Time Management ha, ha

After finishing up a few household chores and other things today; I have been totally immersed in ravelry. Bad, I know. Okay not really bad, but time consuming for sure. I played around looking at patterns, added a few things to my notebook and updated more stash. I now have 75% or so of my stash entered. Really, just 3 bins of wool and one of um, acrylic fun yarn left to input.

I also got my to do list re-written as the majority of entries have been crossed off. I generally have a week or two of projects on my list at any given time.

WIP Updates: I finished the first mushroom cap and have cast on for another. This one is in the reverse colors and will be smaller. I finished the HSS sock and mailed the box to my pal yesterday. The first Surf sock is ready for the heel shaping (flap is underway).

I had to fight Saucey for the chair again today, but as you can tell by the longer post, I won… he, he.

So in addition to spending way too much time in ravelry I also had to photograph stash yarn; while I was at it, I took some pictures of what I am fondly referring to as Pre-Ravelry Knitting or pRK.

Here’s a quick peek:

Red Boot Socks (I think this is the first pair I ever knit around 1997 or so, either that or these) Purple striped socks … and some warm gear … My mushroom hat (purple and black circa 1998) and my grey and blue mittens (circa 1996)…

Some more pRK pictures are all out on my flickr site, but I haven’t decided whether I want to waste, ahem, spend time putting them all in Ravelry.

Yikes! I just realized I totally forgot to eat lunch today... now that is bad. I guess the hunger should have been a clue...

Not just another to do list

So didya ever have a day where you wrote what you did on your “to do” list just so you could cross something off? Well today sorta qualified for that. I did get two of the original things done, but so much else just needed doing and I did that instead of what I thought I should be doing. Yeah, like that…

Oh, but I did win a contest! Many thanks to Jodi. I stumbled onto her blog awhile back and check it now and then, I checked it one day last week and she just happened to be doing a contest… so, what the heck I entered on the theory that you can’t win if you don’t enter - and won a skein of sock yarn. Yeah!

Right now the cat is totally hogging the desk chair, so I’m trying to type while sitting on the very edge of the seat. I don’t think this arrangement is going to work very much longer.

Saucey Says:

I’m not giving up the chair... if you don’t write about me you can’t blog today.

Out of the Cave

No, I did not go into hibernation when the temperatures dropped. I just got a little lazy, but, now… Whew! I finally got a chance to take pictures of the finished objects:

1. The felted purse; with cherry print lining.

2. The HSS sock – now to get it in the mail!
Also, newest project OTN:

Mushroom Cap from the book Homespun, Hand knit; this is a hat for a project I’m doing at church to collect handmade hats and scarves for the clients of PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). This is an area initiative that ensures overnight shelter is available for homeless citizens. Our church used to be a PADS site, but due to renovations we are not hosting this year, however, our church members are still acting as volunteers at another location. The PADS outreach is an important ministry to our church and this is one way I can help.

Finished Objects but no pictures

I was so focused on taking pictures of my stash to update in ravelry when; Oops! I forgot to take a picture of my finished objects to update. The HSS sock is finished. I just have to put the finishing touches on the package and get everything in the mail. The felted purse just needs to be lined… I’m getting there - I’ll go take those pictures now so I don’t forget and will get them posted soon, I promise!

Before my stash pictures, I did take this picture of Saucey helping me with my knitting by holding the tape measure. She takes her work very seriously.

Happy Thursday!!

The Joy of being Nana

Last night I got to experience one of the pure joys of having grandchildren. I was talking to my daughter on the phone and she told me about how my grandson has been going around the house singing his favorite song. Then she actually coaxed him into singing it for me. First of course she had to start the CD because he is shy and needed backup singers. So for a few precious moments, I got to enjoy my grandson’s rendition of “Open the Eyes of My Heart” which is actually one of my favorite praise and worship songs. It would be cliché to say that it was angelic, but I did feel that I had been visited by an angel and filled to the brim with sweetness and light. Yay, for the delight of grandkids! That, and my daughter’s report and excitement over her trip as a birthday treat to the Fall TKGA Conference, got me perked up enough to get back going on the HSS sock. Much good progress was made and I was able to knit back to the frog-point last night and am almost to the toe shaping after Koffe Klatch this morning. Saucey has declared (by sitting on the mouse pad) that my computer time is almost up, so I think I need to end this post here. Hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures to post.

Trivial Tuesday

A while back I mentioned decorating the house for fall. Just for fun, this is a picture of one of my favorite Fall decorations. The pattern is from a magazine called Knitting World that I bought in 1990. It's called Pumpkin Top by Leslie Calaway. It's sort of a sleeve that is supposed to go over a coffee can or cookie cannister.

Zelda tried it on just for fun.

I finished organizing the closet in the guest bedroom and have 4 boxes plus 1 bag of stuff to go to charity tomorrow. I also got 1 bin of yarn entered in Ravelry. Knitting will just have to wait for later tonight.

PS I think our heat wave is about over.

A Tale of Two Socks

This weekend was a little bit of a whirlwind travel weekend. My hubby has been promising his family a visit, so since he had today off for Columbus Day, he decided we should drive to Des Moines, IA on Saturday. Fine, great, 6 hour drive, lots of knitting time! Well I did actually get some knitting accomplished.

Since we left just after the morning paper arrived, 1st there was that to read. Then I did settle into a good knitting groove. I was making excellent progress on the HSS sock and we were almost to Des Moines when I did the thing where you smooth and stretch your work out to admire it and then…. Uh, oh! There it was a big mistake – right at the end of the pattern rows.... grrr…4 ½ hours of knitting … wasted.

So I did the only logical thing; put it in impound and got out the other sock OTN to work on. That’s the surf sock which is kind of slow going right now because I’m stopping every other row to make note of what I’m doing. I want to get the charting done while I’m working on it so I can write up the pattern. The good news is my SIL took me to one of the local yarn shops near where she lives. It is a very nice shop and I found a couple of goodies for my HSS pal. So once the sock is done, the box will be quick to put together. We also went to JoAnne to look for fabric to slipcover an ottoman she wants to update. I found the fabric I needed to line the felted purse, so that project is very near completion.

On Sunday, we left a lot later than we thought we would, so the knitting didn’t progress too much further (it had to be called on account of darkness).

Today was more about laundry and errands and keeping DH company, so I only got a few rounds done while waiting for him to get a hair cut. That went like this: knit 1 round, begin second round, knit across needle 1 and partway across two; notice mistake, fiddle with stitches to fix “mistake” knit to next needle, recognize mistake was not a mistake, because it was on the needle not knit yet… tink back two rounds, update chart, knit 1 round. Put sock back in bag, go grocery shopping.

Next up: frogging the HSS sock and trying to finish it.

Mostly, I have had some sort of sinus-allergy-traveling related doozy of a headache all weekend. Do you think this is why I’m making all of these silly mistakes in my knitting?

What did you do before Ravelry? (warning: picture heavy post)

I may be telling you TMI here, but I wanted to talk about how you manage your projects stash, etc. Old School vs. Ravelry. Here’s what I’ve been using up ‘til I got my ravelry invite.

1. Just plain notebook with lined and graph paper (9x6 binder). I prefer a binder style so I can add and remove pages as I need to. Also I have some great little document protectors that I picked up at a craft store that are just the right size for my notebook. This goes everywhere my knitting goes.

2. Blank book for saving labels, small swatches and other notes about finished projects; this one is a composition notebook which is smaller, but gives ample space for pasting labels, etc.

3. Binders or document organizers to keep copies and notes about patterns I’d like to make, patterns I’ve made and other tips and techniques.

I also have several satellites to the 3 general books above. A small spiral notebook that also doubles as my all around list book (which replaced my formal planner after I retired); another 3 ring notebook that houses all of the pattern notes and things from the notebook I carry around with me once a project is complete, this one also has some older projects and pictures of really ancient projects from the BC (before computer) years; and A basket that holds all the magazines with patterns I’m thinking about.

Of course for those of you who have been invited and initiated into the wonderful world of ravelry (WWR), you know that ravelry has all the same features and so much more.

I don't think I'll immediately abandon my notebooks system, because I'm a tactile person and I like to be able to jot notes as I think of them and also sketch things out when I get ideas - also as my family can attest to; I have a slight paper addiction.

So, lest you think I haven't been knitting, here are two project updates:

The felted bag knitting is done, it just needs to go in the wash machine and then finish the closure on the front flap.

the HSS sock is prgressing nicely; I got additional measurements from my pal so I can move confidently forward and hopefully finish it this weekend.

And finally, since this is what goes on around here every day about this time, here are what the cats are up to: (hint think kitchen floor sharks... )

Rough translation: "FEED ME"

Happy Aniversary to Sputnik I and other silliness

In case anyone missed the news today, it's been 50 years since the first orbiter Sputnik I was launched into space, can you believe so many of the conveniences and tools we almost take for granted had their humble beginnings in that bold move by the russians 50 years ago? If it wasn't for that you wouldn't be reading this. I've seen almost the whole technological evolution in my lifetime and it still amazes me to think about how things were before then. I know some of you who read this would probably agree that we all know people who can't function without some of the devices that didn't even exist a mere 25 or 30 years ago, let alone 50. It still seems like science fiction when I think about it too hard. Viva reality though! I'm glad for some of these advances and I sure try hard not to take them for granted. So, since I don't have any pictures to post today, I'm going to throw out this little game of tag for anyone who cares to join in: If you are reading this TAG – you’re it! Read through the comments below about me and then make sure you read the instructions at the bottom. Have fun! 1. What time is it? 12:25 pm 2. What's your family nickname? Sugar 3. What are you most afraid of? Something bad happening to my children or grandchildren – oh and running out of yarn or chocolate 4. What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a theater? Pirates of the Caribbean III (Yeah, don’t get out much) 5. Place of birth…Zion, IL 6. Favorite food…Anything someone else cooks and brings to the table for me. 7. What's your natural hair color? Light brownish grey. 8. Ever been to Alaska – No, but I’d like to go. 9. Ever been skinny dipping…No, not my style 10. Love someone so much it made you cry…You bet, I have kids. 11. Been in a car accident…Yes, in a tunnel in Wyoming – I don’t recommend it to anyone, either. 12. Croutons or bacon bits…Bacon bits 13. Favorite day of the week…Tuesday 14. Favorite restaurant… Aliotos on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco 15. Favorite Flower… pansy 16. Favorite sport to watch…Baseball 17. Favorite drink…Coffee 18. Favorite ice cream…Anything with chocolate and caramel pieces in it. 19. Warner Brothers/Disney … Disney I guess 20. Ever been on a ship… does a ski boat count? 21. What color is your bedroom carpet…Cream 22. How many times did you fail your driver's test…I once failed the written test in MO because I had no one to watch my then 3 & 4 year old and I had to take them to the DMV with me – not a good choice 23. Before this one, which blog did you look at last? Brooklyn Tweed (recommended by a knitting friend) 24. What do you do when you are bored…Knit, of course 25. Bedtime… usually between 10 and 10:30 pm – any later and the cats get annoyed 26. Who will post this on their blog? We’ll see 27. Who won’t? Not a clue 28. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses? – Yarn Harlot, but I don’t think she reads me 29. Favorite TV shows… ER, Monk, Psych 30. Last person you went to dinner with…My husband, SD, her new husband and their 3 kids 31. Smokes or Drinks… Drinks a little wine 32. What is your favorite color… blue and purple 33. How many tattoos do you have… one 34. How many pets do you have…two 35. Which came first, the chicken or the egg… the chicken, read Genesis 36. What do you want to do before you die? Travel overseas, especially Ireland, Germany and Italy 37. Have you ever been to Hawaii … yes, 3 times to Maui 38. Have you been to countries outside the U.S. … I went to Tijuana once for a few hours 39. How many people are read your blog? 3 or 4? 40. Time this survey ended…12:36 Now, here's what you're supposed to do... please do not spoil the fun. Copy this into a word document, delete my answers and type in your answers and post to your blog.

More posting, less knitting...

Posting to ravelry that is. Whew! This could be a project. I promised the cats it wouldn't take over my life. (ha, ha)

To get pictures of my projects into ravelry (unless you know some secret I don't) I had to get a flickr account. Okay, did that, uploaded a bunch of pics... Added the necessary ones to ravelry. Added my needles from the case I keep in my knitting basket to the needles and hooks section, lets see... added a couple more books... and one more project. That took most the morning. Took a break to run the vacuum, eat lunch, run to the post office and grocery store, then oh, yeah, need to balance the checkbook... Wow is it time for Jeopardy already? Gee how time flies when you are getting stuff done :) So all of that and no knitting. Good news is tonight is meet-up night, so I will have time to work at least one of my current projects at Panera's tonight. Coffee anyone?

Here's my Knitting mascot, Noro. He's modeling one of the swatch's from the modular class I took in June (Camp Stitches). Behind him is my yarn journal. I'll talk about that some other day.

Festival and WIPs

We had a busy weekend! The weather was beautiful which helped immensely. We got up and went out to breakfast Saturday morning and then drove up to WI for the Harvest Moon Farm festival (more here). It was actually more of a rabbit show with a few distractions thrown in. There were LOTS of rabbits, goat, sheep, even a couple of cute kittens, a puppy, some spinners and a giant kaleidoscope. Not much else, but we found it charming. We saw a few knitters too. Mary, Sherry, Lynn and Lynn from my Weds Morning Koffee Klatch group checked it out, too.




(Picture L-R, Mary, Sherry and Me)

Since it was such a nice day, we really didn’t mind getting out and about and stopped at an orchard for apples on the way home~ got a bag of honey crisp apples, some yummy cider, a jar of cherry preserves and some homemade caramels; double yum. (I plan on baking apple cake tonight for DH).

I poked around some in ravelry, but only got some of my books entered and a shaky start on my projects. Like I said before, I’ll be taking it in baby steps.

Oh, and I knit, too. I started the Christmas present for SD#2, cast on and worked the ribbing for surf socks (same as tidal pool, different color yarn), and I swatched, and cast on socks for HSS pal. Whew!
Saucey says: “pet me or no blogging today!”

Zelda says: “hey, how come she always gets to blog?”

Ravelry

I'm in! I got my invitation this morning. I guess I will be working hard the next couple of weeks to get my stuff entered. Woo Hoo! My ravelry ID is nanaknits21

Is it really Friday?

Wow, this week really wooshed along! I had at least meant to do a blog entry for Wednesday. I was going to reminisce about what I was doing 26 years ago on the 26th of Sep. It’s kind of a family joke, but the correct answer is NOT watching Nolan Ryan pitch his 5th career no hitter. I was doing that, but actually, I was in labor with my second daughter. The fact that she held off until aforementioned baseball game was complete almost had me convinced that she would be a boy, who would unfortunately have been named “Nolan” or slightly better “Ryan” by a baseball crazed dad. Fortunately he couldn’t think of any feminized versions of those names when we saw the most beautiful bundle of pinkness tucked into a blanket. I knew at first sight she was a very special girl. She is now a very beautiful woman who I am proud to call my daughter. On the funny family facts front… baby Kayla was 6lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long. Which was exactly the same statistics of dd#2 when she was born 26 years ago; and Kayla’s mom Kelly (dd#2's cousin) is a “twin” as family resemblances go, too funny! Just for fun, here's a group shot of the "Aunt T" look alikes from an family reunion almost 10 years ago. Kelly and DD2 are on the left. I'm the one center front. (This is before I went and wacked off all my hair) The rest of the group is "Aunt T" and two other nieces.

We are still waiting for a picture of the new baby from proud parents and/or grandma and grandpa.

Not much knitting news to report. I have cast on for the SAM4 October socks and am working through the 2nd go around with the 2nd afghan square. The first being slightly too big and putting me in danger of running out of yarn.

Since my blogging has gotten out of sync of late, I missed the chance to have fun with the whole "talk like a pirate" day thing last week. So if anyone else missed it, here's your chance to at least explore your pirate name:

http://www.mess.be/pirate-names-female.php (for female pirates)

http://www.mess.be/pirate-names-male.php (for male pirates)

Turns out if you ran into me on board a pirate vessel, I'd be known as "The Evil Mermaid Constance" (hee, hee, hee)

Some of the quizzes and gee whizzes out on the internet these days are silly, aren't they?

In other family news we found out our newest grandbaby due in Feb will be a girl. Rumor has it her name will be Atlanta Marie. DH and I are slightly horrified by this... but, alas, Nana and Papa don't have naming rights. DH and I have been trying to figure out if there's a neutral nickname in there we can adapt... best we've come up with so far is Lanie.

I took Zelda back to the vet yesterday and she got a clean bill of health from the vet, so no more ear drops (we both did a happy dance about that).

So for the first full weekend of fall we are going to celebrate by going to a Harvest Festival.

Have a happy knit filled weekend everybody!

Plodding along

It’s raining right now. Fortunately I got out early and took a nice walk this morning (about 2 ¼ miles with a few stops to shop along the way). I really need to do more of that. It was very humid and overcast, so I knew the rain was coming (that and the forecast said we’d get some today, Ha, Ha).

I did a little shopping and scouting for goodies for my Harvest Sock Swap Pal and after looking thru my stash decided the yarn I needed wasn’t to be found, but I did find some nice yarn online and ordered some so hopefully the shipping won’t take too long. In the meantime, I’ll have time to decide on the pattern. I have ideas.
I was hoping to start on some fall decorating today and got as far as bringing in one of the totes from the garage. Oh, well.

In the family news, my great niece has finally made her arrival! Kayla Mae was born yesterday evening. As soon as I have details or a picture, I will add those.

I’m almost halfway done with the afghan square so hopefully I can get it done for the group tomorrow.

Here are the two girlie cats anticipating their next meal.

Monday Miscellany

Lots of things going on since my last post, so this might ramble a bit. On Thursday we drove to MI for my Step-Daughter's wedding which was on Friday. The town she lives in is sort of small and there's not much to do. They were already having dinner when we got there, so we settled into the hotel then headed out to find a place to eat; before dinner my Husband did let me visit the LYS which is actually a really nice shop. He even encouraged me to buy some yarn (woo hoo!) I got some alpaca at 50% off and some gorgeous hand dyed merino that is very silky and soft. Plus a random amount of linen yarn for $2.00 from the clearance bin. The linen is actually enough to use for the eye-pillow pattern by Cat Bordhi.

I did get my Lotus Blossom Tank finished in time to wear for the wedding.

DH took this picture, I wanted him to zoom in to get a good shot of the tank, but, well you know how husbands like instructions… but as you can see, IT FITS! (Gotta love my picture face)

Here are some of the pictures from the wedding.

It was a very simple affair at the court house attended by the bride and grooms 3 kids, us, and the groom’s dad. The dads signed as witnesses. We went to the historic courthouse downtown to take more pictures then took the new family out for dinner. Since all the kids needed naps by then, we hit the road for home. My DH was so good to me he let me stop at another yarn shop on the way home! This one was about what you would expect in a small town. The funny thing is, the owners have been hitting all the fiber related events promoting a murder mystery centered on the yarn shop-if you know what I’m talking about and have read the book …. Well let’s just say that it is fiction... They are nice people, so I’m trying to be nice here, but the shop didn’t really live up to the hype. I did find some Wildfoote in Ragtime color way though… Other than the traveling, the rest of the weekend was pretty much the usual running here and there and watching too much Baseball/Football on TV. (My poor crippled Cardinals). And yes, for some reason my husband thinks the Cubs might actually have a chance this year….

I only worked on a square for the afghan my Koffee Klutch knitting group is making for one of the member’s son who is in Kuwait right now. We might get it done by the time he gets home. I’m trying to do reversible cables, but I had to frog the whole thing when I got home because somewhere right in the middle I messed up on the cable repeats and it looked goofy. So I had to do math and start over. (I figured out I had 2 stitches too many for the cable design). Now the cables are coming out more smoothly, but I only have about 3 inches done.

Mostly I spent my knitting time compiling a list of patterns that I would like to try and sorting out the growing collection of magazines and books that are threatening to take over my coffee table. Next I need to match the list to my stash (ravelry are you ready for me yet?) (2611 people are ahead of you in line).

Still no money or response from DFAS, so I had to call them again (pout); got an even bigger runaround than last time. Grrr

I did get my Harvest Sock Swap pal assignment, so now I need to start planning some cool socks for her.
Oh and I got a job of sorts. I’m going to be working in the Church office on Friday mornings to help out with phones and stuff. Our secretary left to take a better paying job and since finances were a little tight anyway the church board decided not to hire a new one right away, but instead asked for volunteers to staff the office…. which sounded like something I could do. Kind of a win-win thing, I’ll be serving and I’ll have something interesting to do.

Almost there

The Lotus Blossom tank is nearly complete! I just have the neckband and armhole finishing left to do. I tried it on twice and it fits like it's supposed to. I couldn't be happier with the outcome of the time I took to calculate the numbers for resizing the pattern. Yeah! Here's a preview of the almost finished version while it was blocking.

Hopefully I'll have a picture of me modeling it to show real soon. We're going to a wedding this weekend and if all works out, this is what I will wear.

Ho Hum Tuesday

Boy it seems like this week is sort of limping along already. I did not get as much knitting done over the weekend as I would have liked. Something about having to keep DH company prevents me from working steadily. Yesterday we had a few connectivity problems with the computer and I also discovered that the computer and I have been having unsafe internet. So I spent a most of yesterday afternoon and evening working on restoring the internet and installing the anti-virus software we bought with the software bundle when we got this computer a year ago! Yikes, no viruses detected, but to THINK!

I am making progress on the tank top though. All that is left to do is the back. Maybe this little heat wave will stick around long enough for me to wear it once as a “summer top.” Anyway, I figure it will also look cute under a jacket. I did get a couple of the “swatch” baby hats done. Anyone care to guess which patterns I tried out (grey and pink only)?

Zelda’s ears are looking much better and I think she will probably get a good report when she goes in for a follow up with the vet next week. She definitely seems to be hearing better too. Saucey is getting a little jealous of both the attention Zelda has been getting and my knitting … can you tell?

Today was my errand and housecleaning day, so I haven’t actually looked at my knitting yet. Hopefully I can get some done tonight.

Of window treatments and sick cats

Another project is done!

I was pretty busy yesterday and feel pretty good about getting one more thing off my “to do” list. I had bought the fabric some time ago with the intention of doing a window treatment in the kitchen of some sort. The main “window” in the kitchen is actually the sliders going out to the deck. The idea was to tie it in with these cute rugs that we have in the kitchen. I wanted to do something a little more challenging than a typical window topper. Finally inspiration struck when I got the idea to put a narrow shelf above the window and attach the valance to that. It took several weeks to convince my husband that this would work and to go to the hardware store, buy the shelf, cut it and wait for him to attach it to the wall. The hard part was getting my motivation going. The sewing part really only took about 1 ½ hours.
So, here it is….

And the inspiration behind it….

I also managed to get one baby hat done, worked on an excel chart for the tidal pool socks and took Zelda to the vet to have her ears checked. She has been scratching and had gunky ears for a little while; we were also beginning to suspect that maybe she was having trouble with her hearing. No mites or other defects thankfully, but she does have some sort of infection and is now getting drops twice a day. The vet wasn’t too sure about her hearing either, but is optimistic that getting the infection cleared up might help. We’ll see if she behaves better once the ears are better…

Oh, and my yarn arrived, so I can get back to work on finishing the tank top this weekend!

Random thoughts

Wednesday is Koffe Klutch day. The knitting group that meets at the coffee shop… how perfect for me is that? It’s a very amiable group and I look forward to seeing everybody and their latest project. I took pictures last week but forgot to ask if anybody minded being on my blog so maybe next week, I’ll actually post them.

My yarn is on its way. At least I got an email from the vendor letting me know that it was shipped yesterday. I am mostly finished with the pair of socks I’ve been working on (no picture, alas, they are for a gift) and will probably get the hat cast on before the yarn gets here. Yesh!

As a diversion, I want to show you the great new jammies I got! I don’t usually go for jersey fabric for jammies but these were too cute. I found them at WalMart for a reasonably low price. You can also see the full selection here under the “store” link. You see they have characters (Mooch and Earl) from one of my favorite comic strips and I just couldn’t resist. The cotton is also supposed to be 100% organic – so that’s a good thing, too. If you are not familiar with the “Mutts” comic, but love cats and dogs, you should check the strip out, they are a hoot!

On the upswing

Well things are improving slightly (how could they not) after my meltdown yesterday. I located the yarn I needed online here. It was only $4.75 a ball, in stock, and shipping will take 24-48 hours woohoo!

I did get half a sock knit yesterday since I couldn't work on the tank. They are number two of the gift pair I'm doing. That will also free me up to maybe work up a hat when the socks are done before the other yarn arrives.

Since neither Saucey or Zelda can work the camera, here is a picture of some alpacas in lieu of me doing the happy dance.

PS

I just read the yarn harlots blog and feel marginally better about my financial travails. At least no Yarn was involved! In addition to the other trouble today, it is now raining buckets and the Cardinals are losing to the ... ahem... Cubs! But DH, who is a good man, did bring me chocalate when he came home from work :)

If it's Monday, it’s definitely Murphy!

Or the light at the end of the tunnel is probably a train.

Did you ever have one of THOSE days? Boy, I’m having one. I have been quite happy with progress on the Lotus Blossom Tank and was hoping I could finish later this week. That may or may not be possible. Even with downsizing the pattern and what not, it still looks like I may be short on the yarn needed to finish the project (less stitches should equal more yarn, right?). I still had the contact from the Las Vegas yarn shop where I bought the yarn a year ago and have sent a desperate email to them hoping there’s still a lonely ball or two sitting around the shop. I do have a plan B if I can’t track down more of the same yarn (but don’t want to go there if I don’t have to). So far none of the nearby shops carry that particular yarn. Whine.

Caution: Upcoming rant… This month is the first month that I’m learning to budget on one pay period a month. So naturally, there was a small glitch in my retirement pay (like the check was smaller than it should be). So, I had to call the dreaded Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) that’s the pay office that handles all military pay for active, reserve and retired members. If you haven’t ever served you might be thinking, so what’s the big deal? Well, I’ll tell you, they do not generally hire customer service folks for their customer service abilities or problem solving skills. So, after waiting on hold for about 9 years of listening to the most annoying voice telling me that my call was very important and it would be taken in the order in which it received and then alternating with possibly the most amazingly horrible muzak ever (my ears might not recover), I finally got a live person to deal with. Now, as DFAS employees go, her skills seemed to be above average…she was able to pleasantly and quickly determine that my problem was due to a simple clerical error. But then I made the mistake of asking how long it would take to fix that error, and then it was like, “can I put you on hold while I talk to my supervisor?” I wanted to know if the deficiency would be made right during the month of September (like it’s all in the computer – do it today); she assured me it would be done as quickly as possible. Which in DFAS speak translates to the earliest I can expect any resolution to my problem will be around the 20th or so of the month, hmmm; so much for fast and efficient. Fast and efficient are words, of course, that are not in DFAS’ dictionary.

Now I don’t want you to be concerned that I’ll have to choose between food or yarn the rest of the month, it’s just that I can’t (will never) understand why the employees that DFAS hires just can’t do their jobs right the first time and save all of us the agony of having to contact them, investigate the problem and then take the time to go back and fix the thing.

On top of that I was also trying to deal with another company about an investment issue that somehow got mucked up and waiting for call backs and confirmations and so forth; which ended up in us taking a moderate loss in the short run, but saving a bundle in the long run. (Actually about the same amount my check was short… double hmmm).

So in a nutshell, I spent most of the day on the phone trying to solve problems that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

And actually, I was supposed to be making a valance for the kitchen….


Let’s just hope that shop in Vegas has my yarn!

Work in Progress

Progress notes on Lotus Blossom tank #2 –

First a bit of history… this project is labeled as “#2” because this is my second attempt to knit this pattern for myself. The first time I started knitting it at the family reunion last summer, figured out my needle size wasn’t right, changed needles then re-knit it at least once trying to get gauge, continued to knit after the second time of beginning again even though I had mounting suspicions that the size would not come out right. Completed on trip to Indianapolis, attempted to block on hotel ironing board; blamed funny fit on bad blocking; got home, re-blocked. I’m sorry to say it still did not fit and I ended up giving it away to a deserving person, who I hope is wearing and enjoying it.

But I love, love, love this pattern. IK summer 2006 cover sweater…

So, I was determined to knit one for myself.

Now, after working up my courage to face it again, I cast on 200 stitches in mid August. Worked about 6 rows, and then set it aside to organize the family room and work on my more portable tidal pool socks.

Finished said socks around the 4th of September and decided it was time to get on with the tank. Picked it up and knit thru row 9 which is the point where you change to smaller needles… decided it looked a little large.
Transferred stitches to waste yarn; spread out to an even tension, measured. Four inches too big - to be exact.

Threw on the floor and started another set of socks to soothe my wounded knitterly pride.

Humph. . .

Picked it up again yesterday afternoon; frogged everything; did some math; went to stitch and share planning on working on it there, forgot needles.
Worked on sock.
Got home and cast on 180 stitches (two pattern repeats less).

Knit happily thru row four this morning… realized that I had cast on with the smaller needles and not the larger as pattern dictates. (Said bad words)

Decided that I did not want to defy the knitting gods or this part of the instructions in the pattern.

Frogged again…
Ate some chocolate. Played on computer.

Watched Jeopardy: cast on 180 stitches on correctly sized needles.
Am now up to row 5. Woo, hoo!
I’ll keep you posted.

Do these cats look hungry?

Tidal Pools are finished!

Specifics:

Yarn: Water #110, hand dyed merino from Creatively Dyed Yarn

Needles: 0 bamboo dpns
Pattern: My own modified x, o cables with lace panel over 75 st. For some reason the second sock took longer than the first and was fussier, but they are done now :)

I have another skein of this yarn in another color and plan on making a slightly similar pair of socks for a Christmas gift.

Shh, please don’t tell my husband…. I already blew the September yarn budget! I popped in to a LYS because I had a 10% off coupon and lo and behold, they were running a 25% off everything sale today. I left the store weak kneed and light walleted and my stash has just been enhanced with yarn for a vest, a felting project and Noro-because-it’s-on-sale in two colors.

Progress

The family room is almost done! I need to get a little cafe rod to hang up this quilt-thing that my co-workers gave me when I retired. (it came with a bamboo pole to hang it on, but I wanted something that fit in with our decor a little better). I am planning on a video tour of the room if I can figure out how to upload it from the camera. It's not perfect, but I am happy with the progress that I've made since I've been focused on getting it done. So, in lieu of something blog related, here is a photo of my daughter and oldest grandson. Isn't he a cutie pie? (She's not bad either!) He's 3 1/2 and keeps his mama on the go every day.

They live in CA, so I don't get to see either one of them very much which is hard on this Nana. Her birthday is coming up, and I'm thinking of a fun surprise, must get to work. . .