Spider Web

I am building a spider web with my UFOs. I started...what, you have a problem with this?

I really don't know what has possessed me with these starts. Yesterday I started, or was it day before? an Aran cardigan for me. Last night I knitted a few rows, but was busy looking for some yarn for a baby blanket, that I wanted to finish. It was a UFO, or to make me feel better, a WIP. I finished all the yarn I had at home, for that blanket. I wanted to go to the office to get some more. I keep some yarns at work, just in case I want to do something different at lunch time, something other than what I have in my knitting/crocheting bag.

Where was I? I was looking for some yarn last night. I found some WIPs: Desert poncho start with Lion Brand Suede, FreeForm summer top, FreeForm spring top, FreeForm tote bag, FreeForm something, ziplog bags full of scrumbles, ziplog bags full of magic ball material. Oh, and my other eye glasses that I need to keep in my purse, in case the ones I am now wearing fall apart, because they are frameless and kept together with special screws. I already have been twice to get them tightened, because you need a special tool for special screws.

I got distracted there for a second. I found some other stuff, but I don't want to sit here all day listing things that are either UFOs or WIPs. What's the difference? UFO is something that could be frogged, or could bring tears, or is going to be forgotten for ever, for the next or the next generation to think "what the heck is this?". WIP is an item that is sitting on the dining table, or stuck in the tote bag that goes everywhere with you, or is in the round hat box in the corner of the dining room. I work best at the dining table. WIP is also an item that can be taken for trips, or is in the handbag when you go to a party, and the party is unbelievably boring, so you go and sit in the bathroom, on the ledge of the bathtub (not on the toilet, unless the seat is closed, which isn't always the case, because some persons never close the lid. So, that is one WIP, one other could be a small project, that fits in your jacket pocket. Since I don't smoke any more, I still want to go for a five minute break. SOMETIMES I put the small project in my pocket, sit in the car and crochet for five or ten minutes.

The pocket system is a must, because I have to walk by several people in the office, to go out, and I don't need any necessary comments about knitting/crocheting at work time, so I hide my stuff. When I was smoking, it was clearly known that I go for a smoke, I didn't have to hide anything. It wasn't ok to go, but I did it, and nobody stopped me. I stopped on May 1st, 2005.

I still don't know what I was going to say about my projects for today. I have, in my bag, a blanket start, another blanket start, a baby sweater start, an Aran cardigan start, some unfinished paisleys, and unfinished knitted squares for the next knitting meeting.

I think I do some work now. I came early to work this morning.

What's missing? Dolls!

I just realized a horrible thing. I have not made dolls for eons. Even the purple little monster-looking doll is still nekkid.

I need to return to my normal routine. Make dolls, knit a little, crochet a little, and never mind this unbelievable urge to do things that take too much time.

Don't make me make a list what I have in my UFO box, please. And don't make me make a list of the WIPs I have. I am feeling down as it is already. I read Auntpurl's story about doorknobs, and now I have one more thing to worry about. DOORKNOBS. Sheesh. Oh, btw, even my cat (in the pic) is astonished about the doll thing.

Aran Knitting

Yes, I am now totally flipped over Aran patterns.

Like I told you many times already, I am knitting a cardigan for Ella. That's very good.
However, while I was looking for some other WIP (or UFO, if you insist), I found a beautiful
yarn in my stash, it's Sirdar: Wash'n Wear DK Double Crepe, in tweedy creamy color. It's beautiful to knit.

I have a huge collection of books and magazines, and spent a few dear hours looking for a pattern, suitable for the wonderful yarn. Guess, where I found the one I want to make!
In the web.

Here is the link (I am sorry, I have not figured out how to do the link like everyone else does, just write a word, which is highlighted and then you click on it, and voila! The simple word takes you there...It has to be simple, but I am just too lazy to find out, it's easier for me to paste the link, ohkay!)

http://www.knitting-crochet.com/womiriknicar.html

oh, btw, hubby showed me how to do that "html" thingy. Looks easy.........Not, my programming abilities go way back when we were using business basic. I don't think windows existed for general public then.

General public? Well, let me make a quick comment here: There are so-called "Sunday Drivers". Why aren't they driving only on Sundays, why do they have to drive in the morning, in the rush hour? Just asking.

So, now I have my 44 stitches for both sleeves, a girl has to make sleeves together, otherwise the sweater/cardigan will never be done, by me. I have a problem making sleeves after front and back pieces. BUT, if I make the sleeves first, there is no problem. Funny.

If there is a SSS (single sock syndrome), I insist that there should be USS (UGH SLEEVES - SYNDROME), or some other witty name, just like the SSS, which I love and give a full credit to the person who came up with that expression. YEAH!

YAYAY one WIP done

I finished the snowflake pullover.
It has some finetuning left to do, but that is for later.
Here is the picture, and now I go to sleep.
It's 12:46 a.m. (Wednesday morning)

I got help in knitting

My good friend, Sarah, helped me with my problem in reading a knitting chart.
It was just a little thing, but with her help I got it.

Sometimes I get stuck with the simplest things, and can't continue.

I am almost finished with the orange pullover, and was going to put a picture here, but
no, I'll show you when the pullover is done.

However, I am putting the picture of the back part of the Aran sweater. Just to show myself how nice it looks.
the time is now 9:35 a.m.

Monday before Tuesday

Not in a very pleasant mood today.

I have read some of the e-mails, but not all.
I am trying to do two things at the same time. One Aran sweater, and one
pullover, which I have already mentioned some days ago.

I am truly proud of myself for one thing. The scanner didn't work, and I made it work.
It took me way too long in the eyes of an expert, but for me it was a great accomplishment.
It took about an hour to figure out why it was not working. The printer was working.

After uninstalling everything I re-installed the dang all-in-one thingy, and now it works.

The Aran sweater is the middle one in the picture here from the Patons Aran Knits for the Family-booklet, no. 713. I am making it for our granddaughter.

The pullover for our other granddaughter is now waiting for me to figure out where the beginning of the row is, so I can count where the first design begins. I am not sure what happened when I attached the sleeves. I have never knitted the rounded upper part for a sweater. I have always done the front and the back and the sleeves separately. Not this time. It's so exciting to try new things.

The Aran Sweater is looking pretty smashingly good, if I may say so myself, but I don't have a picture of the back piece which is done to where the decreases begin. I did take a picture this morning, but the camera was running low on battery, so I needed to charge it.

Oh, I almost forgot
the time
is now
14:38

Charity stuff

Knitted a scarf, The Red one, and crocheted a spiral to decorate. The scarf is on its way to VA, for a charity program for Valentine's Day.
I made another one today, but it's not red. It is also knitted. I took a picture of it at work, with a coworker as a model. So, that's not me in the picture, OK!
The red yarn is Joann's Rainbow Boucle, and the other is Eye Lash in Wild. It sure looks wild, doesn't it!

The real time now is 18:32

Friday non-blahs

I've heard rumors that Lewiscraft is in trouble, again. I had ordered some Berella 4" afghan yarn from my Lewiscraft. Mine, yes, I keep them going, LOL, anyhoo, they called that they cannot get the yarn at the moment, and they are very sorry. Me? What is me going to do?
Nothing else than start calling the stores around me, or near me, that's better. Nobody has the color she wants. "DING" the light goes on and this smart person calls the store where she bought
some of the yarn before. It's also Lewiscraft. "Yes, we have Denim Ombre". I have a feeling
I have been the only one who bought it, because they had lots of it.

Lewiscraft at Weston and 401 isn't exactly my idea of a store near me, but I thought I could drive there on Saturday morning and be there when they open and then floor it to get to the crochet group meeting at 11, and somewhere in the back of the car, the food for lunch would
cook by itself.

However, my darling hubby said that he could go on Friday, which, of course is today. Then we found out that the baby that is due in June, is going to be a boy, so I ordered hubby to get ten more skeins of that same yarn. After all, Berella is perfect for blankets, and Denim Ombre is variegated blue. I am all set for my Chanel jacket and am able to make a baby blanket with the remaining yarn.

The joke here is that hubby has told me not to buy more yarn, after he spent a week clearing my stash last spring, while I was lazily spending my time in the hospital after a burst appendix.
He organized, and put my yarns neatly in plastic containers, etc. whatever. So, after that he promised not to see me bring more yarn to our home.

Well, I told him about Lewiscraft dilemma, and he was ok with getting my yarn. When I came home from work, he pointed at two huge plastic bags on the floor, full of Denim Ombre yarn.

It was a nice sight.

I still have to tell the real time, because blogspot people have not read my messages about the time difference with them and me. Where are they anyway? Somewhere where the time is procrastinating and doesn't keep up with me?

It's now 18:02 my time.

Tuesday Blahs

I am supposed to think what we need from the grocery store.
It's hard to picture my open fridge in front of my eyes, here at work.
All I can see is the spilled beet juice that I forgot to clean last night.
Who in their right mind drops a dish with beets in the juice, without
a lid. It would be bad enough to drop it with the lid, because the lid
probably come out anyway. Nevertheless, there is red juice on the
shelf and I need to imagine what we need, beyond that spill.

There might be an empty peach jam jar somewhere, in the back,
so we'll need that.

Have you noticed that when You check the eggs in the store and they
are all in good shape, by the time you come home, there is at least one
cracked.

Once again, it's bloooody hot in this office. I have a knitted jacket, with
polyester (whose bright idea is to line a jacket with polyester) lining.
It was somewhat hard to take off, because the sleeves were sticking to
my somewhat damp arms. SHEEEESSSHH. TMI

I am now wearing a 100% wool sweater, which is equally warm, but my
tee is tight, and I really don't need to show off my michelins. Someone
might think that I have loads of money, to buy expensive tires.

oooohkay. I am going, this is starting to sound insane.

I still don't know what we need from the grocery store.

It's 11:44 real time a.m., unlike the blogspot tries to tell otherwise.
I need to know how to put the right time, like I used to be able, when I started
this blogging thing.

Dulce de Leche

http://www.farawayfoods.com/dulcedeleche.html

Made some crepes today. I have a special frying pan for making small ones. The cast iron pan has seven little slots, where the crepes are done. I made quite a few of them this morning, ate most of them, and what ever was left I layered them with Dulce de Leche and canned peaches.

The dish does not look pretty, but trust me, this dessert is good. and we are going to top it with whipped cream.

And if anyone has a problem with calories or rolls in the waist, don't bother asking for recipe, because this is one dessert that is definitely (not) good for you.

Knitting a pullover

First of all, I am ever grateful for my friend, Sherri, she told me about the row-counter clickety thingy. I bought one at Michaels. It's one of the best things I have bought recently for my "tool" box. The thing is sitting on top of my knitting stuff on this picture.
The pattern is from the book "Kids.Kids.Kids" . You can see the picture of the book in Amazon, if you want.
I started the pullover yesterday. I knitted one sleeve three times, because I was too arrogant reading the chart. Sometimes I think I know too much. I skipped the part where it said, follow chart B for the sleeve. I followed chart A. and couldn't understand where the pattern added the stitches. I was missing 12 stitches. Helloooo. Dang. then when I finally realized that I was supposed to be a good girl and FOLLOW the instructions (I have a very hard time doing that, hence I am so good at Free Form knitting and crocheting, AHEM). So, I tried to frog some fancy lace pattern, and ended up frogging the whole thing, twice, and then knitted until 1 am this morning to finish ONE sleeve. I did it. The other sleeve is going well. I have also done some of the body part, and I am very pleased how this pullover looks.

The time now is 1:38 pm, on Sunday, I have knitted a total of 27 rows of the second sleeve.

Any further development on this field will be updated some day.

Parts missing

It's 1:43 a.m. right now. I am not sure what the bloggers's clock is, but it has disappeared. Someone doesn't want me to change the time to my liking. I would love to add a few hours to a day, maybe that is the broblem with the clock here.

I bought 30 skeins of red yarn yesterday (wrong! the other day, it's already Sunday, I bought the dang yarn on Friday). My plan is to go back in time and re-create a red dress. Of course the yarn isn't the same.

I own a knitting machine. Hey, I am not going to knit a dress in a weekend by hand, hellloooo. I am not that good. My whims don't last too long, so I need to make this dress fast, before I lose interest. I already lost interest in making a Chanel type jacket by crocheting it. I had made one of those when I was very young, 15 I would say. What was I thinking at the age of 15, Chanel Jacket. Huh. I must have been insane, or really weird already at that age.

What happened with my red dress making? The Friday night was spent searching for my knitting machine. I started sweating in pain, because I could not find it just like that, where I had left it, umpteen months ago. Well, finally I found it, in between my dresser and hubby's armoire in our bedroom. I swear, I didn't put it there. Yeah, I found the needle bed board. The carriage and yarn holding thingy were missing. Another frantic search, but no luck. I spent the rest of the evening searching for places here that I could easily get the missing parts. Holy shaat, the carriage replacement would cost me half the price of a new machine. I stopped searching there. I slept badly the night, dreaming of a red dress and missing knitting machine carriage and other thingy. Forgive me, I still don't know, yes I do, the other part was the mast.

ok. The dear granddaughter came for visit on Saturday, and I had to get ready for her, like clean the apartment and check that I had stuff for her dinner. Then I got a bright idea to look in the bench chest in the dining room, what the heck was in there. The carriage was sitting on top of everything else. I also found some missing boxes with crochet hooks, and beads and some other important things to do crocheting and knitting. I was way too happy. so happy that I phoned the store, nearby, that carries knitting machine parts. Sure enough, they had the mast and it cost peanuts. Not the kind you eat, but the kind that klickety clacks in the bottom of your purse.

I arrived in the store, got the mast and another part that goes with it, which I didn't remember belonging to this stick. I also bought a clamp that holds the machine to the table, it needs two of them, and I only found one, this morning. So many things missing, but I am determined to get this dress done, if not today (Sunday) then one day this week, or next. I have all the other necessary tools nicely organized in a box, which I know exactly where it is, because I saw it, when looking for the machine. I was smart and put the box in a safe place, just like the machine itself. My definition of a safe place means that NOBODY can find it again.

Ok, now, we are all set. I think I can go to sleep. It's 2 a.m. I have already drawn the design in to my brain. I really have to stop, the spy progam just kicked in, and doesn't like me to do this, it keeps me slowing down. bye for now.

January WIPs

This is the month when I start new projects the most. It will take me all year to finish them all, if they get finished. I still have WIPs from the 90's, so one year all will be done.
Have you ever heard anything so funny before? Finishing all UFOs.

I decided that I felt nostalgic yesterday, therefore I started crocheting a Chanel type jacket. I just have to sort of remember what I did when I made the first one (when I was 15 years old).

The yarn is Bernat's Berella, the afghan yarn. It's easy to use, not expensive and I will not feel bad if I don't finish the jacket, because I can use the yarn for charity squares.

I am also knitting a "magic ball" sweater, and another sweater with browns and oranges. Hubby's vest with llama yarn is not doing well, because I had to start over again, because the work decided to gain weight, and became to a size 50 xxxx, instead of Large. Go figure.

Happy New Year

It's been a while. I've been busy making Christmas stuff, and nowhere in my stash I could find somtheing to write about. Who wants to know about my UFOs that are never done. Like a scarf for a friend, with a Toronto Maple Leaf logo. I had it charted and planned, but it always came out too big, or too small. I bought the yarn, RH Super Saver (or is it Bernat's?) you know, those big skeins. I now have lots of navy blue and white yarn that I am not going to use for a while.

Let's see, I managed to finish a poncho for Sarah, and socks for hubby (oh, the socks I finished on Boxing Day). I think I finished something else, too, oh, yeah, mittens and a hat for gd.

The scarf was done for the New Year's party that we were going to attend, but didn't. Stupid tummy flu.

Have to go to work tomorrow. The whole building is closed, nobody else is there but us. Nice.

I wish our office was closed, too.