Updates

I had a whole, long post going, but my mouse double clicked and closed the window--losing a most wonderful entry! (Well, it was really just normal, but you'd never know....)

I hate hearing about a story, but not hearing the ending, so here's the some recent updates (If this is boring to you, then just look at the pics):

My car is fixed and running smoothly. We now have another vehicle in the shop--the third since May! If only they would offer frequent flier miles, like "Fix five times, the sixth is free!" Now THAT is something we could use.

DS#1 has not signed with the White Sox yet, and unless anything dramatic happens he'll go back to college for at least one more year.

DS#2's baseball team won a championship for their coach-pitch division, starting from 8th seed and working their way to the top. He's following in his brother's footsteps. No knitting went with me since it was supposed to be one short game. 6 hours later, we were done. They forgot to mention that IT WAS A TOURNAMENT!!! Good thing the ice cream truck was there--our team would've starved!

I still the Solitaire game "Gaps", winning a dismal 4.8% of the time. Worse than before, but that doesn't stop me from playing. (Or learning from my mistakes.)

I've started the birthday clogs for my personal chauffeur. She requested variegated yarn and I'm using a matching (yes, it really does) yarn for the soles.

It will be interesting how it felts up.

Here's my green silk noil tank, sewn together, re-dyed, and drying. Hopefully this will be it.

The green dye from before didn't "stick", so I redid the dye today using "more" of everything: more vinegar, more soaking, more dye, more heat, more time. And, of course, I overdid the dye so it's not chartreuse anymore, but rather it's closer to a kelly green. It fits okay (I sewed it together first before redyeing. No reason to take the time to redye if it doesn't fit anyway.)

Here's some free 100% wool yarn that I received today. It's from a friend's MIL who was clearing out, and boy was she organized!

It will be great for some charity knitting.

This is a card that lists brand, amount, color, how much is left, what was made from it and what year, and a yarn sample of each color. A little bag contained this card and any yarn labels and had a number that matched the big yarn bag's number. Must've been used to cross reference.

Someday I'll be that organized!!!!

Scarf

I wish I could say that my lack of blogging is just because I've been too busy knitting. But it's not the case. However, I've been working on a couple of things.

Here are CIC slippers. They're fast to do, and use up odd bits of yarn.


Here are my 6 Sox KAL Chutes and Ladders Socks for CIC. They're done with 30 sts on sz 6US needles, with sz 4 for the cuffs. I'm still debating how to dye them.

I've had exciting new accomplishment with these socks--I learned how to cable without a cable needle. It's not nearly as hard as it sounds, and I haven't had any missing/dropped stitches yet. I followed these instructions. They worked fine for me as a leftie, as long as I ignored what way the cables were supposed to be twisted. I mean, I followed the instructions for a right twist cable whenever it said, and ignored the fact that it actually twists left for me. But since the whole thing is backwards anyway, it works.

After practicing awhile on the socks, I was finally ready to start my Saxon Braid Scarf. (This is with my blue, no wait--it's PURPLE! yarn). The first few rows were torture. How many types of 2/2 RPC, 2/1LPC, 4LC are there? I had to look up each stitch, one at a time, before attempting it.

To my surprise, however, it becomes like a rhythm, and I can almost feel what's coming next. (I'll never be without the pattern, though, but it's nice to anticipate what's next on the list.) I also can "almost" do the cables without checking.

I learned two more things while doing this scarf.

1. There's errata for this scarf on the web. I found it on the knittersreview forums, but it may be other places. I would never have thought about errata if it weren't for the knitlist. There are things that I think I ignore, but get lodged in my brain anyway, and for that I'm grateful.

2. I have lifelines--the red pieces of crochet cotton periodically threaded thru the stitches. That way, if I need to rip out, I'll have a place to go back to. Another thank you to the knitlist.

Paper and pencil WERE worthwhile!

Try this test--it must've caught me on a good day. I think I've used up all my IQ for the whole week!

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

I have a personal chauffeur

I have a personal chauffeur. (And yes, it's spelled right, although I had to start up MS Word to use the spell checker. Nope, the dictionary is way too far away from my computer. At least, I assume it is, I'm not real sure WHERE it is right now...)

As I was saying, I have a personal chauffeur. (I just doubted myself, and MS Word, so I found the dictionary and looked it up.)

Anyway, I have a personal chauffer. She's at my beck and call.

"Can you take this kid there while I take that kid here?"

"Can you go with me here? Or there? Or here and there?"

"Can you pick up this kid? But she will hard to reach, so can you drive around until you find her?"

"Can you pick up my kids from the bus stop, break into my house, let out the dog, keep one kid overnight, take her to her soccer game, lend her socks since she can't find hers (W-A-Y in the bottom of the bookbag)?"

This week, however, it's been all about the car.

"Can you take me today to get my car? It should be fixed by bus time. It's not fixed today, how about tomorrow morning. Not fixed, how about tonight? The original problem came back, so it won't be fixed until Monday. Can you drive me then?"

I've been so obsessed by this car business (10 days and counting!) that I totally forgot to tell her (on my blog),

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Yes, we even had plans, TWICE on her birthday, to get my car. What a friend!!!!!!

I did give her a present: a card for a knitted item. I suggested socks, but I told her she could pick, and she picked felted clogs! I love that felted clogs pattern. Yeah! It's been awhile since I've made them, so I'm quite excited to start them.

The only problem is....what will I now make for Christmas?

Good news/bad news

The good news: I tried out a new technique today, which worked better than I thought.
The bad news: It takes longer to do.

The good news: It's a seaming technique that makes the seams stretchier.
The bad news: It takes more yarn, making the seaming yarn V-E-R-Y long.

The good news: When pulled apart, it looks much better than using the mattress stitch on the inside.
The bad news: It takes longer to do.

The good news: It's not hard, just a sewing together from the outside (is it Kitchnering when it's vertical?)
The bad news: I put off trying it for months (it'll take too long--which it does. :)

The good news: It looks better.
The bad news: I might have to continue doing it, even though IT TAKES LONGER TO DO!


Here's a picture. I know you can still see where it's done, but the point is that it's BETTER!

A good knitting day

Forgot to post these--I love it when I find finished items that I forgot about! Makes me feel like I'm getting something done! They're another pair of basketweave socks for CIC. I had different amounts of orange, but not enough of any one shade. Tried to talk myself into making fraternal socks instead of identical, but couldn't do it. Now I'm glad I took the extra time.


To be daring, I decided to join the 6 Socks Knit-ALong. This month's socks are 2 pair for CIC--how about that? Here's my beginning.

I decided to make them white, then dye them later when a color calls to me. May redo them, however--not caring for the way the ribbing looks. Gonna try to learn cabling without a cable needle, since my toothpick keeps getting stuck on the yarn.

Wound up some more balls of yarn. These are all Cascade 220, and they were full skeins--must've had different tension since some are larger. Got my lampshade going again--this time it spun in the right direction so it didn't keep tightening up the screw on top.


I've had 3 soakers halfway done, waiting for some inspiration to strike me. Here's a glimpse of the first finished one.


It was a good knitting day!

Exciting times are ahead

Here you see 2 finished pieces of my chevron rib tank, using the silk noil that I hand-dyed. I have spared you (forgot to take) all the in-between pictures, especially the 4-5 times I restarted the front. Once I really got going, it was hard to stop and post. I was going on the old wives' tale that if you knit faster, you won't run out of yarn. (I don't think that's actually an old wives' tale, but it sure floats around my head a lot.)

I have enough yarn left over to seam the sides, plus doing a single crochet edging. How about that! I never thought the yarn would actually make it to the end. I kept thinking....if only I was younger, I could make a halter top--that way no upper back was needed. (I wouldn't need to be younger to make it, just to wear it. :)

I really got going on it while listening to the 1st day of the MLB draft over the internet. It was painfully slow--especially the first five rounds where they had to discuss each draft pick in 30 seconds or less before the next pick. After the 1st five rounds they just drafted without discussion, so things picked up.

I was listening for DS's name from 2-3 teams that had expressed an interest. In between I would knit, wander around, and finally I started to cook supper. I had just walked back into the room when I heard his name, being drafted in the 17th round by the White Sox! Not at all the teams I was watching, but I still managed to be in the room at the right time! Here's a link to his stats and a picture.

I don't really know what this means, but exciting times are ahead!

Linguistic Profile

Just had to try this out. This is me. What are you?

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

10% Dixie

10% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?