Not Sleet, nor Rain, nor even HEATWAVE.....

Could stop the USPS from their duties... Yay! My secret pal received her package this week....and she liked it!!!! Can't say what it is...cause that could give my secret identity away now couldn't it....or ....maybe I've already said too much!

Happy weekend everbody!

all better

Yep....at 0500 this morning, the cat proclaimed herself mostly healed and proceded to scratch and bang at my bedroom door until I got up and got her some fresh catfood! And by this afternoon she's pretty much back to her normal gait....leading me to ask myself....was she really hurting or is she a big faker!!!! Alright I'm sure she was sore but she's getting around fine now but none the less grouchy. Geez what was in that injection anyway!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

SP-- oh my gosh, no craft stores???? only walmart???? what kind of black hole did you get sucked into anyhow....you must get on a westbound freeway immediately! Travel safely!
(do you need me to overnight some yarn to you somewhere or are you well enough supplied til you get back home or at least to a decent walmart :))

knitting bags

OK FINE!!! Here's my messy pile of knitting bags. Most of my stuff stays in my constant companion bag...or a yarnshop bag while I work on it. But I have to say... I'm really loving my small project bags that my secret pal made me. That's one right there with the circles on it....it has a sock in progress in it as we speak. It's perfect to take to work. Absolutely perfect!!



My elderly lady cat has recently moved back in the house. She's always been at least and indoor outdoor cat...but for quite a while now more outdoor than in...allergies ya know. But...with all the heat we've had and her getting old old old...she's back inside. Took her to the vet yesterday and she got a rabies shot....and she's dang sore today. Anyone have a kittycat weelchair or walker? Cause she's needing one today. Did I mention how much I hate cat hair??? uh yeah.

Works been busy but mostly the fact that I've worked everyday this week...I have brain strain. Isn't that awful? I've gotten so used to my light schedule that I've turned into a princess I think. Yeesh I hate that. But the week is almost over... and I'll survive I'm quite sure hahaha. Next week, back to our normally scheduled programming!

Dang Hot

Oh yeah, it's hot out there. It's 9:30 PM and it's 95 degrees out still. Supposed to hit a chilly low of 79 at about 5 am for a couple of hours or so and then it will soar to 109 AGAIN. We actually hit 111 today. Course, I barely noticed...I spent the weekend dinkin around the house. (that's right, I said dinkin). That and letting the cat in....and out....and back in...then back out. Yeesh I think she has dementia. She's 16 and moving pretty slow these days, poor old girl. She's not a house cat but it's way too hot out there, but she doesn't want to stay inside either, that's were the dementia comes in I think.

Anyhow, I didn't knit all weekend, (well on Friday night I did finish the front of the jat top and worked on an afghan) ....and don't have alot to show for my time either...well I might, but I can't say what here, birthday, Christmas etc.... but now, I need to block the sweater, the sleeveless and the baby sweater actually, so that I can finish them up and be DONE with it! Yay!!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Color me SPOILED

Yep that's right...today I received in the mail not one...but two, count em TWO packages from my Secret Pal. My very astute Secret Pal. I think one of my friends must be sneaking her hints or something, nobody can be this good....or can they?

First...two brown paper wrapped boxes....not plain brown paper...highly decorated by my sp...she addressed them to Mother, Friend, Knitter then corrected that to Knitter Mother Friend ha ha ha. Then under the brown wrapper....she made boxes...yep she MADE them...out of old record album covers....the first was the album cover to the soundtrack from Shaft! Gotta love it (and she tells me that after she cut up the cover, her man tells her it's selling for $60.00 on e-bay OH Crap!) And at that point when she could have had an expensive decorative box for herself.....she continued to fill it with goodies and send it to me....awwwwwe.

And the second album cover box is titled The Solid Bluegrass Sounds of THE KENTUCKIANS!


Very fun! Now....the contents:


Snacks: (she says she traveled the world over for my gifts...and by the packaging...it looks like it...or she lives near a Chinatown (japantown?) hehehe One cup of Hello Kitty biscuits with chocolate cream
(hey it just occured to me...are these cat treats???
too bad, they say chocolate, I'm eaten em)
One box of Pocky chocolate covered biscuit sticks....( a product of Japan), one box of Botan Rice Candy, with a free sticker inside!!! Yay!!! An eight pack of Marukawa Orange bubble gum...yummy also made in Japan, a package of much needed Miffy wet wipes... I'll need em after eatin all that chocolate!
Two packages of Coasters, one with a maple leaf on it and the other with a Sumo Wrestler on it woooohoooo! ;P

Fish....she sent me blow fish hehehe they are made of paper and you blow them up and hang them from a string....very cute! There's a red one, blue one, and a yellow one.
Knitting paraphenalia ... she's a sewer that one... hehehe not a sewer but a Sew-er. She made me two small project bags, see they are the perfect size to put a sock in progress or other small project in. And because she pays attention to detail, she knows I've been knitting socks, and just started on washrags. So she sent me a pattern for each, they are laminated so they'll fold and fit nicely in my small project bags. AND:

yarn... She sent me yarn...wonderful, glorious YARN....four skeins, count em 4! they are Stork sock weight, 100% cotton perfect for socks and or washrags!!! Imported from Norway no less.
Two skeins are in a beautiful turquois blue and one in bright pink and the other in light green...Tell me SP who told you that I have 3 gallons of green paint just waiting to go on the walls in my bedroom and bathroom that should go very nicely with the green yarn????

What a wonderful day!!! What a glorious Secret Pal!

Now please everyone...think good thoughts for my SP, she commented on my last post and said she's on a car ride across the country (assuming she's living on the west coast like I am supposing she is :)) with a small teething boychild, a dog, and a man who likes to drive through the night! But, staying true to form she's not dwelling on her problems, she tells me to watch for postcards!!! Is she a great spoiler or what? Wish for a safe trip and low humidity for her...she's going to N.Carolina ....OMG can you say sticky?

Thank you Thank you Thank you sp, you're the best!

Projects in progress

I don't have that many actually, ok, so maybe it's more accurate to say that the one's I have aren't that old. I'm working on a wedding gift, it's a lovely cream color, so I don't want to haul it back and forth to work, (or anywhere else for that matter) 1. because I don't want it to get dirty and 2. because I'm making it for a co-worker.
So, naturally I cast on another project that I can take to work so I can knit in my down time. That beautiful aqua blue Berocco Touche. I bought it a few months ago to make a tank top type sweater with. So the pattern I'm using is the Jat Top from Karabella






and I am knitting along...and along....and along... due to different gauge etc.... I'm using size 8 needles but had to cast on 30 extra stitches for a total of 170 ugh.... so I'm knitting knitting knitting....and got to this point....








when I realized uhoh...this is where I have to deviate from the pattern...in order to change the neckline which as you can see from the pattern is clearly not a tank top neckline. So ... I had to stop...on saturday night, because I NEED HELP and Heartstrings is closed on Sundays...so what did I do? Why, I cast on a new sock of course!!!!




Then yesterday I hurried over to Heartstrings on my lunch hour (and a half) and found Dawn, who is once of the nicest ladies in the universe. She sat down with me, and a calculator and basically re-worked the pattern for me, came up with a plan for my neckline and then said, "come back and see me when you're ready to start the front!!!" How nice is that? And I'll definitely need help with the front. The back of the neck will basically be strait across, probably can't do that with the front.

So....I decided post to my blog today (because when I logged on I realized oops it's been a week since my last post) and thought I'd like to put some pics up of projects in progress. I got out the camera, laid the sweater out on the floor and took pics. Did I mention we're having a heat spell and I've let my elderly wench of a Siamese cat come in the house? Yes well, anyone who has a cat knows what happens when you lay anything, ANYTHING out in front of you on the floor...

THIS is what happens:

yep....she not only walked across it but she snagged it....not once but twice...one walk across and picked up and caught stitches on two nails....oooooooooh yeeeeesh. I was not happy.

Here's lil miss attitude:



She doesn't look very sorry.

Supposed to be about 107 today, so I'm staying in, and keeping my knitting off the floor and in my lap where it belongs (after my chores are done of course) aaaah ha ha ha.

Stay cool every one! Happy Tuesday.

Ice Cream

I received a card in the mail from my secret pal today! Yahoo.... it is very cute, pictures of Ice Cream Cones all over the front of it...think I'll head off to Ben & Jerry's!!!
Thanks Secret Pal, it was nice to hear from you!

Stash Enhancement Day:

Yep, must be Tuesday!!! Went to the LYS to ask a simple, simple question about guage and a tank top I wanted to start today.... hours later, and bags of yarn later I've planned out a few Christmas gifts! Can't say what they are just yet, I think some recipients might just read my blog now and then. I did get my questions answered though, so that's good.

OH....and Happy Birthday to Joanne at Heartstrings!!!!!

Let Them Eat Cake.....

Sunday was knitting circle day....and it was my turn to "host" it, which means everybody came to my house for snacks, knitting and a movie (well, most of a movie anyway).

It was also our chance to celebrate our friend Julies birthday! And so we did....

Here's the birthday girl:

Here's the birthday cake: aka earthquake cake

Here's the group enjoying the cake:

You might notice the TV in the background, below it is the DVD Player now known as "the DVD player which shall not be named", which is apparently now in DVD player heaven but had the gall to crap out just before the end of Knotting Hill leaving us in chick flick hell! Damn technology! have we gotten nowhere? It's 2006 for crying out loud....how does this happen? Ya spend 39.00 on a DVD player and should expect it last longer than 18 months !!! Ok...maybe not! Sorry girls.... (tail tucked between legs).

I'm ticked because I haven't seen that movie in so long....I can't remember how it ended!!!! Then it hits me....it's on all the time on On Demand, for free!!!! Maybe tonight I'll watch it again....sorry girls :)

But we still had our knitting....and cake....yummmmmy cake. And there was singing....the birthday song of course!!! scary stuff! he he he.

knitting: I've started a wedding gift, which I can't describe here because what if I'm an idiot and forget about it and then tell the bride about my blog....well you know.... just suffice it to say that after 3 cast ons and fixing a dropped stitch, which may actually be a yarn over, I'm on my way and it looks pretty!!!! (she'll never know, she doesn't knit....gasp).

And since the bride to be works in my office, I also started the guage swatch for a tank top (for myself ... unless I don't knit to the right guage and then it's for whoever it fits!) which I'll be able to take to work when it's slow in the office, which might help to keep me from wandering over to my LYS and "enhancing my stash"!

Also went to the movie this weekend, saw The Devil Wears Prada..... and in the words of Miranda,

"that's all"

Ok so at about one o'clock this morning, I finished that second sock!!! Yea!!! And I even wove in the ends. (is wove a word?) Today at work, I finished reading the yarn harlot (thankyou Brooke)....for any knitter who hasn't read it .... YOU HAVE TO! It's so funny, I wanted to read small parts of it to the non-knitters in the office, but somehow, I'm sure they wouldn't see quite the same humor as I did. And.....when I finished that, I started back on that second red wash rag....in seed stitch. And since I have a whole skein of the cotton to finish it with, I'll have enough to do a third wash rag! So I guess I will.

Sunday is our Knitting Circle get together....(I'm still in big denial about that guest bathroom....But hey technically I have until Sunday morning right?) the rest of the house is ready though....so bring it on....and don't worry girls...I'll finish it, you won't have to hold it.

Have a great weekend ever body!!!!

UFOs

I grafted the toe on that UFO sock of fixation this evening...and then did the cast-on for the dreaded second sock. I think I've found a solution to that dread though, that is that if you start sock #1 and don't finish it for months, then when you do finish it, #2 doesn't seem so daunting. Well it sorta makes sense. So I did the cast-on, and luckily there was a double episode of Lost on tonight which kept my attention...which led to the news which wasn't really new and that lead to Letterman which of course leads to that cheeky little monkey Craig Ferguson! And here it is after one in the morning, I finished the leg, the heel flap, turned the heel, did the gussets and the gusset decreases and am working on the foot length...but that's good enough for one night, it's lights out! Have to work tomorrow but it looks like a light day so far, (which means I'll take my knitting and it will get too busy to pick it up!).

House cleaning update

So... I have all these days off, since friday at 2 pm to be exact (and it's now 6 pm on Monday), I had sincerely hoped to have my house completely and thouroughly minimalized and clean clean clean. Instead, I have 5 new plants in my yard, my hypertufa bird bath (which I made last fall) has finally landed in it's rightful place in my yard, and my son's (which has been sitting in an "in the way" place on my patio since Christmas) has found it's place in his yard. The picture doesn't really do it justice, if it's in a fairly shady and/or damp place it would get mossy which could look cool. And, it would look kinda cool if the base and top were turned on an angle...Anyhoooo

What else, I did muck out and minimalize my home office, And then I promptly went to World Market and Pier One and bought stuff to "help organize" it...or muck it back up ... we shall see.
At any rate, it's done....and it 's time to move on to mucking out the bathrooms, and doing all the other disgusting cleaning things I hate to do. Which I was sure would be done by now....

I did finish my first wash rag....and am halfway through the second one but ran out of yarn,
pattern: from Knitting the Easy Way
yarn: Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, 100% mercerized cotten
needle: one is done on US #8 circular and the half finished is seed stitch on US # 7 Addi's

And then...since I was out of yarn and couldn't continue I decided it's time I finished my oldest UFO which is a pair of socks from Cascade Fixation.

See the lengths that one can go to in order to avoid the yukky chores in life!!!! (I think we can add updating my blog to the lengths I'll go to also!)

Alright, I hear a toilet calling my name (hey...that doesn't sound right does it...) I'm outta here.

days off

Whooo Hooo ... 4 days off. Ya gotta love long weekends. I have big plans for minimalizing my home... like ... going through cabinets and closets and dressers and getting rid of stuff that's just hanging out there and not being useful. So I got up this morning and promptly started yardwork hahaha back yard looks better but the cabinets don't. Figured I 'd save that for the hottest part of the day...like...right now for instance hehehe. Hey.... I'm just relaxin for a minute after my shower.... a little nappynap sounds nice about now! NO.... muuust cleeaan houuuuse.
Anyhoooo I'm offa here...oh my spoilee blogged today...finally... hehehe she likes the yarn I sent here Yipppeee. She's been a busy bee.

Have a happy 4th everbody!

post card

I got one today from my SP.....Thanks SP. I think she's passively aggressively taunting me. She tells me that she's enjoying her summer at her favorite French Bakery in San Francisco. Oh how I'd like to be there in cooler weather right now! Lucky woman!!!!

BTW Secret Pal --- How's the teething goin?? (throwing out a lil taunt of my own). hehehe.
NO, really I hope it's going well. Thanks for the card!!!

ok, here's one of the purses.
The Pattern: The Retro Bag ( I think)
Yarn: Noro Kureyon color 52 and Cascade 220 two strands
(one of each) throughout.
Needles: 11 circulars.

Procrastination

Ok, so I'm guilty of that....I'm a dawdler sometimes... I forgot to take/post pictures of those purses before I gave them away. And...so that is that. I recently finished a very fuzzy soft pair of sockies for my sp.....shhhhh it's a secret though. They're out of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora mmmmmm sooooo soft!!!! And they tell me machine washable! Hope they fit! :)


AND... I made another constant companion bag....this one I just mailed to my mom...she's giving it to a friend for a birthday present....that lucky woman!!!! hee hee hee.

Today, even though I'm grounded from buying more yarn....don't tell on me....I went to my LYS and bought some cotton for washcloths. I haven't made one yet so I thought I'd give them a try, and that seems like a great way to learn new stitch patterns. Still have to finish the little sweater and then I need to start a tank that I bought yarn for awhile back....can't wait to do that. UFO's first though...(yeah right).

And.. I guess that's about it as far as my knitting world goes...ooooh we did another KC day, knitted....ate salads....watched The Family Stone....(I love that movie) which means we all cried too! Next one's at my house....guess I better put the knitting down and do a little housework...I hate that!!

Happy almost the end of June everyone!!

More Bags.....

Over the weekend, I felted a purse that I will give as a birthday gift to my friend, I knitted and felted a purse that I will give to my son's girlfriend for her b-day.... both are the "Retro" Bag from Designs by Shelly. And they both turned out real cute....I'll post a pic soon.AND... I started another Constant Companion bag from Knitter's Stash. All three are worked double strand with Cascade and Noro Kureyon. It's always fun to knit with Noro and watch the color stripes unfold. I've done so much knitting in the past 3 days my wrist is getting sore!!! (Ibuprofen is our friend) The constant companion bag was "commissioned by my mother....she's going to give it to her good friend for her birthday. What's with all the June B-days anyway! Which reminds me... My niece's is this month too...can't say what she's getting, she could visit this blog and then what kinda surprise would that be?!! OK, it's way too late to be on here...next post pics of purses...(say that 3 times fast). Have a great week my knitter friends!

Constant Companion #2

It's finally finished! I actually felted it last weekend, but... I hate the finish work and have been just too lazy to finish it up. So, tonight I finally shaved the fuzz off it and sewed on the pockets and then put the handles on it. Voila...it's finished. I'm not sure what I'll do with it...I may give it to a friend, a non-knitter, (who knew such a person exists) for her birthday to use as an overnight bag. So, tell me sister knitters....is it a good birthday gift? A good overnight bag?? I'd love some input! I like it ok, but I like my brown bag better!

Pattern: My Constant Companion
Book: Knitter's Stash
Yarn: one strand Noro Kureyon color # 92/one strand Cascade Ecological Wool shade 8010
Needles: Size 11 US/24 inch circular (clover bamboo)

Here are the before felting and after felting pics....



Wow... Looking at the pics I just knowticed the blue/green stripes three in the body of the bag and one on the top edge....kinda cool....ok maybe I like it more now hahaha. Maybe I should take the pocket off????

And She Strikes Again!!!

Yep, two days in a row!!! woohooo I got a card in the mail today..... from Hawaii!!! Lucky pal. And tucked inside the card are some Hawaiin flower decals!!! I love em! If they'd adhere to felted wool I'd decal my knitting bag hehehe but they won't so I'll have to stick em on my car.

Thanks Secret Pal ... you're so thoughtful!

My Secret Pal Strikes....

Will ya just look at the wonderful gifts my pal sent to me? I was having kind of a hectic day and came home to find a cute little bear covered box on my front porch! And tucked inside...was a gift bag homemade from newspaper with handles made of twine thru green eyelets. And tucked inside that was not one but two beeauuuutifuuuul homemade needle holders...(see picture above) . They are both made from denim with a bright pink back and pretty pink and white floral print, with bright pink grossgrain ribon ties. I just love em! Don't my needles look nice in their new resting place? OK, those aren't all my needles, and I definately have enough to put in both the needle rolls. Can you see the two bars of soap? They smell really really gooood (french no less) one is lavender scent, and the other peony. She sent a very sweet card too!
AND ... (yes, there's more) .... a pair of handknit socks!!!!! Look at my HAPPY FEET. They fit perfectly!!! Well done SP
Thank you so much for such lovely and thoughtfull gifts! You are a great spoiler!!!

Antiiiiiiciiipaaaation....Annntiiiiciiiiipaaa aaation....

Isn't that a song? I got a comment from my secret paaaal today....she says I'll be gettin a lil somtin in the mail tomorrow....yea....I can't wait. I love surprises...most of the time hee hee hee.

And...I have ta say.....no... I'm not really all that into Sci Fi....I guess it depends on what we're talkin about. If it's books... I'm more into mystery/crime type books.... and if it's tv, I'm more into the Law and Order/CSI type stuff/medical drama/mystery etc .... Movies... comedy/mystery/drama etc... I saw ET, I saw Close Encounters, I saw Star Wars (the first one not too many after that)

On another note.....my brother...is a lucky lucky brother. He flew to San Juan Puerto Rico this morning, and tomorrow he'll take a hop to the island of Les Saintes where he'll meet up with his friend who lives on a sail boat and they'll be sailing around the Caribbean which is where my brother will spend his 40th Birthday!!! So....HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!

Also today, (it was a busy day), I mailed off a package to my spoilee.....can't wait for her to get it.
I checked her blog today and found that she's enjoyed a nice red wine with the dark chocolate "Toffee Interlude" that I sent her. Hehehe I love it...a woman who appreciates the fine things in life....like, chocolate and wine!!!! yummmm

Happy Tueday everyone!