Whoops.....and all the associated expletives...

With the Christmas season approaching at the speed of light, I was pleased with myself for having adopted the 'dot system' developed by my friend Joan Hamer. Along with a bunch of other helpful schtuff on her website, one can find Joan's 'red dot system', designed to help take control of the UFO's that appear to be taking over our lives, if not our woollie rooms.

Having said that, I was right on track last Tuesday; and I finally finished this sweater for my little friend Spencer. Having ripped out each sleeve three times, I was psychologically ready to be done with this project before my fingers were able to make it physically happen.


So, I determined that I would finish the sweater Tuesday night (last)...which, I did. (Let the crowds go wild).....There, in all this wild and festive celebration, I victoriously turned the sweater right side out and held it out to admire, ignoring, of course, the straggling strings that I knew still needed to be woven in. Well, kind of like in the picture, I had to squint and turn my head this way and that to wonder............whaaaaa?????????



....so I squinted some more and bobbled some more and looked a little closer.........



...and Son of a Gun (and a few of his closest friends as well)

Long Overdue....

It has been entirely too long since I've been to work on this blog. Now that it has been this long, it's a challenge trying to get pictures up and organized. But we shall persevere. Lots of stuff going on (or not going on, as the case may be). In a nutshell, have been getting a lot of nice knitting done. I've actually been trying to put into use Joan's Red Dot system; and I may need to reorganize my side bar to correspond with how that has been working. It's a definite help!!

Most recently, finished the Dale baby outfit for a friend's first child, who should be arriving sometime within the next month. Let's see if I can extract a picture or two from the recesses of this machine...... Well, they're up there.....The pattern is from the Dale Book # 142; Yarn was a mixture of Jaeger and Rowan Superwash yarns purchased from Oh Susannah in Lancaster. I love that store! I always plan on atleast a few hours whenever I go there because the ladies are so nice and friendly and helpful. I'm sure I learn something new each and every time I go there.

I'm currently working on another baby item from Dale # 139, which is the adorable chicken sweater. There is a variation of the pattern on the cover of this pattern book. I saw a sample of the sweater at the Old Wool Peddler in Morgantown; and immediately changed my plans for what I was going to make for this next baby outfit. Since I've been unemployed, I'm finding that outside of the stress, unemployment does have some advantages. I'm currently working on the second sleeve and can conceivable have this sweater done in just a little over 2 weeks, which is definitely a record for me.

As things happen, though, this sweater has inspired me to start on a third child item, which previously had not been on my list. So I FORGOT about this birthday coming up!! But there is another Dale sweater in my near future....not an involved one, just a simple one. I'm excited.

FLAK is finished!!! Has been finished for over a month now; but since I've not been paying attention to the blog or pictures, it has not been posted. I will do that soon.

I also have the Braids Cardigan started on the needles. It's a nice change-to project when the itty bitty stitches on these little outfits seem to be taking so long.

But that's about it for now. Atleast we are back in business. Happy knitting!!!

Between then and now......

..My sweet sweet boy grew up. Something terrible happened, though......it's called THIRTEEN. He came downstairs on his birthday morning....I said Hey, Matt! Give us a birthday picture! And this is what we got....





...which reminds me of when he did that *last* year...hmmm...was it Valentine's Day?? Thanksgiving??? Can't remember exactly which...but he turned his back to me and meant to just fake me a moon...but he did it so fast that his shorts came down and the moon shone bright...and the poor kid turned beet red from embarassment.

It was priceless.

But, like I said...something terrible happened! Which is important to know!!!!

And I say that because I received an e-mail late this week from Kate...remember Kate?
She sent a photo of Sal's gorgeous children...Remember Sal? Anyway, Sal, your boys are just beautiful. It's obvious that Sal is doing more than farming chickens down there on the other side of the globe. But pay attention! These sweet boys will someday in the not too distant future be shooting you the moon as well!

I can hear him now, in the room across the house, coughing. But not just coughing, he has to embellish his coughing with drama that rivals the wettest smoker's hack of the most ancient, mucous-laden lungs that ever gasped for air on this earth. He knows that it sends me into convulsions of laughter.

I don't know why I encourage this child by laughing. Probably for the same reason that I encourage this child's father by laughing. It's just next to impossible to *not* laugh. They're just funny people. Which, I think, is an indispensible trait.

So, when Charlie mumbles that not one of the four children that he produced looks anything like him, I point out that he ought to just observe his son for an hour or a day. Particularly, now that the child is 13 and acting as wierd as 13 can be, it's his father in spades. His father still acts 13........

It's like that card that was out several years ago...It said, in a nutshell, that everything we needed to know, we learned in kindergarten. On the inside, it said:
Boys are wierd!

Indeed! You watch, Kate!......A year or two down the road, you're going to be shaking your head, watching your now-it's-too-late-husband.....thinking...MAN, are men ever wierd!

Anyway, on the knitting front, I finally finished the tube that is to be my niece's sweater. Whereas I think I was able to make a decent friend out of my left hand for two-color knitting in the round; my nemesis apparently is accomplishing that task in a reverse direction. Purling with two colors turned me into an ugly, miserable person. I've concluded that any additional parts to this sweater that might involve multiple colors NOT in a circular situation will all have to have lots of threads hanging from their respective left sides. Not to worry.......

Until then..here's the latest picture that I've taken of 'the tube'.

How do YOU spell Bad??

In our house, it's spelled Ethel....or Ethel Mae. This is what the room looked like when she was finished gathering her toys and everyone else's socks....and the huge pile of ice cubes that I extracted from the ice maker so that it would extrude ice for us. Why did I think that putting them in her bowl was a good idea???

But Ethel *did* help out today....as shown by her very patiently (!) helping to model the finished chemo caps for Sharron........Look how lovely Ethel looks in purple......




..and in red....



...and with her seeming limitless patience...red-eye shots....mid-blink shots...and
uninvited white spots in front of her eyes, she eventually gave me this..and nothing more......wouldn't even turn her head....



But even Ethel Mae can't hold a grudge for very long. Within moments, she gave me one of these....And I know that if there is ever a position open again for a sweet young knitwear model, she'll volunteer readily with a wag and a sloppy kiss.

Wishes for Sharron

..today was devoted to knitting a chemo cap for Sharron, who is a very warm and inspiring woman with whom I am privileged to work. I knit and frogged a version last weekend in the merino superwash...I didn't like the gauge, nor the feel. I found this week a different recommendation for Rowan Calmer, 75% cotton, 25% acrylic microfiber; and the feel of this cap is just very nice. Red, of course, is for courage...purple, for peace. Please send Sharron your warmest, healing thoughts. This would have been her first week of her chemo treatments. She survived ovarian cancer a number of years ago; and now is having to battle cancer again. As cruel as life can be, her daughter, I understand, is also currently battling breast cancer. My thoughts are with both of them. Tomorrow, I will tackle the purple cap, then back to the FLAK piece to complete the front. Please keep Sharron and her daughter in your thoughts and prayers.......

Non-progress on the Christmas poncho

So, here's where I've gone with the Christmas Poncho. I was feeling a bit guilty about it until the Valentine's Day dance, when the charming Miss M. came downstairs in an old, mis-fitting t-shirt and a nice denim skirt. I asked 'why not wear that nice cabled sweater I made you?'.....and not only could she not FIND it, but when she finally pulled it out of some pile, she , in a hurry to get out of the house with her girlfriend, had put it on INSIDE OUT and hadn't even noticed that all those lovely cables weren't even showing.

...so there went any guilt at not having spent the time to make sure that she gets her poncho right away.

I've been flakking and re-flakking....and notice the excess yarn swimming around today's picture!!! I just can't get the idea of frogging down to correct a braid 4 rows back. I made an error on previous swatches, and am flummoxed by the idea that when I make a mistake with a cable or braid, I match the mistake in the repeat of the same pattern in the same row. It must look right to me at the time at each cable......mysterious stuff.

But I'm almost done with the back.....I was closer to being almost done with the back last night before the frogging...but that's ok.

I've also been working...after some frogging as well.....on the Nordic piece for my niece....the niece piece...which is quickly approaching the start of the patterning at the top of the 'tube'. I've not given much thought to the impending steeking and inlayed panel processes....I think I'll just think about it when I get there, lest I scare myself out of doing it at all.

And I started and frogged a chemo cap last weekend. Red, for courage, and Lana Grosso merino 2000, which *is* very soft. I'm not convinced, however, that it's soft *enough*. I hate using synthetics; although synthetics have been recommended for their softness. I HAVE Sadie downstairs,....with plenty of wool, which I might want to dye and spin up. I then have to wonder whether it would be too hot.....unless, of course, it starts to act like winter again.

We *loved* the snow that this past weekend brought; but yesterday was acting like spring again. It's just a bit unsettling....makes me dread what this summer might bring.....in the event that it's hot as blazes. If it turns out to be mild, then that would be ok. But hot weather puts me in one foul mood.....NOT a pretty sight.

Anyway...that's it for today. It was my goal to get this posted and figure out the joining of the FLAK ring. I copy and pasted the ring button, then thought I had taken it out, since I wasn't seeing it.....now I see that it's back again. Either there is a button faery helping out with this mission, or I have no clue........whoops...now it's gone again. ...yep...she's clueless.

So now, we have to wonder, WHAT'S UP with those crazy Lake Erie girls????? Hmmmm....I think Kate's probably busy hemming-no-KNITTING her lovely wedding gown...while Sal must be up to her ears in.....hmmmmm maybe chicken*^&t. That's ok. I know they're going to surprise us with some news any old day now......

Hey Mom, have you finished my poncho yet??

.....ummmmm.......

Guess what? Am I the only one who has not finished her Christmas presents yet? For 2005? I am a terrible mother. I rushed to finish my daughter's sweater (for Christmas), then my father's birthday vest (for BD 12/30), then conveniently left Maersy's poncho waiting.....on the bobbins.....not even on the needles!! I did start to knit a bit of the piece, but since the yarn is doubled, it was used up quickly. She chose one of the ponchos that was presented in the Interweave magazine a few months ago.

I should be better about documenting my sources, but it's just such a task to unearth that particular document from the stack of documents known as my side table. Every day, I look at one more book or pattern book and quickly (and ever so carefully), add it strategically to the teetering pile of books that lives next to me when I knit. Once a week, (or two, or three), I reorganize the pile, put some away, and neaten up the rest. It never fails, though, that it's another teetering mess within three days.

It's a sign of use, I figure.

So here's Maersy's poncho. Still on the bobbins. ..and in the roving bag. It's one of the the precursor projects to the big honkin' dye pot that I got for Christmas. Although not quite as evident in this project, but particularly in the Spinnery sweater, I have not been able to dye my entire batch of roving in the same pot. Since this project is more variegated in nature, it doesn't bother me as much. But with her sweater, I was not happy with the variation in color across my skeins. Of course, it doesn't help that the skeins were not consistent in type of wool, as well. Chalk it up to the learning curve.

Again, I digress. I need to put aside the Nordic sweater, the FLAK re-swatch, the baby sweater swatches, the socks....did I miss anything else?.....and get back to spinning for her Christmas present.

But it IS 9....and I'm really quite tired.....so I think I'll just pull out the easy stuff and just knit without thinking on that for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow morning, Maer...I promise!!

..here goes, hopefully more than NOTHING

..which is almost what I expect to happen when I try to put in pictures.

I had a nice knit today with my friend, Joan. Joan, the enabler.... in capital letters. Or so it is said. But part of her enabling is her ability to support and encourage....knitter enablers really are a good bunch....so it is with the courage that she imparted this morning that I attempt my second post, this time WITH pictures..... (and someday, I'll even be able to turn your name into a link!)

So HERE is my excitement for the week. Jan. 17th was the official cast-on day for a project that I am so incredibly excited about. My very special niece graduated just a few weeks ago from Penn State. I told her that she could pick any sweater in the world, and I would make it for her.

Wasn't that brave of me? We spent a bit of time sorting through different styles on the web, from which she chose a Dale of Norway style. Well, how exciting is THAT....I knew JUST where we needed to go. So we went to my very favorite local yarn store, where there are THE most incredible patterns available....those of you from the area who love to go to Oh Susannah know just what I'm talking about.....and there she chose her sweater.

Now is where I try to put a scanned picture in.......just the fact that I figured out how to scan is nothing short of miraculous...but here goes......

...and there it is, right above......Now ask me if I've ever done stranded colorwork? Nope......

OR...how about the intarsia on the insert of the front over there......hmmmm I guess the sheep in Miss Charlotte's sweater would count, so yes, I have done intarsia. But basic intarsia. I am SO excited to be doing this sweater. I've already been wowed by a few things.....like how that row of purled stitches mades that neat fold line for the facing......like how as I try to make friends with my left hand and have it work in concert with the right, that when I came to the second row of alternating color stitches, all of the white were twisted. Only then did I realize that I was wrapping backwards with that left hand.

I'm still a bit befuddled by the space where the previous row jogs with the next row......but I think that will come. Now, if I can figure out where to fit my picture of where I am...which is a bit farther because of the lovely knit that I had with Joan this morning.

Well, that one landed at the top. I have NO idea how to position these pictures; but I'm just going to be pleased that they're there....at all.........Besides, I now have a BOOK refer to for the rest of all of this new knowledge that there is to be had about doing a blog. So in between knitting and the rest of life, I'll read that book in bits and pieces and eventually have all of this figured out.

I was really hoping that Kate would just know all of this already and take care of it. She is being shy this week, I guess. And what a good idea!!! You DID say that you taught Our Gal Sal to knit as well.....well, then I think Sal ought to participate also. So when you gals are finished thinking about it, just hop on. I mean REALLY...it's not as if anyone actually READS this, eh????

So thanks Joan for the courage! I'm off to knit with my fine cup of coffee..

A Brave New World

...and we are brave, indeed! Welcome to the very first post of our very first blog....atleast I think it's our very first blog. In case you ...well, there really isn't anything ELSE to read at this point, so it is likely that you DID read the intro...this blog is by two LEC grads for knitters.....Part of the brave part is that Kate doesn't know yet that she has a blog. I mentioned to her that I had become slightly addicted to *reading* knitting blogs and suggested that we do a blog together. I told her that if we did one together, when it became painfully apparent that I had nothing to show, I could use some of her knittings and just say that I had made THAT as well. If I remember correctly...she said that ..well, more or less....that it was a great idea. Remember that, Kate? It's funny , because she said that I should write a blog because she thought I was the 'funniest damn writer that she ever knew'...which I think is funny, because I always thought SHE was the funniest damn writer that *I* knew. So any way you look at it.....there is hope that it will be, if nothing else.....funny.


As I mentioned, Kate and I met years ago at a little college by the sea...no lake......that would be Lake Erie...or as we used to call it, Lake College for Erie Women..... I was a sweet young thing...and Kate was...well, I'm not sure if I'm able to say what we used to call her at college...I think it was a tongue-in-cheek reputation that she appreciated....it is rather funny to think back on.

I'm sure I never saw Kate with a pair of knitting needles in her hands at the time. Maybe a martini...or a Rolling Rock....or a Genny Cream....but never knitting needles. I'm sure *I* was never seen with knitting needles in those years, either. Knitting is something that until about two years ago I was certainly certain that I did NOT need to be learning, much less have an interest in. It's all a long story, but I know that Kate is a very experienced knitter, and I am not. So I'm sure Kate will let me steal her pictures and have you all ooooh and aaaaah about how clever a knitter I am. ..Works for me...

But even though Kate isn't a...well.....fully INFORMED co-host of this blog, I'm sure she won't mind. She may be too busy to write much for a while. She is preparing to be married this year. She is marrying a man named Leopold, but she just calls him Jim for short. He must be a nice man, because he had the good taste to be asking our Kate to marry him. I think it behooves us, as knitters, to share with her a few warnings about what she is embarking on....as she makes the transition from being an independent woman to sharing a bathroom with a man. But we'll do it kindly and gradually. It just wouldn't be right for us to not warn her about thing like.....well, like things that go quiver in the sink. NO ONE warned ME about THAT one.....and damnit, I would have appreciated it if someone HAD!!! So there, Kate.....my gift to you....a fair warning that you will be witness to things that you were sure you never needed to witness before.