Sprouting Leaves

The change from lace or fingering and 2.75mm needles to worsted and 5.0mm needles is a welcome one. I jumped on over to my other Ravelympics events. I am past the halfway point on the Leaf Shawl from Knitting Lace Triangles. This is going to be a great birthday present. I love watching the leaves form as I knit them. It makes the ten-row lace repeats quicker to knit. They are so simple to remember, and if my attention wanders, the knitting is easy to read to get back on track. I have made only one modification. Instead of sk2p, I am working s2kp. I prefer the look of that double-decrease for these leaves. This has become my on-the-go knitting. It is suitable for working on while I visit with others, and is easy to set down and pick up without spending too much time figuring out where I am.

Uncharted Territory

I have been steadily making progress in my Ravelympic WIP Wrestling. The EPS FIYC is wonderful company for busy moments, as well as long knitting sessions. Icarus requires more attention, and it is best to knit whole rows before setting it down. This has meant planning time to work on the shawl. My Tuesday had looked like it was going to get away from me and leave me with no lace time. The day contained a few surprises that ultimately allowed me some nice, long blocks of quiet knitting time. The result has been fabulous progress as the lace leaps along the needles. Now I leave the comfort of the charts and move on to the edging. I have not looked at the line-by-line instructions, but I already miss my charts.

I have begun to estimate the time required to complete these two projects. I believe I have between two and three hours left on Icarus. I think I have a good grasp on how long it will take, and it is nice to see that I am so close to finishing. As for the sweater, I do not have as clear an idea. I do not think that I have more than thirty hours left, but that is such a rough guess. I think that is a very generous estimate, and I hope it will be less than this. I have not even begun to think about the time required to knit the leaf shawl. Please, I need someone to tell me I have two more weeks before the Ravelympics end.

If I'm Lion

When I last laid down the amigurumi baby lion, I had finished the head, embroidered face details, and completed and attached the mane. Then it sat and waited for me. I thought about it occasionally, and thought that the project was doomed to remain unfinished when I put it away out of sight. As my nephew's summer break was over, I decided the time had come to complete it.

Robuddy played Zelda while I finished crocheting. At one point, he was swinging the lion limbs by the yarn tails left on for sewing. The closer I got to finishing, the more interested in the project he became. He offered suggestions for colors when I crochet the daddy lion to go with the son. He pointed out that a baby lion would not have a mane. He wished for a crocheted tiger. He thanked me.

Villainous

Ten Favorite Movie Villains

Keyser Soze
Norman Bates
Emperor Palpatine
Baby Jane Hudson
Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Evil
Annie Wilkes
Hans Gruber
Hedley Lamar
The Heathers

Penciling It In

It did not take long to figure out where I needed to continue in the pattern for my EPS FIYC. When I last worked on it, I had a few more rounds before it would be time to join the sleeves to the body. The long rounds were about to get a lot longer, but I did not mind. Attaching the second sleeve was almost a big mess when I tried to be more clever than necessary.

I am enjoying the knitting. I have missed working on this. Forgetting about the weather (yes, forgetting about the weather is best), this is perfect knitting for wherever I am. I have probably thirty, nearly four hundred-stitch rounds of plain knitting before it is time to strand. It seems like a bit much when I think of it that way. Anyway, I had a small task to complete before I reach the color work section. I had not decided how to arrange the colors in the Fair Isle portion of the sweater. A little time with colored pencils and blank charts was all I needed. Now I can return to the joy of mindless stockinette in the round, unless, of course, I decide I am ready for some lace.

Countdown

I have been preparing myself for the start of the Ravelympics. I examined the WIP Wrestling pile, and decided to challenge myself further. Not only am I representing Team Robonia, but also Team Wii Fit. Now lest you think I have gone even crazier, know that I have chosen just one more project, but it qualifies as an entry in two events.

I decided to enter the Shawl Relay and Gift Knits Pentathlon. There are birthdays and other gift-giving occasions on the way, and I decided that some people should get shawls. I have so many lovely patterns. Knitting Lace Triangles has been a part of my library for months, but I have not yet knit from it. That is about to change. The book is a wonderful resource. Evelyn Clark is brilliant. I like that she gives information on knitting the shawls in her book in whatever weight yarn you choose. I think that a worsted weight shawl is the right choice for the first recipient I have in mind. I looked at the chart in the back of the book and found the size I want to make with this weight yarn. I chose the Leaf Shawl and some Plymouth Galway Highland Heather yarn. It will be nice to have a gift finished ahead of the deadline.

Now I relax and wait. The countdown clock is ticking. Ravthletes are filling the Ravelympic Stadium. I am ready.

Still Summer

The summer break has just flown by so quickly. It is hard to think about kids returning to school this week while the weather is still so hot. My nephew will attend a new school this year, and we went with to attend the orientation session yesterday. There was not enough room for us get inside the cafeteria and within hearing range of whoever was speaking, so we just made our way to the classroom. My sister has a boatload of paperwork to wade through.

While summer is not yet over, all of this has me thinking about the knitting goals I set at the beginning of the season. I have made my way through the easiest of them already. I have so many things I would like to begin, but I also want Icarus and the EPS FIYC finished. I fear that if I were to begin some other project, these will get pushed further and further away and risk never being finished.

So, what am I to do? Enter, the Ravelympics! Maybe you thought I would use this time to begin and complete something new. However, I have decided to compete in WIP Wrestling. I am using this event to help me make my way through these two beloved projects that deserve to be finished. To prepare, I must see where my progress stalled out so long ago. If I see that I am closer to the finish line than I thought, I may enter another event. I am considering the Shawl Relay. I think it has been watching the fast shawling of some other knitters that put this last idea into my head.

Careful Joining

The other night, I cast on the 238 stitches for my sister's top. I joined, hoping that I had taken sufficient care to avoid twisting, and began knitting. A few stitches before the end of the first round, I saw more stitches than required for the final repeat. I studied my work and pattern and realized that I had messed up thirteen stitches into the round. I made a mistake when I read the pattern. Anyway, after much tinking, I was back to knitting, but it had killed my mojo for the night. When I picked it back up to knit, I was worried that I had twisted the cast on, but kept going. I am pleased to report that everything was fine, and before long I had finished my first repeat of the charted lace.

This is a great pattern, and I love that it is knit in the round with minimal finishing. Still, as I knit, I occasionally think of what I would have done differently if I had written the pattern. I am not talking about errors, but about small changes in wording or charts. For example, with this pattern, I would have preferred there to be two charts rather than just one. If it had been written up that way, I probably would have not messed up my knitting. Then again, I could have just paid more attention to the instructions (which are quite clear), and I would have been fine.

My progress on Annie stopped soon after beginning that second chart repeat. Last week was a wee bit bumpy. We had a small plumbing issue. It was not as complicated to fix as we thought it would be, but what it lacked in difficulty, we made up for with dread. Having round-the-clock running water rocks!

Little Pathway

I have been itching to dig into New Pathways for Sock Knitters book and decided that the baby knitting was a perfect excuse to try something from it. I grabbed the leftover yarn from the BSJ, and began with the Little Sky Sock. I made my way through it, and promptly frogged. No, it was not because there was a problem with the pattern or my knitting, but because I made my way through almost all of the leftover purple yarn. This was fine. I really just wanted to try out the first learning sock. Over the years, socknitting has become almost second nature for me. It was weird to closely follow all the instructions and illustrations. It seems forever ago when I was doing that with my first socks. It was fascinating, fun, and a nice return to the magic of first socks.

Anyway, after I re-wound the purple yarn, I moved on with pink yarn and the Little Coriolis pattern. When I saw that this pattern was toe-up, I was even more excited to begin. Before I knew it, I had finished the first, and was working up the foot of the second sock. I loved the arch expansion spiraling its way up the foot in the opposite direction. It was bedtime when I was ready to turn the heel. I wanted to press on and finish, but I also wanted to keep the fun of the pair for the next day. This was such a quick little pair, and as soon as I had finished them, I was looking through the book for my next socks.

The book has so much great information. I am glad that I added it to my library. Now maybe I can work towards writing a pattern for SM3.

Baby Suprise!

The Baby Surprise Jacket is such a neat pattern. I finally knit my first, and believe that I will knit more of them. It reminded me of knitting socks for the first time. I did not quite understand what was happening the whole time, but it was magic when it clicked.

It was fun passing the blob of fabric around and seeing who could fold it into a sweater. Then it was just a few ends to weave in, the sewing, and the buttons. Perhaps the most amazing feat was finishing it before the baby arrived. Bonnie Ester made her way into the world last Thursday afternoon. Now I just need to get this in the mail.

Sisterly Love

A few years ago, my sister began to ask me when I was going to knit a sweater or cute top for her. She probably only asked two or three times (gotta test me), and each occasion, I had a ready answer. The first time, I simply told her that I was not knitting a sweater for a smoker. Whenever she asked again, I responded with, "Are you still smoking?" That took care of it. Now I never promised a sweater or any other knitted object as a reward for quitting, but I knew that if she ever did, and still wanted me to knit for her, I would.

Fast-forward in time. My sister has quit smoking! The other day, she told me she was ready to pick out a pattern. She decided she wanted a cute top to go with a skirt she already owns. I only had a couple of magazines with me that day, so I let her flip through them. She liked the Roped Shell from the current IK, and a simple shell from the current Knitter's (nice lace in there, by the way). In fact, it was that second top she liked so much because of the yarn, and hoped it came it the right colors. I glanced down at the yarn they used and felt sure that it would be out of my budget when I read, "Colinette Wigwam." I investigated on my own, and it was as I suspected. I hatched a plan to have her over to my home to browse patterns through Ravelry. She had a great time, and said she felt like she was shopping. She found her way back to the Roped Shell, and especially liked some modifications that might allow her to wear it to work. She finally settled on Annie, by Jordana Paige. For possibly the first time in my life, I will be knitting something in the yarn and color used in the pattern. I hope it is the right color. I explained to her that colors on the computer screen can be different from real life.

Anyway, I have ordered the yarn, measured my sister (I had to demonstrate that doing this yourself does not work so well), printed the pattern, and now I wait. I am so excited to knit this for my sister.

Toe-Up Tuesday

The colors of this sock yarn attracted me moment I saw it amongst the other cakes of wool. It was with a slight eagerness and anxiety that I waited for my turn to choose my test yarn. When it came time to knit, I searched books, magazines, and online for the right pattern. At first, I was going to use one from Knitting on the Road, but it was not a match. I finally settled on Spring Forward from the current issue of Knitty. Still, I was not just going to knit the pattern as written, for I wanted to work toe to cuff. I have enjoyed my return to socknitting. It has been a nice companion, allowing me to knit through busy times.

Cara dyed this sock yarn, and I was honored to be a test knitter for her.

Something to Show Soon

I am having trouble placing just where this week went. I recall that I was feeling distinctly out-of-sync for a bit there. I knew that I was mentally off, so I did my best to keep moving forward and not put too much stock in some of my thoughts and feelings.

While it seemed like productivity was down, I actually finished a couple of things this week. I do not yet have the photographic evidence, so you will just have to trust me. I am excited about both of them. I do not know that the finishing frenzy will continue, but I remain hopeful. I think I need a bit more time at home for the next two that I want done. Being on the go has been great, but it throws everything else out of whack.

Anyway, I am hopeful about the yardage on my current spinning project. I am spinning almost every day, and am still on the first bobbin. Rather than jump to the conclusion that I am going very slowly, I choose to believe this means I will have a lot of yarn when I am done. Still, I do not think it will be enough to knit this from the July/August 2008 Piecework.

Ottery Contestry

KnittyOtter is holding a very nifty contest to celebrate post number two hundred. I have had a wonderful time reading the different responses to the questionnaire. I have also had trouble getting a blog post to come out right. Therefore, I decided to join in on the fun and write my own entry into the contest.

Getting to Know you Contest Questionnaire:

1.) How long have you been knitting?

Seven or eight years, I think. I just wrote my yarn story over here on Ravelry.

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?

Probably six or seven years.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?

Avoidance and denial might work best, especially if she is not interested in my help.

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?

Cherry Tree Hill

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?

Toe up! I start with Judy's Magic Cast-On and use the yarn-over, short-row heel from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts Simple Socks Plain and Fancy.

6.) What's your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

Purple is my favorite color of all time.

7.) Do you have a pet(s)?

Shhh...I feed stray cats, but do not have any critters of my own.

8.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?

Barbecued in the summer, or oven roasted in the winter. Mmmm...baby-back ribs...mmmm.

9.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit?

Lace, especially shawls.

10.) What's your favorite scent?

Lavender is lovely. Maybe I will learn how to grow it myself. The current attempt is not exactly a bust, but it does not seem to be progressing much.

11.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?

It seems like I am listening to a lot of Glen Phillips or Toad the Wet Sprocket lately.

12.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?

I guess it is somewhere between two- and three-dozen, not counting the baby socks.

13.) What's your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?

Ice Cream.

14.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.

Nasty corn seeds, grrrr. Also, there is some soapy scent I am noticing right now, but I cannot identify it.

15.) Needles - DPN's: Wooden, metal or plastic?

Circs all the way, and Knit Picks fixed circs are probably my faves.

16.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you've knit? What do you recommend?

Pomatomus would probably have to be my favorite pair. The recommendations depend on the level of attention you care to devote to the sock project. Something from Nancy Bush is a good choice.

17.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave?

I would definitely want my sweetie-pie with me on the deserted island. As for the knitting, I would want my laceweight and fingering weight/sock yarns with me. Since I enjoy my modern conveniences, I suppose I would leave. Still, time away from everything would be nice.

Wheel Watching

There is great inspiration from being a Tour de Fleece spectator. I do not have any regret for not joining, and I am still spinning more than I had in forever. I have finished some random bits of fluff. I did chain-plying to my silk singles. I was impatient. I wish I had wound it into a center-pull ball and made a two-ply, but I will survive. I do love the silk. Then I took some dye to it and have this fun yarn. I tackled the rest of the Romney/Mohair blend and it is finished.

Now I am on to the rest of a bag of Corriedale. I believe this is going to be fabulous yarn. What gives me such confidence? Perhaps it is the fact that there is so little. It will become the yarn that would have been the best lace ever, if only there were enough. However, this is not going to get me down at all. No, it will grant me greater confidence and inspire me to even more fabulous spinning. I do have some nice fiber waiting for the right moment.

However, before I can have some nice wheel time, I am off to assist my nephew in saving all of Hyrule. I also have plans to trick him into wanting to read to me today. Also, it is almost time for lunch, and I am hungry.

Misty-Eyed Monday

I just found out that a cat I used to know is no more. She was seventeen. This was Shadow in her better days.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to all of you celebrating! The neighbors' lengthy, early celebrations last night began to dim my enthusiasm for the holiday. I was just tired and regretting my decision to eat a little of the leftover filling for the pies. I am excited for today's family get-together, but I am not yet recovered from all the busyness of the past week. Staying home to knit, spin, and relax would be nice, too. I also keep thinking that I have plans for Saturday. Does anybody know what they are?

Anyway, I am bringing my sock along today. It is about time to turn the heel. I hope to make nice progress with it. The little bag where the sock lives has offered more minutes of knitting than I imagined. It is so handy. It seems like my knitting time has been limited lately. Several other projects call out to be completed, and others just cry for a few minutes of my time.

The gardening adventure continues. We have more green bits popping up out of the ground. Our late start means it is not yet harvest time for anything. Rather than brooding about this, I allow myself to focus on the excitement of the small changes I discover each day. I am not the only one interested in what is happening on our small plot. More than once, this guy has startled me while I watered the garden.

BSJ Beginning

I started a Baby Surprise Jacket last night. This is my first real go with this pattern. I am a little excited about it. It was wonderful to be back knitting with my Skanks. We were a small group telling bad jokes while the stitches flowed. I did not make to any color changes on the BSJ, but I also have not made any decisions on where they will be. I am keeping notes in case I love it and want to make another like it, or if I do not and do not.

Spinning is going well. So many fibers called for their turn when I looked through the stash yesterday. I am finishing off the last 50g of some purple fluff. I divided and spun the first 25g last night. This is my second go with this bag of fiber. I believe it is a Romney/Mohair blend. I spun up most of it a while back. I think I am doing much better this time. Maybe I will make it through the rest tonight. The wheel is ready.

Then again, I have pies to make for tomorrow's gathering. My sister asked me to bring two S'more Pies. They are so good. This pie can usually convince the daughter to attend a family event. There is also a rumor of homemade ice cream. We are going to have too much food for this, and very little of it should be allowed to follow us home.

Grandma Came to Town

It was a great visit with Grandma. She wants to make it back down in October for the fiber festival in Murfreesboro. I hope she can. We would have a great time. Speaking of, her time here was filled with fun. We ate good food, shopped, talked fiber, took pictures, and reminisced. I helped fix her current sock. This amounted to ripping back about five rounds. With all of the riding time she had on the trip home, I am sure it is more than back on track by now. I was amazed by how tired I was by the time we saw her off on her journey home.I did manage to accomplish some other things while Grandma was in town. I finished spinning, plying, and the finishing of some alpaca. Yes, that is it in the picture. I helped a niece return to knitting. She made great progress on a felted bag she wanted to knit. I also completed a sock and began its mate (matchy-matchy goodness so far, Cara).

Now that my packaging has arrived, I have no more excuses. I need to add labels to the hats and get them off to Caps for a Cure. I have some knitting I would really like to finish soon, but it is not quite deadline knitting status, yet. Then there are the two pies I need to make for our shindig on the fourth. I guess the busy is not ending any time soon.

Beginning and Ending

There you have it. It is the beginning of a sock at the end of an air show.

Socks and Seeds

Socknitting has been my near constant companion this week. This is how it looked Monday night. The color in this photo is close, but does not quite show how beautiful it is. I am doing a toe-up Spring Forward. I am most the way up the leg. I think I will work one more pattern repeat before I am on to the cuff. I know Cara is getting anxious to see more progress on these test socks. I hope to have them finished by the end of the weekend, but I am not making any promises.

For this week's Friday garden report, I present the beginning of a cucumber. Impressive, no? We put out many more (fifty-ish?) corn seeds, peas, and an Ichiban Eggplant. We also managed to lose a package of pea seeds. I bought my husband a tumbling compost bin for his birthday. He wanted one back when he did a lot of gardening. I was excited to get this for him. Exciting things are happening inside the bin.

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