Forgot to Mention...

For those of you I named Rockin' Girl Bloggers, you are now supposed to name 5 more Rockin' Girl Bloggers. For those of you who were not named, I didn't leave you out on purpose. I really wanted to name more people, like, Jayne - who dyes those fabulous yarns or Benne - who is the best writer evvah!, or Svetlana - who can whip up a sweater in a day (seriously, I don't think she eats or sleeps unless she has string and some needles!). Oh, there are so many that ROCK!

Last night I decided to lightly block the Print O' The Wave Stole to see if I really liked the pattern. It seems like this thing is taking forever but I think it is because it has center repeats and is only a 12 row repeat unlike the MS3 that changes with every row. This morning I viewed the stole in the light and I really like it. I also really like the yarn blocked. It is more blue than gray in the light. I am a little nervous about picking up the side stitches - this is tiny lace kids. See that bright purple cast on? This stole is supposed to be done in two panels and then grafted but after I started I found (on Ravelry of course) stoles that had been done all in one piece instead, and I like it so much more. So, now I have to find a way to turn that provisional cast on into a bind off. Hmmm.

Close up of pattern

So, that good day I mentioned? Well, yesterday Big Boy calls to tell me he has to go TDY to DC for three weeks. UGH! Ok. Leaving Wednesday. Wait... what? I swear his boss hates me and hasn't even met me yet. Then I thought of the upside to this. Piglet and I will drive up to visit one weekend. I have to drive through Richmond... with no timeline... I can detour to the Yarn Lounge. If I get in town early enough I can hit Knit Happens in Old Town Alexandria too. HA! Take that Big Boy! I have no rush to get back to my ghetto home so I can hit more stores on my way back. Oh, and what a shame he will be staying near Pentagon City Mall which just happens to have a Nordstom and Sephora.

Rockin' Girl Bloggers

Sometimes you just have a good day. This morning during my blog roundup I discovered that Jen named me a Rockin’ Girl Blogger. I’ve always known I was Rockin’ but have been waiting for Big Boy others to admit it. LOL! So, now I have to bestow the title to 5 other female bloggers. I had to get more coffee before making this decision. Here goes:

Susan – because after this move she deserves a happy title! And because I need to stay in good graces so Boogie will marry Piglet :-)
Janna – because she has the cutest cat pictures. And, she is a genuinely nice person.
Joan – Joan keeps me in stitches; the laughing kind! She helped get me addicted to Court TV with her graphic descriptions of the Nurse Hatchet trial.
Minni-Knits – the girl approaches dating with a sense of humor.
Amy – the best Coffee Swap partner a girl could have. Plus, she knit all those dang fish – she deserves a special title!

Yesterday I got to go shopping – ALONE. Ok, it was just to Bed, Bath and Beyond and Target but still, it was – ALONE! Our BB&B has changed. They have a whole new Beyond section that contains beauty items AND a whole section dedicated to travel sizes. I love me some minis. To top off my good day I scored some new pillows for $12.99 each. Over the years I have purchased the $75, down filled, hypo allergenic, kissed by Elvis pillows and they all end up exactly the same way so I figured this time around I would save a little money. Target called my name. It didn’t have to call loudly. It is Back-to-School season and for someone like me the school supply aisle is like Mecca. The smell of new notebooks, the shiny new pens, the perfect erasers, the bright sticky notes… Mmmmm. There are so many cool things now. When I was a kid the best thing to come around was the Trapper Keeper and the erasable ink pens – WooHoo!

Oh, back to the good day. We scored a jumperoo for Piglet for $30. He loves it. Mostly he loves lights and music that come from shaking the bear. I love the Off button :-) Last night we took him to Chili’s where my normally shy little man became sociable and provided entertainment for all. When he wasn’t trying to share his beads with the people at the next table he was sucking on his French Fry. He was also trying to give his beads to the young waitresses. I informed him that A) he is way too young to share his beads; B) this is not Mardi Gras or even New Orleans for that matter; and C) if he ever does give out his beads, for real, I DO NOT want to know about it. You know you have reached a new level of insanity when your normally shy husband is willing to sing out loud in public to entertain your child :-)

I got in a few rows of MS3 without tinking. Now that is a really good day! Not to mention our temps were a tolerable, even chilly, 85 degrees.

Here is a truly finished photo of Angelina. I opted to go with the martini pin. If you ever need some cool stuff go to Ruby Vegas over on Etsy. The service was outstanding. I got it in two days and they sent a free pin! It is a sample of a pin they have coming out in the fall and they are trying to get the word out. Remember how I said that the sweater grew with washing? I do have to pull the sleeves up when wearing. This is not a sweater to wear during diaper changes!

MS3 Clue 3

Here is the MS3 all the way up to the end of Clue 3. According to the designer we are now 1/3 of the finished length.

Rated R for Language and Violence

Sweet Moses in a basket… I would like to crucify whoever created lace and made it look so irresistible to me. I started on Clue #2 and worked merrily for 8 rows. I sat down to work on row 109 and got through it just fine. I was inserting a lifeline at row 110 and started getting cocky. Do I really need a lifeline every 10 rows? Who are these crazy people who have to keep ripping? This isn’t brain surgery y’know. Row 111. Yep, that is the one that did me in. Or was it? How could I possibly have an extra stitch when row 109 worked out just fine? So, I tink. Stitch by stitch I check to see if that is the one where I went wrong. NOPE. I tink row 110 because just maybe I didn’t drop a purl and made two instead. NOPE. Row 109. I think I see the mistake. There, right at the end. I just have to tink these few stitches and then I’ll be spot on… except… that’s not it. I tink further. Wait, what’s this? Well, I don’t know what it was, but clearly it is where I went astray. Whew! I fix the mistake and set about finishing off the row when… hold up… now I don’t have enough stitches. FUCK! Wait… something looks… funky… it’s a DROPPED STITCH. Oh bloody hell. I don’t really know what the stitch was in the three rows it has dropped and I don’t really care. I work it back onto the needle, finish off the row and set about counting… 97, 98, 99, um, 100? FUCK! How did retrieving the dropped stitch take me back to having an extra stitch? I tink… stitch… by… stitch… and there it is… a K2tog that somehow ended up only dropping one of the stitches.

Finally, after many, MANY hours I have finished clue #2. Right now she is doing a little light blocking so I can get a good look at her. Anyone want to wager a guess on the theme? Well, I don’t really care – I love it no matter what it is called.

I thought we could use a little summer happy. Here are my roma tomatoes fresh from my little garden, along with some cucumbers. The big cucumber… well, the photo does not do it justice. It was HUGE. Unfortunately it was not edible, as it had become hollow in the middle and very tough. English cukes are not supposed to be that large.

A little update

Believe it or not, knitting has been taking place. I am at row 82 of Mystery Stole 3. I really want to be caught up with everyone else; not because it is a race, but because what I see is so pretty that I want mine to look that way too. It isn’t a race! I hope to finish clue 1 today so I will only be 1 clue behind. If you haven’t checked out Melanie’s other patterns, please do. They are gorgeous! Hanami and Moon Dance are my favs. Of course, all lace knitting has to take place when most of the house is sleeping!

I have problems with blocking. Quite often I get pulling on the straight edge and it really bugs me. I know, it is my Type A coming out – I totally dig straight lines. Yesterday I went in search of welding rods. I didn’t find them. Neither did Jenn. This afternoon I am going to try the sporting goods store to see if I can find a solution while I am looking for sneakers. “Yes, I would like this shoe in a size 7 and BTW, do you have anything that will help my stole look pretty”.

Angelina is in a time out of sorts. I blocked her last week and well, she grew. A LOT! How do I get her back to normal?

Ok, kids. Piglet and I are off to have lunch with Big Boy and then head to the sporting good store .

Editor's Note: Blogger will not allow me to put in a title today. Ugh!

My cone of Zephyr and 2 different beads to try

The swatch with the flash

Swatch without the flash - can you see the beads?

Yarn – check
Beads – check
Needles – check
Pattern – check
Crochet Hook – che… oh crap!

I was so excited to get home yesterday and find my yarn had arrived. I sat down to swatch. I needed to see which beads would look best with my yarn and which needle was going to give the best fabric. I have a little, itty, bitty crochet hook. I mean, it’s the size of a pin, it has to be the right size for the beads. Ugh! I tried using dental floss instead of a crochet hook but that was just painful. Bright and early this morning I headed off to Michael’s in search of the world’s smallest crochet hook. I have two different beads and I think I like the one on the right side of the photo best. It blends into the yarn but yet reflects the light enough to be noticeable when you want to be noticed.

In the meantime I swatched for Tomato. I would like to use Sonata because I have it on hand. I just have to get the numbers together and plug them into the hand dandy gauge multiplier.

Doing The Happy Dance!

Front - Collar will be wider after blocking

Back

Close Up of Lace

Angelina is done! This has been a long project and I finished it with mixed emotions. Glad to be done with it and finally able to wear it but sad that the process is over. Big Boy wanted to take pictures last night but I asked him to wait until I was wearing make up and not pajamas. Details?

• Pattern: Angelina from White Lies Designs

• Needles: Size 5, 7 and 10. Also, size 1 for picking up stitches.

• Yarn: Barkarole from Austermann (16 skeins). This yarn is a blend of Merino, Silk and Cashmere. I bought it on Elann a while back and wish I had purchased more. This yarn is so beautiful!

• Notes: Oh boy! This pattern had a lot of problems. Some of the instructions were not clear and I had to decipher what the designer meant. I used a lot of lifelines! Some of the instructions were just plain wrong and the designer was made aware of them several years ago and STILL has not changed the pattern. While this is a great sweater, I don’t think the pattern is quite worth what she charges, especially to have not been proofread!

Here is where I need a little help from my friends. I need a pin to close the front and I want just the right one. Here are a few from Etsy that I really like. Keep in mind that I would have the beads changed to either match the sweater or to clear. I don’t want to take away from the beautiful lace.

The other day Joan asked if I was watching the mini trial on Court TV. I caught a portion yesterday. I had turned off Court TV when I found out the Spector trial would be dark. I could not handle one more interview with a washed up actress/singer or over processed hairdresser. Nor could I stand one more reference to the victim as an “aspiring actress” – she had been acting in Hollywood for over 20 years – she was not longer “aspiring”! And, why oh why can’t Court TV find a photo of the victim more recent than circa 1985? At least I haven't had to watch Nancy Grace or that weird guy that occasionally fills in for her.

It's All a Mystery to Me

I did it. I caved and joined the Mystery Stole #3. I saw the results of the first clue and could not help myself. Yesterday morning Piglet and I went to the bead store to pick out some pretty beads. I ended up with two different colors and will have to make a final decision once the yarn arrives. I am going to buy a cone of the Zephyr in black. I think it will be beautiful and elegant. Perfect to wear to… well, play dates at the park or um, the grocery store. But, I have to clean up some WIP's before I can start anything new.

I am doing the Jitterbug this week. Big Boy is glad to know it is just socks! Details:
Yarn: Jitterbug in Alizarine. This yarn is the best ever. I didn’t even use a full skein. I still have enough to make a pair of socks for a little girl – I think.
Needles: Size 1 Knit Picks Options
Pattern: Oblique Openwork from Sensational Knitted Socks. The heel is Eye of Partridge. Notice that the foot is a little different? Well, I did reverse stockinet on the foot so that the smooth side is on my foot and more comfy.
Size: I made socks for an 8” circumference foot. I did not take the leg of the socks all the way to the knee because I don’t like them that high.

What will you be doing on this day of America’s independence? We are doing America’s favorite pastime – shopping! We are getting Piglet some independence from his too tight shorts and getting ourselves some independence from the smell of dogs. For this we need a trip to the outlet mall and Yankee Candle store. At least we are getting some exercise!

Blogger photo problems

I just found out that my photos of the Crumpets dress are not showing up on blogger. I have loaded them two different ways so it is probably a blogger problem (no surprise there!). Anyway, if you click on the Flicker box under "2007 Finished Works of Art" you will see the red dress in all her glory.