A sock for a queen?


You can't quite tell, but this sock has some of the Mrs. Montegue lace from Barbara Walker's first book. According to BW, this was a pattern that was used for Queen Elizabeth's stockings. The notion I had was that my SIL is part of a Rennasance Faire guild, and does a lot of dress up and costume study. While this sock would not be worn in a Faire costume, it is the Queens color, and the Queens pattern - how fun is that? I'm not sure it's so great in modern sock yarn, but I'm about to cast on for the second one. Maybe I'm not thrilled because I have been overwhelmed with the drudgery of life, and everything feels either boring or tiresome.

Now, here is someone who is not feeling bored or tiresome:

I'm such a bad Girl Scout Mommy. Look at what I let my husband play with:

Notice the three leaves, and the tell tale "thumbs" on the outside of the outer leaves. You may not see the hair on the vines. If we don't hire the gardener to take it out, it will turn into lovely red orange leaves in a few months.

Another mouse has sprung from the leftover Opal. It's telling me there is one more in there, but to tell the truth, the skein is losing it's power over me. Do you see another mouse here?


And the Wildfoote sock has begun. Maybe there will be one finished by Monday


My daughter woke up with a pimple right in the middle of her forehead, and spent the morining in a pre-adolescent funk. She's really getting good at it. I'm wondering if adolescence will be worse than six months of colic.

Have a nice weekend.

And now an unusual commercial break. Every once in a while a truly amazing product comes along. My husband has been suffering from a horrible poison ivy rash. A tree in our yard had come down in a storm, and he got out his chain saw, and took it out. What a manly man! We didn't have poison ivy in our previous neighborhood, and he wasn't looking for it. The tree must have been covered with the evil vine. Poor guy. He's been sporting a rash suitable for the worst of the worst Internet dermatology pages. No, no pictures. Ick. Poor me, having an uncomfortable, itchy, oozy, unhappy husband. He found this stuff while doing an internet search looking for relief, and it has changed our week:

That Opal is bossy yarn. It will not let me cast on the Wildfoot until it is all used up. So, we now have a tiny Bear Sweater:
for
Precious Pals.and
Something that ought to have happened already.....

The leftover sock yarn mouse:

With all the self striping sock knitters out there, I'm wondering why this has not happened before. Maybe because it takes all evening to knock one out instead of an hour or less. That's the down side. The up side is that here is a perfectly good use for all those sock yarn leftovers that peek at you when you work through your stash. Cast on 50 stiches and it comes out about right. Consider a cable with a larger number of stitches. This is a six stitch braid, and it is somewhat petite. The one on the needle now will have a nine stitch braid. The self striping shows nicely on stockenette instead of seed or garter stitch. I have no clue if cats may prefer the tooth feel of the denser gauge sock yarn. Not sure I care. This guy seems worthy of cat spit.

And another thing that was going to happen - has anyone noticed that "short rows" are hot? Like articles in Vogue and patterns in Kitters with unusual uses? Kind of like the big miter square craze of a few years ago. I even signed up for the short row stripe class at the fall TKGA conference. Well, here it is - the prototype SHORT ROW MOUSE:

The pattern is not ready for prime time - adjustments need to be made. Stay tuned. I think this guy, with his flaws, is also cat spit worthy. Don't be shy about letting me know if you disagree. The comment function works some of the time, and there is always e-mail.

Socks for Nanny are done.
Thanks for the yarn, Lisa

I think I have enough of the Opal to make a small teddy bear sweater for the Precious Pals program. The dressed bear will be donated at the TKGA convention that is coming in October.

I also dug out some ancient Wildefoot, and plan to get busy on some more socks. Dang socks, I've not made any for about seven years. Now, I'm fixed on them again. Anyway, SIL does a lot of RenFaire, and makes beautiful costumes. I've been wanting to do a sock in the Mrs. Montegue pattern for her. Don't think they will be worn to Faire, as the yarn is purple, and she is not the queen.

And look how I caught GingGong this weekend:

Not sure you are going to get that tummy tan girfriend, but keep trying.

Well, I've finished knitting the guild vest to wear at the TKGA Convention over Halloween weekend, so I ought to register for the event, don't you think? Still fussing over the button choice. The picture is dark; it's cloudy this morning.


The sock is ready for the second heel to turn. No picutre until it's done.

I'm in a funk because for the first time in my 21 years at this company, I have been re-organized to a new group without any notice or input. I was pretty aggravated about it, even though this is pretty routine, and it's quite amazing it has not happened to me by now. I'm coming around, in that my skills can really help this new team, and there may be some new territory to be had. In the mean time, the end of the sales year is soon, so the only people who are really working are the ones who have a sale that can close in the next two weeks. The rest are waiting for the big re-organization that will occur in September. So, I have time to catch up on the training I've missed. Listening to training provides ample opportunity for knitting.

Have a happy weekend.

My face is red.

I'm soooo cheap, I have all free accounts, and today, I went over my limit and lost all my pictures..
So, I've upgraded.

You all should be able to see the button choices now.

Getting busy with the template, and avoiding real life.
I added Blogrolling for my link list, and should also now show up as "updated" on blogs that use that service. So many fun tools out there to muck up one's appearance, and waste time, don't you think?

Now, please, check my button page and help me choose for my silly vest.

Thanks

Help me pick my button!
I'm spending way too much time looking for buttons for the dumb TKGA guild vest. Please look at the choices, and come back and leave your vote eithe in comments, or e-mail. Thanks.

Good Morning.
It's the first day of school for our school district. We have spent the last few weeks collecting appropriate dress code clothes, a new backback with wheels and matching lunchbox as well as attending orientation. Now, it begins. Middle school

I'm not in the mood for pictures today. Let it be said that both active projects are progressing.

I know who's in a mood this morning. Miss GingGong came in from her morning prowl and found no food in her dish. She STOMPED to the dog dish to get a snack. I don't know that I've ever seen a cat stomp quite that way before. She had her way with the dog food, and I fed them both after my jog.

Snakes
Last night I was bitten by a beautiful red and black snake in my dream. It really chewed on my finger before I shook it off. The dream doctor didn't have a chart of poisionous Texas snakes, so I couldn't point at the kind that bit me, but since my dream finger and dream body was not swelling we both figured that the snake bite was not venomous. It didn't hurt much either. I came across it because I was in some sort of bicycle race, and the gutters of the streets on the course had piles of live snakes that needed to be shooed off. There was a nice brown/tan one and a green and black one in the pile with the red and black one that evenutally bit me. I don't really understand why there were so many snakes hanging out on a road full of people on bicycles.

So what does this have to do with blog content? Well, I took some pictures, and could not find the cable for my camera on my desk. I looked and found all sorts of stuff that I should be doing, and eventually looked under my desk:

Arrrrgh. There it was, with the cell phone charger, and HEY! there are my shoes!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting....
I belong to a knit guild, and I have not gone to meetings since February because of Girl Scouts, business trips and vacation. I finally got in this last Tuesday. The TKGA is having a conference in our neighborhood, and the members decided to knit a vest, all the same pattern, but whatever fiber you wanted. I originally didn't really care for the pattern, but a few finished onece came in, and they were pretty cute. But the pattern called for ribbon, and I'm not going to buy ribbon when I have a spare room full of perfectly good worsted. For some reason, the group thing took over, and I did the Goldielocks swatch thing with stash yarn:
"This gauge is too large"
"This gauge is too small"
"This gauge is close enough, and I'll fix the pattern to make it work damnit"
So far, so good:


But.... what about the sock. The sock that will be Nanny's birthday present?

Shiloh says the colorway should be called "blenham", but I disagree. He is quite white after his bath, and the light parts of this yarn are very cream. And he does not have any grey spots. Maybe the "blenham with burrs in his coat who needs a bath" colorway?

And a parting shot - look what's cooling in my oven.

Atkins cheesecake. MMMMMmmmmmmm
All the fat, and no sugar.

An unscheduled update to show off some finished items. The "fall color" baby sweater and a pastel baby sweater made from e-bay leftovers. Just in time, as the August branch baby was delivered yesterday. Now, dad will have a choice.
b

And oooo ouch. I'm trying to pull this old body back into a healthy condition, and it's hard. Shiloh and I jog/walked yesterday, and in the evening I did a yoga class. The jog/walk felt good for the first time since we started, but my calves were stiff in yoga. No pidgeon pose for me. Today I feel tired. Not sore, but as if I would have been sore if I had pushed just a little more. I got talked into a beginner tennis ladder, and I play my first match in about twenty five years after work today. Pass the ibuprophen please

Sockenbrunchen
A friend from out of state came by on Sunday, and I did brunch and knit. A lovely brunch, by the way. I'm doing low-carb ( Atkins ) to lose some weight, and cooking with all that butter is so much fun. We had salmon poached in lemon, dill and garlic, topped with sour cream again, with dill and garlic. I made steamed aspargus and from scratch hollandase sauce, as well as cantelope slices to go with. And for the finale, blackberries and vanilla cream. It was a sauce-a-rama.

We sat around and chatted until it was time for friend to go find the airport and go home. I had started a sock from the prize Opal from Lisa, and turned the heel and started up the cuff. Later in the evening, I simply did not feel like doing ends and buttons on the fall color baby sweater, so around and around I went.

I'm not much of a sock knitter, and have not gotten onto the Regia/Opal self striping wagon. So, I am amused as the stripes and spots appear on their own. I'm also working the Wendy generic sock pattern for the first time. I remember doing a short row heel before, but I've never done a toe quite this way. Very clever.

Most of the foot of the sock was done on Saturday in the car driving around on errands. Well, my husband was driving so I knit. We were all over the place and eventually relaxed at the movies. I knit in the ticket line, and while waiting for the flick to begin. We saw Freaky Friday, and it was really funny. Better than we had expected. People wonder where I get time to knit, and I wonder how they can sit around in passenger seats or in movie lines doing nothing.

Now, in the drama department, GingGong decided it was once again time to demonstrate her dominance of the animal domain by nibbling Shiloh's food while he watched. I think she ate four whole pieces of kibble, but it was quite a show.

Happy birthday was followed by a down day. My increase in excercise caused my body to bonk, and I just went to bed. I had expected to have finished the fall colors baby sweater, and gotten started on some socks, but looked at the back of my eyelids instead. I guess I'll just have to ease into fitness like the old(er) lady that I seem to be now. Yoga tonight, so I ought to be feeling much better. Yawn.

I noticed that the famous Wendy has added me to her link list. Thanks, Wendy! Like so many others I have coffee with you on most weekday mornings.

School starts for my daughter week after next. What happened to summer vacation? Time to gather up the Girl Scout stuff, and get started on that as well. My "to do" list just gets longer. Sigh.

Happy Birthday to me. Big day is tomorrow. Give me a present, by leaving a comment, or linking from your blog if you have one. I've increased my excercise to try to accelerate some weight loss. I'm not happy that my body is reminding me that I am ever so much closer to fifty than I am to twenty.

Beginner news from Friday. My ersatz student showed me a lovely swatch of 4rows stockenette/two rows reverse stockenette. Very lovely. No twists, and nice tension. We're both so proud. She ripped out her seed stitch swatch, as it was not right. She apparently still can reliably determine whether the stitch below is a K or a P. I told her that I thought seed stitch was one of the hardest k/p patterns to get right. I suggested that she do a K2P2 swatch, and to be sure to end with the P2, so that every row would start the same. After some rows when the ribs begin to work up, start looking at the stitches. I'm guessing that in another month she will have more success to show off.

Look ma, no arms:

Once this little one is done, I think I'll do some Xmas socks.

And a parting shot from GingGong, who is concentrating on keeping the Internet up and running

To continue the tribute to GingGong, stimulated by joining the KnittingKitty web ring, we now have "80 things about me" on the side bar. Read all about her. And a special picture of GingGong doing her silkie imitation:


I must be getting depressed about my husband being away. He was in Santiago all last week, came home for the weekend and then left for Lima (Peru). He said "I'll try to be home Wednesday, but I may not be home until Friday." Haven't heard from him since. Sooooo, I treated daughter and myself to an evening of indulgence on Monday. We had our hair washed and trimmed, then I bought us both manicures, and a pedicure for me.
Aren't my toes pretty? I sort of felt sorry for the pedicure lady, as I've not had my feet worked on for over a year. She needed the power sander for my heels. Daughter is sporting silver blue fingernail polish now, and was quite pleased. First manicure for the little girl who is growing up so so fast.

And now, knitting content. Yesterday, my work friend, who is also the student knitter told me that I needed to come in on Friday, as she had something to show me. I'm so excited. Should I bring in my camera, and document it for all to see? Check the archive for June 18th to see how our last session went down.

Lookie what my Father in Law sent to me:

What a sweetie. His current girl friend has a sister with a sheep farm in W. Virginia. We chatted about it a bit while I was knitting on vacation. They recently visited, and he sent me some fiber samples. I e-mailed her, and asked for enough two ply to make them both socks for Christmas.

And, now for some kitty content. GingGong feels that I need to increase her profile on this blog, now that it is part of the knitting kitty ring. So, here she is on morning porch patrol, making sure that the armildillo gets back to her hole under the house.

We know it's a she because twice in the past three years, she has emerged with four little ones.

Look forward to 100 things about GingGong on the sidebar.

The boys at the branch have been busy. A baby is expected in the next week, another in September and a third in January. Lucky for me I've gotten ahead of them. Here's a peek at the next one:

It's curling so much that it's hard to photograph. When it's feeling flatter, I'll do a better picture.

I love this stitch. It's soooo easy, but with the slips and garter ridges it ends up with a lovely mix of texture and color.

Ooooh a new webring to join.
GingGong approves, as she will be photographed more often now.

Baby sweater all done, except for buttons and a block.

Almost didnt' finish due to huge amount of house cleaning to prepare for my daughters birthday party. We really didn't have to, as we left immediately for the circus, and then I tossed them out on the back porch to make baloon animals and eat hot dogs. They had a good time, and I didn't go nuts, so I call it a resounding success.

The circus was pretty good this year. Barnum and Bailey, 132nd edition. I wasn't too hot about the guy that danced around with the live alligators, but we got David Larible, who is just wonderful. Don't know how others feel about shows with dancing elephants, but this guy is worth the whole show. His "thing" is to pick people out of the audience, then does a skit with them. Sounds lame, but he's so expressive and skilled that it turns out both funny and amazing.

The current baby sweater is close to finished. The arm below is complete, the other arm has about ten stripes, and will likely be done by the weekend. I got in the mood to sew in the ends, so she's much neater now. No picture today, but look for a FO on Monday.

Wendy did an editorial on knitting magazines today, and I commented back, and find I have more to say. By the way, like some unknown number of others I have coffee with Wendy's blog on a near daily basis.

I see the magazines as "eye candy" and like that they dribble in over the year. I go for years without making a pattern from any of them. That's not the point to me. I often put my own designs together by hacking bits from this and that sweater. Last fall I made a vest for my daughter, and took heart shape cables from a Knitters issue, and side cables from another pattern in the same issue, and did the sides in trinity stitch out of Barbara Walker. I especially love the issues that are over twenty years old. Even better, when my grandmothers died, they had knitting magazines from their knitting era. In fact, sometimes in the Vogue "Then and Now" pattern, I find a remake of a pattern from then. The ones my mother had from the sixties and seventies often had models holding cigarettes.

So, here is my not so secret wierdness. I take stacks of ten old magazines, and look through them in the bath room. I rotate them out about once a month. I'm loving the early 90's Vogue right now. My husband keeps car magazines there as well, but he throws his away when he's done.

I file by magazine type, and this is what I think of each one:
Vogue Knitting - I often can't see the point of most of their designs when the issue is published. However, five years later, they look really interesting.
Knitters - Seems to publish more unusual construction methods than the others. Love the Lilly Chin technical articles.
Interweave Knits - I have a hard time finding all the patterns here, as they have a lot of editorial material. They don't seem to shy away from extremely complicated designs.
Cast On - Not a lot of designs, but some of them are drop dead wonderful.

So, as others whine about the latest issue, I see them all as future inspirations.

High pressure knitting - who'd have thought? I started this project with two partial one ounce skeins of pink in the same dye lot, and another ounce in the same color, but a different dye lot. This is what happens when one buys odds and ends off of e-bay. So I knitted with courage hoping that maybe there was just enough of matching dye lots to do the bodice and edges. Whew, ended the button bands with about twenty feet extra. Now, since the pink stripes on the arms don't touch the rest of the piece the "Case of the Different Dye Lot" will be just between you and me.

Well, another baby sweater will be my next project. This one is to use up some odd balls of baby yarn that have been in my stash. Don't know why I feel pressure to "use up the odd stuff", but I do.

This is "two color star stitch" from B. Walker's Second Treasury, done in three colors. I like this stitch. In fact, I used it for the Fluffa swatch

Arum is already given away to the work associate whose wife delivered five weeks ago. I gave it to him yesterday, and it was well admired. I love the "oooh, that will be a heirloom" comment. It makes me giggle. Family and baby are going on a car trip to the mountains, so they may put it on her, and send pictures. I'm curious to see if the buttons go in the front or the back.

Along the lines of knitting travel, the "On the Point" vest is leaving tomorrow for a cruise to Alaska. Lucky vest.

And, waiting for me in the mail - the Opal that Lisa so generously sent to me for helping her with her short rows. Thanks! Now, I'm thinking about socks for Christmas gifts. That is, once I stabilize on my baby sweater stash.

All done


I'm going on a business trip, and one of my work friends just had a baby girl. The baby sweaters our gone almost as soon as they I finish them.

I've gotten myself in funk trying to decide what to do on the trip. Another baby sweater maybe. I've pulled yarn in fall colors, and also have pastels. Use up those single skeins. I swatched for a vest, and the gauge came out nicely. The fabric looks like I intended it to look, but I'm not sure I like it. Henry8 is just too much to travel with, and I don't feel like swatching more from the GS vest. Humph.

I'll take Shiloh for a walk and think about it.

Almost done.

So, what to do next? Another baby sweater? I have always wanted a box already done so that the new mom or dad can have a lovely choice. Hasn't happened yet. I'm thinking blue on blue or green on green slip stitch. Maybe Paulina? I've got some great fuchia cotton blend that will likely work up fine. Or the vest for my sister for Xmas? Can't start too early on these things.

Power Shopping
Spent Saturday in the mall with my daughter. Apparently, a few girls at camp told her to do the world a favor and get those things growing on her chest under control. It's about time; I've mentioned it to her, but she rejected my suggestion that she may be growing up. So, now, she has found that an athletic bra will smash her chest back down to girlish flatness, and she is quite pleased. I found something for me and my new orange top while we were at it. Perfect!

Ah Ha -
A bad NIC card, fixed for $40.00 kept me distracted from work for most of yesterday. So, pictures:
The finished vest:


The button side of Arum:


The other side of Arum:


The pattern shows the model with the buttons in the back. I think whoever dressed baby gets to decide what side if front and back.

And what I put up with when I work at home:

Arrrgh. Something is wrong with my laptop ethernet connection. Either a bad cable or a bad NIC, so no pictures today. Too bad, as Arum was off her needle briefly for a photo shoot before I picked up on the sleeve. Very cute. Maybe I can get them up over the weekend.

I KNIT FOR FOOD
I previously mentioned my friend at work who is an organic vegatable gardner. She had given me beautiful cucumbers and green beans in the past, but has a policy of not giving out tomatos, corn or peas. She cans the tomatos, and the corn and peas are like their special candy, and simply not shared. Well, I asked her about colors before I went on vacation, and told her I had something for her on Monday. I knit the "On the Point" vest from the Summer 1999 Knitters out of dark red a wool/mohair/acrylic blend. I put the final seam and buttons on it on Monday night, and gave it to her Tuesday. It fit beautifully, and was her kind of look, and she was delighted.

Well, she knew something was up, because she had a sack of veggies for me, INCLUDING tomatos, AND she sneaked a container of peas into my sack. So, here we are in the office, me jumping up and down over my peas, and she's trying to figure out how to wear her mohair vest in the hot hot summer.

This vest worked up very quickly, and was very easy. A great project to do when having to sit and chat with in-laws.

AND.... I'm a winner
Lisa had a question about short rows, and apparently my answer helped her out. Glad to help, and thanks for the blog plug. I'm really loving watching that cardigan grow up.

Weekend:
Cleaned closet of clothes that no longer fit.
Finished Harry Potter.
Almost finished the "On the Point" vest. I hope to sneak out and find some buttons today.
Messed around with my template, adding cool % bars from Anna, and making most of my links pop new windows.

Did about two hours of car knitting on the way to daughter's summer camp. She is thrilled as two of her favorite counselers from last year are working, AND, her unit is in the "tree houses". How cool is that?

Arum update - This pattern is called a "bunting", and is supposed to be finished at the underarm. I think that it is a stunning pattern, but a stupid shape. So, I'm carrying the diagnoal mesh down another five inches for the body and arms to make it a proper sweater. It's sort of in an awkward place for photos, but here we are so far:

Well I made it past the mysterious row 37 of Arum. (Anny Blatt) The pattern changed from an ever expanding chevron yoke to a lacy mesh. I had an extra yarn over in there somewher, and didn't quite rip out enough, or maybe I put it back in a few times. Anyway, I had to re-work it several times before I got it right. But it's sooooo pretty!


Smooth sailing now. Wish I could say that for the rest of the day. Too many commitments are going to keep me driving from place to place. Once there, I have to appear focused and calm. Friday is coming.

Happy Monday.

I'm sore from sailboat races this weekend, and loving it. It was light and we were postponed for quite some time on Saturday, but eventually got in two races. Sunday, it kicked up a bit early, and we had to actually hike. (ouch) Went around the course three times. We were beat from too much fun after the first. My skipper loves to try the port tack start, so we did one just for kicks. There is nothing like having and entire racing fleet comming at you when you don't have any right of way at all to make you feel alive. WhooHoo We were solid middle of the fleet, but had a great time. And, like Wendy, my fingers are torn up. I don't get out on the race course very often these days, so, while it may seem strange, I enjoy that after small boat racing beat up feeling.

Now - knitting. Went backwards on Friday, and didn't touch it all weekend. I'm obsessed with this dumb baby sweater, though it seems that it's knit two rows, rip three. I think I got overconfidant about the time I figured out how the lace yoke worked, and plowed ahead, not realizing that about that time, the pattern was supposed to change. I ripped it back quite a bit, while waiting for midnight on Friday night so we could get our Harry Potter books.

Here it is:


and a close up:


Who out there would be obsessed with this as well?

What I did last night instead of getting new carpet pad and dry wall:


It is now in it's envelope and about to cross half the U.S.A. and the big ocean to go to Europe to join other six inch squares made by Fluffa fans.

Vacation Hangover
I wanna go back to the beach. Waaah.

We came home to an overflow in the A/C pipe, so Monday I got to play plumber and rip up carpet and dry wall. Got stuck in torrential rain while picking up the pets, and a drive that should have taken 20 minutes took over an hour. Shiloh spent the afternoon dancing around in circles, just being happy to be home. GingGong needed to excert control over her life by going in and out and in and out and in and out. Husband left for Peru, and I had heaps of laundry from our nice beach trip. The Gifted/Talented co-ordinater does not have the paperwork she needs for my daughter, so I have to start the public school scavenger hunt. The car needs alignment, and it appears that last month's power steering repair has a problem. The other car needs a safetly check. There are weeds in the front, and oh, yes, two huge work projects that must be done this week. Gaak.

Tuesday was a little better. Still was stuck in traffic for some strange reason on the way home. One of the gals at work took a knitting class, and I've been giving her remedial help on demand. We got together yesterday; she even reserved the conference room so we could work in private. I don't understand how a five week knitting class can only cover knit stitch. Sounded like there were too many people in the class for any attention. She was trying to teach herself purl, and was making the sweetest little twisted stiches. I showed her on her swatch how ever other row looked different. Blinding flash of the obvious, but how did she do it? Then I watched her, and she was taking the yarn under the needle, up and forward then through. I demo'ed how it was supposed to work, and she agonized through a few rows. Poor beginner, she seems to have way too many thumbs. She's stubborn though, so I expect to see her work again in a few weeks. Since she has really gotten knit down, she understands how after a while her hands will take over for her brain. She had also tried seed stitch and had really gotten depressed. Seed stitch is hard if you don't know what you are looking at. I pulled it out, and started her on a nice k2p2 swatch to work after she got the stockette down. I also taught her how to cast off. How do you take a knitting class and not cast off? Yeesh. She wants to make a blanket for a pregnant sister, so she won't have to increase or decrease for about a year as far as I can tell. Good thing too.

So after having a horrible trip home, I grilled a steak and shared it with my daughter. Then curled up with a glass of wine an some baby yarn, and listened to my audio book until my eyes wouldn't stay open. Yawn. I deserved that.

Let's hope today will get better still. Yes?

Back from a lovely week at the beach.

Tank was finished and worn. See?


Hank did not sit alone all the time. He was a bit much to take out on the porch. It was breezy, which was nice, but a little awkward for him.


And, the sit and chat project was the "On the Point" vest from Knitters a few years back. It's done except for a side seam and some buttons.

This vest is for a gal I work with or grows organic veggies with the same passion that I have for yarn. She has given me lovely beans, carrots, squash, and a cabbage as large as my head. However, when asked if she grows tomatoes, corn or peas, she is quite possessive. She cans all her tomatoes, and the corn and peas don't leave her property alive. I'm hoping the gift of this vest as a "thank you" may also eleveate me to at least tomato status. We shall see.

Swatchy's gone on vacation!
Back after June 16th

Back from a quick business trip, and about to go on vacation. I have had no problem at all bringing knitting onto airplanes. I suppose that my circulars are not much more impressive than a pencil or pen. Tank back is done and I'm guessing I'm about half way up the front. Don't know if I'll finish before vacation, but I really don't care right now.

I added that bit of Java to find out where any visitors are coming from. Also a hit counter. I'm curious who's looking at this, if anyone at all. Guess I'm just lonely in blogland.

Got to work on both Hank and Tank this weekend.

Hank is now sporting sleeve stiches:


Tank has most of her back done. See the way the sleeve decreases are done some thirty stiches in from the edge, and the edge crawls out to the decrease point. Cool.


The knit friendly event this weekend was a Yu-Gi-Oh! event at the local shopping mall. My daughter lost all her pick up duels the first day, but was determined to go try again. She won two out of three on Sunday and was quite happy. Smart parents had paperbacks and there was me with the knitting. The others looked awfully bored.