10 Minutes Before Sunday

Whew! I just made it in under the wire. You may recall I made a commitment to blog at least every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Well, today I went down to LA to visit my sister and I just got back and remembered -- I have to blog before the day is over! So here I am. I think the post will be stamped with the time I started blogging, not finished writing it. Which is a good thing in this case.

My sister. She's my big sister in age (2 1/2 years) although I have been bigger in size for almost as far back as I can remember. I was medium-to-big for my age and she was small. I was clumsy and slow. She was quick and scrappy. Everytime we go over to her house she makes a delicious meal. Tonight it was beef stew with her specialty apple pie for dessert. Yum! It's soooooo good to eat again! We took a visit to A Mano Yarns, which is right around the corner from her house. I just love that place. I just had to get some yarn to make a hat for my son. One could say that my "Knit from Your Stash 2007" went completely out the window in less than a week, but I plan to continue on. Where some people are not counting sock yarn, I plan not to count special gifts for people and hats for my son. You see, he actually wears the hats I make him. This gives me much joy. Most of the things I make do not get worn. I am not offended. Even I don't wear the things that I make for myself. So when my son wears the hats I make him to the point where even I get sick of seeing him in them, then that is a good thing.



So I saw this Lorna's Laces Swirl DK in Black Watch and cast on for a hat for him while at my sister's. Here's the start of it:I love this yarn. It would make a killer pair of socks. It is not so soft when you knit with it, but the end result is soooooo soft! I also picked up a skein of navy blue shepherd's worsted to knit a hat for this guy at work. It was a request. With the leftover there should be enough to make up one for my son as well.



On to the UFOOTD:

This is a sweater with a story. At least how I got the pattern is a story. Last summer I was vacationing at Donner Lake where we go almost every summer and winter due to the fact that my generous uncle has a cool place up there. I stopped in at Jimmy Bean's Wool. Laura, the owner, who knows me by sight because I am such a groupie there every time I am in the area, greeted
me and introduced me to "Ann Norling." (I have since found out that it is a psuedonym.) What a neat lady! Warm, friendly, down-to-earth. I liked her right away. I was all gushy and fluttery, like the time Gene Hackman came into the shoe store I worked at back 20 years ago. She was very nice and gave me her newest pattern and signed it too! Can you see it in the upper right corner of the pattern? (Click for big) So right away I bought some Rowan Summer Tweed that was on sale and cast on for it. But I lost interest quickly. I really want to finish it though. I think I would like to make the one with the ruffly bottom on the upper left corner.

I have to go to bed now. I am cross-eyed I am so tired. And I have to get up early and teach a bunch of 5th and 6th grade boys about Jesus. We are having a lesson entitled "God is Like a Chef" and we are going to make a "feast" of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, corn bread and salad. C Ya!

Anyone Remember Certs?

Well, do you? Those mints? You know, the ones with "Retsin"? It's TWO! (smack) TWO! (smack) Two mints in one! Well, that's what you're getting today. It's TWO! TWO! Two blog entries in one day! Whatever happened to Certs anyway?

Anyway, let's move on, shall we? Here we see the beautiful Carol Merrill, er, I mean, Figgy, posing with my latest completed scarf. (OK, and you get a high five next time I see you if you can remember where we know Carol Merrill from.) The yarn is Karabella and it's a very fine mohair. Because it is sans the silk in Kidsilk Haze and Douceur et Soie, it is not as soft nor is it as expensive. The pattern is from this book, and is a quick and simple knit. I added one or two repeats because it seemed too small and still did not use a whole ball.


And in a very un-Carol Merrill-like maneuver, The Figster became entranced with the swinging cord on the camera, made a play for it, then got her claws stuck on it and in my brand new sweater. Here she is just before she disentangled herself and scampered out of the room in fear and utter humiliation.

And here we have my UFOOTD* (pronounced YEW-fooht, in case you were wondering). It is the back and one arm of a cardigan that I started oooooh about a year and a half ago. The yarn is Encore worsted. The pattern is a really cool pattern that someone gave my sister from Classic Elite. It's Pattern #866 "Unlimited Possibilities in Four Gauges" It has all different weights of yarn and a lot of different ways of making it up (i.e., cardigan, v-neck, short sleeve, shell). It is printed up on this really garish early-90s magenta and yellow cardstock and the models of the sweaters match the era. You would never look at it twice. But when you take a closer look, not at the photos of the sweaters, but at the schematics, you can see that it is actually a very flattering sweater design. I wouldn't have believe it if I hadn't seen the one my sis made up. Of course, she is tiny and could put on a burlap sack and it would look cute on her. But hey, ya gotta be optimistic, right?

*Unfinished Object Of The Day