Stash Embellishment...

Last week was crazy, between my job and family stuff. Kay had outpatient surgery and I drove out to be there with her. Once we got home, she went to sleep and I left Bill to look after her for an hour while I snuck out to Kathy's Kreations in Ligonier. I love this shop, it used to be half for yarn and half for vacuums and vacuum repair, however, in the past couple years the yarn fully took over all the space (sorry vacuums, you are so unexciting next to piles of beautiful fibre). Anyway, Kathy is regularly seen in Interweave Knits and can cable like no one I know. She wasn't there (she is not in the shop on Wednesdays, I believe her husband was manning the counter, pun not intended) but I did manage to find some things I could not apparently live without. Here's a photo:The cream was on sale for $2.95, a nice cotton from Rowan, colorway of Ecru. Maybe a pretty chemo cap for Kay. The multicolored skeins (7 total)are Imagine from Classic Elite in cotton and rayon, asking price $6.25 a pop. Maybe a shrug or cropped sweater? The purple was a lone skein left, I wanted to get a couple but decided I could not leave this lonely skein sit there by herself, she is just too lovely to behold. She is some Mercerized Egyptian cotton named Provence from Classic Elite Yarns, asking price of $12.95. Maybe she would make a nice one-skein wonder ala Glampyre? Hmmm...

Kay's doing really great and is such a trooper, she even spent Saturday outside for a cookout in the yard. We were celebrating Father's Day a day early and much fun was had by all. Bill cooked a wonderful meal on an open pit fire, being careful not to mix up the vegan fare and utensils with the carnivore stuff. I brought some vegan potato salad, it was quite delicious if I don't say so myself. Kay even asked if I had a cookie with me (I LOVE LOVE LOVE the vegan oatmeal choco chip ones they bake fresh at Whole Foods and have been carrying them around with me for desert) but I did not. I love it that they will at least try the vegan stuff I eat.

So my knitting adventures have been a bit lacking of late. Take yesterday. I decided to weave in some waste yarn on my current project, a sweater, and try it on for size. My suspicions were right: WAY TOO BIG!

So I frogged it, wound up the three balls of yarn I'd already knit into the sweater, and tried not to be too upset. After all, at the rate I was using the yarn, I would have been running back to Knit One in panic mode, with the mantra, "please let them have one more ball, please let them have one more ball" escaping my lips as I entered the door. I am taking the positive approach tonight--now I should have enough yarn to finish. I refigured my math (my gauge had changed considerably from swatch to sweater), re-wrote the first part of the pattern and cast on again. I again did not make it to the Bee Hive for knitting. That's two Mondays in a row. Hopefully they will still remember me next week!

I did manage to make a necklace for my sister yesterday. Here's a pic: It's made of hemp twine and has three beads. It was my first attempt at knotwork or macrame or whatever you want to call it. The cats, who love knitting, also seemed to enjoy this craft as well. I plan to send it with some other goodies, hopefully it will get into the mail tomorrow!

Here is a crazy pic of my Izzie (Isabella Maria).
She was sleeping with her tonque out and I tried to get a pic and she woke up but still left her tongue out there.

Have a happy Summer Solstice tomorrow and get out there and enjoy nature and celebrate the day!!! Blessed be!

Weekend's over...enter Monday...

Well, kids, it's over. Why does the weekend go so quickly? Here we are in Monday mode again. I go into work a little late today due to a 6:30 PM meeting. This means I will either be late or altogether miss knitting at the Hive tonight. Oh well, at least I got a public knitting fix in on Sat. for World Knit in Public Day!

A great time was had by all, thanks to Keana's efforts. You can visit her at www.keanalee.blogspot.com. Several of the Hive Knitters also made appearances, it was fun to see them outside in the light of day and out of the Bat Cave. Sock knitters outnumbered all other projects. I now have more respect for the humble sock and may even try knitting a pair. The only sock I ever knit was a very large Christmas stocking for my guy. It was exciting turning the heel, such a mysterious and well-planned execution in a pattern. The stocking was the only thing my guy has ever requested I knit for him. Which, selfishly enough, I am excited about as this leaves more knitting projects for me. I am kinda shy about knitting for others, I usually only knit for family members because they appreciate the time and effort it takes. Other peeps don't seem to understand and I go out and buy mass-produced crap for them. I feel safe saying that because not many people read this blog and I'm sure no one who does not knit themselves would happen upon it anyway.

Sunday I went to the Art Festival with Kay (aka mom). We took the T down, it was a nice day but unseasonably cold again. I found a pair of earrings for me and for someone else. Well, I need to iron my clothes and jet out the door and make the big bucks to support my knitting. Trust me, big bucks is said VERY tonque-in-cheek-like. I work in the human services field, for goodness sake!

Hair-Ball Weather

Today was a very blah sort of day. I worked until very late AGAIN. I ate some boring food for dinner. One of the kitten-heads had left a nice-sized hairball on the bed, on my side to boot. The bedding is now in the wash and this means no getting into bed early to catch up on my sleep.

Last night I had a very off night with my knitting group. I got there late due to work and never got into the good knitting. I stayed stuck in some bad knitting juju. I purled half of a row where I should have knit. I then had to unknit all of this and in two rows, managed to make the same mistake again! I have no real photo update with progress on my sweater because there has not been much progress.

Maybe you can tell me which of the kittens was sending me hate mail? Here are your choices:

Madison Penelope

Quandary Bartholomew

Isabella Maria

Chloe Jean

Lulu Bea

LOOK WHO I MET THIS WEEKEND!!!

I thought I was dreaming this happened until I checked my camera this morning and there was the proof, it was real! Karmic too, I met him in the same spot of the same bar I watched the Steelers win the superbowl. I was pretty star-struck and did not say much, he was very nice about taking the picture with me. I have been walking on cloud nine all day!

Not much knitting going on today, I was pretty tired from this weekend. I went to a friend's wedding yesterday, she was gorgeous, it was a great day. After the reception, my guy and I met some of the guests at a bar. We were out pretty late so today was pretty much all about some R&R. I caught up on some sleep with my five cats. I watched a repeat of Knitty Gritty and some Stylicious. I think Vickie Howell is actually Molly Ringwald. I have yet to see them together so my theory holds for now. I made some howemade veggie soup and a salad and served it with some Italian bread, then made some raspberry cobbler for desert. My guy got some prints of my photo for me and suprised me with a new frame for the 8x10 and a vegan chocolate bar, what a sweetie! Tomorrow I have a busy workday ahead of me, then plan to meet the Hive Knitters at the Bee Hive for some knittery fun.

Good Eats, Bad Facecloth

Can I just say that I had a great meal tonight? My guy and I pondered where to eat dinner for hours, and then it hit us: Mad Mex. No place serves the vegan (me) and carnivore (him) diner at the same time in such a fabulous way! Had the vegetarian burrito, veganized with vegan soy cheese and vegan sour cream, with some guacomole on the side. I could only eat half and got the other half packaged, but alas, left the take-out package on the table when I left (I seem to do this often, I'm a bit scattered at times).

So here is a pic of my new project:



It will be a sleeveless tanks, methinks. The yarn is some bamboo fibre, supplied by the illustrious Knit One on Murray in Squirrel Hill. Love that store! I bought it some time ago and cast on for the sweater but for some reason (aka The Sweater) it hibernated in the bottom of my knitting bag. Maybe I'll take a pic of that bag some day so you all will get how it could actually hibernate there. I admit, it's a scary place most days.

There was also a project I started in between and frogged no less than 3 times. What on earth, you ask, could make me frog at such a frantic frenetic rate? A rather complicated garment? Involving cables? Lace? Intarsia?

I am ashamed to admit it was a freakin' FACECLOTH. A square with which to wash one's face. In a very pale shade of pink. Now, there are some pink girls out there but I am not a pink girl and do not own many pink clothes, unless they are hot pink in a retro-punk kind of way. I was using some leftover yarn from a gifted baby sweater and thought, I can make a pink facecloth because the bathroom of the apartment I rent is light pink and black. I'm not kidding, I'd take a photo of the bath but it's due for a good cleaning and I would be ashamed if my mum happened upon this site and caught a glimpse of the loo looking less than spotless. So yes, a square of knitting fabric was my downfall this week. My idea was to knit on the bias with increases at each side and include a YO on the sides, then decreasing again once I got the width right. Once finished, I'd have a diamond-shaped cloth with holes to weave a chic black ribbon through. It didn't quite work out as I imagined and I made some blunders with the YO's, then ended up somehow dropping a stitch (?????) and it was frogged for the final time after that. So maybe one day I will get back to it...but hopefully I will own a home of my own by then and my bathroom will no longer be pink and black and I will have no need to knit any more facecloths.

This has all seriously made me doubt my knitting capabilities. I was all kinds of ready to start submitting an original sweater pattern to some magazines/books but now I am thinking I am not really that skilled. I will continue to ponder this over the evening hours. Good night and good knitting to all!