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Success and Failure…

Yesterday while at the Friday sit & knit at Twisted Yarns, I decided I needed a fast night that would give me quick success. I pulled out the pattern I had printed off for Fetching and cast on and knit the first few rows. I had a headache later on though, so I didn’t knit too much, only the first 10 rows or so. I picked them up when I got home after taking some Excedrin – and I finished the pair! (Well, I still have to pick up and knit the thumbs, but I need some help with figuring that out. I’ll be at the LYS on Tuesday.) They were a fun and fast knit, and I highly recommend them. I plan on making a few more pairs for holiday gifts – one ball of yarn ($10) and about 4-5 hours of TV knitting makes a perfect gift.

Today, while laying in bed and nursing my fever and very sore throat – I’m on the verge of losing my voice again, which is never a good thing – I decided that I could finish the first half of my sweater and get started on the second half. If I focused on it, maybe I would have it done by next weekend. When I got to the end of the first half, I put it on waste yarn like the instructions said, and I went to try it on. Not only does it completely NOT fit, it is ugly too. Bah!

This is why I have always hesitated to knit a sweater.

After I photograph it tomorrow, I will set it aside for another day when the frogging of it will be a bit less painful. I know there is a nice basic v-neck cardigan pattern out there that will be the perfect match for this sweater. For now, it is too painful to look at.

The Brooks Farm 4-Play yarn is still beautiful and wonderful to work with and I highly recommend it. It is not to blame, and I am sure I will find the perfect pattern for the yarn. This just isn’t it.

You win some and you lose some. I’ve now started my Noro sweater four times. I want to throw down my needles and make some more Fetchings instead. It is always good when it works out so well. Oh well, I’m up for a challenge!

BlahBlahBabble

Write More…

Already three days into NaBloPoMo and I’ve missed a day. Oops! I meant to write this post yesterday, and then I just got too busy. And tired. I couldn’t sleep Wednesday night, and then I allowed myself to get sucked into the Internets. This is always bad – and you can tell when I do it because I am a comment junkie and I generally leave comments all over the place. Sort of like the Easter Bunny, there are little morsels waiting for you when you awake!

Ok, I’m not making sense. We will blame it on the Clarityne. Mike brought me back allergy medicine from London, and I swear it works better than US Claritin. He says it is the same, and I don’t believe him.

Back to the original point – the first of November kicked off NaBloPoMo month! You may have heard of NaNoWriMo, where you write a novel in a month. (Yes, crazy, right?) For those of us that don’t want to write an entire novel, there is NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month. Write on your blog. Daily. If you don’t have a blog – get one. WordPress.com, Blogspot, Vox (now open!) are all free. Write, post, share your thoughts. The collective wisdom of the Blogosphere is a beautiful thing. Share a bit and leave your mark.

WRITE!

On a different subject – if you planned to come out to Yale Street Market here in Houston tomorrow to see Elaine and me, well … we won’t be there. More on that drama later, as I have to be judicious with my words when I write that post, and I don’t think the Clarityne haze would allow me to do that right now.

Also, I am trying to resist the urge to post every single photo that I put on Flickr here on my blog too – so if you watch the thumbnails at the top, sometimes there will be different photos there. Just in case you were curious. I still have a lot more flowers to edit and post as I prepare for the December Yale Street Market.

Knittastic!

Katy Blogless and the Diamond Fantasy Shawl

Post author By Christine
Post date Wednesday, November 1, 2006
12 Comments on Katy Blogless and the Diamond Fantasy Shawl

For my birthday, Katy Blogless made me a beautiful shoulder shawl from the Diamond Fantasy pattern. Next, she made one to donate for her son’s school band “Casino Night” silent auction. She had to take the prize over today so that they could get it ready, so we wanted to photograph it before it made its way to its new owner, the proud winner on Friday night.

It is so beautiful, I’m thinking that I should go to the auction and win it.

Katy’s daughter modeled the shawl for us, and we first tried to take photos indoors. Pippin, her cat, quickly noticed that dangling corner of the shawl, and was *very* interested in trying to get it. I wish I had caught him mid-jump, because it was pretty funny. Instead, we moved outdoors.

Here is her daughter doing the standard lace pose. We told her that she had to stand that way, because that is how everyone photographs their lace on The Internets.

A lace wing.

As we were all done and she was turning around, I told her to strike a pose. The photo on the left? SUPERSTAR. Totally Superstar. So then, Katy & I were laughing, and I told her that she needed to pose like they do on America’s Next Top Model. She needed to give me a fierce look. I got the photo on the right. Yes, I will never be a successful magazine photographer. Flowers? Yes. Fierce models? Not so much.

One more shot, looking nice. My friend’s daughter got her braces from an orthodontist in Irvine CA and her teeth responded very quickly to the brackets. Like her new braces? It was the first thing she showed me when I walked in the door.

Shawl stats:
Pattern: Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull
Needles: Size US 5, probably Addis. (I forgot to ask.)
Knit by Katy Blogless (Not by me!)

You can help with the campaign to get Katy Blogless to have a blog of her own by commenting and giving her the knitter love. And her daughter would love to hear feedback on her great modeling skills!

BlahBlahBabble

Missed Connections…

From the photo class at Arbor Gate in Tomball, Texas. Any ideas what type of flower it is? Even better viewed large. I think this might be the November calendar page.

Mike was supposed to return today from his trip to The Holland (now with sidetrip to London!) but the flight from London was delayed, making him miss his flight home. It was so sad to hear him say that he watched the flight to Houston leave the gate as he arrived. So now he is spending the night in Amsterdam while his luggage stays behind at the airport – meaning he will have to sleep without his apnea machine. He always says it makes a world of difference to sleep with it, and he wakes up feeling very tired without it – so his travels tomorrow will probably suck.

Oh, and he was down to the last of his clean clothes, so he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts on the flight and it is cold in Amsterdam at the moment. Not super cold, but not t-shirt and shorts weather. It was no big deal when he thought he was heading for home, but now he is a bit cold. Oops.

BlahBlahBabble Educate Me Knittastic!

Yarn’s Bound and Wound…

Randomness to wrap up October.

Stalker Angie has come up with the Kid & Ewe festival theme song, Yarn’s Bound and Wound:

Yarn’s bound and wound, we’re loadin’ up and truckin’,
We gonna drive past San Antonio.
We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.
We’re West bound just watch ol’ Stalker run.

That is just a taste of it. Read her site for more. Kid & Ewe countdown begins! Will YOU be joining us? EVERYONE is welcome – whether you have a blog or not! Get the details here. November 11th – be there!

The giant paper (17 pages with citations) that I wrote two weeks ago on how to become a pharmacist? I made a 100, including the presentation. I also learned that one can not go to pharmacy school part time as I dreamed, and it might just have to wait until after 2010 when Jason graduates from high school. I’m looking at several other degree options, including Chemistry, Biochemistry, Psychology, Communications with a focus in Advertising, and Photography. All have their pros and cons, so I have some thinking to do.

The Trig test that I took just days after turning in that paper? I did not do so well. We will just focus on the fact that I had a 95 and a 99 for the first two tests and the fact that our final can replace our lowest grade. It will be all good.

If I don’t get a Chemistry degree, I can stop taking all of these math and science classes. It would make my life easier in some ways, but I think I would miss the challenge. Decisions, decisions. Really? I just want to take pretty photographs.

I had more teen trick-or-treaters tonight than kid trick-or-treaters. It was really odd, and a bit disappointing. I like to see the little kids all dresses up. The high school freshman with “I am a Gangster” written on a plain white t-shirt? Yeah, not so much. I made him do gang signs for me though, so that redeemed it somewhat for me.

I called Katy Blogless earlier to work out a deal with her – I am going to trade her chocolate Halloween candy for the fruity stuff. I like things like red Twizzlers, Smarties, and cherry Tootsie Roll pops. She likes chocolate. It all works out well. Jason was sweet and gave me Smarties tonight – he knows how to win his mom over.

Don’t tell my family, but I have hidden a bag of Reese’s Miniatures that I got on sale. I do like some chocolate, especially when there is peanut butter involved. Yum.

I’m actually not a big sweet eater. So just a few pieces of candy will do until next Halloween.

I am going to photograph Katy’s finished knitting tomorrow, so there will be a proxy post here for her. Whee!

Speaking of knitting, I realized that it might be too warm for a sweater at Kid & Ewe. I cast on today for the Forest Canopy Shawl using the most beautiful skein of Anne yarn. I am so excited about knitting this lace!

I have started work on the calendars. Would anyone be interested in a “design your own” calendar where you get to pick the 12 photos you want to be included? Just tossing out ideas.

I hate Daylight Saving Time. I know, I know, we “gained an hour” this past weekend. The only thing it did for me was jack with my sleeping patterns and I have been exhausted all day today. Then again, I have been up for 17+ hours, so maybe that is why I am tired? I need to go to bed, but I need to make sure I talk to Mike before he starts his return adventure to Houston, so I need to stay up for a little while. I have no idea where I am supposed to find him when I get to the airport tomorrow night to pick him up.

Mike comes home tomorrow. He will go from London to Amsterdam and then home to Houston. I’m glad he will finally be home. Maybe I can get some sleep finally.

That wraps up October. Happy November, everyone! Rabbit, Rabbit!