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So knitting backwards is supposed to be faster? I don't know, I was having flashbacks to the classes when we were learning to knit. Trying to hold the yarn, remember where to wrap the yarn around, hang on to the needles and complete the stitch. I am not 100% sure I can do this. I think my bandage will be knit the old fashioned way. MMT is working on a bandage. I made her rip it out, it was 30 inches long, but 8 inches wide. That would have been for the world's largest leper. So we ripped it out and started over on Saturday. The bandage is all ready 42 inches long, so I think knitting frontwards is fast enough for MMT and I.

It was nice to see the Guild last night, always fun to get together for good old fashioned knitting.

Too tired to knit!?!

What you say? Too tired to knit, what is up with that? This is the one time of year I do not (repeat do not) like my job. Two days of finals and the sudden rush to get everything done, puts me right over the edge. I would give anything to have a work day. I think it would benefit the teachers as well as the kids. With the big dance this weekend, the kids are all stressed too. But alas, we have no work day, so I will just muddle through. Perhaps I will use knitting as a reward, grade 10 papers and knit for 10 minutes.....humm the idea has merit. At least I have the Guild social to look forward to tonight. 6pm--be there or be square!

MHS knitting club updated: Everyone is working on a purse. Some are making felted bags and some are working with speciality yarn. Some of the girls (the ones from Thailand) learned how to make the multidirectional scarf. They were very impressed with that little trick. Teaching someonewho does not speak English to knit in the front and the back was a bit of a trick!

Oh My!

While reading the Island Gazette . . . I know, I know. There is a newspaper on the island, but their printing schedule is limited. Anyway it seems another "not so well managed" knitting shop is under new management. Hmmm. There seems to be plethora of knitting stores experiencing this fate. Perhaps while on the island, three can remain in the coffee shop, while we send one in to explore the "lay of the land," so to speak.

Put it up HIGHER!

It happened today. Megan called me as soon as she got home. It seems that Sadie Blue, grabbed the white Peaches & Cream need for Knitting 105 in February. Grabbed it out of the basket on the end table. And then proceeded to play with it, until it was all unraveled. I might be late for class. It will take that long to get it untangled. All yarn will hence forth be kept out of Sadie Blue reach.

30 MINUTES

I have now told myself that I WILL knit for at least 30 minutes per day. That way I will get some of my projects finished and then can start some new ones with the yarn that I purchased from our LYS that is closing not knowing what to do with. Then I will start taking photos of them all and will be able to post them like all my other chick friends that are ubber talented!!!!!! I will be knitting wild woman and will not get anything else done. I like the sound of that. Now just to find the time between work, home and keeping track of the kids, dogs etc..... Can't wait for the island and unlimited knitting time. I shall be an early riser and late to bed person just to finish multiple projects.

Security

I was jolted out of bed last night because the dog started to bark. As I opened my eyes, I saw someone in my bedroom. The shadowy figure only caused our 9 pound guard dog, (a 2 year old shitz tsu named Dax) to bark even louder, not the regular bark, but the "I am going to rip you to shreds" bark (you may ask, where was Reggie our 27 pound lhasa apso during all this?--sound asleep) . Dax also leaped from the bed to chase the intruder, which caused the intruder to scream and run for the safety of her bed. Little did I realize that the intruder was actually MMT, who needed ibuprofen at 1:45 am. The moral of the story is this: I now know my yarn is safe at all times, Dax is willing (and in his mind able) to do whatever it takes to keep the family safe.

I managed to get to YD today to get my yarn for mittens, yet another project to add to the all ready long list of "knitting that needs to be done", but alas it is the end of the semester and my time needs to be spent grading papers, final exams and preparing for 150 new faces on Monday. This too shall pass and I will be back to my regular knitting schedule.

Pay it forward

About a month ago we started a knitting club at MHS. We have had great response! Yesterday I took 6 novice knitters to Hancock for supplies for a new project. It was so much fun to watch these unsuspecting novice knitters touch the yarn and get giddy with excitement over a new project (and spend more money than they had planned on spending--good news it happens to others, not just Guild members!) The girls left with the materials (although man-made- but yarn never the less) for a knitted bag. The older knitters left with materials for a bag and dishrags, and a plan to head off to other stores that sold yarn. I was like a proud parent.

Today I got brave and wore "my Igloo" to school. MMT greeted me with "I'm glad I don't have to go to school with you today!" I got lots of compliments, so I feel pretty good about my knitting right now. I wanted to go to YD after school for needles (who knew tossing a sock in a book bag could lead to broken needles??), but I decided to come home and enjoy the quiet time. I knit in the peace and quiet.

My new hairdo and I are off to the holiday party for my spouse tonight. I hope all goes well. God grant me the strength to not have one to many beverages and say something I will regret. MMT is off skiing with the middle school, the boy is at practice and then has to go to bed early because he has yet another swim meet tomorrow (that is 3 in 6 days---too many??) I am looking forward to the swifting meeting on Sunday, another chance to look at my TB purchase and dream about projects yet to come.

Dyseclectica

Do you remember her??? She was there to see the Harlot also. I checked her blog this evening. And I quote . . .

From there to Three Kittens which is still transforming. If you haven't been since it changed hands (and you're local), go just to see the place. Did you know there were windows? You can actually figure out where the patterns are now. It is a wonderful improvement and I bought a couple of skeins of Dreambaby to make a sweater for my nail technician's new baby. Which I should be knitting.

They have windows??? Who knew???

Dominoes

So last week NK went and had her hair cut. CT on Monday. Me, I am going tonight because I can take it no longer. Off with her hair!! I figure if I don't like it, I can blame it on Nancy, she started the whole domino thing. I manage to get out last night and pick up a lovely shade of golden brown so most of the gray is gone. Notice I said most. ASJ, apparently you need to make an appointment . . .

Knitting . . . well that cardigan is coming along just fine, thank you very much! It will be traveling to NK's for the guild meeting on scrap yarn. I shall be requesting input from the chicks. I am at this point cautiously optimistic. CT (She Who Knit's Like the Wind) is already on her third top down. She has left me in the dust.

We did have a knitting field trip this week. Yours Truly came home with nothing (they were all out of Katmandu). Unbelievable but true. It is rather sad that one of the LYS is closing. Even more depressing is the fact the yarn was 40% and I came home with none. CT got a rather nice stash and was purchasing with NK's wild abandon (it was difficult for her), ASJ also came away with a basket full of yarn. NK too had yarn, and then went back the next day for more. Well will be swifting for hours! What fun . . . I can't wait.

All is not all is lost for me. The field trip in February will place me squarely in front of a wall of Koigu. Be still my heart! I can't wait. Sock yarn heaven!

My photo for the day. My great Aunt Helen was a knitter! Who knew! I was so excited to see this. I having it hanging right where I can see it all day long. Aunt Helen is in the front row, left side, in the white dress with a Peter Pan collar. Knitting what appears to be a scarf! This was taken when they still taught knitting in schools, I believe some time in the very early 1900's, maybe 1912 or so. Isn't she cute.

Knitting Accomplished

I was a knitting fiend last week. After I saw the pics of all the Guild projects, I looked at my many 1/2 knitted projects (a.d.d........it's a problem) and thought: "self, get your butt in gear and finish the stupid projects". So, I did, and CB said that she'd take a picture of all the lovely stuff and post it on the blog. Whoa! The mittens were supposed to be finished by Christmas (present that got slightly delayed), the slippers are for my Adam boy, and the scarf, well, I wanted to make that multi-directional one, so I bought the yarn last summer on the Y-turn adventure (bogo!), but I didn't buy enough, and I ran out of yarn, so I just had to make it a small neck warmer. I did love making it though, so I'm sure I'll do another one just for fun. Now that I've got some things finished, I'm going to bring the Smile sweater out of hiding.

On Saturday I went to the Winter Farmer's Market and found a new yarn vendor from Boyd. She's a cute sheep farmer and the yarn was so smooth and happy - obviously from happy sheep. She said that she sells her yarn out of her home too, and would welcome the Guild. I'm thinking spring Field Trip!!! Get your galoshes and go Guild!

It's a snow day today, so everyone in my house is happy happy happt. There's no day like a snow day!!! Oh yes.

Amen!

Yesterday was a wash. No knitting accomplished. "How can that be?" you might ask. The usual, grocery shopping, errands, etc. I did make some soup for friends whose daughter just died. And I made a huge pot of chili for my own family. The chili was lunch and dinner. The one time I could have sit and knit, I opted for a nap. The dog and I slept for about an hour. It was lovely.

Right now I am sitting waiting for the guild. At 1:00 pm, I will race from the house with my knitting in tow. I have been making progress on the cardigan. I have slipped it on scrap yarn so the chicks can check out the sizing with me. Then I shall knit and dish with the chicks. What more could I as for (besides an unlimited stash of Koigu)?

I did a feeble attempt of lace knitting on Friday night. Different stitches, trying to get the hang of it. I will keep on trying some of the stitches until I get comfortable enough with them, and then try to knit something stunningly beautiful. Wish me luck. See you girls soon!

I would rather be knitting!

It seems like a no brainer, but so much of our daily lives takes away from the one thing that is really meaningful, knitting. GBT will be heading back to school after a 3 week break. Originally, I thought, what a short break, I wish she could be home longer. Now, I am at peace with the idea of her heading back to the UP. Perhaps I have had some sort of "mom moment". Yes, I will miss her and yes, I have enjoyed our time together, but I am ready for hurricane g to go back to her dorm room. Her room (any room that she is in for that matter) looks something like New Orleans post Katrina. Plus the additional stress of keeping track of 3 schedules and 4 people who all seem to think they need a car, is just too much for one mom. MMT (forced by mom) made a New Year's resolution to try to keep her smart mouth closed a bit more in 2007. So far, not so much. This too adds stress to my life, one never knows what will come out, sugar or spice. The boy, now this one is giving me gray hair faster than Clairol #5G can keep up. How hard is it to be on time? Seems simple enough, but not for the boy.
All I want to do is knit, but the job (each day filled with 150 teenagers), the house, the kids activities and the dogs keep my butt from settling in on the couch for a good long session of knitting. Oprah does shows on everything from pizza to child abuse, she needs to do a show on how to organize your life so you have more time for knitting!
Ok, I have vented now, instead of knitting I am off to work the basketball game, why? I have no idea.
See you guys on Sunday, I promise to be in a good mood

The Guild

Ok, so it is 5th hour today and I have 2 of the guild members daughters in class. We are trying to have a meaningful conversation about knitting and The Island. We (the girls and I) were chatting back and forth about knitting and how much time the guild expends on this activity. Whether it is shopping for yarn, planning project, sharing project, talking about anything at all as long as we are together (according to the girls, we call this a guild meeting). The conversation then moved to THE ISLAND and the girls are pretty sure that this is just cover for a childless and husbandless vacay. They are pretty sure that we just slip away to some unknown land (and good for us that they have no idea where we actually are-we are very clever!) to enjoy several days of peace and quiet. While we are gone, the dad's are left to parent solo. One of the dads uses this time to catch up on projects (requiring the children to help), while others are not even sure we are gone and he is in command, so the children have several days off too. (Hummm, I better work on that) One of the daughters went so far as to say that we posted some fabricated story on "our blog" about snakes just to scare people off. Can you believe that?
I say more power to the Guild for our efforts! And exactly how many days until The Island? Also when is our first planning session? How many do you think we will need? One for yarn, one for DQ stops, one for meal planning, one for daily activities (non knitting), one for project planning. One to plan the planning. Yikes! We better get started!

Mittens!

We have been waiting to post to the blog until I took the picture of the mittens. GBT is delivering the cable flip mittens to the bf today, and if I get up my nerve I will felt the cool green mittens today. The fair isle mittens are for a friend for her birthday, but now she will see them and the surprise will be lost. Oh well, I will probably forget I knit them before her birthday, I have been known to do that.

GBT is still swollen, but Dr. Dave gave her a little pep talk and she began to perk up. She drove to Tomah today to see the bf. Apparently his mom raises sheep.....I may like this boy! We got fantastic news yesterday. She made the deans list! I think that is very cool for a first semester at an engineering school. (3.67 GPA!)

I wish I were either knitting or at Threade Bear. I can't bear the thought of A) other people buying yarn on sale; B) Threade Bear going out of business. Perhaps if I were to work on the socks I cast on last night, I would feel better. But today is pantry renovation, so no knitting time until that is done.

Ok I have bad news, while sitting around watching football, I cast on a green top down sweater. I could not help myself.

A Better Day

A round of applause please! Thank you, Thank you. I am now much more content with the top down cardigan after last night. Woot Woot, as they say. I did rip back, and then I knit, and knit and knit. Last night I was decidedly content. A step in the right direction. I even knit a few rounds this morning. As you can see the seed stitch has been replaced. Maybe it was just me (Not) but the seed stitch with a microfiber (never again, repeat, never again) just looked plain sloppy. So plain old purling it is.

As you can tell by the photo, the last vestiges of Christmas are still lingering. While I should be taking down the small tree in the kitchen, and hauling it to the store room down yonder, instead I sit at the computer blogging. Yeah. Three pieces of Christmas remain, and I still haven't removed them. The small tree, a basket of poinsettias, and a basket of glass bulbs. The sweater is of so artfully draped across the tree because the rest of the place is a disaster. I need to clean. Two weekends of company and cooking over the holidays, the children home over vacation has left the household in a shambles. At one point we had four dogs (not unlike my cohort CT), so the doggy prints on the kitchen floor need to go.

Knitting with the girls CT. Sounds awesome to me. I can't wait to see GT's cabled mittens, and MT's green mittens. I am thinking I should be looking for a cabled top down something or other. It might be amusing, and no mind numbing as endless stockinet. And something green, I do so love the color (again, not unlike my cohort CT).

Better get to work removing Christmas and the doggy prints. Have a lovely Saturday all!

P.S. Shear Panic arrived, I promise to break the cellophane until the lake! However, my Christmas order from Amazon has still not arrived.

Happy New Year a little late!

Good Morning and Happy New to the Blog!

Well after much internal debate, I ripped back the sweater in question yet again. Might be time to change my knitting name. I just was not happy with it. I am much happier than I was previously however. Instead of seed stitch I have gone with a straight purl. To my eye it does not look as sloppy as the seed did (is the yarn or my aging eyes), so that's what I am going with.
Two requests however, for the "chicks."
1) Never at any time let me buy a microfiber blend, I don't care soft it is.
2) Never again let me purchase that particular color, kind of a pinky coral, I don't care if it does look good on me.

Good news! "Shear Panic," has arrived! I now have it safely tucked away for the knitting retreat. I haven't even cracked the cellophane. I will wait.

I will schedule a "chick trip" to the local LYS that is closing (quiet sobbing in the background), for the 40% week. Will get back to you soon. They still have not changed the hours on their webpage (from the Holiday Hours). I will have to call them.

TTFN