Saturday Stuff

Today's post is all over the place!

A Cause Close to Home:
I am the daughter of a breast cancer survivor (cancer free for nearly two years now) and want to let everyone know about the Lee Jeans National Denim Day next Friday, October 6th. Breast cancer has touched my immediate family and several in my "family of friends." Check out the link to support this worthy cause. There's even a celebrity auction of jean pockets.

Here is my Saturday Sky photo for the week:


Notice a difference in the following fish?

Yup, me too.
The larger fish was knit with my usual bamboo needles(today) and the smaller fish was knit with my new set of addi-turbos(last weekend). Same size needles, same yarn, same pattern, different sized fish. Go figure! I hated HATED knitting the fish on the addi-turbos and it took me much longer to knit the fish since it felt so uncomfortable to knit with them. It will be back to the bamboo needles, for the fish at least, for me! I am using another pair of addi's for the MD warshrags and I'm really liking how they are knitting up, although it seems like they are bigger than the warshrags knit with my usual needles. Guess it's just a personal preference but it does seem to make a difference in the size of the final product.

Page Ups:
I know I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to discover their use for knitting! These are great! I bought mine a few years ago when I was typing my many pages for graduate school and recently realized these are great for holding up knitting patterns. It's a lot easier on the neck too!

I bought mine at a teach supply store but I'm sure you can find them at any office supply type place. Oh, the "Super Sticky" sticky notes are also great for a slow knitter such as myself! They actually "stick" to the pattern long enough for me to finish my project!!

That's it! Have a great weekend!

First Day of Autumn?

It's hard to believe it's the first day of Autumn when at 6:00 this morning the temperature was 81 degrees. 81 DEGREES!!!! What happened to the cool crisp mornings of FALL? sigh..I know I know...I'm not living in MN anymore.... Why was I up so early on a Saturday morning? You can thank a sick dog for that-cleaning up vomit and poo are not my ideas of a good time (she's fine now). Good thing she's so cute! And also appears to like knitting...

What I should have been doing this afternoon:

Yes, I have lots of grading to do, AND I forgot(in my rush to get to Happy Hour) my freakin' EZ Grader at work so I'll have to resort to the ol' calculator for percentages. Actually it's not as much as it appears, there are a few workbooks among the papers.

What I was doing instead of grading papers:

Here are my latest FO's, a vino dishcloth and a turkey. I stumbled across these on Jeremy's blog and, like her, plan on knitting up some more as part of hostess gifts for the holidays. They knit up really quickly (when you don't have a dog in your lap) and the frequent stitch changes keep you on your toes. Mine were both knit with Sugar 'n Cream worsted weight yarn. This Sunflower scrubbie pattern(scroll to 2nd page) just may make me learn how to crochet!!

Knitting Tired

Last night I was soooooooo tired!!!!

Come on'...say it together: "How tired were you???!!!"


Last night I was so tired that I cut my yarn off ready to weave in the ends before realizing I forgot to bind off!!!!!!

UGH!!!!!

Luckily my project was still on the needles so I went ahead, added yarn and binded/bound off. Of course this meant I had 4 ends to weave in instead of 2, but, oh well.

Not a major boo boo, but I sure felt silly/stupid doing it. I'm playing it off to the fact I was tired..which I was...and not blonde.

What Kind of Knitter Are you?

I know this has already made the rounds but it was new to me! And, surprisingly accurate!!
Have a Happy Saturday and Knit Knit Knit!!


You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.
Take this quiz!

Coupon Karma

A few weeks ago I realized I was not going to be able to use my B@th & Body Works coupons (they expired that day) and gave them to a friend of mine. Afterall, if I wasn't going to take advantage of them, I'd want her to. That same day, I found myself at H0bby L0bby with an armful of yarn and some other purchases standing in a line moving slower than molasses. When I was finally able to put my items on the counter a lovely mother/daughter duo offered me their 50% of coupon since all of their stuff was on sale. How Nice!!!! I was able to use it on a $20.00 item!

The same thing happened this past weekend. I found myself in the line from hell..AGAIN....and a lady in the next line over offered me her 40% off coupon (do I look like I need coupons or something-I'm trying not to take it personally). I thanked her and took her up on it, but then realized I was only buying Sugar 'n Cream yarn so I was only going to save 50 cents or so. I felt a little guilty but since she was standing so close I figured I'd better use it. I even grabbed a photo frame someone had left behind thinking I could use it on that and wouldn't you know, that was on sale too. Anyway...I'm just sayin'.....Coupon Karma....it's a good thing....share the love...

Tuesday night I had PTA/Parent Open House til 8:30 p.m. When I finally got home. There was an envelope on my desk from Pleasanton. I excitedly ripped it open to find these:

As a "Thank You" for buying/sending her the Interweave Summer Issue, Enid sent me some stitch markers! What a great way to end a busy and stressful day. Thank you, Enid!!!

I also found out at a get together Monday night that one of my friends is pregnant with her first baby and due in March! Yay!!!!! Baby knitting-here I come!!!

Hands Off! He's All Mine!!

That's right, I said it! This fashion icon is mine and mine alone! I am sooo lucky!

Imagine my horror after returning from some yarn buying and still basking in the afterglow to open the door to this. EEEEEK! MY EYES, MY EYES!!!! When I asked my DH why in the world he was wearing such a horrible combination (Hawaiian print shirt, jean shorts, black dress socks, and brown ankle boots). His response: "I was thinking of wearing these shoes this week and wanted to see how they felt." Thank the heavens above he knows better than to go out in public like this!! After I got over my initial horror and then laughing fit...I told him I wanted to blog it and after some convincing that I wouldn't post his face, he obliged for a photo-hee!

This rivals the time I came home from work to find out that he had practiced using the new dog grooming clipper on himself and used the wrong blade. He had no hair in the side of his head!!! He ended up having to give himself a "shave" on each side of his head and left a little hair on top. He had to wear a cap for a few weeks after that everywhere he went! Lucky for him it happened before I started blogging.

In other news:
I realized Friday I cannot drink 2 margaritas(sangria swirls) and then knit, or at least knit correctly. Evidentally counting up to five was too challenging and ended up tinking the one row I tried to do. Who needs a breathalizer-just ask someone to knit one row of the MD ball band warshrag to see if they're drunk or not! After undoing the damage I did to the warshrag, I "fell asleep" at 8 p.m. then woke up around 1 a.m. and finished reading Debbie Macomber's latest novel, 6 Rainier Drive, I really enjoyed it!

Saturday I finished my latest MD warshrag and started a turkey warshrag (I'll post a pic when I finish) to use as a possible hostess gift for Thanksgiving. I also made some "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" cookies. I used the "Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie" recipe on the container of the oatmeal and instead of raisins, added 3 kinds of chocolate chips (dark, semi-sweet, milk), toffee pieces, walnuts and left out most of the cinnamon. They are YUMMY!!



Today I'm hoping the finish my MD nesting boxes, get them seamed and ready for felting; finish a fish, and continue working on my turkey cloth. I guess I better wash some clothes and do some housework too. I don't think people will understand seeing me in stained clothes with a carpet that needs vacuuming saying, "But my fish knitting is done for the day, wanna see?"

Sophie and TOADS

I figured it was about time I posted some pics of my "Sophie." Sophie is the sweetest cocker spaniel I've ever seen which is a good thing since she would not qualify for doggie MENSA for sure! Sophie is modeling my TOADS.
TOADS??
Yes TOADS!!!

While reading the latest Knit Simple magazine I came across an article that mentioned several knitting acronyms. It mentioned the usual ones of: FO's, AFO's, WIP's, UFO's, In the Queue's, and then some acronyms that were new to me. The first was "HALFPINT" which I initally thought of as being related to Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie (her nickname from Pa). No connection, actually HALFPINT stands for "Have a Lovely Fantasy Project, I've No Time." Ideas that will have to wait until the right moment. hmmmm...I can think of a few that would fit into that category.

The other acronym new to me was "TOAD" which stands for Trashed Object, Abandoned in Disgust. I actually have 3 TOADS. The first is an abandoned fingerless black glove, the second is the horrible, what was I thinking, keyhole scarf I made way too long (looks like a chenille tie gone bad) with the ugliest yarn out there. The third TOAD (not pictured) was a mossy green scarf that I abandoned months ago, tried to pick up again and then just gave up in disgust. The yarn was HORRIBLE to knit with and I could never get the same count of stitches on each row.

I guess as a mini-Meme here are my responses to the acronyms:

FO: A fish!
AFO (almost finished object-needs, darning, blocking or seaming): Fish!
WIP: MD warshrag, MD nesting boxes, more fish!
UFO: 1/2 fish where I ran out of that particular color of yarn
In the Queue: IPod cozy, more warshrags and fish
HALFPINTS: Lady Eleanor scarf, scarf for my Wild Prism yarn, Huggable Hedgehogs, Chocolate Covered Cherry Jacket
TOADS: black fingerless gloves, mossy green eyelash yarn scarf, keyhole scarf

If you are reading this then you are officially tagged to complete your knitting acronym list!