Look what I got for Valentines day

I asked Nick to get this playmat for me, its for a game we play. Hehe isn't it cool?

NO LA

The letters of my name... same initials of the letters of a city in need.

I found this blog: http://mgno.com/ its an employee of a company where I get my website names from.

Its just crazy what is going on, the looters are gangs are out of control.

Last night at bible study, we didn't study the bible. Mark showed maps and diagrams of the hurricane, showing pictures of the distruction, talked about how this is going to be a very trying time for our country. To have a whole city evacuated and all those people displaced. Its horrible. Then we prayed. I couldn't pray outloud, because I was crying.

Woe is me

Well since I can't find anyone online to chat too, guess I'll post.

I have not been knitting since monday. Been programming like a fiend and I joined the YMCA, so I've been working out this week. Yay. It has definately helped my stress level, although I'm doing more. I don't come home nearly as brain dead. Weird, huh?

I am doing a wrap, from Sally Melvilles "The Purl Stitch" ...

here's a pic:




Hard to see the pattern... the center square is reverse stockinette stitch ... the four corners are garter, and the other 4 are regular stockinette.

Pretty simple pattern huh? ...........oh I keep messing up! its driving me crazy. I will do real good for awhile. Then wham-o ... I get off somewhere. I use a row counter.. I have the pattern as a diagram, which I understand.. I got the hang of it, you always start with knitting, and rows 11 and 12 are both knit, which is where the checkerboard pattern changes........... ?? luckily I have an Easy Project, a knit trianglular type scarf from Sally Melville's "The Knit Stitch" (can you tell, I like her books!) that i can work on that doesn't require any counting.

I made a wee bit of progress on my craft room. I hauled out my bookshelf (which wasn't doing too much for my piles of yarn) and put my computer books that were under my desk in the living room. Then rearranged the tubs of yarn, cross stitch and quilting stuff so I can have a path. I think it will work out better. And my computer books are so much more happy to be out in the open! :)

well I guess I'll go make myself a beverage and go to bed.

Help!

I decided on a pattern for that purple cotton yarn. Its a sleeveless shirt, all ribbed with a mobius collar. Its from "The Purl Stitch" by Sally Melville. My Ribbing is stretching out kinda funky..... so I emailed my new expert knitter friend to see if she had any advice... and she posted on her blog, along with a picture I sent.

http://fearlessknitting101.com/?q=blog/2

Her name is Nina (prounced NINE-ah, not KNEE-Na as I had been saying it wrong the past few days and my friend Kim corrected me! ooops, sorry :< I'm horrible at names).. She lives near the eastern side of the US, and she's lucky enough to work in a yarn shop and teach knitting! as well as do commission knitting. Looks like she will be posting some good stuff on her blog, so keep an eye on it! Looking forward to it Nina!

Yarn Shopping!

I went to Knitting Etc, in Orland today! My aunt bought me this yarn:


The label, in case you can't read it from my horrible picture its "Inter Mezzo" 100% 24ply mercerized cotton 124yards per skein, 100 grams

3.75 stitches = 1in
5 rows = 1in
US 10 Needles

Here's a closeup:


And I've heard so much about Cathay...I had to buy a ball. This is NICE yarn, wow. This would make a heavenly sweater!



Now my delima.. what to make with this purple yarn. I figured a vest or something like that. I haven't been able to find anything that is suitable yet. Any ideas? I have about 700 yards of chunky yarn.... hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Firefighters and Babies

(Click all pics to see larger ones, apologies for the poor photos. What do you expect from a camera phone!)

Last night, my brother who is the head merceedes mechanic in my town, is also a volunteer fireman and last night was his graduation. My brother made us all so proud last night. He got special recognition for: perfect attendance (didn't miss one practice or training session), got a 90% or higher average grade (he was actually 93), and he passed the state fire exam (first time!). So it was pretty neat to see his graduation. Then everyone came over to my house and we had snacks. A friend of ours found a old fire ax at an antique shop that was supposably found in the old firehouse (where he is stationed) when they tore it down and rebuilt. That was pretty cool. Once he gets it on the wall I'll have to take a pic of it.

Worked on knitting two baby socks at once with two circulars last night. I can't get the cast on method (you have to slip half the stitches to another needle... then.. slide them down, blah blah.. So I got the hint from a girl from my knitting group Monica, she says she likes to starts the sock on dbl pointed for a few rounds then switches to the circs. Which makes sense, its hard to get the first join tight when using two circs. I don't know if she does the same when doing two socks on two circs?

So I cast on one sock with one pair on the dbl pointed, then transferred it to the two circs. Then did my next sock on the dbl pointed and then had a hard time figuring out if I should put the second sock to the right or left of the old sock, trying to think how the yarn tails would be to knit.... I had to switch off to the a single dbl pointed to get the circ going the other way.. and after a few of those switch-er-oos, I got them going. I can see it in my head how it should go, but I guess it didn't translate very well to the tangle of circs in my hands! Maybe I will get the hang of it next time!


And here are some baby things I've been working on...
This blanket. Everytime some other knitter saw me working on it they go "Ohh just like the dishcloth!!" since this seems to be the token dishcloth pattern!

I used Red Heart Baby Clouds. Its so soft! I thought if I used two skeins increasing, then 2 skeins decreasing, I'd come out even. Nope. I had to buy another skein for the last 40 sts or so!



This sweater was pretty fun. The buttons are little froggies. :)




These are from "Creative Knitting" July 2005. These go so quick, they are so fun!!




:) Today I'm going to a yarn store in Frankfurt, IL. Probably will only buy a few things. Maybe some sock yarn or some yarn to make this beautiful bag!

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Thats me.

Lets see, this week I've

• saturday: started chemo cap
• sunday: finished chemo cap, and made matching headband
  
• monday: knit on an afghan square
• tuesday: finished square, started a crocheted afghan square
• wednesday: hand pieced a small diamond quilt block
• thursday: worked on huge cross stitch that will probably take me 80 years, a Treasa Wentzler called castle sampler
• friday: this morning while flipping through a knitting catalog, was tempted to grab needles and yarn for another afghan block .. but thought no, better work on my cross stitch at least another day!
• This weekend i plan to get a couple quilt blocks ready to go and finish up a few odd projects i have sewing wise.

Gosh I'm really craving a donut right now. I am a carb and sugar addict I think. Especially french fries. Its bad that my work is accross the road from a McDonalds and a medium fry is only $1.10 (and I have gift certificates for McD that DH's grandparents always send for birthday and christmas)

This is a funny story, not crafty related at all.
My husband Nick and a few friends love bowling. I like it OK, sometimes I'd rather do something else, but they like to go at least once a week. Well it was Kim's birthday this week and Nick asked me about 3 weeks ago if we should get her a bowling shirt. I see no reason or purpose for a bowling shirt and I think they are pretty silly (but hey, if having a special shirt for bowling makes people happy, thats ok! have TWO bowling shirts!) I was like, uhhhh I don't know if she would want one. I sure wouldn't want one. This one was a "50s style" shirt, 100% polyester. I sure as heck wouldn't wear anything 100% polyester. [shudder] ... So I said, well why don't you ask her if she would want one and what color/size she would like. He said, no that would ruin the surprise. So.. reluctantly I said ok, get her the blue in an XL.

So Wednesday we were going to see Kim at bible study. Nick and I came in seperate cars. I was there first. Nick walked in with the shirt stuffed in a fex ex box and gave Kim and I funny looks. We were both like What!?!?! ... he just gave us funny looks. Kim opens the box and starts laughing. I'm like WHAT?!?!?! ... it turns out that earlier that same day, Kim had been looking at bowling shirts and had found that VERY SAME shirt and sent Nick a link and asked what color. Nick said how about royal blue? ..and maybe you should order a ball at the same time (trying to dissuade her from ordering one that day, which she didn't)

If you are curious to see the shirt, here's a link ... she did like the color, it was one of the ones she liked the most. Nick got "Me" embroidered on the front, which is the name she always uses when bowling.

SO Nick thought that *I* had asked Kim about those shirts (since I wasn't sure she even wanted one) and tried to spoil his surprise, which is why he thought something was up when he walked in.

Knitting Survey

1. Do you knit continental or English? I knit continental. I haven't tried two color knitting yet.
2. How long ago did you learn to knit? I learned as a kid, but had no patience and never finished kept at anything until I was about 25. I had been doing alot of cross stitch, which seems to have taught me endurance and patience :)
3. First FO? First thing I can remember actually finishing, was probably a dish cloth with cotton yarn as a kid, knit from corner to corner.
4. Favorite yarn? Anything I can afford :)
5. Favorite pattern? Right now I'm really loving Sally's "The Knit Book" sweater patterns.
6. Favorite pattern source? No favorites really.
7. Favorite needles? I have the boyd Needlemaster set. I was just given a set of bamboo needles from a friend, so I'm anxious to try them.
8. Nicest thing you’ve ever knit? Probably the sweater I made for my SIL. I'll have to see if I can take a picture of it.
9. Most hated project? none yet!
10. Who are you going to pass this on to? nobody, the only knit bloggers I know are Monica and Lynette!