I'd rather be Knitting!

Vegas was a pretty good time, and it was pretty good to me. Four days and four nights only cost me $300 in gambling...not too shabby. That means they gave me way more than I gave back since I came away with almost as much as I took with me.

(shopping not included-that is an entirely separate fund of course).

We stayed and played at the Big Apple (NY NY)

Then played at the MGM Grand and watched the men play with the big kitties.
(not on your life would I ever get inside there!!)

POWER WALKED our fat butts all the way to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch one day (and more shopping of course). Then we found out there was a shuttle that could take us the three flippin' miles back to the strip!
The lunch and shopping was well worth the long walk tho, (at least us girls thought it was).
My crazy brother-in-law-type-person (A fellow hillbilly) decided he wanted to ride the XScream at the top of the Stratosphere (insane). So we all dutifully watched him take his ride from the very windy observation deck at the top, with our hearts in our throats. I don't think these pictures do the height of the building and the rides justice.

We were waaaaaaay up there!

Here is Tuck (third one from the front with his hands in the air- crazy fool) Mind you this patricular ride throws you over the edge of the building and suspends you there. Towards the end of the ride we all heard Tuck yell out that he could not feel a certain part of his anatomy that is better left unmentioned. Altho it did generate a hearty chuckle out of the onlookers on the deck. ;)Our last full day we went about in an nice easy stroll. (That power walking spousal-type apparently decided he had enough and spent the entire day in bed- so much the better for the rest of us).

We stopped at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The figures were so real looking it was totally creepy. Creepy but very cool. There was also a surprise in the museum, which I won't spoil for anyone who might go there. I highly recommend taking a camera to the museum and making sure you make a pit stop prior to the surprise show!!

(Note the Caution sign above)

Tuck and Twig with the Blue Man Group

Tuck bumping it up with erm- somebody or other.

I'll just bet you never saw a Twig pole dance before...LOL
We were worried that he might throw a branch or something.
( I think this was Britney Ho - I mean Spears)

Tuck and Stevie singing Ebony and Ivory... ok -so Tuck was singing, Stevie just sat there.



And here is the result of my airplane knitting. Fingerless glove #1 for that boy who probably won't even wear them if he runs true to form. I slept the entire way home so I really only knit on the way there.

Quite frankly, I was so exhausted after the trip that I could not wait to get back to work and the two 12 hour shifts waiting for me this week!! I think I truly would have rather have stayed home and knit on my vacation.

Viva Baby!

My Baby Surprise Jacket is all done, barring sewing the seams, of course. I had a much better understanding the second time round. Putting it together was like a Chinese puzzle. I twisted it this way and that way, and the finally - I figured out how it went. Thank goodness for that little neck line dip or I would have stuffed it in a drawer.  Since I have lots of this baby yarn I think I will make the little hat too that matches. I will stash it away for a future occasion when I finish. 

I also finished my Hooray for Me gloves. My very first time making fingers I will have you know! I did say I was going to challenge myself this year, didn't I. To some it may seem like baby steps, but for me I am breaking away from my comfortable norm.  Altho, once I get the hang of a pattern, I make it again and again and again, thus making it my new norm. 

My next pair will be for that boy. In a manly dark sagey color. Altho why I don't know, because I am sure he really doesn't deserve it, he has a definite evil side for sure! 

 I think I mentioned last time that we were planning a Vegas trip this week end. I was planning on getting myself a nice little base tan before I left because , I know, once out in that Nevada sun, I will be toast! 

So I take myself off to my friend's tanning salon, and have a very successful 10 min session. (red head, ya know) I am feeling pretty comfortable about it (having burnt myself badly last year) and decide I can handle the normal 20 minutes (seriously, I used to go almost daily). 

Well I left the shop on Sunday feeling life was good, however, by Sunday night my backside was burnt to a crisp! Talk about frying the fat!! It is really too bad you can't loose weight that way.

I break out the Solarcaine because I can no longer stand the pain late Sunday and realize  am never going to sleep without it. Ask my (evil) spousal type person to kindly spray my back. Which he did, along with my backside! Ok, thank you, I could reached that part myself, but he seemed to get a big kick out if it. So much so, that as I stand waiting for it to dry so I can re-dress, that evil person thought how funny to take sneaky pictures of my red backside with his damn Iphone!!

Worse yet, he had me convinced he put it on You Tube!!!  (no, don't go looking for it, he was just teasing) Men! Unfortunately he also seem to find it funny to show people at his work... oh and please did we have to magnify the dimples??

You're probably wondering why  I am making him a pair of fingerless gloves after that??? Because I stupidly do not hold grudges. Besides, it gives me a safe airplane project. I intend to forget about that horrible incident and plug my ears into my Ipod and knit my way across the country!

Finally- as I sit here waiting for my sheets to dry, I have finished my other slouchy sock, and will be styling at O'hare Airport. 

By Jove, I think I've got it!

Not too much happening in the knitting world for me last week. I had to attend a CTO class, (that is "Communications Training Officer" to the non-police world.) I felt like I was back in High School cramming for a test on Wednesday night. When the instructor announced that it was not an open book test, I started to panic!! My memory is like a sieve nowadays, lack of oxygen or something I'm sure! So naturally on the last day of my class, the day of the test, I brought my knitting and knitted in class right before my test to calm my nerves. Musta worked because I only got two wrong! Woo Hoo!  I am now fully certified :) We also had to give an impromptu demonstration in front of the class during the week, in which I naturally taught knitting... and ladies, I taught it to a man with two pens and a tie from a classmates hoodie. LOL

Since I was stalling the grafting of my beaded scarf now for well over a week. I finally got out my  Knitters Handbook and followed it step by step. I am not completely happy with the final product. It seems like this scarf was doomed from the start. Not being able to get all the beads I needed in a timely manner, then to top things off, I was a stitch off, somewhere along the line I increased and did not realize it until I started grafting, WTF. The original pattern called for a 3 needle bind off, which leaves a big ugly seem. I kinda wanted to try to graft with the beads included so there wasn't an empty row, but that wasn't working out either.

You can see my big boo boo here. I broke all my personal rules about leaving in a mistake, but I just did not have the heart to start all over again. So I left in the glaring mistake and fudged it. Not so great at the garter stitch grafting either. This is what I call a fk it project! At least is not a gift and nobody probably notice when I wear it, at least I hope nobody notices. Design feature..yah that's it design feature.

Remember that toe up sock that went nowhere? Isn't it funny how quickly a project can go when you enjoy the process? Well I got back into my sock groove, and managed to get the first slouchy one finished (top down of course) and I am determined to get the hang of the Kitchener's stitch. It has been eluding me forever. Every sock I do I have had trouble with it. FINALLY I think I've got it! I got out my handy dandy book and talked my self through it (yet again) and this toe turned out perfect!! Even better, I think I actually grasp the stitch!!! 

(note the impressive balancing act on one foot while taking photos - yoga does have some unusual benefits)

Having a smooth toe was really the only thing that prompted me to try a toe up in the first place. I like the way normal sock knitting flows, and altho I am not confident that I can do it again without the book, this was the first time I had the "Ah ha" moment.  

I love this yarn (Felici) it is very soft and comfy, much much nicer than any of Knit Picks previous sock yarns, I predict a long and happy relationship with this pair of socks, even though it makes me look like I have some really fugly kankles.

I think I had the "Ah ha" moment with the Baby Surprise Jacket too. I re cast on the other night and now realize that I had been making a major mistake, like, oh you know, like following the directions!  I think I get it now, and it is starting to look like everyone else's :)  Funny how a little thing like following directions can make such a big difference!

We are still counting down- 9 more days to Vegas.... hmmm what knitting to take on the plane with me. 

What a froggy week.

It has just been one of those froggy weeks for me. Never never try to knit a complicated pattern when your eyes are trying to close. 

I apparently have too many things going at once again- go figure. I was happily knitting away on my baby surprise jacket thinking I had a handle on it, when I realized something was rotten in Denmark. I was all the way to the neckline decreases and somewhere along the way I lost track of my increases. Now that I have a visual of how it is supposed to look, I realised that I had a stubby sleeve. WTF Chuck! 

So yesterday I ripped the whole damn thing out. Rather than try to figure out where I went wrong, I will just start over with a fresh mind. 

My poor Alien guy ended up with a lopsided face too, I lost track of where I was on my graph and skipped a couple of rows. Don't worry, I am not going to frog the whole thing. I am on motif #4 and I am only ripping back about 4 rows so it is not a tragedy. 

 

Since things were not going so well on those two projects, I worked on my bath mat. I  think I only need about 10 more inches and it should be a good size, I am trying to keep shrinkage in mind for this since it is 100% cotton.    The Rug is only 17 inches wide, I figured this way it will be about the width of floor space between the potty and the tub. Yes I know, not much space at all. I am planning the length for right around 37 inches. So yay- I am almost done with a project! I have found that commercial rugs are either ity bity or they are too wide for my bathroom. I think this one was an after thought in the house, because the other bathroom is much bigger.

 When we first moved in here I called dibs on the big bathroom, but that boy vetoed me. How does that happen? And since when do men need the biggest bathroom, I have way more junk than he does!

I finally gave up on Hobby Lobby getting my beads in. Whoever does the ordering for that department completely sucks!! I ran out to Michael's last night and picked up 5 more of those little flippin' tubes of beads. Paid more than twice what I paid for them at Hobby Lobby, but I am annoyed with them, so for now, they are on my boycott list. To top things off, the damn things, are just a little off in color and size. I am hoping that I am the only one that will notice there are actually 3 different beads in my scarf. But, even so, I happily sat watching the X-Files and stringing beads onto my yarn. Once the beads are strung, the knitting goes PDF ( pretty darn fast) so I should be finishing up the scarf in the next couple of days.  Not that I plan on being able to wearing it this year, I think we had our last freaky snow yesterday, but at least it will be done! 

Raine and I are going to see Horton Hears a Who today, so it will be good theater knitting ;) 

I am really going to work on finishing up some of these things here before I start yet another project. 

Peter Snow Tail

Friday we had another huge snow storm...gotta love the Midwest! The official recording was 10.5 inches but I  am thinking I should have stuck a ruler in my yard to see the actual.

Dawn, here is a big 'ole snow pile for ya after that boy finished cleaning the driveway two days later. Keep in mind we have several piles like this and a lot of it has melted already.  Apparently Saturday night the brothers decided to go 4-wheeling through it. The Goof Balls!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!! Mine was uneventful, which is as it should be.

Those folks in the Bluff are industrious. On my way into work yesterday I spied three mature adults building this right across from the station. Too Flippin' Cute! Peter here is taller than the average man, and I know that 3 people can stand behind him without barely being seen.

My co-workers tell me the trio had been out there on the Village Green for over two hours building him.  Since it was such a beautiful day everyone on the east side of town seemed to be out for a walk. And of course, they all stopped to take pictures of Peter Snow Tail with their camera phones.

Thank goodness for camera phones or I would have been pissed about missing a picture of this. 
It will be interesting to see how much of him is left when I go to work today.

Don't you hate it when someone moves your stuff???  Ok so maybe it wasn't the neatest looking conglomerate of things, and maybe I did over take the dining room table but, dammit, we never use that room! 

I think I have mentioned that the brothers play Wii on Saturday nights. I would not think this Saturday would be any different than any other right? Well - I guess it sucked to be me. Apparently the sisters were tired of not being included in the Saturday night ritual and when I came home from work, everyone was playing a dice game on the dining room table!!! 

Where were my projects you ask? Piled on the card table thats where!!!! Is nothing sacred? Men! He would have had a conniption fit if I moved his things!

Since I have ADD this month and am working on so many things at once, I really haven't made a lot of progress on any one thing. My bath mat is coming along, ( my standard mindless project for when I am too tired to concentrate). I am making pretty good progress on that one, so I must have been tired alot this week...LOL

I was seduced into starting the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket by a KAL group on Ravelry.  Yes, I have officially joined the ranks of EZ Knitter! I think it is coming along ok. It is kinda hard to tell. I am not real crazy about how the psso's are looking, but I keep going forward. I am blindly trying to follow Elizabeths pattern because I can't get the visual in my head yet. 

I haven't done squat on my alien piece, I haven't had a real clear mindset to work on it so it just sits for now.

Remember those toe up socks I was trying to work on? Well F@#%  those toe up socks! I realized if something is sitting in ZZZ land for too long, it is just not meant to be. If you hate the process, frog it! Because it will be a UFO forever!

So that is what I did, frog the damn sock that was going no- where, and started one I knew I would like. 

I love this yarn, and I think it was just crying out for a great pair of slouchy socks. :) Now I am a happy sock knitter and have a portable project again.

 Isn't it funny how, when you like what your working on, it goes pretty darn quick.

ET phone home

What have I been up to?? Oh Boy...well where do I start. Hmmm I guess with work, work and more work. My department hosts an annual Polar Plunge for Special Olympics.  March 1, it was a balmy 29 degrees...yes, that's right, I said 29 degrees! The water temperature was posted at 34 degrees, I seriously think that was completely false! I was not one of the 219 insane peoplethat plunged into the icy waters of Lake Michigan but I did get wet and it did not feel like 34 it felt more like minus 34!!   

The park district had to bring in a back hoe to clear a path for the plungers. The beach was so covered in snow and ice that you could not see any sand at all and it was exhausting to walk through.

 Usually myself and my fire department cohort sit on the rocks to take pictures of the event but there was so much snow and ice covering it that we could not climb the rocks, we could not tell where there was a solid place to stand. Not only that but the Chief strictly forbade us to even try (WTF)! I suppose it did not help my cause that I fell right in front of him.  You can see in the picture below how much snow and ice was on my usual perch. 

My poor son-in-law was coerced into plunging, actually I believe my exact words were " if you're going to marry my daughter you have to do the Polar Plunge" Good hearted boy that he is, he braved the elements and plunged.  (That is him with his arms in the air.) And, bless his heart, he plans on doing it again next year! I don't know how he did it! I personally did not think I was ever going to thaw out. In fact this was the coldest I have ever been!!

Note the shelf of ice where the photographer with the tri-pod is standing. I am not sure if he realized there was nothing but water beneath him. 

For anyone who is interested, our Plunge raised $110,000 this year for the Special Olympics!! The best one we have had in 9 years! More plunge pictures here!

Still in charity mode, Lynda from California sent me two dozen hats and two dozen scarves to donate to our local homeless shelter. Lynda is amazing!! This is the second installment of hand knitted and crocheted hats that she has sent to me, the scarves are made from fleece about half of them were made and the other half purchased. I've been feeling pretty lax, because with everything that has been going on the last month or so, I haven't been able to make anymore myself. Lynda sure puts me to shame when it comes to this endeavor. I will have to kick it into gear and get that sewing machine out and make those fleece hats I planned on making a couple of months ago. 

Here is what is happening on the home front. A big fat nothing! I am so disgusted with Hobby Lobby! Probably my own damn fault for buying the beads there in the first place, but at the rate they replenish, I will not get this scarf finished until next year. I have learned my lesson, I will buy beads online from someone that counts them!

My pretty beaded alpaca scarf has been living unhappily in this basket in the meantime. I had to ask for the beads to be ordered today since the last three times I have been to the store the hook as been empty.  And go figure, the damn things were 50% off today. 

My toe up socks have been placed on the back burner as well because I was being too retarded with them and have had to rip back several times. I guess I am not in the right mind set for them right now. 

Yesterday my sock swap package came. Sarah and I opened it together and what fun, she kept pulling stuff out of the little read bag, 3 balls of Peruvian alpaca, a ton of adorable stitch markers, a little bag to keep them in, beautiful hand painted sock yarn and the best....a pound of Brazilian coffee...absolutely divine!!

The one thing that I have been able to work on is my alien scarf. It is slow going because it is my first real experience in chart reading and I don't want to screw it up. I am so enjoying the process of this scarf. I keep stopping to stare at it as those little green faces start to pop out at me. I am in love with illusion knitting!! It is so magical and I am still in love with it. Of course my daughter wants one too now. And freak that I am, I have been showing everyone at work pictures of it like it is a new baby or something. 

Of course, I am pretty darn sure I don't have enough yarn to finish... yet again, poor planning. I would have sworn I checked the yardage when I ordered, but clearly I do not have enough yarn. How aggravating!

Here is ET

Now you see them...

Now you don't!

It has been a sad day on Sesame Street today. I had to go back to the bone doctor about my elbow. Apparently when he said "don't lean on it" he really meant DON'T LEAN ON IT!

Ok, so maybe I leaned on it, a little bit. I couldn't help it, I don't do broken or sicky very well. The damn thing started filling up with fluid and, instead of getting better, the pain was making me nauseous.

  He had to aspirate it today. In layman's terms that means take a big freakin needle, jab it into the most painful part of your elbow without warning your first or numbing it. Then draw out this disgusting liquid, and show it to you. Then give you a shot of cortisone in the same freakinplace, which burns like a MFr! Lie and say it will feel better soon. Well apparently his definition of soon and mine are two different things! 

Ok - to be honest, it is starting to feel a little bit better, but I still feel nauseous from the pain and had to take some Vicodine to take the edge off. I've been feeling pretty muzzy today and just wanted to whine about it. I know, got any cheese to go with that? I am going to try really hard to take better care of it. 

I need to find myself something mindless to work on, since there isn't much mind to work with today.

Busy Week

We had Sarah's shower on Sunday, It was a wonderful turn out. The look on Sarah's face made all the stress and expense all worth it. The girls from my work are incredibly generous and gave her some wonderful gifts, as did the family. I'd say the kids are pretty well set and it is nice to have some new things to start out married life with. Sarah told me she plans on leaving most of it packed up until they move in a couple of months. New place with new toys!

 This is the towel wedding cake Kelpy made for her shower. Just beautiful, and we figured since Sarah did not have a "real" wedding cake, this would be even better. ( you can't get cellulite from a towel cake..LOL)

I had found these adorable matching aprons, Domestic Diva and Diva in training for both Sarah and Raine, on Sarah's I pinned a bunch of household cleaning aids and kitchen items. Feather duster, pot holder toilet bowel brush, kitchen scrubby etc. and made her wear it. She is a real trooper and didn't even whine about it, however, Raine, who loved her apron, was not so enamored of the photo session. These last four days I've had off have been exhausting and my arse is really dragging tonite.

On the knitting front,  did not get much done, just a little bit here and there.  I haven't done diddly poo on my toe up sock. I have had to rip it out two more times down to the toe. I keep screwing up the heel. I really need to pay attention to the pattern I guess, since it has spent more time in the frog pond than I like to admit. By the time I get to the second sock, I will have forgotten how the hell I cast on and will have to play the trial and error game all over again at this rate. 

Sheer desperation, boredom and freezing fingers prompted this project. While I was waiting to figure out why the hell I bought that pretty green yarn, and waiting for Hobby Lobby to restock their beads, I made these fingerless mitts out of some stash yarn I had laying about the house. I was too damn lazy to look up a pattern and just started knitting. Not my best effort but the do the job!

Saturday night that boy decided he was going to make french onion soup with Salisbury steaks...YUM. We had our usual Saturday night gang over plus a couple more for dinner. After dinner, the brothers played their stupid Wii golf, while us girls decided on an impromptu knitting lesson. Poor Kelp had left her knitting at home since the original plan was for the girls to go back to her place and leave the boys at mine. I gave sister in law Tammy and niece Gina each a skein of yarn and some needles and they were off. I love teaching other people to knit. Both are well on their way to a nice hand knit scarf! 

In the meantime I started another multi directional scarf.  Sunday night I got Kelp going on the same pattern. 

Yesterday I finally sewed the straps on my bagstopper and it is officially finished. Don't ask what took so long, I haven't a clue why I left it sit so long. Just laziness I guess.

I bought 4 more tubes of beads (it was all the store had) and worked some on the beaded alpaca. I wish I had a better idea of how many beads I needed. Next time I do one of these I will buy the beads from someone who sells them buy the count. I thought I had guestimated around 1600 beads, but I am not going to count the little buggers and string them too. I will just knit until I run out of beads again and buy some more.

Thank God for Ravelry! I was at a loss as to why I bought that green yarn, and was going through my queue when it dawned on me duh!  Aliens!! of course... I bought the yarn for the alien scarf. OMG I love this pattern!  This has to be one of the coolest patterns I have ever knit!

I haven't even finished one motif yet and already you can see the little green mans face forming.

Now if I can just figure out how to design one myself. I can think of tons of stuff I would like to knit this way.

My arm is still hurting but I have ditched the sling. it was too much of a pain in the butt.  And now that my arm feels better, I think on my next days off I will start my TKGA course. I am anxious to learn some new things. Now that Sarah's shower is behind me I can relax for a while and concentrate on me. 

My New Toy!!

SURPRISE!!!!

ISN'T SHE PRETTY??

Ok no not really, but I had you going for a minute didn't I...LOL Actually this is a concept car that we saw at the Chicago Auto Show this week end. Very Pretty, and Very Red!! Just my color! In fact, I think in two years when this baby is released I just might have to take one for a test drive! I should be just about ready for a trade in by then...I am hoping it will be good in snow...






Now... for the real toy... Friday night I finally took the plunge and we went to the Apple Store to that I could test drive this little beauty instead. Yup I am a convert. I turned Mac!! Bill Gates are you listening? I got tired of all of the IE errors and OS replacements, and Office upgrades, and all of the additional software purchases, and that infernal hourglass! I was going to get the Macbook Air, which I was seduced into, but then thought better of it and sent it back as soon as it got here. And Apple, bless them, paid for the return shipping even though I had changed my mind.


It is too bad these don't come in red though... I may have to look around for a skin for it. So far, I am as happy as a clam with it. Not that there was anything wrong with my Dell. It wasn't even 2 yet. Other than the fact that I bought a too big 17 inch laptop. I am streamlined down to this sexy little 13 inch now. Much lighter and much much faster. (No hourglass)
That boy has been researching Macs ever since I said I was thinking about converting (which I knew he would do). He looked into all of the techie stuff that I knew I wouldn't. I just needed to know it will do what I want it to do without coughing up a lung to make it do it.

My biggest decision came to this, did I want the 13 inch Macbook or the 15 inch Macbook Pro. I opted for the smaller, for the money I could not really see what I needed the Pro for. And who knows, since I have been without a desk top since lightening struck the house in '06 I have rarely missed it, but if I ever change my mind on that score, I will have more power in the IMac anyway. The only thing I don't like is the finish, I have to wipe the fingerprints off every time I use it because they glare at you. That and there was no little slot for my memory card :(
I can live with that! It works great!



Now here is another surprise... That lovely lady Lynda from California wrote to me and told me she had 10 more hats to send for our homeless shelter here. The package I received at work today had not 10 but 23 hats and 24 scarves!!! What an amazing woman! She sure knits way faster than I do!! There were some knitted and crocheted hats, as well as some fleece scarves, some were hand made and some were purchased. She puts me to shame!! Friday I will be making another drop off at the shelter with the hats and scarves that Lynda sent, and the hats that I made. I still need to whip up those fleece hats so I am hoping to have that done on Friday too.

Dawn here are some snow shots for you from last weeks blizzardy weather....

Gratuitous Disclaimer: DO NOT TRY TO TAKE PICTURES WHILE YOU DRIVE IN A SNOW STORM... I know, Duh. But I couldn't seem to help myself.

Here is the scene through my windshield.

I had to roll the window down for this one

...and well, I might have been driving too fast for conditions here. And actually this one is from the week before, I just think the picture looks so cool wizzing like that.

Just as I suspected for this week, not much knitting going on, just work and , lots of party planning, Sarah's shower is Sunday and I can hardly wait.

The sock swap shopping is done, I can't show any pictures of the goodies yet, but it will be on it's way across the pond by tomorrow. All that is left is to pack and ship!

An alarm just went off on my computer...it just said "it's 1 o'clock" Think someone is trying to tell me something?

I can still knit!

I finally went to the clinic for xrays. The doctor said I fractured my elbow, put me in a sling and sent me to the bone doctor. Just flippin wonderful I am thinking! What a pain in the arse the sling is. Of course, I am defiant and say I am not going to wear that damn thing. But I found out quick enough that it really does help with the pain. Yesterday I saw the bone doctor and he tells me, no there is no fracture (phew) but... I ruptured the bursis sac on my elbow and that is why it feels like raw meat. I did not take my knitting with me because I was afraid I would get yelled at for using my hand when I am not supposed to...LOL

Well the good news is - I can still knit. The bad news, it is going to take about 6 weeks to heal and no heavy lifting, and no leaning on it. Duh, of course I am not going to lean on it, it hurts like hell!

So here is what I have been up to in the mean time. I crocheted these little Ipod socks for my two Ipods out of some left over sock yarn...fitting doncha think. Just a simple single crochet in the round until I got to the top and then I crocheted the flap flat, added a bobble for the button and viola! Thanks Dawn for the idea.

I finished my Noro Silk Garden multi directional scarf and wore it to work tonite. I love how the colors blend. I could not gauge the best place to start a new ball tho so that it blended in the same manner. I used a little over two balls for this and they seem like they wind each one with a different color starting. Still, I am happy how this one turned out. I made this one about 60 inches long.

I have almost a whole ball left over so I started Calorimetry last night and am about half done with it. It doesn't even look like the same yarn, does it. I am hoping to finish this tonite. Very easy pattern.

I did work a little bit on my toe up socks and started the heel gusset but that is as far as I got with those. My bagstopper is finished but for the straps, which I have pinned to, but not yet sewn on. No clue what I am waiting for. It is only 4 simple seems and I was at the sewing machine this week fixing a glove for my nephew.

I had just received my Basics Basics Basics course from TKGA right before I fell on that stupid car booger. I had wanted to start it right away, but I decided to wait until my arm was a little better first. Yes, I know, I have been knitting up a storm anyway, but I don't want pain to distract me from the course. This is something I have been wanting to do for a really long time, and I want to do it right. Plus these swatches are going to be examined by people that know what they are doing, so maybe I am a little nervous about it.

I joined an international sock swap on Ravelry and I get to swap sock yarn and some other goodies with a gal fron England. I plan to get the rest of my swap shopping done this week end so I can get it off in the mail to her.

I have pretty much peetered out on my Knit a Mile challenge, I have almost knit two miles of stash, and have reverted to some fresh yarn at this point. I met my original challenge and it was just the kick start I needed to get moving.

Saturday night the girls from Kelps work are supposed to get together, they have been knitting fools since the first session. I asked Kelp if they maybe wanted to learn the Multi directional scarf this week, so I think that idea is still on. I thought it would be fun to all be working on the same thing... I have plenty of yarn I can use for another one of those. Plus both of those girls are making afghans and we all know how boring that can get. A sassy scarf is just the thing to keep their interst peaked and this one is easy enough for a beginner.

I have Sarah's shower to finish planning, that is next week end and I am getting pretty excited about it. It should be lots of fun. Sarah told me this morning she was going to go dressed like a bum, I said the hell you are! I told her she did not have to dress up, but she had to look nice, after all, I am going to be showing off my beautiful daughter to my friends from work too.
She just gave me that... "Oh mom" look. Friday it it will be a trip to the party store for deocrations and games.
Knitting is probably going to take a slow down for the next week until her shower is over.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum...

Chicagoland got another hefty snow fall this week (well two of them to be precise) and you know how the snow tends to build up around the wheel wells and all. Well I hate that part of winter. I always knock those chucks of ice off my truck. So, I did so on Saturday, right before I went to work. A Huge car booger! Solid like a rock too. I have to admit, this was my own stupidity, but I was too damn lazy to kick the big ole car booger out of the driveway and into the snow bank ( I guess I thought maybe the car booger fairy would take care of it while I was at work...not so). Well it was still there, laying in wait for me when I came home at 2 am.
Somehow I managed to back my lil ole truck right up next it. I gather all my crap, my purse, my feed bag and my tote bag, grab my cup of coffee with my other hand, kick the door open and step out...yup you guessed it, right on top of that friggin car booger! And down I went! Right on to my mother freakin elbow! Not on my ass where I have plenty of cushion and could have bounced back with only my pride hurt...Oh no, right on the very point of my elbow, with all of my weight.
I am stunned, sitting on the ground, I did not even have a chance to drop anything and grab the door. I think I sat there for a few minutes waiting for my breath to come back. OMG I have never felt such pain. Not the, I hit my funny bone kind of pain, it was the OMG-I think think I jammed my elbow through to the other side of my arm kind of pain.
I tried to stand after a few minutes, and realized I cannot even pick up my conglomerate of crap that was laying about on the ground. I don't have the wherewithal to move away from my truck and close the door. Just stood there in the cold contemplating an emergency room trip. For those of you that know me, you know it was bad if I was thinking of going to the emergency room...I do not do hospitals except under extreme duress!

Well, thank goodness the brother's came out the door about that time, they realized I was not quite myself, picked up my things and got me inside the house...Phew and good thing too because once inside the house I felt I could solidify my decision not to go. Good brother's that they are they immedialty blamed that boy for not plowing properly. And, being the kind of person I am, I shifted the blame and explained about the car booger, which gave everyone a good chuckle and then they went home and that boy went to bed. I however, grabbed an ice pack and sat up watching tv, bemoaning my stupidity and wondering whose Cherrios did I piss in to cause this bad karma.

Well here I am two days later, and my elbow still feels like someone is sticking a knife in and twisting it! That cannot be a good sign! I had almost talked myself into an xray quickly changed my mind this morning when it did not feel quite so bad...that is till I put on my uniform shirt and OMG...there it was again!
The really sucky thing is...this happens to be my favorite leaning elbow...it is the one I wear out all of my uniform shirts on. Hurts like the dickens, does not accurately decribe it. The good news I can still knit... if I rest my arm just so.
Maybe I will have checked tomorrow....maybe.

Ok here is the scoop on my Clapotis...Not going so well. I think I made a mistake somewhere, because I am at the dropping stitches point and something does not seem to be adding up. I know, you really can't tell from this picture, but at least you can see how far I got. So I am going to tear the whole thing out and start over... I just keep reminding myself frogging is good for the soul. Clearly this is not a tv project. I will start over at some point when I can give it my full attention until I get the rhythm down pat - then I'll turn the tv back on.




Remember I said I order yarn to go with those beads?? Yah... well... This yarn does NOT go with those beads. Not to say I am dissapointed in the yarn, it just cried out for something different! Now this is how I visualize the multi directional scarf to be be! Noro Silk Garden Lite (it was on sale for 5 something a skein at Webs). This is the coolest looking yarn I think I have ever bought!! I love this! Looking at the ball of yarn, I have no clue how it is going to knit up and all three balls that I bought are wound different so it looks like each one is a different colorway. I have checked and rechecked the labels to make sure of the dyelot and they are all the same. But side by side, they sure don't look it. This is the first time I have used Noro, and I can see why people love it. I can't tell you what the colorway is because I never did learn to read Japanese (yah like they offered that in my school...LOL) but I can tell you that I am using a size 6 needle :) Crazy stuff, this yarn is.

As for the beads, well I strung them on some gray Andean Treasure I was using for Ivy...which is clearly going nowhere and probably never going to... So I shall re-allocate the yarn!

This is Christmas prezzie yarn from my friend Jackie- Knit Picks Felici in Hummingbird. You know, in the begining I was not so impressed with Knit Pick's sock yarn, I always found it a little on the scratchy and unyeilding side. But this yarn is soft and yummy and as you can see, I have already had it on my foot and my foot is liking it! My first time with a toe up pattern. I must have frogged this toe 25 times before I got the cast on looking right. I was all the way up to heel gussett and realized it was a tad big, about 8 stitches too big, so I frogged it back down to the toe to used my usual number of sock stitches. My foot is fat, but not quite that fat.

I have decided that I have way too many WIP's and am going to seriously get down to finishing them. Starting with the Bagstopper I restarted and promptly put down.

Now, to all those that are wondering what thing I bought myself for Valentines Day... Keep guessing...LOL.

It could be used in knitting, in a manner of speaking.

The one I ordered did arrive today, but you will still have to wait for the results because I decided I wanted a bigger one before it even got here so I am sending it back for exchange. ;)

Life is too short to be stingy with yourself!

Right now you are all probably thinking words that are not fit for print..hehe


Foot note: I appologize for any mis spelled words...my spell check appears to be broketakated.

Oops, I almost forgot, Here is a picture of the shower invites Kelp and I made for Sarah. That Kelp is pretty darn clever with the paper isn't she.