Catching Up

It has been a really interesting and fun last couple of months. Our son got married, beautiful wedding and great reception and rehearsal dinner. Lot's of fun, stress and memories built (note me trying not to cry). The knitting has been fitted in around all the excitement! Still participating in the Ravelry Scary Lace kal. Finished Springtime Bandit and Traveling Woman and cast on the Woodland Shawl today. Also finished the Shalom sweater I was working on. SAFF was so much fun. I fell in love with a black sheep named Clara Barton and learned to spin. Pics and details to follow. I am cold sheeping and organizing!

Getting my Fizz back!

Had lunch with friends last week and we were all complaining about losing our spark. Don't know whether it is the economy, the heat or all of us being over 50. I described it as the difference between a flat soda and a fizzy one. My husband agreed we were in a rut and we decided to pack a bag and head out Saturday morning for a overnight trip west. We had no plan, no destination and no where we had to be. We got onto to Hwy 64 and headed west. Stopped for Lunch in Statesville and decided to go to Blowing Rock via 321. He was actually game for any yarn stores in the vicinity. Discovered Chix w/Stixs in Lenoir and Unwound in Blowing Rock. Both cozy places with nice owners and a good selection of yarns. We saw a gorgeous wedding in progress at Chetola resort and discovered Glidewells's a terrific restaurant with live music and great food and service. All in all a wonderful weekend trip and a return to fizziness (spell check wants me to change that to dizziness or fuzziness and although I have experienced those,I prefer fizziness.) Have completed Liesel and have moved onto the 3rd beginners lace kal Springtime Bandit. More on Bandit and my purchases later. I am off to conquer the provisional cast on!

A Quiet Sunday

Today I had the house to myself and no agenda. A very unusual occurrence in my life! Sat on the deck, knitting and enjoyed the sunshine and birds. Found it much easier to work on Liesel without any TV, radio or conversation happening. Worked on making a needle "home" for my knitpicks harmony dpns and circs. Started with 3 clearance place mats from Stein Mart. Didn't have any clue what it would look like but it turned out close to the idea!

knitting - murder and mayhem

This week was actually not too bad but it had it's moments. Twice I avoided major property destruction and/or behavior injurious to self or others by diving into a little yarny goodness. On Thursday we had a contentious meeting at work, I called a break and asked a few folks to please play nice with others please! I was so frustrated I went to lunch early and ended up at Great Yarns in Raleigh. I am so lucky it is close to my office. Mary was in the shop and asked if she could help me. I told her I just needed to soak up some yarn fumes so I could go back to work and BE NICE! I left without buying anything, got halfway to my car and went back in and bought this lace weight yarn. Only then was it possible to go back and be the good little employee I strive to be. In honor of the restorative nature of this purchase I am calling this the Serenity Shawl, You know...God grant me the serenity... Today in the car with my husband as he cursed at the third cyclist we passed I knit away on my swatch and smiled. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference!

Bitten by the Bug

I have joined the Scary Lace KAL on Ravelry. Our moderator and fearless leader is lemonblondie. It is terrific, we did the easy lace scarf first and are now working on Liesel. I started with a variegated yarn (on left) but found I couldn't really see the pattern very well. I am using Classic Elite Yarns "Classic Silk". I have gotten six inches done on Flow and started the sleeve on the summer leaf yoke. It's a struggle though, all I want to do is work on lace!

Catching up!

From the top - finally have started Flow by Norah Gaughn, finished my feather and fan for the Scary Lace KAL on Ravelry, the Quilter's prize won by DeDe and the Knitter's Prize won by Karen!

BEST MIL

My knitting group Girls with Purls met at my house and then we went to Bella Filati in Southern Pines to check out their bag sale. My mother in law (MIL) baked us a cake appropriate for the occasion. We had a great time and I spent way too much money. Peer pressure is a terrible thing. The other picture is of my Feather & Fan scarf, it is a newbie KAL from the Ravelry Scary Lace group. Mission Falls 100% cotton yarn on size 6 needles.

The Best Laid Plans

My week in Florida turned into 15 days with much time spent at the hospital with a family member. You would think that would translate into alot of knitting but au contraire! I knit on my summer sweater and also started the yoke leaf pattern. Let's just say much ripping followed much knitting! Knitting is good for crisis management but crisis management is not good for knitting. Yesterday was the Race for the Cure. It was a blast, we had 21 team members and raised $2,144.68. Thanks to all for their support! The winner of the knitter's prize package is....Karen Calinski! Pics of prize to follow. The winner of the quilter's prize package is....DeDe Mabe! Pics of prize to follow.

All wound up and ready to go.

I am headed to Florida tomorrow for a week. Packing clothes is not problem, but figuring out how much knitting is enough is tricky! Plan to work on Leaf yoke summer sweater and start Flow with Berroco Seduce.

and yet another baby quilt

Here is the third baby quilt - hard to see from the picture but it is frog themed as is the nursery. These are such fun! Stitch and Pitch 2009 - and I never thought I looked good in hats!

To RIP or not to RIP

After working the decreases in my leaf yoke cardigan I had 91 stitches for the front and 89 for the back instead of 89 for each. I convinced myself it wouldn't really matter, after all it is only 2 stitches. My Yarn Harlot calendar had a pithy piece on determining when to fix an error. I read it, disregarded it and continued to work for about 3 more inches on the sweater. I tried to push away the nagging questions - will it fit, will it hang correctly and have I screwed the whole thing up and am too stupid to realize it? Oh and of course my favorite - if I rip it am I being too obsessive? Bottom line I ripped back to before the decreases. After all, it is knitting and I enjoy knitting...except when I am making myself miserable obsessing over it!

Tiny Treasures

As promised here are some pics of the wonderful lace weight yarns from the Embraceable Lace class. Aren't those mini-yarn balls terrific! Also pics of some Stitches purchases - the yarn bowl from Knitwitch and some lace weight yarn from Skaska (Galena's company). Tomorrow - a gripping tale of ripping!

Sister Time @ Stitches Atlanta

My sister and I met in Atlanta for Stitches, her first, my third. What a good time! It seemed smaller than Baltimore but my class was so amazing it more than made up for it! I took a six hour class, Embraceable Lace with Galena Khemeleva. She is an excellent teacher, funny, knowledgeable and laid back. She took the stress out of lace for me. We had about 18 in the class and all different skill levels were represented. The cool thing about Russian Lace - no purling! As a beginner, I found I need to have the plain knit row between the pattern rows. It is hard to explain but my mind contracts as I focus on the pattern and then relaxes and expands on the plain knit rows. Holding my breath on the pattern row does not help either! She gave us a terrific little stash of lace weight for our materials fee. It was great fun to chose 5 different little balls and see everyone's color choices. I will post pics tomorrow after camera retrieved from work! Thanks to all who have donated to the race for the cure! I had to up my goal from $150.00 to $500.00!

More Quilting

Today was a co-worker's baby shower and I finished her quilt and wrapped it up last night. Her husband had saved his dreadlocks from 5 years ago when he met Rhonda. He wanted a pillow to put them in for his baby girl. I made the pillow and stuffed it with tissue - he will have to load the hair. Ugh! Am working on a summer sweater which I will blog about shortly. Also need to share the incredible lace class at Stitches - Atlanta.

Surviving - Stitch by Stitch

My sister convinced me to walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure last year. My reluctance was not because it isn't a great cause...it is. It just seemed selfish to raise money for a disease I have. After mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and re-construction I am five years out from my diagnosis of Stage III Breast Cancer in March 2004. I have a different perspective now on the Race for the Cure. It is not self serving to advocate for money for breast cancer research and treatment. I have an obligation to do it. I have benefited from state of the art medical care and tremendous support from my family, friends and co-workers. It is hard to know which was more crucial to my healing, but I do know all breast cancer warriors are not as fortunate as I. Join me in making a difference. Go to my race page and donate or join us in the race. Surviving Stitch by Stitch - Knitting and Surviving Stitch by Stitch - Quilting Donate on my race page and post here to be entered into a drawing for a fabulous knitting bag full of yarny goodness or a quilting prize! Each prize is worth approximately $75.00. Just post to the blog and put a K next to your name for the knitting prize and a Q by your name for the quilting prize. Drawing will be on RACE DAY June 16th!

Knitting Funk

I lost my knitting mojo about a month ago. Started multiple projects couldn't get excited about any of them, Part of this was probably due to my new excitement over baby quilts and finishing the fair isle vest. I missed knitting though. I need to knit...the world is a safer place when I am knitting, note T-shirt. It says "I knit so I don't kill people!" (I am on the left...the old one!)

Behold the Duchess!

I broke down and bought a dress form. One of my goals this year is to master fitting my knits to my actual body rather than the hit or miss methodology I've employed thus far. I have named her The Duchess as she is DUKE blue and elegant! My not quite done Nederland vest is modeled and I am quite pleased with the fit.I have been re-acquainting myself with my sewing machine by sewing up a few bags!

My ingenue

Finished this sweater and actually wore it to work. Really happy with the fit. The yarn is Miss Bab's superwash merino in Roasted Pumpkin, purchased at SAFF this last fall. I love sweaters without seaming. I modified this to make it longer and eliminated the shaping, for some reason the decreases were right at the bust line. First sweater of 2009! The clutch was an instant gratification project. I am trying to stick to one project on the needles at a time and needed a quick fix!

Snow Day

What a gift! Six inches of snow and a quiet day at home in front of the fire. My cat, Augie loves to sit in my lap while I knit and the conures, Barnes and Noble are sitting on my legs studying the cat! My pumpkin Ingenue is finished and currently being blocked.

Back Again!

It has been awhile, I have been knitting. I finished the Golden Mr. Greenjeans sweater and have worn it alot already. I am sold on seamless sweaters. Currently working on Ingenue by Wendy Bernard.