I Went to the Animal Fair

Ok, the Howard County Fair(grounds). They were having an Alpaca fiber exhibit. And since it's only a few minutes from my house I took a short roadtrip up. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have no photos of the really cute critters. They're much smaller than I thought they'd be, and much softer. They make noises similar to sheep but softer and quieter. I hear you can even housebreak them. Really? So I'm re-thinking my post retirement activities. Wonder how they get along with chickens? I did buy a couple of skeins of yarn. This one's hand dyed and 100% alpaca. I also bought a pattern to make it into a lace cowl from the same vendor.

These 2 are 30% Merino and are natural colors - not dyed. I have a 2 color pattern planned for them. Though, with my knitting speed, I don't recomment you hold your breath waiting for the results. But it should be really pretty when it's done.
In other news. I see a lot of pattern matching in the fashion mags but am scared to try it. What do you think: Too much? What the hell are you thinking? Go go girl, wish I had your fashion sense? Stick to solids and let Mondo do the mixing?

And finally, more serger woes. Seriously? WTF? See my nicely finished pink sample? Looks fine, doesn't it? Now look at my real garment. These were done at the same time - in fact I didn't even cut the threads between the sample and the shirt until I was done stitching. I really just don't understand. Really. I ended up actually overcasting this mess on my Viking. Pah.

And in closing, don't forget you use your JoAnn's 60% off + dollars off coupons. Best sale in a long time - I got a whole bag of stuff I didn't need for the price of the cutting board I've had my eye on for some time. I do so love me a good sale.

Sock it to me.

While my son was in the hospital I finally finished the pair of socks I started when my husband was in the hospital. I must like to knit in hospitals. Anyway, I thought I'd share.

First up is the pair I started back in March. I'd finished one sock of a pair that was so boring I couldn't finish them. So I cast on for these. Yeah, there are a couple of errors in them, particularly the one on my left foot - it was the first of the pair. When I rejoined in the round I knit a row backwards and didn't know it until way later. Dang it. But I liked the yarn and I like the socks. I was disappointed in the (lack of) pooling or striping or any other color combinations. But the colors is pretty and they fit my smallish foot.

Then I cast on the next pair, after spending a god-awful time untangling my yarn in a hard plastic chair. I ended up with 2 balls for this pair after having to cut the yarn to remove the tangle. I know they look like the same color almost, but they aren't that similar in real life (light).
Both yarns are from Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria. I got the bag by filling up my buyer's card. It's a Japanese cotton print and just the size for socks. It would be too small for a sweater. The yarn for both is from Blue Ridge Yarns, Bambie. I used Kate Atherley's Basic Ribbed sock pattern, but didn't put the ribbing in the second pair. I like her pattern, it's easy and very well written. A great starter pattern, IMHO.

I'm still not sure I'm in love with this knitting thing. I'm trying, but it really hasn't grabbed me. I do like buying yarn, though.....

Update

My son's surgery went well. The surgeon was able to put the cages in front of T11 & L1, as well as rods/screws from T10 - L3 all through a single incision in his back. A big incision, but only one. It looks much like the xray at the blog top. This was all made possible because he didn't have to worry about damaging his spinal cord. Yeah, whatever.
It was a big surgery, about 5 hours and yesterday was rough. He was doing better today, though. Ate breakfast and lunch. Got out of bed, talked to people. I spent Monday night in the single most uncomfortable chair ever created, and remember I'm a hospital sleeping veteran. Not my first night in a chair. I came back to his apartment last night and tonight. I'm too old for chair sleeping. I did discover that I can lay down in 2 chairs placed seat to seat. Quite a feat. And I'm a poet.
His roommate is a 49 year old heavy guy that fell 4 feet off a ladder a week and a half ago. Smashed his leg when all 350 pounds of him landed on his right leg. Broke all 3 major bones, damaged his femoral artery, broke his patella and broke the tibia in knee joint. He's had 5 surgeries, so far. Including skin grafts to close the other wounds because it swelled too much for the skin to reach. Moral of this story? Don't trim trees with your ladder on mulch. Oh, and loose weight when your wife tells you too. Apparently she's pretty mad at him about this whole thing. Interesting people you meet in hospitals. Not.
BUT I finished a PAIR (yes, that's right, a pair. 2. ) of socks. They're in the wash right now after me wearing them all afternoon. I'm quite pleased. A few errors but whatever. I'm happy. And #2 looks better than #1. Then I created yarn barf out of my next skein and spent 3 hours attempting to untangle it. Finally left it in the visitor chair and left. AKKK!
Well, I'm going to finish my glass of wine and let the Benedril do it's thing. That's a story for another day. Unless you're an allergist looking for a challenge. Then give me a call and we'll talk.

Whew, what a week.

My husband had surgery last Thursday, it was a pretty big operation and he was expected to be released on Sunday. Didn't happen. Monday? Didn't happen. Tuesday? Didn't happen. Wednesday? Didn't happen. Finally we got home around 4:30 on Thursday. He was in Johns Hopkins up in Baltimore, we live in Northern Virginia. So I was spending 2 hours a day (at least) in my car, 8 hours a day watching a very drugged man snore, and trying to work. And, to make it better, I was very sick on Friday night. Very. Then after getting home last night I still had to go to the grocery store and the pharmacy and then fix us some dinner. He's still feeling a bit sore and slow but is improving and the biopsy reports were positive. My dog was glad to get sprung from the vet's.

ETA: As a response to a couple of comments, I meant "positive" in a positive way, meaning the biopsy was was negative and that's at good thing. Thank you all for your POSITIVE comments.

It wasn't a total loss, though. I learned to knit socks. I'd wanted to run down to Fibre Space last week for some yarn for a new project but didn't have a chance. But I did have some sock yarn in my meager stash and some size 3 dpn's. And a lot of time on my hands. I spent the time he was in surgery casting on and making the shortened cuff. I was too impatient to start the sock process to make a full 6" cuff. I used a combination of patterns/directions found on Ravelry. Following the link will take you to my project page. I used the Silver Sock tutorial to assist me on the gusset construction. While there are problems, including the cuff being too large, it IS a sock. It took me 2 days. On my way up to the hospital on Monday I went to JoAnn's for smaller needles - the pattern suggests 1.5's. They had 1's and 2's. I bought both and used the 1's. And bought more yarn. um, yeah. Using smaller needles and making a full 6" cuff is slow going for me. After 5 days, I only just started on the heel. I must learn to knit faster.


I worked from home today, I didn't think hubby was ready to spend the day alone. And then did a few clean up items in my sewing room, including cleaning it up. I hemmed the BWOF green skirt, and did a couple of repairs and finished a pair of panties. It looks better in there. And in my closet.


Tomorrow I'm off to do some house-hunting.


BUT, IT'S SPRING!! OFFICIALLY! I saw forsythia and a cherry tree blooming today and all the snow is gone from Old Town. So now I need to do some spring sewing. I do love me a nice warm day! It was rainy, but that's very spring-like so it was fine.


And since I don't think that it's fair that you had to read this whole, whiny post with no pictures.

And now a small break from life.

I'm popping in for a minute between disaster I now call life to show you a few pictures and updates.

First, the lonnnnggggg awaited back of the quilted wall hanging from the jell-roll knock-off. I think its almost too cute to put against a wall. You can see I found a really close match to one of the front fabrics. Fun, fun, fun. And since I had no idea how much fabric to buy (because I didn't measure at all, not even a little) I bought way too much. But, seriously, in real life, what do you do with giraffe fabric? No matter now much you may love it? This: so when I BBQ on safari (karen, we really DO need to plan one of those some day - after Paris), I'll be ready. (Please, NO, I have NO intention of cooking a giraffe! Really, people.)

My BWOF skirt lacks only hemming right now. Maybe next week. Fabric is from Fabric-mart (pretty sure....), a pretty green loden with some nice color flecks. Just a tad of stretch. It's fully lined with a boring brown you can see peaking out from the bottom. I completely ignored the crappy Burda waist band finishing that made no since to me and seemed to leave a big chunk of the high waist with raw edges. And would be really bulky and heavy - not something my and hot flashes need. I'm afraid it may be a bit too big at the back waist, though. Nice through hips and front waist but wanted to gather at the top of the back waist - I wonder if it stretched a bit? I darkened this a bit to show a little of the front detail. It really doesn't show well in any photo. But it is a nice design. Oh, and a crappy, not-so-invisible zipper.

And to shift gears a bit. My knitting is progressing. I made this cowl from Malabrigo worsted. LOVE the yarn, LOVED my idea of the pattern, and like the scarf. This was knit on circ's and was supposed to do the zig-zag the whole scarf, but I think I (1) cast on one too many stitches so it didn't start right. (2) made a mistake so it started zz-ing (3) made another so it stopped zz-ing (4) repeat one or both of the above errors. If I showed you enough close up you could see a few holes. Errgggg. But from walking around distance you can't see them and I enjoy wearing it. Here's a close up of the pattern. You can see it's still interesting and can determine what I'd originally planned. I'll try again next fall. Right now I'm trying socks.

A more fun posting

Ok, enough of complaining. Let's do a little show and tell, okay?

First off, is my secret scarf swap from Ravelry . I goofed and let my partner know who I was, so I had to keep my work a secret. I used Saphire malabrigo chunky from Fibre Space and the Twisted Drop stitch pattern. It's a freebie you can get by clicking on the link. My Ravelry link. I think it was a good match with the yarn. I did block it (sorry, forgot to photo before the blocking) and the stitches really opened up. I may have worried needlessly about spilling the beans, as she never posted on the board (or any other) after her informational post. It would have been fun to "hear" from her looking forward to receiving it (um, or letting me know she got it....) but I enjoyed making it and mailed it ahead of deadline.

I had extra yarn and decided I wanted a new earband. I used 6.5 dpn's (my first in-the-round project) and just stockingette stitched until it was wider than my ears and bound off. There, you have my pattern for what (little) it's worth I also used double yarn knitting from both ends of the skein at once. I think the pattern difference between the two projects is very interesting. (ignore the color variance - that's a photography fumble). My hair isn't THAT red. But look at the pooling - I was quite surprised since I used a double strand. It curls when off, but flattens out on my head. I was just happy it fit.

And I do love me this yarn. I may go back and get another skein tomorrow and make a scarf to go with. Actually, I in lust for a hooded scarf, but this yarn may be a bit heavy for that. Maybe. And I think it would cable pretty. Hmmmm.

I also received a scarf from my scarfer. This is beautiful and the softest yarn I've ever felt. (note, not felted...) I believe she said it was Alpaca. I love the end ruffle. Way better than fringe, don't you think?Here's her link, my colors and pictures are a little better, but she was being stealthy. I wore it to work yesterday with a dark purple sweater and it was beautiful.

And finally, I took a pic of my first jelly roll knock off project. This was way fun, though there wasn't a lot of fabric so it ended up as a wall hanging in my sewing room. Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of the back. Again. Dang-it. I still owe you the back - you'll love the fabric. I promsie. The pattern is called French Braid. You construct as you go, rather than block it. And I suppose you could quilt as you to, as well, though I did not. I used a bamboo batting, purchased the maroon accent and store-bought binding (unusual for me, I usually make my own). I have no photo's of my next jelly roll, maybe tomorrow. It's far from finished, only the braid (yeah, same pattern) pieced. I need backing - I have batting.

Snowmageddon

As you know, I hate to be left out of a trend. Soooo, without further adieu - (a dew?) here are MY photo's of the most recent snowstorm from hell. Starting with something you just don't see everyday. Namely snowshoing in downtown Alexandria, Virginia. These were both taken on the one and only time I set foot outside from Friday morning through Monday morning. We ended up with around 2' of the nasty, white stuff. At my office in Columbia, MD they had closer to 3' and my "s" word is a different one. The parking lot is full of icebergs. But my patio was just a drifted pile of white fluff. My dog, on the otherhand misses Michigan and doesn't mind the snow at all. She actually hurt her shoulder, yesterday, playing in snow. At 10 she's just not as agile as she used to be (I can relate to that....). It was pitiful, it must have hurt to lay down - she spent all day and night sitting and crying. She seemed better today. And I spent $12 on a bottle of doggy aspirin (yes, I would have bought the Wal-green kind if I could have negotiated the ice flows between me and their parking lot.
My son was in town, flew in Thursday and will leave EARLY in the morning after his flight this morning was cancelled (did I mention it snowed? A boatload?) He'll get out between storms, before we get another 10-20" tomorrow. Hell, I'm moving to Buffalo - it has better weather. But he did get to pick up his scarf: I used the Palindrome pattern I found on Ravelry , using Miss Bab's wool . We were both (son and I) happy with the result. I didn't attempt to block it both because it's a super-wash and unlikely to change much and it's for a 23 year old guy who could give a rat's ass about such things. It's really soft and quite stretchy - a good thing here. He can wrap it around his neck and it will spring back and keep out drafts without getting tight.
I'm also working on a scarf swap, but I goofed and contacted my scarfee directly and she could easily trace me to here since my blog is referenced on Ravelry. So that has to stay a surprise until it's received. Surfice to say I've frogged 3 times and changed my pattern twice.
Next up will be my finished quilt/wall hanging. I'm happy enough with it - it's just small. But I haven't photographed it yet. Maybe tomorrow, afterall, tomorrow is another (snow) day. Bleck.

All over the place.

My pants are still in time out. Not sure if they can be revived, they may move to the trash chute. Soooo, I've moved on.

Before I left Detroit after Christmas I made a final trip to JoAnn's. I don't often purchase fabric at JA's but they had a few that I really liked. The two on the left are knits - thin but nice recovery. The floral is probably a rayon, maybe a summer weight dress? In fact, the blue has already become a Jalie tshirt. Overall, I like the shirt, but like the other Jalie I have it's too short. I need to add a couple inches to the torso to move the waist down. Oh, and I hate 3/4 length sleeves. I used knit stabilizer in the neck and hem. You can't tell from the (very goofy) picture, but it really helped the way it wears. I'll wear this and may use my other knit for another version - a longer version that is, I do like the boat neck. The brown knit reminds me very much of a fabric that I bought in NYC at Spandex House that met an unfortunate end with a BWOF shirt (RIP). And yes, I know I still haven't shown you that I own or wear shoes. Maybe next time. The scraps are cut into underpinnings, but I just can't get the elastic to sew at the edges of the fabric so they're hanging with the trousers in the time out cubby.

And, as long as I'm shopping at JA's.... I picked up my first Jelly Roll. Not a Moda roll - a cheap knockoff. Some of the strips weren't cut very straight. And because it was new I couldn't wait to play with it. A little searching on line and help from my friends at Pattern Review I cut and pieced on Sunday. The pattern is called French Braid and required minimal additional cutting. It isn't a blocked quilt, you just add the pieces to create the strip. I went back to JA's today and found a dark red to border it with. The backing is a giraffe print similar to one of the pieces. Oh, and bought another roll for another quilt. it's a bigger roll, what do they call them? Blue and green batik. Photos on another day. Suggestions for a pattern? Minimal additional cutting, remember.

And I'm still working on my son's scarf. I'm a very slow knitter. Good thing winter's are long in Detroit.

Buh-Bye 09

I'm one of the 75% of Americans (according to my TV this morning) that is glad to see end of 2009. So Happy New Year and new decade. We have some casual dinner plans at a sports bar to watch the UT/VA Tech game tonight. Likely won't make it to midnight, though I may want to stick around just to be sure 2009 really leaves us.

And because I can't be left out of a year-end theme, I'd like to recap my 2009 sewing. I didn't make any goals and likely won't for 2010, either. I just want to enjoy doing it, not work towards specific goals. But I did: buy a new machine, learn to embroider, learned to love BWOF and not hate tracing them, make many awesome pairs of pants (see the BWOF line), learn to knit, meet a couple of SG friends in person, and to toss hideous fabric down the trash chute. For 2010 my single goal is to spent more time in my sewing room. I've spent the last 3 months without setting foot in it (except to iron occasionally and to cut out one pair of still unsewn slacks). Oh, and to avoid putting bad embroidery on ill fitting clothing - so far, so good, but I'm getting worried.

So here's to 2010. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Whew!

I really need a vacation from my vacation. This was an exhausting trip. Hauling luggage, fighting crowds, walking miles, fighting crowds, drinking too much, fighting crowds, eating too much and fighting crowds. Everywhere we went was just packed. And that makes it hard for my son to navigate when you can't get to curb cuts or small children are darting out or families are walking slowly across entire hallways. And it feels like we just missed Christmas this year, skipped it all the way. And it was cold. I was just cold the whole time.

Ok, whining over....

BUT there were no airline issues or problems, even going into Detroit 2 days after an attack and the same day as another incident. I've been in/out of Vegas a number of times and this was likely the easiest and fastest I've ever been through security. We got the middle seat empty, landed early, no worries. Of course we started at 4 am, but over by 4pm and 3 time zones. So don't listen to the fear mongers on the Today Show. Airline travel IS still possible. Really.

The new City Center just opened in Vegas, still a lot of empty spaces but also some really pretty flowers: And some odd, but cool, ice sculptures.

I did run into a friend at the Venetian. That's Mr. Dumpty to you. (yes, I made the scarf I'm wearing. It's the one my son said looked like an Abercrombie and Fitch. I think he meant that as a compliment). And we walked through the new Zegna menswear store and petted the wool. Makes me want to go shopping at Michaels for some nice fabric to play with. Really nice stuff. A nice touch on the front pocket of the men's slacks was saddle stitching for the top stitching. Very nice.

I have one day in Detroit before heading back to DC on Tuesday. I'm having dinner with a couple of friends and have them scarves for Christmas. Here they are laid out on the floor blocking (I hope). Actually, the black one may have too much acrylic to block well, but the blue is "Wool-ease" so should do ok. I knitted the blue on on the plane - going and coming. It's "Sky blue". The black was a Debbie Bliss for JoAnn's, my friend said she needed black. And I need to fringe the blue one, still.

Well, my pizza's here, so chow.

Quiet Weekend

It was cold and rainy around here, especially today. I've lost my camera to computer cord so I can't post pics. (wonder if I left it at my son's? I thought I got everything.....). No sewing, though I drafted a bag to hold my knitting needles. How's that for being crafty? Did a little Christmas shopping yesterday. We're not doing much this year, going to Vegas for Christmas (sounds like a bad movie, I think). My son's gift is his car. We went to Best Buy this morning and bought each other computers. For years we've used our work computers for everything, but security is tightening around IT and loosening around job continuation so getting our personal stuff off work computers seems like a good idea. This is my first blog post from the new computer. Doesn't it smell new? Spent the day setting them up. I need a cord I have a work to transfer files from one to another. Sounds like a plan for tomorrow night. Then my photo's, embroidery files and tax data will be mine, all mine.
We bought Sony Vaio's, the same so we can share cords, etc. Apparently we picked the most popular model of the year, we had to go to 2 Best Buy's to get them and one still had been "Geeked" by the squad. (Warren was NOT happy about that, no sirree, Bob. Not happy at all).
Frogged and restarted Kevin's scarf. Couple of mistakes I just couldn't ignore and didn't know how to fix the cables. Warren keeps asking me why nothing I knit ever gets any bigger. How long would it take to knit a 6' shroud? And should I use worsted weight or chunky? Hmmm, given his recent weight gain, I should probably go with chunky.... I took some photo's of my yarn and the scarf, but, alas no way to get them to the computer.

Fibre Space

After a nasty Saturday, Sunday was pretty nice around here. Sunny and around 40, so I did take a walk down to my very Local Yarn Store. Fibre Space is about 3 blocks down and on the same street as my apartment. I walked on the sunny side of the street - it is December. It isn't a very large store, but most establishments in Old Town aren't. They're, well, old. Many in old homes or shops from 200 years ago (um, or so). Fibre Space is no exception. They had a really pretty selection of yarns. I'm pretty new at this knitting stuff so I don't know enough to compare it other LYS's (other than "that OTHER one" and Fibre Space is much smaller) but it was pretty. And yes, the people were way nicer. Not just the employees, but the other shoppers and hanging out in the bay window knitters. I bought a Miss Babs "Yowza - whatta skein" in a monochromatic very dark grey for my next scarf. I was fascinated when I saw that Miss Babs is from Mountain City, Tenn. I didn't know anyone from there ever got out alive. My mother was from the next "holler" over and I spent a whole lotta time there as a kid. But I digress... (as usual)... It's a hand dyed merino wool, very soft, not scratchy, nice weight. But back to the LYS. They set me up to wind my skein into a nice, dark cake. They're bagless: I could bring my own bag, buy a reusable bag or just carry my yarn home. I chose the carry method - it was only one (albeit large) skein. I got a class list and a frequent buyer card - fill it up and you get a T-shirt or project bag. And there's a nice write up in the Washington Business Journal this week. Click to read the article as long as the link lasts - eventually they get moved to archives or to subscription only domains. It's not a long article, but I enjoyed it. And it makes me glad I frequent a local small business. In short (ha! too late for that!) it was a nice experience and I will go back. I was welcomed, not ignored.
And, about the pattern for my Yowza scarf. Remember that cables are required. I started with the Karaoke pattern and worked it up a few rounds in some left over Lion Brand. I like the pattern, but it's a scarf and the "wrong" side will show. But I also found the Palindrome that doesn't have a wrong side, and has cables. I haven't had a chance to work out that one yet, but I'm leaning towards the Palindrome. (Note: both patterns are free on the Internet, links found by surfing Ravelry) Work was a long day and now it's bed time. I'm hoping to trial it tomorrow so I can cast off and start on Wednesday night - my husband has a business dinner so I'll have some "ME" time. And I so need some "ME" time.
Sorry, no photo's. Too tired to find the camera cable. But I did finally take some photo's of the fabric I bought in SF back in October. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Ahhhh, Home

I drove back to DC yesterday through the first snow storm of the season. It started snowing exactly at the Pennsylvania border and snowed all the way home. Road conditions and snow amounts varied greatly from spitting flurries, to slush, to 6 inches on the ground to wet roads and so on. Only a couple of accidents seen in the highlands of PA and they were just slide off the roads. It did add about an hour to my drive with slower speeds. I wonder if this was a first, though. It snowed in Virginia before it snowed in Detroit. Colder there, though.

In order to be able to come back home "to live" we got our son a new car. The HHR worked really well for him so I just did it again. My husband said I couldn't do it in a week, but I closed the deal on Friday, Mobility Works will put in the hand controls next week and he should be rolling again by Thursday or Friday. He will finish his classes in a couple of weeks and will graduate. He's going to take a couple more classes over the winter.

We went to dinner in Old Town last night, but DH is sick today, so I'll probably go to the grocery store and then I think I'm going to walk down to the LYN: Fibre Space and see if it's friendlier than Skeins on Main . I'm done with my classes there. rather disappointing, as I have said, though I did learn some useful skills. I learned to cables last Wednesday night. And my son said he would LET me make him a scarf now that I can cable. How lucky am I? I'm sure Fibre Space can help me find some yarn for this privileged project. They're just down the street and I can walk. After yesterday's storm it's sunny and mid 40's today. I love the south.

I want to rework my bargello placemats, too. I need some more flannel to do this, JoAnn's has some "gingham" checks that make it easy to line up. A suggestion I had was to cut all my strips wider and then sew them to the desired width. So I wouldn't be struggling with trying to get straight seams on tiny, little 3/4" wide strips. That was my downfall. And right now the work I did is being used as a dust cover for my machine. Ah well.

I'm thankful for...

Having survived this weekend. Actually midweek, as the actual weekend starts tomorrow and I'll be headed "home" tomorrow. It's been a rough autumn and it ain't over yet. But for this holiday I got to drive 20 hours, sleep in a room with a freezer full of 15 year old food and a ghost (seriously, you should hear this thing groan), cook dinner for 12 or so, who the hell knows; have lunch at the senior center, clean out a pantry and I'll skip the bad parts. But no one died (yet, there is still that drive looming), and I think I'm only up a couple of pounds on the all gravy diet. Oh, but I also share my sleeping quarters with a Singer Touch and Sew and some other Singer in a white box on the floor that my MIL regularly swears at.

My MIL is about 86 now, and starting to slip a bit. Short term memory isn't great and the more stress she's under the worse it is. And it doesn't take much stress to show. My neice and her daughter (see below) live with her so she isn't alone, but it's becoming concerning. She's a food horder - always has been - and there is food everywhere. Not all of it purchased this millinia. So you always have to check before you use anything. Even Campbell's soup doesn't last forever. But Twinkies might. Haven't found any Twinkies anywhere, though.

My grand-neice is now 3, her birthday just a bit before Thanksgiving, so we're dodging turkeys and helium balloons. And I'd forgotten how tiring a 3 year old can be. Whew! Now I know why children are given to the young, the rest of us just can't keep up. And she's a good little girl, as long as you do things her way....

I started a scarf that may end up as a gift if it turns out well. Using my first ever actual "fancy" stitch. Meaning not just a plain old knit or purl. I'm using the Twisted Drop Stitch pattern and got about a foot of it done today. I found out I'm a much more efficient knitter without assistance from a 3 year old. Who knew? Not in love with the yarn, the color? Oh yeah. Well, it's purple, need I say more? But there's no spring to it at all, Lion Brand Homespun. But not itchy either and my eyes like that - I've been noticing some problems when I use actual animal products I think. Acrylic will do that for you, I suppose. Sorry, I haven't even warmed up the camera this trip, so no peeks yet.

Yes, I am quite aware that this was a quite lame post. Sorry, apparently they can't all be winners. I'm going to read for a few. I'm reading Bringing Down the House on my Kindle. A good read, I recommend it, much better (as usual) than the movie 21 . Does Amazon owe me a commision on sales for these references? I could use a good retirement back up plan.... Good night.

Kermit was right

It's not easy being green.

Remember my fugly green sweater start? Well I did determine that I didn't want to spend $35 and countless hours on something that I could only wear if I took up deer hunting (something that isn't likely at this stage of my life). So I returned all the unused skeins and frogged (yes, Kermit, FROGGED) the rest. This is what happens when I frog. Not a pretty sight. Imagine if I had a cat.

Working from an article out of the only knitting magazine I own - The December issue of Knit 'N Style I decided to give the yarn one last try. They suggested knitting variegated yarns with 2 threads from either separate skeins or both ends of the same skein. It eliminates the pooling and odd stripes you can get with a single strand. Well, yes, it did. And I guess this some improvement. I guess. But I still think it would be best served in a deer blind. I never really expected to actually use this, but it was an interesting experiment and a result that I will keep in mind for other projects. As, I have stated before, I have an odd affinity to variegated yarns so this could come in really handy. Really handy.

Anyway, after frogging (yes, Kermit, FROGGING) this ball of yarn was beyond hope and help.

So, this is where it is today. RIP.

What's new...

Well, if you're any kind of Internet stalker you probably know the answer to this. But for those of you with higher scruples, less free time, fewer search skills or a real life outside of "what's BeeBee up to these days?", here's the big reveal. Big being a relative term.

In search of a more portable hobby than sewing, I've attempted to take up knitting. Yep, knitting. Honestly, I'm not totally sure this is going to stick but I'm giving it the old college try. Complete with lurking around JoAnn's (just around the corner) and taking lessons at the LYS (Skeins on Main).

So grab a cup of coffee or a bottle of wine (better choice, falling asleep during this may be preferable to getting all hyped up on caffeine) and follow along the - so far - short journey.

I actually used to know how to knit. By that, I mean do the stitches - knit and purl. Cast on. Maybe bind off. It's been around 40 years, give me a break. Mom gave me some tiny plastic needles and some Pepto Pink yarn, showed me the basics and sent me away to knit a big, itchy, ugly square. Somehow that didn't get me hooked on the craft (which reminds me of my crocheting attempts - a story for another rainy day). So I promptly dumped the pink mess and went back outside to play pirates.

Fast forward 40 years and find a middle aged woman, on her middle aged birthday stuck miles and months away from her beloved Viking sewing machine with only a Kindle and Comcast for entertainment. Well, and a JoAnn's within walking distance, should I be so inclined to exercise. What do you get when you toss all that together? Yep, knitting.

DROVE to JA's and bought 2 books, one that came in a kit with a couple pairs of metal needles, a cabling needle, ruler, and other needful odds and ends; a giant wad of boucle yarn that looked like either a fungus, a Rastafarian hat or a brain in odd colors. I can't decide. Opened up my "I taught myself knitting book" and stared at it for about 2 hours. Moved to the Internet and YouTubed until I went blind and the living room looked like a kitten had gotten into the cat-nip box. Still couldn't get the hang of what they called casting on. Had a(nother) glass of wine and voila, it all came back to me. Knitting IS just like riding a bike. I cast on like dear old mom showed me and knitted away. With the rasta-yarn splitting and sliding off the heavy cheap needles. Pah! No wonder I left this in favor of swash-buckling. Back to JA's for some larger, less slippery needles and more traditional yarn. Next project became this hideous, but successful, scarf: Made from good old boring Red Heart yarn in an ocean colored variegated. I really need to get over my love of variegated yarns. Seriously.

Had a couple of trying days trying to remember how to purl. Again, not sure YouTube really helped, but I did finally get it. Realized I needed professional help. JA's (yes, again) was offering a class and if I signed up on Saturday it was 1/2 price, only $17.50. Well, as luck would have it, I was the only knitting wanna-BeeBee in the area and the class was canceled.

Next attempt was the LYS mentioned above. THEY offered 6 weeks, 2hours/week for $50. Group classes. Deal. Now, not to offend anyone, but I'm also struggling with the knitting culture. I went in 3 times. First time I got a news flyer tossed at me, "The classes are listed in here" before the woman ran off like I had cooties. Next time I wasn't even acknowledged. They had a mirror, I could see my reflection, but apparently no one else could see me. One last chance, I went in and actually talked to someone. She explained the classes, helped me pick out the one I wanted and signed me up. On a roll here, eh?

First class, drama queen-owner flits in (no small feat for a no small woman) and spends 2 hours talking about her bad back, what made her back bad, what she's doing to make it better, why she can't bend over to help me, why she has dietary issues and brought her new puppy for us to "ooh and ahh" over. (by the way, avoid the yarns in the lower bins unless you like puppy spit). But I did learn that I was doing my stitches correctly and how to increase and decrease and pick up dropped stitches. No one else in the group said a word to me. But hell, I'd paid my 50 bucks, I'm going back for episode 2. Which was about how her back still hurt, her lost grandmother's ring (realized later she just didn't wear it that day) and more on dietary issues - she doesn't like sugar if you're interested (I wasn't). But I did learn how to "unknit" - a MOST useful skill, and how to tell whether I need to knit or purl by sight so I don't have to count, and how to use circular needles. So, again, not a complete waste of time. I missed episode 3, as I was out of town and she doesn't allow class substitutions - go to the one you signed up for. BTW, still haven't been spoken to voluntarily by any other class member. I will have to miss Episode 4, as well, as it is the Wednesday before T-giving. And yes, I do realized I drifted into a less than favorable review of a LYS. So be it, she should be nicer to newbies. Or people that wander into her store to buy stuff.

But I have made things other than the fug scarf: This was a better use of the boucle yarn, mixed with Lion Worsted in a blue. Very masculine and notice I got the variegation's in the boucle to start and stop in the same place.

A "spice" or rust colored vest. I'm going to cut apart the front and edge it better to wear it open. Another Lion yarn, chunky and fast or something. I enjoyed this and did well with it, though I don't like the closed look and will fix that. I'm currently working on this sparkly scarf. The picture really doesn't do the novelty yarn justice. It's a mohair mix that, while itchy, is pretty. I started this after realizing Fug #2 was a sweater that's starting to look very camo and well, fug. Remember what I said about the variegated stuff? Please stop me! I'm taking back the rest of the twisty yarn so it won't be going into my tiny (one ball) stash. Bleck.

To show you that I mean business, here's my needle collection, so far. The metal ones on the right came in my kit. I don't use or like them. They're heavy, slippery and the ends rattle. I much prefer he bambbo. Not too shabby, I think. And much cheaper than a Viking Topaz 30.

And, to combine with a previous post, remember I won the tote bag from Laura . Here's a much better photo of the very cool bag that I'm currently using for my knitting. Again, thank you Laura. I love this thing!

And thank you all who read this whole thing and further thanks to those of you who didn't "unsubscribe" to my blog after reading this. Or block me from yours. Well, off to JA's, I have some icky yarn to return and a new project to find and start.