Kool Aid Fun/ Superwoman Delusions

Didn't "Kool Aid Fun" used to be the ad slogan for Kool Aid? I think so...

Well, it takes on a whole new meaning for me now, since I can combine my childhood love of Kool Aid (only an occasional sweet treat at my house when I was a kid) and my adult love of yarn.


I am signed up for the Mystic Light Shawl KAL on Yahoo Groups and decided to dye my own yarn for the project.
I bought the Knit Picks fingering weight Bare and some Kool Aid packets. At first I was going for yellow with a little bit of pink thrown in .


Then I realized that it was ugly. That's right. Ug. Ly. Like spagetti with strawberry jam smeared on it. So, I re-dyed it with Tropical Fruit punch. Perty. In the end, I wound up with a real tie-dyed look and it is perfect for the shawl. And just in time for the swatching, since the instructions just went up on the KAL (Knit a long).

Now I only need to find a way to knit 24/7 since I have so many projects going and one that needs to be finished by June. Why do I always seem to think I am Superwoman?

Countdown!!

I have been hooked on Knit Picks podcasts for some time now, even before I got an actual IPod. I learned that I could download I Tunes and listen to the podcast online right on my own computer. So I began listening that way and then for Christmas this year, my dear husband got me an IPod. Hooray! Suddenly I had a wonderful way of listening to knitting podcasts and also audiobooks.

The long and the short of it, is that knitting podcasts are very cool. And the coolest, in my humble opinion, is Kelley Petkun's podcast. (KnitPicks) Love, love, love it. So, in tribute to Kelley, here is my "countdown".

Ten reasons why I want to be Kelley Petkun




10. Xena. Any dog whose name starts with "X" has to be cool!


9. Cool travel opportunities that involve knitting and have "built in" knitting time!



8. KnitPicks yarn at my disposal....drool....



7. Terrific knitting skills and the ability to teach them clearly to others.



6. Lots of knitting friends from all over the world



5. I would know how to spin.



4. The ability to wear orange and be happy about it!!



3. To be cute and small enough to knit myself sweaters that don't call for 25 skeins of yarn.



2. To be a "knitter who looooves books"! (Ok, I admit I have that one going for me)



and the #1 reason why I would like to be Kelley Petkin is: (drumroll........)



1. To have the ability to look at an ordinary gourmet kitchen spoon and think out loud, "Gee, this would make a great set of knitting needles!" And POOFF!!! It is!!

Yes, if you too love Kelley, be sure to check out her blog Yarn Rambles, listed in my sidebar. She is a lot of fun and inspiration and a terrific Knitting Sister!

hellooo?.....is this thing on? Check...one...two...

Yes, it's me...back from wherever I've been. Don't know why I disappeared really. I have been right here, actually. Just figured I didn't have much to say about knitting that wasn't already being said. I am not an exceptional knitter, or an exceptional writer. However, I do enjoy both, so why not simply knit and write?

To get started, here are a pair of fingerless gloves I worked on for the past two days.
I have made this pattern before. In fact, I made about a dozen pairs last year for various peoples in my life. These ones are for me, though.

The pattern is one I purchased individually (not in a book) while visiting the Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island, WA. It is a design by A. Karen Alfke called Cableback Fingerless Gloves and is published by http://www.2ndesign.com/. The cool thing about this pattern is how neat the cables are. Karen gives 3 different cables to choose from. This one is the Wheatear Cable. Another cool thing is the I-cord edging. Gives you a very finished and professional look. Also strengthens the edges for lots of wear and tear.

I made this pair on 4 size 5 double points, although I must say that I tried to interest myself in doing them on 2 circs. I just couldn't make myself like the process, however, so went back to my trusty dpns. Maybe another time. This yarn is Highlander from Alpaca with a Twist in Hawthorne Pink.

I have been really sick for the past week, even losing 2 days of work and worse than that, missing Friday Night Knit Club!!! But these gloves were the perfect sickbed diversion. My regular knitting (a lace project) involved too much brain work for my feverish brain to handle. But now I am more clear headed and will be going back to it. I will have to fill you in on that project next time. For now, this is all.

"You Wouldn't..." (an off topic blog)

Think of all the ways you can end a sentence that begins with "You wouldn't".

1. You wouldn't want to have the flu.




2. You wouldn't want to be caught in a tornado.




3. You wouldn't want to be carried off by flying monkeys.




4. You wouldn't want the airline to lose your luggage.




5. You wouldn't want your Weight Watcher leader to see you having that extra piece of strawberry cheesecake...after all your points for the day are used up.

Well, you get the drift. I am remembering today that even though most sentences that begin this way end up negatively, that is not always the case. My own husband "proposed" to me using those very words. "You wouldn't.......want to marry me, would you?" Thing is, I did want to marry him, but he was so very certain that I was too good, too beautiful, too wonderful, too va-va-voom, too smart, too fun and on and on...to ever want to marry him. Confident guy, yes?

To make a long story shorter, we were married. Twenty-two years ago today. And I can't imagine being happier with anyone else. I have never been caught in a tornado, or carried off by flying monkeys. The airline always has come through in the end, my Weight Watcher leader is nowhere in sight when I'm scarfing down cheesecake, and the flu...well...can't win them all. But I will always appreciate the two little words that no one really wants to hear. "You wouldn't". Those words were the beginning of a beautiful future together. And we are still living happily ever after.

Happy Anniversary, Pinky.

Love, Pinkie

Comment...I think that the Westinghouse refrigerator says it all. Some folks just have flowers to decorate the church. We used appliances.
Married in the Special Education Classroom at our church, next to the fridge. Real ambiance.
He looks kind of worried here, don't you think? And this was before he knew how much of a yarn budget we would be needing someday!

One month???

Since my last post was on September 20, I couldn't let today pass without at least a paragraph! I don't have any photos, but have plenty on the way. I need to catch you up with what I'm doing these days. I am on the waistband of the leggings, have finished one of my pink socks, and after giving some hats to Ben Franklin for their chemo hat drive, have decided that this week would be perfect for working on some more to donate, since I have some nice pink Lion Brand Wool-Ease that I'm always wondering what to do with. I'm thinking about Novembers project for Elizabeth's Year. The Moccasin Socks look like a pretty quick knit compared to some socks I've knit in the past. If I could just have more time in each day...the common prayer of every knitter in the world.

I picked up a copy of the new Vogue Knitting Holiday 2007. Filled with dreamy projects. I'm dreaming of the Alice Starmore Oregon Autumn Cardi. Wow! Here it is on her website, Virtual yarns. Even if I were ambitious, talented and crazy enough to embark on that beauty, the cost of those gorgeous yarns exclude me from even trying.

So much to catch up on, but I'm leaving for work soon, so it will have to wait.

"Deadline" Pillow Finished

The pillow for Ben Franklin is finished. I am working now on putting the pattern on paper. I just made it up as I went along, since it is such an easy project. Now I'm trying to type it up and it sounds more complicated than it is. Hope it doesn't scare off newbies. I will give the pattern in another post when it is complete. Writing a pattern isn't as easy as I thought. If a pattern this easy can be difficult, then how do those amazing designers who create complicated knitted sweaters do it???

The Diagonal Garter Stitch Pillow is made of import yarn, inexpensive and fun to play with for a project like this one. There were all kinds of colors and textures to choose from. I just chose 4 colors that would compliment each other and they worked beautifully. This pillow would look very nice in stocking stitch, also.

Having a blog sure illuminates to one when one's life is boring. I think sometimes of posting and then wonder, "But what will I write? Nothing is happening that anyone would be remotely interested in!" Work, knit, sleep, knit, eat, knit...sneak in a chapter here or there of a good book. (Right now is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) No, my life isn't made of the extraordinary, but I have had enough drama, difficulty and crisis in my past to realize what a blessing the mundane can really be. So when it is ordinary day after ordinary day, I thank God humbly and say a prayer for those who are having dramas, difficulties or crisis right now. Hopefully, that does not describe you today, Reader and Friend. But if it does, please remember that you can endure just about anything for "a while". This too, as they say, shall pass. And even if it doesn't, as some of my own life has shown me, we can be all the stonger for having endured and fought the fight. To quote Elisabeth Elliot, one of the women I most admire, "Underneath are the everlasting arms..."

P.S. Since I brought up Elisabeth and suffering, I might as well recommend her most excellent book A Path Through Suffering. It was the book that helped and comforted me through my parents divorce, and other painful times of crisis and loss. As those times of hurt leave us feeling vulnerable and alone, I advise the thoughtful reading of it to any who are in need of encouragement and assurance during trials of any sort.

Leggings and Deadlines

Working away on the Nethers. Going 'round and 'round. Making me a bit dizzy, but still kinda fun! The first picture is of the increases I'm doing on that back of the calf. The pictures are weird, since taking photos of black yarn is difficult for my camera, but the flash helped me to show a little of the detail. I'm doing a simple M1 to increase on both sides of two stitches on every third row.
Here are both legs. The longer one is a side view so you can see how those increases are working. I slid the long one there on some waste yarn that Josh had in his knitting supply bag and then tried it on Danielle. She sat on the floor with her leg in the air like a Radio City Rockette (should have took pictures of that, I know!) until her foot was falling asleep while I tugged and patted and smoothed and counted and measured. Poor girl. She didn't know what she was in for when I suggested these leggings for her! First was the indignity of the measuring, and now she realizes that the fittings will be numerous. She is a good sport, though, my Danielle.

I sort of volunteered (along with others in the Friday Night Knit Group) to complete a demo for the store. Fortunately for me, mine is a small project. But I have a *drumroll please*..............................DEADLINE! Now I know why the word deadline includes the word "dead". First Pi, where my "deadline" came and went, and now this. My deadline, because it will help me to confess it and be accountable, is September 30. Well. Doesn't seem too difficult to design a pattern, swatch it and knit it up. Two weeks. It is just a pillow. Nothing spectacular, because the yarn is beautiful and textured, and so it can be just a simple pattern. But why is working with a deadline so daunting for me when knitting is concerned? I must explore this facet of my personality. But then again, some things are better left unexplored.