There and Back Again, a Knitters Tale

If to err is human, I am feeling especially human!!

I was knitting away on Irish Coffee,


feeling pretty good but just a bit hesitant. I don't know why - I had read through the pattern (and it wasn't my first babycocktails pattern so I was comfortable with their format), I'd knit & blocked a swatch, I was set.
I finally figured it out. For whatever reason I had swatched and was knitting at a 5sts/inch gauge not the 4sts/inch called for!! GAH!!! Absolute idjit mistake and I don't know how I messed that up from my brain to the needles but there was nothing for it.



As luck would have it I had Monday & Tuesday off and Lee is still out in BC on work, so it was Mission Knit Fabric.



Mission Accomplished!!

Poor Toby has been missing Lee a lot and he misses the puppies too. Today he dug one of the holes that Petey & Chica had started a bit deeper and had a lay down.



He looked so forlorn, but nothing drags him out of the doldrums like his favourite game!!


After 45 mins it started raining so he conceded to the weather and gave me a break. I swear, Toby would rather collapse from exhaustion that give up playing ball.



As you can see the Chuckit is well loved. If I'm lucky I can eke about 4 months out of the ball. Chuckit needs to either make them sturdier or send us a few freebies!!

I have been kept super busy at work with Back to School in full swing and cleaning up in the back room. I finally had the chance to sort out the ribbon mod, fill it and adjust the counts. A small piece of perfection if I do say so myself!!



Back to the needles - I close tomorrow night so I can knit late tonight. I'm really hoping that the storm clears away so that I can see some of the Perseid meteor shower.


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Summation of Work

We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long with so little that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

Shelly & I fully expect that we will be asked to remove these signs (we have them pinned up on our bulletin boards) by the end of the day. It's totally worth it!!!

So, when was the last time that you went to camp?

OMG - not only am I going to camp, I'm going to be a teacher!! And not only am I going to be a teacher, I'm going to be teaching with Fiona Ellis & Cookie A!!!!!
Julie's Gone Stitchin' is now Camp Knit Away - a chance to get away and knit and just like camp, you get to be with your best friends & make new ones. I have a feeling that these classes are going to sell out fast. Get in while the getting in is easy.

Btw, did everyone have a great square root day yesterday? Yes, it was just another nail in the "you are so freakin' weird" coffin at work!

And like I wasn't tired enough, we're losing an hour of sleep this weekend - I really hate the 'spring ahead' part of Daylight Saving Time.

Hitting the Links

I'm off to play golf with Kyle this morning. It's a local bus operator event, so there will be other office staff & managers from Sinton, Parkview & First Student there as well as my area manager. I really do hope that they meant it when they said that it was for fun because I'll be not so much playing golf as swinging around a club in a golf-like manner in between knitting on the cart ride between holes. Fortunately, while Kyle doesn't have his actual drivers license, he should be able to chauffeur me around the course.


Here is a picture of my Annetrelac Socks that I finished last month. I think that I almost like the reverse side best. What do you think?

I've working on a nice, plain pair of Stockinette stitch socks now - the yarn is Sock Hop from Crown Mountain Farms, the colour is Ain't no Mountain High Enough. They are really lovely change from patterned socks.

I've also cast on a fair isle (not in the purest sense of the definition) cardigan by Fiona Ellis for Beth. I'm using Naturally's Vienna & Harmony 10ply. The deadline is going to be a challenge (OMG - I'm using corporate PC lingo in my real life!) but I'm pretty sure that I'm equal to it, after all, next weekend is a long weekend!!

I have also just sent of a beret to Elise in The Netherlands. It's for the opening at Stitches East so you'll have to settle for my "Raspberry Beret" until then.

Still in the Land of the Knitting

Hey - long time no blog! I know, but it's me, not you. Fortunately this should be the last week of 10-12 hour days. Shelly's back now and Barb will be back on Thursday. There have been hints and innuendos, the short of it being, as the Magic 8-ball might say, "your future is uncertain". I'm getting the vibe and subtle words that I'll be in the office in some capacity, which I'm happy for. And seriously, with all hands on deck, I should be able to work a nice 8-9 hour day and it will just have to b e sorted as to whether it's the morning or afternoon shift.

I've been knitting furiously in my precious out-of-office hours! I'm working on a cabled sweater for Fiona (see the beautiful and perrfectly balanced Signature Needles at work!?!) and my Noro Annetrelac socks. I have finished the 1^st one and am into the leg of the 2^nd one now.

I've finished the linen skirt for Elise - she loved it so I'm sure that the Powers that Be at XRX will love it too! I've seen the poster that XRX will be using to promote the book with Elise at TNNA - and understand that even though I'm just a titchy bit more than a little a whole frelling lot!!! biased - and it's wonderful!!! As soon as I get the nod I'll share it. Here's a peek at a part of the skirt. Garter stitch poetry!

Amanda & I are taking off early from work to get our hair did on Wednesday. She's doubly excited - she gets to come to the office and we're going to cousin Pam's! LOL I'm thinking of blue; the freak in me is feeling a bi constrained by all of this walled-in, tied-to-the-desk, 6-6 stuff.

OMG - I'm so taking Amanda to see Kung Fu Panda - 3 guesses (and the 1^st two don't count) who will be the most exuberantly appreciative of the humour!!

Still Amongst the Knitting

I'm sorry for dropping off of the facing of the blogging world. A couple of concerned friends have called me so I thought that I'd better do up a post.

I get up at 4:30 in the morning. I know - I didn't know that there was such a time either!! I'm at the prison office by 5:45 and it just doesn't stop all day. Mostly I can break away by 3-4:00, but this past week has been brutal. Barb, the afternoon dispatcher, had to be with her mother who passed away Wednesday night so the extra long days are not going to last.
When I do get home I'm cleaning up from the children's breakfast & snacks - I know, but leaving it just invites bugs and they don't mind working around their mess, I do. Then, after making dinner and lunches I try to get in an hour or two of knitting before hitting the sack by 9:00 to get 7-7½ hours of sleep (I think that I'm missing out on the beauty part of my sleep).

Shelley comes back on the 20^th of May, (if you're reading this Shelley, rest asured that I haven't fucked anything up that I couldn't fix!) and I'll switch to PM dispatch (10-6) for a week and a half while Barb is in Germany then I should be back to being "just a driver". All kidding aside, I'm really loving my work in the office but I do miss my knitting.

Here's where I live work. (It must have been early when I took this picture because there is no one lurking in the doorway. They do that - someone always wants/needs something.)



Notice the knitting. I barely have time for such essentials like peeing and eating, I certainly don't have time to knit at work, but notice the 2 bags of knitting that I bring everyday ... just in case. In case of what I don't know, but just in case. I have my laptop so that I can keep track of my personal emails (and when I say "keep track of" I mean maybe get to read and even reply to if it's especially important) and because I really hate having 50 windows open on a computer so I use it for a couple of work applications.

There is the ever-present Tim Horton's coffee. (large, double cream, double sweetener) I have my sheep mug (a gift from Julie) and my Signature Needles. I ordered a set and the early drivers were very solicitous and humoured me when I opened the box and extolled their virtues. They are my "happy place" and they sit on my desk so that when things start to go off of the rails (figuratively & frequently) I can stroke them, revel in their colour, sleekness and perfect balance and remember that everything will be fine.

This week will go quickly because I'm really looking forward to teaching at the Frolic on Saturday, hanging out with Joan Saturday night and taking a class with Debbie New on Sunday.

Don't worry - I'm like the bad penny that keeps turning up! Or like that Weeble that wobbles but won't fall down.

Takin' This Show on the Road

Amanda & I will be working at The Needle Emporium August 14^th and 15^th for the tent sale. Yes, THE tent sale. Don't pretend like you didn't know or that you don't want to go - you know you wanna!!
After work (and I use that term loosely) on the 15th we will be heading down to the Dome (yeah, I know it's now called the Rogers Centre now, but it'll always be The SkyDome to me) for the Stitch 'n Pitch. I'm not sure who is more excited - Amanda or myself! It's not to late to order tickets - bring your yarn and friends & family - the more the merrier!!

Ohhhhh - look-y at what came in the mail! Laceweight alpaca/silk in Slate and fingering weight superwash merino in Poppy. Oceanwind is a Canadian company and Lori was absolutely wonderful to deal with & order from.

Now, if I could just learn & master the ability to knit in my sleep.

Knitting in the News

Knitting Needles are the New Scissors - Don't Run With Them!!!
Can I get an application to Dell?

Luscious Mittens

Since I bought the knitting word poetry magnets at the OHS and put them on the fridge, there have been a variety of sentences. Mostly it's Amanda making cute phrases. I'm usually a little slow when someone is trying to make subtle hints, but this one was kind of obvious and I was hopped up on caffeine so I didn't miss it.
Yeah, hard to miss, huh?
So anyway, after I got used to seeing all of the gorgeous colours at Lindenhof and I could see them separately instead of a a rainbow-blur, I fixated on a particular handpainted skein. I couldn't get it out of my head. Then I couldn't get it out of my hand. I think it fits the bill and Amanda certainly agreed.

The fronts of Veronik's sweater are blocking and the 1st sleeve is waiting its turn. Today I will knit the 2nd sleeve and have it blocking with the 1st one by the end of the day (or early into tomorrow).
I'll get to that as soon as I have a chocolate chip muffin. Amanda has become a great little coffee runner (Tim's is just around the corner and up a block and Amanda loves being asked to go there!) and sometimes a reward is in order. And I'm just not one to make something really delish and not have one (or three). I even made up a little ditty - "Do you know the Muffin Woman ... who lives on Robertson Road?" It works out quite well into the Muffin Man tune. Ha - now you won't be able to get it out of your head either.

WIP

This simple white cotton project is for Véronik. I'm sure that I'm not giving away any secrets by showing the stockinette stitch!! This is a simple sleeveless top part of a twin set; the sweater will have some lace patterning, so it won't be all so very simple.

I knit on that to give myself a break from this work of art by Elise. Okay, but you know my deal - most projects are a secret. Trust me - it's really gorgeous, knit in Rowan's Felted Tweed and you're going to want to make one!!

And when I need something more interesting than stockinette and less involved than a colourwork piece I work on some simple cables for Bonne. Trust me, there are cables in there.

I am loving knitting along with Wimbledon coverage! Wimbledon is really the sign that summer is starting. I don't really have a single favourite player that I cheer on from the start but I usually have a favourite in each match.

Kerwyn was in a particularly patient mood and we sat through a 15 minute 2 hour presentation by these two ladies about their air purifier. The time passed fairly quickly and they really were very nice, but no, we didn't drop $3000 on it!!

The sunset last night was so beautiful - the lovely shades of pink confirmed the weather forecast of a gorgeous sunny day.

The Knitting

I am done the knitting on a Vancouver sweater for Artisan Knitworks out of Schaefer Marjaana & Koigu Rumba. The colours blend beautifully. A little assembly & a neck treatment and it's done.






Here is a little peak at the La Luz camisole that I'm knitting for Elise. There is a solid & variegate - they blend so very well together. And that's just the WS of the fabric!!






Here is Amanda's Croc and the bit of the sock that I've restarted. Yes, it is pink!!

I finished the 2nd ChicKami, but sent it off before I took a picture. I know, bad blogger! Just imagine the denim blue one only in a light blue & with wide straps. There!! I knew you could do it! Isn't it lovely?

Stuck Up

So I got a bumper sticker & another sticker that was used to close the bag that held the February yarn from the Rockin' Sock Club. I wasn't sure what to do with them. Kerwyn is anti-bumper sticker so the van was out. M'man Étienne stepped up! I guess he's been working with me long enough that he wanted to demonstrate his love for knitting in his own way. I think that they suit him. Of course, this means that I'm making a serious commitment to him too - I don't think that the stickers are designed for easy removal.

I've finished the first current Opal sock. Fits like a glove sock.

Mischief is becoming quite the knitting cat. Don't get me wrong - she loves yarn & playing with it, she's not a disgrace to her kind. But she has tapped into her inner kitten and found the Zen of knitting. It is so utterly relaxing that she isn't just cat-napping, she's completely passed out.

Amanda & I are going to be working (and I use that term loosely when I speak about knitting-related work) at The Needle Emporium on Wednesday. If you're going to be around, pop your head in and say "hey!".

What color of sock yarn do you prefer?

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