It Works!

You know that feeling you get when something totally works out? Even when you thought maybe it wouldn't work out? Like the first time your cable works out and you think, "Dang! That looks good, and it wasn't that hard!" That's the feeling I got from knitting 2 socks at one time!

I bought the book 2-at-a-Time-Socks a while ago, and was waiting for the right moment to start. I pretty much had that moment stare me in the face when I f-d up my stole and just didn't feel like tinking 100+ stitches that I may or may not get them all. So I thought "Ok! Time for a break"

I read and re-read the directions. And re-read the directions again. I whipped out some pink and purple Red Heart and started on the toddler socks step by step pattern. And Ta Da!:
So far so good!

I wish the same could be about my street situation. We live near the pool, and they are doing construction on the street the pool entrance is on. So rather than put up signs directing people how to get to the pool, they let them wing it. Which means, when they can't turn down John street (that the pool is on) they make the next right--down my street. Which only has a walking entrance to the pool, not an auto entrance.

So my street--normally very VERY quiet--is loaded with cars. Cars who are pissed they are not at the pool, so they whip around at 40 mph. Throw their cars into reverse and slam it backwards, without looking. We live on a street with a lot of kids...kids who have been spoiled by being able to play in the street. So it's pretty worrisome.

(my very busy street)

I'm hoping even if the unsafe/bazillion car issue doesn't get the city's attention that the fact that they are illegally parking in front of the fire hydrant or that they are cruising up the walking paths and driving over the grass to get to the parking lot maybe will get their attention. My guess is by the time they actually do something about it, the pool season will be over. But ah well.

Back to knitting.

Clue 2

I finished Clue 2 of the Casablanca stole.
Just in time for Clue 4 to come out tomorrow.

It took longer than expected, but mainly it was finding quiet time to be able to read the chart properly. I had 3 "little distractions" to work around.

I think it's coming out nicely.

Look what I got!

Under my knitting links, you will see a new link to Sonny and Shear. Check out what I got in the mail:

I not only got some beautiful Squooshy yarn in a super fun color, I got a handwritten note thanking me for my purchase, and 2 packets of tea. How is THAT for customer service???? It's just so nice in this age of "Hurry up. No soup for you!" that I not only receive my yarn fast, with very reasonable shipping, but I get notes? Tea? Wrapped in a bag with hand-tied ribbon???

Seriously, you can't compete with that. Sonny and Shear now has a lifelong customer

Next post: Anna and her amazing knitting. My girl is a knitter! But I want her to show you, and she's off getting gypsy moth caterpillars off our trees right now.

And I'm off to work on my Casablanca stole. I'm up to the repeat of clue 2, and I'm hoping to get Clue 2 finished before Clue 4 comes out this Friday. Wish me luck!

Yes, I have been knitting

Although it might not be very exciting to show you, I have been knitting:
At least Anna's doll looks very nice--although Anna could care less. Emily is happy. Now she wants outfits for all her babies.

The pattern is from Frugal Haus Knitting--they are awesome by the way! I ordered a Paton's slipper book, the pattern for this doll dress, and patterns for Mickey and Minnie Mouse sweaters (Disneyworld, here we come!) I was absolutely thrilled to learn that I earned 2 free patterns for my purchase! So I got this beautiful Fan Stitch pattern and a cute little apple hat (think Brian will wear one for Apple Picking this year??) Frugal Haus tries so hard to please their customers, and they have great patterns, from basic to advanced. I highly recommend them.

Speaking of highly recommended, I bought something from Sonny and Shear. Everyone raves about them, and I've talked to Kris once or twice on Ravelry, and she's such a nice person. I don't have a lot of money, but this yarn was calling me. I am such a sucker for hand dyed yarn lately. When it comes I'll take pictures.

Also in the "waiting with baited breath" category--Anna starts her knitting class tomorrow with Kassie at Iris Fine Yarns. We stopped in Saturday and Phyllis told us that Anna will be the only one in the class--which is great for Anna. I am just pounding into her little stubborn brain that she needs to L-I-S-T-E-N. I don't want to be vindicated on this one--that Anna can't learn knitting from me...or anyone else. I want her knitting with me in 2 weeks! She already picked out some light pink Cascade 220, that Phyllis let her take home to meditate over. I'll let you know what happens.

Other than that, I am still working on the Casablanca Stole. It's going well, although I wanted to work on it this weekend and accidently left the beads at my parents house--and of course, I was on a beaded row. I also cast on for the Goddess Shawl. I cheated. I used a provisional cast on and, I knit back and forth for the first 14 rows, then grafted it all together with the tail using a mattress stitch. You can't even tell. Of course then I f-d up a few rows later and I probably have to start over. But at least I started, and I can't believe that at least for 1 day I had 2 shawls on the needles.

I still have my garden sock waiting to turn the heel. And I started a market bag today while we were at the beach (I figure it didn't matter if I got sand all over my sugar and cream yarn...). I didn't get very far, since the pattern calls for 80 sts in the round, and I only had a 29" circular needle with me. I ended up casting on 120. Then it was about to rain, so I didn't get anything done!! But it will be a nice take-along project.

Fourth of July was nice. Worked on my stole a bit, enjoyed the fireworks at my parents house. They finally took our Weber grill and brought it to their house so I didn't have to cook over here. Only they continually needed directions on how to do this or that, and my father burned everything to a crisp. So I'm still trying to figure out if it was better or worse not having them here.

I Wish To Thank The Academy

Ladies and Gentlemen...thank you for your kind praise. I am humbled and awed at myself for finishing the first clue in the Casablanca stole--BEFORE the 2nd clue comes out. It was a challenge, but with the help of many people in my life (most of whom don't have a frickin clue who I am), I have succeeded.


First of all, I have to thank Wendy at Knit and Tonic. Without her help with the Long Tail Provisional Cast On, this project would have never been started. Provisional cast ons always terrified and confused me, but Wendy's tutorial made it easy.

Next I have to thank Debi at FluffyKnitterDeb, who's excellent tutorial taught me how to add beads without stringing them all up at once.

I was not only excited when I read her very easy to understand tutorial, I was shocked and amazed when I did it and IT ACTUALLY WORKED! I felt like when I did my first cable: "Holy crap that was easy! And it looks like it was hard!"

(BTW as an aside note--both these blogs have INCREDIBLE patterns, for free and for sale, so you should check them out!)

Of course I have to thank the amazing CatLady2 who, with her sister thought up and created this KAL. It's a real treat!!!

Last but not least, I have to thank my friend Thora, who taught me that circular needles don't have to suck, in spite of Karola ripping out my entire sweater for Anna I worked on for HOURS on a train to New York. I swore I'd never use circular needles again. The second time I went out there Thora was making socks--on circular needles--and I figured they deserved a second try. So thanks my Knitting Friend.

BTW Karola, if you stumble across this: I forgive you and love you for what you tried to teach me. I just wasn't ready to jump that far ahead in the lesson yet ;)

I now await the second clue. AND if anyone has a good way to do a circular cast on that does not involve 9 tiny stitches slipping off dpn's and lots of swearing, I am ready to be a good student. I am 2 clues behind on my Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl and every time I try to figure it out I am ready to scream

Happy Summer Solstice

Yay, it's summer! We started it out by going to a drive in movie of all things. Seriously, I haven't been to a drive-in movie since I was Anna's age and saw Clash of the Titans. That one and Star Wars were the ones I saw at the old 41 Outdoor in Appleton. I remember the playground, and going in your jammies in case you fell asleep in the backseat. I remember driving by going somewhere, and the screen faced the highway--and turning around and straining just to keep watching the movie going by for a few seconds, even if you couldn't hear it. Life was so much easier than. Joys were a lot more simple to find and covet (even if the rest of it sometimes scarred you for life....)

Anyway....

So we went to Field of Scenes. It was a nice atmosphere, and we saw Kung Fu Panda and Iron Man for $16. The food of course was expensive, but ah well. Nicholas and Anna (we left Emily with Grandma) stayed up through both movies (!!!) and we didn't get home until 2am. But it was really neat. Next time I hope we get the mini-van fixed and we can just open up the back flap, put the seats down, throw some blankets in and hang out and watch the movie.

I have been working on my sock--the green garden one. Emily says that my one sock is lonely and needs a buddy. So I am working on the buddy:


I am also a little disappointed in my Knit Picks order. I ordered Shadow Lace yarn in the color Snorkel and some Gloss Lace in the color Aegean. If you look on the website, the colors are different. Still blues of course, but the Aegean definitely looks darker to me. Here is the Aegean as taken with my camera:


And here is the snorkel:


And here they are side by side:


Not much of a difference huh? They FEEL different. And there is a little difference, but not as much as it looked like when I ordered. Glad I like the color--but still. I expected something a little different anyway. Even for monitor variations they look different on the monitor--so shouldn't they be different in real life?

Anyway, there is my complaining. So I have some shawls to make. I have some "sock buddies" to make. I still haven't finished my Obama charity knitting for the month. And of course we are trying to get ready for a rummage sale next month (because my friend Leslie, who is a kind soul, put it off a month for me since I still have so many boxes to go through) and clean the garage and the basement--that leaked more than we thought. Brian cleaned a lot of mold. And yarn that had to get thrown away because of mold. And my nice (expensive) knit knack sack that had to be thrown out because of mold. It was my first "real" knitting bag. It cost a fortune for me, but I was so proud of having an ACTUAL knitting bag (instead of plastic bags. And later tote bags which work fine. But this was a KNITTING BAG!) Don't get me started--I am glad that I don't have all my yarn cataloged, because I don't know what is missing now. Ignorance is bliss.

So that's what is on the agenda for the next few days. Glad I had a day off today. Work on Wednesday was less than stellar. I'm only there 2 hours a day, 2 days a week. You'd think I could avoid Drama. It just finds me.

MIA

I know I've been missing, and I have no good excuse really. Just life catching up with me. I've been trying to knit a sweater, but I am not enamored with the yarn (it is some acrylic/wool mix I had in my stash...that I was in love with years ago when I bought it in NYC...now I am not so in love). It's going slowly.

I did manage to finish the baby sweater for Anna's teacher.

We also rode on Thomas the Tank Engine! It was expensive, but worth the money. There are so many activities at the railroad museum, and they have so many "Day Out with Thomas" activities, it was worth it (even in the pouring rain). I made Anna and Nicholas' shirts. Are they cool or what? (If I do say so myself!)



We are fortunate to be up a hill from the Fox River, so we are not in danger of flooding, although our basement is getting a wee bit damper than I like it, and the dehumidifier is running overtime. But the river is moving VERY fast:


Other than that, I have just been knitting charity washcloths and hats for our Knitters for Obama charity project. I need to sit down and work out my 2-at a Time Socks one of these days. And the yarn for both my Mystery shawl KAL and my Casablanca Shawl KAL is on the way, so that should keep me slightly busy I think!

And I'll leave you with this completely awesome picture of a hawk. I think he thought Emily looked tasty. He was SO close, and directly above us: