Time Flies

Boy, does it ever!! It surely doesn't seem like it's been 3 weeks since I made a post.....but evidently it has! It has been a relatively eventful 3 weeks. My older daughter turned 33, the Guild met, my dear, dear friend Susan Barrington lost her valiant battle with breast cancer, a new grand-daughter was born, we went on our first rv trip of the season, I went to my first-ever knitting retreat.....so lot's going on.

In case you missed the post on the yahoo group, Susan's service/celebration of life is going to be held May 17th, 1:00 pm at Lakeside Assembly of God, 6810 NW 122nd. We will miss you, Susan.

Another thing....I finally got a confirmation of something I suspected....I have osteo-arthritis in my hands.....really sucky when you love to knit as much as I do :-( . I figured as much since they have been hurting so much lately, but it still sucks to have it confirmed. He put me on naproxene twice a day and told me to take it whether I'm hurting or not....that by doing that I will ultimately hurt less in the long run by managing the pain before it escalates. It does seem to be helping somewhat, but I'm having minor little dizzy spells off and on. Not sure if it's the meds or some inner-ear thing going on.

The knitting has just been weird lately. Oh, I am knitting.....and knitting, but it seems like nothing ever gets done..lol! I put the mogul scarf down for a while.....tooooo boring! Have finished the back of the cable lace tee and started the front.....started the Bob Blankie.....it is a Mission Falls pattern written for Mission Falls Cotton but I'm doing it out of the Plymouth Jeannee.

I guess I have sort of become obsessed with this yarn. It wasn't an intentional thought...just sort of happened, but I have ended up with a lot of it. The cable tee, this blankie and I have enough to do another cardi from it out of Creative Knitting spring issue.

I also started another pair of socks out of some Cherry Tree Hill I had in the stash. They are a pattern out of Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

And last but not least I finished my Baby Alpaca Grande house socks!! It's starting to get too warm to get much wear out of them this year, but I'll be ready for next fall. They are so warm!

We took our first trip of the season in the motor home a couple of weekends ago. It was our "test trip" with everyone going and staying overnight in it! We weren't sure how Dax would do at bed-time or if it would seem too crowded and cramped with all of us in there, but it worked out great!!! Dax went right down when it was nap or bed time without much problem. It was a little bit cramped but not bad at all!!! One of those situations that could have been awful with different people, but worked out great this trip. We get along so well with David & Amanda it was just no problem....not sure we could stand it with just anyone though :-) Dax & David took the twin beds in back, Amanda & Savy slept in the fold down dinette bed and DH & I took the fold down sofa bed. We all had a great time! The kids really enjoyed the lake.

We were surprised that Savy took to fishing like she did and couldn't believe how long Dax sat still in one spot throwing rocks into the lake!

Then came The Gourmet Yarn Company Retreat.......OH MY!!!! I can't remember the last time I had such a good time, laughed so hard, ate so much and had days and days of "guilt-free" knitting time!!! You know what I mean! I do sit and knit a lot here at the house, but I'm always thinking that I need to be picking weeds, planting flowers, doing laundry, cleaning house....all sorts of other things...so I feel guilty for just sitting there knitting. Not so on Retreat. It was just fantastic....from beginning to end and all in between! A great group, great projects, great location...I could go on and on.....in short MG and crew know how to put together a great, great time for everyone. It was my first time to attend something like that and it will NOT be the last...lol!

Here are the goodie bags we all got! Great little tapestry project bags stuffed with 2 skeins of Jo Sharp wool that we learned the double knitting technique with, 2 skeins of Mission Falls wool that we did the cutest fair isle headbands with (Savy got the one I did, so no pic of mine), some dpns and point protectors plus a notebook of patterns and tips on technique....too awesome! There were so many funny things that happened I couldn't begin to tell them all so let it just suffice to say......... I can't wait for the Fall Retreat!

On the first night there I got a call and our 7th grandbaby had arrived! Welcome to the world Kiley Dawn!! She was 5 lb, 12 oz, 18 inches long.

Not much else going on....just a tiny bit of "stash enhancement"! Part of it was "free", so to speak....an early Mother's Day in the form of a gift card to Michael's which converted itself into.....what else?....Yarn...lol!

Paton's Soy Wool Stripes. I saw several people in Ravelry doing the Lady Eleanor out of this. I had intended to do it out of Silk Garden....but hey....free is good anytime and the ones I saw out of this worked up really pretty.

The other thing I got was the first shipment of the Wool Girl Sock Club. I had been getting the Chameleon Colorworks sock club up until it died when the owner sold out to someone else and I really missed getting suprises in the mail so decided to do another one. I heard/read so much about this one that I decided to give it a try. It wasn't a disappointment! Great package!!! Mama Llama sock yarn in a colorway inspired by a Georgia O'Keefe painting, a great pattern, cute little color coordinated stitch marker, a packet of knitting notecards with a pen and a niftly project bag to hold it all!

Only thing is, the sock stash is getting "out of control"....lol.....I REALLY need to start doing more socks......LOTS more socks ;-)

On the less than fun end of things......don't ask me where, when or how I got it, but I woke up this morning with Pink Eye! Great.....just great!

Something Different

It has been one of those "frustrated knitter" couple of days around here. I got insanely bored with the Mogul Scarf I was working on so a few days ago I cast on the Jeannee Cable Lace Tee. The side panels are a twisted rib with the lace design in between. I was really enjoying it and just breezing right along.....then I noticed that I had failed to twist the stitches in, not one, but two different areas waaaayyyyyy down at the bottom!! About 40 rows down :-(. Knowing me if I tried to rip back to those sections I'd probably not get the right twist on the stitches when I picked them back up....not to mention trying to figure out where I was on the lace section....so I frogged it and started over. Just hate it when that happens!!!

Still not in the mood to work on that scarf and the only other thing I have otn is a basic sock. I worked on it this morning sitting in the Dr. office so wasn't in the mood for it when I got home either. Kind of had a harrummph attitude about knitting at all so I decided to do other things this afternoon. It did help and I'm sure I'll be back in the knitting groove after dinner.

First thing I did was clean up the garage....fun, fun....oh, well....it was bugging the daylights out of me and it needed it. Now it looks all neat and tidy. We'll see how long it stays that way..ha!

Then I decided to play with something else!! I got Cat's New Pathways book a while back. I have only done the first two little sample socks (one of each, not a pair). I want to do a "real pair" of them sometime in the near future....that will probably be the next sock I cast on....one of the patterns from the book....either the Coriolis or the Upstream most likely.

Anyway....I decided that I need to be totally prepared forthat endeavor so I played around with some beads and jump rings this afternoon.

I've never done stitch markers before and hopefully, as in other crafts, I'll get better at it the more I do. Making those little loops is harder than you would think it would be. Mine are a bit wonky, but as long as they don't snag the yarn they'll work...just not as "pretty" as some I've seen!

After doing the one's for Cat's sock patterns I did a few plain ones too. It was fun, but it did make my hands hurt a little.....guess some Aleve is in order before I settle in with the needles tonight.

Pretty sure I'll pick up the Jeannee again and probably put the new stitch markers to the test when I'm here by myself and can concentrate on Cat's instructions.

In short.....today was confirmation that 3 wips is NOT enough....lol! A girl must have options so as much as I have been holding myself back from startitis....no more! I'm thinking at least 2 or 3 more things need to be goin on...don't you think?

Procrastinating

Yes, I guess I'm procrastinating this morning! I don't really have a lot to talk about here or tell but I'd rather be doing this than what I need to be doing :-).

The house is terrible....cluttered and (for me anyway) dirty, laundry is piled what seems to be a mile high and menus need to be figured out for the next couple of weeks....just not in the mood.

My energy level hasn't been the greatest lately either. Seems like I'll have a few really decent days then a couple where I feel like a mac-truck has run me over. Takes pretty much all I can muster to get up and dressed and it wipes me out just to do that. Started taking mega-vitamins thinking that might help but if it has it's not much.

The fam finally convinced me to go get checked out so hopefully we can figure out what is going on. I really hate it when my mind is full of things I want to do and the bod won't cooperate!

On the knitting end of things I finished the Eagle's Flight socks. They are so bright and cheery...fun to wear! Still working on the Vinca basic socks...those will probably take a while....they are pretty much my "car project". The bag stays in the car for times when I get caught waiting somewhere. I'm also still plugging along on the Mogul Scarf for DH. That has to be the most boring thing I've ever done! I just couldn't stand it for another minute yesterday so I cast these on for a break. I couldn't believe how fast they worked up! They will definately be put on the list for any last minute baby gift needs that pop up....and they were fun to do!

I did them out of some Lion Brand Microspun that I had lying around (found 10 skeins of it at a garage sale for a whole $1 a while back). We have a new grand daughter due in May so these will go to her.

I also cast on the Lace Cable Tee out of Jeannee. I have to say that I am so pleasantly surprised at this yarn! I'll be the first to admit that I am a major yarn snob.....MAJOR yarn snob. I had pretty much ignored this yarn since I first saw it....I mean it is so economical how could it be "nice" yarn? Then I saw the sample of the top at the store out of it and decided to get some. Well.....I confess I was wrong....I really like working with it and I really like the fabric it is making!!! Anyway....I've already picked out another project to do from it and plan to get some more next time I'm at the store!

I'm usually pretty content to have only 2 or 3 wip's at any given time and normally am pretty good about finishing at least one of those before casting on something new, but for some reason I have about 4 or 5 things bouncing around in my head that I want to start....NOW! LOL....the problem is deciding which ones to start first....then mentally arguing with myself about working on something already going. Such a problem, huh?....but I love those kinds of problems....it just confirms that Life is Good!

Uh, oh.....I just got a call and I am watching Clayton and Carter for a while this afternoon.....no more procrastinating on getting the house more presentable...guess I had better get to it.