Shawl pr0n!!

Now, it's officially finished. Very happy with the way it turned out. I still have enough of the Noro Kureyon sock to make a short cuff pair of socks in the "clown barf" colorway.















Everyone have a great week!!

Revontuli

The Revontuli shawl is finished. I liked the pattern, still not sure if I did my right and left decreases in the right spot. The pattern had me a little thrown off on account of the chart only going to half of the shawl. I was initially totally lost but thanks to a helpful Raveller, I was able to figure it out and continue on only slightly lost. As it is I have really terrible right and left discrimination.






Now...what to cast on next. I have designs on starting and finshing the "Indigo Ripples" skirt (in black) before my BD in August. Of course there is the never ending queue of socks. I really don't feel satisfied unless I have something lace going. I think I have an addiction.

Since, I've been on here last, my sister and friend Cyndi have come and gone for their summer visits. I had a lot of fun with both of them. Gus is planning another trip here in October around Halloween. So now life is somewhat back to normal. There have been a few changes on my job. I have been indifinitely moved to a different unit at the hospital, inpatient rehab. Anyone who knows me in RL knows that IPR as it's known is one of my least favorite units to work on. The problem is that Medicare requires "medical nesessity" for someone to be on the unit. Bascially this means that they have to be sick enough to need access to a physician 24/7. However when someone is that ill, it's a little unrealistic to expect them to perform 3 (required by Medicare) hours of therapy a day. Consequently, I feel like I am torturing most of my patient by dragging them through treatment. There are some that really benefit and progress nicely, but it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Other goings on, Mr. Larj has been pretty steady with his fill in position. He was bitching the other day about having to work the weekend and I had to gently remind him about the state of the economy here in Michigan.

Well summer looks to be here so it looks like knitting on the patio is in full swing, hope to have more updates and FO's coming up.

Everyone have a great week!!

What a Deal!!

When I went to knit night a few weeks back I saw a couple of the other knitters with these cool table lamps. I have a natural light goose neck next to my chair in the family room but I had never seen anything portable. When I asked about them they told me that they were Ott Lites and that JoAnn fabric sometimes had them on sale. As it happened they had a huge sale for Memorial Day weekend and Ott Lite's were 50% off. I checked last night on line and they were completely sold out. I wasn't even going to bother checking at the store thinking that they would probably be sold out too, but there was that little voice in the back of my head telling me that I had better go. I'm glad I did, they had 3 of the rechargeable one's left on the shelf. Squeeeee!! Not only that, I had another coupon for 10% off of the entire bill, including sale items so I actually got it for 60% off. How cool is that? I think it was probably my first time actually using a coupon. Usually I clip them and find them at the bottom of my bag months after the expiration date. Now of course because I saved so much money...it made perfect sense to me to stimulate the economy with a little Paton's sock yarn. I got several skeins of the "stretch sock", perfect for summer socks. I also picked up a sweater shaver and a couple of clicky row counters. The ugly green acrylic is for some quick crochet pot holders. Mine all seem to have grown legs.

Here's a sneak peek at the beginning of the Revontuli shawl. Yeah...I know the colors ;-) I wanted something bright, in my mind this is how I imagine the Northern Lights to be. Though I have yet to actually see them in person (it's a goal). Lynn's reaction at knitting the other night was a simple "Oh!?" I think that sort of sums it up. I am thoroughly convinced that when it's all said and done it will be gorgeous. I'm using Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I am also using my wonderful Julip lace knitting bag for the first time. Amby is a genius for coming up with the needles on the outside design. No more snagged lace!

Well it's been a beautiful and lazy weekend, I couldn't have asked for a better one. Again, looking forward to my sis and friend Cyndi visiting next weekend. Everyone have a great week!

Something to show....

At last something to show for all of my absenteeism from this blog and life in general. I finally finished the Shalom Cardi, just in time for the warm weather. Oh, well there will probably at least one more cold snap before we get hit with summer's heat. I really enjoyed making this, it only took me a little over 3 weeks to finish. I like the way it fits, it's a little flarey at the bottom but I think that with wear or a little steam blocking that should remedy itself. The color is a little more green than in the photo. I did lots of modifications to this pattern to get the right size and add the little cap sleeves. Of course all of the stats are on my Ravelry page along with more pics. I am loving photo cropping, takes care of any bad hair day issues.


I've also been doing a little gardening, which this year consisted of raking out all of the dead stuff from last year and throwing a bunch of wild flower seeds around. My feeling is that whatever happens happens. Most of my perenials came back with the exception of a lavender plant and the butterfly bush. We have had the absolute worst luck with those. For some odd reason we can't seem to keep one alive for more that two or three seasons. The soil is good because Mr. Larj replaced it all when he tilled the garden. I suppose I shall try again, they really do attract butterflies and bees. Here's a close up of one of my batchelor buttons.

As for other goings on, I have a new toy, my own laptop. What neccesitated this purchase? It seems that Mr. Larj has found the World of Warcraft to be far more preferable than the real world. So he spends absolutely all of his time playing. It's a miracle that I managed to snag him to take pics of me wearing my cardi. In a way, it's a good thing, the only problem is that I had to transfer a lot of my files to the new device using a flash drive and Windows XP and Windows Vista dont always play well together and my iTunes and iPhone stuff didn't transfer at all so I had to start from scratch with everything. Very time consuming. Maybe that's why I haven't blogged?

I also celebrated Maudether's day with my little mom. She and I went out to lunch at the Big Bear Lodge in Flat Rock. She needed to get out. She doesn't get to very often as she takes care of my dad who has dementia. Not that Harry is low level but he needs supervision for the most part.

Knitwise I started the Revontuli shawl. I got to row 26 of the chart and was totally lost. Can I say thank Cod for Ravelry? It's so awesome being able to contact other people who have made stuff and get help or find out what problems they had etc. It has certainly saved me a lot of headaches and I'm always happy to let someone else do the math for me when it comes to tweaking a pattern.

Upcoming events, my sister Gus and my friend Cyndi are coming in to town at the end of the month. I took a few days off but I think that I am going to try to scam one more out of the boss since I have an extra "flex" day that I need to use up.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Anybody There?

Seriously? is there anyone who blogs or reads blogs anymore. I have been trying to be a little more diligent with my posting but my number of comments seems to have completely dwindled off to next to nothing. Still, thanks to the peeps who have stayed here and continue to support my boring drivel about my fascinating life.

On to knitting. I have been sidelined by a diversionary project that I've been referring to as the "Scooby Doo" hat because it's a mystery. The pattern is pretty vague and caused my pal Beth a great deal of hair pulling. So...I was intrigued enough to start my own. It's a simple lace but somehow we both lost one stitch in the first round and because I have a little more experience with tweaking lace I was able to get the pattern back on the right track. I'm making mine more of a Rasta style cap instead of a beanie.

Other things that I have going are a mystery project for a mystery person using the blue Paton's classic. I always try to have a "no-brainer" project going so here's the green Merkin scarf shown here. I am finished with the "Man Mitts", I just need to weave in the ends and sew up between the fingers. This something I really hate doing so of course I've been putting it off. I haven't touched my Glynis socks all week. I'm also trying to decide which lace project to start. I feel sort of lost without one, besides I need to break in my new lace knitting bag.

I really need to make a pledge to start knitting from my stash and only my stash. I have been stimulating the economy lately with some yarn purchases only to find that when I went to put them away my stash cabinet was a little ...ahem....full. It's comforting in a way though to know that at least if things get really tight for us at least I'll have yarn. It's the same sort of feeling I get from a fully stocked freezer, I know I won't starve for a while.

Speaking of food..have any of you heard of Dr. Oz's green drink? My boss told me she's been drinking it for a couple of weeks. It's like a veggie smoothie. I made a batch last week and have had a glass every day. I usually have to water it down a bit as it's a little on the thick side but It tastes pretty good. I really need to get back on track with eating better. The last couple of weeks I've been slacking more than I should.

Mr. Larj's status is about the same. At least he's been able to continue to fill in and it's been steady of late. My job is status quo except we were informed last week that we will be doing some rotations to inpatient rehab for a week at a time. I'll have to up my meds when that happens as I'm sure my stress level will double.

Well enough procrastination for now. Everyone have a great week!

What would you do if you were trapped by an earthquake?

Don't we at least get to see what she was working on?

I did it again!

Yes, more stimulation of the economy. I had to stop by Have You Any Wool for a gift cert for Beth at work. Of course Bridget "happened to be having a sale, buy one skein of Noro get another for free. Well what could I do. I was powerless against the pull of Noro. So four skeins of Kureyon, two Silk Garden and two Silk Garden Sock that will no doubt be used for a lacy shawl.

I also neglected to post pics of my new knitting bags, a lace knitting bag from Julip bags and a small project bag from Bea Binney. Love them both and can't wait to put something in them!



However for all of the spending going on, there's been very little in the way of actual knitting. At least nothing I can talk about. I am working on some secret gifty projects that I hope to finish up this week and some not so secret gifty projects that I hope to finish up very soon. Hopefully today or tomorrow so that I can start knitting some of the projects that I have queued up both in my Ravelry queue and the queue in my head.

So, quick post today...hope everyone had a good Easter and remember........

Stimulating the Economy

Yes, I've been on a roll lately between Etsy and some other online stores. I'm trying to do my best to really get things moving during this economic downturn. I ordered 10 skeins of Cotlin from Knitpicks in the hope of turning it in to this. I think black will be a good way to make it more versatile and make the junk in the trunk look a little less obvious. Knitpicks was also having a wicked sale on all of their books. I've been coveting The Eclectic Sole book ever since Beth at work brought hers in. While I was at it I also got the Sock Innovations by Cookie A. A truly dangerous book! It even inspired me to frog 6" of a sock that I already had started to make this instead. Simply gorgeous. Now all I have to do is figure out how to make it using the magic loop. I picked up some uber PINK sock yarn from Susan's Kitchen. Not my usual color but I really thought it was fun and funky. I picked up some green lace weight from Dyeabolical yarns, a fav of mine. Other miscellaneous purchases include, some soaps and lotions from Pam at Herbal Scent Creations. I cannot say enough about her products, I've used them for years. My other Etsy purchases include, some custom knickers, earrings, stitch markers, notecards, a small project bag from Bea and a lace knitting bag from Julip bags. Phew!

Other than going a little nutty in the shopping department, nothing is really new here. Mr. Larj's status is pretty much the same, however, there was a bit of good and bad news. One of the guys that works at one of his contingent jobs ran over his foot with a pallet jack and shattered his ankle. He's going to be out of work for a while so Mr. Larj will be able to pick up some more hours. The bad part other than the shattered ankle is whether they will be able to stay in business with our current economy. A couple of bad quarters and they'll probably close up like so many other businesses.

My work is pretty much status quo, we found out in a round about way that there won't be any raises in 10' and they're possibly going to suspend out 403B plan. We're also losing 8 hours of our time off. It really doesn't affect me too badly, I still get more time off than most people I know and we had a pretty significant raise last year so I can live with it. I'm just relieved and happy to still be working and doing what I do.

The weather here is starting to warm up and the days are getting noticeably longer which has lifted my mood significantly. (This may explain the shopping spree...mania anyone?) I've been chomping at the bit for spring after the craptastic winter that we all went through in Michigan.

As for actual knitting? I finished the so called scarf and put a crochet border on it. I like the way it turned out. I'm still......yes still..........working on the Man Mitts for one of my fav metal cellists. I'm almost done and might be able to kick them out today or tomorrow. Then it's a matter of weaving in everything and mailing them off. I also did gauge swatches for this, I really think it's cute!! I'm also itching to start some lace. I have a few shawl projects in my Ravelry queue the question is...which one? I also have lots of baby stuff that I need to crank out, seems everyone at work is preggers. Hopefully I'll be a little better at updating my blog and getting some knitting done.

Everyone have a great week!

Nine

As in that's how many degrees Fahrenheit it was this AM when I begrudgingly woke up. I have to say that this is one of the coldest, snowiest, longest and most irritating winter's that we've had in a long time. I looked on Accuweather for an extended forecast, supposedly warmer towards the next week and then cooling down again. Spring, muddy paw prints and all....I'll take it at this point.






Today marks the end of my three day weekend. I felt like I was fairly productive on some levels. Thanks to Beth at work, I started a diversionary project of a "my so called scarf" using some Malabrigo. I also am making some progress on my Man Mitts. I started the index finger yesterday. I'm a little hesitant about doing separate fingers. I've never attempted it before and I hope that I don't end up with huge gaps between. I am I-cording them simply because I can't see using 3 dpn's on such a small area. We'll see...I just hope they turn out OK.

Mr. Larj has been getting a bit more fill in work at his two contingent jobs. I just wish he could get something really steady. Having this little bit of extra work has really helped to ease my stress level at least a little. I don't have to tell anyone how bad the economy is but here in Detroit...we're really taking a hit.

Off to pick away at the glove for a little bit before I start to wrap up the loose ends around here and get ready for my work week. The good news is that the days are getting noticeably longer, doesn't that mean that spring is right around the corner?

Everyone have a great week....

BTW...my Ex-Mil received her stole and LOVED it :-)

Shawl Pr0n!!

Seriously did you think I'd skip it?


I'm going out to mail it off shortly. I hope she loves it. Of course you know I bought yarn to make one for myself ;-) It's more of a slate blue gray color.

However, there are other projects to attend to at the moment. I managed to start in on the Man Mitts, late last night after semi sorting out the leaking ceiling debacle.

Back to work tomorrow.....