Six! Six! Six! Six!

Let’s sing a song of six…
How many is six?!?

Six Hats for Alex!


Six Banana Cream Pies!


*insert image of baker falling down steps and smashing pies all over.

Sneak Peek

Knitterella, the coordinator of the Briar Rose Afghan give away has posted a picture of some of the squares she's received. One of mine is on the left in the golds and greens/teals. I can't wait to see how this is going to look all pieced together.

Donate to the American Cancer Society for a chance to win.

It’s raining Cats and WIPs!

Ok, maybe not, but the weather is very cold and wet. Its days like these I really feel my age.

I’m still working along on my Mr.Greenjeans sweater. You can see where I changed skeins, (especially since I color corrected these photos). I didn’t alternate skeins or even work 10 or 20 rows when changing to blend the colors better. I’m going to live with it. I just don’t want to tear it out.

I had a great time at the class I took last Sunday. There was a great turnout for it too. We had one gentleman who was new to crocheting (I suspect he was new to all forms of fiber arts and was just there because the instructor is a co-worker), and women of all ages, starting at 11 and ending at about 29 (heh).

The shop owner was good enough to provide yarn for the project that, as she said, she couldn’t give away. I used two strands of paper “yarn” and made a spherical sea creature (anemone, or whatever you want to call it). I have no picture of it because I forgot my camera. I keep checking the shop site and the owner’s blog to see if the photo of all the coral is posted yet.

Naturally, when I got home I started another piece of coral. This one is made from Lion Brand Suede and it’s coming out really cool. I wanted one for myself and besides, they’re kind of addicting to make. This is made going back and forth and not in a spiral.

When this one is done I think I’ll make another out of some left over sock yarn so I can keep it on my desk. This one is getting really big.

I’m on my 5th Hat for Alex. Baby hats are replacing socks as my purse knitting.

And I finished my 4 afghan squares for the Briar Rose give away. I forgot to get photos of them before I sent them in. Once the afghan is finished I'll post and let you know which squares are mine. Check the links on the side bar for more info.

Here is the list I put together at the end of 2007. I’ve updated it since the last time I posted it. I’m really good at the frogging and not so good at the picking up stuff already on the needles and finishing it. I need to be better about that.

WIPs/UFOs
Cherry Bomb Tank
Lady Eleanor Shawl
Tomato
Simple Shrug – Frogged
Afghan of my own design – I haven’t touched the afghan since I last posted this list
Babette's Blanket
Handsome Shawl – now if I could find it I would work on it. Its MIA some place in the clutter I call my living room.
Charlotte's Web V2
Salt Peanuts – I need to rip out one of the front sections and start over. I got confused.
Noro Socks – Haven’t started the second sock yet. It doesn’t help that I feel so “eh” about them.
Ankle socks for Mom – Having a case of SSS with this pair. I don’t know why, it’ll knit up fast enough once I start it.

Well, that's it for WIP Wednesday for the day before spring!

Is it really going to be spring in 2 days?

It's been cold and rainy here. I suppose that's appropriate since March is supposed to go out like a lamb, and April showers bring May Flowers. (In my head I always have to follow that up with "What do May Flowers bring? Pilgrims!)

I pulled the camera out to get pics of the kittehs. Katie is finally getting back to normal-ish after the shock of Noel arriving in her house. She will cuddle and sleep with me for a little while (till I start to fall asleep) and then head off to wherever it is she sleeps at night. For a while she wasn't even "tucking me in" because Noel sleeps on my feet. Katie still sits on my lap and lets me pet and scratch her for a while every night. Some times Noel wants in on the action and a hiss/yowel/smack fight ensues - on me.

Sun bathing!

Even tho I have a huge soft spot for Katie, Noel is worming her way into her own special place in my heart. She's too smart for her own good and I never know what I'm going to come home to find. One day the lazy-susan was spun open. Another day one of the heavy metal things over the burners on my stove was on the floor. I know I didn't leave that there. Heh. She is fascinated by the shower and watches me every day. This morning she wrapped herself in the shower curtain to hide from me (never mind her hind legs, butt and tail were fully visible), and started to attack me from within the curtain. She drops her favorite toy in my lap to throw for her, so she fetches, sort of. Then when I'm turning in for the night she brings the toy into bed with me. It's like her happy blanket or something.

Every morning when I leave I say good bye to the girls and Noel sees me off to work.

Bye Momma! Bring more toys!

I suppose I'm very lucky with the kitties I've adopted.

Tomorrow - WIP Wednesday update! I promise.

Buy a Raffle Ticket!

It's always a good idea to send a couple of dollars to someone who is in the middle of a family tragedy. Go here to read about it and if you can spare a couple of dollars (what amounted to the change in the bottom of my purse), please think about helping out. The raffle prizes are awesome.

I'm here...

Life and stuff is getting in the way of everything lately.

I have a heel spur and by the end of the day I'm limping and cranky. If it's not better by next week I'm looking at an appointment with a podiatrist to get a cortisone shot in my heel. That kind of creeps me out - a lot. So the pain will have to be really bad before I make that appointment.

I'm on new meds and they're working, I think. But all the stuff that comes with being on this med has me thinking about my life, my past, and why I made the decisions I made. I've been really reflective, and therefore, quiet.

The upside of being so reflective about stuff is that I've been knitting a lot. I have 4 Hats for Alex this month and I've been working the 1st sleeve on Mr. Greenjeans. The sleeves are kind of a pain in the butt because I'm knitting them with DPNs and I have to keep flipping the body of the sweater around to keep up with twisting when I change the needles. Progress has slowed down a bit because of it. But the stockinette stitch for 13 - 14 inches is perfect for vegging.

Sunday I'm taking a class to learn how to crochet a coral reef. I can't wait to go into NYC and see the whole thing (in the NYU windows across from Grace Church April 5th - May 18th 2008). It's going to be amazing. More info and pictures are here.

Hopefully that will get me out of my reflective looking back at the past crap. I know it's not such a good thing to look back too much. So next week, updates with pictures and maybe even pics of kittehs!

Book Meme

A twist on the Knitting skillz list.

Took this from Nurse Ratchet.

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

(Movies don’t count.) -- (boo HISSSSSSS!)

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) currently reading
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Knitting like a mad woman

My fingers hurt. That’s how much I’ve been knitting. I’m enjoying working on the Mr. Greenjeans sweater for the Loopy Ewe Dream in Color KAL. I’m really getting into cabling without a cable needle so the rows fly by. I’m almost finished with the body of the sweater and would love to finish that part tonight.

I also have one baby hat completed for Hats for Alex. It's the first hat for my March shipment. I don't have a picture of that one. After all, how many plain vanilla baby hats can you look at?

So, a lot of knitting happened this weekend at my house. I hope to have MGJ finished so I can get use out of it the rest of this month and in the early spring, and wear it to MD S&W!

I also have been trying to get a second design worked up for squares 3 & 4 for the Briar Rose Afghan. I'm having a hard time getting a design worked up that looks good with the bulky wool and doesn't get lost in the colors. Since the deadline is looming, I may just end up doing 4 of the same block (which was one of the options) and get that off in the mail to Coordinator Extrodinare, Kim.

The Noro sock and the Soxx Appeal socks still don't have mates. I'll get the Briar Rose project finished before I cast on those second socks.

I know. Not too many pictures this time. Noel keeps playing with the strap on the camera and I've had to hide it from her. That means it's hidden from me too.

Happy WIP Wednesday!