MS3 row 225 & Turner Falls

I got up through row 225 on the MS 3 last night! Still seem to be tinking as much as knitting, but for some reason am still really enjoying this project!! Only "bad" thing about it is that I am now wanting to do more lace...lol!

That has been one area of knitting that, before now, I have had little interest in.....therefore.....there is NO yarn in my stash that is conducive to lace knitting!!! A sad state of affairs...lol. Well....except sock yarn and those are all earmarked for socks...not lace scarves! Still not sure about using true lace weight at this point. I like the fingering I'm using on the MS 3 so will stick to that for a while.

Well....bad news for my self imposed yarn diet this year! I have actually been pretty good. Only fallen off the wagon, so to speak, twice the whole year...well...maybe 3 times.....until yesterday! I was working yesterday and we got in some new Blue Heron. I have drooled over this fiber since the first time I ever saw it but have managed to resist temptation until I saw what came in yesterday :-). Now I just have to figure out what "lace thing" I'm going to do with it! The colorway is called chocolate. The pic doesn't do the richness of the colors justice at all and it has tiny flecks of gold through it!!!

Not much else to report on the knitting front. MS 3 has taken up most of my time. I have cast on and frogged about 4 projects to do on the side when I can't concentrate on the stole. I finally ended up with a pair of Hedera socks out of some Yarn Pirate I got for Mother's Day otn to carry around with me.

Last weekend we took off with David, Amanda, Savy & Dax in the motorhome!! We went down to Turner Falls for the weekend to meet up with my other daughter Melissa and her DH and David's Dad, Wayne. Wayne has a cabin and shop there. He is an artist and paints and sells paintings on mirrors there. Some of us slept in the motor home and some slept in the cabin, but we all hung out during the day and gathered at the motor home for dinner every night. It was such a wonderful weekend! That was my first time at Turner Falls and I was astounded at how beautiful it is there....and how big the park is! Lots of pics of the weekend next:

We just had such a wonderful time! I only wish we could do it more often and I could spend more time with my other beautiful girl!!!

This week has been busy, busy! I watched the munchkins on Monday so Amanda could go to the Dr. I am praying we are on the road to getting some answers so a course of treatment can be determined! I so want my precious girl to start feeling good! She is such a beautiful person....inside and out....sorry sweetheart....I know you don't like it when I say that...but it is sooo true and I want nothing more than for you to feel fantastic and full of energy every single day!

I also took Dad to the Dr. two mornings this week trying to get his meds for thyroid and cholesterol to the right dosage...then have been working afternoons all week! Whew! It has all gone pretty well except I took a hard fall on Wednesday! Fortunately, I don't look too banged up....at least not in places where it shows! I do have a pretty sizeable knot on my chin, but it covers well with war-paint (ie..make-up). Have scrapes and bruises on my knees and two toes, but they aren't that noticeable unless you are looking for them. The odd thing is that the places that have no visible signs of trauma are what are bothering me the most!! My hands and left arm are really sore...thank goodness for Aleve...lol!

Anyway...am heading off for the store again here in a bit so I had better get going!

Funtastic Weekend!

Didn't get a whole lot of knitting done this week-end...was too busy having fun with Miss Savy and crew!! This was her first "trip" in the motorhome and she LOVED every minute of it. Kept telling us over and over how much she liked it and how much fun she was having.

We went to a relatively local rv park out close to Yukon. It was such a nice place! I'm sure we will go there several more times when we just want to get away but not spend the national budge on gas for the motor home...lol! We got there on Friday night, got set up and just kind of hung out walking the dogs, eating dinner and watching movies.

Saturday we took her to White Water Bay. I have never been to that water park and we really enjoyed spending the afternoon there with her and she had a blast! I about fell over when we found out how much it was to get in the park though! It has been so many years since we went some place like that.....I think the last time we went it cost around $15 per person to get in.....boy, do things change..lol! Thank goodness we had saved a couple of coke cans that got us discounts!

After the water park we headed back to the rv park, walked around with the dogs a while then did hot dogs and made s'mores on the grill.

With the park being here in the Metro, David, Amanda & Dax were able to come out on Sunday to eat lunch with us and let the kids swim in the pool for a while. The park has a really nice indoor pool and hot tub!

I did manage to get the Tidal Wave socks done down to the kitchner then finished them Sunday night when we got home.
Spent yesterday doing the laundry/linens from the trip and working on MS3. This should be a pretty quiet week. Next week is another story...lol! Watching kids on Monday so Amanda can go to the dr., taking Dad to dr. two mornings and working Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5....yea!! I'm so happy to be working at the Gourmet Yarn....and NOT for that ditzy realtor! A pretty good indication that it is a good thing I quit working for her.......I STILL have not gotten my last paycheck from her!! It has been over a month since I left! I have tried to email her about it 5 times and the email keeps bouncing back because her inbox is full! Heck of a way to do business, huh? With "attention to detail" like that she probably won't be in business much longer anyway!

Clue # 2

I remembered to check the camera for the card this time :-). Finished clue # 2 yesterday and spent last night working on the second Tidal Wave sock out of Tofutsies.

I'm loving this mystery stole thing...such fun! Here it is.

Here is a closer shot that shows the beading better....just what I need...another thing to spend money on...lol...now I'm wanting to do something else with beads!

Next clue comes out tomorrow, but I'm thinking it will be much slower progress on that one. We are leaving tomorrow taking Savy on her first trip in the motor home. She is so excited! I talked to her on the phone yesterday and she was gathering up all her "stuff" to take and put in the motorhome for her trip.....no clothes, shoes, toothbrush or anything like that.....just the "important" stuff for a 5 year old...lol. She is so cute! We are only going for the weekend and are going to an rv park that has an indoor pool....just in case the weather gets yucky again.... so we will have a grand time regardless of the weather!

Short post tonight...DH is out of town and I never cook for just me....got to go scrounge around and see what's for dinner!

MS3 & Kinda Blue

Been working mostly on the MS3 stole and making some progress. I'm almost done with clue 2!! Amazingly I had a couple of days that I got in a lot of knitting time this week....mostly because I ignored other things that needed to be done....but I justified it because I have been so darn tired lately. Not sure what's up with that...maybe I need to go get some vitamins...lol. Still liking the feel of the fabric that the Cherry Tree Hill is creating with the stole, but wish I had gone with a solid color....and the thing is going to have to be HARD blocked for the pattern to show very well.

I am really enjoying the beading thing. I almost didn't do it and am so glad I did! I think I already know the next beaded thing I'm going to do....have the yarn, just need to get the beads. There are some really cute beaded wrist warmers in the One Skein book that are calling my name!

Well...duh!!! I guess this is going to be a pictureless post! I painstakingly pinned out the stole a bit ago and took some great pics of it to put up here....just went to post them and discovered I had left the memory card in the printer....lol....so the pics don't exist! Oh, well....guess they'll go up on the next post.

I have worked a little on the Tidal Wave socks when things were less than quiet and I couldn't talk and knit at the same time...lol....I have discovered that is one thing I cannot do when working on the stole! Like at the still-un named knit-in at Gourmet Yarn on Saturday. It was sooo nice to be back! I had missed the last two due to illness and other commitments and was having withdrawals...lol. I even turned down a chance to head out in the motorhome this last weekend so I wouldn't miss it again!

It still amazes me how this Mystery Stole thing has exploded! I know those of you who are doing it too probably already know the stats, but for those of you who aren't......it blows my mind that over 6,700 people around the entire world are working on the same project!!! AND that it has drawn national media attention! Got an email from the creator of the whole project/concept yesterday and she was contacted by USA today and interviewed about it....amazing! The clues/instructions have been translated into 7 other languages! The only annoying thing about the project has been the number of emails it generates....oh my goodness!!! I tried setting the email notification to digest instead of individual emails and my in box was still totally flooded! I finally just went to special notices only because I was spending literally hours a day deleting emails!

On the kinda blue comment.....nothing earth shattering....I just am....kinda blue today for some reason. I have no "real" reason to be....I have so much to be thankful for....and I am...thankful for all my blessings!!! The only thing I can really attribute it to is that I think someone that means something in my life right now is mad at me. Maybe not, but I keep getting this nagging feeling about it. Sometimes I wish I had a bit "thicker skin" and didn't worry about things like that..especially when I know I haven't done anything that would justify someone being upset or mad at me......but I do worry about that kind of stuff...hurting or upsetting anyone...I just hate it and try hard not to do it. I guess time will tell whether that is the case. I just hope, if it is, that person will care enough to tell me.....not just leave me clueless!

Mystery Solved & Mystery Stole!

After all the fun hints and all the wonderful goodies I received, SP 10 is over! I got my "reveal" box from my spoiler yesterday....and man, did she spoil me! You've seen the other great packages she has sent and this one was no exception....it was fantastic!

It started out with Nicky Epstein's book "Knitted Flowers" and 4.....count em.....4 skeins of sock yarn!! Does this girl know the way to my heart? I'd say so ;-). Two skeins of Opal, one of Trekking XXL and one of Boston....saw the San Diego colorway at the store this week, but haven't seen the Boston before...so pretty!
Next in the box I found a couple of HUGE skeins! One is 9.8 oz of New Zealand wool in a dark smokey grey from Pollywogs The next one is a soft, soft hank of 100% pigtail cotton chenille from Henry's Attic in N.Y. I'm thinking the wool will turn into a felted something and will have to find something special to do with the cotton. There were also 2 packages of yummy chocolate...if you look closely you can see that one box is already open...lol...there happens to be a piece gone from that box but I can't figure out what happened to it ;-)

The next treasure I found in the box was the "green thing" she alluded to in her last hint!! She made me the most delicious soap! It had that whole box just smelling heavenly! Not sure exactly what "flavor" it is, but I think I detect a wintergreen/peppermint scent. I can't wait to use it!

The other things in the box were a skein of Knit Picks Bare and a nice handwritten card revealing her identity. I have taken the pic of the yarn with some of the "hints" she has sent me periodically through out the swap. All patterns she emailed me were from Knit Picks.

She was so clever and sneaky sending me all those patterns.....I really thought I had things figured out.....I thought I was soooo smart and just knew that I would be getting the yarns called for in these patterns in my reveal box....otherwise she wouldn't have sent them to me...right?

WRONG!!! So....I was a tad confused when I opened the box and found all those other fantastic yarns, delighted to be sure...but couldn't figure out the "connection"! That is....until I read her note and went out online to explore and read her blog!

Turns out my SP spoiler is a celebrity of sorts!!! How cool is that?!!! I discovered that all those patterns from Knit Picks she sent were actually KNITTED BY HER!!!!! Yep, pull out your Knit Picks catalog and you will see the handiwork of my pal up close and personal!

I just don't know what to say......thank you seems pale in comparison to how fun she made the whole SP 10 experience for me.....but.....THANK YOU, Kim
Go on over and check out her blog!!! She flat out rocks!

On the knitting scene, pretty much everything has taken a back seat to the Mystery Stole 3 pattern. I don't think I have ever, in my entire knitting life, tinked one project so much...lol! It seems like I have to tink every row at least once...maybe not, but it seems like it! Strangely enough, I am really enjoying it! Of course, after all the agonizing about my yarn choice, I sort of wish I had picked something different. I am using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and I do like the feel of the fabric it is making, but it has a slight varigation of color and I'm thinking the lacework would show up better on a solid.....guess I'll just have to make another one...lol! Maybe I'll even try true lace weight next time around....not the Cashwool, though...just too tiny for me and I couldn't seem to get a good stitch definition with it at all. Anyway, clue # 2 came out today and I'm still pluggin away on clue # 1!! Still have 30-something rows to do on it. I wish I could just stay home all day in bum around clothes and knit on it. This week has seemed to be so hectic and busy...just go, go, go and I'm really tired today. Unfortunately I have to go to the grocery store....just too many things we are out of. I need a quiet day! Oh, well....maybe Sunday? Time will tell.

Tags, Jobs & a Mystery!

I have been formally "tagged"! I've done a few Meme's in the past when I saw them on someone else's blog, but this is the first time I've actually been tagged on one! This one is the Birthday Meme and I was tagged by my SP 10 spoilee Laura. The object is to go to Wikipedia, plug in your birthday and list 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that happened on your special day.

Here's mine: October 17th

Events:

1860 - Origination of "The Open Championship"...better known today as "The British Open"

1888 - Thomas Edison filed for the first patent for the Optical Phonograph....the first movie

1967 - The musical "Hair" opened at the Anspacher Theatre on Broadway

Births:

1938 - Evel Knievel

1941 - Earl Thomas Conley - Country Singer

Holiday:

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Well, I have once again taken another part-time job!!! I'm quite confident that this one will be much better than the last one! It is only a "fill-in" position....vacation relief, etc. I worked the first time last Thursday.....and I LOVED it! Left disappointed that I didn't go back in until today!! When I tell you where it is you will understand :-)! Are you ready? Drumroll, please.....I am working at The Gourmet Yarn Company . Now does that sound like a died and gone to Heaven job for me...lol....I think so!

On the knitting front, I am going to attempt....and I used the term loosely at this point, the Mystery Stole 3. I have swatched four different yarns so far. Up until last night I didn't like any of them! The first yarn I tried was Cashwool. I tried two needle sizes and still didn't like either one....sigh.....then I tried some Bamboo I have in the stash on bigger needles....better, but still didn't get me really excited. Last night I used some left-over JKnits and I think that's what I'm going to do it in. Will have to see what colorways there are enough of at work before I know the color I'm doing. There are people posting pictures on the group who have totally finished clue 1 and here I am still agonizing over yarn choice....lol....good thing this one isn't a race, huh?

I had decided, at first, that tackling lace was enough and I wasn't going to do the optional beading.....but now I'm thinking I will....sooooo....after I get my yarn I'll have to go get beads. I's looking like the 2nd clue will be out before I even start...lol!

In the meantime I have been catching up on doing mitered squares from left-over sock yarn! I've only been doing socks for about a year so I didn't have that many to do....I think I still have about 3 to do to be "caught up". I want to do a square...or squares....from every pair of socks I knit then eventually put them all together in a throw....a different sort of "memory blanket", I guess you could say.

Still have the Tofutsie Tidal Wave second sock on the needles too. This is the longest I have ever gone with a second sock otn!! I was always determined to not develop SSS....second sock syndrome....lol.....but I will finish it before I start another pair of socks to be sure....just need to get this mystery project underway first!

Had a great week-end keeping Savy & Dax so Mommie and Daddy could get away for some R & R. They were both so good and such fun! Fortunately, the weather cooperated to a degree and we were able to let Savy ride her bike down to the park a couple of times and we took Dax out in the stroller. They also got to play in the sandbox and kiddie pool a little bit between rainy spells.

Oh....I heard from my spoiler in SP 10 too!! She mailed my package on Saturday. She was a fun partner.....she sent me tons of "clues" about what is coming so I can't wait to see who she is!! One "hint" she gave me was.....the "green thing" that is in the box is something she made. She leads a group that makes these "green things" where she lives....I can't imagine what it might me, can you? I'll be sure and post a pic of the "green thing" and the rest of the goodies when it comes.