I seem to have a seriously busy life, who knew? Last week seemed to fly by. I didn't even finish Cherie which I was sure I would. I nearly finished the second sleeve on the train going and coming from Long Island on Monday only to realize that in fact I had never done the first row of increases, all the way back on row 8. So a'froggin' I went. You know how frustrated I get by things like that so no more was done on the sleeve until much later in the week. I did finish it finally and I'm now into the neckline on the body piece. I'm probably going to block the sleeve tonight. I can't deny I haven't been in too much of a rush to finish it since I realized neither Tisha nor Amanda are here this week at work so there is no one to show it off to:(

Ian's birthday festivities were a hit. We brought cupcakes to his class on Friday. It's amazing, he's in special ed this year and the teacher and the para stand around in awe because we actually do things. We go on trips, we help when we go on trips, we brought cupcakes. The para said she hasn't had a "normal parent" in so long she doesn't know how to handle it. They said they are going to be spoiled by us. It makes me sad I mean I've always been a presence in the school (Rinaldo as well) when Avery was there and now for Ian. It would seem odd to me that just because he's in special ed that I would act differently somehow.

As for this school year it's going beautifully for Ian. The teacher knows him from last year and she can't get over how much more social he is. He participates in class and does beautiful work she says. When Rinaldo mentioned recently that his teacher last year said he learned fine by rote but he didn't grasp concepts his currently teacher looked at him like he had grown two heads. She then preceded to show him all the concepts Ian not only grasps but usually grasps before anyone else in the class. He's enjoying his homework and he seems to have regained his love of learning. I'm very happy. The only problem we have is most days he cries when we leave him at school. It's not school that's the problem but the fact that his grandmother is picking him up. He doesn't want her to take care of him anymore. Since that is currently not an option we're not sure what to do. His teacher says he shakes it off when he gets to class so she's not worried about it. As I recall this was around the age when Avery wasn't fond of his grandmother either but then we had Ian so it eased up a bit. We'll just see how it plays out.

It's my favorite day of the year so as Margene said go hug a witch today...



...and get lots of candy...



Happy halloween!!

Late to the party...

So I'm a bit behind the times in posting about Rhinebeck but I blame the fact that I'm on vacation. Sunday was spent recovering, Monday was spent in LI visiting my BFF Kathleen (oh and Ann too;)). Tuesday was spend apple picking with Ian's class.

Here is my photo essay on Rhinebeck:

Favorite thing # 3 - The Fall colors:



Favorite thing # 2 - the haul

Briar Rose Fourth of July (with Shrug pattern)

Aussi Sock

Socks that Rock (yes Tisha one of them is yours...)

Fiber from Blue Moon

Merino Top from Ellen's Half Pint Farm

finally, a swift!

Favorite thing # 1 - the people
Carla

Maribel, Chante and Shameka wearing her Central Park Hoodie!

Ann, Ricki, Maribel (her again;)), Vicki

Of course I missed a ton of people. I never caught up with my favorite displaced Bronxite, Regina (sadly blogless), or Cassie and her houseguest Sigga Sif, but fun was had just the same.

A quick post over breakfast with one of my best buds Leslie (she of the cancer walk contest). Leslie is the only thing I love about these conferences.

Gina posted about her UFOs I decided to take stock myself. It's not too bad if I do say so myself:

Bob the Builder - Which will never be finished as Ian is long passed this phase.

Shapely Tank -which I really would like to finish at some point in this lifetime

Rogue - a bit of the sleeve done, that's it

Cherie Amour - we know where that is...

charade socks- that's with me on my trip.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone. Anybody going to Rhinebeck I'll see you there!

After a whirlwind weekend of shopping and spending quality time with my cousin I did actually make some progress in the knitting department. The first Charade sock she is done:

Rinaldo was tired and sick so I choose to blame him for it looking crooked in the picture. It looked fine when I finished it. He loves it so whatever.

I also made some Cherie Amour progress while Ian was at his playgroup yesterday:


I am finally at the ribbing. Honestly it went very quickly once I got into the rhythm of it but damn it took me awhile to get the hang of it for some reason.

Tomorrow I'm off to Cleveland for a conference. Tomorrow night they are taking us to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'm actually really excited. Thursday is meetings all day, then back on a plane home on Friday. I'm going to try to do a few posts in advance to post while I'm away. I have some goodies to show. Not knitting stuff but fun nonetheless.

By the way you should all know I've been cheating on my blog. I've started doing reviews of the show Blood Ties over at Pink Raygun. Check it out if you're interested. I should have a new one up every Saturday.

The road to hell...

I had intended to show you some Cherie Amour progress. I brought my camera took some great shots and realized I didn't have the cable. So not helpful. I am nearly ready to admit defeat on having her ready to wear for Rhinebeck but I am plugging along as though there is still hope. I had to rip out the bottom 3 times because you know how I am when it comes to yarn overs. I just like to skip them whenever possible, lol. I actually have the whole damn thing marked with stitch markers for each and every repeat so I can count that I have 12 stitches when I finish each set of stitches. Now I've gotten into the rhythm though and it's going along well. This morning I realized I was further along than I thought. I kept thinking I had to do 31 repeats of the 4 rows when in actuality it's 31 rows of the pattern. Big difference. I am on row 16. The real problem is my business trip next week. I leave Wednesday and come back Friday. Even if I take it and finish it on the trip I can't exactly block it on the plane, can I?

My cousin arrives tonight, yay! Lots of shopping and fun this weekend. Then next week will be a bit crazed. Ingileif leaves on Monday so I am taking a half day then I work Tuesday but then Wednesday is my trip, Friday I'm back and Saturday Rhinebeck baby! Thankfully the week after will be vacation so I can recover.

Since I am cable-less I will share this picture that Rinaldo took on the train. He got the biggest kick out of it:



Have a great weekend everyone!

I was very productive this weekend but not really with the knitting. I cleaned my house from top to bottom since I was having company on Sunday but the cleaning continued on Monday since my cousin is coming to stay with us next weekend.

I did at least get the first sleeve for Cherie Amour blocked:



Size-wise it blocked perfectly but lengthwise is a bit of a problem. They're about 2 inches longer but I'm not too concerned since I thought the length was a bit short anyway.

In the cleaning frenzy I decided to ball up some of my sock yarn to make it easier to store. Like my homemade swift:



I got a few done but I left the ball winder attached so I can do more, tonight.

I am nearly finished with the first Charade sock. I'm at the toe. It's odd that I didn't finish it last night since I usually can polish off a toe in an hour or so of tv watching but I was a bit out of it. Maribel's cousin died this weekend. The wake is tonight and the mass tomorrow. This was a very cool guy who was one of the first of the extended family to make me feel like I belonged. I already miss him...

I still don't really have any progress to show. I'm about to give up on my missing 9 point. I'll cast on tonight with my needlemaster 9s and switch to knitpicks when the cuff is done. I realized that time is short so my pride had to go out the window. Damned if I know what happened to it. I suspect it rolled off my desk into the garbage so that's that. I'm sure if it is still around I won't find it until I've finished the sweater so I might as well get on with it.

I am almost done with the first charade sock. I feel like I've been knitting it forever! Cara pointed out that it's taking so long because I'm not loving the pattern and she's right. I can't say why. It's a simple pattern. I like the way it's coming out. Although the yarn is quite dark so maybe it's just too boring. Who knows.

When there's nothing else to show, there's always a meme. I stole this one from Susan, because that's what she and I do, exchange memes, all the time.

Copy this list; leave in the bands you’ve seen perform live; delete the ones you haven’t, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list. Three asterisks, etc.

I added plus signs for artists/groups I have seen multiple times.

1- Public Image Limited*
2- Motley Crue +
3- Kenny Loggins (judge not lest ye be judged it was my first concert ever)
4- Stevie Nicks +
5- Fleetwood Mac +
6- U2 +
7- Twisted Sister
8- Kiss +
9- Ratt +
10- Lita Ford
11- Poison
12- Menudo (see Kenny Loggins, Menudo was really the first, Kenny second but I don't admit that in mixed company)
13- Duran Duran +
14- Mandy Patinkin
15- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts +
16- David Lee Roth
17- Rod Stewart
18- Take 6
19- Melissa Etheridge
20- INXS +
21- Bangles
21- Ozzy Osbourne
22- Black Eyed Peas +
23- Maroon 5
24- Liz Phair
25- Whitesnake

Oddly enough I had a problem coming up with 25. The thing is I've been to a lot of concerts but I've seen my favorites over and over. There are tons of people I wished I'd seen but my tastes have always run a bit astray from my friends' so I didn't always have people to go with.

If you steal this meme, please leave a comment and let me know so I can go visit and see what you put for your 25 bands.

Have a great weekend all!

I end my contest as I began it. Dani has bestowed on me the title of:



Which I had just received from Carla back in August when I started my contest for my friend Leslie's 3 Day Walk. So here we are and I get the joy of bestowing it on 5 more people which is fantastic since it was so hard to limit it to 5 the first time around. Thanks Dani!

Being that this week was the Spin Out I think the first one is quite easy:

Cara - For spreading her enthusiasm and joy for things she loves like other people spread the common cold;) There's been Socks that Rock, Jaywalkers, miters and now she brought people together in their love of spinning. It was a fantastic event and I had a fantastic time.

Chante - I threaten to cut off our friendship constantly because I can't keep up with her creativity and productivity. Whether it's knitting two socks at once, spinning, dyeing or making stitch markers, she is a one woman creativity machine.

Risa - My co-moderator on the Knitting Blogs ring. She's also a dynamo who knocks out socks like there's no tomorrow (granted small feet help;) ). She's a great mom, talented web developer and spinner. Of course we all love lawyers who leave the dark side;)

Lisa - One of my first blog buddies. Another far more prolific knitter than I. She's a great mom and I always love the projects she makes and the colors she uses. Besides I have to love someone who has a hockey rink in her backyard in the winter. It doesn't get any better than that.

Saving the best for last because she thrives on that kind of attention:

Ann - One of the first bloggers I ever met in person and one of my dearest friends. She's raunchy and speaks her mind, obviously a kindred spirit. She also lets me hang out with the "cool kids", which is different for me! Pigs everywhere worship her as the goddess she is.

Now for the contest winner:

Amy! (who is sadly blogless)

Here is a horribly bad camera phone picture of my co-worker Andrew as he pulled her name from the bowl:

Obviously I do things in a strictly scientific fashion.

I forgot my camera on Saturday so I have to wait for Maribel to upload the pictures from her camera to get the ones I took. Hopefully I'll have them by Wednesday.

Have a great Monday everyone!

A "Duh" moment

I had two "duh" moments this week, which slowed me down considerably on my two current projects. The first one occurred on Tuesday. I'm in my office showing off my knit picks interchangeables to my co-worker. I screw off the 13 that I'm using for the sleeve of Cherie Amour and I screw on the 9 that I used for the cuff. Then I took the 9 off and put in my bag, or so I thought.

That evening at knitting group I cast off on the first sleeve and go to switch the needles so I can start the second one. Guess what? I only found one 9 tip. I haven't located the other one since. So Cherie Amour has been put on hold for the moment. It's not that I don't have other 9s, its simply the principle of it.

I picked up the charade socks so I could at least finish the first. I completed the heel flap and I started to turn the heel, when I realized that I had worked the heel flap for the original stitch count, not the up sized version that I'm making. That made me feel particularly stupid. So I ripped it out on the train last night and started again.

Since I have no progress to really show off I thought I would share some pictures. I was looking through some old pictures this morning and I found these. First up a shot of me wearing a hat and scarf my grandma made for me:


The next one is just for Susan. I know how she likes when I take a stroll down memory lane. When I was a kid my parents went to their school reunion every year. I loved it because it was a real campus (it was a boarding school for the blind)and my parents knew it like the back of their hands so I didn't have to guide them anywhere. I just roamed free. I also used to get to play with my parents' friends' seeing eye dogs. They enjoyed the freedom as much as I did. This is a shot of me with one of them:


Spin Out in Central Park tomorrow people! Hope to see you there...

I choose to blame Kathleen...

So I'm minding my own business. Scrolling through the latest issue of Knitty and IM'ing with Kathleen (yeah we're such teenagers)...and I see Cherie Amour. I literally went walking through my office to find someone to show it to. I find our new floor manager Amanda and I make her look at it, thank god I hired a knitter. I went back to my desk and continued my conversation with Kathleen. I had just lamented that Rogue was going nowhere fast when she said "it's bulky, you could get that done fast". I am usually not such a suggestible person but there I was later that night going on to Handpaintedyarn.com trying to find a color I liked and ordering it on the spot.

My trip to the post office was to pick up my package. Lookie, lookie:



The colors are far more muted than the picture appears. The flash made them almost neon but they're not even close to being that bright. I find them very autumnal.
I'm about halfway on the first sleeve. I can't lie, I'm a bit concerned that the recommended 5 skeins will not be enough and if it isn't I'm screwed since my colorway is completely gone. What can I say I was drunk with the idea of it so I foolishly didn't overbuy. My size is somewhere between a large and a 1x so if I adjust a bit that should help. Maybe, just maybe it will be ready for Rheinbeck.

I was home with Ian today since he was coughing, sneezing and his nose was running all over the place. I was inspired by Chante's makeover to do one myself, hence the new look for the blog. A nice, fresh look for autumn.

If you were my mail carrier would you know a knitter lived here?


...hey wait a minute where is this postcard from...

Do you think Old Navy hired a marketing firm to attract knitters to their stores?

LOL


Oh yeah and this came too:
I'm not always crazy about the Vogue books but I love the sock book. There are plenty of patterns that I will make and only a few I definitely won't. The history of sock knitting chapter is especially interesting.

Speaking of socks, here's where I am on the Charade socks for Rinaldo:


I started these on my new Lantern Moon Sox Stix. I really do like to knit with them. They are comforable and the fact that they are so short doesn't bother me at all. However, they are so blunt that it's a problem. This pattern requires me to pass a slip stitch over two stitches and then knit the two on the next round and it's been a bit of a chore. I think that's why they were going so slowly. I switched over to my Knit Picks metal dpns and I've picked up the pace quite a bit.

I'm hoping to go back to regular posting next week. Things are definitely dying down here. In fact I'm ditching out at 12 for lunch with Gina and then heading home to pick up Ian. We're taking a trip to the post office for a package whose contents I will share with you on Monday.

Have a great weekend!!!

OMG! Can it be...

...yup a finished Dalek:



Aren't you impressed? Well I am damn you;) I have to say I have rarely followed a pattern so blindly. In principal I knew where I was going but since it was literally done row by row I wasn't always sure what the next piece would look like. The shaping is really well done but man row by row instructions are taxing. All in all I'm glad it's finished and the husband is thrilled. It stands on the table right next to his side of the bed ready to exterminate lesser beings at any moment. Of course he keeps us up at night saying stuff like this.

Meanwhile I haven't had the brain power to work on my rogue sleeve. Yes, yes I know the sleeve isn't all the complicated but charts while not as daunting as before are still a second language to me.

When I am low on brain power and energy I go back to my comfort food, socks. I cast on for some Charade socks for Rinaldo (dude, what is up with all this knitting for him, how did he make that happen) in Fearless Fibers merino superwash. Very nice to work with.

Rush is still going. We're in the second week where all we deal with are the screw ups and the sold outs so it's very unpleasant. I will be thrilled when Friday gets here. No more working weekends for me. Well at least for a little while.

Happy Tuesday or not depending on you view...

Just a drive-by post today. I've made no real progress on the finishing of the dalek, nor have I gone much further on the sleeve of Rogue. All work and no play makes Nancy a dull blogger. I work tomorrow but I do have the luxury of Sunday and Monday off which is lovely. The husband sadly only has Monday off.

I'm hoping to get some spinning done and maybe finish up on the dalek knitwise. I doubt that I'll get it stuffed but I'd like to get him right to the stuffing point, lol. Mostly though I want to lay like a vegetable. Ian is already crying anytime anyone brings up the fact that Tuesday school starts. So I am not looking forward to that morning at all.

I've decided since I've had such a poor participation rate so far on my contest (3 so far) to extend it for another month. So the drawing will be on October 1st, rather than September 1st.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

You can tell by the sporadic posting and the time of year that we are in the thick of it here at work. The freshman moved in this weekend. Hell it even made the news. From my perspective it means endless days, 6 day weeks and being in a constant state of exhaustion. Of course to top it all off the boys start school on Tuesday. Oh joy.

I received some more goodies last week to help keep my spirits up however. I had participated in a swap on FiberFlix over the summer. Unfortunately I got shafted. My buddy ( and it wasn't anonymous) never came through with my gift. When I saw that there was going to be a new FiberFlix swap I thought I should let the moderator, Jennifer, know about my partner should she decide to participate again. Jennifer is a real doll and decided to send me a consolation package:
...I feel much better now;) The chocolate is gone. The pattern is picked for the yarn and as soon as rush is over there is a trip to Blockbuster in the offing. Thanks Jennifer I really, really appreciate it!

Since I'm doing better at the whole spinning thing. I decided to use the gift certificate that came with my wheel. I took a trip to Bountiful:

Pretty, pretty. If I ever have time again I will be very happy to try spinning any one of them!

I also hit Knit Picks (hey shopping is a great stress reliever;)) for yarn for the Tomten sweater, picked out by Mr. Mathews himself of course:



Knitting wise I finished the Dalek's body but my color work in the round sucks so I need to fix it up a bit before I stuff. I also need to make the arms. Meanwhile I'm working on the sleeve of Rogue. I figured I'll start small.

Happy Monday all!

Winning Week

I had a very lucky week last week. First up I won over at Chante's blog:
Her fantastic stitch marker for the Sidewinder socks. They're also available in her Etsy shop if you like them.

Then I won over at Bron's blog:

Her Good & Plenty dishcloths.

Thanks to both for making the contest so damn easy! By the way I'm still having that contest for the Brooks Farm yarn. Info is over at the sidebar. Only two people have donated so far, don't make it so easy for them!

Meanwhile Shameka made me do it. I really want to make the Mirepoix sweater for myself. I put it on my Ravelry queue and forgot about it, but Shameka would have none of it. She talked me into signing up for the Mirepoix Knitalong. We're looking at using Dale of Norway Falk. I'm a bit intimidated by the steeking but I have a sewing machine and plenty of liquor so I think I'm prepared;) Thankfully the knitalong starts on the 1st of October so that gives me and Rogue some quality alone time.

Things are gearing up at work but my mother in law has doctor's appointments today and tomorrow so I'm doing the work from home thing. It's a little schizophrenic but at least I won't fall behind.

Back to answering e-mails from work, while sitting on the floor in my jammies, working from home has it's privledges...

I actually picked up the needles a bit this week. I started Rogue but I've decided to go down a needle size. I had decided to knit it at 4 stitches per inch to make the math work better for my size. The measurement on the large is 43.5" and I'm 44" but it was a bit too loose after I washed and blocked the swatch. It's disturbing how seriously I'm taking this sweater. I never wash and block my swatch. I decided to just add a couple stitches for the extra room. It blocks out quite nicely so I think it will be just fine if I knit it to gauge.

I've been moving along on the dalek. Now that I'm finished with the damn bobbles it's going along pretty quickly. Although I keep forgetting to change colors so I've had to tink back every once in awhile:



Man I have never had to explain a project as much as I have to explain this one. I was in the dentist's office with Avery on Monday and people kept asking me what I was making. I decided to just say it was a doll and everyone said of course they could see it was a skirt for the doll, how cute, lol. Even at knitting group no one could quite get that I was knitting a killer robot. It would be the ugliest project ever if it wasn't a dalek. It's quite amazingly good for a dalek though. I did find this short parody video for those of you who haven't seen a walking rolling, talking dalek. Oddly enough his colors even match my little guy:

Have a great weekend all!

By Jove I think she's got it...

Tuesday:


Thursday:


Saturday:


Getting better all the time...

Birthday Redux
I actually did the teeniest bit of knitting this weekend. I worked on the dalek and I swatched for a sweater but I'll get back to that.

I've been meaning to show you a few other birthday goodies and somehow I never did but as my final birthday present just arrived I figured, a month later, it was time to show off a bit.

I bought myself this:

Technically it's not a birthday present as I bought it with my retro check but I considered it one anyway. I've been needing a new machine as my old didn't fair too well in the move. I'm not hugely into sewing but occasionally I'll need to hem something for the boys or line a bag and it really comes in handy having a sewing machine.

Tisha and the boys at work went to the ends of the earth (or Ebay did for them) to fulfill my Bollywood fantasies. I adore the Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan so Tisha found a way for me to declare my love publically:

...and since I can't have him in person, she got me the next best thing, see he's a real doll:


I've decided since I'm a bit old for dolls, poor Hrithik needs to earn his keep. This is the real present that I bought for myself way back in June it finally arrived this week. I've been swatching like crazy to make sure it will fit perfectly. My spokesdoll Hrithik presents:


Rogue. I've been dying to make this sweater for years and while Kathleen keeps throwing down the gauntlet of St. Brigid, I think I'll do this first. I think I might actually complete rogue in this lifetime;)

Time to get some sleep, I really don't like Mondays...

I had planned on sharing some pictures of the products of my spinning endeavors but I seem to have forgotten my camera cable. Damn shame that;) I blame exhaustion I was at work 12 hours yesterday. Mind you I was a bit of a slacker, when I left Tisha and a few others were still here. Oh the joys of rush preparation!

I have spun every night but last night. In fact yesterday I took a virtual trip to Bountiful. Maribel purchased my wheel from them and along with it I received a $60 gift certificate which I had yet to use. Since I am nearly finished with the bag of roving that Gina bestowed on me I figured I could justify obtaining some more.

I'm off to lunch in a few with Risa. She has a brand spanking new job starting on Monday so I will not be able to enjoy our lunches as frequently as I am used to. Of course she'll be close to Seaport so that seems a worthy excuse to head a bit further downtown for a lunch;)

Have a great weekend all!

This is basically a drive by post. I haven't knit a damn thing. Not on swallowtail, not on the Dalek, nothing, nada. Oddly enough last night I was actually spinning on my wheel. I figured if I wasn't up to knitting maybe I should spend that time spinning. I think all my mentors have finally started to make a dent in my thick skull. I have two small balls of horribly spun (half over-spun, half under-spun) to show for my two hour Closer marathon. That is however the most productive I have ever been on it (and let's not even pretend I ever did anything on the drop spindle). Some of it looks pretty damn good if you look hard enough.

Most importantly I seem to have finally gotten the rhythm of it which was my problem up until now. Pre-drafting helps a lot but the pull, pinch thing was a bitch for me. Last night I did it pretty well. Even Rinaldo was impressed. Of course the beer might have helped;) I'll definitely work on it some more tonight.

Maybe I'll even take pictures...

See Bel you didn't waste your money after all...