of the scarf before I could no longer remain upright. It is so good to have lace on the needles.

Still, there has been some sweater progress. I went button shopping over the weekend. I think I may have the buttons for the TYC. I also felt compelled to purchase other buttons because I like the colors and they were on sale. That big wall of shiny color and the lights and the temporary price reductions, and the next thing you know, my cart had quite a selection. Anyway, I have been showing off the potential prospects to people to get their opinions. I have not made a decision, but I still have the button bands to work, so there is no need to rush, eh? Which buttons do you think are the best match? Maybe you think I need to continue the quest for different buttons. All opinions are welcome and appreciated.

I am off to chase down the garbage can. I have a bag ready to place in it, so I need to secure it a bit better this time. Yes, I live a glamorous life.

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