Yesterday I frogged

Today I mourned the loss of an almost-completed knee sock. I had just a bit left before the toe shaping, and it was looking awfully large (even for me), so I tried it on - it was WAY too big. I'd changed up 2 needle sizes because I thought it wouldn't fit, but I was WAY wrong! Put one in the "swatch" column.
But, for happier news - Opera Fichu went from this:

To this:

Again, DP can included for scale. It's lovely, and I can't wait to wear it - the weather is going to have to warm up a bit, because the dress I want to wear it with is totally a summer dress, and it's still around 32-35 in the mornings when I leave.
Stats:
Opera Fichu from Victorian Lace Today
size 3, 5 and 1 needles
yarn was Omegacrylic - I'm pretty sure this is a Mexican yarn (made in Mexico), fingering weight.
I got it at Hobby Lobby for no other reason that I loved the color. I think I have enough left to make some socks. I'm thinking the feather and fan ones from the Socks book, but I'll let you know.

I LOVE FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!

I have been obsessing over this yarn ever since Ellen posted a picture of it in her blog. I want to make the lovely Rhiannon socks out of this yarn, and I figure that it'll take probably 3 skeins, so I wanted 4, just for good measure. Well, I have looked high and low, on the internets and off, all around my LYS's, and the best I could do was ONE skein at $8.95 with $7.95 shipping!! Then, I had a brain storm!! My mom & sister are in San Antonio for the weekend, could it be possible that a yarn shop there has some of the most elusive yarn? I called Mommy-dear, and asked if she'd mind zipping over to the Yarn Barn and seeing if they had it. She called, they did. One problem - Mom doesn't like driving in "Big City" traffic, and my sister didn't want to attempt to find it (even though I'd already gotten the directions, and it was only 6.5 miles from their hotel, but whatever), so, being the ever-so resourceful Mom, she called them back, and they're mailing me their last 2 skeins of wonderful, beautiful, color #145! YAY!!! BUT WAIT!!! It gets better.
I'm reading blogs, looking for new knitting blogs, and run into one that got some really pretty yarn from Carodan Farms, a site I'd looked at several times in the last few days, and they didn't have the Trekking XXL 145. But, today, they had (emphasis on the had) 2 skeins. It's mine now, and NOW I can knit my knee socks (and possibly have enough left over for some wristlets).


I LOVE FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!

Proof!!

I actually have knitting and pictures! Only during the most stressful of times (and there was plenty of that this last winter) or when horribly sick (not so far) do I not knit. The kidlet said that it was probably good that I wasn't knitting during all of the car crisis, as it would probably have turned out very tiny and tight. She's a laugh riot!

OK, picture #1 is the Opera fichu, without ties (to be done this weekend):

Turns out this bad boy was too long to stretch out and take it's picture, so I kind of folded it in half - DP can included for scale.

Next is a lace detail for the Millicent sock:


I think I was too close, and it's totally not blocked (cause I'm not done yet) but this is a most magnificent pattern! If you've always wanted to do knee socks, but were afraid, be afraid no more! CookieA's patterns are awesome! I can't wait to finish this sock, and do the next one!
In other, non-knitting news - it's snowing!! I drove to work today through rain, sleet, snow and fog - just another typical spring day in New Mexico. The kidlet sends me text messages every hour or so that say "Still snowing" - I'm REALLY looking forward to the drive home tonight.

Must. Blog.

It's so weird - I wanted a blog so bad in the beginning. I thought I'd never, ever run out of clever knitterly things to say, and then one day, all I could do was bitch. I hate political blogs - they're only invitations to verbal fist-fights, so I didn't want to do one of those. I hate people who can only complain, and yet, that seemed to be all I could do, complain, whine, cry, whatever. So, no blogging until my little pea-brain could think of something funny, or at least nice, to say.
So, I'm back, and I think I'm in a better mood. The meds have definitely taken affect, so I'm more umm, not necessarily nice, but at least better able to control the impulse to choke the living shit out of every idiot that walks by.
oops
See, not completely under control, but working on it, definitely working on it.
As for knitting, I've been very busy. I've finished the first part of Oper fichu, need to find the size 1 needles, and cast on for the ties. I thought I'd really screwed up - this bad boy is about 4 feet long! But, I think knitting the ties with size 1's, and there are some pretty dramatic k2tog's, so I'm thinking that it still might turn out to look mostly like the pictures in the book. I'll get pics of it befor I start the ties.
I also discovered CookieA's socks! If you've loved her designs in Knitty, go look at these, they are magnificant! I'm knitting on Millicent now, and loving it. I've been wanting to do knee socks for a long time, but I'm just way too lazy to do the math, and CookieA's done all the work. The lace pattern on Millicent is just beautiful, and if I can managed to keep the counts straight, anyone can!
Did I mention that I have a new car? Well, the car-that-thinks-its-a-sail finally bit the big one, and left me walking one time too many. After much wailing and moaning, and consulting and whining, I've bought a 2006 Chevy HHR it's been my dream car ever since they introduced the concept car several years ago. It's not the way I wanted to get one, but I have one, and I love it! It's much smaller than the mini-van, but it gets WAY better gas mileage (30 MPG), and does NOT think its a sail when the wind blows! YAY!! The more I drive it, the more I love it. I've been holding my breath and nursing that other car for so long that it's kind of weird to get into a car and not worry if I'm going to make it to my destination or not.
So, all things considered, life is looking up - I'll work on the taxes this weekend (it'll make the IRS happy, and God KNOWS I want to make the IRS happy!) and knit some way cool stuff.

Books, books, books

Even though I don't read much any more, I used to read all the time. Now most of my spare time is spent knitting, and once I figure out how to knit and read, I'll be back! So, with nods to Bells, here's my version of the book list:


1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown) never even interested.
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Both of these because I took "Literature" instead of "English" in high school
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) My first "grown-up" book! I loved it, and still do!
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) I'm almost certain I read this, but I'll be damned if I can tell you what it's about!
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
8. The Stand (Stephen King) OMG!! I can't believe this is the only Stephen King novel on the list! This is probably my favorite, but he wrote TONS more really terrific books!
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) Sneaked this book when I was about 13 - mom said it was "dirty" - guess I was too young to understand, cause it bored me to tears.
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) This book convinced me that reading was fun!
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) Probably the funniest author I've ever read. Loved all 4 books in the trilogy!
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) I wanted so badly to just smack Heathcliff!
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) Might be the only John Steinbeck book I ever tried to read
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert) After I saw the movie, I HAD to read the book, but I only read the first one.
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) I know I've read Ayn Rand, but I'm not sure if its this one or not.
34. 1984 (Orwell) Again, HS literature, I hated this book!
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) Another one I'm nearly positive I read.
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) REALLY excellent book!
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) I read the sequel to this, without knowing it was the sequel until I was almost through. It was good, but not good enough for me to want to read the first one.
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible - At least twice
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) Somebody please explain to me how a love story could be so freaking boring!
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) Dumas is one of my favorites!
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
.50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Ah, Dickens!
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) Loved it!
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) I cried and cried!
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) Loved it until I saw the movie!
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) Much better that I thought it was going to be - still gives me the creeps!
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) Love Anne Rice, but her witches books were better!
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) This book was very strange!
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Another one that made me cry!
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell) Although I couldn't tell you WHY I read it!
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) What little girl didn't read this???
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) Same for this one
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving) Made me a John Irving fan
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams) I thought it was about boats, but nooooo, rabbits:!?!?!?
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) Truely changed my life, and still affects me to this day.
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) Scariest book I ever read, until Stephen King.
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) Force to read this in 3rd grade, and I still don't like Buck.
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) One of her very best
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) Completely over-hyped
100. Ulysses (James Joyce) I know I read it, but all I remember is wondering when it would end.

That's it - I've read more than I thought I had. These days, my tastes run more toward mysteries. I love Tony Hillerman, and Michael McGarrity - both write of and in New Mexico, so they're my heroes!

I'm Back!!

And I haven't killed anyone - although the urge has been mighty! I'm also knitting again, after about a week and a half off. You know life is not good when you have NO DESIRE to knit. I'd look at all the projects, and just think "UGH!" So, I'm back working on opera fichu from VLT. I'm casting off the main portion of the fichu - I need to block it, let it dry, and then do the tie-on portion. But first, a message about the bind off. That word would be YECH! This is such a pain in the arse!!! Here's what the directions said: cast on 2, bind off 5. Sounds easy, right? Oh, no! Here's the reality: Flip your knitting. Cast on 2. Flip your knitting. Move 2 cast-on stitches to left hand needle. Bind off 5. Flip your knitting, etc., etc., etc., What a pain! I'm knitting this thing on Addis (which I love!) but, if I'm not careful with the 2nd flip, all the stitches come off the right-hand needle (the cast ons and the one remaining from the last bind off), then I have to do it again. It's taking me way too long to do this! I'm going to get it done this weekend.
Here's a picture of the half-way bound off fichu:


And here's my attempt at a close-up of the lace. It's not blocked yet, and the lighting did funky stuff to my fingers, but here goes:


The colors are funky, but it's closer to the 2nd one in color, not quite as purple. I'll try to borrow the kidlet's digital camera and take a better pic.
In other news - I ended up buying a new car, with LOTS of help!!! I'm not happy that I had to go into debt again, and I'm completely freaked out about making car payments and huge insurance payments again, but my mini van was becoming a death-trap, and it was becoming a case of throwing good money after bad. The good news is that I finally have my HHR that I've been lusting after for 2 years. It's silver, and it runs so wonderfully, all the parts and pieces work, and it DOESN'T think it's a sail! It handles wonderfully in the wind, which is a HUGE deal, especially this time of year. We've had rain the last couple of days, and my new car has handled it wonderfully. I'm actually quite pleased with it. Since I bought it used, it has some minor things going on - like one of the H's fell off the back, so I'm driving an H R - I'm thinking of trying for one of those vanity plates that says "PUFNSTF" or something similar - is that called making lemonade out of lemons?

Stress

Stress does not make for good knitting. How do I know? You might ask. From first-hand experience. This has been a horrific week for me. As was last week. I haven't knitted since last weekend, because frankly, I'm too tired and upset to knit. Since I started this as a knitting blog, and not a bitching-post (get it? bitching, not hitching? hahahahahaha!) I have nothing to blog. I did start binding off the opera fichu, a very fussy picot bind-off, so that's going to go very slowly. However, I do like what I've bound off so far, its really pretty, for all its fussy-ness.
Life happens. Stuff happens. Life and stuff will both straighten themselves out, I'll be knitting again soon, and I'll something to post about that doesn't sound like a freaking Greek tragedy.

Community

2 things really have me thinking today - It's kind of strange how personal our blogs are, and how lucky we are to be allowed into another person's life. Even though we try (for safety's sake) to keep most of the personal details out of our blogs, we still create this little universe where we, and those who read us, and those we read live.
For example:
Today, I'm doing my blog rounds, when I go over to Knit Sisters for my usual visit. Only to find that Ellen's and Alex's cat had a cat vs. car accident over the weekend. I cried over a cat that I didn't really know who belonged to people that I don't really know, but who's death I felt deeply. I'm still so sad for Ellen, it's horrible to lose a family member, and anyone who says "it's only a cat" completely doesn't understand.
Then, once recovered from that, I go on my daily visit to the Yarn Harlot who has attracted a nasty troll who feels it important to prove how isolated and idiotic he/she is by correcting Ms. Harlot's spelling, which isn't misspelling at all, but Canadian variations on a common language, which is dynamic and changing all the time. All one would need to do to prove this is to look back at newspaper articles from the late 1800's to see that what we would consider misspellings were common spellings of words. One I was recently was "As they passed threw town. . . . " - which completely "threw" me for a loop until I remembered my first (and probably best-learned) English lesson - the English language is changing all the time. I am constantly reminding myself of this when I see newspaper articles written today by someone who clearly needs to repeat English 101, or some of the things they do on TV these days.
OK, I'll stop the rant now - there is no knitting content today, as I've been pouting and not knitting (I know, it's weird) for the last couple of days.

How to Knit at Work

I've done it for years. And, for the most part, nobody minds.
Start by knitting at lunch. Take your lunch and your knitting someplace that is NOT your desk/cubicle/workspace. Sit. Eat your lunch. Knit.
People will ask you strange (dumb) questions. Answer them as you see fit. I also find this is a great way to break into Knitting In Public (KIP), as you mostly know the people you work with, and it's easier to come out to friends.
Keep your knitting close at hand. Mine sits on my desk All. The. Time. When I get to work in the morning, I take my glasses, my cell phone, and my knitting out of my bag. If its here, then when I'm running a report that takes forever, or talking on the phone to the most boring person in the world, or whateve, I can pick it up, and knit a few stitches (or a few rows, depending).
One more quick trick. Open a really large file (spreadsheet or instruction booklet, or whatever). Knit as you read. Tell whoever asks that the knitting helps you focus (works GREAT when you follow up with "I have ADD, you know!"

What to say when busted knitting at work:
I'm still at lunch.
I'm on my break.
I'm running this report (point to computer officiously, and expect them to nod knowingly).
I'm thinking (bend head lower, and knit very quickly).

I can't remember ever actually being busted knitting at my desk, but I do it all the time, and I guess I must have. Most days I don't have time to knit, but when I do, it's right where I can get to it quickly. Everyone who knows me - or is vaguely acquainted with me knows I knit. I wear a lot of my knitted stuff, and whenever I wear anything knitted, I'm always asked "Did you knit that???" They always ask hopefully, like I have the keys to the universe or something, and I never have the heart to point out the difference between machine- and hand-knit. I just say, no, not this one. And move on.

Happy knitting!!!

You might have noticed. . . .

that I was in a less-than-pleasant mood with my last post. I was. Hormones. Job. Stress. General I-can't-take-any-more-of-anybody's-crap. What I MEANT to say on the last post was this:
I love those gloves with an unreasoning passion. They are very retro-looking (think 1950's) with the totally 21st colors that Regia provided. And the buttons just are just sublime! I need to wash them, but I'm so busy wearing them that I can't. The one (and only) bright spot in all the cold and snow has been wearing those gloves.
The lace is coming along. I've almost finished ball #2, and I'm thinking that ball #3 will be at least half-way done before I decide to stop. As it turns out, I haven't finished the 20 rows that the pattern calls for, so I'm thinking an extra 10 rows will be really, really nice. That's only 5 pattern repeats.
I have my regular check-up appt this Friday. With a new Dr. The only reason I'm doing this on time is that my "happy pills" prescrip will run out the end of this month, and we just CAN'T do without the "happy pills" - ask the kidlet. Last time we tried it was just UGLY. So, new Dr - at least she's a she. Hopefully, I'll have time to discuss many things with her - I have a list, and it's growing. Stronger happy pills? Allergies? Other medications? And many things as yet to be determined. If I manage to have visible progress on the lace, I'll post pics - I'm also knitting on red gloves for my friend - got to get those done so she can wear them skiing at least once this year. Will take pics of those soon.

It snowed

again.
*sigh*
Here's a fuzzy picture of the Button Gloves from "Not Just More Socks" or "More Not Just Socks" or whatever the hell it's called:



And an old pic of progress on the lace. I've since discovered I was doing it wrong - started doing it right (fug it, didn't want to rip back and start over, it's now a "design feature".

How I learned to Knit

The short answer is - My Gramma.
When I was about 8, my grandmother decided that I needed to learn to do all the things she did. Knit, crochet, tat, embroidery. Gramma's house was filled with the fruits of her labors - her dish- and bath-towels came from boxes of Duz detergent, but she had crocheted edgings on each one, as well as the wash cloths. She had crocheted bottle covers (for the booze) that looked like poodles. She had toilet paper covers that were crocheted, some were cut out of some kind of plastic. She had embroidered pillow cases and table cloths, and had either crocheted or tatted edgings for all of them. I don't remember ever seeing anything knitted - never really thought of it until now - but knitting was the first thing she taught me. She never really liked my mom (probably cause she married gramma's one and only son, and had absolutely NO INTEREST in doing anything "homey"). So, she decided that I needed to learn to knit. I'm left-handed, and Gramma wasn't and I remember this was of great concern - she didn't want me to learn "wrong" or get confused, but my parents had made it VERY clear - I was left-handed, and left-handed I would stay. (They'd heard that trying to make a leftie a rightie made the child stutter. Don't know if that's right or wrong, but I'm mostly ambidextrous, and very grateful that for that part of my life, at least, my parents let me be who I was.)
Anyway, Gramma bought me a pair of size 10 1/2 aluminum needles, saying that the only way to learn was on large needles. I still have them, and they still have the teeth-marks where my gauge was so tight, I had to bite the ends of the needles to get my thread to move down. Pretty tight. I don't remember what the first thing I knitted was, but I remember starting and never finishing stuff for years. I learned to crochet and embroider - finishing most of those projects with no problems. Then, my senior year in high school, they offered a knitting class. AHA! I thought, an easy A, since I already know how to knit! Great plan, except I had to create AND FINISH a garment. As it turned out, it was as easy as I thought it'd be, and my first experience Knitting In Public - when I was bored in my other classes, or nothing much was going on, I knit on the sweater for my knitting class. It was a "classic" Aran sweater. Pullover, with a hood, and a center pocket. I made it out of 2 strands of worsted held together, light blue and beige. It turned out pretty good. I have no idea what happened to it - lost in a move someplace. At one point, one of the boys in my class asked if he could knit on the hood for a while (1X1 ribbing, which I HATE to this day!!). After he convinced me that he could, indeed knit (hyper kid they taught to knit to calm him down), he added at least 2 inches to the hood in one class.
I started knitting again in college - knitting mostly afghans for presents for family & friends. I was "scared" to knit socks or intarsia, or anything that was difficult, because I still thought of myself as a "beginner". Then one day, I decided that I'd try knitting one of those really ugly horse-head sweaters for my step-brother for Christmas. Gramma was gone by then, and I had no one to ask how to do it. I had a friend who lent me her pattern, I bought the yarn, and knit a sweater (first Christmas project that had me up till 2AM finishing, starting a long-standing Christmas tradition in my family). Then, I bought a kit from Herrschnerrs, or Mary Maxim, or one of those companies, and knit myself a bulky sweater with a sort of southwest design in it in 3 days - 3 days in which I didn't move from the couch - and no one had told me that color knitting was hard - didn't know it was the same as intarsia. Then one day I decided to try knitting socks, and for *MONTHS* I knit single socks, using whatever yarns I had, using whatever size dpns I could find. You have no idea how many single socks I still have - never will have matches, cause they're mostly ugly, but they were learning experiences.
So, that's it - I'm mostly fearless, mostly self-taught beyond the basics, and knit mostly from published patterns - adapting them to what I want them to be, rather than knitting EXACTLY as written.

How I spend my Day - by Peanut

This is Peanut:



She is the smallest being in my house - she maybe weighs 2 lbs. The perpetually 6-month old kitty. She was the runt, given to us much too young, she never grew very big, even though she was well-fed and MEGA-pampered. You can tell from the pic that she knows EXACTLY who is in charge in my house - and it ain't me!

This is what Peanut did today (photos courtesy of the kidlet, who got home before me).


This is a kitchen drawer that was closed this morning, with a "Warm Delights" and a very sharp butcher knife and a plastic bag added in for good measure.



This is another view of my kitchen, including the drawer with the knife in it. There are 2 more pulled-out drawers, grocery bags on the floor, and a scrunched-up rug to add to the ambience that is now my kitchen.



The dishwasher was closed (but not locked) when we left this morning.

Fortunately, I decided to bring my lace with me today, rather than leaving it on the couch where Peanut could get it - this is one of her favorite yarns, and I've taken it from her many times - she's even swiped it with knitting needles sticking out!

I can only imagine the chaos my little Precious caused today, and the sheer joy of the other pets when kidlet opened the door this afternoon.

One added note:
Peanut is the smallest, but not the youngest animal in my house. I have a Lhasa Apso named Fritzi who is about a year old. Yesterday afternoon, I was watching the Super Bowl and playing Solitaire on my phone, getting ready to go pick the kidlet up from work. All the dogs in my house have crates that they sleep in, and when Fritzi has had enough, she lets everyone know - she's got the weirdest yips! Anyway, she was pitching a fit yesterday, and I wasn't going to let her out because I had to leave in like, 10 minutes. There was this HUGE crash from her crate. I thought she was doing sommer-saults or something. Next thing I notice, she's sitting right in front of me with the biggest grin on her face, and asking me "See what I can do? Aren't I clever?" She was bouncing around, smiling, tail wagging - I swear I could hear her laughing! I went and checked her crate - nothing was broken, the latch was still in the closed position, but the door was standing wide open!
So, between the dog that can open her own crate, and the cat that can open drawers and put knives in them, I'm almost afraid to go to sleep at night!

YAY!!! LACE!!!

Just a quick update and pics!! Thanks for all the good thoughts and mojo this weekend - I definately felt y'all with me as I determinedly re-started my lace. Sheepish Annie - there were plenty of "those" words - it's amazing how the properly-place expletive just seems to make that recalcitrant k2tog do what it's supposed to do. Julie - It's not the yo's that give me fits, it's the counting. And Debby - I tried to email you, but it bounced back. Will try again.
OK, the pics:




This is a shot of 2 of the pattern repeats - there are 20 in all. Julie, thanks SO MUCH for the suggestion of placing markers at each repeat. As much as I HATE moving markers, this saved my sanity!!!




This is a shot of about half-way through. It's a really simple lace pattern, 12 stitches repeated 20 times across the row, and a 14-row repeat done twice. I'm almost done with the second repeat, after which I switch to the circulars, and do the lace edging. I forget the page number, but it's the Opera fichu (I think), it's pink in the book - you can see it (a little) in the background of the second shot. I'm hopint to move to the circs tonight - will let you know how that goes!

The Lace Weekend

This weekend, I'm GOING to become a lace knitter. I went to Village Wools yesterday and bought 2 new pairs of size 3 needles. One pair is Crystal Palace Bamboo, and one is Prym. I have several sets of dpns from Crystal Palace, but I've never heard of Prym. I liked the points on both sets, so I got both sets. I also got Addi Turbo circular in size 5, 32". The pattern starts on the 3's and move to the 5 circs. So, I'll either be craz(ier)y by the end of the weekend, or a full-fledged lace knitter. There's a good argument that I might be both. Guess we'll see!
More on Monday.

The Lost Weekend

Saturday, I woke up with the worst headache I can remember ever having. I occasionally get migraines (about once every 3 months or so), but this was one KILLER! I'll spare you the gory details, and just say Saturday was mostly spent sleeping.
Sunday dawned bright and cheery - I LOVE the sun!!!!! I decided that I needed to get over my fear of lace, and I have some beautiful purple yarn that I bought YEARS ago that I've never found the right project for. There's a really nice, simple-looking lace fichu in "Victorian Lace Today" that I thought I could handle. Yeah, right! Turns out I might just be too stoopid to knit lace.
After casting on twice (took forever to find the right waste yarn). *245* stitches, no less! I finally knit the first 7 rows, and had started the beginning lace portion. I was knitting happily along, on about row 4 (repeating it like, 36 times) when I realized my count was off. Of course, it was off back at the beginning of the row, so I'm in the process of "knitting backwards" - recovering stitches (including the k2tog's) when I realized the reason I was off was because I'd dropped a stitch! I was so frustrated, I threw it across the room! Once I calmed down (but obviously not all the way) I ripped it out, and put the re-wound yarn in the bag until it could learn to behave. This morning, when I woke up, I was regretting ripping it out - was, in fact, berating myself pretty badly, because I WON'T be defeated, and I'll HAVE to do it again - however, after thinking it over, the only thing I could do was rip it and start over again. At least that's what I'm telling myself now. I'll do it again - soon - but I've got gloves, a coat, and a chemo-cap I need to finish.
AND, what's the best way to wrap up knitting needles to mail? I want to send some needles and yarn to Stacie's charity - because I've got more needles than Carter's got tiny little pills, and I WANT Knit Pick Options!!
OK, that's all for now - continue to talk amongst yourselves.

Meet Star

Here's a pic of our Star kitty:



AKA - Vampire Kitty & Half-Vampire Kitty - because his fangs hang out, sometimes only one at a time.
Star was a very sick kitty last weekend. What I found out was that "male cats do that" - apparently with alarming regularity. Star is now 9 (or 8) years old. I thought back, and I guess I've never had a male cat that lived that long. Several years ago I decided that my cats would never go outside again. Outside is a very bad place for kittys, what with dogs, cars, mean kids, etc., they should just never, EVER be outside.
One day 8 (or 9) years ago, the kidlet and I went to Wally world. One of the local shelters was there, and in the middle of all the barking and yipping, I heard the teeniest, tiniest "mew" - we hunted around, and found this scrawny, ugly TINY black kitten. Now, I'm a firm believer that you don't pick your pets, they pick you. We went to Wally World to do our "regular" shopping. We stopped and looked at this kitten, the kidlet took him out of his cage, and he just attached (glommed would be my mom's word for it) himself to her. We went in, did our shopping, and I decided that if he was still there when we went out, he was ours. He was, and he's been ever since. We weighed Star at the vet's last week in his carrier. They weighed 18.5 lbs. I figure that Star probably weighs at least 16lbs all by his lonesome. Big Cat! We have small (Peanut, about 2 lbs), medium (Samantha, about 5 lbs) and large - Star. I never really appreciated Star until he got sick and we almost lost him. By my calculations, he was sick for a while before we knew what was going on. He'd started crapping on the furniture, and occasionally peeing, but mostly just crapping. I'm thinking now that was when it began. It wasn't until he started acting really, REALLY sick that I did anything. He couldn't walk, couldn't jump, wouldn't eat or drink, and when I was ready to take him to the vet, I found him lying in the litter box. Not really 'normal' behavior. So, I almost killed my cat, and I feel awful, but he got his revenge - $800 in vet bills. The biggest marker of how sick he was is how wonderful he is now. He's like a different cat! All he wants to do is be in someone's lap (or on a shoulder, but given that he weighs more than 3 bags of sugar, that doesn't last long) and be petted. And WHAT a purr! He can be heard from across the room. Another way he fooled me, is he purred the entire time he was sick, and while we were waiting in the dr's office. I kept thinking, "How sick can he be if he's purring like that?" Turns out, pretty sick. Kidlet said she thought he purred like little kids hold their blankies - for comfort. Anyway, Star's home, mending, and living like a king. He has his own bed, his own litter box, he gets only canned cat food, which he eats in peace in his own cage (to keep prying cats and dogs away) and he sleeps in peace in either his own cage, or a pillow in a chair. If I got treated like that after I came home from the hospital, I'd be sick, too! We love our Star kitty!

Last Week

Was stolen from me - Here's my week:
Sunday - sick cat to E-Vet hospital. Bladder size of baseball. Potassium so high, he was having heart problems
Monday - sick cat to regular vet. Catheter working, but kidneys not.
Tuesday - too much stress, I'm sick, kidlet's sick, cat's still sick (kidneys still not working, vet's worried)
Wednesday - not enough drama at my house. Hot water pipe freezes. And bursts. Cat's kidneys working, but barely.
Thursday - managed to make it to work. Had to leave early to pick up cat (YAY!) and meet plumber for 2nd time.
Friday - plumber wants $3000 to replace ALL pipes. Convinced him to replace ONLY broken one.
Total cost for week: lost work time: 3 days (Monday was a holiday)
Total cost for cat: 800 freakin dollars! Good thing I love him.
Total cost for plumber: $340.50 - NOT $3000! SHEESH!
Found out I have lots of REALLY good friends, but the week sucked pond water.
Will write more later.
must.
catch.
up.

BTW, cat, kidlet, and me are all doing fine. Really, REALLY glad last week is over! STILL colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra, but at least it's quit snowing for a while.

Where I Knit

I'm not sure if this is a meme or not, but since Julie over at Samurai Knitter wants to know, here it is: [Drumroll, please]


On the left, you'll see my Christmas present from my favorite (ok, only, but don't let's be nit-picky)sister, open, in use. The color's not so good, but it's the purple grape Jordana Paige knitter's satchel. Also, there are my knitting glasses, some snackage, my iDog in his case, and on top of the couch are the tissues, because my nose is ALWAYS running. I know, WAY more than you wanted to know, huh? In the picture, but unseen, because they're buried are 2 new knitting magazines (I actually bought Knit 'N' Style, something I swore I'd NEVER do again, but there were 2 coats in there that I. Must. Have. and I forget what the other one is, but it had more fingerless gloves, and something else I. Had. To. Have), and "Victorian Lace Today," from which I'm planning on knitting the full hexagon shawl - be afraid, very afraid! I have asked for the yarn from my mommy for my birthday, and she has ordered it - it should be here any day now. Shimmer from KnitPicks, I think the colorway is Garden - lots of pinks. Oh, and the remote control for the TV is there, too. There you have it, where I knit!

Birthday Weekend

Saturday was my birthday. In my family, we celebrate! Mom used to wake us up on our birthday with a huge gift - I remember one year she plopped the biggest comforter I've ever seen on my sleeping form - scared the crap out of me, but it was a terrific surprise. So, Saturday, on my birthday, I awoke to more freaking snow! Only 2 inches or so this time, but seriously! I've really had it.
Kidlet had to work, so I spent the day home "putzing" as we call it in my family. The other thing we do is call and sing "Happy Birthday" so I was serenaded first by my mom, then by my sister and her family. It's wonderful to hear such joyous singing in honor of the day you were born.
After the kidlet got off work, we went out to dinner at Outback, where they proceeded to sing to me, and I got the "Chocolate Thunder from Down Under" for dessert. Strip steak for the meal, it was quite tasty.
This is what I got from the kidlet:

















And this (brace yourself!)




















I also finished the first glove from the new book "Not Just More Socks" - here is a pic of the beginning of the second one:



It's blurry, and doesn't really show the colors all that well, but let me tell you, there are some AMAZING corals and purples in this yarn. It's Regia, and I'm thinking I need more to make some socks!

Some January 6th trivia - New Mexico became a state Jan 6, 1912 - we'll (the state, not me) be 100 in 5 years.
Jan 6th is also Epiphany. So, not only does my family celebrate this day, the entire state of NM and, yes, all of Christendom celebrates my birthday! YES!!!!!! I AM THE QUEEN!!!!!