...this will all lead to a yarn diet...

So, even though I'm leaving for Stitches and the wonderful marketplace in 11 days (not that I'm counting), I was in a Hancock Fabrics that still had a selection of the CottonEase left on sale.












So, I, of course, couldn't pass it up. The pink and black are for a tank for me. The lavender and blue are for a sweater for my neice. Note the cool pink bag. It was on sale and...well...you can never have too many tote bags and better yet, it was only $1.00. Yes, you read the right, $1.00. The yarn in front is some sock yarn that my aunt gave me. She bought it and started to knit it into some socks, but it had too much brown in it, so it became mine.

So, 12 skeins of yarn was added to the stash Friday. On Tuesday, I placed an order from knitpicks for 8 skeins of yarn for me. I leave for Stitches in 11 days... I'm literally out of room for my stash, so I need to find someplace/thing to store it in. So, after stitches, no more yarn shopping allowed for awhile.

I have finally been seduced by the Knitpicks laceweight merino dyeable wool. I have been toying with buying some more yarn every since the "Party to Dye for" earlier this year. More fun fingeringweight yarn to make into socks and such, maybe some worsted weight for the Clapotis or something similar. I've been resisting, telling myself my yarn money should be spent on Stitches (12 days and counting...), but today, today I got the e-mail from knitpicks about the laceweight and I have given in. I must have some.

I'm into the lace craze. The ponchos just passed me buy, but shawls, not that's something I can get behind. I bought "A Gathering of Lace" I must have yarn to make at least one of the shawls, so I broke down and ordered: For myself
3 skeins fingering weight - One of which will by dyed as a gift for my Sockapal2za pal.
5 skeins of the laceweight yarn.

For my aunt
3 skeins laceweight
1 skein fingerweight

I was originally only going to buy the 9 skeins required to get the free shipping, but I figured what the heck, I was ordering anyway...

I restarted the Bistro Shirt this evening after the yarn finally dried after the washing it all. It's softer and easier to use now. I started it in the round this time on Donna's suggestion. Haven't gotten very far because I forgot to convert the directions to circular when starting, so I purled 145 stitches instead of knitting them. Frogged it. Worked 1 row okay, missed a slipped stitch in the slip stitch rib pattern and had to tink it back to fix. Accidently knitted two stitches together 4 stitches into the pattern and had to tink it back. Uggh. It became almost a vendatta. Pictures after I get farther, because it sure as heck doesn't look like much now.

It's so freakin hot...

I'm sick of it. Ugghh. It's 84 degrees at 7am when I left for work this morning. I was sweating 5 steps out the door. I tried to go furniture shopping this weekend, but only went to two places. Getting back in the car was murder. Too hot to go in and out like that. Worst of all, it's not even August yet. I'm going spend the next 5 weeks inside. Should get some knitting done at least.

So, instead of working on projects that I've got going, this is what I did this evening.

Yes, a watermelon dishcloth. I just started knitting without a pattern. It's even got yarnover seeds...

Here's another view. I just started knitting, adding in yarn overs, straight knitting rows. I think I'd change the yarnovers if I ever did it again and space them differently and put them every row instead of every other row. It's kind of ruffled, but it's a learning experience and it's just a dishcloth, so it's all good. It's to go in a gift basket for a co-worker with breast cancer. They've been sending her gift baskets every other week. Her kitchen is done in watermelons, so I just went with it.

I can't believe I have to go to work tomorrow. The weekend just flew by.

My sister and I took her beautiful little one shopping on Saturday. It was almost more fun to watch people make funny faces and baby talk to her than anything else. Lindsay had a lot of fun flirting with all of the customers and touching everything she could get her hands on from the stroller. She would troll the aisles with both arms stretched out wide trying to touch the clothes and then smile and laugh when she finally caught something. It was a good afternoon.

I think I did more unknitting than knitting this weekend. I pulled out the sweater I started to wash the yarn and make it a bit softer. It's all drying in skeins hung around my family room. It's a rather unique decorating idea.

Done for another year...

Today was it. Everything is turned in, it was a rough couple of days with a couple of issues that bubbled up at the 11th hour, but everything is entered in, everything adds up to what it's supposed to and we made it in by the deadline!!!! One huge honking part of my yearly job is completed. On time, correctly and without bloodshed, even better. I can relax now and get back to bugging people to death to get stuff done for me. :-) This is always the most stressful part of my year and without a leader, all the more difficult this year. I was done about 3:30 and was going to leave, but I ended up talking to several people and teaching someone how to use a computer program so I didn't leave until after 5pm and had to deal with ballgame traffic. Yuck.

So, tonight, I had a glass of wine and finally finished the crochet edging on the soleil tank and then wove in the hundred million ends. Is it just me or do ends just seem to multiply when you're knitting something??? It just needs to be blocked, but I'm too tired to deal with that tonight, so it will await for another day.











I also started the Bistro tank with the Rowan Summer Tweek. So far, I'm still working on the slip stitch ribbing at the bottom edge. It was a pain to cast on, but now it's working with me.

See, not much to see yet, but I felt some forward progress was better. I still love the color. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to finish this by Stitches so I will have two things that I have knit to wear. Besides, I have to use some of the yarn I bought last year in order justifying buying more this year. :-)

5 hours...

That's how long it took me to finish Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince today. (See, Jason, it did get delivered after all...) I could have had it yesterday if I'd have checked the mail, but alas, I did not. I won't give it away for those who...actually have a life and have something better to do, but I will say, that I liked it better than the last two. The story was quick paced and Harry not quite so annoying. I will say, I am anticipating the last in the series to see what finally happens.

I was out and about with my dad on Saturday am and he asked it I minded stopping in Border's so he could get some books for his trip to Alaska this week, so we stopped in. The line was unbelievable. I swear we were the only two people who walked out of there without a copy of Harry Potter...

Startitis

So, I finished a couple of things, so naturally, I have to start some new stuff. The Ruffled scarf was started on Wednesday and I'm already through the first ball of yarn on it, so tonight, I finally gave into this...

The Rowan Summer Tweed that I got on a cone at Stitches last year. I'm sincerely hoping I can find some more this year as I'm constantly coveting it in the store. This has the honor of being something I actually bought with a pattern in mind, as opposed to most of my spur of the momement purchases. This is desitined to be the Bistro Shirt. I'll probably start it this weekend, although I have several errands to run (I'm getting my hair cut finally, can you believe it???), I'm going furniture shopping (finally going to get rid of the yellow and blue couches my ex-roommate and I bought that I immediately came to dislike) and I have to work (yuck!), so we'll see how much I'll get done.

I checked on-line to check on my copy of Harry Potter and it's already in Earth City (close to where I live), so I live in hope that it will be delivered tomorrow afterall (Do you hear that UPS???). Yippee.

Now I know why I don't crochet...

...my wrist is sore from going around just one arm hole of the Soleil tank. Of course, it would have been easier if my stitches hadn't been so tight. We will all bow down to the wonderful Beth who taught me to crochet last night.

So, I must relay the saga of my new yarn. I took it right home on Tuesday night and wound a skein of the Classic Elite Premiere into a ball (with my new ball winder, of course!) and when I met up with the knitting posse on Wednesday night, proceeded to do this:
Yes, it is the Ruffles scarf from the Scarf Style book. Even better, I was working on it this evening and I taught myself to purl backwards so I don't have to keep turning the work. Hurrah me!! It goes lots faster this way. I also have to admit that I love this yarn. It is so soft and so easy to knit with. It's just wonderful. I almost feel like I should go buy more, but am restraining myself because it will cut into my yarn budget for Stitches Midwest, and we wouldn't want to do that. :-)

So, Harry Potter release is fast coming upon us. I got an e-mail that my book is being shipped. Yeah!!! I have a feeling since I did the free shipping it won't be here on Saturday, but "oh well," reading it would have cut into my knitting time this weekend anyway...

Stash Enhancement

I've been a bad, bad girl... There never was a sale I couldn't pass up and yarn is definately no exception.
I got sucked into the sale at Myers house and I indulged myself in some yarn that I've been coveting for awhile. The Classic Elite Premier for the Ruffle scarf from Scarf Style and then the Lavold Silky Wool in the rose color is for some sort of a shawl for me. It somehow ended up in my bag, I don't know how...

Speaking of things that followed me home...what's this...


A ball winder??? Why yes, it is. It somehow ended up in my bag as well. I, of course, rushed right home to try it...

Two views of a Sockapal2za sock

Hurrah!! One sock down. It looks even better on than it does off. I love the pattern and the way it turned out. It looks great.












It was a great finish to a long day and a crazy commute home. What is normally a 40-50 minute commute turned into an 1.5 hour trip home and I left early so it should have been easier. Ugghhh. You'd think it had snowed inches and inches instead of a steady drizzle. I know we're having drought conditions but it has rained this year. You know, it's that wet stuff that falls from the sky. UGHHHH!!!!

Crochet instructor needed!!!!

So, this morning, I went grocery shopping. I put everything away in it's proper place (i.e. all the earrings are in the jewelry box, not on the dresser). I vacuumed. I swept. I did laundry. I washed. I dried. I laundered. I dusted????? All before noon???? Where is Gwen and who is this person inhabiting her body. I even cleaned all the pollen off the window sill, which involved moving a heavy couch all by myself... What on earth got into me today. Maybe it was the Chicken and Dumplings lovingly prepared for by my sister for my mom's birthday instead of my normal fast food/sandwich eating lifestyle. Whatever, I scared myself with the cleaning frenzy. The last time I did that was after I was home sick and watched the Oprah show where the woman was on that hadn't cleaned her house in forever and the dogs were doing their business all over. Ickk!!! I had to sanitize my house after that and it was pretty clean. Even weirder, after all that, I didn't even take a nap this afternoon and it was a Sunday...

So, what was so all engrossing this afternoon that kept me awake, you might ask... Why see for yourself!!!
Yeah!!! It's the Soleil tank and the knitting part is completed. She is unblocked and missing the single crochet edge at the armholes and neckline, but she's close to finished and most importantly, it fits me!!!!!! It doesn't look half bad either. My weird, mathematically confusing way of altering it to my size actually worked!!!! I'm so excited. I'm also on the lookout for a crochet instructor so I can finish it. Yipee!!!!

Bastards...

I stood and watched CNN for a few minutes today and saw the pictures from London. I remembered when I was visiting there and took the tube everywhere. There were tons of people on it at rush hour. I can't even imagine. I just don't get why people think killing innocents will make people take notice in any positive way or be sympathetic or even willing to listen to a cause. It's not a way to get a point accross. I do like the spirit of the Brits though. I was watching Primetime and the headline on one of their papers for tomorrow (for us anyway) is simply "Bastards!" I think that says it all...

While obsessively watching first BBC news and then Primetime later on, I did get some knitting done. Below is the updated picture of my Sockapal2za sock. I turned the heel. Only had to frog a few lines because I didn't like the way that some of the stitches were laying. It's all coming back to me now, but I still like toe up better... It's coming along nicely and I'm on the home stretch.

How quickly one forgets...

It's been awhile since I've done a sock cuff down. Since last summer, I've been obsessed with toe-up socks. So, for some reason, I decided to do my Sockapal2za sock cuff down. Been awhile, but I made quite a few before I went over to the dark side. So, I was happily knitting along. It was about 11pm, but I wasn't tired. I was watching watching the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which is a very bizarre movie, but one that didn't require a lot of concentration, so I was able to follow the yarn-over cable pattern. I moved onto the heel flap...did about 10 rows of the heel flap and then took a minute to look at the heel. Something was wrong. It looked really funny... I looked at my heel flap...thought long and hard...looked at the heel flap...consulted the directions (which I should have done in the first place instead of assuming I "remembered" how to do it). Yes, for some odd reason, maybe the lateness of the hour, maybe watching Bill Murray on his quest for the jaquar shark, but I had been slipping my stitches with the yarn on the wrong side. Oops... Needless to say I had to put it aside for the evening. I spent the first hour of Knitting with the Posse tinking my heel flap back and then redoing it. Ugghhh...

Moral of the story - Read Direction!

Good News & Great News!!!

I hardly know which to relay first...

Okay, I'll start with the biggest news. I'm moving into an office tomorrow. Yes an office 3 walls and a door!!! A door that shuts!!! I will admit that the wall next to the door is a window, but it's an office and a big step up from my crappy cubical with only two short walls and no storage space (that new global workspace theory of office seating...). Yeah! I'm so excited. No, I, unfortunately, am not getting promoted along with the office, but I'll take what I can get for now...

Second good news of the day...A Gathering of Lace finally arrived. I've looked through 4 times. I like so many of the shawls, I hardly know where to start... I'll have to spend more time admiring before choosing. I've got plenty on my plate now anyhow.

I'm getting an office! Yippeee!!!

Progress Report Socks & All

So, my 5 day Firm holiday is at an end. I have to return to work tomorrow. I'd say I'm sad, but quite frankly I'm bored out of my mind. So much for the idea that I could win the lottery and never work again...

So, here's a sampling of what I've been doing:

First, a Sockapal2za update: I blogged that I had chosen this wonderful orange fallish yarn from Trekking XXL. I bought it at Hearthstone(for Kris-it was the only one in this color or I'd have bought a second ball for myself...) on Wednesday afternoon, after we got off early for our holiday. I tried out quite a few patterns before settling on the Yarn-over cable pattern that I found in Joy Slaten's Ribbing-Plain & Fancy booklet. The colors aren't showing up great in this picture, but I really like it.

Update #2: The Debbie Bliss Ballerina Sweater for my neice, which is the one on the cover of this book. I've decided to do the garter stitch edging and collar in another color. So far, it's turning out well. I've finished the back and the left front panel.

Update #3 My Soleil Tank. I made progress on this as well. I finished the knitting on the main body and started the upper back portion. I'm about an inch away from binding off for the neck.

I also worked on secret project too, so all in all, it's been a knitty five days, although, I will say, that this is not all I've been doing. I read 5.5 books and finished 4 of the Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Tracks, which my aunt is wholly responsible for getting me hooked on. I went to a 4th of July dinner at my parent's house, went to see fireworks and to dinner with a friend. I also shopped quite extensively, including purchase of a new portable phone after mine broke. Ugghh. So, all in all it's been a relaxing 5 days.

Vacation with no plans...

So, now I know why I don't take vacation days when I don't have a specific plan. I'm bored out of my mind and it's only been two days. I've read 4 books. Played a computer game for 4 hours straight, watched 1 movie, knit the back of a ballerina sweater for my niece, knit and reknit and reknit a sock trying to find a pattern I liked. See, here is evidence of pattern #1. I got bored with taking pictures even...
Here is the beautiful yarn. It's for my Sock pal. I figure since we deliver socks on September 15, they will be the perfect socks for fall. The colors remind me of pumpkins. I almost wish they'd have had a second ball of it for me.
Unfortunately, I'm still searching for a pattern I like. So, I'll let you know where I come out once one if finally chosen.

I'd like to take a moment to honor the day my parent's got married. Without them, I would not be here. They've been married 33 years.