Two finished objects, one WIP down

I finally finished the second pinwheel blanket. It took forever. I ran out of yarn, then knit picks ran out of yarn, then I got the yarn but the last 25 rows take a fucking lifetime! At least it felt that way. To give you an idea the last 25 rows take 3 balls of yarn alone. The final row was 680 stitches. Still I'm happy with the finished product.


As a reward to myself I gave myself a nice easy washcloth to cleanse the palate as it were. This is the second of the monthly dishcloth KAL patterns for the year.

I actually finished something!

I was hoping the first FO of the year would be something I had started in 2009 but it was not to be. Last night rather than continuing on the pinwheel blanket that never ends I finished my first washcloth of the year:


The week has been crazy with classes starting but overall rush has been really smooth. I can't take credit though Spring rush has been like that for a number of years. Sadly I'm off to work today. I'd rather be in LI wishing a certain yarn shop co-owner a happy birthday!

Where the hell have I been?

It's been a crazy nine months. In my last post I hinted that professionally something had changed and it sure did. I was promoted to store manager of my bookstore. Unfortunately for the first 6 months or so the meant doing my old buying job and the new store manager job. This left very little time for anything else. It's smoothed out a bit in October. We're gearing up for a big move soon where two stores will be combined and the manager of that store will take over all the buying so I can focus on the store management. I sucked at it for quite awhile since I never balance well but the last few months have been much, much better. My boss has been very patient as well since he understood he was asking a lot.

We also got throw for a bit of a loop this past November when Ian's teacher said she felt we needed to find him another school for third grade. We've avoided an official diagnosis of his issues for years since he was getting the support he needed and doing well but his teacher feels A- if we leave the city to assess him he'll be kicked out of special ed since academically he's doing great. That would be bad because a large classroom would overwhelm him and we'd be back where we started. B- if we managed to keep him in special ed she didn't have confidence that the spec ed teacher for third grade would be a good fit for him. Not to mention as the kids get older in spec ed there are more behavioral and emotional disturbed kids and that's not Ian.

We're looking at programs now and we may have found a great spot for him but we're still in process so I won't jinx it by discussing it here. Suffice it to say that I think we'll have this settled in the next couple of months.

Have I been knitting? A bit. I have tons of WIPs. In fact I joined a Facebook group to work them off. This is what I'm working on now. A pinwheel blanket:


It's actually the second of two for twins who were born months ago. I just can't seem to get it done. First I ran out of yarn, then Knit Picks ran out of yarn so I've only picked it up again recently. I'm in the home stretch now though.

I'm also doing the monthly dischloth KAL again. They sure came in handy as holiday gifts! Here is the first one of 2010:



I won't make any promises about posting but hopefully I'll find a schedule that works. If any of you are even still out there, lol.

Congrats to my two dear friends Ann and Kathleen for their recent purchase of a lovely little yarn shop. I am equal parts thrilled and jealous for them!

Happy New Year!

A sucker for a good meme

I always have something to say but I never get around to writing it. On this lazy, rainy afternoon in these last moments of the workday. I give you a meme:


Do you nap? Not as much as I'd like.

What was the last thing you bought? For myself? A West Side Story t-shirt.

What are you listening to right now? The Daytime Confidential Guiding Light Cancellation podcast.

What is your favourite weather? Thunderstorms or a nice misty rain if I'm outside.

What’s on your bedside table?A lamp, a water bottle, books, comics, clock radio.

What are you currently reading? Easter Rising

Name the things you can’t live without. Books, music and food.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? A winning lottery ticket.

What is your favourite tea flavour? Chai.

What would you like to get rid of? About 50 pounds.

What is your favorite scent of candle? Pumpkin Pie.

What did you want to become as a child? A rock star, an archaeologist and a writer.

What's your favorite brand of jeans? JC Penney

Say something to the person/s who tagged you: Gina my dear what can I say. No one gets my inner goth girl as well as you and there are few women who can keep up as well as you with my level of snark. You are a dear friend who I absolutely don't spend enough time with!!!

I am going to tag Roe since she rarely blogs anymore (not that I'm one to talk) and Chante since she is trying to get back on the blog horse.

Have a great weekend.

At least I finished stuff...

...even if I didn't blog.

Opening a new store requires tons and tons of meetings. Plus I have real work to do so that greatly cuts into my free time at work, which from my employer's perspective is a good thing. Last week I was on vacation but I was in a full out lazy mode. I spent the majority of it on the couch watching DVDs and knitting. There were also successful parent teacher conferences as well which was a nice note to end on.

While I've been silent it's been a veritable finish-pa-looza. Are you ready?

The mid-March dishcloth:
...the Buffy socks:
...a baby hoodie from Debbie Bliss Simple Knits:
The March dishcloth:
Happy? I missed 2 weeks but you get 4 fo's for your suffering.

Do you realize I have finished more projects in the past 3 months than I did in all of 2008? Yup 11 was the total in 2008, I have now finished 14 items. Damn.

I have two books to review this week so hopefully you'll be hearing from me again this week;)

Combo post

I'll do my Monday finished object post and a Random Wednesday post. It's like getting 2 for the price of one. I am stimulating your blog economy!

I felt the pressure this weekend about the finished object a week issue. I would have finished the Buffy sock but I accidentally skipped the last pattern repeat and went straight to the heel. This led to frogging a finished heel. I was a bit pissed about it Thursday so Friday I inadvertently left my knitting home. I'm guessing it was on purpose subconsciously.

This meant I had a crisis. No fo to show on Monday! Oh my gods! Whatever will I do? Enabler extraordinaire Dani to the rescue. She's starting making Tribbles with her washcloth leftovers. As soon as I saw one I knew I had to make one (or 50) too. My first one is a bit wonky but workable:


It's a good little pot scrubber and took all of an afternoon to make.

I did not go back to the Buffy sock. I decided to cast on for a baby sweater for a pregnant co-worker. I'm using the Debbie Bliss Simple Knits book, the Hooded Sweater patter. I started with the sleeves:


...now I'm up to the hood:
Can I mention that Bron is so, so right? I am loving the Cotton Ease I am using for this project. The drape is great, it's soft but sturdy and amazing stitch definition. It is now in my top 5 favorite yarns.

For the random, Avery loves the Questionable Content webcomic but Roe posted this on Facebook today so I stole it. Too funny.

Julie had this on her blog:

Your International Spy Name is Electra Sparks

Your Code Name: The Pharmacist You Reside in: Prague Why You're a Good Spy: You're a good lover

What's Your International Spy Name?

Oh yes I am so Electra Sparks!

February 365

I hate when work gets in the way of blogging. I'll get back to regular posting on Monday but since today is the last day of the month I'll share with you the pictures I took in February. There was a theme this month, "what I love about where I live" so there are a number of neighborhood shots.

View slideshow

Have a great weekend!