Mama scarf, Daddy scarf and Baby scarf!




Mine is from Noro Kureyon, and is using that multidirectional diagonal stitch pattern that I've seen several people using lately. Tony's is made from some of the wool that I picked up in Vermont this summer. (I cast on 250 stitches on size 10.5, 40 inch long circs and just knit until I deemed it wide enough-which I highly recommend! It's the first scarf I actually finished!) And Irina's is the Two.Two/Linie 42 that I mentioned yesterday, in a simple gaters stitch. I'd have made it a little longer, but she requested that it be short. I'd have made *mine* longer, but I was running out of yarn!

Now I'm trying to convince myself that I really don't need to start anything new. I've got enough UFO's floating around here to keep me occupied for...a good long time.

But for now I'm crawling back into bed. Yup, guess who woke up with a massively sore throat this morning. (joy. rapture. yippee.) At least Tony had already planned to take today off, so I don't have to try to Mommy and take care of myself at the same time! This is *not* how I had planned to spend school vacation week!

(Oh, and yesterday's feel bad moment turned out to be paranoia on my part! My face is a little red about it, but I'm glad that I didn't do anything to get someone upset at me! Phew!)

Plague House

At least, that's what it's feeling like around here. The small one has the 'flu, after direct exposure to it from a couple of cousins ant Christmas, and she's miserable, the poor thing. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not getting sick, and I'm hoping that Tony's immune system holds out through this illness. (Knock wood)

I'm using the quiet time, as she's been mostly sleeping, to work on a scarf and hat in Classic Elite Two.Two in black with Linie 42 in dalmation black and white to give it some oomph. Hopefully they'll turn out as cute as I want them to.

And, I'm feeling personally rotten, because I think I offended someone without realizing I had done it. I'm definitely not having a feel good moment.

She liked it!


Yes, the sweater was for my Mom. At least I hope that she liked it. There was so much going on at that point that I'm not sure. As Tony would tell me:"Kim, stop being paranoid!"

I have to admit that I really am quite pleased with the work I did on the finishing of that sweater. I took my time with it, and it really did turn out nicely. But you will notice that there are no buttons on it. In fact, there are no button holes! I was going to make frog closures for it, but as I was running out of time and getting slightly stressed about other things, I decided to skip them for the time being. I'll get some nice metal ones and put them on next time I'm down there.

As for us, Santa was a jolly old elf all the way around. Who else would give your husband daughter a huge pirate set with over 300 pieces to put together? And would make sude that you had all of the assistants you need to help you out?



The best part for me was seeing all my of family, laughing a lot, and generally having a great time. I hope that your day went just as well!

Yikes! and Gadzooks! I actually finished it. The Christmas giftie is done and ready to go onto it's intended recipient. You will, of course, understand and forgive me if I don't post a picture of it until it has gone on to it's new home.

Today was slightly on the bonkers side. I did have enforced down time this morning, two and one half hours sitting at the dealership having the water pump replaced in our car. Better having it done than to have the car suddenly stop while cruising down the Mass. Pike! That was when I finished the previously mentioned project (FIP instead of KIP?).

I normally wouldn't have minded, but today was what I consider the day before Christmas. My day for running around getting sorted and organized. (Organized? Me? In my next life, maybe!) I should be wrapping now, while I have the quiet time to do it; but the ambition ain't there at the moment.

Tomorrow we travel and have the mega Christmas Eve bash at the in-laws. Twenty-something people crammed around the table, tons of food, the sister-in-law who always brings the *huge* box of Godiva chocolates, trying to figure out who your secret Santa was, and placing bets on which child's head is going to explode first from the excitement!...And then we come back home and do it all over again the next day at my parents house! Significantly fewer people, but somehow we manage to get just as loud!

So, as I head off on my wild & crazy next few days, I wish you all a Happy Holiday. Stay safe and have fun!

Whoever You are, if You are reading this, You have no idea what your kindness means to us. Thank You so much!

And, yes, I am being deliberately vague about this! I don't know if the person I'm talking to reads my blog; but as we received an *anonymous* gift, I have no other way of reaching them!

I solemnly swear with my right hand in the air, and my left on my Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches (volumes I and II), that next year I will decide to start any holiday knitting in JULY!!!

I did this last year too. I managed to get sucked into thinking that I have to make something for this person and that person, and "Ooh! That yarn would make the perfect {fill in the blank} for so-and-so."

Actually, I'm really not stressing that badly about it. I just keep finding other projects I want to do as well, distracting me from the one that I feel like I *should* be working on. Any keyboard psychologists want to give a whack at analysis?

Well, I've ended up with an extra knitting day today. The small one came home with a runny nose yesterday, and great big circles under her eyes, which was enough to get the Mommy radar buzzing. And she was really touchy, too. The slightest thing set her off. This morning she had progressed to being completely stuffed up, and even touchier, if that's possible! With that scary 'flu going around, we decided that keeping her home was the wisest choice. So, if I can convince her to actually rest, I should be able to finish sleeve #1 and make good headway on #2. It is entirely possible that I may even have it done on Sunday.

Now, if I can just ignore the siren song of the other projects I have lying around...

Yes, I lied. I said that I wasn't turning the computer on again today, but Blogger is giving me a hard time! It says that publishing is successful, but I'm seeing no changes in Netscape or Internet Explorer. So I'm trying this to see if I can kick it into actually working.

Woohoo! I got internet! It has been a gosh-darn-golly-gee-willikers of a time getting the DSL connection sorted out, but it's finally up and running. I'm so excited, teeheehee.

So, I have to admit, I'm suffering from "completion issues". I just can't seem to finish anything! I've got one and one half gloves, one and two-thirds socks, two scarves (one two-thirds done, one one-third), and someone I know is getting the pieces of a sweater handed to them with a promise that it will be finished soon...That is, if I can get the one and two-thirds sleeves done in the next five days!

That driping you hear? That would be my brain cells liquifying and oozing out my ears! Aaaaahhhhhhh!

So, after this post, I am not allowing myself to turn the computer on! Nope, no way, no how. but I can leave you with a blast from my knitting past!

This sweater my Mom pulled out of a bag of clothing that I had filled to go to the Salvation Army. Yes, I was going to give it away. No, don't ask me why! It must have seemed like a good idea at the time, for some silly reason. it was with another sweater that was finished, except for the buttons. (Which I do have now, so you may actually get the sweater back soon, Mom!)

So here's an example of Kim's knitting, circa 1987-88 (?):

The pattern most likely came from a Vogue Knitting magazine, because that was where I found all of my patterns in those days. Who knows what the yarn is! Doesn't it just scream '80's?

And, BTW, the sweater and hat set went over big time well! My friend was so excited that she ran around showing it to everyone! If she was in the office and someone new came in, she grabbed them and forced them to look at it! And the hat was deemed "Cuter than a bug's patootie". It was a huge ego-boosting day for me!

Now, the mall opens in 20 minutes, and I need to be there!

The internet connection has been spotty. I've been trying to get DSL set up, but it's being harder than it really needs to be, grumblegrumblegrumble...

So I've been keeping busy


(doesn't that lion look so jaunty?)

Today I'm handing them over to the woman who asked me to make them. I am really kinda nervous about it. I mean, I know she's going to like them, but still...

Time for a change, methinks. Something simple. Hopefully I didn't break anything, because it'll be a few days before I have time to fix it. (The day after Thanksgiving rush, don'tcha know. I work retail...pity me...) Future tweaking shall happen.

I have too been knitting!



The mittens are made from Regia sock yarn, and the glove is made from Opal. I think gloves might be my new favorite thing to do, they go up so quickly!

And the reaction I got when I pulled it out in the break room at work during lunch was too funny. You'd think I'd figured out how to turn lead into gold. Co-workers were also most impressed with the fact that I managed to get the stripes on what we usually refer to as our "driving finger". I didn't tell them that it wasn't planned at all, just lucky happenstance because of where I started the skein!

Now I'd better hit 'post' before MSN decides to disconnect me *again*!

*cough*hack*weeze*

I've been sicker lately than I've been in a long while. Nuthin' like a respiratory infection to flatten you. But with antibiotics to kick the infection's butt, and cough medicine with codine so I can finally sleep (something I haven't done in about a week), I should be back to myself in no time at all.

I have been using the enforced downtime to do a decent amount of knitting, but have I got any pictures to show you? No, of course not! That would be like, well, a normal thing to do. I'll catch up with that in a few days, when I'm more up to speed.

Instead I'll leave you with a reminder: When your kid is nice and quiet, and lets you takes a two hour nap on a Sunday afternoon something's wrong!

It took a few hours, because I'm slow as molasses on a wicked cold day, but I did indeed kitchener the back pieces together:



It really is much nicer looking than the three needle bind off was. I'm glad that I took the time to do it. Much trial and error went into it. However by the time I had reached the end I was comfortable enough to go back to the beginning, unpick the first two inches (that I had really messed up trying to figure things out), and re-kitchener then going the opposite direction. I didn't even put the stitches on needles, because I found it easier to "see" what I was doing without having the needles in the way.

I hereby anoint myself the Queen of Kitchenering...for this week, anyway! ;)

Because I know that really not much detail can be seen in the pictures I've put up, here's a close up shot of the back:


Guess what? it's *not* fair isle! It's all done with slipped stitches, and is way easier than it looks! (You could do it Marg! You could, really!)

So all I have left to do is the bottom band, and to cast off what would normally be the button band. The sweater uses frog closures, so I don't have to hassle with creating button holes. But first, a break while I whip up a pair of mittens for the small one.

So I did the three needle bind off for the back of the sweater, as per instructions, and it was butt ugly! Yuck, ick, gross! Really bad. It was so bad that I didn't even take a picture of it so I wouldn't feel compelled to share it with the world. (Trust me, you'd thank me for it.)

What I am going to do? At this point I am attempting to kitchener it closed. (Did I spell that right? Do I care? The only soul in this apartment who doesn't have the flu in various stages of development is the cat, and I have major cramps, and whoever so shall attempt to get between me and my chocolate will die!)

Er, um, ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah. If kitchenering it doesn't work, as I can't seem to remember from one sitich to the next what the heck I'm doing, I'm going to go back, bind the stitches off, and mattress stitch it shut. I know when to cry Uncle!

It's amazing, how easy it is to get out of the habit of posting. Has everyone given up on me by now? I wouldn't be too surprised if you have. I've been going through a *insert your favorite four letter word here* of a time at work over this past month, and it's really just sapped a lot of my emotional and creative energies. I'm not going to go into details, because I am sick and tired of thinking about it. However there is a light at the end of the tunnel...For all I know that light could be an oncoming freight train, but I don't care! It's a light!

I finally got ahold of the baby blanket that needs finishing:

From the looks of it there really isn't all that much that needs to be done on it, just finishing the last repeat of the design and nine rows of knitting for the border. According to the directions the blanket is suppose to be 32 inches long, and it's already past that, so it just needs a little finishing which shouldn't take long at all.

I've also been working on the sweater for another friend's Granddaughter, who is two.


This really hasn't taken all that long to do, and has been a pure joy to work on! I could very easily do this pattern again, because different yarns and weights would give each version such a different feel.

And if you're having a hard time visualizing what I've done here, remember that this pattern is worked from the end of each sleeve into the center of the sweater. I still need to do a three needle bind off to join the pieces together. It'll look more like this when I'm done:


On other fronts, Irina had her cast removed yesterday; which turned out to be way more of a trauma that it needed to be! In her desire to get away from the saw she nearly landed a violent kick on a certain part of the *male* nurses anatomy! I ended up practically sitting on her until it was over. Of course, once it was done she was fine! And she's taken her cast into school for show & tell today, so she's well over it. Don't ask how many times I apologized to the nurse! (He was cool about it. His comment was that it "wouldn't be the first time" Ouch!)

I've also been doing a ton more cleaning and organizing around here, pulling out a few abandoned projects in the process. The Hubby may actually get a sweater from me, eventually!

EWWWWW!!!!

I can't believe that it was actually snowing this morning! What kind of bad joke was that?

Fortunately the short one had a new sweater to wear

She was quite pleased with it! (What? Kim finished something? Pass the smelling salts!) And as you can see, she chose blue for her cast. Irina doesn't even seem to notice that she has it on. Me? I'd have been gagged by now for complaining so much!

I'm beginning to like (sort of) this getting up to get the kid on the bus early thing. Not the 'getting up early' part, Heaven forbid! But the part after I put Irina on the bus, when I get to come back to the quiet apartment and have time to do whatever I want...Bliss!

Good knitting t.v.

I'd say that my knitting slump, and Nomar's hitting slump, ended at about the same time yesterday! Please, guys, please do it again today! (I am going to be among the very tired members of Red Sox Nation tomorrow. I just hope that we're going to be happy too!)

And, Chicago, accept my heatrfelt condolences! Trust me, we understand!

But yesterday (to keep the baseball theme going) I noticed my own error when I went to switch from straight to working back and forth on circular needles:


Yes, I will be doing the rest of the sweater like this! Silly me.

I swear...

I think that I've watched more sports in the past few days than I have in my life! Football and baseball both. I would really love to see a Red Sox/Cubs World Series, that would be a lot of fun! And while I didn't see it, as it was past my beddie-bye time, if I were a certain person at the Cubs game last night, I'd be in the process of moving to Siberia!

I haven't seen the Great-grandmother blanket yet! My coworker and I have been working alternate schedules the past few days and just havent connected.

But that's actually o.k. for now, because it's giving me time to work on the sweater I'm doing for another friend. I was originally going to do the snowflake sweater for her granddaughter, but absolutely could not wrap my brain around it! I'm not sure if it was because I didn't like the lack of contrast between the two colors, or if it was because we chose a different weight yarn, or if I was just rebelling against doing the same sweater twice! Whatever it was, it made me start, and frog, three times. I know when I'm beat!

So I grabbed my three ring binder of patterns, brought it to work, and we picked out another pattern. The really cool thing about the pattern we chose is that it doesn't have a set gauge. Pick your yarn, pick your needles, work a stitch gauge for each of the four(!) pattern stitches, and the pattern gives the formula for the number of stitches. Even more interesting to me, the sweater (a cardigan) is worked from each cuff to the center, and then joined in the back with a three needle bind off.

This is sleeve number 1 so far:

I don't know if you can tell, but the stitch I've used so far is making a wavy fabric. I wasn't sure about it at the beginning, but six inches into it I've decided I really like it. Now I get to switch to the next stitch pattern. And, oh yes, those are ends that I'm going to have to weave in! As soon as a new color is joined three stitches are slipped, making it impossible to weave in loose ends. So, happy me, I get to do it at the end! Don't you envy me? (Heavy sarcasm, there!)

Post about Knitting

(What? Kim's actually going to talk about knitting?? Is she feeling OK???)

I had a coworker call me yesterday. She had a friend who is expecting her first granddaughter any time now, and this baby's Great-grandmother was working on knitting a blanket for the new arrival. Unfortunately the Great-grandmother, who was in her 90's, died before she could finish the blanket.

From what I have been told, the family really, really wants the blanket finished, but no one knows how to knit. When my coworker heard this she said that the first person she thought of was me! So we talked and I said that I would take a look at it. I'll admit that blankets and afghans aren't my favorite things to, but I can't resist this!

Watch'em Go!

Got to love the marvels of modern technology! How else can I track my parents on their flight from Boston to Salt Lake City? (This link will only work for a few hours, I know).

This is turning into a semi-annual trip for them. My Mom's a geneologist, so she makes pilgrimages to the Family History Library for research and to take classes. Originally she went on her own, but has been so enthusiastic about SLC that Dad started going along too. She studies, he climbs mountains, and they're both happy.

Mom loves it out there. I think she'd gladly move, if she could convince Dad to go; but chances of that are so slim it's not even worth considering!

I can hear my own mountain beckoning me...A mountain of laundry, that is! And it's not that sly, seductive beckoning; it's the bellowing on the top of it's lungs that tells me that I need to get it to the washing machine, before it grows legs and walks itself down there! (Hmmm. That does have it's merits...)

Why rain when it can Pour?


Yup, that would indeed be a broken arm.

Irina took a tumble from the ladder going up to a tree house yesterday. Actually, she made it up the ladder just fine; it was coming back down that she lost her footing. Did a perfect five foot somersault she did, right down to the ground. I know, because I saw the whole thing happen from no more than 10 feet away. You know, that 10 feet of space that will never let you stop something bad from happening to your child, no matter how fast you run. (Can we say: "Mommy Guilt"?)

What she's wearing now is just a splint. On thursday she'll get the full fledged cast, which she'll wear for three or four weeks. Did you know that they do them in designer colors now? Irina's trying to decide between purple, blue and pink. My poor, sweet kiddo. :(

The Moral of Today's Story

If you drop the air conditioner when attempting to remove it from the window...DON'T TRY TO CATCH IT!!!

Yup, I did a dumb thing. But, heck, when you see the a.c. falling out of the window; and you are on the (ahem) second floor of a apartment building (!!!), avoiding the imminent disaster is the first thing that you try to do!

The good thing, if there is such a thing, is that the window I dropped the a.c. out of is the one with the fire escape under it, so it only fell about three feet. It ended up with some dents on the back, but seems to be working ok.

The bad thing was what I did to my back in the process! For two days I couldn't even stand upright without hunching over. So I spent lots of time sitting on the couch with a heating pad. I did try doing some knitting, but that just seemed to aggravate things. Instead I pulled out a quilt that I'd been working on for a while and finally finished the darn thing! All I had to do was sew the binding to the back, but it's such a tedious job that I'd been putting it off forever (like, a year). The thought of forcing myself to sit for the length of time it would take just turned me completely off of doing it.

But now it's done, and keeping my kid snuggly warm at night!

(No, it's not beautiful, but it does have a ton of fun fabrics in it!)

It finally hit me...

I am bored. Bored, bored, bpred, bored, bored. Hence, I am boring.

I've been working on the sweater for my friends granddaughter (a purple copy of the black snowflake sweater that I did for Irina), and it's not thrilling me. I tried spicing it up by working it in the round, but hated the way the fabric was looking; so I've torn it all out and am starting again working flat. I know things will go fast enough once I start doing the color work, but now I'm slogging through and inch and a half of k1, p1 ribbing.

I've finished half of the blocks for the sunflower quilt, which is being a nice project. I really do enjoy doing handwork. Hopefully I'll remember to take a picture of it during the day!

I think it's time to do what I usually do when I'm in a creative slump. Re-do the blog template! I'm thinking orange in honor of the fall season that is finally showing up!

Pretty quiet 'round these parts

It's amazing, how much time I'm not spending on the computer. Somehow I thought, with Irina being in school, that I'd use the computer a little more, but it seems that I've gone in the opposite direction. I just keep finding other things to do!

But I must admit that one of the other things I'm *not* doing is knitting. Can we say great, big, honkin' huge knitting slump? And it's currently so bad that I was in a LYS last week and didn't buy anything!!!

I'm thinking that I need emergency intervention.

Blogging September 11th

I will be photo blogging my life today, this monster of a day. The big, little, humorous, mundane, whatever it is that makes my life, well...mine.

Be well today, and hug someone you love.

7:00 a.m - 8:30 a.m.



8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.







3:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.





And that's today in a nutshell. Most of it spent in the car, it seems! (I made stops in three different towns in a 45 minute period this afternoon) There were many pictures that I didn't get, and some that I may throw in tomorrow. And, no, I didn't get any knitting in today! *gasp* The HORROR!!!, so I'm going to go and rectify that outlandish omission now while watching mindless television.

I hope that your day was a peaceful one.

Thanks Mommies!

For the support, that is. I never thought about how incredibly strange it would be to not have my small one home on days when we were usually here together. And I am alone all day! (my town has all day kindergarten!)

Wednesday was only a half day, so they didn't have to try to cram all of the kindergarteners into the cafeteria with the bigger kids at the same time. Irina took the school bus, just jumped right on there like she'd been doing it her whole life! I'm surprised that no one heard my heart breaking *sniff*. I did get into the car and follow her, and I'm glad that I did because the bus ride didn't turn out to be a great experience. She was obviously upset when I got there and needed some reassurance. (She got nervous when the bus driver took off before she had a chance to fasten her seat belt; but then said that one of the bigger kids helped her at the next stop, which I think was just great!) So, she stayed until 11:00, when I picked her up to come home.

Now Thursday was odd! Usually it's a "Mommy Day", when she's home with me all day. Instead she climbed on the bus at 8 a.m. (with no hestitation), and didn't get home until almost 3 in the afternoon! It was one of the longest damn days of my life waiting for her! But she finally jumped off of the bus, and her response when I asked her about her day was:"Great! I love kindergarten!" and that she had a brand new 'Best Friend'.

Friday was a lot easier, all the way around. Except for the getting up early enough to put her on the bus on time! Have I ever mentioned that I am *not* a morning person?

Now I am really looking forward to next week! Why? Because I've taken the whole week off from work! A week to myself, to spend my days doing whatever I want, whenever I want (within reason). Heck, I've waited five years to be able to do this! (and the list of things I want to do is really, really long!)

Today's the Day!

First day of kindergarten! We're only there for a short time this morning, long enough to meet the teacher and some new friends, and have a brief tour of where everything is.
Tomorrow is the day that's making my heart stop just thinking about it...it's riding the schoolbus day! Ack! That big yellow monster will swallow up my precious baby and take her away from me *sniff* At least I'll be able to get into the car and follow her. No, I'm not completely paranoid about her being safe! Our school system eases the kids (and parents) into the routine of kindergarten by having the parents come the first few mornings. I know it'll make things easier for me!

Not a whole lot on the knitting front right now. A friend at work has asked me to make a sweater for her granddaughter, and I worked up some color swatches. Now I'm waiting for her to get back to me on which one she likes best so I can get started! Otherwise, I'm at the heel turning of my second "Candy" sock, which means that I need to sit and actually focus on what I'm doing for a bit; and I'm working on the fifth sunflower block, 11 to go.

I've also been on a major cleaning spree around here, completely rearranging the apartment and bringing carloads of stuff to the Salvation Army. Fortunately Tony has been great about putting up with my madness!

What I've been doing instead of knitting:

When I've got the fourth sunflower done I'll be one quarter of the way through the number of applique squares that I want to do. Fortunately we have large blank walls to hang it on.

That's all I have today! Ta.

I had a vacuum cleaner,
It really tried it's best.
A puff of smoke
It croaked,
It died,
And in a dumpster laid to rest.

I bought a brand new vacuum
(With a coupon!)
(And on sale!)
Ah, my lovely Bissell
I hope you never fail!

Your power is prodigious
With cat fur and with dust.
Promise me,
My brand new friend,
That you will never bust!

With apologies to real poets everywhere!

I'm B-a-a-a-a-a-ck!

Did y'all miss me?


We've actually had a pretty darn busy couple of weeks around here! Much to-ing and fro-ing and coming and going. Well, that and the fact that I've been trying to wean myself off of using the computer as much as I tend to, which can be a lot! It's been surprisingly easy to not sit in this chair constantly.

The most exciting thing around here is the fact that I'm now the Mother of a 5-year-old! YIKES!!!


(The koala is a birthday gift that her cousin brought back from Australia.)

It's been too hot around here (again) to be spending much time knitting, so I've been working on some applique quilt squares instead. It's more of a learning experience than anything, because my applique skills need some work, but I think it will turn out pretty well. I'll post a picture of them when I've gotten a few more done.

Things may still be quiet around here for the next couple of weeks while we do the final build up to Kindergarten (WOOHOO!). Things have been made much easier since we discovered that two of the kids in Irina's preschool/day care are going to have the same teacher as her! OK, it made it easier for me, I don't know about her. After all, she's the one who will just walk up to another kid and say "Hi. My name's Irina, what's yours?" How we ended up with a social butterfly we have no idea!

Tidying up the place

Man, my links were a mess. I commented out some people who haven't posted in a while (I don't want to loose the links in case they do come back someday), and added Knit Knack Patty Whack (who wins the award for "Blog Title I'm Most Likely to Walk Around Singing"). I know that there must be more New England Knitters out there. Sing out and I'll add you!

I need to go through and clean up the other pages, none of the big Kokopelli sweater pictures are showing up, but my 'html' program is telling me that I'm missing a .DLL file, even though I can see it in the folder. Grrrr. Downloaded it twice I have. Grrr. Ordered the disk I did. Load it from there I will, and hope for best.

Why am I talking like Yoda?

Other than that, I've been playing Blogshares way too much. Knitting occasionally, because it's been too sticky to think about wool. And being goofy with the kid, who starts kindergarten in four weeks!!!! (Obsessive much? Nooooo, not me...)

I've run away to join the circus...

Well, not really. But it does seem like a delightful idea at times!

I've been helping some friends from work put together a quilt for another co-worker. He and his wife have a baby due at the end of the month, and a big group of us did blocks. This is the fifth group quilt that we've done welcoming a new baby into the 'clan' at work, and I'm always amazed at the creativity! I'm going to help do some quilting on it tomorrow, so I'll try to remember to bring my camera to get a few pictures.

I've also been finishing sewing the binding on a quilt that I made, umm...a looooong time ago. It's about time I got the dang thing done, because then I can justify starting another one.

I've also almost finished the back of Tony's blue sweater and Irina's Halloween sweater, literally about an inch left to go on each. Than I can start on the front of those! I'm going to see just how far along I can get on my current projects with the aim of having a "Satisfying September" while finishing them up.

But, knowing me, it'll probably end up being "Startitis September" despite my best intentions!

T.V. to knit to

I rarely get hooked into t.v. shows, mostly because I watch something once, say: "I must remember to watch that again"...and promptly forget about it! But I have come across what is, very unfortunately, going to be a short lived series. Not because it's not good; but because it's one of those quickie PBS shows.

My Sunday night knitting had been along to Diana Rigg and Neil Dudgeon in The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries. It's been a perfect hour of fun for the past three weeks. Sadly, there's only one more show left. I guess I'm just going to have to find the books! I forsee a little less knitting getting done once I do find them.

As it is, this has been a reading summer for me, and it feels very strange to say that, because I use to do nothing but read! I did, of course, read the most recent 'Harry Potter' book...in one 12 hour marathon! (Tony bet me that I couldn't do it in one day. I got a nice, home made, seafood tempura dinner out of it!) I read 'The Alienist' by Caleb Carr for the sixth (seventh?) time. I raced -pardon the pun- through Seabiscuit (who knew a horse could be that fascinating?)(Yes, yes, yes! I know it was about a heck of a lot more than a horse!). And yesterday was for Kate Remembered, which reads like nothing less than a love letter to a great woman.

Next up, I believe, will be The Six wives of Henry VIII, which also goes along with a PBS series. After that...I don't know! Any suggestions?

(Goodbye Bob...and Thanks! It took me many years to *really* understand what you were.)

Need a little help?

That's what Himself was asking as I was trying to get my armoire sorted and organized.

Took a nice little two hour nap he did. After all, it's not like I have anything better to do than wait for him to move, right? Heh.

And, in the time honored tradition of Knitbloggers who have finished socks, I present a picture of my foot:

I'm refering to these as my candy socks because they remind me of nothing more than chocolate and mint non-pareils. Is it any wonder that I get hungry knitting? Everything reminds me of food! (I thought about buying some non-pareils to take the picture, but then I'd have also needed the chocolate, and then...Well, I couldn't let it all go to waste now, could I?)

The HORROR

I just survived taking Irina to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's.

A million kids running around screaming.

It's going to take me a week to stop twitching...

It's a Flying Peeping Tom!!!

That's what it looks like, anyway ;-). The landlord has masons working on the outside of the building, and they have to use a cherry picker to get to the higher floors. Nothing like looking out your window (which is considered the second floor, but is actually the third on the back of the building), and seeing someone float by in midair. Veddy Stwange.

It's been a long week since my last post. Irina's been going through something, some sort of growth or maturity spurt, and it hasn't been easy on any of us! My Baby required lots of babying, poor kiddo. Fortunately she seems to have reverted back to her normal happy, energetic (i.e. exhausting) self. Six weeks to kindergarten, yah!

I haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting, though I am almost finished with the first sock from my newer Opal yarn. Another inch worth of ribbing and it will be done (I'm doing toe up). I just have to make sure that I finish it when I can immediately cast on for the second sock, or I'll keep finding excuses for not starting it.

Instead I've been doing some quilting:

This is what's called a whole cloth quilt, and it's only going to be about 16" square when it's done. Someday I want to do a bed sized one, when I live someplace that can accomodate a big quilt frame. It's lap quilting at this point for me. Oh, and when I'm done with the quilting, I'll soak it in cold water and those white lines will wash out.

I've also been working on a Fimo clay tile:

That's what I get for being home to watch the Carol Duvall Show. Yup. Another cool, hobby-ish thing to do! I worked on this so long last friday that I gave myself a serious crick in the neck that took two days to work out. And do you think that I could have started with an easy pattern to do? Naw! Why on earth would I want to do something like that? *Grin*

Score!

I did indeed make it out to the new lys on friday, with Mother in tow. There's not much there yet, but what I saw has me very, very hopeful that it's going to be great. Nice light and airy feeling. A big difference from the lys that I'm use to, which, while a good place to check out, is very dark in comparison. I did treat myself to some birthday sock yarn:

I admit it, I'm an Opal sock yarn fan, and this sock is going quick! I had to redo the heel, but it turned out to be the best short-row heel that I've ever done, I think. It's like while I was working on it the lightbulb came on over my head and I was blinded by the flash of insight. (The heel looks funky in the picture because of the way it's bent, but it's beautiful, really. And the keyboard isn't blue, but the colors of the yarn *are* accurate, oddly enough)

I've also been working on Tony's sweater:

Stockinette. Exciting, I know. At least I've been doing something. And I was right, I can't get the color to show right, but I tried!