Posted by stacey at 05:02 PM

July 06, 2006

I got a new toy recently. I got an ipod. It's my way of rewarding myself for all the stress of late. I'm happy with it so far (although that battery power thing does annoy me, along with the negative web postings that I see now only after I bought the thing...but knitting podcasts are interesting). But right out of the box, the thing is pretty cool. I sit and knit with the plugs in my ears and the world goes away. Nice.

I did upgrade on the ear phones to some cheap Phillips earphones. They actually sound much nicer than the ones that come in the box. Just one problem. Apparently I have tiny ears. I had a lot of hope for these particular earbuds because they had some kind of rubbery things on the ends that looked like they'd fit into small ears. But I would need an army of lilliputians to get them in and keep them in place. So the ipod earbuds don't hurt. But the Phillips sounds so much better. There's always a trade off, isn't there? Sony makes a tiny-looking earbud. But I've never bought anything from Sony that didn't break quickly. We'll see.

I hit a snag in my lace project which I'm sure I can fix but I had to stop to knit some other things. I have been knitting a lot. But nothing to blog about. More knitted gifts for people so they don't even stay in my care that long. But nice stuff. Hmmm....maybe knit something for me some time soon? Mmmm...maybe not.

Posted by stacey at 04:09 PM

June 08, 2006

You Are Storm

Exotic and powerful, Storm descended from a line of African priestesses. Emotions can effect your powers, but you are generally serene. Powers: controlling weather, creating winds that lift you into flight, generating lightning

Okay. I am thirty years old and I love the X-Men movies! I took my son to see the last of the trilogy. It was my excuse to go there and act like I was his age-cough-eight-sniffle. My favorite character this time would have had to have been Jean. Who knew she had so much power? Not to say I like what she did. But she was the best kept secret ever! Class 5 Mutant!

Okay. Back to being thirty.

Posted by stacey at 05:22 PM

May 26, 2006

I decided to take comments completely out. I'm so tired of the spammers!!! Happy knitting!

Posted by stacey at 11:39 AM

December 12, 2005

Odd picture, you think? Maybe.

Ever notice how in a microwave world where we can get something as complex as a turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce warm in a matter of six minutes (albeit in the small little squares) that simple little things take so much time till you get nothing done? Case in point, I was going to meet my husband at his mother's house and I needed to stop by the gas station for a tiny bit of gas and a lot of suds because my car was nasty dirty. Even if the in-laws weren't home, I definitely didn't want them showing up to see my car like that for the fifth week in a row. Peer pressure-or in-law pressure in this case, is a pain. In-law pressure in particular, can drive you out of your mind if you let it.

As I pulled up, I'm noticing there were only three vehicles in line. No biggie. I paid for the car wash and as I left the counter I noticed two more cars inching up behind what was supposed to be my spot. That's okay.

I sit in line and am so grateful that my little one is asleep. No woman wants to sit in line at a car wash with a screaming baby yelling her little head off no matter how pretty it is. I looked at the clock. Seven minutes later the car that went in is still in the car wash. Finally, around the ninth minute, the next one is about to go in. Seven minutes later it comes out. At this point, I pull out my knitting.

I was thinking about what I'd blog about since I had to stop knitting on the master level for a minute to put together some last minute knitted gifts. I like the yarn I'm knitting with. I got it from a friend who I used to work with at my current job. I don't know what kind of yarn it is. But it is so strong and so soft!! I can't break it with my hands, but I don't believe it's synthetic either. At any rate, the colors were beautiful, till I started attempting to make it into a scarf. Then it got all blocky looking. Like a brick formation. I don't know that I like that all that much. But it will make a quick gift. Especially since it gets tangled so easily...

...and since I can't break it and figure out an easy way to get it into a ball again, I am going to take the path of least resistance and just start a new one. What can I say? I'm the Queen of Procrastination and I've got a lot of people to knit for this Christmas. So off the needles already with the scarf. The Queen has spoken.

I never knew how much knitting could get done at a car wash. Granted, it wasn't like the car washes were 15 minutes each or anything. But my goodness, time was creeping by so slowly. For some reason, forty-five minutes had slipped right by me!

Apparently the lapse in time was making me a lose some control of some of my faculties. Knitting and time can make you think you can do very supernatural things. Must be the meditative state it puts you in. I started thinking if I tried shifting my needle just under the van in front of me, somehow if I could just get it shoved in the right crevice, I could lift it out of the way and sit it safely to the side just long enough for me to be able to start the car and move up a bit to take it's spot. I guess these queenly sceptres, aren't that strong after all. Next time, maybe I'll try the addi turbos.

Posted by stacey at 02:18 PM | Comments (2)

November 10, 2005

Your Hair Should Be Purple

Intense, thoughtful, and unconventional. You're always philosophizing and inspiring others with your insights.

You don't say? Purple, huh? Interestingly enough, I'm working a scarf that is in the purple family as I sit at this computer. Don't know who it's for yet, but the holidays are right around the corner, so you know somebody'll love it. :)

Never considered myself a purply kind of girl though. Maybe blue...The difference between Prince and Blue's Clues, I guess.

TKGA. I renewed my membership this week and I enrolled in the Master Knitters Level I course. I figure, hopefully, by this time next year, I'll be a level one master.

Baby girl is staying with grands while I'm at work. She's really interested in her hands these days. And my knitting needles...She may not know I'm territorial...

Ah, maybe I'll share with her someday. :)

Posted by stacey at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2004

On the Homefront

My son and I don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons.  But I don't let that stop him from costuming or eating candy at home.  Can you guess who he wanted to be???  Spiderman!! Got pics of that coming.  He and his father got a real kick out of looking like twins! I just snapped the pics of course!

In Knitting

I finished my first fair isle project!!!

No.  It's not the mittens.  I'll be working on those for quite a while! :) But I did get to complete a fair isle hat for my son. 

The hat was a project for my first beginner knitting class.  Actually it looks like I'm in on the second part of the class.  They've already completed a scarf and what not.  But that's cool.  I've got casting on, knitting, purling and binding off down so I was a little ahead of the game.  But this class will be more about color I think.  We'll be extensively using the skills that were learned in the first part of the class to branch off into color.  So we started a fair isle hat.  Actually, I got the ribbing done and finished the inch of stockinette before leaving and I said I wasn't going to finish the hat on my own. The instructor said I'd probably finish it and start a new one next week in class.  But I said I'd finish it when I got to class with everyone else.  But then my little boy really needed it on his little peanut head. :)  So I finished it and then cast on for another and got back to the place where I left off in the classroom.  Nobody will ever know the difference!! The only part I don't like is having to seam it afterward.  I really would have rather knit in the round.  But it's good practice.  Maybe it'll help me knit a sweater later on, huh?  Hey, it could happen.

I also completed an afghan for my son's grandmother.  I used Homespun because I was a little tight on cash.  But it knit up very nicely!  She got a rocking chair for her birthday so the afghan was a nice little additional gift.  Of course, there is a Hulk Green Afghan on the horizon since my son was a little upset the afghan wasn't for him.  Promises, promises...

I finished the first sleeve of the sweater I'm working on.  I had to change the color to blue toward the end which means I'll have to do the same to the other sleeve as well...Let you know how all that goes...

I got two new books! SNB NATION and LAST-MINUTE KNITTED GIFTS (not sure if I got that second title right).  But I haven't really had a chance to look in them yet.  I'm taking them to work today to look at them.  Give you the low down when I get it myself! ;)

Stitches With Style, my favorite yarn store in Delaware, moved to an actual shop!! SWS used to be out of Sheryl's house.  Now she has a store with classrooms and lots and lots of space!! Just look at all that yummy yarn, would you?! When she had it in her house, at least I couldn't see all I could get in debt with...now I have nary a chance!!!

So these are the facts.

Happy Knitting!! 

Posted by stacey at 08:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 01, 2004

Taking a Break

I decided to take a break to show the progress on my sweater sampler from The Sweater Workshop. I just finished the short rows. I may have had more, but as you can see, I've been revamping this blog. I liked the yellow/green/orange thing. It was different. Maybe I'll do something like that again. But these days I just need to breathe. You know?

Where was I?

Oh yeah, back to the sampler, I think I may have thought that the sampler would be a little smaller from the picture in the book. Now I can see why someone used it as a knitting bag and another person as a dolly dress! It looks like it will be at least big enough for an interesting medium-sized knitting bag. I do get so stingy on the pics, don't I? I'm waiting to see how much all these pics come out to be since it's not in my account profile yet. If I believed in knocking on wood and all that, I'd do it right now!

Every now and then I just stop to read the book before continuing because there are directions given for flat knitting along with those for knitting in the round. If I had a complaint about the book, that would be the only one. I get mixed up sometimes while reading, and I don't want that happening while I'm knitting. Hence, the break. In the directions, I believe the next segment is a pocket or something for a sweatshirt while it's totally different for a cardigan. I'll keep you posted. It is a fun project though even if it isn't going to be a recognizable article by anyone but a Sweater Workshop owner!

Feeling a Little Turtely Today?

Sundays are usually slow days before the bustle of Monday. So in honor of everything slow, I took a pic of Donatello.

He's just chillin' in his freshly cleaned and then freshly soiled again tank. He was a little fussy today. Cleaning his tank meant I actually had to *touch* him. That's a big no-no for new baby turtles that aren't familiar with their owners yet. He wasn't happy about that at all. They are able to see so I do believe he knows who I am though. He trusts me enough to come out from under his aquarium log from time to time when I come to the glass. Usually that means he is hungry. So he knows the hand that feeds him. That's for sure! But, for all intents and purposes today, Donatello, or Donnie as my son calls him, was very irritable. Usually he eats from a can. But today he had a couple of crickets since he was in the backyard. He caught some sun too!

Poor baby. He's a little camera shy, I think. Hope he's in better spirits tomorrow.

Passage of Time

I am a painter primarily. This is a painting of mine that I have been living with for about a year now. When I say "live with," I mean I've had it around...moved it here and there...put it up, took it down...glanced at it when I passed by it...studied it sometimes when I was curious about it...thought about making revisions and then deciding not to over and over again (you get the picture). Sometimes I have paintings that I really like right off and after living with it for a month, I hate it and can't figure out what about it it was that I thought it had. Others I put away somewhere because I didn't like it. But when I come back to it, something catches my eye. I decided to post this painting because it's the first time I've lived with a painting that long in uncertainty and I just made up my mind that I like it. Usually my paintings tell me that my goal appears to be duplicating what's in front of me though I'm usually not after that at all. Or at least it never starts off that way. This painting did seem to capture something of the park without doing that. It's very simplified I think. I like that. It reminds me of how I like to keep things. Simple. And the color palette, though mostly green seems to be slightly different than what I normally paint. Still haven't put my finger on what that difference is. But I like that too. Anyway, I thought I'd share. Maybe some day, I'll be able to work some of what I seek to capture in my paintings into my knitting? Hey, it could happen. That sensibility is definitely working its way into my blog. We shall see.

Happy knitting tonight!

For Meredith

Editing here: After reading Meredith's comment, I tried to make this pic larger but it became, as one of my graphic design major friends used to say, "pixelated." Not sure how to fix that. Of course, after re-reading the post, it dawned on me that I don't have a painting for reference here of what a previous painting for me might look like. When I first started this blog there was an album for my paintings but I took it off. I doubt I'll create another. But, since this blog talks about a painting I decided to add a painting for reference.

This painting was done about a year before the painting above. I liked it because it was simple with some complexities to keep it interesting. I like working in that kind of mode. Maybe some of you will see what I mean by my further simplifying in the more recent painting. I think I mulled over it for so long because I felt like I may have been oversimplifying. In the end, I decided I liked it. They both work for me. But I am gravitating to the more recent one because for me and my way of working, it is different and unusual. You be the judge. You know what they say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Posted by stacey at 06:48 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

July 31, 2004

Whoa!

Please excuse the changes that are occuring midstream while I'm revamping. I have this need right now to just feel freer with just about everything and it's sort of the trickle down effect, I guess.

Blog-O-Rama

I've only been away for about a month or so. But there are so many great blogs out there that I haven't seen!! I've been adding this and moving that and everything else in between! Does anyone know what happened to "superfluous"? I really liked that blog...

Blah, Blah, Blah...Gripe, Blah

I'm confining myself to the house for a bit because my mom just had surgery. Still working on my sampler and a few other projects. I made a little wristlet baggie to knit with a ball at a time while I'm walking around the house. I was thinking of felting it though I didn't follow any directions for felting. It's that Noro yarn again. It just looks so dang good felted! I want to just slightly felt it because I don't want it to lose much size. But if I did, I'd have to leave it to dry for a few without being able to use it! I would put it on my progress bar, but that darn thingie isn't working well. I can't see the color anymore. What's up with that? I may have to take it off until I can figure out what happened.

Knittyheads?

I noticed that knitty has a ring for people who use the knitty coffeshop! Isn't that great?! I am going to try joining today. Course, I've got quite a few rings on here to begin with. Well, what's one more going to hurt, right? ;)

Happy knitting everyone!

Posted by stacey at 05:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 30, 2004

Meeting Expectations

I found it!

When I was moving, I found that other not so ample sample that I knit experimenting with some fair isle techniques. Here it is:

I never think about the pic until after I've already shot and uploaded them, but I should've taken a pic of the center. The "floats" I believe they are called are all aligned against the sides on the inside. But I think they are still so long that if I had actually made a sock with the same type of floats, my toes would constantly get stuck in them trying to get into the sock. Sheryl of SWS told me that there are ways to rid myself of those problems and I think I saw a few of them in my SNB book. Maybe I'll try that next time.

I found this too!

Speaking of Sheryl, why do I ever try ordering books from anywhere other than the LYS? I tried ordering The Sweater Workshop over the web from a very well-known online retailer. I waited for a month for this book and there was such a problem with the correspondence between the retailer and myself that I didn't get the book! It may have been that I wasn't able to get to the web often enough in the past month to check on the status of the order. But little did I know that the book was only fifteen minutes away from my house at SWS! I picked it up yesterday and I've been working on my sampler. No pics yet though because I'm only at the k1, p1. I would have been further, but that's another story...

Another Story

I have yet to finish the sleeves and side seams on my CHUNKY KNITS sweater. But I'm so fearful that it'll just be crap! I can do all the parts. But the piecing together frightens the bejesus out of me for some reason! Think it could be a phobia or something? Well, I saw the reviews on Jacqueline Nee's book and I thought I'd give it a try. Maybe if I can get a good success with it, I'll gain the confidence to get back to that seaming thing. Ya think?

So here are my notes so far: Never-ever-never-ever-ever-EVER knit at three in the morning...unless you ARE wide awake. EVER! Notice the word "are" is in all caps. Yeah. Not just THINK you are...know what I mean? I had to start over three times with just the casting on and the initial linking into the round! I should've known something was wrong because I've never had a problem with that. Even the very first time I used a circular needle. But, silly me, I just kept plugging along. Sometimes that can be a very heroic quality. But there are times when it is just plain, stupid! Like last night...On the THIRD attempt, I was off to a great start. I passed through the garter stitch in a breeze. Did the little stockinette section. All the stitches were so neat and sweet from the cast on up. I was feeling pretty good. The knitting was looking very good. But it wasn't until I got to the k1, p1 ribbing rounds that I realized something was a little off. The whole piece was warped! That's never happened before. What in the world? Well, I blame it on the needles. I am using the cheapy kind. They bow and turn and snap back so fiercely it isn't funny. Sorry folks. The book recommends 6,7, 8's on a sixteen inch. The only ones I had were the cheapy kind and I just couldn't wait to try the sampler! You understand, right? I figured, it's a sampler, what could it harm? Well, a lot, I guess. I noticed when I casted on for the next attempt that it kept turning and, well, it was just a nuisance. No wonder I had to cast on so many times. Also the fact that I was extremely sleepy but I was just so excited to finally have the book and some time to steal away with it.

Oh well.

I started another sampler right afterward, mind you. Uh-huh. Going on four o'clock by this time. Anyway, it's not so nearly as neat as the one preceding it, but it'll do for now. I made sure that I got to the k1, p1 rib with no twisting and then I let it go for the night. I mean, the morning. What's wrong with me anyhow? :)

On the Job Front

Well, actually, I punked out. :) Instead of continuing to play phone tag (which wasn't on purpose-he kept calling after 5:30 when I wasn't expecting calls of that nature). That is, until he caught me and I knew I'd have to decline the position, I left a message to the director of the college to tell him the reasons why I couldn't take the position but that I was very grateful for the opportunity. Know what happened? He called me back with a better position. How'd that happen? This position is more of a 9 to 5 on a daily basis instead of the travel and the extremely flexible schedule than the previous position would have entailed. Still full time, still benefits. A little more pay and a little more responsibility actually. I don't know. It just may be doable. Let you know how it works out when I get all the details and if I decide it's a good fit. Knit a prayer into those next few rows for me.

Off to reaquaint myself with some of my fave blogs and get back to work on some knitting projects. Keep on knitting!

Posted by stacey at 09:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 27, 2004

A Tearful Return!

I Love You, Blog!!

I have missed this blog and all of you knitters so much!! I have finally got the web connection up and I think I am ready for some serious blogging! Hmmm....Where to start?

(Note: I promise to get used to this wrap text feature, but for now, just bear with me!)

The Big Move

This was my family's first, big move since I was, oh about seven or eight, I guess. We moved from the inner-city badlands to this wonderful, little suburban development where there is peace and quiet. Great for knitting, you know. ;) There are quite a few houses around here, but it's so quiet, I wonder if anyone lives in them??? Yeah...it's that quiet.

This is one great house. It's big, but not too big. It's a two-level house with two full baths (what a relief! in more ways than one!), four bedrooms, nice-sized kitchen (with storage space!!! yay!), great garage and parking area space (you mean, no more fighting to park in front of where you live? yup, that's what I mean), a deck out back with a large back and front yard, washing area (with somewhere to actually fold your clothes-gasp! huh?), dining room, family room and living room. There is so much space for storage, we don't even want to get into that...but it is a welcome change to say the least. And don't forget the light! What light you say? The light that comes in the windows, silly! At the house I grew up in, there was barely any light that could come into the house. Can you imagine! If people in any way can be compared to trees, living things that need light to survive, I can't figure out why I'm still here!! You can even play hide and go seek in this house (as evidenced by my son and I when we first moved in)! I don't think it's too large that my folks will have issues when the time comes for us to say goodbye either. Anyway, it's a really nice, big, little house. :)

Movin' & Shakin'

Actually, the only thing I can say I've moved or shook about is that I took my Praxis exams and I did an interview for a recruiting position. I passed the exams. Yay! Of course, now I'm told that if I take the next series of tests, I won't have to take classes toward certification. What do they want from me, blood?

Okay, if you're in a really good mood, you'll want to scroll past this next paragraph, for real.

I enrolled my son at a nearby school that I believe would be really good for him. Problem is the school closes at 3:45 pm. I have to pay for before care already because they don't open until 8 am. But I can't afford that and after-care-and really who'd want their kid at school all day like that anyway? I've had to do that in the past because it was necessary. But, that gets really old after awhile. He's just a kid. At that point I knew that I wouldn't be able to take the job that I was going to be interviewing for because it happens to be full-time exempt and the regular day still goes to 5 pm. Also, I would have to travel a lot! A lot of late nights and even some stay over nights or weekends. I made an agreement with myself that once I graduated from college, it was going to be all about what was right for my son. I went to the interview anyway though because it was too late to cancel. The interview was the next day after enrollment. Mind you, I worked for these people for years as a student and then after I graduated on a part time basis so I really didn't want to let them down by cancelling. I didn't feel like I completely wowed them like I know I could have if I hadn't found out ahead of time that I wouldn't be able to take the job. But I did my best to make a good impression under the circumstances. Well, it's kind of good and kind of bad. I got a message by email that the director of the school was going to contact me to discuss the position a week ago. But I figured maybe he had changed his mind because I never heard back. It was a little bit of a relief. But then I got a message from my mother that I got that call back today around 5:30 pm. I haven't returned the call yet. I'm probably not expected to call until tomorrow anyway. But I feel just rotten about it all. I really would like to take that job. It's a salary and benefits and status (I'd finally have a full-time job!). It has a lot of responsibility and room to grow and that would be really good for me. But it's just not convenient for my little one. So....we learn to make sacrifices.

The Knitty Gritty

Last week, my family and I all went to Florida. Initially the plan was to go to Disney World for the kids (my son and my little cousin, Bria). But Universal was the final destination.

We rode in cars. Can you say, "Are we there yet?" There were a lot of stops because we were traveling with children. One stop was this place called South of the Border.

I'm telling you, sombreros reigned supreme in this little spot! I was so tempted to buy one with my precious few pesos, but I restrained myself, y'all! It was only just beginning! For all of you ladies who enjoy men in sombreros, I snapped this one! Nice looking guy, I thought. A little too tall for me though! :)

I also took some pics of the night life there around South of the Border (I'm also tempted to abbreviate the name of this place when I type it, but it might be taken the wrong way):

After our brief encounter with the wildlife at SB (how's that?), we were on the road again. Two little people got packed into the back seat. Meet Little Person One and Little Person Two! Fortunately, the suv we were riding in was equipped with movies and a dvd player for The Little People to watch. Unfortunately, out of the thirty movies that we brought, they were only interested in playing the same one...over and over and over again!!! Kids, gotta love 'em! :)

We stayed in a beautiful resort house with a heated pool that I never really got into. But the kids splashed around a lot! My son is now the proud owner of a new baby turtle which he has named, ahem, Donatello. For those of you who do not know, uh...Donatello is also a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Uh-huh. Moving right along...

We took two days to see Universal Studios.

The lines for the rides were great for knitting, if you know what I mean. :)

After the second trip to Universal, my aunt wanted to go to this place called the Holy Land Experience. So...we went. This place was built to sort of duplicate the experience of going to Jerusalem. It was pretty nice. There were no lines to stand in for rides. Whew! But they had little plays, musicals, people dressed up in biblical costumes and what not. There was also the re-enactment of the crucifixion. And the kids got to play with the animals in the petting zoo.

All in all, the kids had a lot of fun wearing the adults out!! :)

Of course, this entry wouldn't be complete without me telling you about the knitting I took along for the adventure...and you will never guess what happened to Forever. Well, I'll tell you after this: I knit a few small projects (a basketweave dish cloth and two hipster kerchiefs-one for me, one for my little cousin who had lost her $15 Universal cap) and then I finished the Hot Head Hat for the what, third time? Geez! Nothing too fussy though.

It was my first time knitting the Hipster Kerchief out of KNITTING PRETTY and I didn't really adhere too closely to the directions. Well, I couldn't carry the book along with me and for a fairly young person, numbers don't stick in my head too well anymore. But I did the best I could with my improvisations. :)

It came out nice-looking I think. Actually, I liked it so much I made another one for myself!

Forever

Nobody has learned better than I have that nothing lasts forever. Forever, is finished knitting and it is a bittersweet. Forever is my friend. I still have yet to weave in the ends, but then that is the final goodbye, right? You'll have to excuse me as I wax poetic on this issue:

I told you all I'd tell you about the problem I had with Forever. At the ends you have to do this yarn over combination. For all those who have done this simple pattern, you know what I'm talking about. As everyone knows, I would work like crazy on Forever and then put her down for awhile and then come back and then put her down for awhile to rest again. Forever was mindless knitting. There wasn't much to remember because it was just so familiar. Sometimes we go through life that way thinking that things will always be a certain way and that we can always rely on those things to stay the same. It isn't until it's all too late that we come to understand, again, that that kind of stability isn't so easily found in this world. The ground can come up from under you at any time it seems. Knitting on Forever offered me stability when things were not so stable around me. But there did come a day, when even Forever snapped back at me, reminded me. That particular day when I happened to pick up Forever, I must've forgotten momentarily the pattern or zigged when I should've zagged because I noticed a few rows back there was a gaping hole near one of those ends! It wasn't like the yarn over hole, it was a real hole about a half an inch or so just in from the yarn over end. I just stared at it and it just stared back as if to say, "I ain't going nowhere just because you staring at me." You know? So, I tried the trick that I know about knitting to that section and then trying to pick up the stitch that must've dropped. Didn't work. It made another hole somewhere else. I tried it again, thinking maybe I messed up on the fix up. Nope. Nothing. So, I tried going back a few rows to the hole and then I re-knit the rows I took out. Nothing doing. Isn't that just the way it is though? A problem arises and we do all we can trying to fix it. Try to appease it. Try to pacify it. Try everything. But in the end, it still stares at us refusing to go away? And my blanket, too, still came up holey. Finally I came to the conclusion that I had to just take it all out. Start afresh on that entire section of the blanket. Sometimes you have to go back to wherever you messed up and just start over again. Start anew. Do it right. Fearfully, I began the process. One by one, I took each stitch out of the blue until I reached the multi-colored row where the newest hole yet wound up. Then I took out that row and the next out as well. If it wasn't for those delicate yarn-overs and my own inexperience, I would have done it at the start. It's a shame that fear of the unknown can do that. But, better late than never, I guess. I could've gone on and let the hole just stay in there as a testament to human imperfections like the ones I had read about in the little anecdotes in some of the more popular knitting books and what not. But I decided, I had worked way too hard and had come way to far on Forever, to let it end that way. It was going to be right, or it just wasn't going to be at all. After I ripped it out, I was able to finish Forever without the extra hole. And it looks nice.

Posted by stacey at 11:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 13, 2004

Knit A Little, There A Little

Forever

I've been spending a lot of time with Forever lately...at work...at my son's karate practice...at home...during house shopping with my folks. Pretty much everywhere. I feel like it's my woobie or something. :) Nice and stable. Since the decreases began, it is going a bit faster. Maybe the knitting part of it will be finished by June 10th when school lets out for the summer. But I'm going to have a tough time getting all those ends weaved in afterward. Whew! On this half though (the half where it's beginning to decrease to complete the square), I've implemented something I've learned from the color swatching samples I've been doing (intarsia/fair isle-I promise to post a pic of some of that before this weekend is over, really!! they're on the camera, it just takes freaking forever to load up and sometimes it doesn't work. I know, bummer): carrying the left behind yarn up. Mighty fine, that method! Yeah!!

The Low Down

Guess what?! My local yarn shop, Stitches With Style, is hosting the trunk show from Sally Melville's book THE KNIT STITCH! I can't wait until I can get over there!! It's up until May 24th and I will have some time between now and then to stop over....yay! I'm going to take loads of pics when I go! Yipee! I'm excited...can you tell???

My visiting artist is coming to do a Jazzpainting Session with my art club kids at the school where I teach next week too. Her name is Teresa Haman. She studies with Edward Loper, Sr. He's pretty popular around the Northeast Coast. Lots of stuff going on right now. No wonder I've been so wiped out!

Congrats! & On the Homefront

Congrats are in order to my parents! Chances are they'll never see this post, but they've been shopping for a house for a while now and have finally found one. They're closer to retiring now and they've been looking for a ranch out in a suburban area. They're going to settlement soon, $5000 under asking price which isn't too bad, huh? After having lived in the city for their whole lives, they're finally packin' it up! Not a moment to soon either. At any rate, I'm very happy for them! :)

I wonder if I'll be congratulating myself soon. There is a full time job opening at a place where I've wanted to work since I became a painter and I was actually emailed the ad for it by the person who would be my boss! That's a good sign, right? Benefits are included in the package and that is my primary concern. I don't know how much the pay is yet because that wasn't detailed in the ad, of course. :) Hey, as long as I can support my yarn habit, what do I care? ;)

Posted by stacey at 11:47 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 06, 2004

Definitely Not a Knitting Week

What the...???

This week was one horrible week. I don't like to wish my life away, but I'm really glad to see this week go. Way too much running around with nary a break in sight, on the job and off. And not feeling the best either.

A Little Secret

At age 27 I've only been driving for a year. And I like it. Really, I do. It's nothing like being able to go where you want, be where you want-all in a matter of minutes. But ever since, I have a million responsibilities for a single and a single parent that are just driving me up a wall! It's like I was abandoned on the side of the road or something and I'm tired already!! Let me just say that my family is very supportive. My complaint just has to do with the energy part, I guess. I have dropped on of my jobs and still my days are going from 6:00a-12:00a-and that last hour is just to get some time to take deep breaths alone and try to knit or read for a few and get some closure to my day before drifting off to sleep (oh yeah, and sometimes get a few loads of laundry done simultaneously-you can't imagine what that horror is like until you've awaken to your alarm four times in a night, two to three nights in a row, to switch clothes from the drier to the basket to the washer to the drier..etc. and go back to bed). Wednesdays are my days off, but I usually spend it running around too: car wash, grocery shopping, doctors visits if necessary, or whatever needs to be done along with more clothes washing (which increases in frequency each time a certain six-year old rips or stains a shirt or wears a knee out). Two nights a week it's karate and two nights a week it's my after school program (with a bunch of kids that I love, but truly, they do not understand what it means to conserve materials when they haven't paid for them-Ms. Johnson has (that's me)...and I've found that won't clean their workspace unless they're threatened with having to exit the program...kids...gotta love 'em). The other part of my job is best left alone. It's one of those things where there are your good days, and then, there are your bad days. I can't figure out what went wrong here. I have issues on my job that I don't even want to discuss here and other things that just make me want to go to a closet and holler at the top of my lungs for as long as I can! I did a favor for someone recently and when I needed something in return all I got was a big fuss! All I want to do is gripe and right now this is the only place I can do it. Is anyone listening to me? Oh well, such is life sometimes. Sometimes it just be's that way, I guess. It doesn't hurt to have an ear and a shoulder though.

My Knitting Non-Progress

I've only got about three more rows on Forever since I last wrote. But I'm beginning to think that's a lot. It's somewheres between 227-300+ stitches...so I guess it'd only be natural for me to take a few minutes to get to the end of a row. I'm trying to decide whether I want to keep on the Sleevey or wait until I get some experienced direction from someone in the knitting club...They did offer help. Maybe I should take it? It beats me pulling out those stitches one more time. Or does everyone go through that? I also did a couple samples working up the nerve to go to color soon. Mosaic and fair isle. I'm wondering if that last fair isle couldn't have been made with intarsia? I wish I had some get up and go right now, I'd load a pic up. But I'm really not feeling it today. Maybe this weekend. At any rate, it's a dark purpley color with orange. The orange section is like a large triangle (as large as a sample gets anyhow). It's orange all through though with no interruptions of purple till you get to the edges. Why couldn't that have been intarsia? It's a charted pattern. Maybe it could've and the book just assumed the knitter knew. Who knows?

Till the weekend.

Posted by stacey at 09:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 01, 2004

Knitting on the Go

Well, I've been doing a lot of this lately. I just finished up phase two of a project and am back to working on Forever and Sleevey full time for awhile (which means every little bit of time I can). I'm very relieved because I was beginning to miss Forever. I know, weird. Sleevey just sort of calls me from the basket every now and again. I kind of had to remind Sleevey that I must take my time with the seams. Otherwise Sleevey will just be Sleazy. :) I've ripped them out quite a few times and, sigh, I may have to do it again. I just want it to be right. I mean, it didn't take me more than a week to do the body of the sweater altogether time-wise, so I should at least be able to put it together properly, right?

I also picked up a few books and ordered one too.

KNITTER'S ALMANAC by Elizabeth Zimmerman
KAFFE FASSETT'S PATTERN LIBRARY by Kaffe Fassett and Sally Harding
and I ordered CHARTED KNITTING DESIGNS: A THIRD TREASURY OF KNITTING
PATTERNS by Barbara Walker

Yes, after my current projects I want to start some colored knitting patterns and maybe some small aran projects. Kaffe's colors are really wild! And I think EZ may have some help for me in regards to the aran knitting. Right now I'm just flirting with some sample sized mosaic patterns. But among my first projects will be the hat by Ann Norling and maybe a few other hats. Then I plan to branch off into other things. I have been doing some swatches based on the mosaic directions on the knitty mag site. Through the experimentation I finally figured out how to carry that darn "other" color up the side without it making holes! Yay me!!! It's a simple mosaic pattern but it's so cute! Wanna see? Well, I can't show you since the spanking new and better way to get images up on TypePad is experiencing some errors within my account. So maybe next time.

Until then, keep the needles clicking!

Posted by stacey at 10:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 28, 2004

Knitting and Ringing, Ringing and Knitting

Busy Bee

Hey folks!

I'm still here. I'm still knitting too. Just don't seem to be posting the pics yet and some of you already know why!! :)

I'm also still trying to work out the bugs in my ring. I have to figure out how to get a new site to the member area and since the code is in place correctly, it must be an error on the part of Ringsurf. Since there are a ton of other rings already, I'm just waiting my turn to be answered, you know? I like Karen's comment about having different buttons for different skill levels too. Now why didn't I think of that?? Karen, can't wait to see what you can come up with!!

For those of you who are interested, I am reading this book called THE HISTORY OF HAND KNITTING by Richard Rutt. It's pretty darn cool! I mean I've been wondering about the history of the craft and it's hard to find detailed information about it. Some of the books I have purchased do contain a mini-section on it. But this book seems to be very comprehensive. Check it out if you get a chance. I just happened to come across it in a local Borders. Love that store!!

Kathleen, I'm looking up that pattern asap!! The club that I have joined is also going to be discussing their stranding projects so I'm going to have a look at that too.

So I'm a busy bee here. I will post pics as soon as I can for, you know... ;)

Posted by stacey at 01:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 26, 2004

Huh?

You are Shetland Wool.
You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a
little on the harsh side. Though you look
delicate you are tough as nails and prone to
intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are
widely respected and even revered.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love the quizzes that I find on the other blogs!! They give me a kick. This is my result of a quiz that I found on NadaJ's site (sidebar). I recently did a Princess Bride quiz on katyknits site (sidebar again) too and I came up with Princess Buttercup. I'm beginning to wonder if I really know me! Honestly, I'm being as frank as I can with all my answers. But, Princess Buttercup? Revered? On what planet?! My son just (playfully) kicked me in the shin today! LOL! I also had to look up acerbic because, forgive me, I didn't know the meaning of the word. Hmmm...Let's just say I'm glad my family and friends don't know that about me! Heck, I didn't even know that about me!! :D I'm thinking it's the fact that I answered, "I'd rather talk about the whole world going to hell in a handbasket". Okay, okay, let me explain. There weren't any other choices:

I don't club.
I cook on an "as need basis" as much as possible!
I haven't watched a game since Jordan was with the Bulls...okay, and I only watched two then.
I'm usually the one who tries it the wrong way first-a hundred times!!!-before I get it right...but yeah, world peace sounds cool.
Hey, when you work at a large public school, NOBODY (read N-O-B-O-D-Y) wants to talk about any more kids than the ones you're dealing with at the present time!
I have to be honest, with the irresponsible neighbors and the loose Pits I've seen around where I live, I'm quite content on my couch behind a locked door!
Jimmy Who????

Oh, don't worry about me, I know it's just for laughs...good excuse to blog though. :) And I absolutely love the image. Wonder if I'll be able to knit that way some day...I have been toying with some mosaic and fair isle simple samples. Maybe I'll post some of the pics later. I do aspire...which brings me to my knitting progress:

On Knitting

It seems like I'm kind of going back between the sweater and Forever and some other little projects I've got floating around in my notebook. I'd put my Wish List on the sidebar, but it's so loaded with content already! At any rate, whenever I need a break from one project, I just switch to another. Amazingly enough, I still reach my goals for each project and it seems like I get done more than I would just concentrating on one project at a time??? Go figure.

Happy, wonderful knitting tonight.

Posted by stacey at 11:53 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 23, 2004

Am I Losing My Mind?

I just started a webring.

What Is Up?

I just started a webring for beginner knitters. I saw a post on a knitting blog where the knitter was a little bit upset about not being able to turn out hand-knit sweaters lickety split. I'm kind of wondering, who can? But I was so moved by it that I decided to start a ring for those of us who are between just learning to knit to advanced intermediate level knitters or knitters who just like keeping it simple and may have never even knitted a sweater in their life. There is also the option of advanced and master knitters who'd just like to offer inspiration and advice and encouragement to those of us who are beginners, sans intimidation (I may be directly quoting the site there!). I think I also get intimidated to email a question or post on other sites being a beginner. I start feeling like Dorothy approaching the Wizard of Oz or something. Or maybe the Cowardly Lion??? Fortunately, in my experiences I've found most of the knitters I've approached to be friendly. Though I don't think I've ever asked for advice or anything like that. Usually it's a compliment. Who doesn't like those? :) But I hate the thought of knitters possibly abandoning blogs due to intimidation or lack of support. I am reminded of a sock I made for my son when I first started knitting without checking the gauge! Imagine the fright of having a sock that was waaayyyy too skinny to put on him after I was finished with it!! I still mess up from time to time...for my part, however, I don't think I'm too bashful to put that on a blog that I'm paying for-pics and all! :p

At any rate, if you're interested, join! I will probably be working out bugs for the first week or so. But after that, it's all a fair game. Editing here: It lives! So far, I have my site and the Beginner Babe site on the ring. I will probably be editing the Beginner Babe site for a while. I did have trouble at first getting the sites on the ring (my own sites!! go figure) because of what the Ringsurf admin called DMS Settings problems. I really don't know what all that means but, okay. I'm going to see if I can fix that with TypePad support. They added my sites though so I officially have two members: me and uh, me. :)

Credits roll.

Advertisement over.

Still Knitting...Nothing Beats the Energizer, It Just Keeps Going...and Going. And Going.

I decided to keep going on Forever even though I decided it was deep enough a while back at 50%. I just recently started the decreases. I don't know if this baby will even get to use this blanket much, but I think it'll be a cute throw for his room if nothing else! Pics to come soon.

No-Name gets a Name.

Sleevey it is. I know, a little queer...but I've had to rip the sleeves out a thousand times!! When I thought I had finally finished them I realized there was an extra portion at the back that should be seamed to make the length of the sleeves come out even when they get seamed. The pattern didn't detail how much of the seam gets set into the body of the sweater so I'm guessing the whole way. I just wanted to see if I could do it anyhow. But dang! There has got to be a better way to know where to start seaming. This weekend I plan on rummaging through my books to find what that way is!

Until then...Happy Knitting!

Posted by stacey at 01:06 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 15, 2004

Another Day in the Life of...

Little Blessings.

I spent most of today with my son. Since it's spring break and all, I decided to give him a break too. He is in kindergarden. Usually his school closes for NO-thing. If it does close for a holiday, it is just one day. Pretty good, actually. But I missed him a little. So he stayed with me. We went to "KB ToyWorks," as he likes to call it, to get one of his fave toys: Bionicles something-something Light. He had the toy put together within about a half-hour to forty-five minutes. I remarked about how proud I was of him. He truly is a good kid. Even while he is now asleep, I keep hearing in the back of my head, "Mom, watch this!" I think I must've heard that phrase a hundred times today. It's amazing how tired and not tired I can be of that sort of thing.

While we were out I happened to see what I'd like to get his father for his birthday. Can't put it here since he knows where I post. But I will probably do one of those post for the future thingies so that on the day of his birthday, the post pops up with a pic of what I got him. I love this blog!!

Hot Head, Take Two

Yup! I knit another Hot Head Hat and the experience was a little...Irksome. This time I knit the pattern for myself. I had more than enough of the colors left. I could probably do a few other projects as well. But I liked the hat so much on the screen, I figured I'd give it a go again and try to hold onto it this time. I really like the colors for this pattern and since I happen to have quite a few yellow jackets...This particular time, the pattern didn't work out so quickly as the first time. It's funny since the first time I was knitting when I was very sleepy...Seems like I knit better when I'm tired. Go figure...At any rate, I knit the whole hat. Then as I was weaving in the ends from all the color changes (and there has GOT to be an easier way to make color changes without having to weave in so many ends- so help me, I WILL find it!) I think I may have pulled something out that shouldn't have been pulled out? A couple stitches seemed to come loose and then there were big, gaping holes where there should've been colored stitches. Gasp! So I had to go back and fix that till I was satisfied that I could live with the mistake. It's the kind of thing that nobody will probably notice until I tell them. But I'll always know that it is there...Irksome. Yeah, but it's also the name of the hat. :) It took me quite awhile to fix Irksome. Very unlike it's distant cousin, Tease (I decided to name the other hat too even though it no longer belongs to me. She'll never know! But it will know-and, yes, I am squinting my eyes and slightly gritting my teeth.). To make a long story short, there was no way I was going to lose my hat, Irksome or not, to a stupid mistake. I fought for that hat!! Lesson learned.

Never take anything for granted.

I think tomorrow, I'm going to knit some more on Forever and the CK sweater that has no name. I think I'll call it No-Name for now and see what happens. Who knows? The anonymity could provoke No-Name to provoke me into picking something more suitable to the character it's hiding thus far. And I know this project is hiding something; They all do. Yup, still squinting...

Knit another stitch! :)

Posted by stacey at 01:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 08, 2004

Spring Vacation-Yay!!!

Yeah, right!

Big Whoop.

I got a flat tire on the way to work today. Nuff said.

Knitting Heaven

On the brighter side of things, I get to knit for ten days. I plan on spending time with the bf and all. But I'm like Fudd-I'm so looking forward to the "peace and we-wax-ay-shun."

I'm going to spend more time on Forever and finish up my IGP. I want to be able to start some of the projects that I liked from the Weekend Knitting book. Here's to hoping for busy hands on a lazy break!

Posted by stacey at 04:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 07, 2004

Pit stop-LYS

After taking my son to school for a field trip today, I was going down the road and the thought came to me in a whisper, "Go to the LYS." I'm lying. It came to me a week ago when I knew ahead of time that I'd have this day off. So off I went. And I came back with this:

Nice stuff, huh? This week is spring vacation at school and I plan on knitting myself into oblivion. I have enough to make a "Hot head hat" from the SNB book and whatever that two-toned hat is from the WK book, the long scarf, and a flower face cloth from the WK book. I also chose a screwball item-a kit for a beaded bag. It's such a cute, tiny bag! I already know who I'm giving it to when it's finished.

Acrylic vs. Wools

Well, I can't say I don't have anymore yarn to choose from, that's for sure. Most of my previous stash was comprised of mainly one good kit of handpainted yarn that I got at Stitches With Style and a lot of acrylic baby yarns given to me as a gift. I like the acrylic yarns a lot because they're economically effective. But the only problem I have with them is how they sort of squeak over my needles? It makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes-depending on how long the project is, I guess.

Part of the stash I got today is Blue Sky Bulky. It's half alpaca and half wool. It is soooooo soft! I love just touching it and looking at it! I can't say I'll never work with acrylics again. They're easier to secure since there are plenty of crafts shops around without the time limitations. But that LYS...mmm mmm mmm! I'm also seeing many online yarn suppliers that I would like to try out as well. I never have ordered online before. I guess I kind of feel like I do when I order brushes online: In my experiences, art suppliers never send the very best brushes, if you get my meaning. It's best to buy those in person. But I may have a change of heart after seeing some of the posts on knitty about The Knitting Garden and a few others...

Now the one thing I didn't get while I was there was a handpainted skein which I really wanted and since I am on the web.....I could make a little pit stop!

Posted by stacey at 11:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 01, 2004

Just one more tweak...

Today I worked on getting my button and banner up-exclusively made by missa of www.moonarts.com (she truly is a genius!). And I finally suceeded! Took me over three hours...whew! But it was very worth it. I have one more tweak to make I think regarding the border. I'm kind of liking that reddish-brown so I think I'll put it on the borders. Yeah, I'm obsessing, but this is going to be my home for at least a year now so I'm making it as comfy to (repeatedly) return to as possible.

And if I'm not mistaken, it only took me a week (well, judging from when the changes on this border take place) instead of the two weeks I initially thought it would. Course, it hasn't helped my already poor sleeping habits, but, "Yay me!" anyway.

One thing I have discovered since beginning this blogging project is that it really eats into the knitting time! Going to have to work on that because I've developed another vice with this blog: picture taking!

Happy Knitting!

Posted by stacey at 12:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 30, 2004

I Must Be a Turtle

I really must be. I mean, maybe I walk through my life like Bruce Willis did when he found out he was really one of the... dead people...I just saw the question on another site a few days ago and I was asking myself, "Yeah, what am I-a turtle or a hare?" Actually, I didn't have to think too hard about that too long. At my high school, my nickname was, "Turtle." Mrs. Grier, my accounting teacher nicknamed me that because I walked so slowly to class. I was always late. I was a great student. But I was always at least two or three minutes late. I just dragged my feet the whole way!

So I'm thinking and I'm thinking and I'm thinking...I'm thinking I'm a turtle just slowpoking through things, but when I look in the mirror, I appear to be a human being? It's like everybody else isn't really fooled. They just let me think I'm normal out of love for their little turtle, me. For instance, take today:

I managed to sneak a few minutes to myself for knitting today. I only got to knit seven or eight rows-and for me, with over 200 stitches a row-that's saying a lot! Now, I think I knit around 25-30 stitches a minute when I'm not concentrating too hard on it. I have timed myself and have gotten to about 28. But I seem to go much faster when not timing because I'm not nervous. I hear that's about average. Not bad for a beginner. But it's inconsistent with turtle theory. You have to go below the average to be a turtle...and there is this one thing...I like to knit slowly.

So, chances are, I'm a turtle.

Dichotomy

But since every ying has its yang. I'm a turtle with hare like desires. It's like night and day. Though I am enjoying the process, I want to see the finished product right now! Is that so bad? Surely one harmless little, itty, bitty, new project couldn't hurt much, could it? Say, a project that could be finished in a few days or so...Who's to say? It may teach me something, right? Right?

Good. You've talked me into it. I'm starting an Instant Gratification Project right now!!!

Posted by stacey at 10:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 29, 2004

Blogging addict?

I swear I had to pry myself away from the computer last night! I set up this blog just really to journalize my beginning knitting progress. But now I'm looking for buttons and web rings and doing searches for web design!! Who'd've thunk it? I told another blogger that I think that it was like pulling teeth for me not to post yesterday! :)

Web Rings

See what I mean? I've joined a web ring! It's called Knitting Kitty for knitters that have knitting blogs, that have kitties, that talk about their kitties from time to time...etc. I guess I'd better introduce you to my house cat. His name is Maxie, or as I like to call him sometimes, Maxie Cat. Actually, there is a story behind Maxie Cat...

My son and I were living in Maryland while I was going to school for my BFA. He had very few friends that he saw after daycare hours. So from time to time we'd take a stroll down the hall of our high rise apartment building to visit one of my friends and her cats. She had three very large house cats. One of the cats names was Max. He was the friendliest. My son loved to pet him. I started contemplating getting him a cat. Well, at the time, I was also working at his daycare. One day an older gentlemen came in to ask if anyone wanted any cats. I told him that I was looking for one. He said he'd be right back. So he went downstairs and I was continuing to clean the classroom. It was during naptime so most of the kids were asleep. My son was in the next room. I was wondering if I had made a mistake. I had a cat when I was younger and I loved it. But I was gentle and my son, not so gentle. :) What if the cat scratched at my youngster? I was thinking about this and I was about to go and tell the man that I had re-thought it. I turned to go out the door and just as I was entering the doorpost, the man sort of gently thrust a kitten in my face! But that wasn't the only thing. Why did the kitten look exactly like a miniature Max? Same color fur, same color eyes, same everything! Only tiny. He even had Max's personality-a bit on the shy, scaredy side. Well, how could I say no? I kept him in a large box that he couldn't jump out of till my son awoke. He was so happy to have his own friend. He wanted to name him Max but I suggested Maxie. We agreed. I found out that my son has a tendency to be just what I initially suspected, rough! But Maxie never has harmed him. And with many scoldings about being so rough, my little boy has learned how to stroke and pet a cat-instead of always chasing and scaring the bejesus out of him! Now when he goes out Maxie eagerly awaits his return. He runs down to the living room and glides against his leg before he runs back off. They have a sort of understanding, I think.

Perhaps a pic is in order? I'll upload one asap for my fellow Knitting Kitty bloggers!

Enter Maxie Cat

And here he is...

Maxie

This cat actually is the sweetest cat in the world. He also happens to be the scardiest scaredy cat too! But he has the most gentle personality of any of the cats I've ever come across. He's just under a year and a half. When he was a baby he followed me foot to foot and my son got so jealous I kind of had to let him alone a bit so that he could "bond" with the new friend in the house! Now we're all cool. Maxie's favorite hobbies are playing in the basement, chasing bare feet, running up and down the front stairs then the back and getting into my yarn if he can (then tangling it all up then screaming for help :) ). His favorite of all the knitting items is a blue scarf that I knit for my son. It's ribbed and is made of alpaca wool. And although he has had "the operation" Maxie digs into the coat that it is tucked in, grabs it with his teeth and runs dragging it off along the floor between his back legs. We have to find that scarf nearly every morning! He tends to be a picky eater but it's kind of backwards with him? The cheaper, the better? Works for the pockets, but, huh? Oh, yes. His favorite bed is on top of the toilet seat cover! Can't figure that one out.

Knitting Progress...

I finally reached the half way point on Forever AND a Day! Yeah! I did it at my hairdresser's house over the weekend. My guess is it will at least take as long till completion. Finally, I'm not sweating it though. I've got another problem on the horizon: weaving in all the ends from the color changes! Aaargh! I have this book called DOMINO KNITTING that discusses weaving in ends as you go. I wonder if that would've worked in this case? Hmmmm.....

Posted by stacey at 11:34 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

March 24, 2004

All day long!!!!

Well, I've been cracking at it all day. I finally had to enlist the big guns...my mom. She's a computer wiz. You name it, she's been there and done that. And at the end of the day, I finally have a photo album that isn't open for anyone to just go in and change-yikes!! Hopefully it doens't take quite as long to get it up on this site so I can get back to my knitting! Hmmm...I wonder if this'll work...

A Personal Triumph

Shazaam!! It worked! I was able to use the tutorial and the printer to get directions on how to post these pics to the site. Maybe I can get some more by tomorrow night. Just got a good dummy camera (which I call my camera since I know absolutely nill about the digital universe). Not bad for a first try though the picture quality looks like it could be better. Heck the pics could be better but I was really anxious to get this site more interesting to look at. Hey, give it time.

Can I get to the knitting now?

Nope. Okay, didn't get to knit today. Little upset about that. But you can see the current project on the right side there. The baby blanket. I don't have much to worry about. That little whippersnapper's not going anywhere...and I do mean the blanket, not the baby.

I have some more pics I'd like to put up. Couple of scarves I think. Maybe I can get a pic of that afghan I did if I can get in touch with the owners of it now. Now there's an idea...keep a record if you're going to give it away, huh? Duh.

I also paint but more frequently in the summer time since I paint in oils. I paint outdoors so that I don't get severe headaches. I'll be making a photo album on that too. But probably not a weblog. I don't like to talk about my paintings much. Not a clue why.

Dream about knitting.

Posted by stacey at 10:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 23, 2004

My first blog!! Okay, maybe not...

I recently became interested in blogging. I am a beginner knitter (only knitting for a year) and I was really impressed by some of the blogs on the web designed by more advanced knitters. I've been noticing that the more I get into the knit world, the better my skills get. I must face it...I'M OBSESSED!!!! I love knitting and I can't stop! Small confession....I even knit in church. I hide it so my pastor doesn't see. :) Well this is my first blog and I'm already enjoying the experience!

Confessions of a serial blogger

Oh yeah! I said this may not be my very first blog. Truth is, it isn't. I started a blog earlier today on a free blogging site. It's name is similar to this one. But I figured, I'd get one that was a little more classier. I don't really understand what all I've got here. There's a TrackBack thingie I've got to decipher and something at the bottom of my post talking about linking to the sites that reference my post or something like that...and a few other thing-a-ma-bobs I've got to get the low down on, but I am luvin it, lu-vin it!!

Misc Info and tidbits

Okay, so my recent completed projects? Well, one is a felted mini-bag that I'm doing along with the knitting club that I just joined. It's really cute. :) I felted it in my washer at home and though I'm not sure I rinsed it enough, I know it won't be the last time I felt. No way!!!

I also knitted an 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" sample square for a charity afghan for the same group. Let me tell you...that was the hardest little piece of knitting I've done yet!! It had cables, twists and bobbles. I must have ripped out 8 times min and started over 3 times min as well. It growled, it snarled, it seethed...and in the end, my bobbles weren't as "bobbly" as I'd hoped, but I was mighty darn proud of myself to say the least. It's done and if I wasn't looking at the work of a knitter who has been knitting for years upon years, I'd say I done a pretty good job!

My current project is a baby afghan which I am learning immensely from. Three words next go-round: BIG, FAT NEEDLES! :) My son goes to karate practice and I knit on this afghan while I wait for him. This last visit, another mother walks by me to put her chair away and she looks at my knitting and her eyes get all big. She said, "Whoa! Progress!" LOL! Obviously, I'm not the only one anxiously awaiting the completion of this baby! The blanket is being done for a friend that I work with who has a small son. It's taking for-ever and a day. But I've gotten lots of compiments from it. It's a simple pattern I got from the knitting section of www.about.com . It's called the dishcloth afghan. It's cute alright, but my did I pick a doozy of a yarn/needle combo!!! I'm using baby weight yarn (two colors: one solid and one variegated, in stripes). I'm not quite sure how I'm going to weave in all those tails just yet, but where there's a will there's definitely a way.

I will post pics as soon as I figure out how...and as soon as I take some. Promise!

Posted by stacey at 09:32 PM | TrackBack