Karim!

I'm an "Oma"! Karim was born July 31st to my "daughter" Isa and her husband Stefan. Isa stayed with me for a year in highschool and we'ved stayed in touch. I'm so excited!

Have knitted him a couple of pairs of tiny socks, but need to get busy as a cold winter is coming!

It's Done!

It's Done! The skirt is done! (doing happy dance) I finished in time for the Tri-Rivers Fair! Whoo hoo! (Better than last year when I was still working on my sock entry at 1am the morning of entries!) Some of it I'm not completely happy with... My gauge could have been tighter, I've got some serious puckers from some of the stranding, and I'm not really happy with how the yellow highlighting duplicate stitching looks....but that's perfectionist me. Most people won't see a single flaw, and my daughter who will wear it more often than me (and who I really made it for) thinks it's wonderful. We'll see what the judges say of course. Just to be clear, this is Jodi Green's Hot Tamale pattern from www.Knitty.com. I knitted it from Garnstudio "Paris" a cotton yarn on a size 6 needle.

Busy Busy!

Wow, time is just flying by! Fair entries are due in Wed am, and I still have to finish highlighting 1/4 of the skirt and line it. I'll make it, I'm determined. I'm not totally happy with it, I have some puckers from the stranding pulling to tightly, and I've tried to cut and tie in pieces to loosen it, but there are too many rows to do that, and I'm afraid for the structural integrity of the piece.. oh well, Lisette likes it and I guess I did my best on it, so that's all that counts, isn't it?

Have my next complicated piece picked out, a beautiful baby sweater using Debbie Bliss yarn, will cost about $55 for the yarn, but it will be nice. Hoping Isa has a girl so that I don't have to change the color scheme around!

Still want to make a Kiri shawl as "everyone" on the Townsend list is making them,...so many projects, so little time!

Finishing up

Well, I'm finishing up the Hot Tamale skirt, just doing the highliting.

Just finished my learn new things project by doing 2 socks on 2 circular needles, working toe up, with an afterthought heel. (That's four new things !). I hated it....felt like I was knitting wearing handcuffs, stitches kept falling off needles and it was damn near impossible to repair, the ladders are bad, unsightly holes! grrr. .. oh well, guess a baby won't notice them, lets hope his mother is so delighted with her child that she doesn't look closely at his or her feet!

Finishing up bulky green vest.

Worked on Peggy's handwarmers at Santa Fe Day meeting. Got the thumb figured out and am nearly out of yarn so that hand will nearly be done!

So....today yarn arrived from the yarn fairies! (Well, truthfully I ordered it from Knit picks but yarn fairies sounds better!) Pinks and purples for Arlenes cold feet and some that I thought were more "christmasy" than they turned out to be, but it will still be fun to knit. Also the 1st knitting book I ever bought...yes, it's true, cheapskate V bought a knitting book... Debbie Bliss Baby knits...had the prettiest sweater in it that I thought I just "had" to knit..... next years big fair project, I guess.

And I still want to do the Sun and moon stranded socks ,and my two skeins of Opal rainforest arrived in zebra and tiger...and I should really do some CIC socks with that donated yarn and.... well, we only finish to begin again, don't we?

REALLY NICE SUPRISE TONIGHT! A call from Steven who was my "guy" in senior year out of the blue. He happened on the 1970 Westside High reunion in Omaha (that I was not at) and since I wasn't there...he called. We had a delightful conversation. He's a gondola owner now, of all things! www.heartlandgondolas.com

My Mom

My Mom and sister in law Lisa at Christmas. Just trying out the new Blogger images icon. Wow this is soooo much easier than blogger bot! Love it!

Happy Anniversary Sid!

Today is my anniversary, married 22 years to my husband Sid, who is a very good man. Does laundry, mows lawns at home and studio, and doesn't complain when work takes too much time and I don't cook meals. Love you bunches dear!

Today I will spend time at the studio for registration, hoping that someone will come in. Last year only 2 people came in, most prefer to do mail in registrations, but I do this each year just because.

I am working on a 2 socks at once on 2 circular needles, toe up, with an afterthought heel... not really liking it at all .... only advantage I see is that when working with scrap yarn both socks can match more easily... Perhaps if it was a top down as I usually do, oh well, one must always keep learning new things, sometimes if only to discover that you really do like the old way best!

I think it's kind of comforting in an odd way to know that absolutely no one reads my blog. hmmm

Frank with the tiny Bastille Day sock

Working on the decreases

Hot Hot Hot!

It's soo hot that sitting inside the A/C and knitting is all I want to do! Decided to change the "stuff" on the walls over the sofa, so took down all the little country knick-knacks, put them for sale on EBay and bought a nice print of a french market at Hobby Lobby. I'll get an inexpensive poster frame at Wal-mart and things will look a little "fresher". Saw a print I want for the bedroom, don't know why I didn't buy it too...oh well, Hobby Lobby will be open again on Monday and I can get it then.

I'm at the top of the Hot Tamale skirt. Yay! I couldn't do the decreases as written as DD is much shorter than the original designer, but I think it's working out okay. Will go buy the lining material (also on Monday), and should have it finished in time for the fair entry. I will have a little yarn left over, wonder if I'd have enough to come up with a halter, hmmm.

I made a tiny sock for my grandbaby to be out of the Bastille day sock yarn. It's so cute!

Isa and Stefan

Isa is my "Swiss daughter". She stayed with us for a year in high school and we have kept in touch over the years. She has recently married and is expecting a baby near my birthday. So, I am to be a long distance grandma! I'm excited!

Isa and Stefan

Hot Tamale skirt through row 48

Holiday's over, back to work

Well, the long weekend is over and it's back to work! Actually, I spent part of the holiday weekend working, printing off pages for the fall registration packets, filling in names and classes etc. Need to run a few errands this am then off to work!

My "daughter" Isa, who lives in Switzerland emailed me that she got married June 17th! I'm quite excited over this. She is expecting a baby soon, making me a long distance grandma! I've sent over a package with a baby blanket, some bibs and a little pj, but not knowing yet if it's a boy or a girl I'm not quite sure what to do. I'm sure my needles will be busy soon.

Nearly done with the flame work on the Hot Tamale skirt and it looks like there's not a lot left after that so it will go quickly! I just couldn't work on it yesterday in the afternoon, felt too guilty I guess knowing that I had work to do.

Worked on a dishcloth at the fireworks last night, just a plain basketweave in some yellow/white sugar and cream that I had laying about...dishclothes are good for mindless knitting and make nice gifts too. Green shell/vest is coming along, the color is pretty, hope the top will be too, it's so much bulkier than the delicious glamour yarn I used before!

Holiday weekend

July 3rd and I'm just relaxing away...Today I printed lots of pages for my dance studio registration mail out but I've run out of paper and am waiting for hubby to go with me to Sams because I can't lift the carton of paper! I watched SpiderMan 2 and knit on a sage green shell for myself of Bernat Softee Chunky, that will go with the new green pants I bought the other day. Kinda went wild at K-mart, bought the green pants, pink pants and matching top, a green silk top. white pants, a pink top and 2 swim suits (which were the real reason I went to K-mart to begin with!) I'm trying to upgrade my look and look more "adult"...sigh.. at my age you'd think I'd have figured it out by now.

Working on Hot Tamale skirt, but just wanted to watch the movie and not count chart x's.

Finished book 5 of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series...they are so fun! I was going to sit in my little baby pool and read this afternoon, but it's getting so over cast and rainy looking that I don't think that's gonna happen!

Progress

Well, as you can see from the photo, I'm up to round 32! Whoo hoo! It's going much faster now that I have learned to hold the red yarn in my left hand and the black in my right. I'm sure my guage is much looser than it should be, but it doesn't look bad, so I guess it's okay.

Finished my mom's socks in plenty of time, need to get them mailed today. Got some Sage Bernat Softee Chunky yesterday at Wal-mart for $1.47 a skein. I'm going to make the same pattern as my glitter vest. Should have gotten the pink/grey/white for the girls sweater for my niece, but I decided to try the vest 1st.... oh selfish selfish me!

Studio is going okay, we're getting started on our new competition routines, Moscow Ballet is starting to come into focus a little better and now we've added "Salina Moves" a showcase for the local dance studio's in March to be held at the Stieffel, a beautifully restored vaudeville/movie theatre from the 30's.

Not doing anything special for the 4th of July, wish we did but Hubby just isn't interested...so, guess I'll sit and knit!

Row 32 front

Mom's Bastille Day sock knitted at the 2005 River Festival.

Wet weekend!

Well, another River Festival is over! This one was pretty wet with lots of rain, but still I got to listen to much music, saw beautiful art works, bought a new art piece for the studio (a drawing of a ballerina in pinks and purples to co-ordinate with last years art pieces) and knit a whole sock! I couldn't possibly work on the hot tamale skirt, not with the charts and getting interrupted so often to go look for either a lost mom or lost child, so worked on the Bastille Day socks for mom. I hope they are plain enough for her to wear. You know, "Oh they're too beautiful to wear, so I just leave them in my sock drawer to look at"... sigh...

Rows 1-7 from the front side, some pattern starting to show

Rows 1-7 the back with ugly floats

Wed June 1st

Did 3 more rounds on the flame skirt last night...decided that I had to anchor the floats, so I'm anchoring them every 10 stitches or so. The back side looks sooo sloppy, thank goodness it will be hidden by the lining! (See Photos if I can figure out the photo posting two days in a row. )Not much time for knitting tonight, but maybe can get another 2-3 rounds in....there are 58 rounds of the graphed area, so it could take a while! Drooling over the feather and fan shawl on www.knitpicks.com but must hold off until I have finished this skirt! Would be nice if I could enter it in the fair just to add some pizzazz to what I suspect will be mostly garter stitch eyelet scarves.

Have some drop in end of the season parties at the studio today, bought cookies and drink yesterday, just have to go buy pop and ice this am. No video to show which is dissapointing but that's the way the ball bounced this year. Looking forward to starting on next years songs and dances for both the competition teams and the class dances, it's always fun to make a fresh start!

The replacement monitor started doing the weird edge thing last night and the double cursor, meaning that the problem is in the computer not just the monitor. Buying new computer while expensive is not such a terrible problem, but the thought of transferring everything I "own" to a new one is daunting to say the least!