Jul 28, 2005

Ha! I didnt forget you after all...

Gee, I really wrote a lot yesterday...sometimes it looks more intimidating because of the layout... but, you can tell I didnt get to talk to any "adults" yesterday - sorry about that :) Oh, and I hope I didnt hurt anyone's feelings that I'd rather knit than blog, I really care about anyone who happens upon my blog and hope to work out the regular blogging thing soon :)

Today was a lovely day, when Grace and I got back from our outing yesterday, I found a UPS tag on the door ~ not that it would matter if I'd been home anyway, our doorbell has only worked once since we moved in. So today I walked on over to the rental office to pick up the package - for John - and didnt think to put Grace in her stroller so it was fun trying to balance the baby and the box. Thankfully everyone made it home in one piece and now John has a bunch of cigars to keep him happy on the golf course. Oh, and while at the office, I mentioned the door bell situation (I'm tired of missing pkgs and we have Poker tomorrow night, so it was time to remedy the situation) and an hour later the maintenance guy had everything fixed - the connectors were dirty outside [like you really needed to know]
I took this latest arrival [John's cigars] as my "sign" that I do deserve to aquire the Denise set, so I finally made it to Kool Knits (my new fav LYS) and managed to resist scooping up some more yarn - very yummy stuff, but I was already pushing it - and I really love the set, I think I like the resin better than I like bamboo...I know blasphemy to some, but I love how light, slippery, and silent these are to work with.
While we were out, we made a quick stop at Trader Joes, and discovered Gracie loves blueberries! She is such a healthy girl, I'm very proud of her :)
Well, I'm off to dream about knitting ;)

Jul 27, 2005

Thought I Disappeared Again?

Well, I guess I did disappear again, sort of...it is amazing to me how much harder it is to blog during the summer. It probably doesn't help that the desk and computer are now in our bedroom in the new place, so I don't get much of a chance to be a late-night blogger anymore. Now you've found my secret, I prefer sneaking in knitting time to blogging, I'm sorry.

Honestly, I think the summer days just aren't as conducive to desperately seeking connection with others. Between the sun being out in all its glory, and all the vacations tucked in here and there, I've noticed many a blogger go MIA, I'm sure we will all be back to our regular posting once the weather locks us back inside ;)

Lots of knitting has gone on, along with some fidgeting with our "stuff" to try to get it to "fit" better into this place. When we 1st moved out here last year (yes, Grace and I have officially been out here in Chicago-land for a year now) I had no choice but to pull the "1st time mom" card, so we just dealt with our stuff being all around us at the old place and since the baby couldn't get into things, that worked out ok as long as we didn't really want to move around ourselves very much. Now with our 1 year old tornado, I devote much time every day trying to keep up with the wreckage in the wake of her fury of discovery as well as try to find "better" places to put things - ie: out of her reach, ha! Plus, we of course have poker night this week, and since they were the guys who helped us move, I want to show that I am making better use of this place than we were able to get out of the last one.
~but I digress again...

I finished the 2nd attempt at the Lace Up Camisole from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 05, and I'm not sure if I knit tighter than my swatch - honestly I swatched this time! - or if the pattern just wasn't written for a body that is not "flat chested" the measurements had me wondering in the first place, but I figured I was just not reading it right or it was a typo or something...and I'm still not sure, I now have a very pretty lace top that might fit if I had the proper "propping" undergarments ~ the intended victim does however, so I'm trying to be patient, figure I'll let her try it on and then go from there instead of rashly frogging something that may be just fine after all. My biggest concern came as I finished with a skein and a half left over. I had to re-read everything a couple times to make sure I didn't miss something somewhere, but nothing has popped out yet...so I guess time will have to tell.

Joann's is having a pretty awesome run of clearance yarn (in store) so I am finally accumulating quite a stash of cotton yarn...I have the rest of the week to decide if I'm going back to snatch up some more - if only I can find the justification for it, it is pretty hard to resist $2 skeins.

I've also recently become quite torn in the debate of continue to buy needles on an "as needed" basis (especially since my Grandma did help out greatly in the accumulation process), or whether to jump in on an interchangeable needles set which adds the great debate Denise Interchangeable vs Boye Needlemaster. There are so many pluses and minuses for both, I had nearly given up until I got home tonight, and got excited about starting Tempting or Lelah, and discovered that my size 8 circs are too long and I don't have either of the needles Lelah requires. Oh, what do I do, what do I do?

I'm really considering just working on some baby blankets and getting over myself - but that is no fun :)

I guess I'll just have to sleep on it - again! - and will probably wake up just as confused. I think I'm going to go to my LYS tomorrow and see what she suggests/and if maybe they have a Denise set that I can touch and feel and maybe then I'll be a little more comfortable with this decision...I've really been reading as much as I can find on both since I heard of them - well, first I was saving up for the Needlemaster set, and then I heard about the Denise set and that's when the frustration over the "right" choice set in. I am not much of a product snob, as long as I get the quality I expect for the price I spent I am happy, so the aluminum/plastic debate doesn't sway me much - my biggest deal is why did the Denise come up with non-conforming metric sizes, will this make much of a difference, and do I really need the convenience of interchangeability for my needles less than size 5 US?

ugh, well it is way too late (yes it is after 1am - DH is on a short business trip), I'm gonna get some much needed sleep so I can keep up with my tornado tomorrow.

Until next time, happy knitting! :)

Jul 7, 2005

I've been RAOK'd!!!

So, my mail carrier was late yesterday, and I didnt get my mail before DH came home so I havent had the chance to share my barely contained excitement until now...

Yesterday was just a normal day, running lots of errands and fairly tired, until my mail finally came and I found this on top of the pile:

A pkg from Canada?
~sorry it's blury, our camera doesnt have zoom - but the sticker says "Canada Post".

Now who could I possibly know from Canada?

What was inside

no one other than the Yarn Harlot!!! I was so excited I floated all night - for multiple reasons, really:
  1. I lovelovelove reading her blog, I may not comment, but that is generally because it takes me far longer (and in a very disjointed fashion) to do anything these days as Grace gets more mobile every day minute.
  2. I of course (just like everyone else) love getting packages.
  3. Inside this package was yarn - I am enabled to start yet another project!!!
  4. This yarn is destined to be Grace's winter sweater...which I've been plotting for lately, and this neutral color is just what I'd be looking for if I was ready (and had the $$) right now.
  5. I was real happy to get a birthday present :)

IMAG0214

~By the way, there are 2 skeins, very exciting, I will probably add a bit of a "girly" color just for fun.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Stephanie!!!

---more knitting news to follow, but Gracie just woke up, Happy Knitting!

Jul 5, 2005

Quickie

...no, not that kind ;) Just had a chance to pop in real quick.

I almost have the 'swing' of keeping up with the charts for the Mystery Stole, instead of dealing with sticking and unsticking post its, I am just using paperclips to hold another page in place over the chart for where I'm working - and I have Chart B memorized. But, I am still only 18 rows in and have over 1,000 to go...yippee! I am also liking the color again, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to attempt dying it once this was done, but I think it was the lighting playing tricks on me. So now the big debate is whether this will be gifted or mine...I have plenty of time to figure this out, but I have compelling feelings both ways - so I guess we shall see [if I havent figured it out by the time I finish, I'll probably put it up for a vote].

I finally found a pattern that works for me right now for another baby blanket, I'd tried a few ripple patterns, but kept losing my count - I think one of them had some design flaws...oh the joys! So, I wandered online upon another near brainless pattern with just enough counting to keep me awake [;)] so this should be good.

We didnt end up seeing any fireworks this weekend...we were waiting until the 4th and then the drought decided to ease up a bit and we had some rain, which further dampened my mood re: the debate over whether Gracie would be up for fireworks this year since she is so deathly afraid of loud noises - the vaccum, drill, lanscaping equipment - when the festivities were beginning on Friday night, I took her out with me to see if we could see anything from our parking lot and she clung to me like she thought the sky was falling. So I took the rain as a sign to call it a night and we'll try again next year. There will be plenty more fireworks shows to come!

Gracie was so glad to have her daddy back home this weekend, 2 week long trips back to back were taking their toll on the little girl - she was missin' her daddy. We all had a pretty good weekend, and DH helped get our room put together, so things are really coming together in the new place - I can definately handle staying here as long as we need to.

Well, I gotta go find the baby, she's been out of sight and quiet too long ;) Hope you had a great weekend, and knit some!