Ball Parks and other things

I did not take pictures at the Sit and Knit. I do not know what I was thinking because there were about two dozen women inside of Pleasant Home - the weather was yucky so we couldn't even be on the veranda - and we were all knitting chemo caps. We ended with about 26 of them and because I am a little obsessive, I will make four more and make a nice round 30 to be distributed to wherever the wonderful Vickie, whose idea it was to make chemo caps, would like them to go.

But I did not take a photo. I did, however, take a photo of Chase Field when we were in Phoenix.

To recap, we have this idea to go to a Cubs game in a new park until we've hit all the National League Parks. We are not obsessive about this so we don't have to do it all in one season - though last year we did sit next to this couple who were visiting all the ballparks - American and National League - in one summer. They were young. We are not. I don't think we were ever that young. That is a couple that loves baseball and ballparks. We are a couple that loves the Cubs. Room for us all.
So far, we have been to Miller Park in Milwaukee, The Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati - before you get your nose twisted because you think they've named their park the only one with any patriotism you should know Great American is an insurance company, so it is the company that has the patriotism jones not the ballpark. PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Wrigley Field in Chicago and now Chase Field in Phoenix which stands on the ground where my parents' church once stood. The church is now down the street.

When Wrigley Field is your hometown ballpark it really isn't fair to compare other parks. There is a feel to Wrigley that has yet to be duplicated. A lot of that is because Wrigley, Fenway and the late, great Camden Yards, are the granddaddy parks. Wrigley is the second oldest park in the bigs. There is something about that park.

The other parks are more modern and more techy and that's not always a bad thing. I really love the inside of Miller Park. I love the outside of Great American ballpark, they have the best plaza. (and cheap parking.)The view from PNC is amazing because they have the bridges and it is literally downtown and they have some friendly staff folk. I haven't discovered what I love about Chase. My brother works there but that's not really about the park.

On the knitting side of the house, I am almost done with this. Mine is in lime green and made from Lily Sugar and Cream. I, of course, tinkered with the pattern because seed stitch drives me nuts unless it's for an edging and I don't have to do more than ten stitches of it. I once made an entire top of seed stitch and I wanted to hurt the pattern maker and the person who would eventually wear the top. Since no one purchased the top my frustration has not been appeased.

After the bag is done - which requires a trip to Joann for some D rings - I will start on the newsboy cap from here. The cap I made for the Sit and Knit was from this book. The beret was listed to take an hour to make. That was about right and I was talking to folks the whole time.

I am up early - I went to bed before midnight last night - and decided the way to have the quiet and house to myself was to be up before Mr. Honey. I took a walk, albeit ten minutes, and then sat right down at my laptop, even the dog is still asleep. It's a really nice start to the day. This and some knit/crochet - what could be better?

I Think This May Stick

I decided to straighten out my office...pause while you laugh and try to get out "What..again?" without disrupting your respiratory system too much...done? I actually made some progress...pause while you pick yourself up off the floor.

I moved all the yarn bags, boxes and totes to one side of the room. They literally almost reach the ceiling. You know I am not going to show you that. But when I look at the other side of the room, I can actually see the carpeting. (This is not necessarily a blessing.) There were boxes that did not hold yarn, that I remember, and I decided that each morning from now until Doomsday I would go in and take care of just one thing. This morning was a box and I didn't think it had much in it so I went in the office with the idea of just picking up the box and taking it to the trash.

I should have taken a picture of what was in there: besides the copies of three movie DVDs I didn't even know were not sitting with the rest of the DVDs were some knitted items: a child's poncho, an adult sweater (small), a baby sweater (thought I sold it) a scarf - garter stitch, must have made that one a long time ago - and a book with patterns I didn't realize was missing from my shelf.

You know you are really into something when you have stuff you didn't know you should be missing. As it turns out, it was a good thing I went through the box and just didn't throw it out. One day I would have remembered something - probably the book - and would have made myself crazier wondering where it was. So, i guess I'm really into this knitting/crochet thing if I have so much stuff I'm surprised to see some of it.

I completed another square and it looks nothing like the photo - I mean nothing. The designer would have me drawn and quartered for wrecking their design. I do not have a sense of - whatever sense you need to be able to make flower petals in chain stitch. I do not have that kind of talent. It took me most of the day to learn how to chain stitch let alone try and get it to make flower petals. The square is cute in a 'this has no meaning or resemblance to anything that has a meaning ' kind of way.

It's not a flaw - it's a design feature.

The Universe in Motion

My drool of the day is this. This stones on this necklace look so earthy and I bet it feels cool and substantial against the skin. Yummy. It is called Island Seaweed by ahavazipporah.

The house is quiet. Mr. Honey is at work and I had to take Duke to the vet today because the poor guy has these little growths on his bottom eyelid that the doctor said should come off because they will just grow and then we'll have a problem. He also needs to have a good teeth cleaning so he's off on this 'spa day' (thus called so I will feel better about dropping my youngest off and leaving him there.)

On my way back home I wondered what I would do with these precious moments. I thought sleep had a seductive quality and I am certainly sleepy enough but the thing I wanted to do - don't ask me why - was make a good breakfast.

Now, it's not like I don't have alone time in the morning anyway with Mr. Honey at his part time job (He's thinking of quitting at the end of March, pray for him to continue or else he will be home. Home. A retired man at home is not a good thing.) But this is total alone-ness. I don't have a lunatic dog barking in the backyard because a squirrel had the audacity of being on the roof of the garage. Or a male of the species in the kitchen who thinks the only real way to place something in the sink is with a good slam to make sure the object knows where it's going.

This is real quiet. Not even the t and v is on. There isn't even music at the moment though in another moment there will be. I can happily go sit in the easy chair with an afghan around my legs and feet, my knitting in my hand and doze off. Heaven in a Lazy Boy.

Oh, I had grits and sausage with orange juice for breakfast. So good.

Here's the afghan I had been working on. I finished it over at Pleasant Home and while I was there yesterday doing an inventory check (more items sold, thank you very much.) I decided to bring it home because there was no price tag on it and I didn't have any with me and because I wanted this to be the first new item in the shop after the sale is over.

I decided I would like everything currently over at Pleasant Home to be sold. It's been handled all week and I would really like to go into 2011 with a clean inventory slate. So I am really going to slash the prices on the items there when I am over there next (tomorrow, the knit group is meeting. Afterward, I will go over to the house and slash the prices 30 - 40% then put out a Facebook posting. Items that are left over after that i will try and get into the Oak Park Women's Exchange to sell.
I really want to come home with as little of it as possible. It's become a thing with me.

Probably the second item in the shop will be the Blue Bohemian Blanket - that's the official name of it. It's probably half done and it will use up skeins. Right now, most of the skeins still look like they have a lot left in them but when I pick them up I see how they are almost used up - YEAH. That stash busting goal is still hanging around and I want to end the year with a good whack at moving that along.

Right now, I am going to grab some soda (Coke Zero) my mug with ice that I keep in the freezer, set up in the easy chair with the knitting and I will watch episodes of t and v shows i didn't catch during the past few weeks - one of the perks of On Demand. I'll sleep a little, doze a little, knit a lot and enjoy the quiet of the universe in motion while I stay pretty still.

Five Years In

I have a notoriously short attention span - it's amazing I'm still married - and that I remember his name. Though, I have to admit, calling him Mr. Honey may be proof I have actually forgotten...what's his name.

But my attention span is short. Something will interest me and then I am so interested in it that I burn the interest right out of me and I leave whatever it is abandoned and alone.

Which surprises me that I am still knitting. Knitting/crocheting. Every day. It will be five years this December that I started knitting again. It has shown me the better and worse parts of myself. It has shown me how I treat people and how my thought process works. Perhaps that's why I still do - knitting/crocheting is good therapy - and doesn't cost as much. Well, actually, it does cost as much but I get to choose so much about fiber that I wouldn't get to choose about my therapist.

Perhaps a therapist could explain why I started to crochet this: I was looking through my project books when I came across a prayer shawl book that has some crochet patterns and I decided to try the pattern. A shawl turned out to be too big of a commitment considering I was supposed to be working on an afghan so I shortened it to a scarf. Quick crochet, it's almost done. The photo doesn't do justice to the lacy goodness of it but I am still pleased at how it's coming out. It also does the color (a striking varied blue) little justice.

See, the short attention span rears its ugly head. There is something in my head that wants to take a break from the 'have to make' and play a little somewhere else. The compromise it made was to work on something that could be used in the sale and that way the time isn't completely wasted.

So this little off ramp is still connected to the road but I know I will appreciate getting back to where I need to be.

Have you started your holiday crafting yet? I just made a list of family members on both sides. Christmas Eve has changed since half the kids are married and some of they're spouses are from split families and every one has to make the rounds. So instead of us getting together at Christmas, we get together in January on my mother-in-law's birthday. It is unclear if we are going to do the gift exchange we normally do. So I don't know if I have to knit up three things (sisters-in-law and brother-in-law) or not. But I plan on starting at the beginning of the list and working my way down and do gifts throughout the year. My brother in Arizona is at the top of the list. An afghan works even in the desert.

I can start the holiday knitting just in case - if my attention holds, that is.

Yarndis - Redux

I was at a loss to explain it. Why I have WIPs up the wazoo now that I've cleaned up the living room. Why it couldn't stay uncluttered for a moment. Then just this morning as I was putting each project into it's own bag - Yarndis. The yarn goddess is playing with me. And not only does she have me working on 4 afghans - she has made each one of them hate me.

The first one - the 42 square afghan. I couldn't use the 12 inch squares because the measurements didn't add up but luckily I had more than enough of the other size squares. It just wasn't a good mix of crochet with knit squares but it all worked it self out and now I have just to add the last strip and then do an edging and it will be all done. It's trying to kill me because it was supposed to be easier than it's turning out to be. Don't ask me why I never learn the lesson that my imagination has much more energy than my dimensional self - but I never do. The last strip will be added in a few days when I get back around to the afghan. I know, I can just get it finished and over with but I am at the mercy of Yarndis who also wanted me to work on the crazy afghan.



This one really is trying to kill me. It's trying to suffocate me. It has grown since I started working on it and what started out as a cute little thing has morphed into a monster afghan. The pattern says to to until there are 85 shells across and since it's one increase per row, it should be 85 rows but that's not how it went but I couldn't bring myself to do one more increase so I am hoping it won't go wonky on me. I haven't even started the decreasing yet and the thing takes up the whole chair. I don't think this will be an afghan as much as it will be a bedspread. I went out to Hobby Lobby yesterday to purchase one more skein of each color just in case. The good thing is that I will be decreasing every row so it should so maybe the yarn will hold out. It took 6 skeins to get to this point but this one will definitely require an edge to it - I won't be surprised if it will need to eat another skein or two.

These last two you haven't seen yet but I have talked about them - the green crochet afghan and the knitted afghan that calls for duplicate stitch but I didn't want to duplicate stitch so I decided to do intarsia instead. Let me just say working with the bobbins are fun and the intarsia stitches are actually very textural. I expected them to lay flat in the piece and they are not. It's like they are being added on top - BONUS!!

The green afghan calls for front post stitching which makes for an interesting texture as well. While I was getting the yarn for the crazy afghan, I picked up three skeins of three different green colors (3 skeins total) just to supplement. I expect all the green I have will be used. These are trying to kill me by the sheer volume of it all.

Today I am working on the green afghan and I am tempting Yarndis by saying I am managing to keep the edges straight. I am grateful for that because it would just drive me bonkers - I am going to have to put an edge around this one, too, just to give it a nice finish so if it was a little off, edging could fix it but it would make me absolutely crazy and no one in the free world wants that.

Melissa noted Wednesday evening that I've picked up the crochet hook and I haven't put it down. Not quite true. Knitting remains my love but my world has opened up that much more and I have to admit I don't think of it as i did before - which is probably just the world correcting itself since I crocheted first.

Come Together Right Now

I am in awe of all those minds that first thought up knitting and crochet and those techniques for the rest of us to learn. The progress being made on the 42 square afghan makes me sit in wonder at the creative process.
The squares start out seemingly random and apart and then the joining starts and it changes into something else. That something else still isn't much to look at but then that's where creativity and trust have to intermingle and it doesn't seem like the two of them should be coworkers.

The needle arts are funny things. Stockinette stitches curl, and if you put too many crochet stitches around the edge of a knitted block, it gathers in and waves appear in the unexpected places. But that trust thing appears again and you have to go on.

Some other mind thought up blocking and sewing and edging and when you put them all together it starts to form a picture and the trust begins to pay off because you see things coming together. Then there's the smallest feeling of fear as you wonder if it really all come together or fall apart around the next bend. Trusting doesn't come easy to a knitter/crocheter but trust is really all we have and so we have to go and believe that we will get what it is we are after.

Some of the squares in this afghan were made years ago. Sometimes I get on a square jag and I make them with the thought of creating an afghan at some point. What is it called then when those squares are brought from those separate jags and come together to form a beautiful work?

There are still two more strips to be done on the afghan and I am really liking how it's turning out. It has a rustic, old fashioned feel, I believe I said in an earlier post that it reminds me of quilts. I look at the piece and I remember my grandmother, Charity, she had huge quilts on all the beds in her house and they provided a great deal of comfort. I ran into some trouble with a square and it's because I didn't do enough to tack down the intarsia ends. I believe I repaired it and I feel very comfortable with the whole thing. It will take two more sessions for me to be done and I have other projects I am working on - the biased crochet afghan and the crochet afghan made with all green colors.

This creativity and trust is a fun thing!

Then There Were 4954

Progress is being made on the current WIP granny square afghan. I must admit to cracking myself up. When I took the photos of said project and had to name them for the file, somehow I came up with the name White Granny so when I have to pull it from the file, it could look like I'm talking about a specific branch from the family tree. For the record, I don't have a white granny though I certainly wouldn't have had anything against one - especially if she baked.

I don't know if you remember me talking about the 'rules of life.' In case you don't and you need to go back, I talk about them here.
One of the rules I try and follow is to spend an hour in silence and quiet with just my knitting or crocheting. Not having music or the t and v, husband or dog to distract you really lets you know what's on your mind.

As you sit there your mind tends to go whatever it thinks you need to deal with. This morning I was thinking about the church and the work that was needed. I thought about how knitting has connected me and disconnected me from people, places and things I probably needed to connected to and disconnected from.

I am now a knitter and crocheter. I cannot turn my nose up at crocheters (not that I ever did!) I thought about the differences in the crafts and how those who love crochet and don't understand knitting and those that knit and don't understand crochet are both right about what they think and ain't I a lucky son of a bum to have finally fallen in to the other camp and found a place.

I tell ya. You think a lot when you're quiet and you place quiet around you. After I complete this post, I will have completed my rules of life for today. I would have read a Bible passage (out of a Bible study version), I would have had my quiet hour of needle work and I would have written this post. The rules are supposed to set you up for the day and keep you focused. I do feel grounded and there's no doubt I have accomplished something today with all three - so the theory works - which I guess makes it not a theory.

There's much to do - but much has already been done. Balance. That's the thing.
Make it a great day.

A for Effort

The new year and new projects have started. I am still on the prayer shawl run (10 and counting) but I have also added a cute newsboy cap to the mix. I have made four of them already (they take about 6 hours.) None of them are fit to sell.

It is cute, isn't it? There some work that still needs to be done the finishing part and I have to scale down the patter cuz I think it would darling as a kiddie hat.

They take a remarkably small amount of yarn. (I can probably get three out of a 350 yard skein) and the brim will stay in shape if you use a smaller needle and double it up so I won't need the plastic that's in this sample. Using the same pattern with a different yarn (all the same weight) will still cause the gauge to change. Caron yarn makes them run bigger. Red Heart makes it stretchier (I had some left over from long ago. Can't tell you the last time I bought some on purpose) Hobby Lobby probably works the best. (Note to self - write the Hobby Lobby folks and tell them to stop raising the price of I Love This Yarn - It's gone up at least 50 cents in the past year. If it goes over $3/skein it's no longer a value over Caron by the Pound.)

How about this for a little piece of irony? My first sale of 2010 was of an afghan I made almost a year to the day it sold. Remember this afghan? It sold to a repeat customer. Someone who bought the red feather and fan afghan - again almost a year after I made it. I'm glad they have gone to a good home and it just goes to show how you shouldn't give up. Trying is the key to both success and failure. Failure and trying again is a key to success.


Speaking of which, we got the final approval for the Craft Cafe and I am working towards a March date which means I have about two weeks to build the website and another week after that to get the word out to crafters and suppliers. It will be a new venture for 2010. One that am prayerful about because it can be so rewarding for everyone involved - including me. Please add to your prayers that it will be a successful venture.

I have to go eat something. My new regime says I have to eat a small meal every three hours. I was on the same plan a few years back and it was very effective. Then I stopped and that's why I have to start again. I eat this way for six days and I have one day I can eat whatever the heck I want. That day is Wednesday and believe me, I am looking forward to it. I already have the thought of what I am going to have that day. In the meantime, I will go have my meal and then get back to work on the prayer shawl that is on the needles. If I work really, really hard it may be done today as well.

I love knitting!

Maybe Later...

I was lying bed this morning...reading a novel. That felt really good. A nice way to wake up. Well, actually, I woke up thinking about how old I was and how my body was acting older than my age when I told myself 'Not really, you're middle aged.'

Good to know I can pump myself up.

I picked up the book and started reading and that made me feel a little better. I check the clock and it was before 8am and i told myself I needed to get up to take my walk. Three blocks east then turn around and walk three blocks west and I should be back where I started. Actually looking forward to the walk because the joints are a little stiff - did I mention I am middle aged? And getting them moving will make me feel better.

I have to stop off at the bathroom - it's something middle aged folks have to do - any sudden move causes the need for a bathroom and apparently getting up is a sudden move. While I am in the bathroom, I hear noises from outside which sounds suspiciously like water falling from the sky. I open up the bathroom window which brings in a rush of air which automatically means the dog must come in and investigate. He sniffs the air for a few seconds, declares it good, and then walks around in the way that he does when he decides he needs to go out.

We go downstairs and I decide I want him inside the house before I go on my walk. One, because it is still relatively early in the day and he has a habit of barking like a maniac and I will be three blocks away and two, because if he's barking I want that to double as a deterrent to anyone thinking it would be a good idea to try and get into the premises while I am three blocks away.
While waiting for him to conclude his business, I pick up the special order hat I am knitting. I have someone who wants to be Waldo from Where's Waldo and asked me to knit the hat. It is 2x2 ribbing so it will be stretchy but it looks a little small, I protect the stitches and pull the hat (which is mostly brim) onto my head. It's a little tight. But I have a big head. It will probably be fine for a more normal headed person. I continue knitting thinking I will try it out on one of the mannequins and see how tight it is on one of them. I continue knitting.

and I notice it.

Two purl stitches where two knit stitches should be -
Will it be hidden by the brim when I fold it up?
Nope.

Is it likely they will even notice it?
Hmmm.

I continue knitting.

I notice it. I cannot live with it. It glares at me as if taunting me with questions about my integrity.

I rip it out. It is the right thing to do and since it was also a little tight, I might as well go back to the very beginning and add a few more stitches to make it more comfortable for my big head even though the client probably has a normal sized head and who knows what size head the 'real' Waldo has.

So, I start over.
When the dog reminds me he's ready to come in and I have a walk to take.

I let the dog in and put on my sneakers to go for my walk.

Oh yeah, stepping outside reminds me
There's water falling from the sky.
I don't feel like taking a walk in the rain, even if it's slightly more than a drizzle.

Middle aged women with big heads who have to start a hat over shouldn't also have to walk in the rain. Nor should they have these feelings of guilt for not taking the walk in that little spattering of rain. I can workout indoors, I tell myself. Perhaps if I knock out the hat, the rain will cease and I can take my walk then.

Yeah, sure. At least the book is good.


040804

The Infamous Afghan and A Book Review (Kind of)

Infamous. Yes, I have given the afghan wip the title of infamous. You recall I told you there was a problem with skein and the afghan was a, let me see if I can quote myself: 'a friggin' lot of work.'

I admit I did not spend as much time knitting yesterday as I normally do - I don't know what I did between hour 23 and 24 of the day - oh wait, I sold an afghan yesterday and I had to ship it off to New York! Yeah, me!!) But even so, I know I spent some time knitting and it doesn't look much longer than when I took this picture. So I didn't bother taking another picture so as not to give witness to the progress I did not make. I believe I have only three color changes about the blue (that's really purple - what is it with digital cameras not photographing purple - can someone tell me?)

The good news is I got so tired dealing with the messed up skein that I finally took the (great deal of) time to pull the end out of the skein. I found the end that supposed to be on the outside and I pulled it to the outside and now I can't find the end that goes on the inside but I can unroll the skein from the outside - just like I used to do. I put the skein in a bag and now I'm a happier knitter.

(By the way, this is the afghan that sold. I was thinking it would never leave me to go to another home, but it's going to the Big Apple and from there, I have no idea. But you see the panel to the right? That's actually purple - it looks blue and the second panel from the left is deeper purple - geez!)

Anyway, the infamous afghan is reminding me of one of the ski sweaters which is why I am continuing work on it. I believe it will be stunning when complete - and since it calls for 30 different color changes, it will be quite the stash buster. I am pulling out another skein with each color change - and because black is tying them all together, color matching is pretty easy because almost anything will go. That's a fun aspect.

Don't want you to think I'm not having a good time - I am. Sometimes this kind of impatience is a knitting tool!

Remember I told you about Lori's Reading Corner and how it moved me to want to pick up a book? I picked one up: The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston. She 'specializes' in writing novels about the relatives of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice. The first novel of hers I attempted to read was Mr. Darcy's Daughters. I couldn't get through it. Because she seemed so far off base of what their daughters would be like and what Elizabeth and Darcy would be like that it made no sense for me.

I often wondered what happened to the characters. Were Elizabeth/Darcy and Jane/Bingley happy? Who married that bi-ach Miss Bingley (I would love to read the exit of Miss Bingley from the house where Jane would now be the mistress.) What would have changed had Mary married Mr. Collins?

I was interested in reading about the characters but it didn't sit comfortably with me in that particular book and also the style of writing tried to hard to capture how Austen wrote. The thing about Austen's writing was she was writing in the style of the day so it's completely natural for her. Not so much for Aston. But what about The True Darcy Spirit?

So far, I'm liking it. The style of writing has changed to that of a historical novel and not one so much trying to be a novel written back then. So the tone is lighter and more natural and that makes her characters easier to breathe in. I'm not completely done with it, but I'm liking how much easier this book is. I am glad I gave her a second chance. And I'm thankful to Lori for inspiring me to take up a book again - somehow it's not a stretch that a knitter also likes to read. In fact, a lot of knitters I know also like to read.

This has caused the creative juices to flow - two weeks from today I will be having another contest that combines reading and knitting. In other words, I will be putting together a prize package that includes a book, yarn and needles. I need the two weeks to decide which book, yarn and needles to give away.

Now, if you will excuse me - I have the next five hours free before I have to do my second workout of the day - I am going to knit and read!





040704

The Precious

This is Jeremy and Beth. Beth is his Momma. She and my brother were a year ahead of me in high school so I've known her for a long time. I haven't seen her in a long time before the wedding (though we are Facebook friends.) One of the great joys of the day was seeing her again. (Considering we live less than five miles apart, it goes to prove how big and small the word is.) When she walked down the aisle at the wedding I turned to my sister and said, "She's always been beautiful." And she is. Beth is stunning.

And she gave me something to think about that I must share. Here's what happened.

I was saying my good-byes and she asked if she could see the wedding afghan. I, of course, said yes, before I realized I had placed the gift on the gift table which meant it was no longer mine to show off. Luckily, Lily was standing close to the table and we walked over and we asked Lily if we could look at the afghan. We were looking at it when Lily mentioned she might have to use it because the evening was a little chilly and her gown was strapless and Beth said:

"No, you don't use this." She said in that way that all knitters (heck, all crafters) love to hear their stuff talked about. Like this is something special.

And here we are at a knitting crossroads. Is it a precious object or is it functional? And who gets to decide? Do I decide because I made it? Does Lily decide because it was made with her in mind? Don't even ask about what Jeremy thinks - he won't even care. How often does it happen that we make an item with a person or purpose in mind and that person uses it differently than we imagined? Do we think they're clever or do we feel a little put out?

I didn't say anything in response because Lily and I started talking about the colors but it does make me wonder about how we think about what we make and what others may think about what we make.

I love that Beth said that. I love the idea that someone thinks it's special enough to preserve.
I also thought Lily would snuggle with a good book with the afghan wrapped around legs.
I also thought the afghan would look good at the foot of the bed.
I also thought it would make an interesting tapestry hung on the wall.
I also thought they would hide it until such time they knew I was coming for a visit.

I'm good with any of those option - even the last one. And I have come to the conclusion that it is up to Lily and Jeremy to decide. It's a win-win. I gave them something from my heart and spirit - I've gotten my Ya-Yas and now they can decide the value to their heart and spirit. I think that's how it goes.

Which side do you land on? Is it precious or functional?

BTW, Susie got a kick out of Mr. Honey buying the Glad storage bags to use as the gift bag. We did not use that. I took a trip over to the Container Store and purchased those zipped bags that sheet sets and blankets come in. It gave a nice, professional finished look. In fact, I am going to ship afghans and blankets from designbcb that way. I felt really good about the presentation - but I'm always glad to give Susie a good chuckle!
030804

All I Wanna Do Is Knit...

I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last post. I do have some finished projects to post up - a couple of scarves and a weird hat. My mother-in-law is still in the hospital. My hubby is sick. We just came back from an overnight stay in Milwaukee where we stayed in a bad hotel room. I have clients who owe me over $1000. The Cubs have clinched the division and I've been working really hard! My friends are all down in the dumps over one thing or another - and it appears I have been unkind to someone I haven't even spoken with. No wonder I haven't had time to write - LIFE!

All I really want to do is knit. And walk. I want to knit and walk. My spirit is a little bruised and I am going to allow it to be for a moment more before I rally myself up and regroup.

At times like these, I can trace my feelings back to leaning on my own understanding and not listening to what God has said to me - or listening and thinking I still knew better.
Victor Hugo knows better, too: "There are times when no matter the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees." I feel my kneecaps on the dust.

Cuddle Up Baby Blanket

Well, this didn't take long. I was getting a little anxious yesterday which meant I must have been getting near the end of the project. It turned out pretty well. It's made with Caron by the Pound in azure.
What I like about Caron by the Pound is that it's an economy yarn but depending on the color, it's knits up lushly. This color is a very lush, soft knit.
size 10 needles on a single strand. The original pattern called for double stranding but I didn't want to do that. It also says cast on 90 stitches, but that was with the double strand and the size 13 needles so I cast on 126 to get the gauge I needed. It came out a little bigger than the original pattern, but what's wrong with a baby blanket the baby can use for more than just a minute?

This blanket is for Jason Emmet who was supposed to come out of the womb yesterday but decided to stay in. Maybe he'll come out today - now that he has a nice, warm blanket waiting for him.

Knitters Restaurant - Knit Without Ceasing

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit is here.

A few years back I started a knitting group at my church and it seems as if I have never put the needles down. I don't keep any of the items I've made - well, I think I have kept a hat. Most of it has been used at the three sales we have during the year and some have been donated. But it does seem as if I knit without ceasing.

I decided it would be a good idea to keep track of what I make. I've have kept a tally since December 2007 and also here on the blog. I have made a total of 27 items since I started keeping track in December. That comes out to about one item a week. I think that's probably good, though I know there are those out there who can best me.

Knitting will come in handy to me today since our dog is gone missing. Our neighbors left their gate open and he went into their yard to get closer to a new dog that was in another yard and he's gone. We've scoured the neighborhood but the dog we've had for almost 11 years is gone. His birthday is next week. I hope he will be someone on this earth to have it - though none but us know.

Knitting will be a help.

Nine Day Afghan - Day 2

Hmmm. The second strip isn't complete. It's about 2/3 through and I would have to stay up way past my already late bedtime. So, the nine day afghan is probably now a ten day afghan.

It probably wouldn't have been so bad cuz I started the strip yesterday and then had to go to church and today I had to walk a dog this morning.
I must admit I do like the strips better than the other ones and this is just the second strip. I am following the pattern more closely.

We'll see how it goes...

The Prayer Shawl

This is the standard prayer shawl we use to in the Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldiers project and those we sell at our United Methodist Women Bazaar. They are soft, easy to make and care for and they are very popular.

My sister was reading the blog and wanted to see a photo of the prayer shawl because I talked about it in an earlier post. But here's the thing: I've never made one. We have a knit goddess who makes the bulk of our shawls and she lives in California. She sends them to us a dozen or more a pop so we haven't had much need to make them in Chicago. However, after I finished my last project the next project up was from The Prayer Shawl Ministry (eerie how that works) and so I got out 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn, my size 13 circular needles and started making my first prayer shawl. And here is it.
It didn't take all three skeins, more like 2.5 but an easier pattern you will not find.

If you are interested in making prayer shawls for soldiers' families, please follow the link to get more information. We need as much assistance as we can get. There are over 3000 names and we have only gone over the 300 mark. We have a long way to go and many more shawls to send.

The Head2Toe Project

So, this idea has been floating around my head for months and I've decided just to plunge right in and take some of my knitting friends with me.

The Head2Toe Project is meant to provide head to toe comfort to kids in foster care. Here are the steps as they play out in my mind:

1. Ask members of a congregation or organization to provide a pair of socks (sizes from infant to adult)
2. Knit groups would knit scarves and hats. (Again from infant to adult).
   
3. Send knitted items to one place for tagging and sorting.
4. We would match up one hat, one scarf, and one pair of socks.
   
5. We would send off these sets to ChildServ or ChildServ designated agencies to distribute to kids in their care.

Worsted weight yarn - recommend Caron By The Pound a little of that goes a long way!
Gender neutral colors
Gender neutral design
There would be a designated time for items to be sent in so we can distribute at Christmas and again at Valentine's Day.

I've already contacted ChildServ to see if we can work with them and I am in the process of contacting knit groups in churches to see if they would like to participate.

I would like to have a knit & sit to kick it off in the fall of 2008. - This is called planning ahead and the website should go up as soon as I have participating organizations. I just wanted to put it in the atmosphere and see how it sounded to 'say it out loud.'

If you might be interested in the Head2Toe Project, leave a comment and I will keep you posted on our progress.

Maya Del Sol in Oak Park, IL

We received a $50 gift certificate to Maya Del Sol, a restaurant in Oak Park, IL and since I am suffering from a little bit of knit frustration (it happens when I am doing a pattern and I keep messing up so badly I have to start over) I thought it would be a nice place for the hubby and me to go on our regular date night. (We've been married for almost 12 years and once a week we go out!)

Maya Del Sol touts itself as being a little Mexican, a little Cuban, a little South American and a little...Californian. Well, my husband doesn't like Mexican food. He isn't fond of heavy spices and heavy sauce so he was a bit skeptical.

We started off with the Nachos Del Sol and they were wonderful. Honey braised beef over tortillas with beans, scallions, jalapenos, tomatoes and sour cream. Ohmigod! My husband LOVED them.

We then split a Caesar salad that was nice because it didn't have the standard iceberg lettuce - instead they had a mix of field greens.

I ordered the Enchiladas and the hubby ordered a Salmon Cervices. He loved his meal, but it was more of an appetizer so I gave him a portion of my generous plate of enchiladas with steak. I thought they were very tasty, but he didn't care for them at all. I couldn't finish them.

There was room, however, for dessert and he ordered a Chocolate Mousse Cake that was so creamy and so light. It was a perfect ending to the dinner.

We didn't do much by way of drinks: iced tea for me and Coke for him.

The service was excellent. We no sooner finished a course when someone came along and cleared the plates and gave us fresh napkins, plates, and silver for the next course. The owner stopped by the table and by the time we left, there was standing room only at the bar and he went behind the bar to assist his bartenders by cleaning the glasses!

And you know what? The bill was $50.49 before the tip. All in all, I'd say that was one very nice Christmas present.

Seed Stitch Scarf

This is a very nubby, textured stitch and is great for a guy's scarf. It's a simple 4 row pattern:

Cast on an even number of stitches.

Rows 1 & 2: K2, P2. Repeat to end of the row.
Rows 3& 4: P2, K2. Repeat to end of the row.

I slip the first stitch of every row to create an even edge, but not slipping them makes a textured edge which also works.

This scarf is a gift for our choir director. What you don't see are the four gift cards attached to corners.


For this project, I used size 10 bamboo needles and Caron By The Pound yarn. It's a yarn that's very inexpensive, but knits up very nicely. I use it a majority of the time with great results. It is my worsted weight yarn of choice.

White Cable Scarf

I did this scarf in just a day. It knit up quickly because it uses Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick (2 skeins) and size 13 needles.

I wet blocked it and it is about six feet long and very warm! It will make a nice Christmas gift. (Which is just why I made it!)

I don't rememer where I got the pattern. I know I was looking for something else that was on the same page when I found it. It's a pretty basic pattern - cables on a reverse stockinette background with garter stitch on all edges.

For those of you who are afraid of cables - don't be. Cables are nothing more than stitches knit out of order. Instead of knitting 1,2,3,4,5,6 you knit 4,5,6,1,2,3. If you want the cable to slant to the right, hold those first three stitches in back of the work, if you want them to go to the left, hold them in front.

For a lesson in cables, nothing beats a Dummies book. Click here for a crash course!

What's on my needles now? I have one more scarf to knock out for Christmas. An afghan using Thick & Quick, and an afghan using Caron By The Pound. I'll post the pictures when I'm done. In the meantime, I would love to see what's on your needles.