Down to 4

Ok- so it is actually 5 WIP's but one of them doesn't count.
I have been trying to discipline myself into finishing some of my WIP's before the year is over. I think I did a darn good job depleting my stash, so now I want these WIP's done before they become UFO's...not that there is much difference. My biggest excuse so far is "I can't keep track my place on the chart" Sounds good right? So I bought that cool magnetic board for charts from Knit Picks so that I don't have to worry about the stickum getting unsticky on my sticky note and knitting the wrong row.

I am ever- so- close to being finished with the Alien scarf. Too bad I did not have it for yesterdays Hot Dog Roast at the PD! Not that I needed a scarf yesterday, it was a gerogeous day out. Perfect for all the adorable little fairies and witches and ghouls. This year we could actually see their costumes since no one needed a coat.

Sometimes I have the greatest job in the world!!! I get to save lives sometimes, and sometimes I get paid to take pictures and play with children and socialize... Doesn't get any better than that! I even got to spend some time with my family even though I was on the clock. How many of you have jobs like that?? The only real bummer was that Brodie could not be there :(
That and the fact there were about a thousand unruly teens on the street intent on creating mayhem and damage.

The kids with their kids

Raine as a witch (again)...I couldn't seem to catch Ethan without his mask.


My co-worker with his little guy Jackson, along with almost all of the PD staff and their families participated at our Hot Dog Roast.

Prior to all that mayhem- I did manage to start my Special Olympic Scarf Project... (Rav Link) I got a whole two rows done...woo-wee. This one will be crocheted (obviously) in a wavey pattern. I will probably have enough for a couple more scarves so I will have to figure out another pattern. I noticed that many Ravelers are doing multiple scarves, probably for the mere fact that there is so much yarn in these skeins. There are some pretty cool looking scarves on the Rav link.

I had one and half balls of this chunky stuff from a hat that I made for Mark (one he never wore of course). Since there was only about 75 yards left there really wasn't much I could make from it. I modified the Fidget to make the yardage work out. I'll probably make another one of these since it was such a quick and easy project. It is done in a twisted moss stitch which was mindless and interesting at the same time.

Yarn: Valley Yarns Shelburne Chunky weight
Size 10 needles
Time took? completed in just over a day. Quick and sleezy ;)

I also made a big mess of my office this week trying to re-arrange it. I broke my tall book shelf and had to have a repair job done on it (thank goodness for male friends with tools). I been doing the whole fall clean up thing in there. The Throw-out- stuff -that -I- have- been- hanging- onto- for- years- and- not- using kinda of thing. I think I am making some head way, and at least I can see my desk and the floor again! Now to start attacking all those bins I have in the closet!!

Baby Love

I am on the downward slope of the Baby Love Blanket now, and feeling a bit more comfortable in my mile goal...I am so going over it.. I just know it.

Dawn called me the energizer bunny the other day. Oh how I wish that was true! In my younger days I could say I resembled that remark but not so now. There was a time when I could stay up late and get up early and keep right on going through out the day.

Working close to a hundred hours in a week was common place back in the day, and then go out and dance the night away. Now I am happy to be able to get through a 50 and sometimes a 40 hour work week, and still be able to crawl out of be the next day and function. And on top of being older (notice I did not say old) I have to watch what I eat so carefully that if I don't, I am laid low for an entire day. That was the case the other day. I have gotten so good at pretending that I feel fine, people (myself included) tend to forget that I am not until I have one of those days. Sleeping is such a waste of time in my opinion I feel like I am missing out on the rest of the world by sleeping. I always figure I can sleep when I am dead.

Hmmm, maybe I better not say that too loud.

Thank God for mindless knitting. I just don't feel right if I had not knit something every day! I happen to be one of those unusual people that like garter stitch! I like the mindless part, since I think most of my knitting is done when I am half comatose. And I like the way it looks. I am not surprised when I read reviews on this blanket. All the things that people disliked about it are the things I like about it. And to boot, this makes a great stash down project! Sure it is not a challenging pattern, but I have plenty of that going on too.



Knit a Mile Challenge

Now that I have knitted an acceptable amount of mileage, ( can now add an additional 1125 yards to my count) I can get to work on some finishing up that scarf. I can barely deal with the guilt involved in leaving UFO.

If you look to your left, you can see the Blog Roll I started for the people involved in the Knit Mile Challenge. I thought it would be a fun way to keep an eye on everyone else's progress. Not that this is everyone involved, just the ones that are, so far, keeping track of their progress online. Challengers- I highly recommend that nifty little knit meter button. It very nicely calculates everything for you!!

There have been a number of factors lately that have kept me from knitting as much as I would like. work, being numero ono on the list losts to do this time of year. Then there is Blogger. I have been doing a little housekeeping here too (or at least trying to), Blogger can be frustrating to say the least. When I have nights like last night that challenge me to figure out a way of faking Blogger out, (it is that whole button issue all over again, WTF!) I become tempted to move my blog .

Ravelry has been taking up a good deal of my time as usual. Another good reason for mindless knitting. I can browse the boards there and not worry about losing track of my project. Kill two birds-so to speak. There is so much to see and do there and a gazillion groups to check out. I am fast becoming a group groupie. And that Casey is a genius!!! See the nifty progress bars??? I wish I new how to write code, if I did I sure as heck wouldn't be using Blogger.. hehe

Happy V-Day to me!

Yup - I have bought myself a Valentines present. Yes I know it's early. No you can't know...it is a surprise... :) It is a really big surprise and you will just have to wait til Valentines Day to find out...lol a little suspense is good for the soul. I personally, can barely stand the wait. ;)

No ... it is not Red but, It probably could be.

Hopefully I will have some FO's to share next post.

Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Well could I feel any more stupid than I do right now... Sock's for Pete's sake... I can do them in my sleep... well I thought, and well, apparently not. I was happily ripping out my stocking when I noticed, oh horrors of horrors...I forgot to turn the heel... and did I not notice that it looked kinda funny?? Worse, I took a damn picture of it and put it on the Internet, so that nice person in Istanbul that read my blog could see what an idiot I am.

All I can say is Good Grief Charlie Brown! I wonder where my head is sometimes!

Well, I always say that a little public humiliation is also good for the soul...like I don't get enough of that on my job...LOL

Anyway my little stocking is ripped back to the do over part, and sadly, I did not get to work on it. I had planned on running to Hobby Lobby on Monday to look for a green, but I spent the day fighting with Sears to get my washer fixed instead. Fun times!



I think maybe I have Adult ADD! I just flit from project to project, willy nilly. Instead of going to the store in the evening and finishing up one project, I decided to work on the mystery bag...ok the cat is out. It is a bag. Can you tell? I am up to the little snappy parts and then the pocket. The pattern is called Blue Sky Bag from Pursenality Plus. I planned on it to be a Christmas present but if I don't stop spreading my self out I will never be done in time.
Flit again...

I decided I needed to make two pairs of socks for a last minute, overdo Christmas gifts, so I ordered4 skeins of Lorna's Laces charcoal from my favorite Ebay store.
Of course I don't wait for the yarn to get here, but dig around in that ridiculously over stuffed sock yarn bag an pull out a ball of Bamboo yarn from Southwest Trading Co. that I bought at Stitches Midwest this summer.
I have to say, bamboo is absolutely amazing! It feels so incredibly silky on the needles, I can't wait to have it on my foot.Sorry, just another pair of plain ole' boring socks. No exciting pattern for me. I knit for comfort now, since I need to be careful of what I put on my feet. My days of toe socks and cutesy patterns seem to be over.

Here is where I am at with the hats. I currently have 11 finished and 5 scarves. As soon as Sears decides to show up and repair my washer (which better be in the morning) I will get them all washed and packed up to go to the P.A.D.S. shelter. I plan on delivering them along with some donated baby clothes on my next day off, which is Tuesday.

I wanted to have more of them made by now, but I will have to pause on the hat making till I get my other Christmas gifts finished. The little bit of shopping I have done made me realize I am running out of time.

Time to Flit again.

Oops! Got a little carried away!

My Christmas stocking was swimming right along, I am past the heel gusset and onto the foot portion when I realized that I have to, eeerrrk! Slam on the brakes. I am just shy of enough yarn to finish the foot. It was looking ever so purty too!

Do over! I will have to rip back to the leg and make it a little shorter. This is what I get for not planning things out and just sitting there blithely knitting away at 2 am. I have only 1 skein of this red yarn and chances of being able to match the dye lots are slim to none since I bought the yarn over a year ago (or it could have been two). The variance in colors would be just enough for the non-knitter to notice, (tried that trick once before) and of course Spanky would definitely notice!

Hmmm ...maybe if I do the heel and toe in .... No big deal, frogging is good for the soul, and certainly keeps our egos in check, it is a quickie project and I should be able to finish it in a couple of evenings of good TV. That is the nice thing about working with bulky yarns, they knit up fast.

I know, I know, the suspense is killing me too, I can't wait to hang it from the mantel. But I have the next two days off, sorta, so I should be able to finish.

Dawn said: "Do your pom poms ever come a bit loose on top after washing? I've tried fastening as tight as I could and they still wobble about loosely after washing! "

Ok- here is my pom pom trick- I usually do not have a problem with them coming loose. When I make the pom, I leave two long tails from where I tie it off. Then I thread each tail separately through the top of the hat through different stitches. Then, on the inside I take both tails and tie a knot (like your tying your shoes) and pull it as tight as I can, double check the tightness on the public side, the give it one more tug before I secure the knot, (double knotted). I weave the tails into the hat in opposite directions and Viola! I am pretty sure my momma taught me to do it that way.

And or my Bad.... I was on Knit Picks today (damn those emails), and I shopped.

Well it was justified!! I needed a pair of size 1 double points and I can't seem to find those around here. Then there was that cute Girl's Best Friend Anklet pattern calling out to me. Now I know I only do socks in 2x2 rib's for a reason, but I really think that anklet will be tight enough to stay up without feeling like it is cutting into my leg. And if not, well then Sarah gets another pair of socks. I had to get that pretty color they did showed the socks in, and well, black, I need black for work. So see??? Justified Shopping! And besides, sock yarn doesn't really count, right?

About Vickie's Podcast, well I have all of them downloading to my Itunes but sadly, I am not only behind on reading my fav blogs, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I am hoping to have a chance to walk in the forest preserve with my ipod while I am off so I can get caught up. I am sure I will love it as much as I love Knitty Gritty.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Little Emily was pleased as punch with her new hat and wore it home from Aunties house last night. A variation of the ones that I have been making for the H.H. project. I just made it kid size and added the poofy on the top.

I am suffering from major hat burn out here! So I changed things up a bit and cast on a Christmas Stocking. This is one of those things I have been meaning to do for awhile and even bought yarn for it but just never seemed to get around to it. Something or someone else always manages to distract me away from projects for myself. I've cast on for the basic sock pattern with Lion Brand Jiffy (red of course) and some mystery silver eyelash yarn that I had laying around from a scarf. (see??? still working from my stash) Knit about 10 rows of garter stitch then dropped the silver, and am knitting away.

I do have another hat on the needles of course, I plan on working on it today as long as things stay at an even keel at work. What? Work you say?? Yes...I am working today. I have about 30 people at my house today eating turkey and who knows what else, but yes, I am here because- well someone has to do this job and 911 doesn't close.
Actually Thanksgiving Day is not such a bad day to work. It stinks to not get to be with your family on the holidays, but is it not our busiest day of the year (never ever say the "Q" word).

'Tis a day to loosen our ties, watch football, eat turkey dinner that the Chief has catered for us, and maybe throw in a movie. while we eat pumpkin pie. And for me?? that includes knitting of course! Then there are all those goodies that the locals bring in for us (because they A- feel sorry that we have to be here and B- because they appreciate us!)
So see?? Not really such a bad work day after all ;)

We had our first snowfall last night with a small amount of accumulation, just enough for the ground to be covered this morning. A sure sign winter is here and I better get knitting more of those hats.

Wishing you all a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving Day!