Knitting Updates

In an unusual turn of events, I actually finished 2 projects. ( Ok one still needs blocking)  I can actually show you both because one is for me and the other is a present for my mom, who doesn't know blogs exist much less that I have one.


Beach Glass unblocked, fresh off the needles.


Unblocked edge


Beach Glass blocking.


It's for my mom.  I bought a glass shawl pin when I was at Rhinebeck to go with it.  The yarn is hand dyed by Brook of Twisted Fiber - she does great work doesn't she?  And the best part was I got to go through her totes and pick out the yarn I wanted in August, cause she's really good friends with my friend Min.




This is colonnade.   It's actually for me!  I used Manos on the solid part and Malabrigo on the bottom section.  I will probably block it on Thursday morning.  I just cast on to make matching fingerless mitts with the Malabrigo.

Swap Goodies

While I'm doing my best not to kill someone today, finishing prep and starting inventory ( worked 11 hours Monday)  I thought I'd entertain my yarnie friends ( non- knitters - my apologies, my brain is fried, yarn is destressful) with my recent swap goodies I've gotten but haven't posted about yet.

Jaime sent me a Scarlet Knight for my Creepy Cute Crochet Swap.  ( another New Jerseyan - our State U's mascot - but more importantly my daughter's high school mascot)



From my dancing dishcloth swap I got these three packages




This one also came with 2 skeins of yarn that were apparently put away before I took the pic.



I am mailing out 2 swap packages this week - depending on which day I can run out to the PO on lunch( The PO will definitely be closed when I get home the next 3 days) to mail them out.  Fortunately the deadline for one is the 15th, the other is the 25th.  Pics to come when the recipients get theirs.

How did I get sucked into shawls??

Ok shawlettes.   I blame Grace.  Yup her fault!

I'm on row 4 of 19 on the last chart of traveling woman ( I call mine beach glass)



And I started Stephen West's Colonnade out of Manos (solid) and Malabrigo ( multicolored) 

Why does it take so long to dry?

My autumn is felted and drying.  I still have to futz with the braid.

Vaction Knitting & Yarn Shopping

As always, I brought way more yarn than I could possibly work on in the car on vacation. But better too much than not have anyting to do right? I didn't get all that much done because I was too busy bs'ing with Curt, checking out Braun's trucks on 81 (sad yes, very sad.... I need help) Actually saw 2 Walmart trucks that were not sleeper cabs (sadder) only saw 1 Estees truck that was a sleeper, seriously wondered what Stevens Transport hauled, they have such nice looking trucks. Trying to decide which trucks looked like they'd be fun to unload. ( I have issues). Curt was laughing at me for most of that.

But I worked on my next afghan for the Victory Junction Afghan Competition.

Also on Carribean Dream - the StormCloud Shawlette, in Malabrigo sock in Caribeno.

I only got halfway through the heel flap on Dragon's bruises.


I finished the caloriekerchief I was almost done with so I could wear it in Nashville.


Curt bought me some MMMalabrigo worsted at Bliss Yarns outside of Nashville. ( I couldn't get a good color shot, the parts that look brown are more of a dark brick red)

I got some Happy Feet sock yarn.



Curt thinks I should make another kerchief with the number 14 knit in it, so he got some Tahiki cotton for me to work with. <3 him!

vjac.etsy

I don't often hawk stuff, but you must check out this dyer. Back story - I make afghans for Victory Junction Gang Camp. Since the NASCAR community and many drivers personally have been hugely supportive of the endeavor, a group of knitters on Ravelry have an afghan making competition based on driver. My driver is Tony Stewart if you couldn't guess.
To defray the delivery costs of the afghans in the fall, an etsy shop has been created. Some really creative people have contributed to the shop.

I purchased some great stitch markers that say (heart) Tony (2 of these) and one that says (heart) smoke. Sara makes them to say whatever you want. As she really despises Tony, I'm very impressed they came out so great! I don't have a picture as they are in use in my bag in the car.

Jenn makes these really adorable pins called WIP (work in progress for non knitters) The truly sad part is I purchased this pin for a gift.



Now brook, is a hugely talented dyer who doesn't follow NASCAR at all (Min has totally dropped the ball here) but she created a line of NASCAR inspired yarn. This yarn is 99 based on the AFLAC color scheme of Carl Edwards. I got it for a swap and now that I physically have the yarn it may kill me to mail it out,



Finally, she made a yarn based on Tony's #14 car. It is 50% organic cotton - have to find out what the other 50 % is.
But it is gorgeous.



If the NASCAR inspired colors don't move you you can check out her shop
http://www.twistedfiberyarn.com/shop
She has gorgeous yarns and rovings and needles etc. etc.

More knitting

My evil sockies are done - in time for flip flop weather :)



Red checker square for my next VJGC afghan



My new lunchtime at work project- socks with Kaffe Fassett Regia yarn.



I'm trying to adapt dragon's breathe socks to anklets with my new Castle Fibers Undead " Deep Bruise" yarn. I'm calling them Dragon's bruise. I figure you mess with a dragon it's going to leave a mark!!

cozy's done!!

Ok, I finished my cozy, finally! I couldn't find any pattern I liked for the flowers on top. Could not find the two books I thought could help me in any bookstores or libraries in the county. SO since I decided this must be finished today, we went with a giant yellow mum. I know mum's are a fall colorm but it was big enough and the right color and I like it so there!!



You can see the cable in this picture, but the color is off.



Here the cable disappears but the color is good.



The other side - no cable

I also finished one of my evil sockies and started the second. I'll post pictures of the sockie next week. I am debating what to do for my next afghan for VJGC. Tony is in second place right now.

Yesterday

I just realized I brought my camera yesterday and didn't take a single picture!!!! Oh that seriously sucks!!!




yesterday, after work, I drove down to philadelphia. It was supposed to be a 2 hour and 7 minute drive but took me over 3 1/2 hours. Traffic came to a standstill on the turnpike right after the truck/car lane split. I should have played with the trucks, they were moving until it merged again. Then - thank God when I was playing with Google maps I decided that the less time I was on the turnpike the better so I had changed the route to go 195 to 95 around trenton, it was more miles but seemed better. Well the blinky highway warning sign said the turnpike was CLOSED at exit 4!!! ( I got off at 7a) there was no traffic on 95 so I was happy again. Then in PA approaching Philly it stopped again because the initial traffic put me going into Philly during rush hour!!

Now the reason I was going to Philly - as most of you know I'm on ravelry a lot and as all of you know I'm a serious NASCAR fan. On Ravelry I belong to a few groups that are NASCAR related. There are a bunch of people that are the "core" shall we say group of people on the groups that have become good online friends. One of these friends Min, lives in Philly. We keep saying we need to get together and meet up. ( She doesn't have a car so it's more complicated than meeting halfway) We do have a side bet going on for this NASCAR season as to Tony making it into the chase. (top 12 drivers that go for the championship during the last 10 races) Well right now TOny is 5th.. YAY Tony! The bet is loser has to travel to the winners city for sushi. Yes another of my infamous win/win bets.


She contacted me earlier in the week because Sara, another friend, was coming up to Philly ( she had met sara irl last fall when delivering all the afghans we made for the Victory Junction Gang Camp) and we could surprise her. It was really great to finally meet Min and Sara. We went out to a sushi restaurant and met up with a bunch of Min's friends. Everything was totally yummy. the restaurant had a great deal - $24 all you can eat , 20 pcs per round, 2 hours max. But the catch was they charge you $1 for every piece you don't eat. They had a great dessert roll. Fried banana - sounds weird but so delicious!! And they gave us a piece of some kind of lime pie to share. One of Min's friends is a fencer - she fences epee, must have a long attention span, but kinda cool.



After Min, Sara and I went back to min's to watch the nationwide race and I got to meet felix and oscar (min's kitties) and Foster (sara's kitty) . We got to bed well after midnight. ( impressive since I had been up since 245am) (I woke up to pee at 3am- damn habits and Oscar was in the bed next to me - how sweet was that? Felix likes to curl up in things and was in a printer paper box lid for part of the evening so I gave him one of the cat snuggies in my back seat . ( I haven't been able to get in contact with the lady that was making them) I got back up at 545 so I could be at Angie's school for the relays they sponsor. Schools come from as far away as Jackson NJ and farther. I had to help set up the concession stand and work it until noon. It took just under 2 hours including stopping at the first rest stop on the turnpike for gas and coffee.

While I was gone, Curt missed me so much he finally recovered everything off the broken hard drive:) Actually while he has travelled a bunch of times for work and he and Angie have been to Louisianna w/o meet several times, I have only left them one time for work when I was still in store mgmt. they missed me - how sweet! When Angie got home from the relays ( she came in 9th out of 24 for shot - and she's just the backup shot thrower - but she fouled in disc :( she asked about how it went - she wants that fried banana roll! But she says I should go again - just not really soon. She said she'd tell her dad she gave the thumbs up!

Of course since Min is going to lose the bet, she'll be coming up here!!

Grace - hope you survived tonight - good luck with tomorrow I'll be thinking of you! I got your tag - it will have to wait until tomorrow!

As I said - forgot to take pic's all pics courtesy of the web.

Vacation To Do Update

1. Take Angie down to Bridgewater so she can use her credit and get a new fencing lame'. Never did this - discovered the treasurer wrote the check to me instead of the fencing place, so I deposited the check this morning and I can take Angie to Saddlebrook instead.

2. Empty out all the planters and windowboxes and spray them with bleach so they'll be ready to plant in a few more weeks. Also get a few summer bulbs planted and clean up the leaves and debris I didn't do anything with last fall. Cleaned out the boxes - they're ready for a few weeks from now. The only thing I got planted was a pair of purple trillium.

3. Really clean my bedroom, and especially my closet and drawers. Yeah, I must have been out of my mind on this one - that just wasn't happening. This needs to be a monthlong couple hours every weekend type of goal.

4. Get the concession stand at the football/field track ready and running before tuesdays meet - work the stand on tuesday. ( no I aM NOT doing this one alone) Did this. Not really anything to comment on.

5. Finish my Smoke(as in Tony) cowl. This is done - I think I'm going to block it though, buit still done.

6. FIgure out if my wicked stepmother yarn is really happy with the pattern being knitted. And either finish the socks or frog the 1/2 sock I have done and use another pattern. I am frogging it now.

7. Finish the pink socks if it kills me!! I finished the pink sock. Not my favorite sock pattern - as a matter of fact I didn't even file the pattern just tossed it. The heel is very loose. I am going to try to weave through some clear elastic and paint some puffy paint hearts on the bottom so Angie can wear them as slippers.

8. Decide what yarn/pattern for a spring tea cozy (let's face it it's a bit too late for Easter - at least at the rate I knit. Maybe my friend Grace or Jenn but not me) that can last until I do a patriotic one for memorial day to July 4th. Will probably need to buy yarn - it seems like a pastel project and other than pinks for Angel I really don't buy pastels normally. Found the yarn, realized the pattern was a scam, am creating my own pattern - am about 35 % done. But my goal was to find the yarn/pattern so this counts as a check.

9. Get my oil changed and take the car to the body shop over the ding someone gave it in the parking lot at work- the wheel well tore at the screws so at least that piece needs to be replaced. Not sure if I want to call the insurance company - after all I just added a teenager to the policy. Got the oil and the serpentine belt changed. Didn't get to the body shop though.

10. Get my roots dyed. Hair is up in a towel now.

11. Need to get a few loose button shirts (that I don't button) to wear over tank tops in the summer at work. Nope. Did however buy a cool t shirt that says born to knit. Can't wear it to work though.

12. Try not to get moldy, it's going to rain for the next 3 days, be nice on Sunday and rain again at least Monday to Wednesday. Didn't have as much rain as predicted. And days like today, it was supposed to rain all day - stopped and the sun came out around 3:30.

13. Convince Grace that even though Sandy and Jacqui apparently most likely won't be able to do anything next week, that she should do something with me to get me (and her) out for at least part of a day! ( I know you'll read this Grace!) Grace agreed, then got ill, we did end up meeting for lunch on Friday. Curt did go yarn shopping with me and we stopped at a lovely tea shop in montclair where we "had tea and scones" hee hee and bought my sister a birthday present.

And if you'll notice except for 1,3 and 4 I'm still sticking to the 2000mine theme. So I didn't do 1 and 3 - but they weren't in the 2000 mine theme anyway. I figure I went 8.5 out of 13 - not bad. Pictures will come eventually of the pink socks, the smoke cowl, the new yarn and the t-shirt. You've seen the beginning of the cozy and if the trillium ever blooms you'll see that too.

Tuesday stuff

These daffodils were already planted outside the fron door when we moved in. They aren't big and showy, but the dirt there isn't the best , and they face west - getting the worst of the winter winds. There is also a purple flower, I never remember seeing before It's still a bud so I don't know yet:




And I know that with the swap and the fact that I am using a modified version of those mitts in the same yarn, I haven't posted any fiber pictures recently. I brought in the squares I work on in my car at lunch for the VJGC afghan. (although I did work on the mitts last week)



And one green square:


My friend GrAce on her blog did a tuesday ten to do list today. ( say that 3 times fast) So since everyone is asking what I am doing on vacation next week - I'm not going anywhere, I need to use my last week before May20th and Angie is "off" school next week. I say"off" because she still has practice and 2 meets. Here is my To-do list for next week.

1. Take Angie down to Bridgewater so she can use her credit and get a new fencing lame'.

2. Empty out all the planters and windowboxes and spray them with bleach so they'll be ready to plant in a few more weeks. Also get a few summer bulbs planted and clean up the leaves and debris I didn't do anything with last fall.

3. Really clean my bedroom, and especially my closet and drawers.

4. Get the concession stand at the football/field track ready and running before tuesdays meet - work the stand on tuesday. ( no I aM NOT doing this one alone)

5. Finish my Smoke(as in Tony) cowl.

6. FIgure out if my wicked stepmother yarn is really happy with the pattern being knitted. And either finish the socks or frog the 1/2 sock I have done and use another pattern.

7. Finish the pink socks if it kills me!!

8. Decide what yarn/pattern for a spring tea cozy (let's face it it's a bit too late for Easter - at least at the rate I knit. Maybe my friend Grace or Jenn but not me) that can last until I do a patriotic one for memorial day to July 4th. Will probably need to buy yarn - it seems like a pastel project and other than pinks for Angel I really don't buy pastels normally.

9. Get my oil changed and take the car to the body shop over the ding someone gave it in the parking lot at work- the wheel well tore at the screws so at least that piece needs to be replaced. Not sure if I want to call the insurance company - after all I just added a teenager to the policy.

10. Get my roots dyed.

11. Need to get a few loose button shirts (that I don't button) to wear over tank tops in the summer at work.

12. Try not to get moldy, it's going to rain for the next 3 days, be nice on Sunday and rain again at least Monday to Wednesday.

13. Convince Grace that even though Sandy and Jacqui apparently most likely won't be able to do anything next week, that she should do something with me to get me (and her) out for at least part of a day! ( I know you'll read this Grace!)

And if you'll notice except for 1,3 and 4 I'm still sticking to the 2000mine theme.

8.49%

That's how much of the year has gone by already.  Kind of unbelievable isn't it??  Me, I've spent half the month not feeling well.  I started coughing the 14th, got really sick the 16th, started getting better the next week, but now I'm like stalled at maybe 80%.  I've still really wanted a nap everyday (only got 2 this week) am low on energy (ok, for me that's like being a normal person instead of the energizer bunny, but I'd like me back please) and still have that knotty feeling at the top of my chest with the occasional  cough and have to  blow my nose periodically.  This sucks.

Angie has failed her drivers test twice.  sigh.  She has also been working on her schedule for next year ( senior year - gulp)  So far she has - Calculus / Geom honors, Physics 2 AP, Survey of World  Lit& Comp honors, 1/2 year Sociology, 1/2 year Animal Behaviour, French 4 honors, Statistics A

p, gym/health, Foundations of Philosophy (since that doesn't get enough kids to run  every year she has  Multi media Business Presentations as an alternate, but after talking to some kids taking the class now she wants a different alternate because she thinks the class won't be advanced enough considering what she already does to accompany presentations in her classes (they have presentations not oral reports in her school, they are even expected to dress appropriately - I ould have hated that) ) I know most kids would look for an easy class especially with 5 honors/Ap classes, but she knows if she has an easy class she won't do well, she does her best in harder classes. weirdo.

Work has gotten a wee bit better.  I've kind of learned my way around the hardare dept.  I only need to ask J for help finding things occasionally. What is still making me nuts is the overnite guy who needs glasses, but doesn't like wearing them.  So even though the sku number is printed on most of the packages in the tool area, he looks at the picture to figure out where things go. So SAE and metric are all mixed up, wood bits with bi-metal.  I had a minor tantrum about it the other day and started  throwing stuff on the floor.  Also the dept sup keeps trying to cheat the system, but he's not consistent about it so half the time I'm just guessing.  And I'm really not going near any of it with a ten foot pole.  All he needs is an auditor to look close and he can get termed for falsifying documents.  And the sad part is it is wholly unnecessary.  If he just ran his dept right.  D has been pissing me off.  He keeps complaining he's bored and has been using personal time to go home early every day.  It's not his fault.  He has about 1,000 skus he's responsible for.  While he does pack out spray paint every morning, he doesn't do anything in recv.  I have 14,000 sku's,  unload the carpet truck 3 afternoons a week, and keep the carpet machines filled.  Also as a machine trainer, everyone in the building needed to be recertified on the different lift trucks this month.  The store mgr yelled at D the one day he was trying to help me because  I had a ton of price changes and exception counts to do. Told him to go back to paint.  I'm telling you he hates me. And the company eliminated 7,000 positions yesterday.  There are also re-srtucture changes taking effect next week.  I know my position is part of that restructure but  no one knows exactly what will happen.  The rumors are everywhere from cutting down to 4 of us, to getting rid of all of us.  While a lot of people are freaking out, I refuse to do so.  It won't change anything in the long run, and I know I'm the best at my job, and even the mgrs that really don't like me know they need me. It's kind of sad to watch people who are used to just skating along suddenly trying to do their jobs right,  one thing that they can't avoid is that it takes a lot longer to un-do a reputation than it took to build it.  

Craft wise - I still have one short fingerless glove to finish and those ends to weave in.  I need 6 more squares for my VJGC afghan but , I may make 8 or 9 because I laid out my squares last week and wasn't happy with the balance.  I have to figure out where I left of on the pink anklets  9 i really need to make notes, especially when I don't pick up a project for a month.  I started Breeze - anklets from knitty. I'm using the wicked stepmother yarn I bought from Ruth over the holidays.  I have 4 of the 6 flowers I'm making for the knit flower project.  I want to finish 2 more this afternoon, so I can mail them out this week.  

My house is an absolute mess.  I just don't have the energy to pick up after my 2 slobs.  I need to get it cleaned up, because it is sucking the energy out of me.  

So tomorrow is the super bowl.  Who are you rooting for?  I 'm going for the Cardinals.  I really can't root for an AFC team unless they're playing the cowboys ( sorry C!) I do love polomalu on the steelers, if I had a son who played football I would make him watch steeler games just to see this guy play.  He really puts out 100% no holding back every play of the game.  And he is a complete nutcase on field but a nice guy off.  I can't stand Warner, but the Cards need him to have a shot. At least in NJ,Steeler fans are highly obnoxious and I don't want to hear them forever.  Ultimately the reason I'm backing the cards is pure selfishness.  Right now, the 49ers, the Cowboys and the Steelers all have 5 rings.  Neither the cowboys nor the 49ers are in a position to be a shoe-in for next year to tie it up, and I don't want the Steelers to be the only team with 6 rings.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Two Thousand and Mine!

Ok, not that kind of mine! Here it is the middle of January already and I have never explained my two thousand and mine theme. It was inspired by my friend Grace who was calling January - Meuary. ( By the way grace if you are reading this - let me know how that is coming) She was going to work on knit projects for her to actually use, and projects that she wanted to make, not just because she should or someone asked for something. The problem with that is shwe can knock out a killer shawl ( designing a killer shawl I should say) and have a sweater done in a couple of days. Me, not so fast. And not just because I chase my daughter around and work 45 hours a week. I'm just a slow knitter, with some form of ADD that bounces me between way to many projects to finish anything quickly. So Meuary won't work. I do have to go back to the joy/zen of knitting though. In the fall (2008) I found myself with way to many ongoing projects with deadlines. And knitting became work - guilt crept in - I should be working on x right now.

So, after a lot of thought ( if you guys haven't figured it out by now I do way, way , way too much thinking) I came up with Two Thousand and Mine. It ties in closely with my " BE THE BEAR" theme. Be the Bear is a lot harder than it seems. I come home some days and tell my husband that I lost the bear by 430 am. Other days are a "Fozzie" day! Back to 2000mine. I want to enjoy this year. It is the last full calander year before Angie goes to college, and I want to enjoy her. Too many things have become "work" and "must do's" and "shoulds".

Starting with knitting. I am going to knit things for me. I have a bunch of sock yarn just waiting to become socks. I love having handmade socks on my feet. I made a stole for me. I made 2 felted bags. I am currently making nightinggale gloves for me. I am working on an off-season afghan for VJGC. but not exclusively. it should be done in time, but if it isn't it's not going to be the end of the world. I am going to make more for the regular season, but only one at a time and not to the point of only being able to work on them. I am not going to knit with yarn that I don't like or that annoys me. ( no more boucle) And if I don't like the pattern, I am going to frog without remorse. I am not saying I won't be knitting for anyone else. (I don't actually wear a lot of knits) But only if I love the yarn, love the pattern and knitting it makes me happy.

I have also decided that I need to do things, for me, because I want to. I am not currently sure what those things are or if curt and angie can tag along. The only thing I do for just me right now is my Mara's knitting group. I have a lot of fun eating, having coffee, laughing, talking ( sometimes even actually knitting) The only other thing that is "just me" is my nail appt. every other thursday. (although angie tags along when she's not in school) I rarely if ever wear makeup, jewelry is really a hazard at work, I wear mostly jeans , t shirts or turtlenecks with sneakers boots or crocs, don't always have a purse with me and that's all good. Without my nails looking good I don't feel like a girl. I can't even flirt properly if one gets broken. (fortunately - knock on wood - in 18 3/4 years I've only broken 2 nails at work, both when someone else dropped something)

That's all I have for now, I will update randomly when the mood strikes ME!