Twenty Ten

Yeah, OK Ive jumped on the bandwagon and posted my 2010 knitting goals....

1. Cast on (and finish) an intermediate shawl. Ive done a couple of the easier ones and will undoubtedly knit more of those quick & simple shawls. Its the intricate lacy ones that are so gorgeous - but intimidating to me. So far I haven't had the confidence to make one yet. This is the year! It may be from the book A Gathering of Lace that I have or maybe a large circular shawl from Ravelry. Definitely making the Ishbel and will cast that on first.

2. Knit a jacket/sweater that actually fits me. Ive made 2.5 sweaters for my self. The finished 2 just hang on me, the third is almost done and I can tell already its not the right size. I over compensate and make the bigger size or use larger needles - or both. Once blocked they just grow. This time I SWEAR I will swatch - WASH & BLOCK.

3. Pick out a Selbuvotter pattern, cast on and finish a pair of mittens. Ive had this book for a few months and I just cant seem to decide on a pattern, they are all so beautiful.

4. Finish up the 52 pair plunge by cranking out a dozen or so baby socks. I want to use the book New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi. Its suggested to work through the patterns in baby size to learn all the different techniques. Sounds like this book and the 52 pair plunge were made for each other.

5. Organize my downloaded Ravelry and printed patterns. I bought some binders and need to sort the the printed patterns I want to keep & make some labels for the binders for easier locating. I hate it when I think Ive printed a pattern out cant find it then print a 2nd copy. I also definitely need to clear out all the patterns on my PC that I will never make. When I first got on Ravelry I wanted them all and either downloaded or printed them many that I now know I will never knit.

6. Begin the annual charity knitting no later than June 1, 2010.

7. Figure out what to do with my sock yarn leftovers and start the project. I may not finish it in 2010 but I gotta get something started!

I think thats it - for now, wish me luck!

This Should Clear Things Up

I avoided saying goodbye as long as possible, but the time came. I kept saying to myself its not active duty which made our hour long ride home completly silent.

Now on my day off I get the package of his clothes and personal belongings. Im in tears all over again. Im not sure why but I cant open it.

Miss you already kiddo.

Catch Me If You Can

Since I haven't posted for a month I thought I'd include something extra. Ive been busy getting a head start on the latest 52 pair plunge. I knew I'd need a quick and easy pattern so I made one up.

It's a simple & free cuff down pattern I just posted on Ravelry. Easy enough to memorize - from cuff to toe.

I was able to make a pair a night and bring them to the day care in the building I work in to "size them up". Having tons of tiny feet for sizing was very useful.

Catch Me If You Can

Pattern is available for download on Ravelry for free.




























Plunge count now at 16.


Only thirty six more pairs to go ~~~ Catch me if you can ........

If they only had this 28 years ago...

INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as? Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5,and then installed undesirable programs such as? NBA 5.0, ?NFL 3.0 ?and Golf Clubs 4.1.Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6simply crashes the system.Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate


DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt3.0 update.? If that application works as designed,Husband1.0 ?should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, HappyHour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall theBoyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend:? Cooking 3.0 and? Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck Desperate!

Tech Support

Big Knitting Secret

The annual conference/seminars for work went well. I'm officially a C5P. Hmmmm time for a raise? This year was at the downtown Boston Park Plaza.

Beautiful room with 2 full baths… yep 2 FULL BATHS. That’s 1 more than one person needs, so of course I rotated use. LMAO.





I took the train in so I avoided driving and parking in the city. Best idea ever, even though I drove in downtown Boston daily and have documentation proving I can cut off a taxi driver AND I survived.

Any way the big secret is I haven't been knitting much!

Just a lil on the Lace Ribbon Scarf (J. Knits/Washington)

I finished up two pairs of socks - one, possibly both are gifts.

A third pair on the needles is definitely for me & a fourth is another gift. I need to clear the needles though for a Sock KAL I signed up for starting in June. I have 2 more skeins of J Knits slated for it and one skein Paigewood Farm. I need to shop for the rest since I plan on making at least a dozen pairs. YIKES!

But this is what I have spent my weekends & evenings doing........ trying to launch a boat! Well DH and I and we had some help from #1 son.










We purchased the 22 footer for a song last fall and it sat for the Winter. We pulled it out three weeks ago, stripped it down, replaced some things (the pretty blue carpeting and some of the seating), then put it back together, then added some more stuff.



Absolutely worth the time & effort!
We turned off the cell phones and towed it up to camp this weekend.I already picked a spot for my Summer knitting!

Knitters Opinion Needed

I love this yarn from Schaeffer - great color way and it’s softer than other sock yarns - So I made a cowl with it. The cowl pattern was absolutely awful. It was a free download from Knit Picks and it didn’t work out well at ALL. Ripped…

I decided on socks. Still love the yarn and the pattern has been in my Ravelry queue forever. The perfect match ….so I thought. I got both socks to the heel on size 1’s and worked the gusset on one of the socks and tried it on. Way too tight. The legs snug, but wearable, getting it over my heel is another story.

I’ve ripped back to the leg and am now deciding. Do I just go with fingerless mitts?

Or somehow figure out a bigger heel? And if the choice is socks with a bigger heel/gusset how do I do that? Going up a needle size will help, but will it fix it? Do I need to make the gusset in 3's?

Such a dilemma…..