About enough time to blog and run this morning.

I'm doing ok on my list. No exercise yet, but decent on the eating.
Knitting, well, the new sweater is doing better than the others. One and a half sleeves done, and I did the fiddly part of casting on for the body last night. I wanted to make sure I didn't run out during class.

Henry, oh Henry has a sleeve attached. It took me four tries to get it right. I'm about 1/8 down it now. Little chance to finish him this week, but at least he is on his way again.

Starz first sleeve is about half way from the airplane trip. He'll be close to having one sleeve finished by the time we land back in Houston on Friday.

I really wanted to have something finished for my husband when I returned. Well, body to cuff sleeves tend to go quickly past the half way point, so we shall see.

On the weekend, I went to NYC. Both days. The place was filled with men ( and women ) in tights for the Marathon. I went straight to Times Square. That place is like Disneyland now. Twenty years ago, it was full of trash, drunks, hookers, funny smells and a sense of danger. Now it's so clean. I'm not sure I like it this way. But I digress. I stood in line at TKTS, trying to re-live my poor college visits and got a seat for "Wonderful Town". The show was just OK, but Brooke Shields has "star" quality. She dominated the cast. I don't know exactly how that is done, but wow, it's amazing to watch.

On the way out, I dropped into the box office of "Avenue Q", and was fortunate to get a great seat for the Sunday matinee. It was a great show; edgy, funny, and creative. The fun I enjoyed was the poking around topics that we often try to hide. The puppet intercourse was a bit hard to watch.

Anyway, in checking into blogland this morning, I was caught up in a feeling of Schadenfreude. Now, I don't much comment on what other blogs are doing - it's their stuff, and mine is personal and mostly for me. However, "W" vs "dish" got me thinking about that AveQ skit, and I was in the theater againn

Progress on known projects were halted this last week. My manager told us he had been away taking care of his wife who had cancer surgery. I made her two soft chemo hats, and sent them off. I didn't photograph them, as they were sort of boring to look at. Very soft though. One is light brown chenille. The other is wool/silk, bright pink with some black tweedy bits.

POD
Pack, Vote, Fly
Will be away on business for the next 10 days.

Of course, I have entirely unrealistic ideas of what I can accomplish.

FWIW, I plan to:
Stay on a reasonable eating plan.
Exercise most every day.
Finish Hank
Finish Starz
Make a lot of progress on a new project that is destined for my BiL for Xmas.

That means going thru about two skeins a day plus, oh yeah, work.

We will see.

Well, Tuja is now a finished object. Here she is, drying on her towel, waiting for a box and a birthday card. She's going to San Francisco.


We are quite dizzy here, as the Tuja arm as well as the Starz arms are done in the round. I often do arms first, but they are quite a change of pace from the body. I used to get discouraged as they seemed to take sooooo long to do. Then I read that 1/3 of the work in a long sleeved sweater was in the arms. Well, that explains it. I'm not "almost done" when the body is off the needles. Now, especially with these big repeats I like going from a half repeat in a week to a whole repeat in a weekend.

Will show Stars arms later, when it is more developed.

He looks so much nicer with his collar on, don't you agree? I was so pleased with how it looked that I pulled out a needle and sewed it right down. And thank you for the lovely comments. I get all tingly when I rate an "OMG", or someone thinks that little 'ole me is awesome. Pat pat pat.


Inspired by Meg Swanson and BlogDogBlog Lisa, I picked up the arm in pattern, and plan to work the chart sideways for continuation of the pattern, but, of course, in the sideways direction. I think that makes sense. Anyway, for a coherent description, check Meg Swanson's "Knitting" book or the Giant Latvian Mitten Pullover over at BlogDogBlog's archive. Try July 2003. Yes, it was a fussy job, but I've done it once, and can do it again.

Hey Lisa, how does it feel to be mentioned in the same sentence as Meg? Yummy, I think.

In the mean time, I find my interest in blogging waxes and wanes. I'm waneing now, and I don't feel guilty about missing the advertised posting schedule. So there.

Maybe you all can cheer me up. I find that I will be spending the first weekend in November in lovely Central New Jersey. I normally would hide out, maybe try to get into New York for a show and some museums. Any suggestions?

Neck opening picture a day early. Ooooooh oooooh, like it really matters. Well, here he is in his geometric splendor for any blog viewers to enjoy.


Volleyball game today, so the Tuja arm will progress some. I'm 4 inches into it and ready to ditch the double points for two circulars.

I've apparently internalized the ADD thing. I spoke with our pediatritian, and she was quite supportative. She mentioned that often the kids are so very releived to find that they aren't freaks, and there is something simple they can do to deal with their frustration at not being able to focus or not being able to control thier reactions the way their peers can.

Whew, what a weird week. Yes, I dodged the layoff again. The feeling moved from deer in the headlights to run around in circles. Lots of time discussing who's leaving, who's staying, and who's been asked to leave but is desperately trying to find a place.

I spent way too much time in a rental car, visiting people in San Antonio and Lafayette. I finished listening to "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood. I liked it, Atwoods characters drift about too passively for my usual taste. Then a tiny comment, or incident, and the whole world view changes for them instantly. Took eleven hours of audio book to get there.

We saw daughters head doctor last week who showed us that we have almost certainly a case of ADD on our hands. I've wondered in the past 12 years. Husband has been reading excerpts to me from the recommended book. I'm wondering if this "condition" exists simply because people who don't have it defined what normal is supposed to be. On the great side, we can now observe that she has been adapting like mad the past year or so, developing strategies to work around her impulsiveness. This will take some time to internalize.

One day last week when I had spent too much time driving and working I just sat down and put the arm onto Tuja. I started the second arm yesterday and worked a few inches during the Girl Scout meeting. Straight knitting is comforting. One of the girls in my troop is on medication for ADD and bi-polar disorder. She was very difficult to work with last night and I was wondering if my newer view on ADD affected the situation.

I'm about three rows away from the neck decreases on Starz. Picture then.

Anxiety has broken through.

A large lay off was announced for my business a few weeks ago. I was able to ignore this huge pending change and keep on going for about two weeks. The noise level now can not be overlooked, and the stay/go announcement is this Friday. This is a really "Dilbert-esque" scene. It is going to be bad for those who stay, as they will have to cope with the same work load, but fewer resources. It will be not so good from me to be told to leave. I'm just 1.5 years from lifetime health insurance, or so I believe. The way companies are leaving their employees high and dry, maybe this is also an illusion. Anyway, daily conversations are laced with the pending announcements, and I'm finding it all very hard to deal with.

Now knitblog worthy material. Last spring I finished this vest that I donated as a recognition gift for our Girl Scout service unit. I didn't hook up with the winner before school let out, but she recently called, as she has some stuff for me. She works at a school nearby, and dropped by yesterday so we could trade. I may have commented on how huge this vest seemed, but that she was a large woman, and maybe it would be right. Well, it fit beautifully, and she was quite happy. Big smiles all around.

Tuja fussed at me on Tuesday. I figured that I needed to get the sleeve started before Wednesday's volleyball game, as the edges have a little hem that is fussy and visually intensive. The point of the easy project is to be able to knit and watch the game at the same time. While I was getting the sleeve set up, the body suggested that I ought to finished her up. So, I stayed up late, and did just that. I tried it on, and it's not a bad looking tank. A single crochet around the arms, and put it on.

Both 7th and 8th grade teams won, and won very fast. I think the girls have learned the game protocol so there is less time between serves. We're about 40 rows into sleeve #1 now.

Goodness, so many knitting rings, knit a longs and swaps, it makes my head spin. Want to do it all, must be choosy. I recently added Southern Knitters, and found one just for us big 'ol Texans, so applied for that.

Managed to do some knitting on Starz on the way up to camp. I was way too tired on the way back.

Camp was mostly great - the girls did all the meal planning, and I enabled the shopping. We talked about budgets and money in detail for the first time. They are now aware of how much money their troop has, and how much a camping trip costs. I'm thinking that will make them all the more excited about any freebies they may be offered. We did most of our cooking with charcoal and my buddy burners. We even broke out the hobo stove for sausage Sunday Morning. We got to go swimming and use the camp paddle boats. We even got up for a dawn hike. They did all their capers with only a little prodding, and most of their clean ups. They will be great campers in another year.

Now, the not so great part - for some reason, a car racing venue was opened right next door to the Girl Scout camp. Can you believe it? That's Texas for you - as little oversight over land use as possible. So now, this loveley and historic site is subject to very loud automobile noise on Saturday nights. The noise also scared all the deer away.

I'm going back to this site for a service unit event in about a month. I'm wondering if we should set up next to the track, and try to kum-by-yah them to death, or see if I can get discount tickets to the races. Would that be embracing change, and controlling that which is out of control, or subsidizing the evil noise makers? What do you think?

I had no idea I had really made a cat blanket. Thanks GingGong for setting me straight. For some reason I feel no urge to send this to the critter knitter collection.


One of the wonderful people who left a comment asked what's next? Well..... I've still got a Henry8 on the needles, a Tuja, and a two color sweater on the needles. I'll work on those for a while.

This weekend is dedicated to scouts. Don't anticipate a lot of knitting.

What a hurricane season we've had! Lets send a wish to those folks in the path of Ivan. One of my work friends has a mother in Mobile, too stubborn to leave. The whole team is worried. My daughter asked why the mom didn't go even though her daughter and son asked her to come to their homes. Mom's just don't think they need to do what thier kids tell them to do. I hope I'm not that way when I get there.

Turn up the air conditioning - Ingeborg has arrived.

I'm too old for Astroworld. Roller coasters always made me feel funky, but they were fun. This time, not even fun. Maybe it was because my honey was not here; just me and the daughter.

Ingeborg is still almost finished. I managed to get the second arm sewn on, but I didn't like the way I placed the lace on the bottom and neck edge. So I pulled it off and it's pinned back in, waiting to be sewn again. After that, button loops and buttons. I did manage to find buttons locally. I have not found a great button shop here. I looked into a store this time called "butotns and bows". You would think they had buttons, no? Well, it's a smocking shop of all things. Two racks of standard brand buttons, but I managed to find one that would do. Next time I'm in San Francisco, I'll spend a wad at Britex.

Starz is almost to the armholes. The back of Tuja is almost done.

No pictures until some milestone has been met. Almost there.

Back from Kerrville Folk Festival on Monday. Nice event, and a big Kum-by-yah for all.

Did I mention that Ingeborg is taking forever to finish? Yikes, I worked on the second button band all the way to San Antonio. I thought about why this was taking so very long. I realized that I usually throw some ribbing around the edges and call it done. Ingeborg not only has the lace bits, but every edge has a facing, including the armholes. Not that I'm complaining; it's beautiful on the inside. I do think the armhole is a bit bulky, but not too bad. This is the first Dale I've done, and I just didn't anticipate the amount of finishing.

Worked on Starz at the concert while waiting for the sun to set, and on the ride home. Took forever to get home with a combination of rain storms and traffic. I wanted to finish sewing Ingeborg arms, but the light was so poor sewing arms wasn't working for me. Over the weekend I was able to complete about a pattern repeat on Starz, so it's almost to the armhole.

Second middle school Volleyball game tonight. Apparently there will be some real competition tonight. I've got Tuja loaded, and ought to get the body pretty close to finished.

Happpy September.
Still wondering how the year goes by so fast these days.

1st volleyball game today. Daughter got her uniform yesterday, with a very peppy hair ribbon in school colors with her name printed on it. Tuja is ready.

Back from my trip. I wasn't impressed with the class content, but a lot of knitting was done. On the travel leg from Houston to Atlanta, I finished the lace bits for Ingeborg:


I knew that the Starz project would be too hard for the class, but I worked some on it in the evenings and on the way back:


And on the leg from Atlanta to Newark, I cast on, and did the fiddly hem bit for Tuja from Dale 116 in Classic Elite Believe, color "mystic moss". They have you knit six rows, then purl the first row the the current row to make a little roll; nice but tedious. I used a temporary cast on with the ugly purple acryllic yarn to make the cast on stitches easier to find and pick up.

I was stoked because I got to the first cross over just as the class was ending. Cables are too complicated for class, so I was delighted to have just enough work for the time. I worked up the criss cross section on the way home according to the pattern, and hated how it looked. So, I tore it all back, and did it properly with a cable needle. The pattern uses cleverly paired increases and decreases to move the ribs to the center, but once it goes into cables, it was a mess.

I like it better now. So, now I'm up to the neck separation on the front; the back is separated and on a holder waiting for the front to be done. Since the first volleyball contest is Thursday, I think this will be a decent spectator project.

Oh - a close up of the highlight of Tuja - the criss cross part:

I'm messing with finishing the button bands on Ingeborg for the rest of the weekend. I did some shopping for buttons as well. Maybe we'll have a picture of her finished soon.

I'm leaving in a half hour for a business trip. Back on Thursday. Why do I think that I can catch up on everything while away? I've packed half a suitcase of knitting, and thought I could download some self paced classes and do those too. For some reason, those classes have to be taken on line, so I have this goal of doing at least one while I'm away. Yeah, right..... after a day in school and picking up the e-mails that came in during the day. Hmmmm.

Well, I'm feeling fragmented, and like I'm not accomplishing anything. However, if one strolls through my house one will see all sorts of progress bits.

A sleeve with some lace peeking out

Some more lace - almost 42" slightly stretched

A button band has been picked up. That Ingeborg sure has a lot of fiddly bits to do before she is finished.

And some starz are born

Wow! Daughter in distress made the "A" team for school volleyball. 60ish girls tried out, and nine made the "A" team, with three more spot to be designated later. What a self esteem bump, or so it seems. On the way home, she said many girls didn't know why she made it and they didn't, then said they all hated her and she would probably not be able to keep her spot. Then we discussed how those girls may be jealous, and how if she kept working hard she should have no trouble staying the team. The coach told us that she wanted to see concentration and improvement in try outs, and obviously, daughter showed what coach was looking for. Her perception that the girls all hate her is probably not true, but even so, it makes no difference - a team is a team. As a mother I'm sure that once they get to know each other the opinions will change; dad says their opinions are irrelevant. Adolescence - yeesh At least we're all in therapy now.

I'm thinking of going with family to Kerrville for the Labor Day music festival. Any other Texan knit bloggers thinking the same? I hear it's a big Kum-by-ya weekend, and I be we can knit too!

My husband is home for a while, and I think he is trying to cheer me up by sending me e-mail jokes. He sent this picture today, and I looked it up on urban myths, and yes, it is real. Check out this cool place to sit and do your "business":
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/toilet.asp

On the knitting front, I'm creeping towards finishing Ingeborg. It's been hard with all the home front disruptions that take a much higher priority than knitting or blogging. Dorothy asked about the three needle bind off, and armholes. I don't know that I can answer her. I decided to add steek stitches, as my sewing machine is not to be trusted. So, I've done the crochet and cut as well as the three needle bind off. I suppose you could put the stitches on a holder, do the sewing, cut, then bind the shoulders off together. Back to me, the collar is sewn, armhole steeks crocheted. I plan to sew up the bottom and sleeve hems next, then knit button bands, sew the sleeves on after that. I've decided to say yes to lace.

The new Starz pullover is jerking along as well. Ten minutes in the parking lot waiting for volleyball practice to finish, here, a doctor waiting room for twenty minutes there, some passenger seat time. That's about it.

Why am I on a rollercoaster, and I'm NOT at AstroWorld?

Yeesh. Last week and a half have been a wreck.

Monday, Back from vacation, really late, no luggage. Ingeborg body was in a bag, husband's keys in the other.

Tuesday, Took husband to airport for his next four week away from home trip, and went back to my own job. Found out that three of my larger projects I was working on closed with no sale. Crud.

Wednesday, Left for my own business trip. Received a call late night from daughter's camp - minor injury that required a trip to the e-room. Didn't sleep much

Thursday, Ran into some extreme issues on a nice project. Probably can't win the deal because a competitor has a much nicer solution for the size. Another camp call - daughter fainted, and was taken back to the e-room. It was my birthday. I cried.

Friday, Got home, did house work and accounting all weekend. Boring is good.

Monday - Picked up bags, finally. The Ingeborg body was in there, and thankfully had not started to grow mold. Late night, more calls from camp. Daughter is apparently hurting herself, and needs to come home. Made air arrangements, spoke to husband, didn't sleep much.

Tuesday - spent the day making appointments, turning over work (again), trying not to cry. Picked up daughter.

Wednesday - husband returns - we fight, mostly because we are so stressed out and tired. Take daughter to medical doc and find a sinus infection. Take nap. Take daughter to get prescriptions filled, and we get our nails done. She's mostly ok - husband and I agree that she does is experimenting with behaviors, does not appear to be in immediate danger, but does need help dealing with her feelings. We all see a psychologist this afternoon, so we will have a professional opinion of what's up.

Knitting helps - especially during sleepless nights and on airplanes. So, here's the positive progress..... A novelty yarn scarf in garter stitch for daughter. She choose the yarn earlier in the summer. It's a little over 60" long.

Closeup of the yarn - black core with red fur. My screen is shoing some magenta. Don't believe it, it's just red. She likes it a lot.

Ingeborg now has a collar and her front steek is opened up. I'll sew down the collar and the bottom hem before progressing onto the button bands and sewing in the arms. Must find buttons.

On the business trip I started a new project for my husband. Remember, poor Ingeborg was still in a lost suitcase.


Friday the 13th is tomorrow. Can we please settle down?

Well, we're back, just in time to leave again. (business travel for us both) Vacation was beautiful, right up until the American Airlines computer disaster on Sunday. We were four hours delayed, got home at 3:00 a.m. and our luggage went on it's own vacation. Here it is, Wednesday, and it's still not here. The agent typed our delivery address incorrectly, and my husband was so tired he just grabbed the receipt and did not do his usual annoying inspection of paperwork. So, now I have the number of the delivery service, and I'm hoping they call me back. He's anxious because he has his house and car keys in there. I'm anxious because the completed body of Ingeborg is in mine.

Cross your fingers for me - I don't know if I can start that body from scratch.