It's official. I'm obsessed with Lady Eleanor. I'm on the second ball of yarn. I reward myself for doing cleaning tasks around the house by being able to do so many squares. I'm working on another project shown below and I have to make so much progress on it before I can knit on Lady Eleanor again. I'll probably cry when it's over...and not just because I have to do the fringe. I have a feeling this is going to go very fast. The colors above are not really the colors. They're a bit more muted than below. I'll have to see if I can get a picture in directo sunlight.

I'd just like to mention that anyone who things that you can actually finish the placket baby sweater from Last Minute Gifts in the 4-6 hours that it
says in the book is crazy. I'm a fairly fast knitter and I know I've already put in more than 8 hours and it's no where near done. I seriously think that should be moved to the 8-12 hour projects....

A visit from the yarn fairy.

I just love life, especially when the yarn fairy comes to visit cleverly disguised as the UPS man. This is what the yarn fairy bought me today. Yes, 20 skeins of Debbie Bliss cotton and Yes, you are not mistaken, that is 12 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. Yes, I definitely fell off the wagon. I'm over it. Yarn diet just makes me want to buy more. I'm over it.

So, what did I do??? I immediately cast on for the Lady Eleanor Shawl
from Scarf Style, of course!! I've never knitted with Silk Garden before and I now understand the love for Silk Garden. I love, love, love Silk Garden and inspite of never having done Entrelac before, I picked it up very quickly and you know what, I love Entrelac as well. Now most of you are wondering, doesn't she have a full time job, how did she have time to do all that?? Well, I had the day off to clean my house for my parents visit. Ummm...yeah... Carmen and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for Lunch and then on to The Roasterie to knit all afternoon. On a positive cleaning front, I did get last Sunday's paper up off the living room floor. Yeah Me!!!

Secret Pal 10

I haven't done a swap or any kind of exchange for awhile, so I joined Secret Pal 10. I did Secret Pal 4 many, many sessions ago and had a great time, so I'm looking forward to it again. So, since we have to have our questionaires up before February 28th. Here is goes:

1 What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love to knit with cotton/rayon blends. I know…most people hate cotton with a passion. I also like wool/blends.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? My straight needles are in a flower vase displayed on a table. They look very cool with all the colors. My double points and circs are stored in drawers in a version of an apothecary chest type thing.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been knitting for 4 years. I would consider myself an advanced knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, there's a link on the side of my blog. Not much on it at the moment because I was on a knitting book buying binge. :-0

5. What's your favorite scent? Lavender or Jasmine.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Doesn't everyone??? Recently starburst. Always dark chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I have a drop spindle that I occasionally look at and think I really need to work to learn to use it. Other than that, knitting is my sole obsession.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like all kinds of music from Weezer to Tim McGraw, Michael Buble, Andrea Bocelli, Justin Timberlake, etc.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love Reds and pinks. I can't stand yellow.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? It's just me and the yarn. No pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Scarves only here. I keep a shawl I knit in my office year round because it's usually about 20 degrees cooler in my office than the rest of the building.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Socks and shawls. I'm equally obsessed with both.

13. What are you knitting right now? Slip stitch socks, Flower Basket Shawl, Baby Blanket, Vintage Velvet Scarf and I'm getting ready to start some more baby type projects for my new nephew.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I prefer Bamboo or aluminum depending on what I'm knitting.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Both. How can you live at the mercy of your LYS???

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I just finished my oldest UFO which was 3 years old when I finished it. My next oldest is just over a year.

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. I love being together with my family.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Anything to do with shoes. Shoe note cards, shoe picture frames, pictures of shoes, shoe playing cards, shoe notepads…I'm sure you get the picture…

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I subscribe to Interweave, although I'm hating their new layout. Nothing I can think of off the top of my head.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Entrelac. I just bought 12 skeins of Silk garden yarn to make Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. Yippee.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Absolutely! Size 7 foot.

23. When is your birthday? January 19th.

So, there I am in all my glory. In other news, I survived my bosses visit. Yippee!! I'm off work tomorrow. Bigger YIPEEE!!! And last, but not least, I bought the pattern book I've been lusting after: City Park by Classic Elite Yarns. I love the cabled pullover and the Fair Aisle and the ribbed cardigan and I have the perfect yarn for the cabled pullover.

I went to a work dinner tonight. There was steak. There was brownie bread pudding and by golly there was wine! Big boss is in town. So far surviving the visit... Obviously no knitting as have been preparing for big bosses visit. Taking Friday to recover from big bosses visit. More later.

I hung some pictures this weekend in my apartment. I'd like to mention that I've lived in this apartment for a year now and before today had exactly 1 picture on the wall. I have 3 paintings sitting on the floor in my family room. I move them around from time to time trying to decide where to hang them, but on the floor they remain. So, what did I hang today?? Pictures in my guest bathroom. Right after I moved here, I found two cool shoe prints that were unframed. They too have been sitting on the sink in the spare bathroom for almost a year. Today, I not only bought frames, put them in the frames, but hung them on the wall. Yes, progress has been made. Ten-to-one odds, I'll find someplace else to move in the next few months now. :-)

What brought on this fury of movement towards normaly?? My parents are coming to visit in two weeks. Hurrah!! I still don't have a dining room table, but I have pictures in the guest bath by golly.

Clap, Clap, Clap for me!

After all the trials and all of the tribulations, the Clapotis, she is finally
finished...well, she needs a good block and the ends woven in, but the knitting is done!!!! Yippeee. The yarn is Wool in the Woods Gold Dust that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last year. It's a cotton rayon blend with a gold strand running through it. It is very, very pretty.


Now, I need to figure out what my next project will be. I'm working on a very special pattern, but it won't be revealed for a little while. I'm trying my hand a designing. We'll see how it goes. I may be a little overly ambitious...

Would it please just stop snowing??????? UUGGHHHH!!!! 2 more inches at rush hour today. Maybe 1-2 more this evening. It flurried on Tuesday. It flurried on Wednesday. It snowed last week. UGHHHH!!!!!! Could it just warm up already!!!

Are we all ready??? Do we have a game plan??? Credit cards??? Yes!!! Because tomorrow's the day! Yes, that second best day of the year (besides December 26th) when all the Valentine's day candy goes on sale for 75% off! My friend Beth, does it best when she comes up with a game plan to get the most high end chocolate at the best price.

I survived another Valentine's day. I went to the gym and picked up some dinner before coming home to rip back the Clapotis to hopefully finish and rip out the slip stitch socks I was making. Yep, it was a facinating night I tell you.

Woo Hoo! A Finished object. These are my February socks. Just a basic toe up sock in Patons Kroy. They went incredibly fast on size 2 needles. Makes me wonder why I'm driving myself crazy making others on size 0s. Happy Day!

I have fallen off the wagon. I bought 3 bags and 4 skeins of yarn this evening. The yarn diet is officially over. In my defense, 1 bag and 2 skeins were Noro Silk garden that I got at an unbelievable price to make Lady Eleanor, which I've been lusting over for 2 years.

I know, I know, there isn't any justification...especially not for the 2 bags of Debbie Bliss DK cotton which ended up in the shipment as well...

I'd be ashamed if I wasn't so pleased with myself...

2nd time not a charm...

Ummmm...I probably should have thought this out before I started ripping out...I probably needed to rip back one more repeat... UGGHHH!!!!!

RIP

Does everyone remember this sweater??? It's the Bombshell sweater
from Big Girl Knits that I finished earlier this fall, well, I've decided that I need to do a different size up top because it was too big and I needed to add about 2 inches in length....so tonight...Did I mention it's been a bad week???....Well tonight...




I did this...I want something I'm going to wear.












So, I mentioned that it was a bad week, but it was a really bad week...
and I did this as well tonight...
Yep, what you see is the Clapotis in that one of a kind yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool that I couldn't find anymore of when I ran out 2 inches from the end of the clapotis. So, I've been staring at it in all it's unfinished glory hanging over the back of my arm chair for months and tonight, I finally ripped it back til two repeats before starting the decreases so I can remake and finish it.

You'll note that I did this without the aid or any uplifting spirits and after going to the gym and working out for 30 minutes.

Did I mention it's been a bad week???

So, a chemical plant blew up in KC today. I was on a conference call when all of a sudden there was a really weird noise and the light flickered. I was like "Oh crap, not another transformer blowing...that will require an afternoon on the phone with the security people..." When I finally looked outside the window in my office, it was this huge cloud of black smoke and fire shooting into the air a couple miles away. Lots of black smoke. Ugly black smoke... It was amazing to watch. It just didn't quit. You could still see flames when traffic let up enough for me to get out of the underground garage a bit after 6:30. Thankfully it doesn't look like anyone was injured. Made the afternoon really interesting.

{added 1 hour later}Famous last word...just got a call from the office...transformer in our building blew....

I have this love/hate relationships with Sunday. I love my Sunday routine. Sleep until I wake up. Walk and get a paper. Make myself an awesome breakfast and then sit and read the paper while eating my breakfast. I try not to do too much housework, other than the laundry (which strangely I enjoy), make some good dinner and just hang out. Today was not exception. I made a cheese omlet for breakfast and read my paper. For dinner I made tortilla soup, which took like 2 hour by the time I chopped all the ingredients. I will say it tasted magnificent, well worth the work, and I have leftovers for the week. Yumm! Other than that, I watched The Closer Marathon (I'm totally in love with Jon Tenney) and knitted a bit. On the other hand, Sundays mean I have to go to work tomorrow. :-(

Carmen tagged me for 6 weird things about myself. So, here it goes. THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I don't like meat on the bone. Not chicken, not beef, not fish. It totally grosses me out. I pay extra for chicken breasts just so I don't have to touch the bones. I go out of my way at restaurants to pick something that doesn't come on a bone. If I do have to eat something on a bone, I leave about an inch of meat surrounding the bone. I don't eat ribs at all or chicken wings. It just grosses me out.

2. I can't use a toilet that has anything left in it, i.e. toilet paper or other... I will try to find a stall with a clean toilet and barring that, will flush the toilet before I use it. Gross.

3. My all time favorite comfort food is peanut butter toast. I go through a lot of peanut butter.

4. I can't drink old milk. After it's 2-3 days old I can't drink it. I can use it to cook after I've sniffed it and made sure it isn't sour, but I can't drink "old" milk.

5. I have about 100 pairs of shoes, but only wear about 5 pairs at any given time. I kind of just rotate the stash.

6. I dream in color with a musical score and I remember the dreams. This is why I can't wake up to the radio because my dream just reshapes itself to whatever is happening on the radio and I don't wake up. Sometimes even the blaring alarm doesn't work...it becomes a trash truck backing up, etc.

Since Carmen tagged most of the people I would have tagged, I'll tag my aunt and anyone else who wants to do it.

Hello! Today I did all kinds of unfun stuff. Went to the gym to work out. Did the dishes and cleaned the drip pans on the stove. At last, but not least by golly, did my taxes. I haven't submitted them because I want to review them when I'm not stuck in that Turbo Tax funk that comes after filling in information for 3 straight hours.

I did do some fun stuff too. After cleaning the kitchen, I went to Knit Wit and bought myself some Rosewood double pointed needles (last birthday gift from my mom) and some yarn to make a gift. I also knitted a gift from my stash yarn, but won't unveil it until I've sent it to the recipient. I can't wait. :-)

I think it only appropriate that on this first day of February I finished the first February sock. It took exactly 5 days to complete and I love it. It's so cute. Simple and fast, yet so wearable. Hurrah! Now I have to cast on for the second one.

Went knitting with the girls tonight at Yarn Shoppe and More. Having a knit group meet in a yarn store is kind of like having an AA meeting in the local bar. Very tempting. I do miss having it at Barnes and Noble like when I was in St. Louis. It was always fun to go through the magazine's and make fun of some of the designs in there, because in every magazine, there was at least one that made you sit up and say "What were they thinking???"

Oh well. Tomorrow's Friday!!! Hurrah. No big plans for the weekend. I'm thinking it's time for a big hearty pot of tortilla soup. Yummm!