Phase Six!

Birthday day celebration for CT did involve Phase 6 “Shots!” How lovely. We journeyed to Color Crossings. Had a tiara for the girl as well as a surprise B-Day gift (a gift certificate for said Color Crossings.” Made her call her husband and tell him he was on his own dude. We had kidnaped her! After the yarn store, we went to Twisted Sisters purse shop. I bought a wallet and the zipper fell off in my hand once I was home. Then out to eat at San Pedro’s in Hudson. Yummy. Definitely going there again. The food was outstanding, and the dessert was divine. The Birthday Girl and I shared egg nog creme brulee with a homemade gingerbread cookie and a sugar plum shot. Yippee. I am liking Phase 6.

I have finished much knitting. Still working on Dad’s Christmas socks. And they will not be done. But then I am not going there for Christmas, so it is okay! Knitting grey tube socks on silver needles is not as much fun and variegated sock yarn. Oh well. I did finish a sweater for my sister and gave it to her (no photo). Mom’s socks are wrapped. Have knit a lot of baby sweaters too. Oh my. Some scarves for gifts, and I finished my alpaca top down! Yeah for me. Love it. It is especially snuggly and warm. I am thinking with this cold trend, I will be wearing it on a regular basis.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Delivery

I finished up the alpaca sweater for GBT, blocked it and gave it to her this weekend. She wore it to church on Sunday. In my personal opinion, it looked great and fit her great. But I am biased.
I did not photograph her in the sweater, so you will have to trust me on this one.
I have decided (after consulting with NK) that I have enough items for the Jamaica Silent Auction. I have 13 items (12 from me, one from MMT). I still have scraps left that could be made into one more baby sweater and a pair of bulky mittens, but for right now, I am taking a break. To celebrate I cast on a hooded pull over for myself.

Knitting Blues

I said it out loud in the car on Saturday on the way to our little yarn adventure to Roberts, but yep, I have it, the knitting blues. (or in my case the knitting greens, since I seem to buy a lot of green yarn, also lucky for me NK did not kick me out of the car) While I have finished several projects:

• 2 baby sweaters
• 2 multi directional scarves
• 2 pairs of clogs to be felted
• 2 bags to be felted
• 1 pair of ballet slippers to felt
• 1 pair of fair isle mittens
• 1 alpaca sweater (for GBT)

This knitting has almost all been for the silent auction to raised money for MMT and I go to on Mission Jamaica. I feel like it is a task, a job, a chore. I need to be done with this and knit something for pleasure. I do feel somewhat proud of myself, I have knit almost everything for the auction from scraps, so I don't feel like I am spending a lot on yarn for the auction. I have a hat left to finish for the auction and then I am pretty much out of scraps and can move on to another more fulfilling project. I did buy yarn on Saturday for a sweater, perhaps I can get that started over Thanksgiving break. The auction is not until February, so I think I can take a break for a little while.
Great outing to Roberts on Saturday! I have had a couple of flashbacks of "chatty" girl, but the time with the guild, the stop at the DQ and the laughter definitely out weigh the negative effects of chatty girl.

Where is the camera?

Yes it has been a very long time. And I have all kinds of knitting to show you and I can't take any photos! Argh!

One jacket needs to be blocked

One top down alpaca sweater needs to be blocked

Two top down baby sweaters, needs buttons and to be blocked

Three Spirit Scarves COMPLETE

One pair of socks

Heaven help me, I am going to look for the camera

Who knew?

It all started at 1 am on Friday morning, MMT woke me up with a bad stomach ache. I told her take 2 ibuprofen and some Tums and it would be fine. At 3am the husband and I both awoke to the terrible sounds of MMT being violently ill. We got the situation contained and went back to bed, only to go through it all again 20 minutes later. This continued on and on and on and on. It was awful. At 4:30 am MMT went downstairs (how she had the strength I don't know) to check WEB MD, convinced she had appendicitis. She continued in her miserable state downstairs from that point on, at 5:30am she was a wreck, I was a wreck and the situation was deteriorating rapidly. At 6am I called her swim team carpool to them the that MMT had the flu and would not be needing a ride to swim practice that morning. She stopped throwing up around 10 am and was finally able to take a short nap. She was unable to eat even a cracker or much more than a sip of water. The day progressed, she did not throw up, but spiked a low grade fever and her pain was increasing, at 5:30 I checked WebMD for appendicitis. She had all the classic symptoms. I said "let's wait for dad" . Dad came home at 6:30pm with a pizza for dinner. At that time I caved and called Urgent Care, the nurse, said, "go to the ER, that sounds like appendicitis". So after I had a couple of pieces of pizza (don't want to be hungry and crabby at the ER) we headed to Luther. By 8pm, after the doctor exam, she started drinking the dye for her CAT scan. 9pm off to CAT scan. 9:30 back to room 9 (of the newly built Menard ER at Luther--oh baby, very nice!). As we passed the ER doc, she says to me "her white count is through the roof, I think it is her appendix. 9:35 CAT scan results are uploaded, guess what?!?! Appendicitis. By 10 pm we had met with the surgeon (it was his 2nd appendix of the night) . By 10:30 she was in surgery.
The doctor spoke with us about midnight and said for some one whose attack started less that 24 hours earlier, her appendix was in bad shape. Dad stayed in the room with MMT I came home to catch a few hours of sleep with the dogs. Driving down Water Street at bar time is a real experience!
She was released from Luther about 2pm today, and is now resting comfortably in the recliner.

Who knew???? MMT knew!!!

Back to living in the real world

There has to be a better way. There has to be. You work all day, and when you get home from work there is either something to do, or you are too darn tired. Either way, the job takes away quality time and energy from what is truly important, knitting. The only good thing, is the job provides money for yarn, but I would still rather spend my time knitting.
Since returning from our glorious week on the Island, and my subsequent return to school, I have finished 2 projects. TWO. A pair of felted clogs (lavender and black) and a pair of fair isle mittens (made from the clog left overs---thus my 2nd Indian knitting name: Shewhoknitswithscraps). How lame-O is that? Don't answer that. I did not even think they were worthy enough for a picture to accompany the post.
I am continuing to work on the brown alpaca sweater for GBT, but fine yarn on a size 6 is going to be the death of me, dead from boredom, around and around and around on the brown yarn. I am on the bottom ribbing, however there are 9 inches of ribbing, I still have a long way to go. Knit 2 purl 2 round and round and round.
Otherwise, all goes well, I am loving this warm fall weather! I could live like this year around, who needs snow? The boy seems to be enjoying college and life in the dorms, GBT seems happy to be back at MI Tech and in the full swing of being a college kid again. MMT is finally better after fighting off a virus for over 2 weeks. She swam a 1:16 in her 100 fly at the meet on Saturday, she was very excited! (This will only mean something AJ or other swimmers-sorry)
Let's see, walk the dogs or knit for few minutes???? duh!

Compliments

Well.... I did finish my 1/2 sweater on the island trip and am now wearing it at work and have received many compliments about it and so now everytime I hear I like your sweater I say "thanks I made it". I am very proud that I have FINALLY finished something. I did buy yarn on the island to make another 1/2 sweater and am looking forward to getting it started as soon as I get some of my other project done like my other 2 sweaters and about 3 pairs of socks and many pairs of mittens. Sometime I will take photos of them and get here. If only we lived on the island and could knit all day long, if only.

It's about time . . .

It seems like AGES, AGES ago! But I am finally blogging the chick week at the island! We didn’t all get to go together (bummer) but we all made it there eventually.

CT and I made our obligatory Starbucks stop and headed North. We stopped in Bayfield and ate at Maggies (such good food, such long lines). They off to the island! On Monday we successfully erected the gazebo (usually a four person job), hauled the chairs down to the beach, and set up shop so to speak. We knit in the sun, read in the sun, and swam in the lake! The weather was gorgeous and was the water.


On Tuesday the Birthday Girl arrived! We had her banner and birthday tiara ready to go!. I watched from the beach so we could see her vehicle coming, So we were on the road waiting, waving and jumping! A spectacular sight I am sure. Tuesday was a bit cloudy in NK’s honor, because she was hoping for not-so-nice weather, because it’s better knitting weather!

On Wednesday we were up early and in the water getting ready for our trip back to Bayfield! AJ would be arriving around supper time. She would leave her vehicle in Bayfield for the remainder of the week. So we went over to help her with her luggage and to eat at Maggies AGAIN. Just as good this time, lines not as long!

Thursday and Friday were comprised of sunbathing and knitting. Oh, and a naked lady. Poor CT went for a walk. I passed, and opted to just read on the beach. NK and AJ hadn’t made it down to the beach as of yet. Off she trooped, only to be back way quick. It seems that at 2:00 in the afternoon, a less than young woman decided to take a bath in the lake. As she turned around CT got an eyeful, and managed to compose her self enough to get her self back to our beach!

On Saturday we went to Fly Away Fleece Farms. So here is the deal, if you ever go to Madeline Island, call Fly Away Fleece Farms! Make an appointment to go see Cynthia, her sheep, her looms, her yarn, and her HOME. It is nothing short of amazing. BTW, you can purchase the yarn directly from her on your visit, or there are a couple of shops on the island that carry her yarn. Cynthia and her husband are restoring the farm, and it is beautiful. After we came home after the trip, I was discussing the farm with my mother-in-law. I found out that my husbands family stayed their at the farm when they were building our cabin. My husband was so young, he didn’t remember it! Cynthia has a degree in design if I remember correctly and you can certainly tell it as you walk thru her home. Please note that the bottom part of the bathroom sink washed up on their shore. She would not let her husband burn it!

It was a lovely little vacation for the guild girls. A the serenity and quiet. Except for the occasional gale of laughter! Oh, and a new game. There is a great A.M. radio station out of Ashland, 1400. The game goes as follows, name the artisit, name the song, and dead or alive!

Since we have been back. Well it’s been busy. Three out of the four graduating seniors have been packed off for college! AJ really has an empty nest! School has started for the remaining children in town.

By the way. This last photo. That is all the yarn we brought to the island. Heaven forbid you should run out of yarn whilst on an island!

P.S. We finished many, many projects, and started many, many new ones!

P.S.S. Habib the camel belong to another farm on the island, no Cynthias! In addition to Habib, they have Hudson (an Imu), and a lama, goats.

It was wonderful

1/2 present at island

The other 1/2 of us will be at the island shortly. Just need to get AJ's husband settled after surgery and celebrate my birthday at the express game tonight and then hopefully we will be off to the island tomorrow am. I do still need to pack all of my items but should not be to hard to do. can not forget the swimsuit this year. Can not wait to join the rest of the chicks on the island and give them the gifts that I have made them!

Off!

Home from Outlaw

Well AJ and I have arrived safely home from Outlaw Ranch. There was a woman there who was working in the kitchen with one of the best cooks around, and she had her own sheep. alpaca, and lammas. She brought yarn to camp for us the last day and we got to touch it and then even purchase some. What a fun end to a wonderful week. I did start another sweater so will bring it along to the island to finish along with some other projects that just need to be completed. Glad to be back but am not looking forward to all the work that will be waiting for me at the office tomorrow.

Every Day, Sometimes More Than Once

I check this website, every single day, like I said sometimes (all the time) more than once. Checking the water temperature at the lake. Different sites give me slightly different temps. I like this one, because it gave me the warmest temp out of all of the sites I look at (http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/index.html). So the temp is in the 70's and it will probably only go up for the next week (here's hoping). So when the chicks arrive enmasse, we can float if so desired. One week, women only (women who knit), no children, husbands or dogs. Books, yarn, sun, sand (don't mix with the yarn).

My projects, socks, a sweater I started in June, dish cloths (for when I have a beverage). I never knit anything while drinking, bad things have happened. So to be on the safe side I am taking dish rag yarn. Only ten days . . . can't wait.

By the way, NK and AJ are in South Dakota with out us . . . leaving us to our own devices is never a good thing. That will teach them!

Bonjour!

I am back from my whirlwind tour of Europe. 11 days, 5 countries, can you say "coach liner bus"? We arrived home to Eau Claire about 1am Saturday morning after 26 hours of travel.

As for the trip, it truly was a whirlwind, get ready----landed in Frankfurt Germany off to: Rothenberg, Munich (Dachau too) Innsbruck (Austria), Venice and Verona (Italy), Lucerne (Switzerland), Heidelberg (back to Germany) and Paris (France) and home again via Dallas.

We saw lots of stuff on the days we were not trapped on the bus, highlights included: Dachau, Munich Hitler walk (can you tell I am a history teacher) gondola ride in Venice, Mt. Pilates in Lucerne, beer in Lucerne (with British men!!!), several castles in Germany and the Eiffel Tour and the plane home.

The trip was complicated by several factors, our group was huge, (we were promised to be alone) so that was hard, our additional students were middle schoolers, which sucked.(We are a high school group). We had a kid get stung by a sea urchin in Venice, one develop seizures in Venice that were so bad in Lucerne the paramedics were called by (wouldn't you love to get that bill) they got worse as the trip went on, my foot swelled up like a balloon(started in Munich day 3 and did not get better until Paris) and I developed a nasty rash on my legs. (25 Euro from the Italian pharmacy and I was good to go).

I did see a yarn store in Heidelberg, but did not have a chance to go in to shop, but Guild girls I was thinking of you! Next trip to Europe will be with adults and at my own pace, no more of this sprinting through the Alps.

Next adventure?? The Island!

TWO weeks went by TOO fast

I'm back! Kind of dreading work today, I must admit . . . oh well. Thirty some days and I will back on the island with the chicks!

It was a lovely vacation, (any vacation is lovely), two glorious weeks away from computers, publications, etc. Only two days of rain, the water however was very, very cold (brrrr), I didn't go snorkeling once. RRB (husband), who spent his summers on the island growing up (all summer long, we feel bad for him NOT) even said it was cold (not "refreshing"). Fishing was successful, RRB (son) caught a lovely brown trout (22 inches, 4 lbs) so he was very happy. The second week not much fishing. It was incredibly wavy, way too wavy to fish. MWB had his usual allergy issues whilst at the lake, but all in all did well and had a good time in spite of the sneezing. MSB also had a great time shopping, tanning, etc. (although she did have good days and bad days). AJ . . . she did have ice cream, and several smoothies, you would have been proud!

I did knit on the cloudy days; I finished a scarf for my niece, and knit several dish rags. I also taught my niece to knit. We shall see . . . I am not sure she will continue, but she did buy a knitting book on the island and was perusing patterns and marking them. My parents made a surprise trip up with my niece from South Carolina (she is nine), she ended up spending the rest of the week with us. She also wants to learn how to knit.

While I was gone SSK watered for me. My baskets are beautiful! My garden, although well watered took a varmint hit while I was gone. No bean plants, only bean sticks. I am still not sure what has been eating them, but they certainly went after them quite voraciously. Buggers. They also managed to destroy some perennials. My peas however are fine. Go figure. It is usually my pea plants that are gone . . . they have never eaten the bean plants and the tic seed. We did have the addition of five baby blue birds!

I also did some knitting reconnaissance while there. Fly Away Fleece Farm on the island which produces its own yarn, fleece, etc., has a brochure. I picked it up. We can make an appointment; go see the animals and shop. Sheep, goats & lamas! Mad Island Weaver is now on the mainland. I say we just poke our heads in the door and check it out. There are some other places on the mainland that sell yarn downtown. And AJ . . . there is a new ice cream shop downtown (at least I think it is new), "Sweet Sailing." So we will have to pace ourselves where ice cream is concerned!

We actually came home a little early (Saturday night), which I will be honest. It was nice to have Sunday and Monday, to do laundry, unpack, etc. But our ride on the ferry. Oh baby. In the twenty some years that RRB and I have been together, I have never had a ferry ride like it. Did well roll . . . MSB had taken her bonine before we left (car sick) she still had her head between her legs. MWB was not too thrilled with the ride either, RRB (son) was taking photos and having a great time, RRB (husband and old Navy Man), was unaffected by it all. I actually got out onto the deck (after we past the worst of it).

Well I guess I better post this and get to work. AJ, hope SJ's Dr. appointment goes well! NK, tell SK I will come over with a check this week, sorry I couldn't talk to her last night. I was on the phone with Mom, Dad is having surgery the end of this month. I needed to get the details from her while she was in a talkative mood!

(Published a day late, I was having photo problems!)

It's a Yarn Store . . . You really should go

Just go there if you get a chance. Here is the web page http://www.christasyarn.com/
But set ground rules 1) go in pairs; 2) be realistic, there are some places in here you just can't get to; 3) no credit cards or cash or check; 4) don't take in your purse or anything else for that matter, because if you put it down you will never find it again.

Three out of the four chicks are going on Friday (it's me, I am going on vacation with my family, sorry NK). But I have been there. CT has not been there, how I would love to see her face when she goes in for the first time.

That said, her prices are amazing. And if by chance you do go, please let us know how it went!

P.S. Go to Whitehall (very close by) for lunch at a place called "Alternative Grounds." The food and the ice tea are amazing. http://www.alternativeground.net/

Pretty In Pink

Or at least I hope the baby will look cute in the sweater. It is my 3rd top down baby sweater and I think Iam done for awhile!

Since I missed the trip to Ettrick, I am hoping NK will sneak me down there some Friday when she is off. As for my own yarn stash, I have my Island project yarn left and that is all (ok , so I could knit one sweater out of some Katmandu I have since I ripped out the 1/2 sweater). But still, you can hardly call that a stash!!! One project---lame!

ZT still has one more week in Germany, MMT is in the grips of the travel soccer season and I am very tired of soccer. (bad mom!)

Still . . .

Our deepest sympathy to ASJ & family upon the death of her mother-in-law.

Stress Knitting

Or should I say stressed out knitting? Thanks to CB the blog has been maintained during the period of flux the entire Guild has been caught up in.

For me the flux started May 9th. My beloved FIL had a massive stroke and we spent the next 2 1/2 weeks making difficult decisions and saying good bye to him. While caught up in this emotional situation, I had lots of time to knit. Some of my knitting was better than others. Since I am not as skilled as CB, my pictures are not in the correct order.

When we first got to Duluth, I was still in the "use up the nasty blue yarn phase". My third and I hope final project with the blue yarn was a youth size top down vest. I decided to seed stitch it in an attempt to use up more yarn. It still needs the neck ribbing done, I hope to finish it this week.Then it is going in the Silent Auction box and lord I hope someone buys it.

I also worked on the Chocolate cover cherry sock. I have vowed that this is my very last pair of socks ever. (I did yarn inventory and I still have enough sock yarn for 3 pairs of socks---how did that happen?). I finished the first sock and got the second one past the heel flap. For those of us who are sock knitters, that is a LOT of knitting. I have not touched them since getting home from Hayward.
Once we got Fritz to hospice in Hayward I had access to Pine Needles (a delightful yarn store). My SIL and I made 2 trips out there. The first time we picked up the yarn for a felted tote. As the situation grew more stressful with my FIL I knit faster and faster. Good thing it was a simple project. My SIL did a nice job picking out colors for the bag and with NK's help, I got it felted.

Finally, while at Pine Needles, I got yarn for yet another baby sweater. My SIL helped me pick out a nice green variegated yarn, that I trimmed with the left over lime green from her hand bag. Looks really sweet. I have the button bands to put on today and weave in the ends. While at Pine Needles I bought yarn for a bulky baby sweater (Cascade 109 tweed--pink) and my Island project. I guess buying yarn helped me deal with the situation with my FIL. Better than alcohol? (oh, yeah I had plenty of that to take the edge off too).

School is out, my stress has transferred to ASJ (I am so sorry for that). I am happy to be done with school. ZT is in Germany and GBT in Green Bay for the summer. So all I have to do is trek MMT to her travel soccer games and knit. I can do that.

Thanks Guild girls for all your support last month, I would not have survived with out you.

NK: the baking with GBT

CB: the patio, thank you, I was avoiding that.

ASJ: all the phone calls just when I need to hear the voice of reason.

Postphoned

New countdown has begun!

Flux: a continuous moving on or passing by

Yes, well we are in a state of “flux.” Some good, bad, sad, necessary, unnecessary, you name, we have it.

Our sympathy to CT’s family. Her father-in-law did pass away Memorial Day weekend, after suffering a massive stroke. They had a funeral on Wednesday (out of town), and ZT’s graduation party on Saturday. GT came home, and with a steady hand, directed family & friends. The house was cleaned, bars were baked, yard mulched, plants planted, etc. The girl is management material, and we love her dearly! She also has some bad boo boo’s on her feet . . . we are sending her kisses to make it better (it will work much better if taken with liberal amounts of alcohol). Don’t tell your mother.

Now our dear ASJ “fluxing.” Her mother in law’s c ancer has taken it’s toll, and she is not expected to survive thru the weekend. She also had MJ’s graduation party on Sunday, and her husband has scheduled his back surgery for next week! The dear man has been in pain for a long time. He needs to get it done ASAP (urgent does not even begin to cover it).

We did have an emergency guild meeting last night and in all probability we will be delaying our trip to the island. But fear not. But not to fear. If we delay, it has already been decided that 1). we ditch the men; 2). we plan on going for a full week. “There is more than one way to skin a cat” as they say. The lake will be warmer, we will be there for longer, we have choices of sitting on the beach knitting and tanning, or sitting in the porch where it will be cooler (and closer to the beverages).

So the guild carries on and cares for each other, all with knitting needles and yarn in our hands!

Fini & Congratulations All The Way Around!

Well they are done. All four have graduated from high school. YEAH!!!!!!! It was an absolutely beautiful day . . . . warm and sunny. Congratulations Ryan, Zachary, Maari & Krista. We are all very proud of you.
P.S. Two grad parties left to go . . . Pray for sunny skies!

Wow!

Ummm . . . Yes we did go. And yes we do have photos. But I am waiting for the camera cable from NK! We did have an awesome time at the Festival. I picked up some alpaca (600 yards for $24 x4) for a sweater. Alpaca, be still my heart. Three huge buildings filled with homespun and commercial yarn. We will definitely go again. It is a wonderful event!

CT was not able to attend. Her father in law had a massive stroke. It is an incredibly sad and stressful situation. Say a prayer for our friend and her family. Graduation, end of the school year all are looming on the horizon also.

Then we have ASJ, whose mother in law fell and broke not one but two hips! So ASJ is her tremendous patient advocate! ASJ’s husband needs to have back surgery soon, and her daughter fell and broke her tail bone. Again Graduation is looming.

My BIL was admitted to United on Friday, with blood pressure of 53 over 0 (I did not know that was possible), and kidney failure, he is 48. So I spent the weekend with my sister. Whew! Then there was a blood clot thrown in for good measure. They are both doing well. However I got nothing done at home. I am sure it will all be fine. Again Graduation is looming.

NK is the only one who did not have an immediate family member in the hospital. Thank God!. Graduation looming.

Graduation Party One is on Monday evening, Graduation Party Two is a week from Saturday. Graduation is on June 1. Graduation Parties Three and Four will be the following weekend, Saturday and Sunday respectfully. Yeah, we thought it was cool we all had seniors . . .

Oh yeah, and the cabin trip is on the horizon.

Mother's Day Weekend Trip

Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival! ASJ has wanted to go for some time now. Looks like she will get her wish! DETOUR. We were planning on Color Crossing, Yarn Garage & Borealis. But I proposed that we stop there first! Steven will be there, so that's a plus. There will be home spun and commercial yarn available, fuzzy yarn bearing animals, books & patterns, plus much, much more. So why would we not go, when we are travelling in that direction anyway?

I am looking for some yarn for my Island Project. Both ASJ & NK have there projects ready to go. CT and myself . . . not so much. I think I know what I will be knitting. But I have to pick up some yarn. Plus I will of course be taking sock yarn. My sock yarn stash needs to be bulked up bit. I am looking for some simple brown yarn for a cable sock pattern. Then for the heels and toes I have some very pretty variegated brown/pink/white yarn. Cables just look so much better to me when they are knit on a single color. Other wise it's gets too busy for me (Call me Plain Jane).

Project #2

I have finished my second project out of the dreaded blue sweater yarn. I think it turned out really cute. I knit it on larger needles and I made the biggest size, complete with the hood to try to use us as much yarn as possible. Look how much I still have left. I think I have enough for one more sweater. Yikes, I bought a lot of blue yarn.

I am really excited for our pre Mother's Day yarn adventure. What a great gift to ourselves. Time together as the Guild and yarn shopping, what a perfect day!

Give peace a chance

So this whole story started on The Island, our second trip to be exact. It was my first attempt at knitting a sweater. I began my first top down pull over on the Island, I knit and I knit and I knit. I got the sweater body finished and took it off the needles for a look. To my shock, the sweater was big enough to fit a size 2XL man. I was disappointed, but not defeated. I ripped the sweater and balled up the yarn and took it to Family Camp for some serious knitting sessions. I knit and I knit and I knit. I got the body of the sweater done and took it off the needles only to find that it was big enough to fit an XL man. At this point AJ, NK and the husband ran for cover as I threw the yarn, needles and sweater to the ground. To save his life, the husband quietly wound the yarn in to big balls and tied it in a bag, where it has stayed for nearly 2 years.

I took yarn inventory a week or so ago and discovered that I don't have as much yarn as a good knitter should. While taking inventory I discovered the dreaded blue sweater yarn bag. At this point I made my peace with the yarn. Since this disaster I have knit 4 top down sweaters, a top down vest and 2 top down baby sweaters. I have conquered the project, now it was time to use up the yarn. Knowing what I now know about yarn, the project was doomed from the start. The yarn was not the right weight (even though I was knitting 2 strands together) but enough about that.

I pulled out yarn and found a pattern for a baby afghan. I knit the World Ministries wavy baby afghan. It turned out really cute. I have lots of co-workers who are having babies, so an afghan is always good to give as a gift. Provided the baby is a boy! The problem is look at how much yarn I still have after the afghan. This is a lot of blue yarn. I think I will make a top down baby sweater out of part of it and MMT suggested I learn to make booties to go with the blankets. If not booties I think the yarn is fine enough that I could make socks for an adult.

I am counting down the days until:1) yarn shopping on the 10th of May 2) graduation (if they have one more senior skip day I am going to pop a vein. 3) the end of school and 4) THE ISLAND!!!

Health update: I did have to get an antibiotic for the brochitis, and I think I will be healthy soon.

.

Rip it! Rip it good!

Ok so I thought I would be posting a picture of my two halves of my half sweater. As it turns out I was a little over confident. Post hospital stay NK was nice enough to give me a tutoring session in the half sweater. I knit all week on the 2nd half of the half sweater. I cast it off Thursday night and laid the halves on the floor. Excellent, I had a right and a left. But they did not match. I took Friday to contemplate how to correct the situation. The only solution was rip it back 30 rows (which is like a gojillion stitches). Last night after school I ripped it out and put it back on the needle. I made myself knit 2 rows last night, just to get it over with. I have knit on and off today, slow but sure I will get it done the second time. I know ASJ loves to rip and re-knit, but I have to tell you, it is not working for me. Also, I do firmly believe that once I get the two halves done, I will not be able to put the 2 halves together, so I will forever have 2 halves of a sweater.

I had a baby shower today, I am not very good at this events (so I made GBT come with me). It was completely stressful. The gifts were all piled in the corner and they were bloody huge gifts. And here I am with one little box, containing a top down hooded baby sweater. As luck would have it, my gift was opened LAST. So I had over a half hour to sit and squirm while the mom to be opened, strollers, pack and plays, bouncers and all sorts of large expensive gifts. It did work out in my favor, when she opened the tiny little box containing one hand knit sweater, the other guests were chatting and ready to move on to the lunch phase of the afternoon. A couple of quick, "did you make that?" and off to the food we went.
Note to self: drop off gift and dash next time!!!

4-15-08: The 1/2 sweater is no more, it is now several balls of yarn in a ziplock bag.

Yarn, Yarn everywhere Yarn

Well here is my post finally about the big field trip to the cities. Here is a photo of the yarn that I purchased on the trip. I just love all of the yarn I purchased. Even purchased some for KK1 so that she may make some fingerless gloves. I have already made one sweater out of the pink and purple yarn. Made a weekend cardigan. and am now starting a weekend pullover with the orange and reddish color yarn. As I was saying over and over again last night. I just love to knit with the wonderful feeling yarn. I do have a request for bulky mittens out of the orange yarn also. Some of the yarn just spoke to me and said take me home with you, I will look very nice mixed in with all of the other yarn that you have.

I have also been busy making stitch markers, since I am working on size 15 and 17 needles hard to find marker to fit the big needles. So I thought to myself that I could make those fancy looking markers that they sell in all the yarn stores. So I did figure out how to do it and am going to make some more since I like them and they do make my knitting look extra pretty.

Happy Birthday AJ!! March is an important month for the guild, 2 birthdays (CB and AJ) so 2 reasons to get together, knit and have a great treat. AJ's birthday treat was over the top today, CB will have to post that recipe for all to have.

So I finished the flip mittens, (as modeled by GBT-while home for Easter) and decided to go back to an old project. Watching AJ knit on Kathmandu make me decide to finish my half sweater, so I will no longer be Princess 1/2 sweater. It took a while to get my brain back in gear to start the second half of the half sweater, but I got it started. I had forgotten how much I enjoy working on Kathmandu.

We are in the final quarter of the school year, pray for the guild children. We all have seniors! I personally think the boys need more prayers than the girls as they are boys, need I say more???

With grad parties to plan, and 18 year olds to keep track of we will be busy and the time will fly by. Before you know it we will be on the Island enjoying the knitting, eating, and the ISLAND!! This is my favorite time, the pre Island time, the excitement of the Island trip is all I need to get me through these last few weeks of school.

Spring Break Knitting

Even though it is officially spring, the weather man is predicting snow, I have no interest in snow, I only have interest in spring and sunshine. Every day I check to see how much grass is showing and how fast the snow is melting. Enough already with winter!
I finished the baby top down. I had to knit the hood twice, I misread the pattern and kept increasing on the hood, when I cast it off I realize what I had done. No one would want a hooded baby sweater for the hunchback of Notre Dame. So I ripped and re knit. I was watching March Madness, so I could justify the extra knitting time. I am still toying with adding several rows to the bottom, it looks short. However, I only have a few yards of yarn left, so I don't know if it would to much good.

GBT is coming home tomorrow for the holiday weekend. She has not been home since moving to Green Bay, it will be nice to have all the kids home, even if it is only for a short weekend.


Have a great Easter guild girls. ASJ---glad you are back, we missed you.

The felted tote is done. It was a guild project. While under the influence of all the yarn at the Yarn Garage I found Lamb's Pride bulky. CB helped me pick out the colors, NK developed the striping and I knit. NK felted it last night and I put it together today. I knew Lamb's Pride would felt nice and boy did it!

Cabin Fever!

Who has “Cabin Fever?” I do. I have two kinds of “Cabin Fever.” First the one I always have. The snow needs to melt, the air warm, the ice needs to be gone. I want to go to the cabin! As you can see by the countdown on the right. The chicks are now under 100 days to our annual cabin trip. For some reason they (me too) feel compelled to travel to the cabin every year. Sans, husbands, children and dogs. Just us. We knit, we eat, we shop for yarn, and what ever else we can find.

“Cabin Fever” two, was a birthday gift from my dear knitting friends. Sock yarn, Claudia Handpaints (for moi) and the colorway is “Cabin Fever.” Can you tell I am enthralled with this yarn. The purple hues in the yarn remind me of the lupines on the island (which by the way are always in full bloom when the chicks are there). So thank you my friends, truly it is the perfect gift!

Today I went to the local LYS with the “Yarn Teacher.” I used to work with the YT (she left for greener pastures). She taught all four of the chicks to knit (we were all in the same class). We had lunch and at the LYS we did this! I think I was number 427. So he has a way to go. I also heard that some of the knitters from the cities were going to be there. I heard Bead Slut’s name mentioned but I did not see her anywhere.

Here is my new toy. I had some gift certificates, with instructions to purchase something I normally would not. Well this is it. I must admit I have looked at them, but never felt I actually had to have one (depsite the fact my children have them). Maybe mom should have one for her walks with the dog? Why not? But what a lot of work. I apparently have way to many cd’s. Then once you get them on, you then organize play lists, then I had issues with every cd that was entitled “Greatest Hits” they all wanted to be together in one album. I am still missing my “Journey’s Greatest Hits.” Can’t find it anywhere. And I do have one episode (the pilot) of “Big Bang Theory.” My daughter loves the show, and I do too! And now that the writers strike is over, we will finally get a new episode this coming week.

No guild this week, NK is skiing with the family, ASJ is on a mission trip with her daughter. Only CT and I are left in town. I believe that CT is going to see GT in Green Bay this week. It will be lovely not wake children in the morning. I will have the whole house to myself as they sleep. No rushing, no searching for shoes, jackets, papers, etc. So I am considering it down time for myself also.

I Love Polka Dots!!!

They're here!!! NK and I were naughty and called Steve at the Yarn Garage on Saturday to ask when our bags would be in. He said he was expecting them on Monday, well they arrived on my door step today. Talk about service!!! Included in the package, a lovely thank you note from Steve.

Hey chicks, did you notice??? We are under 100 days until the Island!!!

So how do you ladies feel about polka dots?

What follows is photos of my booty from the field trip to the cities. We did make it to a couple of new shops and a couple of favorite shops!

New shops were Needle Work Unlimited Outlet store, Linden Hills Yarn Shop, Knitting from the Heart and the Yarn Garage. Plus we had lunch at a new (to us) place, Cafe 28. Cafe 28 was great. One of the best burgers I have ever had. I would definitely eat there again. The owner of Linden Hills is quite sweet and recommened Cafe 28.


But as far as yarn goes. I can’t wait to get back to the Yarn Garage! WOW! Floor to ceiling yarn, seriously. I kid you not. If you have never been there, get yourself there quick. We are already planning a trip back. I never even made it back to the sock yarn. So I really must return. I think we all agree we need to get back there for sure before our knitting retreat. A day trip!

I was a good girl, I only bought one skein of sock yarn. Some Cherry Tree Hill in lovely blues and greens. Then I added some Nashua Equinox Stripe Yarn colorway "Storm." Which shall become the Knitting Pure & Simple Weekend Jacket. I picked up this book "Fitted Knits." Plus another Knitting Pure & Simple pattern, a cable scarf pattern, and some needles to knit the aforementioned jacket.

So the polka dots. Owner Steve (we love Steve) of the Yarn Garage asks "so ladies how do you feel about polka dots." Knitting bags, lined with polka dots no less. CT asked about us getting matching knitting bags. I mentioned that we already had nice knitting bags in the vehicle. She took exactly three steps and then quickly turned around and said "but we used gift certificates for those bags. We didn’t actually purchase them." Well who can argue with that logic! ASJ/Green, CB/Brown., CT/Royal Blue, NK/Royal Blue. But they really are lovely totes.

Twice now I have tried to post this. First the computer didn’t want to go to the post page, second time I was interrupted by having to leave. Let’s hope I can finally get this uploaded. And as long as I have a little time I will post a little more!

The hotel messed with our reservation. The poor desk clerk was dreading our arrival all day. But they ended up giving us two very nice separate mini suites (instead of the mammoth suite we reserved) so we could sit and knit together. And a huge discount. So we go there again!


I did manage to finish another EZ Baby Surprise. But surprise . . . I ran out of yarn. Grrrr. I had one skein of orange Cascade 220, plus my Schaefer Little Miss Priss leftovers. Three rows to go and I stopped. I rummaged thru my stash and found some leftover red Cascade 220. Managed the last three rows, plus I went around the neck. Then wala . . . no red! Too close for comfort.

She who knits with scraps

Need I say more? Or is the picture worth a thousand stitches.

Guild Rule: Never knit with scraps.

The Winter Blues

I admit it, I am sick and tired and cranky. While there are bright spots, (knock on wood) I have not been sick, repeat not been sick. Although I will admit I feel like I have been fighting off something for the last couple of weeks. It is only the anticipation of this weekend's Yarn Field Trip that has been fighting off what ever has been trying to bring me down (yeah for me, let the trend continue).

We leave tomorrow early . . .Hallelujah. We have a list of places to go such as Needlework Unlimited Outlet & store, Borealis Yarns, Yarn Garage, Coldwater Collaborative, Knit from the Heart, there is another one too, but it escapes me right now. I wish I could remember it!

I have started packing my bag (clothes and projects). I can't wait!!!!

P.S. No we are not travelling in the knit mobile. We are travelling in NK's Ford Escape Hybrid! The money she saves on gas she can spend on yarn.

A Little too close for comfort

I got this great idea to make a pair of mittens out of the Cascade Quatro that I had left over ( I used it for the mittens for the boy's English teacher). I bought some winter white Lion Brand wool for contrast. Check out the tiny ball of yarn next to the mittens, I think I was cutting it a bit too close! But the good news, you can get 2 pairs of mittens from Cascade Quatro and 220, which makes the mittens fairly inexpensive to knit as gifts!