CSI Nana

Late Friday afternoon our team received a report of an attempted assault. Upon arrival our team carefully photographed the victim and collected evidence for processing… an eyewitness was still at the scene.

The victim:

The victim appears to have been dragged away from it’s home and roughed up, but was not seriously injured during the attack. After interviewing the eyewitness and getting a detailed description of the suspect, our fine force was able to track down and apprehend the perpetrator who was then taken in for questioning. The alleged perpetrator:

Although the suspect refused to respond when questioned, we believe there is enough hair evidence (which will be confirmed once full forensic testing is completed) to prove that the suspect is indeed guilty. The eyewitness has already made positive identification from a lineup….

The prosecutor has been notified.

This, That and the Other Thing

I started two new pair of socks. One pair is for knitting at work and one is just because I really wanted to use the yarn. The first pair is a pair of anklets I’m doing up in Summer Sox (5560 - Mandarin Mix) which is a new yarn we got in the shop this spring. I thought it would be nice to have a sample pair and it gives me a pair to use for demos during my sock class. I’m about halfway thru the first sock and it’s not too bad. The yarn is a soft cotton blend and the colors are striping fairly nicely. I’m sort of making this pattern up as I go based on the basic 7 stitches to the inch pattern in the Ann Budd Getting Started Knitting Socks book and one of the lace patterns from the book.

The second pair is from yarn I bought at Stitches two years ago. It's called Celestial Merino Dream by Lucy Neatby and the colorway is Bittersweet Chocolate. It’s been calling my name for a couple of months, so I thought it was time to make some socks with it. It's just as yummy to work with as it sounds . This picture is pretty close to the actual color:The pattern for these is Uptown Boot Socks by Jennifer L. Appleby from Favorite Socks. So far I like them.

I also finished the second baby sweater I was making, but still need to sew it up and add buttons.

And... yippee cayaay... I finished the front of Delve and actually have a picture to show. Here's my solution to not having a big enough blocking board; a set of these interlocking mats costs less than $20.00 at the hardware store and the size is adjustable!

I got started on the first sleeve and I was going to work on it at knit night, but forgot to bring the pattern, so I’ve only done about 2 pattern repeats so far. It will probably be my main project this weekend.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been in and out so much lately or if I did something else suspicious, but I’m a little concerned about what the cats were discussing yesterday morning when I walked in on this:

Not that I'm paranoid or anything, but this definitely looks like a conspiracy ... any thoughts?

Oh well, have a great weekend,

Happy Knitting! Nana

They Came, They Shopped, They Knit

North Suburban Knit Out and Crochet, Too 2009, went well…. I’ll let the pictures tell the story today!

I think I must have walked about 50 miles just keeping things on track, coordinating with mall management and talking with the different participants, volunteers and so forth. It was a lot of hard work, but in the end, I'm really pleased with the result.

Doing this makes complicated knitting seem a whole lot easier... Maybe there's hope for the swallowtail shawl yet!

Happy knitting... and back to project updates in the next post

Nana

Knitting And Not Knitting

I have been busy! Some knitting has been done, but mostly I’ve been finalizing the details for the North Suburban Knit Out this Saturday. Wow, I can’t believe it’s finally happening. I’m really excited about the schedule we put together and hope that we have a great turn-out. If you’re curious about it, go here. If you live in the area, come and join us! As far as the knitting goes, I needed to do up a few quick baby things; so far I finished another Blanket Buddy (pattern from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders) / Velvet Touch Yarn.

and a Last-Minute Sweater (my pattern - this is actually the "test knit" and it's a good thing I kept my original notes, because I found a few errors in the pattern I had typed up!) Knitpicks Shine Worsted in Grass. These are both for members of my church who are due very soon. I’m working on one more Last-Minute Sweater for a knitting friend. I need to finish it soon, because I’ll miss one of the May meet-ups and she may have her little one before the other one!

Before I started those, I finished the Falling Leaves socks!

They turned out pretty well. I decided to try the afterthought heels after all. I guess they didn’t turn out too bad for my first go at it. I’m not sure that I love the technique, but having done it at least I understand how it works now. I can also see why it could be useful in some patterns. Here they are: Falling Leaves Socks by Angela Kreutser an exclusive pattern from A Swell Yarn Shop, done in XXL Duet Sock Yarn. The pattern and yarn was a gift from a swap I did last year. The only pattern modification I mad was to the length of the leg. DD#2 wanted the shorter leg (thankfully) and not the knee-sock length the pattern is written for.

I’m also still plugging away on the Delve front and should hopefully get into the lace pattern today or tonight.

Consolation Prizes!

Since I’m probably the only sock knitter anywhere who won’t be going to Sock Summit this August (too close to new grandbaby’s arrival)… I took full advantage of Knitpicks recent sale on sock books… I got The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman And Knitted Socks by Anna Tillman AND Sock Innovation by Cookie A (woohoo!) Not quite as good as being there in person, but lots of good reading and knitting inside! (I suspect a certain person will expect a certain pair of socks now, though) I’ve been super busy putting the finishing touches on the Knit-Out event for next week. I can’t believe it’s almost here. But I am getting pretty excited. I’ve also had house guests for most of the week. C and M who are students at St. Louis Christian College and are doing their Lab week here at our church have been staying with me. They have been pretty easy guests for the most part they get up have breakfast, then head out and aren’t back until late in the evening. C is a pretty awesome crocheter and we’ve had a lot of fun doing needlework together and visiting when they return in the evening. I think I’ve convinced her that she needs Ravelry (hee, hee, hee). So I have had time to do some knitting. I’m almost done with the Falling Leaves Socks and have made forward progress on the Delve front. Hopefully I’ll have some knitting pictures to post soon. We have had two sunny days in a row which is really nice. (The curbberg is no more, yay) Happy Knitting Nana

It Helps to Upload the Pictures First

I’ve been meaning to get a new post up, but for some reason I keep forgetting to upload the pictures from my camera… I mean really, how hard is that?

Maybe I’ve just been kind of lackadaisical lately?

So, with out futher ado and unnecessary apologies, here’s what I’ve been up to knitting wise:

I finished the little striped socks for my grandson Improvised pattern using Poems Sock yarn (958) done in 2x2 stripes using both ends of the ball; size 2 (2.75mm) needles

I also finished the Blue Honeycomb Mittens, which are practically unneeded now.

Pattern: Honeycomb Mittens by Jean Newstead from Homespun-Handknit (one of my “workhorse” books) Yarn: Lambs Pride Worsted in blue magic and Twilley’s Freedom Spirit shade 506 Needles: Size 7 dpn I could have knit these in two nights instead of the two months it actually took. I just had too many other things on the needles in between. Oh, and just in case you needed to know… Curbberg day 7 (And there’s snow in today’s forecast… hmpf!) I’m off to try and finish another something. Happy Knitting Nana

Important Announcement

This website is being redesigned and will be debuting on April 13th, 2009 as “Papa and the Cubs” content will include detailed play-by-play analysis of every Cubs baseball game home and away. Highlights will include but not be limited to commiseration with fellow Cubs fans when one or more of the following occurs: · Inexplicable seventh inning collapse after leading the previous six innings · Inexplicable use of closer who cannot find plate in must-win game · One or more runs scored due to pitcher / fielding error combinations in should-win games · Anytime, Lou Pinella, Carlos Zambrano, or any Cubs catcher is thrown out of the game for kicking, spitting, name-calling or hitting another coach, player or game official Additional topics will include: · Rumors and scandals involving current and past Cubs players, managers, coaches, owners and Illinois state officials · Debates over lead-off hitter and general line-up problems · Details of potential trades, up-and-coming farm team players and status of pitchers on injured reserve · Open forum on Jeff Smaradzija’s hairstyle Stay tuned as we develop this new and exciting site! (Just kidding…!) Hope you got to do something foolish today (Regular knitting and Kitty content will return soon)