I Hear Old Age Knocking

Didja ever open a blog page & just go blank?? I was going to make some pithy comments about something & I just sat here looking at the blank page. I hope it isn't a momentary glimpse of the future.


The blanket of last week is now three times it's former self - I dug & dug & found all kinds of inappropriate yarns in the stash. Lavender baby yarn will NOT go with the Big Boy wool, neither will the Sissy

Barber-pole Stripe or the Hand-painted Handspun. I don't want to add acrylic to the mix so it might sit in a basket until I sniff out more unwanted woolies. I think there's three balls left & that's IT. 
I had to drape it over my lawn chair in the middle of the kitchen, right under the 100 watt bulb, to get a decent picture of the whole thing in the dark, grey weather we've been having!!


I got tired of the damn blanket the other day anyway & cast on a sock. After a couple of non-knitting days with a sore wrist & swollen thumb, I was desperate to do something else. Anything but the blanket. So, out jumped a couple of balls of good Old Kroy 4-ply & I was off once more on my bamboo skewer needles. I swear this Kroy keeps my feet from freezing all by itself in the winter. I just love it. I wish they still made the stuff. Oh, yeah, someone out there makes Kroy 4-ply but it's not the same as this old stuff. Not at all.

Stash Blankets

So I had this great idea to make blankets. Actually, it was an idea to crochet blankets. I have some really interesting colors in acrylic yarns and mostly in the same weight too. But I couldn't find the right crochet hook. I have quite a collection of hooks in steel, plastic & wood but mostly I use only three of them. I like the size, the feel & most of all, I like the hook on all of them. Hook configuration is really important. Some hooks are too shallow & the yarn falls out in mid stitch. It's pretty damn hard to to complete a treble crochet when the hook won't co-operate. My favorites are all different for different reasons.

I like the pointy end on the tiniest of them because I can tuck in ends in fine knitting very precisely. I like the very round end on the small one because it works with sock yarns without splitting them. And most of all, I love the largest of the three because I can whip those double trebles off the hook without dropping a single loop with it's nice round head & mouth. Last night, someone stole I couldn't find my double treble hook which should've been in the case of odd hooks but wasn't. It wasn't stuck in the solid cake of cotton yarn that holds all the odds 'n' ends that I use daily with the two small hooks either.

So I tried one of the large odd hooks. No Go. They're ODD hooks because the hook part is too shallow or has a deep groove that is too narrow to hold the yarn it's supposed to hold. Or they're too light to be comfortable on a large project. Or too small for anything but the finest threads. My grandmother once used the tiny Millward hooks to crochet lace for her tables, her pillowcases & arm covers for her parlor chairs. Found a hook the right size but the 'mouth' was the 'deep groove' type & wouldn't hold the yarn properly. Grrrrr

So, now I'm knitting a blanket. I found a small bag of GarnStudio's 'ALASKA' - with 7 or 8 balls of blues & brown. A bit boring but I might be able to add some scraps of other wool yarns - like the red - to brighten a corner or two. One ball makes a 10x16" rectangle on 6.5mm needles. I decided to do a modified Log Cabin style blanket that will be big enough for a child or an adult lap.

'Tis The Season

I've been getting up with the birds for the last four days to spend the day banging on my keyboard. 'Tis the Season when all companies must complete T4s & T5018s for anyone they employed in the previous year. This is doubly important in the Construction industry where a lot of people have worked 'under the table' for eons. Revenue Canada is peering very closely at any company that might, could or is employing undocumented workers.

And part of my job is to educate anyone I work for in the ways to record WHO worked for WHAT in the past year. A lot of people look at a canceled cheque as proof of payment. Good luck. Revenue Canada doesn't care who you paid or whether you paid. They only care about the bill. The INVOICE is the Document that says what kind of expense you incurred. You bought something, employed a company to do something or were billed for a service. A cheque is nothing, as is the debit on your bank statement because no one knows what the expense was or if you paid tax. Too many employers pay without getting paperwork. Just TRY getting personal information from someone who has returned to their country of origin after working illegally on a visitor's permit. It happens all the time.

So from February to the end of June, I'm swamped with work! Good thing I enjoy the challenge. BUT all of this work usually has me nodding off around 8:30ish in front of the tube though. The last two nights I ended up forcing myself to stay awake until 9 so I wouldn't end up getting up at 5:30 again .   .   .   .   so no knitting has been taking place at all although I have been slowly winding all the acrylic odds n sodds into nice flat cakes on my ball winding machine.
I had the idea of crocheting blankets - my famous 'One Giant Granny Square' blankets!!  I hate sewing things together but love the Granny Square for it's brightness, color & the way it uses up all the leftovers. I just keep working the rounds until a color runs out or I get tired of it & move onto another color. Simple, mindless, easy to do, portable & uses up all the leftovers. What could be better than that???? And it makes a nice, handmade gift to a Syrian family coming to Canada with nothing.

I thought I'd run out of yarn

I dragged my butt on finishing the current pair of socks because I knew I would run out of yarn. I'd turned both heels & was midway down the first foot when I realized I was running out. I only had two balls of this particularly happy Kroy 4-ply yarn & running out made me really blue. Seriously blue. It's not that I don't have bits & pieces of other 4-ply yarns but I don't have anything close to working with these happy colors. And I wanted them for myself. I suppose it's the time of year & the gloomy weather that really paralyzed me when it came to finishing this particular pair of socks .  .  .  .  because it was really weird. I just let them lay. And then a couple of days ago I thought, Hell, I'll just knit them until the yarn runs out & rewind them into nice little flat bottomed cakes on my ball winding machine until I feel like making a smaller size. Seriously.

So I was knitting away last night just to get them off the needles while watching my favorite Saturday night line-up on the Knowledge Network, when the lightbulb came on. And I realized I might just be able to finish them with the existing yarn. It was going to be close. And I decided I could probably find something to finish the toe caps if I really had too, even if I had to combine two other yarns to do it. This is where I got to on the first sock when I decided I'd probably be able to finish them. WoooHoooo I ended up with less than a foot of yarn left over between them. And I have another pair of thick, 4ply, Kroy winter socks in a really fun colorway. And there's nothing better than that.

One More Gloomy Blog

 This is the third time I've started this. Every time I read it, it's so gloomy that I don't want to publish it. It's the darkest, gloomiest, dampest, loneliest, brokest time of the year & One More Gloomy Blog Entry won't help anyone, including me.

And what is it that makes me Gloomy??? Perhaps it's the legacy from my highland Scottish ancestors. Maybe it's the hoarding tendencies inherited from my English great grandmother. Or maybe, it's surviving in a world of rapidly decreasing income & increasing cost of living. We're all a couple of paychecks away from being homeless in this country & it doesn't help to be reminded of it every time I read a paper. I guess I shouldn't whine, I have a bed, a roof & hot & cold running water. The toilet flushes. I'm warm & dry with the internet & 900+ audiobooks in my library. Is it just the mid-winter doldrums???? Maybe a week of warm, sunny weather & a sun-kissed nose would help??? Oh, and some of those rum drinks with the fruit & parasols in a coconut in my hand wouldn't hurt!!

Maybe it's just the lack of color at this time of the year. It's just so grey out there - even the greens are grey. Maybe its time to work with bright colors for a change. Was it the Neon Pink toes on that last pair of Frankensocks that did this????? I'd really like a slightly oversized sweatshirt with a lovely big collar instead of a hood to keep me warmer in my office. Something with a really bright yoke & a darkish bottom. Or maybe a tropical hat in Hot Pink & Orange?? Or maybe, GASP, a Stephen West scarf in wild colors??? Wow. What a thought. Now wouldn't that just brighten up the whole world???

Some'in Some'in

I really meant to blog a while back but I got busy. I'm working on two courses for now - both are much too interesting to drop one in favor of the other - and I moved myself to a future date on the third. Whew. So much interesting stuff out there & they all start at the same time!!!! So, this month, I'm concentrating on my Gut & Chromosomes. LOL They are linked, believe it or not.

When not beating on the computer - yes, it's year-end time for a lot of small businesses AND year-end time for personal Income Tax too - I'm knitting socks again. I dug out all the bags & boxes that have sock leftovers in them and decided to make  Frankensocks out of all the leftovers. Not that I need any socks, mind you, but it's always wise to make socks when fingers don't mind making socks. And my fingers can't always make socks when they want - sometimes getting socks ON & tying shoes is about all I can manage. So, I'm making socks while I can.

I adore patterned yarns for socks. It may be that I'm just too lazy to work my own pattern. And solid colors are so dull & boring on their own. Call me crazy, with all those wild, patterned yarns out there, why not go for it???? So many patterns, so little time!!

Frankensocks are my favorite type of socks & so much fun to boot. Most of

my male friends have preferred Blues, women preferred Reds &  Pinks/Purples. I, well, I like them all. I've rarely had someone ask for a pair of Yellow or Orange socks although the 'Mexiko' colorway with it's Red/Yellow/Orange/Brown was very popular. And only once did I ever make myself a pair of socks in brown, it was a pattern called 'Africa' in shades of brown/tan/yellow - think of traditional African Mud Cloth prints. They are gorgeous & I love to wear them.
So, I finished my Blue Frankensocks. But, they were sooooo blue. I thought they needed a little some'in some'in & not just another dark blue toe neither. I asked the 20-something boys at my favorite truck stop cafe what they thought about Neon Pink. The boys said YES!! Today, I showed them off. They were arguing over who should get them while I ate lunch .  .  .  .

Into the Void

The New Year is more than a week old & I'm in trouble already. Somehow, in a peak of madness perhaps, I signed on for THREE Coursera courses!!! This is not how I planned it at all. But, it seems, while trying to change my email address, I signed up twice under different email addresses. I have yet to figure out how to change my original address to the new one .  .  .  .   Coursera keeps referring me back to their Student Forums which don't address my problem at all. I'm sure I'll figure something out in the end even if I only cancel the second account & stay with the original address for now. I shouldn't expect too much from a free outfit since the local college, that cost me thousands, could never figure it out either. So, for now, I'll just have to defer one course to the next session for sure & try to finish two.

So, with most of my free time taken up with Genes & Microbes, I'm only working on my blue Frankensocks at the moment. I've turned the heel on one of them & just finishing the turning the other one. I would've been further along but I ran into a problem with the yarn. It may have been gnawed by bugs at some time in it's history but I haven't seen a thing in the bags & bins that I normally keep my yarns in. And the problem doesn't seem to be everywhere either. Just the occasional ball. And usually deep inside where the damage can't be seen. Second hand yarn from a hospital Thrift Store in one

case. A ball from a friend in another. Lovely expensive Alpaca from a yard sale in an exquisitely kept home. And two balls I know I bought from a shop in Vancouver years & years ago. 'Manly' yarn that sat around for eons in a zip-lock before I used it in a pair of socks for my Ex. The first time he washed the socks, one shredded. I thought at the time that he had splashed them with cleaning fluid or something with acid in it in the garage. But while kniting a little of the leftover yarn into my sock heel, it pulled apart as I knit   .    .    .  rip out part of a heel. Then I found a lovely dark blue remnant of another manly sock & IT broke in several spots!! It's very hard to repair a dropped stitch in a K1S1 heel flap when it's dark blue & it's dark outside. So, last evening, I re-knit & re-turned that very same heel for the THIRD time with new yarn. That's the LAST time I will knit dark blue/black heels on anything in the winter, at night. Time to find some bright blues to work with. And I tossed the damaged remains of the other two blue socks.

Oh, and did you know??? There's a new Scholarly study coming out this week on colds & rhinoviruses. You know how we've been treating sore throats & coughs with honey & lemon concoctions for ages??? Well, a new study suggests hot chocolate may be a better treatment. Why?? Well, it seems the chocolate is sticky & may better coat the irritated cells of the throat blocking the nerve sensors that trigger the cough. That's why.

The First Frankensock of the Year

I thought I'd start off the year with a bang & join a Sock-a-long with the Cabin Fever group. Socks are so much fun!! And I have the remains of hundreds of socks to prove it. Yes, Hundreds. One year, I tried to make a pair of socks every week for the whole year. I ended up knitting 54 pairs of socks that year!!! Mind you, a dozen of those pairs were infant socks but they had to have turned HEELS, so I do count them. But I did knit 42 pairs of Adult socks with turned heels that year as well. The infant socks went to a maternity clinic in a Refugee Camp & had to have heels to keep them from being kicked off by the infants. I don't think I knit anything other than socks that year!!!

While searching for something, I realized I had three full shopping bags & a box full of sock yarn remains. This represents the last 15 years of sock knitting so I shouldn't have been surprised. Since I group my remains into three color groups, Blues, Reds & Pinks/Purples, that makes a bag for each & a box for outsiders. Yes, there are some blacks, greys, browns & even a yellow or orange in there but most of them fall into the three groups. I use greys, black & brown as heels & toes or as solid stripes between wild colors sometimes just to tone them down but mostly everything else falls into my favorite groups. Some of the yarns have multiple colors but I tend to put them where the dominant or brightest color belongs. Makes life easier when putting all the colors into a sock!!

And what do I use for a pattern??? I have a generic pattern firmly embedded in my

brain. It's a cuff or top-down pattern with a K1S1 heel flap & gussets knitted on the side of the flap as I go. I just can't see to pick up those stitches along the side of the flap any more so I learned to add one stitch to each side of the flap every second row as I knit it. You can see the stitches added in the picture. Then I turn the heel the same way you do with a regular knitted flap & short row the gusset increases on each side back to the original number of stitches & carry on knitting the foot. I do a simple decrease on both sides every second row to 20 stitches & three needle bind-off the toe. I love this heel because it allows me to make it deeper or shallower by increasing or decreasing the gusset stitches. I learned early in my sock knitting career that I need a DEEP heel to prevent socks from crawling into my shoes as I walk. No afterthought or short row heel for me.

Happy New Year 2016

                 

 

Resolutions

So here we are again, at the verge of a new year, staring into the Black Hole of 2016. I'll bet most of us are making Resolutions that we'll never keep. Oh, some of us will keep them for a week or two & some for a month or two but in the end, they all fall by the wayside.
I've never been much for Resolutions. Oh, I made some minor ones like resolving to  change to brown rice because it's better for me. And yes, I did keep the rice one. Even though I'll never love brown rice like I do white, sticky rice, I can now make it well enough that I don't actually hate it.
My resolution to spend more time spinning never happened because I ended up knitting more, instead. Knitting what, you ask??? Charity knitting. Oh, hoodies, socks & hats that all went to people who needed them. I think that's half the fun. But I didn't spend any time spinning which was my original goal.

So this year, I RESOLVE to make no Resolutions at all. Why stress myself out trying to achieve a goal that I'll never meet??? Life gets in the way. Sometimes it gets in the way in the most interesting ways. While the rest of you are Resolving to lose weight & are shelling out for gym memberships, yoga pants & exercise equipment that you'll seldom use, I'll be learning about my gut.

My GUT??? Yup. A healthy gut means a healthy body which means a healthy, happy person. I'm taking a FREE class with COURSERA on 'Microbes & the Human Microbiome' to exercise my brain cells. 'The little grey cells' as Poirot used to say, need exercising to stay healthy too. One should never neglect the mind or it will become saggy & weak like an Accountant's ass. Besides exercising my brain cells, I'll also be learning about how the gut affects every other part of the body. And you thought your Brain was in charge???

Happy Holidays

Knitting the Days Away

The Pile Grows Taller

Christmas is days away & my poor old car is in the garage. It's been there for almost a week now, ever since the Anti Theft Device discobooberated itself & locked ME out. After setting off the alarm FOUR times in a row, I gave up & called for help. I'm sure all my neighbors were thrilled when I stopped playing with it. No one, including the mechanic, knows if it can be unlocked. That's what I get from the ungrateful hunk of tin after babying it with a Winter tune-up, tire rotation & full gas tank in the last couple of weeks. I should've left it to suck air through a clogged filter & run on watery gas.

Meanwhile, back at the basement, I can't go anywhere so I might as well knit hats while I watch all the oldies & marathons they put on the tube this time of year. It's a good excuse to stay home in my jammies & knit over the holidays while avoiding line-ups, tie-ups & road checks. A nice friend brought me a gift of two pounds of sharp cheddar - sliced to boot!!! And I loaded up on Wasa crisp bread at a sale just before the car died. So I'll be munching on cheese & crackers & drinking some of that lovely Shiraz I made several years ago while I knit.

When I run out of all the single skeins, odd balls & leftovers I scrounged up to make hats, I might even get to finish the Aubergine sweater I started for myself before hats took over.  It's the "Lace Frock" from Cabin Fever. I still haven't decided whether to put sleeves on it or not. My first thought was to put cap sleeves on & wear it like a vest over long sleeved shirts for the winter but I don't have to decide right away. I was worried about having enough yarn to knit long sleeves but I've only used two skeins so far out of the nine I bought so I've got lots of yardage to complete the lace skirt & sleeves if I want them.
                                           

LUST DENIED

I still have my little pile of balls on the table where I can see them but, other than a
small swatch, I haven't done a thing with it except look. And I still love it. I loved it even more when I cast it onto a circ that was handy & tried knitting a few rows in garter stitch. Then I knit a few more rows in stockinette, then went up a needle size or two & did it all over again. I really like the yarn. It's acrylic but knits a crisp fabric that just feels good. I like it with the 4.5mm needles. The yarn itself looks like a fine chain & feels cottony in the swatch. How come it took me so long to try this yarn??? I love it & now it's being discontinued. Story of my life. I could create a whole wardrobe in the colors in this yarn - I'm crazy about the hot pink & the steel grey in the first place but together??? Oh yeah.

Got sidetracked with the warm hats thing. Since they're to go just after Christmas, I've been trying to knit as many hats as possible in the short time I have. Thanks to a yarn donation, I found several balls of a really, really soft, worsted weight yarn that knits into terrific hats!! I've got little ones, medium ones & even a couple of adult ones to stuff in the bag. Oh, & one pair of socks from a test knit I did for the Snakes & Ladders pattern by Elizabeth McCarten. They're way too small for me but the pattern is very attractive. I know they need to keep another pair of feet warm this winter so they're going into the bag too.

LUST

I swore I wouldn't give in to the Black Shopping Monster & wouldn't even open an email ad that came my way. I have enough stuff in bins piled in the living room to make me look like a Hoarder. If I buy any more, chances are, I'll be found dead someday, under a pile of sock yarn bins. But, in the middle of the night I clicked on one Black Hole email & got sucked in - straight into the Yarn dimension. Yup. Me. The Anti-Christmas person. 

I have to say I didn't do it on impulse because I could've piled it high in my 'basket' & ordered it then & there. I thought about it for a while. And I checked it out once more. Then I thought about it some more. And emailed a friend who orders on-line. Figured if she wasn't ordering, I wouldn't order. But she was & I did. WHY did I do it??? I fell for the colors. Hard. Yup. Sucked right down into another dimension, hot & cold, right in the gut, OMG, instantaneous, LUST. The kind of thing that happens when you lock eyes with a certain kind of stranger across a room - the Bad Kind. But Lust with Yarn is a much better option, I figure. It's safer, cheaper, hangs around longer & benefits you in the long run - especially if you get right down & make something with it! I bought enough for an afghan for my bed. I love the colors, did I say that already??? Maybe a cocoon sweater to wear in my office? Maybe I should check & see if it's still on Sale & buy more??? I really, really do love the colors. It's the Acrylic Multi from Knit Picks in the Fashion color.

A knitting bud is gathering hats, mitts, scarves etc for Refugees in the Middle East so I decided to make some touques. I have some nice yarn in an acrylic/wool blend so I'm making woolly hats. I handed off a bag with hats & socks last night & forgot to take a photo!!! But here's one that's just started. The yarn is Pittsburgh, it's worsted size but so soft that it knits to a DK gauge & it's easy on the hands. Just 68 sts on a 6.5mm circ knit in a twisted K2P2 rib(Knit in the back of the knit stitch instead of the front) all the way to the top with the yarn doubled. I close the top by purling the P2 together on the first row & continuing the twisted K2. Then a round of twisted K2 , P1. A round of twisted K2 together, P1. And another round of twisted K1, P1 & a final round of twisted K2 together. I leave a long end & pull it through all the stitches, draw them closed & sew it down on the inside. Makes a nice snug, warm hat that won't fall off or blow off when you bend, run or lift. I make this one for the guys who change tires, fix  cars & work construction.

There's two big debates going on right now on the net & neither of them involve guns or war. 

The first is this Black Friday thing that seems to have morphed into Black Friday week in most places in North America. It's threatening to become Black Friday MONTH & it's echos are being heard in Europe. Can you say Retail Desperation???? It has even crawled into the net forums where peer pressure is forcing Designers to discount their work for the Black Friday monster.

The other big debate is FREE patterns. Apparently, some craft sites operate solely to supply FREE patterns. That's 'FREE' patterns scarfed from others who make all or part of their living from creating patterns for you & I. The 'Free' sites make their money from actively trolling for 'freebies' which they post on their own sites. They also take short term 'freebies' like 'Birthday Sale' 'One Week Only' 'One Day Only' etc & post them as 'FREE' forever.
Now, I like a FREE pattern as much as the next guy BUT, if someone is making money out of offering it to me, why shouldn't that money go to the designer??? Knitty, for example, has been giving us FREE quality patterns for years now. They not only PAY the Designers, list their blogs/websites/contact info, but give them a lot of exposure as well.

So what is the wise Crafter to do???  I still prefer to touch & squeeze before I buy. So I say, shop all the sites to see what's out there first. And, like the street of small shops where you know who supplies the things you love, go directly to the Designers for your freebies. See what else they have to offer. See if they have a blog or forum. Check in regularly for specials - sometimes you get BOGO. Test knit. When you find the Designers you like, support them or they won't be there when you want them. Try the 'free' patterns. Just remember, 'Free' should be a taste of what's available, not the whole meal.  

Debt, debt, debt, debt debt debt . . . .

I've never been a fan of commercials which is why I mostly watch & support, Public TV. But, sometimes even I watch regular channels - I'm hooked on Longmire(APTN) - nothing like a good western, NCIS & NCIS-New Orleans - Scott Bakula has finally found his home, Mysteries at the Museum & the Ice Road Truckers - Go Lisa Go!!! And though I sometimes tolerate the commercials just to see the shows, there have been times when I had my fill early & shut the damn show off. Commercials now take up more prime time than the program you're watching.
But, you know, I've actually seen a couple of commercials lately that really resonate with me - I love the one that asks why the holidays can't be filled with L-O-V-E instead of S-A-L-E. And my very favorite this year is the one where the toys start singing DEBT DEBT DEBIT when the woman whips out her credit card, making her think about what she's doing. What a great commercial!!

Contrary to what most folks are doing right now, I am NOT knitting a Christmas gift for anyone. No one. Not even knitting hats for charity this year. Most years I knit hats but not this year. My hands are really sore - that damned one-handed stapler that takes me two hands to use - has really inflamed my right hand & fingers. I can't even pick up the coffee pot with my right hand because my right index finger shoots pain jolts into my wrist. My right middle finger knuckle burns & my right thumb is just sore, especially where it connects with my wrist bones. I can still do up my shoes & brush my teeth but I dropped the coffee pot the other day when I tried to lift it off the stove. All in all, stupidity & overuse made them sorer than usual. I guess I'm out of the knitting game for a while.

So, I'm being forced to rest my hand. Somewhat. I still have to wash dishes & carry grocery bags. I can kick the laundry basket down the hall instead of carrying it. And there's still a mountain of data entry to do but I've been taking it easy & wearing rubber finger tips to give me some protection from hitting the keys. You'd be amazed how well it works. And, when no one's looking, I've been sneaking in a row or two on my Lace Frock Vest. For Me.

Cross Eyed & Pole Axed

It's been a hellofa week of hard slogging through boxes of paper. I've squeezed that stapler so often that my right hand aches like an infected tooth. I can't even staple one-handed any more. But, by gum kiddies, I do believe I can see the bottom of the second box. With all my piles neatly organized, labeled, added, sorted & itemized, I can get back to the important things in life - knitting & spinning.

The Dirt Magnet has now taken possession of his new sweater. The body bottom is black which his dad appreciated since the kid might be able to wear it for an extra day before it hits the wash.
Another friend just had a longed for baby girl last Thursday - God, are they tiny when they're a day or two old!!! with tiny, tiny feet!! So, I have to make a pair of socks for those feet. I think, I'll make a pair of l-o-n-g baby frankensocks for fun. I believe I've got lots of nice baby colors tucked away in the Pink/Purple bag of leftovers - mom & dad had her decked out in Pink, already. But frankensocks go with everything!! bwahahah

And, while sitting shell-shocked in my chair after my marathon project was done, I decided to pull out a sweater I started THREE YEARS ago for myself in a Mule Spun wool called Mulberry Heather. The yarn is quite rustic - I'm pulling out bits of straw as I sloooooly knit with aching hands - and quite greasy - but I'm sure that will change when it gets it's bath at the end. I'm using the Cabin Fever pattern, 'Lace Frock Vest' from the "Need a Plus Sized Cardigan" book. I believe the 'Lace Frock' is also available as a single pattern on Patternfish as well. I'm going to wear it over a long sleeved shirt for extra warmth in my office. I had finished  the basic yoke almost to the arm area but hadn't split the arms from the main body when it got stuffed into a bag & forgotten. While looking for more colored acrylic to finish the Dirt Magnet sweater, I found the bag with my Mulberry yarn in it. It was meant to be.

Let Us Not Forget

Two Weeks Since Surgery

Tomorrow, it will be two weeks since my voice operation. I'm still swollen & bruised but it's fading quickly into yellow & green. Tomorrow I see the surgeon for my official unveiling - the surgical tape comes off!! It will be nice to have a proper shower again!! And I'm still a little raspy but it's coming along very well. I don't think I'd want to answer phones all day just yet but it's nice to have a voice in the proper octave again.

The Dirt Magnet Wallaby is just about done. I ripped off the hood & some of the yoke a couple of days ago because I thought the yoke looked a little shorter than it should. Since I'm working with yarn that's thicker than usual, the decrease count is off. So, I frogged it back a bit, added about an inch to the yoke & then back to the hood. I figure I need another couple of inches on the hood & I'll be done. In the meantime, I tucked in all the ends & closed one of the underarm openings while I watched NCIS-New Orleans last night.

Just Right

My hands have really been feeling the chill in the air. The landlord & I do battle every year about this time as to when the furnace should be turned on. Neither of us wants to wimp out & be the first - he doesn't want to spend the money & I don't want to cope with my allergies. But, I feel the cold in my hands long before I feel it anywhere else - except when I'm getting out of the shower. And why do we play this game???  I've lived most of my life with radiant heat which doesn't cause my allergies to flare up. Every fall when the damn furnace comes on, I have to suffer for a couple of weeks until I get used to all the dust flying around. I'd rather postpone turning it on & wear a sweater for a while than deal with allergies. So every fall about this time, I get out the wrist warmers & wool sweater to keep me warm in my cool office. Eventually, he gets too many complaints from the family & turns it on. LOL

Too Big

This year, I decided to knit myself a pair of l-o-n-g fingerless mitts to keep my hands & thumbs warm. My hands give me hell in the damp weather. I've overused them most of my life so I guess this is payback. Since I'm still overusing them, I thought I'd wrap them in wool to see if it would help. I fell in love with the Ringwood stitch when Knitty published the Ringwood Gloves pattern. It's so easy to knit!! And so stretchy!!! I thought it would make a lovely pair of mitts for me to work in. I didn't swatch in the yarn I wanted to use so my first mitt was way too big. Let that be a lesson - swatch, swatch, swatch!! So I made the second one a lot smaller. And it fits like, well, like a glove!!

The First Week With a Voice

I've survived my first week post-surgery. My voice is still raspy - they SAID it would

take at least a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down & the healing process to finish but you know how we want everything NOW. I couldn't drive for a few days - still suffering from a stiff neck & headache on the left side if I did too much turning. So, breakfast OUT on Wednesday was a real treat!! My Ex slyly gave me an envelope with November's rent money in it so I wouldn't have to worry about getting back to work so soon. And the cook in my favorite cafe bought my breakfast to celebrate!!! It was like a Birthday!!

Everyone stared at my neck. I knew they would. No point in trying to cover it - like I have anything anyway - so I wore a bright pink tee under my purple fleece jacket & called it an accessory. The colors all matched nicely. With a little eye shadow & some Dracula Phangs, I could attend any Hallowe'en party this year. But, I think I'll stay home & watch the Home & Garden channel & finish a sweater instead.

My Dirt Magnet Wallaby is almost finished. I had very little Blue left but lots of Red & Yellow & Black. So, it won't match but the colors are similar to little Brother - enough so Mom will be happy with the pictures.


My Niece wants l-o-n-g wrist warmers. I'm not exactly sure what she means by that but I'm assuming she wants fingerless gloves - I hope that's what she means. Anyway, I found some lovely THICK merino - I have four 25gr balls of it - that knits up quickly. It's a yellowy brown color I believe they call Tobacco. It's a color only a Fall color lover could love. I cast-on 36 stitches & worked K2P2 ribbing for about 7 inches & then did a double YO to make a thumb hole & K2P2 into the YO on the next round to make it slightly larger for the hand. She can wear them as fingerless gloves or turn them around for wrist warmers.