KnittyKitty Knits in the Tropics!

Blocked Miralda

2011-02-22T21:31:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend, the urge to knit and block something overcame me. I actually have a cardigan on the needles that has stalled (and by stalled I mean, I've lost interest in it and really want to not knit it anymore) but that doesn't count.

For ages I've been threatening to buy some blocking mats but because knitting in Barbados is as foreign as snow here, the only place I can get my hands on them is online. Buying online is another hassle. The skybox type businesses out there like to gouge out customers' eyes with the prices and then when the items get here the taxes are prohibitive. So, in a situation like this, what I am to do? The solution was basically child's play. Literally. I went to the store and bought one of those giant soft foam jigsaw type mats with letters and numbers that kids can put together, covered it with an old sheet and proceeded to block the snot out of Miralda.

Before I go any further, I don't know if I've said it before but I'll say it again here. Sometimes I hate blocking. I'm sure that if I ever got some blocking wires and a proper blocking mat, maybe that sentiment will change but for now, it remains. Blocking bites. The only good thing is seeing your knitting labours change from giant mass of stitches to glorious lace.

Anyways, here is a pic of my blocking efforts. With pins. Ugh.

This was very difficult going - I really had to wrangle with it! I had numerous adjustments to make and several broken pins. The top edge is VERY wonky which is sad because it is such a lovely shawl. By the way, just to get an idea of how big this thing is, our bed is a king size.

Here it is now draped over our three seater. Please ignore the mess in the background!

I really love this shawl and as I've said numerous times in previous posts, I also really love this yarn (Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine).

Now on to waaaay less dramatic knits. So above took care of the craving to block something, now on to the craving to knit something. I started a cardigan very early in the year and didn't want to discuss it for fear of jinxing it. Well, I shouldn't have been worried as it got jinxed anyways and now I don't know if I want to continue it. See, as I've said before in the past I don't really knit cardigans for myself right now because of my weight loss journey. So I really don't know why I cast on even as it was for a smaller size. Now I can't see myself in it and really want to do something more complicated all in line with the desire to really expand my knitting abilities this year. So sadly, it isn't going to happen with this particular cardigan but I recently got my hands on a pattern that fits the more complicated bill and it will be for my husband. However, I'll need to buy the yarn online and so I'm back to square one.

So, in order to take care of the pressing need to be creative and to make something I cast on for a very simple dishcloth/ washcloth. I knit it in an hour or so give or take the times I had to put it down so it was instant gratification. The yarn is the remainder of the Sugar and Cream yarn left over from my first entrelac attempt some time back, and I have to say, although it hasn't really filled that need to be creative hole, it has started to fill it.

Behold, something small and square and knit for hubby:

So, there you have it. I will be taking another look through my "stash" to see what inspiration leaps out at me. There's still the Juneberry shawl and the Aeolian to complete but I don't know if I'm feeling very enthusiastic about more shawls right now as I still have Damson and Ishbel to block. And really, what good is it having all these shawls besides the pleasure of knitting them, hmmmm?

What next? I'm not sure. Inspiration anyone??

Book recommendation anyone?

2011-02-11T16:57:00.000-04:00

Helloooooo!!!! I post with a request of sorts and am hoping that you guys can help me.

After recently reading a "five star" romance off of amazon the other day, my brain officially declared "NO MORE!" It now requires sensible, interesting yet fun fiction to read. It doesn't mean that I'm never going to read a romance again, but maybe not for a little bit. Someone has already recommended "The Elephant Keeper" and Del, I see that you're reading "The Thirteenth Tale". Is it any good? So that is two so far.

Recommendations please! Thanks in advance : )

Happy New Year!

2011-01-15T19:34:00.004-04:00

Happy New Year all!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2011 and beyond. I'm not saying that lightly either. If nothing else, let's try to take care of ourselves and our families this year. If that includes losing weight, quitting smoking, cutting back on alcohol, meditating more or whatever will improve your quality of life, just do it.

I had a long almost ranty type post previously prepared and ready to post on December 31st last year but alas I didn't post it for whatever reason and am kinda glad I didn't. It wasn't anything major - just very angry at my sewing machine as it kept breaking the thread and I was so eager to get to sewing a pants and a top for work. It was frustrating!!! Anyways, hubby rescued the thing from the garbage and he's supposed to take it to someone to get fixed.

Because of that, I actually picked back up the needles and started a project!! I won't tell you about it quite yet as I don't want to jinx my mojo. No, no secret knitting for a magazine or anything special like that (as if!) so don't get too excited for me LOL! I also found the perfect cardigan for my hubby and it also comes in children's sizes so my son will get one as well. The hope is to travel this year to family in New York for Thanksgiving so we will need some sort of protection from the chilly climes, so I figure the earlier the better in getting started and finishing well before then. Who knows, maybe we'll all get some mittens by then too.

So here's to a great year of knitting and sewing and crocheting and painting and any other crafty endeavours your hearts desire!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T20:22:00.000-04:00

All the best for the season from Casa KnittyKitty!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a very good day and that was the most important thing. I wish the same for you all!

In a knititng funk... and other stories

2010-11-29T08:52:00.002-04:00

Yep, so it's been a very long time since I've picked up my needles and did anything crafty. I've done more looking for inspiration (ever so often at that) on ravelry than anything else. I have more time to knit since finishing exams but really haven't done anything since then. Socks and shawls and blogs are languishing... the start of a cardigan frogged. It's beginning to feel like I need a stressful situation (like studying) to pick up the needles and do something. And no thank you fate, I am not asking for a stressful situation!!

Maybe it's the lack of a yarn store here that I could go in and fondle skeins at will and feel motivated to do something. Online shopping doesn't give that immediate satisfaction that a LYS would. Too many hops and charges just to get it into my hands.

But it isn't only the knitting that's suffering. It's the sewing, the French lessons and the weight loss. I feel stuck. I feel... aimless.Goal less. It feels like forever waiting for the official word on my accreditation. The most I've been doing nowadays is playing Bejeweled and Sudoku on my ipod. Excitement!

Christmas may find me a tad more invigorated but cautiously so as the government here has raised taxes and cut people's income. Luckily for my kids their presents were bought before the budgetary spanking was shared out...

Maybe I need a vacation. A positive change in scenery and something good and wonderful to happen to me...

Maybe by next post!

Drive by post

2010-10-15T18:30:00.000-04:00

Hello! Just popping in to say hi. Nothing more. No knitting updates or anything new there either. Thinking of Eileen from knitty.com.

This blog turned 4 years old on October 4th. Forgot it again.

Still trying to learn French.

Thinking of trying to sew a pants. Need a cool machine though.

Hopefully I'll get inspired to actually get past the swatch for Eileen.

How goes the crafty side of life for you guys? Hopefully better than mine!

What to do next...?

2010-09-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

Salutations! How is everyone doing? Apart from a slight headache that I'm fighting off and being a bit sleep hungover (I slept away most of the day and am now kinda loopy from it lol!) I'm just peachy.

Nothing new to report today apart from finishing Miralda. Well, I actually finished her on September 7th and have added her to my list of "to block" FOs. I'm very happy with her even though I messed up the kitchener bind off at the end. But you can't really tell that it's a mess because it blends very nicely into the stitches.

Below is my requisite awful photo of a beautiful FO (maybe I'll get a camera for Christmas... or by then the i.P.ads will come equipped with one).

Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine in Oceanic Mix
Needles: Size 6
Start date: August 7
Finish date: September 7

Again, this is a wonderfully simple knit with stunning results (don't take above photo quality word for it LOL!). I had been hankering to make it for a while and now that I have made it, I will say that it is worth every positive review it has gotten. I made mine with the nupps - other people have eliminated them and I'm pretty sure that would have made for faster knitting (I did have a few breaks in between knitting this so it wasn't a constantly going project) but I like the texture of the wearisome nupps!

So my only issue now is what to do next. There's Juneberry that I also want to make. I have the magazine and the yarn and the needles on standby already but it's just to get started. There's also my Aeolian shawl that has been sitting unattended for the past however long. I think I mentioned that the Deep V Argyle was finished as well? I can't remember and am too lazy to back back over my few posts LOL! I finished it August 8 and that too needs blocking.

Here it is (again?)

So apart from the knitting, I've just rekindled my love for the French language and have started taking classes to get back into it. I studied it at school but that was years ago and am rustier than a wrought iron gate by the seaside. But it's fun speaking and relearning it.

Finally, it's the hubster's birthday next week and once again I'm going looking for ingredients to make a no-bake cheesecake. I'm thinking of trying this but the night is young and there's time to find another one that has more reviews. I love N.ig.ella, but it would be comforting to try a recipe where more people can weigh in on it and give advice in case things go south.

What about you guys? What has been keeping you busy?

A bientot!

An unexpected day off

2010-08-31T17:39:00.002-04:00

Firstly, thank you guys for your birthday well wishes! It's nice to feel the love from near and far : )

Okay, who here doesn't like a day off? A day to relax, to unwind, to maybe catch up on a few minor chores or best of all to finish up a project. Well I certainly don't mind a day off, like I had today - but definitely not under these circumstances.

Have I mentioned before that I'm on the path to a healthier, better body? Read as I'm working out and trying to eat right. Some days, those two ends of the coin actually work well together and I feel super duper. Yesterday I had a good breakfast, drank my water, made a blueberry banana smoothie and had a nice lunch. In the evening, in an attempt to get the other side of the weight loss sucess coin going I headed off to the gym to the much anticipated step class. Let me say here that I've always been kind of afraid of the step - I look down at it to make sure my feet are on there properly and that I don't go flying across the room.

So, this was my third step class and it was going great! I was burning fat and sweating like nobody's business. Suddenly, the world went off kilter and guess what? I went flying across the room. Well not exactly flying but I can't for the life of me figure out how I got so far from the step AND facing the other direction. Man, the pain shot up and down my leg, and my ankle almost instantly began to expand.

Yes, not only was my ankle hurt but my pride as well. That class was full. And there were onlookers waiting to get in the class after that one. So, yah. I had to take the day off. I am now able to put some weight on the poor thing but now it is the size of a large egg.

The plus side of this sad tale is that I got to do some extra knitting on Miralda. I am getting to the point where the rows are getting noticably shorter and the pattern is really very evident. I have no doubt at all that the Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine was an excellent choice. I am almost finished this first skein of yarn and will have to take down my trusty-ish home made swift and get a-winding soon.

Wanna see a pic?

I am looking forward to finishing it up and blocking it. I'm going to have a blocking party soon too as Ishbel, Damson and the leaf tee all await some shaping love.

Well I'm off for now. I think my knee wants to join in on the hurting action.

Ciao!

Another year, another birthday

2010-08-18T19:40:00.000-04:00

Hola peeps!

Today is my birthday and it was a nice one. Nothing spectacular or mind blowing but I felt covered in love and appreciation and those are two things that no one should be short on. Plus it was a vast improvement over last year. Those were not good times!

So the hubby bought me a beautiful foodie gift basket. See below!

In there I found camembert cheese - an acquired taste for me I have to say! Table water biscuits seasoned with black pepper to go with the cheese. A bar of Lindt white coconut chocolate, St. Dalfour's peach preserves, a box of mixed teas, roasted seaweed, bamboo rolling mat and paddle, sushi rice and white miso soup and to top it off pirouline chocolate hazelnut cookies. If you can't tell by now, I am a closet foodie. I love food mainly because I get so bored of the traditional fare we tend to cook here. Once I do my research I'll try my hand at the sushi. But since it takes years and years and more years to become a sushi master, I'll settle for just being able to make something that vaguely resembles what I get in the restaurants and hopefully taste just as good... or relatively close. LOL!

Last post I mentioned that I was going to make a white chocolate cheesecake for my birthday but it didn't happen. Went to the store and behold, no white chocolate. So I resolved to make this cake instead. Another no-bake cake. Here's evidence of my attempt:

As you can see, it's not quite like Martha's LOL! It did set up quite nicely as promised but after the minimum 6 hour leave alone requirement, it tasted like someone spilled chocolate in their ricotta. The tastes did not as they say on the cooking channel marry each other. However, a day and a spoon later revealed that this cake is really quite good! I used pulverized oreos instead of the wafers and that added even more fat, er, taste. The oreo crumbs didn't stand up to the top layer of the ricotta/chocolate mixture and kind of spread outwards to the sides. It's not a cake that can sit on the counter for a long time for obvious reasons and so it is not remembered that often by the rest of the family. But I guarantee you that once I pull out a saucer and put a slice on it, everyone wants piece. I don't think I'll make it again though. The ingredients are quite expensive (eg USD$14 for a litre of ultra pasteurized cream that I'm not using everyday...) and a pill to find.

Okay, so that's the cooking/ food section of the blog for the day. On to knitting. No pics (as it kind of looks almost the same as you last saw it) but Miralda is coming along beautifully as last indicated. I am now to the diamonds. Somewhere along the way, I neglected to decrease three stitches so now I have 284 instead of the required 281. I am going to fudge it and take off the extra stitches at the ends and hope that doesn't mess my knitting life up too badly.

So that's it for me today. Another year God has blessed me with good life and the ability to enjoy my family and that's the best birthday gift I can think of!

Progress!

2010-08-15T11:07:00.001-04:00

One of the first things I did this morning after getting out of bed was to reach across to my bedside table and grab Miralda and start to knit on her. This is really shaping up beautifully in the pattern itself and the colour of the shawl. Since this is a bottom up shawl (well that's what I call it anyways - is that the correct term?) there's alot of the knitted fabric in hand after each row passes and this berroco ultra alpaca feels heavenly. No sneezing or itching here so maybe that other yarn for the clogs as mentioned in a previous post had in a different combination or different fiber content. Anyways, this a total joy so far.

Just a heads up though - this pattern comes with an two errata sheets here and here.

Here's a pic to show you how far I've gotten:

Besides the knitting, I have a few other plans that my husband in particular is looking forward to - the main one being my first attempt at making a no-bake white chocolate cheesecake presumably for my birthday on Wednesday (it takes 24 hours to set - or so the recipe tells me) but I somehow think that he'll get into it once it's set tomorrow.

What are your plans for this beautiful Sunday morning?

Let the knitting begin (again anyways)

2010-08-06T15:13:00.000-04:00

After a fair amount of postman stalking, my expected package arrived. I am very happy to finally have in my hands the St-Denis Nordique yarn in ruby wine, Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine yarn and the St-Denis Magazine issue 2. Here are a few of my cell phone pics attached:

St-Denis Nordique in Ruby Wine and St-Denis Magazine Issue 2

The St-Denis Nordique is 100% wool and does not feel terribly soft under my fingers. It doesn't feel terrible either - just a tad coarse. Not as coarse as hemp but not as soft as Malabrigo lace. The colour is deep and rich and to my untrained eye the balls looks the same without any mild variations of red.

Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in Oceanic Mix

Now I must confess that I am totally in love with the Berroco. I really wasn't sure what to expect with this yarn and the colour. But the colour is totally amazing. It is a beautiful mix of blue and subtle greens that the cell camera isn't picking up. The name Oceanic Mix is absolutely spot on as it reminds me of our beaches on a hot scorching day - much like today! It's soft and a bit hairy. Which brings to mind a memory of itchy nostrils and skin back when I was knitting some clogs out of an alpaca blend of yarn. Someone suggested to me then freezing the yarn before knitting and that did work. I don't suspect or rather I hope not to have any problems of that kind with this beautiful yarn.

I'm torn as to which one to start first! The Juneberry Triangle or the Miralda Shawl. Decisions decisions!

Unpaused

2010-07-28T22:35:00.003-04:00

Hello readers! Are you confused? Don't be... just changing up the look of the ol' blog here. I didn't really like that last template design (plus it wiped out all my previous FO's and WIP's lists... they should be mostly back now...) and have settled on a simpler cleaner layout. Hope you like! I do : )

While away, hubby and I celebrated 10 years of married-ness. That certainly went by fast! We celebrated by going to our fave Japanese/Thai restaurant and took the kids since it coincided with our daughter's birthday with was a few days after our anniversary. The highlight of the evening was their attempts at eating with the chop sticks and my son wondering why the rice was so clumped together LOL!!(Bajan men prefer their rice grains not so cozy with each other!). I had the tasting menu which consisted of tempura veggies and a tempura prawn (which was given promptly to hubby because of my shell fish allergy), a California roll, some sashimi, a giant salad, teriyaki chicken and jasmine rice. The kids had teriyaki chicken and beef and hubby had a shellfish dish off the Thai menu. Dessert was icecream for me and fried cheesecake for the kiddos. We were well stuffed!! It wasn't the cruise that I was hoping to do but it was fun nonetheless.

Since June I've been on pause with regards to my studies. I sat my last two exams and had to wait six weeks to get my results.With much trepidation and with my heart in my mouth, I clicked on "course history", scrolled down and looked for that magical word. That one word that carried with it so many possibilities. See, the word could be either Failed or Passed.

Failed would mean having to resit the exam, delay in getting certified and just the overall feeling of depression stemming from the failure and acceptance of the loss of money spent to the course (about $600+ Cad a pop!).

Passed would mean the complete opposite - it would involve looking at the world through certified eyes, it would mean I did not spend the last few months studying so hard for nothing, it would mean that I'll be a bad ass - in a good way! LOL! It would mean SUCCESS.

People, I saw PASSED. On BOTH courses so this means that I am officially done with my studies. There's one more administrative step and I'll have those three extra letters behind my name. To say I am happy would be the biggest understatement of the year. But, it's late and I cannot think of anything smart and cute to say that would impress you so happy it is.

Completion of my studies as a student should essentially mean that I should be knitting like a woman starved for her needles and yarn. But I am not. It's like my body is on a strike or something - refusing to do anything that entails reading or the s-word i.e. studying. Reading a pattern right now involves figuring out instructions and following instructions and the like. I did however, at least TRY to start Miralda from Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions but I seemed to have some difficulty counting the 300+ stitches needed for the cast on. When I figured that out, I kept doing something really stupid and wasn't getting the required amount of stitches at the end of the rows. Once I got that sorted out, I realized that I really and truly didn't like how it was knitting up with the Malabrigo Lace. It was too fuzzy and the stitch definition was crap. So I frogged it, found a yarn store that ships directly to Barbados without charging me my first born son and bought two skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine in some bluish colourway, three skeins of St. Denis Nordique in Ruby Wine to make the Juneberry shawl (cause I love the colour of Jared Flood's!) and the St-Denis Magazine issue 2. As we speak they should be on their way. I say should because the whole shipping thing is another story. It would be extra nice to get these this week but that's me being very very hopeful. So once those arrive I should be in the mood to knit one or the other.

Then I'll have some actual knitting content to share.

Victory

2010-07-02T09:48:00.002-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen(?) Damson is done. There is nothing quite like finishing up a project that was so easy to knit but yet has beautiful results! Well the results will be beautiful once I block it. Like the Ishbel before it, Damson will remain unblocked until I get my hands on some blocking mats and blocking wires. Hopefully that will be this month once I get a few things on my list squared away.

Here she is in all of her unblocked glory:

I had one or two problems with this pattern though - even as ridiculously easy as it was. I lost count of some yarn overs and was too lazy to go back and untink my mistakes (I did a lot of untinking further on but not on this initial error) If you look closely at the two main yarnover sections there you will see that I am talking about. The problem is so minor in my books that I've left it as is and am still happy. I guess mainly because it's an error on both sides. Now if it was an error on only one side it would have been ripped out.

Second problem is that I ran out of yarn. On the bind off - halfway through. Bah. I asked if any one over on ravelry had some scraps to send me and was basically told to go buy a skein. People can be so nice! I guess it's which part of the world you hail from and maybe your knitty superstardom as well. I can't imagine anyone not helping the yarnharlot should she have a similar quandry. But then again, such a harlot would never run out of yarn on the bind off. Maybe I shouldn't expect those who purport to be nice to be actually so. Maybe I shouldn't think that everyone out there will do as I have done in the past. Ah well. I wound up getting out some debbie bliss 100% merino yarn I had, cutting off a length of it, splitting it in two sections (each section made up of 3 strands of yarn), splicing it to the malabrigo sock yarn and binding off. If this is successful remains to be seen when I block this baby out.

So next up is my prize! Earthtonesgirl - Denise sent me the lovely skein of yarn that I won over on her blog some weeks back. She mailed it when she said she would and it arrived in no time at all! I LOVE getting good mail and this definitely falls into that category. Here are two pics of the yarn. Denise, if you're reading, we weren't able to take the skein to Oistins for a photo op as we've all (excepting hubby) been under the weather and are now recovering. My daughter had the worst of it I think as on top of her cold, she had a double eye infection. Not pretty at all but today her eyes are nice and clear. Hooray for medicine!

Yarn looking wistfully out of the window wondering where the heck she is:

Yarny in better light:

Thanks again to Denise! I have a few ideas about what I want to make with it so stay tuned if you will : )

Today if everything goes well, the much talked about Miralda will be cast on. Yay!

Later guys!

Nothin' like a Friday at home

2010-06-18T09:35:00.000-04:00

To get me back in the swing of things, I've picked back up Damson first. It is a simple knit - mind you I am not sure where I went wrong on a few rows back but had to do some creative knitting to get to the right stitch count one or two times - and I figured that's the best place to get my fingers and wrists accustomed to the needles and yarn thing once again. Aeolian might have been a little fiddly going back in as the yarn I'm using is very thin and not to mention the beads!

Here are two progress pics. The yarn being black might make it a tad hard to see, coupled with the fact that I've taken said pics with my cell phone camera. But you get the idea!

It is an enjoyable knit that's for sure.

So what else is on the cards today? The family has requested some bread and chocolate cake - it seems as though they intend to fill up my free time as best as they could - no hardship though! They know that I enjoy the process of baking thoroughly so it's a win win.

Well, I best get to it then. Happy knitting all - and baking too ; )

What a wonderful way to get back in the swing - er knit of things!

2010-06-11T22:27:00.003-04:00

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

My - well if it hasn't been a month of Sunday's since I've been on here. That's because I've been studying two intense courses at once all in the name of becoming certified in my career. I do not know the results until later and am excited and nervous and do not want to think about them until I really have to.

I've missed being on here and am happy to get back to it : ) Knitting is the first order of business and call it a good sign or just call it luck but I just got home, opened up my email to read that I've won a skein of yarn over at Earthtonesgirl !!!! I can't remember the last time I won anything - actually that's because I've never won anything that I can remember. I am just already imagining what I'll knit with my surprise.

So what have you all been up to? Knitting like crazy I hope! LOL! Over here in addition to knitting I've been baking up a storm using the The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes my favourite so far being the old fashioned raisin bread. I've made hamburger buns too and they came out great as well. The only one that didn't come out so great was the vienna bread but that was totally my fault. I didn't (and still don't) know how to shape the bread into an oval and stuffed it (with a tad more effort than was required) into a loaf pan. Came out shapeless and a little small because of the mistreatment but the texture and taste was excellent. Will try again soon. Danishes may be on the agenda next because the folks in this house loves them some home baked bread!

Sewing - ah yes, that has also been going on amid the studying and baking. I'm still learing to sew and the class that I am taking is a free hand class so it has its pros and cons but I think I'll be able to sew a shirt on my own if my notes are good enough. Actually, this weekend I'm planning to try to make one for my son. We'll see how well that turns out. I'm hopeful!

Not really last and not least is Plants versus Zombies. I just bought it on my iTouch and the kids and I are hooked. Hubby is even thinking of giving it a try LOL! It is really addictive. Those zombies are kinda cute - but creepy... especially when you first start the level and they warn "we're coming..." ...shudder.

Okay, that's it for now. This weekend I plan to reintroduce myself to the movies with S.AT.C 2, Karate Kid, Ir.on Ma.n and Rob.in Hoo.d. How lovely life looks now that I am not covered in books! Crossing all crossables that everything goes in my favour.

Later my friends!

First Entrelac

2010-04-16T16:05:00.003-04:00

Hihi!

Just sticking my head in to say hi :D Things are still busy over here but we were able to get a little vacation thrown in which was a welcome distraction. For me it was a working vacation as I still had assignments to study for and submit. We took a trip to visit that famous mouse over in Orlando - yep - we went to D*isn*ey. The kids had a blast as this was their first trip. They were mostly well behaved and we all got back safe and sound so I say it was a success all around.

The only down side to the trip was that I did not get to go to the two yarn stores that were closest to where we were staying as they were both 45-50 minutes away. Ah well, next time! I did get to visit a Joann's and was totally overwhelmed by all the gorgeous stuff they sell! I got some dress patterns for myself and my daughter, the latest IK knits, Vogue knitting, a rotary cutter and a few sewing books.

Since getting back however, I was met with some school drama that took me for a loop. Someone used my work as their own and I was punished along with them for it. I was totally oblivious that it happened as I was having fun in Orlando. So, I resorted to my old friend knitting and was able to get my heartrate down to an acceptable level. I spent a few hours knitting this discloth turned wash cloth from half a skein of one of the two sugar and cream skeins of yarn I bought in Joann's.

Here are the results of my first ever entrelac attempt.

I am happy with it and plan to do more since I am now confident with it and know what to expect. I used this pattern (ravelry link) and it was pretty straight forward and easy to follow. If you haven't tried entrelac for whatever reason, give this pattern a try and you shouldn't be disappointed.

Until next time knitty friends!

A few choice words...

2010-02-03T17:50:00.002-04:00

... that sum up what's been going on this end.

Studying

Damson

Studying

Freaking out about assignments

Judo

LOST

Studying and feeling pressured to study.

Hope your choice words are more fun than mine!!!

If you have a moment or two...

2010-01-13T18:32:00.002-04:00

Please pray for Haiti.

My daughter's school sponsors a number of orphans there and we don't know if they are alive or dead. Such distruction, so much loss...

Sometimes people ask for prayer and we say "yes, I'll remember them in prayer" and don't. Also, see if any legitimate organizations near you need donations of food/ clothes/ toilettries as so many people only have the clothes on their back as their only possessions.

I'll do my part. Will you?

My knitting basket

2010-01-05T21:04:00.005-04:00

Since Old Years Night I've been thinking long and hard about which knitting project to start 2010 with. I need a strong project I said to myself. Something a little different but interesting... something that can be knit from my stash because I am holding off buying yarn until March (I think...) and guess what I came up with.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

Not a good way to kick off the new knitting year! But as the old people here say "tekking time ain't laziness". So I've given it a bit more thought because since Ishbel (which remains unblocked in the yarn hamper!) I haven't touched my knitting. And I really need to. When studying, knitting has been a calming yet productive go to to relax my mind and get me through the next chapters. But I just wasn't getting around to making a final decision. So I pulled out this tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen (?) my knitting basket:

Let's take a look at what's in there:

On the Needles

1. Deep V Argyle Vest (on the second arm band with the neck to go and will be done)
2. Pomatomus socks - or shall I say sock? Shall I gift it? Have two people in mind
3. Aeolian shawl - I would love to knit on this but the beads take too much concentration. Right now, I can do a more challenging project but sans the fiddly beads thank you.
4. The beginnings of Tussie Mussie that will probably be frogged.

Yarn

The yarn is sitting in there to inspire me to get on the other projects I said I would start and finish

1. Rowan kidsilk night for the Bird's Eye Shawl
2. Malabrigo Lace for the Miralda Shawl
3. Handmaiden Seasilk in Rose for ??
4. Various skeins of sock yarn for my son's socks (owed him a pair for his birthday!)
5. A few skeins of Rowan Calmer - maybe that hoodie for my daughter
6. Rowan wool cotton originally for the Tussie Mussie - maybe that hoodie for my son

A few books and patterns litter the basket as well along with my notions. It's virtually a project or 10 waiting to happen!!! So what I am going to choose?

I'm thinking Pomatomus - since one sock is almost done and the other shouldn't take too long, it will make for a good first FO for 2010. At the very least, working on them will give me time to decide on project number 2.

Pomatomus progress:

What project did you kick the New Year off with?

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T10:25:00.002-04:00

Wow! 2010. Sounds so futuristic no? LOL!

I hope everyone had a blast last night whatever you did. I'm looking forward to this year filled with great expectations for the future - knitting included.

Has anyone done the requisite new year's resolutions? One of my knitting ones is to attend at least ONE of the big knitting gatherings like a stitches east or a knitting retreat. We'll see : )

What are your knitting resolutions and otherwise?

To 2010! May it bring us God's continued blessings, peace, excellent health, and success in whatever we put our hands to : )

Unblocked Ishbel

2009-11-27T16:07:00.006-04:00

Here's Ishbel - unblocked and not even a full pic at that. I need some blocking wires as I'm so tired of the pins. So, hopefully the stores will get the non flux welding wires before long.

Gotta run. Will chat later : )

Resurfacing

2009-11-25T15:40:00.002-04:00

Hello all! Just dropping in for a drive by post : ) I've been incognito for a bit because of the whole studying thing as well as very recently being confined to bed with three bouts of being unwell - back to back to back. And while on vacation. But I am much better now and so happy to be feeling so.

I must confess that I haven't been doing much knitting since crunch time is here (Ishbel being my latest FO - still unblocked as I type...) - except for a few rows on my pomatomus sock last Friday with my friend Suz from the UK. She came in for a visit and again we met up for lunch and knitting. It was a wonderful afternoon : )

Next semester might require a bit more planning as I've taken on a greater study load all in the name of reaching the finish line all that sooner, so planning the knitting to keep me sane is imperative. Last year, my friend Colette gave me a wonderful gift of a pattern to her lovely Bird's Eye Shawl (rav link)that I didn't buy enough yarn for. I've ordered two skeins (for a total of 4) Rowan Kidsilk Night in order to start. That along with the Aestlight shawl and maybe a hat or two for some fam in the cold climes will keep everthing honky dory. But we'll see as two sets of assignments, quizzes and deadlines will require some proper planning. Wish me well!

So hopefully, I'll be able to post the pics of Ishbel (most likely in it's unblocked state) and maybe a finished sock before the week is out. Hope everyone's knitting is keeping them busy, happy and content : )

Promised pics

2009-10-30T16:26:00.004-04:00

So I told you guys about a little package I was expecting yesterday. And here are the contents!

Tada!

The plan here is to wear the agree and disagree shirts as communication tools. When someone cuts us off at the roundabout - I'll shake my head and point to the disagree logo. No need to get all riled up! LOL! And when having a discussion with the hubster I'll just point to the agree logo so he'll know what response I expect from him. LOL! The pink tee is too small for me right now but I'll get into it soon!

As for Ishbel, here are two pics of the progress I was telling y'all about.

Seriously, a quick knit! I hope to finish it this weekend but I'm not going to hold myself to that as I have one more law quizz to submit and the reading on this one is looooong. And the weekend might shape up to be a busy one as hubby is in a martial arts tournament tomorrow and we're all going. Then there's laundry and church and homework and getting ready for Monday.

So what are you guys up to this weekend?

Making mad progress

2009-10-29T20:39:00.002-04:00

Ishbel is coming along amazingly fast. There is a stockinette portion and 7 vine lace sections - dependent upon which size you make - and I am on the 4th vine section! And it's only been a week almost since I started it. Could be my sheer determination that is pushing it along - LOL! but I bet the size 6 needles and malabrigo sock yarn has a thing or two to do about it.

Pics to come soon - along with one other package that I should be receiving tomorrow!

Until later... I'm about to get my spot on the couch ready with knitting and books in time for some serious tv watching tonight (although baseball is pre-empting Fringe - AGAIN!! Grrrrr!).

Have a good night everyone!

So happy I can do the dance of joy!

2009-10-22T23:51:00.008-04:00

Ok, so of late it doesn't take much to make me happy, especially when it comes to yarn and knitting. I've been having such a bad experience lately with the skybox services I've been using to get my purchased online items here in Barbados that I just gave up (after the hassle of vat, duties, handling, shipping and every other imaginable cost made me spend way in excess for my items and eventually frustrated me with the wait for the delivery)and found an online store that ships directly to Barbados. It cost me $16.05 USD to ship it but the money and frustration that was saved OY!! I've said all this to say that I've got my yarn! Oh happy day! Sitting on my table awaiting further instructions are 2 skeins of malabrigo sock yarn (for the Ishbel and something other lucky shawl), 2 skeins of malabrigo lace destined to become the Miralda shawl and finally the 2 Debbie Bliss Rialto skeins needed to finish my deep v argyle. Now I have high hopes for the miralda shawl using the malabrigo lace as over 200 peeps over at ravelry used it to sucesfully knit her.

So here we go:

First up, my ZUMA! Lol! I did promise you a pic of it didn't I?

Sad Zuma (my imagination is working over time it seems - she looks sad/angry here LOL!!)

Just flip her handles and now she's happy ZUMA!

Sock yarn, lace yarn and dk yarn

All caked up

Malabrigo sock - in black

Malabrigo lace - in Rich Chocolate colourway (only wound one skein as it was fairly sticky and gave some trouble on my makeshift swift...)

Debbie Bliss Rialto in black

I would apologize for the quality of the pics but you've heard that story before : )

So I've got my materials, some time in between and the desire to knit. If I reckon it correctly, there should be some new FOs on here before the year is out!

There has been knitting

2009-10-14T16:48:00.005-04:00

(I'm so delinquent sometimes...) October 4th marked 3 years of blogging over here a la knittykitty in the tropics. I'm persistent if not terribly entertaining at least! LOL! Thanks to all you guys who come out and read - you don't always leave a comment but it's nice to know you are there : )

So, what have I been doing? Well, most of the knitting around here has taken place in my head as I have to wait until my shipment from yarnzilla arrives. I've ordered some Malabrigo sock yarn in black to knit Ishbel (I wasn't happy how the Cashbah and Handmaiden seasilk were knitting up so frogged the starts about twice each time!), some Malabrigo Lace in chocolate brown for the Miralda Shawl, and finally the two extra balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto in black to complete the Deep V Argyle vest. I'm not feeling inspired to knit anything like a shirt or cardigan as they seem to take me forever (case in point the raglan leaf tee!) so I've picked back up my dpns and have started another pair of pomatomus socks. I knit these socks some back for a swap I was in and have decided to knit another pair but this time for me. The cashbah that was ill-fated for the Ishbel shawl is working out just fine for the socks. And the second time is going just fine.

Here's a pic of the socks in progress:

And another angle of the same:

Finally, here's a pic of the unblocked raglan leaf tee. I'm happy that it's done but I really do not want to knit another one - too much stockinette!

I hope to have the pomatomus socks completed before the end of the month (I'm just filling the gap with them until my other yarn arrives). I'm not sure I'll wear them as the only need for socks around these parts are for when you're exercising or not feeling well and I'm not sure I want to take my hard work and stuff them into a pair of sneaks of use them on vicks vapo-rubo feet! I may keep em in case I have to travel to somewhere cold or may even gift them. Who knows!

I hope there's been succesful and satisfying knitting going on on your side of the screen. Don't be shy - post and let me know what's on your needles!

Until later, happy knitting : )

Things that I am learning slowly but surely

2009-09-30T19:51:00.002-04:00

A few wisdom nuggets:

1. Never cast your pearls before swine. They will trample them and you in the process if given half a chance.
2. Never get tired of doing good even when people treat you indifferently, speak ill of you or take your kindness spit and take a dump on it. It's hard, but I hear it can be done.
3. Don't stand for people's crap. You don't have to. Don't give it. Don't take it. Don't let anyone make you think you should take it just cause they are sharing it out.
4. Keep your head high and your eyes on the prize. Rejoice in the happiness of others and encourage those who need it. Expect nothing, not even basic civility in exchange but always give more than others expect in the way of kindness and it will bode you well.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled knitting blog.

Another one down...

2009-09-28T20:39:00.003-04:00

And just in time before 2200. LOL! Finished the Leaf T-shirt. Looks good. Fits well. No pics yet cause I had a headache and went to bed early. Now I'm up and don't feel like doing anything - not even watching House. I may regret that later tho...

So now that shirt is off the needles, now I can start Ishbel. Tomorrow maybe.

Steeks and more

2009-09-21T17:06:00.006-04:00

What a past week and some! I feel as though I've been fighting and struggling and being forced to wait for no other reason than the people I've had to deal with just didn't care if Good Friday fell on a Monday. Looking back, I'm now wondering if I was a part of some bizarre experiment to see just how far these companies could push me without me going completely batty. So, unbeknownst to them, they have won. I'm officially tired and fed up. So what's a girl to do when she's in this state of mind? Well, she takes a scissors to her knitting that's what!!! Ol' Deep V Argyle came in very handy when the need for me to "destroy" something rose up hard and strong! Mind you, I have not finished knitting the thing because, well, apparently I didn't order enough black yarn to complete the arm and neck bands. Come to think of it, it's kinda ironic. I've taken to my knitting to vent some frustration on being made to wait unreasonable lengths of time and still have to turn around and wait to finish the said project because I don't have enough yarn.

So here's some steeking action:

Before - all ready to be cut apart

During - getting my cutting action on:

After:
Oops, no after pic yet... blogger is misbehaving

It wasn't hard at all in case you're wondering. I used the crochet steek as suggested in the pattern and it worked like a charm. Now, as soon as I get the one skein of Debbie Bliss Rialto needed I'll be ready to finally put this thing to bed - after a year and two months. For shame. There's no hurry anyways. Where the heck am I gonna wear it???(!)

After some drama, I've finally gotten my hands on the books I ordered a while back (man, what I would do for a borders right about now!!!!) And one other special gift to self that I have been longing for for the past two years I think!

Yes, that's my ipod touch 3rd generation! Newest model hot off the presses. I would tell you about how I managed to get this while sitting in church chatting through a sermon but it would take too much explaining so we'll just leave it at that ; ) I'm enjoying it but not as much as I would hope mainly because there are restrictions in itunes because of where I live. Imagine that! I'm in the process of a work around so I'm hoping for a solution by tonight. Crossing my crossables!

As for the books... I have browsed through them all rather quickly and am eager to sit down and spend some quality time with them. Already, Julia's recipes are calling to me especially her chocolate cake. I made a variation to her sponge cake on Sunday for my hubby's birthday but sponge cakes all taste the same so no true test of if this book is worth its mettle as yet. And I'm sure it is! The quilting books need some special love too and I'm eager to start but soon there will be some construction going on around here and cracking out quilting supplies will not be logical. Again, I have to wait. The last book there "Ma.ke You.r Pl.ace" is very interesting and I can see myself applying and using lots of the wonderful homey ideas in there. Really good book for DIY-ers who are concerned about chemicals in and around the home. Got the suggestion for the book from another blog that I cannot recall right now... but definitely worth a look-see!

Anyways, time to get some supper on the table. Simple simple tonight - flying fish cutters! I know these are going to go down without a complaint!

Until next post!

Coming soon...

2009-09-14T18:05:00.003-04:00

Z.uma in Saddle

A late birthday present from hubby. Also getting the buddy case in colour saddle as well. I.cannot.wait.

And so the bandwagon(s) have been jumped upon...

2009-09-05T11:19:00.006-04:00

or rather almost.

People, I've bought the Ishbel pattern. At 3 Great Britain pounds (Barbados $10.15!!), it is by far the most expensive single pattern that I've purchased. I hope it's worth it. I've put into cake form my skein of Handmaiden Cashbah that I bought from Moulinee last year (!) while in Canada. I sincerely hope that the varigation in colour (because it is hand dyed) doesn't distract from the pattern - or drive me bonkers, whichever comes first. The colour is a bit deeper than shown here and I see potential for an awesome turnout.

Handmaiden Cashbah:

So... I did mention bandwagon(s). Ishbel is one and quilting is another. I've bought my first quilting books and they should be here some time next week. I've been seeing so many beautiful quilts out there on the various blogs that I visit that the temptation could not be resisted. So there. Ooo Ooo, not to mention I've leapt on the most popular of them all (well for right now anyways) and bought the Jul.ia Ch.ild cookbook Mast.ering The A.rt Of French Coo.king! I've wanted to get this for a while now but only decided to get it since the movie just came out. Yes, ever so often I am a marketer's dream.

We'll see how this all turns out what with classes having just restarted and deep v argyle and raglan leaf tee almost done! Aeolian is on break until I get deep v out of my system (actually looking forward to the steeking bit - I hope hope hope that the debbie bliss rialto that I'm using steeks and blocks well!).

And just for the fun of it, here's a view out my study window. A little Caribbean blue sky and coconut trees for you all!

More updates... soon!

Deep V Argle progress

2009-08-30T15:31:00.004-04:00

So, I'm back and thank God, much better. What a rough past few weeks! But in the midst of it, I realised that as bad as I thought I had it, there are people out there worse off than me that would have been happy to only have gone through what I had. Gave me a new perspective on things.

Thanks so much to Colette and Sandra who wished me a happy birthday : ) It was so nice to get such warm regards especially when I was feeling so horrid. My daughter and son are so much better too - just in time for school. Geez... school! In a few days the old routine starts again only now the kids are in higher classes. Time is really flying.

And... so are my needles! Behold, the Deep V Argyle progress. I had misplaced the bottom section of this size vest and a kind raveler so kindly assisted me by sending me a copy of it... you wouldn't believe how many people read my post for help and didn't even acknowledge me! I had proof of purchase but still it was a problem apparently - but whatever LOL! So, since getting the bottom chart I was well on my way again and even though I cannot quite say when I will be wearing this as there weren't any plans to my knowledge for a visit to Canada this year. We are planning a trip to Orlando - if it comes off is anyone's guess at this stage... airfare is EXPENSIVE!! - so maybe then if all works out.

It has come a long way from this hasn't it! I am so looking forward to it being done even for its own sake. I have been fairly monogamous with it and it's wearing on me a bit. This will be my first time steeking anything so I will make a point to take pics of the major event. Next I may finish off the raglan tee - I have made significant progress on that too and only need a few more inches before I'm complete! Then there's the Aeolian. I have been distracted by the Aestlight, Ulmus and Miralda's Shawl. Hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday and along with a new knitting bag, I think I'll get me some yarn for these projects, a beginner's quilting book and a pedometer.

In non-knitting news, some of my favourite shows are coming to a season finale i.e. Eure.ka and Tr.ue Blo.od. Sigh. Where did the time go? At least Ma.d M.en has finally started. Oh Don... why are you so naughty? And I've got Hou.se to look forward to as well. I wonder when Private Practice restarts? I've also started a new course and actually look forward to getting started as, the sooner I get finished with this, the sooner I get started and finished on the others and then I'll be free, FREE I tell you! I can almost taste it now. Yum.

Happy Birthday to... Me!

2009-08-18T20:20:00.003-04:00

Somebody, please slow down time! How is it that I'm a year older when I quite easily remember when I thought THIRTY was old! I've eclipsed thirty by a few years now LOL but at least I'm dealing with it a whole lot better.

I would like to say that I did some mahvelous things today like going to the spa and finally using that mani/pedi/facial gift certificate from mother's day and I'd like to say that I topped it off by going back to Zen for an awesome birthday dinner and capped it off by spending a few nights at one of the best hotels on the island but... I can't. See, for the past couple of weeks I've been VERY under the weather. Throat issues, skin issues that had me visit the ER and now on my birthday a bad cold that suspiciously sounds like bronchitis. What's a girl to do? And add to it my daughter is also under the weather. So, not much celebrating today but as soon as we're recovered, I will be doing all of the good stuff listed above!

So, for now I'll settle for a bit of tv watching, some knitting, my little one feeling better and a speedy return of my sense of taste. I've got a chocolate mocha cake waiting in the refrigerator!

Nice long weekend of knitting

2009-08-03T19:14:00.003-04:00

Hello!

First things first. Thank you to Sandra and Susan for your anniversary wishes : ) We had a good time at the restuarant (even when hubby ate half - he was going to eat the whole thing before I stopped him - of the wasabi pat on my plate!) and are definitely going back for my birthday this month.

What a nice long weekend on this end. Hope you guys can say the same for yourselves : ) I was off from Friday and today is a bank holiday so that's four days of maxing and relaxing on this end. Let's see... we didn't do anything of report on Friday but on Saturday we went over to some friends' house and had a really wonderful evening talking and eating delicious food. Our kids played till after midnight! Sunday, we took the kids to see I.ce Ag.e 3 and Dana didn't like it very much at all because it scared her : ( Later that night we went to a surprise birthday party and got home after 12 a.m. (late for us!) and slept in late today. Today I did a bit of baking and the kids went to visit their grandparents while I stayed at home and exercised a bit and knit. So it was busy and restful at the same time.

Of course I was also doing some blog stalking and all those wonderful projects out there have me so inspired! One of them being Ishbel. Man, everyone and their mama (is?) are knitting this shawl! It is pretty and seems to have the right amount of stockinette and lace to make it an interesting knit. We'll see. I'm working on the Aeolian and that is taking awhile so Ishbel will have to wait a bit I guess. I'm also looking for another sewing book that might be helpful. There's a site that sells plus sized patterns and I shot them off an email asking if they gave instruction on how to assemble the garment too. They haven't written back as yet. Either they're laughing their collective heads off or it was too silly a question to reply to! LOL! So, do patterns come with instructions on how to assemble them? It wouldn't make sense buying a pattern and not know how to put it together now would it.

Anyways, no pics today (again). The camera is back in its rightful owner's hands. I'm eyeing the ipod touch for my birthday. If it has a camera attached that would just sink it for me! Maybe I can wrangle my dh into getting me both ; )

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-07-22T18:23:00.002-04:00

Today is our anniversary. 9 years being married, 12 together. Wow... that sounds like a long time but really, it's not. I can see how people stay married for 40 years and think nothing of it.

Tonight, we're going out for sushi. My first time! I'm very excited as we haven't had a dinner out with just the two of us in ages. Ages! Next year, God willing, we hope to do something special... maybe a trip or cruise.

Have a great evening everyone! Thanks for stoppin' by! I'm off to eat sushi!

Simple socks and Aeolian Progress

2009-07-14T22:44:00.004-04:00

Hello! So, it's been a little while but there has been knitting. I've completed a pair of pink varigated socks made with some Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn in the colourway Sherbert. They were very quick knit and she's so happy to have them. This picture really does not do the socks justice as I took them with my 2 megapixel cell phone camera. They are a beautiful colour nonetheless! They are ribbed and plain stockinette stitch all the way. I've promised my son a similar pair but in a blue varigated colourway (I forget the correct name and I'm tres sleepy so don't hold it against me - LOL!)

Here they are:

Next is the Aeolian progress with an equally horrible shot. I hope you can work your imagination around this one and see how lovely it really is! The yarn is so thin but it is knitting up pretty nicely. The beads are so pretty too! They go well together thank goodness. Maybe I'll get an awesome camera for my birthday and I'll be able to take better pics and show you. Hopefully also, I should be closer to finishing it by then! This is a big shawl! Gorgeous but big.

Here she is:

I'm still going at my other projects, thanks for asking and have made some serious leeway on the raglan leaf tee. I gotta learn to knit faster!!! This is just stockinette for the most part... maybe that's my problem right there. Too boring. Love the material that's being worked up though. I will pick back up my deep v argyle vest too. Then I won't feel so badly about pushing on with the Tussie Mussie cardigan. I will want some smaller projects to keep me sane through all this lace and stockinette!

On a non-knitting note, I've done some serious damage to my lappy's LCD screen and was very down about it. I hope it doesn't cost as much as the laptop to replace!

Happy knitting all. I'm wiped from my walk this afternoon and from a very emotional day after getting some sad news.

Until next post...

Aeolian - officially started

2009-06-05T08:05:00.002-04:00

No pics yet as it really doesn't look like anything much right now but I'm still happy to report that I have finally started the Aeolian Shawl. The beads that I chose are working perfectly with the colour yarn and even though it's a bit fiddly right now trying to get the bead on the stitch with a crochet hook while holding on to two needles and arranging the slippery yarn so it doesn't come off the needles - I am getting the hang of it!

I'll try to get a pic once the batteries for the camera have charged and before I hand it back over to its rightful owner.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Drive by post

2009-05-20T16:17:00.003-04:00

Posting so the blog won't feel neglected. Is anyone reading any of this?

So, point form to say what I've been up to:

1. Been winding skeins into cakes on my super ugly pvc swift. Hubby spent a long time working on it for me and I appreciate him so much! (for those of you who notice these sorts of things... yes, he did attempt a wooden one as per a post sometime back - that didn't work out very well...). Habu (yay! now I can start the Aeolian shawl), Lorna's laces and later some allhemp that I've had for years now. Good times expected.

2. Sewing - Weekend Sewing rocks. Almost have a dress finished for my girl. Hope it fits. Hope she likes it.

3. Fell off the workout wagon for about a week now. Hope I can get back on succesfully.

4. Finishing a course project.

5. Listening to the very VERY odd bumps and thuds that seem to be coming from outside the house. Hoping it's frogs messing around in the wood under the house and not something else well... weird.

Until the next drive by post!

This is why she's a knitting rock star

2009-05-08T19:19:00.002-04:00

Oh, to be able to knit this fast! I've always wondered how she managed to churn out so many projects. Now I know

For you foo.dnet.work fans!

2009-04-29T23:49:00.002-04:00

Let me start off by saying I LOVE foo.dnet.work and watch it almost religiously everyday and love most of the chefs/ cooks on there! But this site is absolutely hilarious so I just had to share.

ROFLMBO!

Awesome podcast "discovered"

2009-04-16T16:09:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if discovered is the right word here but it'll do in a pinch. So, while I was happily listening to the last series Alchemy over at Cast On and an ad so to speak for another podcast Craftlit was interjected wherein the reader of the ad invited the listener to come over to her site for a listen. I wasn't very sure I wanted to. She did sound a tad reserved as if the podcast would cater mainly to a "not so hip and current" crowd (whatever that crowd looks like, heh!) so I ignored her. And once again in another episode of the series I heard it again. So, this week, after suffering through a few newer podcasts that hurt my ears and left me wondering "why did I even bother" I gave Heather a try. And boy, am I ever glad I did! Don't judge a book by the cover takes on a whole new meaning for podcasts!

Craftlit , if you're into literature and love books (right now - older books) is a must listen! Heather Ordover makes it so fun to listen in her quiet engaging voice. She has listeners read different chapters (I think it's different chapters as opposed to different books)and she pops in before, sometimes during and after with pointers on what's going on, the implied deeper meaning of the imagery and the theme and all sorts of other good stuff that I haven't a clue about because I've only gotten to Advanced Level English Literature, but it's not so far that you can't catch on. I'm absolutely hooked! I decided to first try the last chapter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and have been dedicated ever since. She and her team of readers are currently doing The Scarlet Letter and since she's at chapter 3 of 24, I thought I'd backtrack and listen to some of the other books (she has a link in the upper right hand corner of her blog that says library that has the books listed by chapter (marked by beginning and end of book) and sorted by book. Today, I started Turning of the Screw and man, is it entertaining!

So if you haven't already "discovered" her (as I might well be the last person to know about this blog, LOL!) pop over and give her a listen. Educational, fun and supremely interesting to listen to especially while knitting.

Francie socks - DONE!

2009-04-12T19:20:00.008-04:00

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

I hope you all had a great day whatever you did. It was an uncharacteristically rainy and wet Easter Sunday so aside from church and a short visit to the in-laws, we spent it home together. Not a bad way to spend any day in my books!

Now, may I present to you all my first FO for the year! It would have taken me less time but ran into some snags (I think I talked about this before... having a sense of deja vu here). Anyways, they are done and I am glad. My first FO for 2009.

Pattern: Francie Socks by Rebekkah Kerner (bowerbirdknits)
Needle size: 2
Date started: March 25, 2009
Date completed: April 12, 2009
Yarn used: Nature's Palette sock yarn (the dye stained my fingers pretty bad! Afraid to block now...

And just for the heck of it, here's a pic of part of the our country side adventure. A couple Fridays ago we decided to travel from one end of the island to the other in order to get some grafted/ drawf trees. It was a lovely day and apart from hubby not bothering to call and get directions to the place and us rambling ALOT, we eventually got there and picked up an avacado tree, a tangelo and a lemon tree to add to our lime, golden apple and mango trees. They are not planted in the yard as yet as there's still some work to be done on the house and planting them now can put them in the path of trampling workmen. Such a beautiful sight this! But I can't imagine living up there at all!

Forgot to add that hubby and I went to see Watchmen on Saturday. On many levels it was very good. Others... well I don't want to say that other parts weren't good but rather they didn't gel for me. The most interesting character was Dr. Manhattan (not because of his inability inspite of his "superiority" - to keep his skivvies on. I guess if he's that far advanced then nud.i.ty is not a problem). There was one part in particular that didn't line up with my beliefs but I believe I'm mature enough to see it for what it was - a movie - and move on. I didn't even realise that was Pat.rick Wi.lson as Nit.eOw.l! I really like him! Good entertainment if you're into the comic book movie type of thing (like I am!! Waiting for Tra.nsfor.mers 2!)

Anyways, we have tomorrow off as well so looking forward to that. Continue to enjoy your Easter and God bless!

Busy day in the kitchen

2009-04-05T19:21:00.003-04:00

Ah, the wonder that is a new oven. Oh how I don't miss baking in that pint sized countertop convection oven! It was a life saver in the time between our move and our newly acquired 30 inch Ge wall oven but now its time has passed and we are on to bigger and better things. Sighhhhh. Even my breads and cakes have responded positively to being processed in a larger environment. The banana breads have huge domes in the middle, the chocolate cakes rose higher and the white bread I made last night baked up quickly with a nice crust. Pure satisfaction.

The only damper on my day in the kitchen occurred while peering out over the bar into the living room trying to keep up with the shows on foodnetwork. There was a Gia.da At Home marathon on and after that was the Dow.nhome with the Neelys and then I think Big Daddy's House. My grouse is with Big Daddy's House. If you've never seen this show, can you guess what race this man is? Yep. African American. He won the Next Food Net.Work star competition sometime back, and aside from having the penchant for nonstop frying, his recipes look pretty good. Now. Why did they name the show Big Daddy's House. Was there no other name for this show? Srsly. We have Guys Big Bite (He won the first competition), Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Essence of Emeril (when it was showing on FN), there's Rescue Chef etc etc. Why does this guy's show have that ridiculous name? He's tall yes, but that shouldn't factor into anything. And what throws this show over the top and makes me angry at FN's attempt to - I dunno - African Americanize (forgive the new word here) this show is the relentless hiphop that is booming in the background. Sometimes I couldn't even hear what he was saying - too much hiphop booming in the back! Why don't they plug let's say Sa.ndra Le.e's show with this music or Iron Chef America or Bobb.y F.lay's shows with the hiphop? Why don't they outfit B.obby with a giant pair of hoops? This guy's hoops are bigger than my head. Dare I say there's a blatant sterotype being played out here? Gah!

Moving on (for now) I have some knitting updates but they are not significant enough to post as yet. When I have something of substance to show for my efforts I'll post. Till then, have a great week, knitting and otherwise.

Ta!

A few long awaited pressies...

2009-04-02T18:16:00.006-04:00

Firstly, let me apologize for the crapatoid pics. I cannot seem to get this camera understood (maybe because it's not mine) and the seemingly simple task of focusing is beyond me. Don't bother to ask what's up with the shadow around the edges of the pics either. Let's call that art and leave it at that.

What shall I show you first? Ok. First up is the ball winder. My other one had an unfortunate incedent that I will not go into, and so I was forced to purchase another and from knitpi.cks this time. I'm not sure where I got the other one from I'm sure the answer is buried in the blog somewhere. I'm not sure if I'm too impressed with it. Feels a little stiff. Maybe it just needs breaking in...

Next up, the BEADS. I really shouldn't post this pic as the focus is on the background rather than on the beads themselves and the beads are SO beautiful! Can't tell from here tho.

Lastly, the yarn. The Rowan Wool Cotton is beautiful! It's DK weight so it's not that heavy so it will be nice for a night out.

Now, the question is... which project to cast on first.

Parade of UFOs

2009-03-30T18:48:00.009-04:00

I'm officially one of those knitters. You know the kind who starts stuff but never seems to have an FO to show for her troubles. Bearing in mind that I have at least two projects that are beckoning me that I either have the materials for or will soon have all the materials for (i.e. the Aeolian Shawl and Tussie Mussie) I should get my knitting house in order. I would love to say that I will finish these project before I start on either of the aforementioned to-be-knits but I won't lie to you : ) So, just to show you that I do knit and not just threaten to, here are some of my UFOs (that I can put my hand on now anyways) that I will be putting a big effort into finishing before I have to start back the grind of studying/ stressing/ exams cycle.

First up - Francie socks - being knitted in Nature's pallette yarn

Up to a point, these socks are a fun knit. For me the fun-ness stopped once I reached the arch shaping. It's no fault of Rebekkah who wrote the awesome pattern, but it was how I read the instructions and interpreted them. It reminds me of a previous knitpicks podcast where Kelly Pet.kin was explaining that very phenomenon. It's not that the pattern was badly written, it's the part of the knitter who just doesn't get the pattern writer's language. Don't get me wrong, there are badly written patterns out there but this is NOT one of them. I did get some help from two wonderful ravelry members and I've gotten to this point. I do confess that I messed up somewhere around the foot shaping but I refuse to go back and fix it as I've prolly ripped out and restarted the arch shaping part at least 5 times now (last count). I believe the second sock will be better. They are a bit baggy here as they are for my hubby and I'm sure will fit him most excellently. Will get pics when both are done and he's wearing them.

Next up - the Deep V Argyle - being knit in Debbie Bliss Rialto.

I am a tad embarassed that this is as far as I've gotten. I started pretty strong but tapered out considerably for two reasons. I didn't realise Eun.ny had two versions - one for small people and the other for not so small people. I bought the yarn yardage for the small people kind and then realised that wasn't enough after I discovered my error. I could buy some more yarn but I think I've explained the issues I experience when having to order yarn. Won't bore you again with those details. Second, I'm not sure when I will get to wear it. I am planning a trip overseas this year but it won't be during a season that requires me to wear a woolen vest. Maybe it will be done before next year! Then I could plan a cold weather vacation. Hmmm... that doesn't sound very sane does it?

Then there's my Raglan Leaf Tee - being knit in Rowan Calmer.

The last time I worked on it was when I met up with a fellow raveler on her trip here and we sat and lunched and knit. I have not picked it back up since (well maybe to move it from one location to another but otherwise... not to knit it!). It has eaten 2 (could be 3) balls of the Calmer so far and it is knitting up so lovely! It's soft and light. I can see myself wearing it to the movies - if only I will finish it!!!

Then there's Swallowtail Shawl number 2 - being knit in Malabrigo sock yarn (methinks).

I do plan to finish this, but there's a KAL on the Knitters of the Caribbean group on ravelry that will be coming up in April so I will get a chance to knit on it and finish it with some company. I am knitting it with Malabrigo sock yarn - I think. I have to double check what I said it was 'cause I don't rightly remember.

Lastly is the Hab.u I bought that didn't come on the cone as I'd asked : (. It looks really shiney here. I guess it is pretty shiny as it is 100% bamboo. When I get my new ball winder I'll get to putting it in a cake and showing it off proper then. Until then, here's an uber shiny pic for ya.

I haven't received the beads for the Aeolian shawl and rowan wool/cotton for the Tussie Mussie as yet. Was supposed to get them last week Friday but the freight forwarder just didn't send 'em. So they promise tomorrow - see why ordering anything can be a bit stressful at times?

Anyways, at least things are being knit and maybe someday soon I'll have a parade of FOs to show ya!

The H.abu has landed!

2009-03-23T21:25:00.002-04:00

After a minor snafu and a delay here and there, the H.abu yarn for the Aeolian Shawl is finally here and it's lovely. I did ask them to wind it on a cone for me because I don't have a swift (welllll... the wobbly swift-like thing I have sitting on my floor still isn't at the stage I would put my lovely xs-45 on it!) and they didn't :( Also, my winder is busted (new one on its way) so I can't even recruit hubby to hold his arms out forever - twice as there are two skeins of super skinny yarn - while I wind it up. Also, there's the matter of the beads that the freight forwarder hasn't delivered to me yet so the lovely shawl will have to wait. I hate waiting.

In other knitting news, the socks for hubby are currently being ripped. The 96 stitches I cast on per sock turned out to be way to big for even his large steppers. So it's riiiiiiiiiiipppppppp for them. I will be casting on again shortly but this time with my trusty dpns - once I can find the other size 1 dpn that seems to be awol! Once I'm back in action I will post pics of the sockies.

Oooo! Almost forgot to mention, I just bought 10 skeins of Rowan Wool Cotton in Rich for this project! I'm also exited to start this. I think it will be a really nice cardigan to wear out at night.

Proof that some things are easier in theory

2009-03-19T23:22:00.004-04:00

Ever so often, I get bitten by the DIY bug. Like the time I tried to make curtains for the house for Christmas or the time I decided to forgo spending big bucks on those pricey store curtain rods and make them myself or like last night where I/ we attempted to make a swift. All three of these examples ended in a shake of the fists and a strangled cry as the result in practice did not add up to the idea in theory.

I won't show you the pics of the curtains or their "rods" but I will show you the carnage that was the attempt at a home made swift.

My darling hubby spent hours on it and he's not a hands on person like that but he tried and I appreciate it. The end result is a kinda wobbly not quite right swift that only spins under duress. However, hubby is now obsessed with making it "the right way" that he is thinking of making another one.

The other example of theory easier than practice is the two socks at a time on one needle. Actually, it's not so bad now as I think I'm getting the hang of it (knock on wood) but it was a really head scratcher for me! Progress shown here:

I'm happy with how they are looking even though it's not that much to show for all the work I put in it! Cable wrangling is hard!

Anyways, tomorrow is another day, one I'm looking forward to for some rest. I'm going to go finish watch Obam.a on Le.no and then turn in for the night. Anyone else watching? Have a good night! More progress pics to follow.

Good things come to those...

2009-03-17T18:06:00.004-04:00

...who pester the freight forwarder! Finally, got my Knitted Lace of Estonia book and it does not disappoint! All of the patterns in this book are gorgeous and just reading about the history behind Estonian knitting is riveting. What awesome knitters they had to be, knitting exquisite shawls without the benefit of written pattern or charts! The girls started learning from age 4 - wow!

Like I said in one of my last posts, I plan on doing the Miralda shawl and here you see a pic of the yarn I am thinking of using.

Seeing the pattern in "person" rather than on the web has made me ponder if Knitpicks is the best choice for this intricate beauty. Nothing against Knitpicks as I have used it before for shawls, but the beauty and the history of the shawl inspires me to get something more lucious to invest in this project. There are so many yarns out there that in seeking out what I'd like to buy sends me further down the blog-rabbit hole! I'm picturing some Suri Elegance, but I don't know how well it will go with this pattern. We'll see!

In other knitting news, I've cast on a pair of socks for my deserving hubby. In order to avoid the dreaded second sock sydrome which I have succumbed to on a number of occasions, I decided to go with the 2 at a time sock knitting technique. Well... after a few days, I am now starting row 3 of the cuff. I have a 47 inch cable and somewhere I read that using any longer than a 40 is not recommended but I have to say, the 47 inch is working for me as a beginner to this technique. Synopsis of how it went:

1. Cast on with glee. I'm actually knitting something that can finish in a week or so!

2. Get to step 5 and get hopelessly tangled in two cakes of yarn and a fiddly needle that seems to be growing and simultaneously shrinking with each flick of my wrists.

3. Somehow sort it out and go to second row. Figure out that I somehow twisted one of the socks at the join and was now knitting a sock and a mobeius sock thingee.

4. Rip it out and wonder if hubby truly is deserving in the light of the drama I was at that moment embroiled in.

5. Come to my senses that yes, indeed he is worthy as he is an awesome supportive husband and fighting with wayward yarn and needles was the least I could do for him to make him his long promised socks.

6. Knit 2 rows and let it "rest" on the side table for a little bit.

So I'll be back to it once the kids go to bed and theorhetically won't have any need to call me 5 billion times, times 2, and I can think clearly while conquering this technique. While others on ravelry imply and said outright that it is not difficult, thereby making me feel somewhat challenged, my first encounter has left me somewhat, cautious in my goal to finishing something and soon. After all, it has been over a year since I started the raglan leaf tee! For shame and tsk tsk!

Hope your projects are going better than mine right now!

A chance to breathe!

2009-03-14T20:28:00.006-04:00

Ah! There's nothing like the feel of having the weight of a pending exam over! Maybe finishing up the designation perhaps but one step at a time : )

So, now that some of the fog has cleared for now anyways, I feel the urge to knit something. I have one project I'm about to start (as soon as I've finished this post)and another I have been getting ready for. The Aeolian Shawl. Simply stunning. Here'a pic of the yarn I plan to use.

It's Habu xs-45 20/3. I placed my order with Habu and should be getting it soon - yay! I'll be making the cream coloured one and I also bought some awesome beads from Earthfaire as well. It will be my first time knitting with beads!! I was hoping to start the Miralda shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia but the freight forwarder didn't deliver the book when they promised it and now says I should get it Tuesday. Huh. We'll see. I have some lace in my small stash that I might use for it.

Hopefully, I'll be seeing more of this blog as I have a small break - still have a business case to hand in in about 3 months but it's no way as intensive as these past few courses! Night all! Off to start a small and should be satisfying project - at long last : )

PS - my "c" key is behaving very badly. I have to clack it about 3 times for it to show up on the screen - Grrrr!!!!!

Too busy to knit

2009-03-06T16:27:00.004-04:00

Wassup, wassuuppp? Hey there! Happy Friday to yah. Just dropping in to say hi and stuff. As the title of this instalment states, I'm too busy to knit... not to busy to order THIS but I'm too busy to knit. But that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it and we all know sometimes it's the thoughts that count right? LOL!

What have I been doing? Oh the usual. Studying. It's amazing how it's so all consuming! I feel very tied to my book and look forward to cutting the strings when my exam is ovah! Yayayayay! That doesn't mean I'm done yet. Nope, just a few more courses to go and then I can get back to my life.

Hope everyone is well and that you have a great weekend what ever you do. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this song that spoke to me in so many ways! Until I get back with some pics and a wip pic at least, take care!

Does this thing still work?

2009-02-22T20:32:00.002-04:00

Heeeellllooo? Heeeelllloooo? Anyone out there? It has been a very long time since I last popped in to say hello. How's everyone doing? I've been steadily tied to my books since my last update and have to report that I still am. I've been pushing my courses off back to back with little or no time in between so with assignments due every week or every other week I've had little time to update farless knit! I haven't updated my stash or pattern folder but I do intend to change all that. I have signed up for a less intensive course that requires NO assignment and NO final exam! So after this very intense course that I am preparing to take an exam for I will have a break of sort.

And what will I be doing with this "spare time"? Well finally, Interweaveknits has an edition I can sink my teeth into! Check out this shawl and the Millefori Cardigan, and Jeff's Pub Sweater. Those are on my to knit list. Now if I can just source the Rowan milk yarn and the Suri Elegance and of course get the mag I will be good to go. The pub sweater is for my hubby and I'd love to give it to him before his birthday in September and I'd love to have my shawl long before then. The Millefori will have to wait until I get to the size I want to be at. To that end - that is losing the excess weight, I have returned to badminton - taking lessons and enjoying it. My only problem is the pain in the shins! Ow! I may be taking up boxing on two other nights and if my body doesn't protest too much, then I'll be starting up with Billy Blanks again. I'm really fighting past the pain in my back, butt, shins and hips to see myself to as close to my goal as I can get.

I do have some pics to share but they are on my brother-in-law's camera (yeah, we're back to borrowing a camera as ours is officially kaput) and should get them off soon.

Anyways, back to my books! Wishing you all a great week : )

Ticked Ticked... Tock

2008-11-14T20:33:00.004-04:00

Let's start this one out with a giant eyeroll. All together now

*EYEROLL*

Okay, so the day didn't start out too badly as it is after all Friday and if you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times... I don't work on Fridays. So, it was a good day simply because of what it is.

So, I drop the kidlets off to their respective schools and go about confirming the booking for my son's party. Get to the place early ya'll - I'm the ONLY one there - I have exact cash and all I need is a receipt. I hear the receptionist ask for it. Then calls someone again and then again. Half an hour later, I get a receipt. HALF AN HOUR to write a receipt. That (among other things) is island life - I know some of you want to come live on an island and sip coconut water at the beach and stuff but I know half of you would go crazy in a week!

Anyways, I wound up getting flack from the girl at the sandwich shop and I wound up cancelling the order after she started it. Then I took some invitations to my son's school for the aforementioned party and was met with a level of surliness from one of the staff that I didn't appreciate. THEN I went to my sewing class and had it out with the "teacher". Without seeking votes for my side of the story (well this is the only side you'll get anyways) it feels as though this woman has gotten more difficult with each class - either turning up late and having me wait for her or speaking to me like I'm an idiot. I admit - I do not know much about sewing - only what I have been taught by said "teacher" and am really very new to it all - so any questions really should be addressed without the curt responses, sighs and without starting the answer with "Like I just said..." It came to a head when I asked about seam allowance and was promptly chastised and dressed down for "not listening" and was told "Fine, I'll do it myself. Don't worry, I'll do it myself" WTH??? Well, I finally had enough as this was the second time she'd been this way with me and after getting flack and crap (along with almost getting the entire side of my car swiped off by someone who really shouldn't be on the road in ANY capacity) all day I let her have it. And you know what she did? Wait for it...

She tried to tell me that she was not upset and she didn't know what I was talking about and it was in my head.

WTH????????? After all these years on God's green earth are you trying to tell me I don't know when someone is mad/ angry/ pissed/ ticked?? There's much more to be said but I won't as I think there may be one or two Barbadian readers on here and Barbados is small (heck the world is small! In Montreal I met a man who was best buds with one of our dead premiers!) and people can be very malicious (not malicious as you may know the term but malicious here can mean nosy/ gypsy/ in yer bizness).

This leads me to my point. If you know you cannot deal with human beings then you should not be allowed to serve them. In any capacity. If you know you are going to get short and ill tempered with people then you shouldn't be around them. You shouldn't be paid to help them, make their sandwiches, pump their gas, check out their groceries in the supermarket (yeah, I'm talkin' to you Ms. Thing. Third strike and you're out with me!)stamp their tickets, do a gynecological exam, wash their cars or even usher them to their seats in church. Me, I know my limitations. I do not suffer fools easily. I put a good face forward (as I expect others to do the same to me. 90% of the time I don't get the good face I expect but that's another post). So you know what I do, I don't deal with people on the service level. My job allows me to work alone and from afar. Not that I can't work with people in an office setting but dealing with customers and potentially difficult people may not be my strongest point. So I avoid such circumstances. It amazes me that these same people who treat others so poorly in their jobs (happily so sometimes) expect that when they go to get served in the bank or at the emergency room or at the store they will be attended to with respect and dignity as the paying customer they are. Ah, when the shoe is on the other foot eh?

Sure, if you take away all the ill tempered, sour faced, bad mannered, poor service giving people we are forced to deal with, we might be left with very few people to deal with BUT I bet it would make life a WHOLE lot better.

Stupse.

Anyways, in case you were wondering or cared, I'm still studying hard for my exam. And I have another course to register to for by Monday that starts SIX DAYS after the exam for this course. So much for a Christmas break : ( But the light at the end of the tunnel is there. I look forward to those three more letters behind my name and will relish every second afterwards when I DON'T have to study like this anymore!

To that day! Cheers! I do deserve this tall cold glass of Arbor Mist!

*clink!*

CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA! WELL DONE!!

2008-11-05T00:35:00.002-04:00

I'm not that old but seriously, I never thought I'd see the day. I will admit that I've seen some shows with a black president and I'd be like - yah right, only in the movies... but lookie here. A Black President.

This man has swept the nation - is it because he's mixed and in a way represents the unity of black and white? Ok, I'm getting corny here but from day one, he's been on the lips of almost everyone - even my daughter knows him by face!

Wow.

I'm guessing security will be quadrupled...

Good job America. For once, I think you've got it right. Now, let's see what plans he has for the Caribbean.

What's a girl to knit?

2008-10-31T14:30:00.003-04:00

Okay, okay, I admit it. Knitting wise I'm in a bad place right now. I haven't picked up my needles with serious intent since before I zipped off to Montreal. I started a knitted doll for my daughter but right now it's nothing worth looking at, nay, just a tiny pile of curly stockinette and a mad jumble of ends. She's flat and right now looks like an experiment gone bad. My Argle Vest is sitting where I left it, suffocating in that transparent bag... and my leaf tee... well it has not grown at all since I last spoke on it. I've made several attempts to replace the Adamas shawl that I inteligently felted in Canada with another Swallowtail shawl - I even put to skeins of lace yarn into cakes (which is a huge chore without a swift) and have them on top of the yarn pile. I've taken out the Shetland Triangle pattern and selected the Handmaiden Seasilk in Rose and even knit a few rows... but I wasn't feeling it and ripped out the few rows I'd gotten started.

Then there is my malabrigo sock yarn, bought with the specific purpose of making a shawl. I've decided on making the swallowtail with it and even started it... but ripped it out. What's wrong with me?? I LURVE lace knitting but I do so want to knit a cardigan or a cute little top to wear. So why don't I?

I'll tell you why... it's my current voluptuousness that's the problem. I might have whined occasionally about it in the past on here but the reality of knitting an item such as a cardigan for myself will take alot of yarn and time and then when I eventually reach my the weight that will make me happy, I"ll have a knitted item that won't be able to fit me and that will amount to a giant waste of time.

So, what's a girl to knit? Socks maybe? I'm yet to get cracking on the 2 at a time method as per the book I've purchased and I'm not too keen on learning it until after exams. A shawl (well apart from the can't-get-started-itis as per above) will take the usual long time and I need some instant gratification. Well as instant as studying will allow.

Hmmmm... I have an idea actually... but I'll need more yarn.

Be back later.

Moi aussi!

2008-10-18T08:55:00.004-04:00

I've been bitten people, by the sewing bug! I've had lots of inspiration from many blogs especially Adrienne's, who seems to make sewing look so effortless and fun!. So what else could I do but go out and get some lessons? I will say that it hasn't been all that easy at first but I'm getting there! I'm doing a dress making and a drapery course. In the dress making class, I've just crafted my first skirt block with help from the teacher and as homework I'm supposed to do one myself and then next week we cut! I'm a little nervous as the whole putting in zippers has been ever so slightly traumatic... but I will persevere!

And of course in this new spirit of learning to sew, I went out and bought this:

It's a Singer Inspiration 4220/4228. I'm not sure if it is a good machine or not but it was one of the better options I managed to find here. It didn't get rave reviews on a site I went to but the problems the critics were experiencing I haven't experienced(knock on wood!) so I hope it works very well for me.

So, maybe with this new interest I will have some sewing FOs for you (cause I'm not sure when you'll see some knitting ones... I'm knitting - but only in my mind!!)

It's interesting though that I'm busy up to my ears with assignments and work and kids and home but I still manage to fit a new craft in! Crazy! LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend people!

Blogiversary! But a little late

2008-10-13T18:02:00.002-04:00

So I forgot my own blogiversary! Two years ago I started this blog and I'm happy to say that I'm a better knitter (or more experienced perhaps) than when I restarted. Not necessarily a better blogger though LOL!

Thanks for your continued visits and comments! To another year!

And I'm back!

2008-09-27T17:52:00.010-04:00

A little pic heavy...

Heelllooooo.... how's everyone doing? I hope better than I am right now. I'm just back from beautiful Montreal where not only did I manage to sucessfully blend work and vacation, but I also managed to catch a cold. I didn't realize that I was sick... well, I was wheezing a bit but I wasn't sneezing or coughing or any of that other fun stuff (yet) so I just thought it was because it was so very cold there! Those crazy (and I mean that in a nice way LOL!) people were saying the weather was nice! Most days I was there fluctuated between 13-14 degrees!! The day I left was 8 degrees (well my flight was 6 a.m. so that might explain it. But one night it dipped to 4 degrees. I was under a fleece blanket AND a comforter and was very comfortable. It could be that cold air or the guy that was squashed in the middle seat on the plane ride back that had infected sinuses... he was snorting and inhaling phelgm to the point I wanted to go ask if there was anything I could do to help land the plane asap.

So now this entire week I've been under the weather... aches and pains, blocked EVERYTHING, throat was initially scratchy, that sort of stuff. But now I'm just blocked and am able somewhat to interact with the rest of the population without falling on my face. The only fun thing about this is that once and again I can laugh like Mutley (y'all know who he is right? Google old cartoons + mutley)!

So, what did I do In Montreal? There was training for three days and then a little shopping and sight seeing, happily interspersed with dinner with some great people at some wonderful restuarants! I was happily spoiled. The only downer was that I wish my hubby was able to make this trip with me and enjoy everything right along with me!

Ok, here are a few pics:

The Mayor's Office:

I love the architecture of Old Montreal - simply beautiful!

Deciding where to go next:

See me rockin' my Adamas? Well that's the last time you'll see it in this form. I, uh, felted it when doing the laundry... how did I miss that big purple thing????

There are many more pics of Old Montreal but I haven't transferred them from my email and the others I sent to my hubby's blackberry to my harddrive so until then, these are the few I can share for now!

Colette from ravelry was so SO kind to me and on my first day out of the office, she met up with me and took me to Mouline and Ariandne's (thanks for helping me with the pronounciation! LOL!)where I managed to score me some loverly yarn. It wasn't the intended haul as I threatened in one of my last posts because time was kinda short (I had to meet someone to get back to where I was staying) and didn't get to Effiloche! Well, I don't mind too too much... I should leave something for my next visit ; ) So here's the yarn I got my hands on:

Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Botecilli Red:

A shawl for me.

Handmaiden Casbah:

Sockies for me!

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock:

These are for sockies for the kids. I get to try the 2 socks at a time book!(Did I mention that I bought this along with Knitting Lingerie Style?)

Rowan Kidsilk Night:

I bought this to make the GORGEOUS Bird's Eye Shawl by my new friend Colette, but only bought two skeins.... I need three :( I had just settled down yesterday after meeting an assignment deadline and was about to cast on when I double checked that I had enough yarn and I don't. Well, this gives me a great excuse to get more yarn next month! Maybe an early Christmas gift to myself. (GAH!!! Did I just say Christmas????)

Tanis Fiber Arts:

These are for a pair of socks for my hubby. The yardage is excellent for his big feet!

Here's the yarn soak I bought. I can't tell you how they smell cause I'm totally blocked right now... but I remember them smelling great in the store!

Stitch Markers:

Patterns and Books:

A lovely thoughtful gift from Colette:

Bird's Eye Shawl

Field of Flowers

EZ's Knitting Workshop and Rowan's Bamboo Tape Collection

I'm very happy with what I was able to snag. Colette, next time I'll listen better to instructions so that we could start earlier! LOL!

Ok, before I go, here are a few pics of my kitchen efforts this evening.

Cake (don't mind how it looks - it tastes great! Since I don't have my nifty wall oven yet, I have to make do with a convection oven which works great but for browning the top of everything a little too quickly. And being too small...

Traditional Barbadian Plain Cake:

The best way to eat said traditional cake - with a cold glass of mauby! (Don't mind those sad looking bananas there - today they are over ripe, tomorrow they will be banana bread!)

And my first attempt at bagels (or was this my second? First in this house for sure) The dough came out great, but the poaching and baking not so great. They don't look smooth and nice like the ones in the store or the site that I got the recipe from but they taste ok (if only a tad bit too salty. We'll see how they shape up overnight) The inside is very nice but they aren't as I thought they would come out. Ah well, next time!

So that's it for me for now. I am still working on my course and getting assignments done and keeping on top of things. I'm feeling kinda guilty being on here so long but I'll make up! Right after I watch my new fave show M.ad Me.n!!! I hope everyone is doing good. There are a few of you who haven't updated your sites and some of you had some bad news lately. (((HUGS))) to all of you especially those who need them most.

Off for now. Have a great night and we'll catch up later.

Shoot, lost it again...

2008-09-02T23:32:00.002-04:00

My will to knit that is... I've not really put much effort into the whole knitting thing of late. Saving up to buy a truckload of yarn (and by truckload I mean as much as my credit card can take without buckling under the pressure...!) so maybe I'm delaying knitting until I get my goodies? Been busy with getting the kids ready for school and preparing myself for the start of my own studies - among other things. Meanwhile, in between dreaming about dropping babies (literally spilling them out of my hands) and being pregnant but not, I've been happily distracting myself with oldies but goodies. Movies that is, movies! Well, truth be told I've only watched two so far, but they were so good I'm watching them thrice! (Watched them before but nice to watch again and again...)

First up was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Been meaning to get this for years now and finally did. Oh, that Maggie was one strong woman wasn't she? Not ashamed to beg her hottie hubby and do anything to win him back! I might have done the same based on Brick's then high degree of hotness! Loved the shot of his abs! Oh and the story too!

Next was Dear Frankie. Two words, Gerard Butler. Yummmmmmm!!! I can eat him with a small spoon. He played that role so well, I kinda wish I could write him a letter or two! Shivers! Have you seen it? Go watch it! I'm looking for romantic movies like this to occupy the time between work, getting the kids to school on time, taking care of them and their extracirriculars and maybe some of my own stuff. Any suggestion?

Ok, that's it - nothing more to say for now except that I hope all of you in the path of any weather systems stay safe and sound. Those suckers are coming off the coast like crazed shurikens!

Ok, THIS ticks me RIGHT OFF!!!!!

2008-08-21T19:57:00.003-04:00

Is this man for reals???

At least there's an opposing article to his comments by Rick Broadbent.

Who exactly does this man think he is? WUHLOSS, doan let me get started on massa days DONE! How DARE he tell this track sensation, nay THE FASTEST MAN IN THE WORLD how to celebrate his victories? Being a show off? He has the right to show off if he wanted to! At least he has something to show for his antics! He's not posing and making a show for the camera in shades and earrings! Stop and congratulate? Is this an English tea party? I just wish he went back in the blocks and re-ran the race just to show the rest how it's done! Does he even know or care about the odds Usain overcame to get where he is? And adding a patronizing "he's young" on top of it? Crazeeeeee!

How come no one's talking about Johnson and Bailey who said that he couldn't break the record? Is that good sportsmanship? I'm happy he put them and everyone else to shame!

Next time Usain, do the Bogle, Butterfly and Dance pon ya head top!

Two words for ya, two words....

2008-08-17T00:11:00.002-04:00

Usain Bolt.

No I've not become a fan of the oly.mpics but one of the most anticipated/ reknowned events in these games had in SIX Caribbean men. SIX! And (have mercy) that 21 year old from Jamaica SMASHED, MASH UP, BREK UP de res' dem.

Sniff. I'm so proud! I just wish we could have had a repeat performance for Barbados. Oh well, maybe the next one!

Oh and PS - I've finished the back of DSL! Buttons, seaming and blocking to mark this puppy COMPLETE!

Yikes! Already??

2008-08-15T20:40:00.002-04:00

Am I the last person to realise that summer is almost over? Gadzooks people! Two more weeks of "freedom" and then we're back in the game. What am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about the amount of time we have left before we start the "get the kids out of bed early, bathed, fed and dressed and out the door in a good time to get to school/ work early." Sigh. Two.more.weeks. I feel like they just came off from school! I STILL have to get one elusive book for Dylan and two phys.ed shirts. Maybe new shoes and all their supplies - pencils, book bag, lunch coolers etc etc. I'm usually on the ball with this stuff (I've gotten their text books so that's a point or two, right?) but somehow along the way I keep putting it off. It's like if I buy this stuff I admit that school is soon starting. Now, this time around, it looks like I'm going to be one of those parents. You know, the last minute ones. I happily join this bunch of last minute-ers and will join the fracas that will ensue in order to get the right things for school. But I'm gonna shop smarter. I will NOT go into town and get smashed while reaching for that last art apron. Nope, I'm shopping out of town this time, where the prices may be a bit higher but the probability of me getting mildly roughed up will be way waaaaay lower.

Sigh.

Anyways, a new round one starts with my studies and I look forward to this new course (please, don't remind me of these careless words when I inevitably start to whine about the workload and the busi-ness that is my life).

On the knitting side of life, I have made some progress on my Deep V Argyle Vest but can't show you yet as I don't have a functioning camera. Yes, again. The one I was using is back in its rightful owner's possession and I have once again by scouring amazon.com for the perfect one to hint for for Christmas. And then there's the DSL that is still eating yarn with no apparent proof of it... just five more inches and the neck and I can put this thing to bed and... it's just taking SOOOO long! The 24th is coming up so I've got to speed things up! There's a shawl on cosmicpluto's blog that I would like to knit (if the pattern is available) in the same Mooi yarn too (hopefully I can get this yarn when I travel soon) so I'm holding out on starting a new shawl until I get this pattern and yarn in hand. So no pics again.

Oh, before I go, saw The Hulk on Wednesday. Was a good show but no Dar.k Kn.ight. It was good for what it was. At least he bought large pants that would stretch and accomodate him when he grew - but seriously he gets so big not even the stretchiest pants would fit - but I give them an A for effort. I never got why other hulk's pants would stay on but the shirt and everything else would be trash (well, besides the fact that we can't have a naked hulk running around a pg movie... it would be interesting to find out if everything was exponential in um... growth, tho.)

Goodnight for now... time to go wrestle hubby for the remote (grumble - darned olym.pics grumble grouch).

Am I the only one NOT really into the Olym.pics?

2008-08-12T18:37:00.002-04:00

Man, everyone and their grandma seems to be glued to the tv! I can appreciate the games but truth be told, I'm not into sports at all. I like and appreciate the games for what they are and can even sit and watch for a few minutes without turning the channel but to have it glued there day in day out? Not me! I lie in wait for the moment hubby falls asleep on the couch and then pounce on the remote like a hungry thing. I invariably land on Foodnetwork or HGTV if nothing's on Scifi or USANetwork. When hubby comes to all he can do is shake his head in disbelief that 1. he'd fallen asleep again in front of the tv and 2. that I claim the remote and use the opportunity to watch people cook. I told him that I'd watch the Olympics if there was a knitting event. Heck yeah! I can see it now... the double point derby, who can knit the most socks in one sitting and of course, a blindfold event where you have to determine yarn by touch alone. Prizes will be lifetime supplies of cashmere yarn and jord.an pai.ge bags. Yesserie bob, I'd be in front the tv like nobody's business.

Now to comment on a couple things on said Olympic games.

Cul.len Jo.nes: Okay, I know it was not my nor my husband's imagination when he swam that relay and when the woman was interviewing the four guys, he was tucked behind her while the three others were highlighted. I'm just saying.

Lip synching - ok so the Chinese are catching some flack over the old switcheroo they pulled on selecting a "cuter" girl to "sing" at the opening ceremony. Having that little girl knowingly participate in something like that is just not right. And what about the other little one that was supposedly not so cute? How will this follow her? Hopefully she won't have any inferiority complex issues as she grows. Having said that, is this something that no other country would have done? Somewhere in the media, someone made a comment saying that in the US no matter how "not cute" the little girl would have been able to do thing. I think that if it came to it ANY other country would have done the same thing wrong as it is. Again, just saying.

Sexist story lines - ok... I don't know about you guys but I'm getting a wee bit tired of hearing these storylines described by the sportscasters as "soap operas" when they are discussing the women athletes. When they discuss the men you hear about how hard they train and the injuries they sustained bla bla bla... but when they were discussing some women that were swimming all I could hear was "and she left France to go to Italy to train with her boyfriend who then broke up with her and is now dating her competition and her ex-coach is training another one of her competion in the pool. hahahah. this is a real soap opera." HUH?????? What about all the training that's gotten her to where she is now? GRRRR!

And all the sob stories! Bleh!

Anyways, slow knitting on this end. Nothing to shout about. But very excited about Eureka tonight!!

Laters!

Have you guys seen this??

2008-08-01T10:48:00.002-04:00

Allison from The Knitters of the Caribbean Group introduced me to this! Check it out if you haven't already!

Twist Collective

I'm very impressed!

Praise be to God!

2008-07-30T08:21:00.002-04:00

People... I've PASSED my exam!!!!! PASSED IT!!! God is so good - when I tell you I sat there, made a pile of mistakes, rushed down the multiple choice in ten minutes and nearly didn't finish the exam and STILL passed! That is God's handiwork right there! Nothing of my own doing at all! There were so many repercussions if I had failed - saying goodbye to the large fee I had to pay up front, having to redo that course and being set back a term. Not to mention the feeling of defeat that would have enveloped me! So many people were saying to expect to fail that exam first time around but God pulled me through and when I say by the skin of my teeth I mean just that!

I still haven't been able to wipe this smile of of my face!

D.ark K.night

2008-07-24T01:00:00.002-04:00

Totally worth blogging about at 1:02 a.m.! B.atman was totally worth going to the 9:45 p.m. show too! Chri.stian B.ale! Ooooo! Loved him the first time around, remembered why the second time around. I was skeptical at first about He.ath Leg.ers' performance as I thought they were bigging him up because he died.... but man, he gave an excellent last performance!! The hype wasn't for nuttin! We see another villain birthed and I can't wait for the third instalment - because things come in threes right?

Don't take my word for it - go see it!

Decloaking off the starboard bow...

2008-07-15T22:47:00.002-04:00

Hola peeps. How goes it? Been a bit busy on this end what with trying to keep from putting a hurting on the guy who said he'd paint the kitchen in 12 days and now 9 weeks later (is it? about that) he's still not done. It takes a great degree of self control not to rip the guy a new one when he has caller id and won't take your calls (no we haven't paid him up front - only for what he's done so far) and comes when he wants and stays like an hour. I am quite proud of myself for not saying ONE bad word! Seriously, every now and then Ms. Potty Mouth breaks free - actually under circumstances similar to these - and when she's done there's a new understanding on the offender's part, satisfaction and shame on mine. So there's the silver lining in all this at least right? I can thank knitting for part of the ability to keep her in check... miles of stockinette (leaf tee raglan), miles and MILES of k2 p2 (a la drop stitch lace tank. Yes, I'm still working on it thank you very much) and now rows and rows of ribbing for the Deep V Argyle that I've just started would do that to ya.

Anyways, now that I've gotten the requisite griping off my chest, let's talk knitting. I've been kinda thinking about starting another lace project. The seasilk is caaaaaling me! But I really would love to get my WIPs off the needles and onto my blog! As I've just mentioned, I've started the Deep V Argyle. I'm knitting with WOOL y'all - in the tropics even! But it's not too bad actually. I'm using Debbie Bliss Rialto in black and sherbet... the sherbert is more yellow than I would have liked so I hope I don't look like a giant bumble bee when I'm done (argh! having flashbacks to my yellow and black striped graduation dress...) I plan to wear it when next I travel which will be soon. If I finish it in time. Did I mention the Pi shawl? I'm thinking of doing this... maybe it can be the other KAL on The Knitters of the Caribbean Group on ravelry. I'm telling you our group is growing! It's so wonderful to have new members join - all with the same basic connection - the Caribbean!

Ooo, has anyone watched Juno? Loved the handknits in this wonderful, touching, funny movie! If you haven't seen it put it on your list. I'm now into looking for handknits in every movie I watch! Very fun thing to do if you have zero other forms of entertainment! Yay!

Ok... now. Are there any Dr. Who fans out there? Did you catch the episode Midnight? FREAKY!!!! Those writers are good! This week I think the Dr. is supposed to die and Rose (who made a brief appearance in the television in Midnight and in the previous episodes as well) teams up with Donna who I don't really like btw (bring back Martha!!) and they save him. I hope it's not going to be scary like this past episode or the one where the shadows were eating people!

I'm tired. Off to bed with me. Have a great night everyone.

Wonderin'

2008-06-27T14:45:00.004-04:00

Heeeelllloooooo... what's shaking people? How are things on your side of ye ole world? Way over here on my end things are ok. Been doing a little (and by little I mean half of a row here and a bit more there) knitting lately. I've been busy doing a bit of this and that. I'm thinking of starting the Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmerman... if I do make a solid decision on it I may use that Jaeger Trinity that's been sitting in my stash lonely and unused ever since I bought it. I'm not sure why I want to knit this giant thing outside of the fact that it looks interesting. But will I use it? It may be too heavy to wear in this weather so maybe I can use it as something to keep me warm at night while laying on the sofa watching tv or something. Then in that case why not just knit a blanket and be done with it? As you can tell I'm still undecided.

One thing for sure that I will be making in the near future is the Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Jang. This is my foray into Fair Isle (remember it was in my list of to knits? You don't remember? That's ok). We're having a Fair Isle Kal on the Knitters of the Caribbean Group over on ravelry. If you're a member of ravelry, feel free to stop on by and say hi and better yet, join in on the KAL. The more the merrier!

So apart from not really knitting, I've been doing alot of thinking. Here are some of the things that's been on my mind:

1. How is it that a job that's supposed to take 12 days has somehow morphed into 5 weeks? Does anyone know where the good workers are hiding??

2. Who in the world gives driving licences to people who's main purpose in life to drive as recklessly and selfishly as possible? I'm talkin' to you Mr. who swung out of the intersection yesterday clearly ignoring the stop sign thereby nearly crashing in to our car that was occupied by my ENTIRE family (hubby, myself and the kids) and then laughed as you pulled away?

3. Why do people think that everyone who says they are a Christian really is a Christian because they say so? I can say that I am a cat but that doesn't make me one.

4. Why do people who are not Christian keep walking around saying they are Christian when they clearly are not? (I'm just a lot peeved at the Christian bashing I'm seeing over on ravelry)

5. How is it that my son has grown up so fast! He's now a yellow belt in Taekwondo. And how is it that my baby girl is no longer a baby?? She turns FOUR next month.

6. Why is it so hard to never weary of doing good? How do you brush yourself off and get going again knowing that history might repeat itself?

Anyways, I hope you are having more knitting sucess than I have. I was hoping to have more FO's by this time - 6 months into the year. Maybe I'll get some more inspiration and get cracking on new and exciting things!

Laters!

Comforting to know...

2008-06-11T00:13:00.000-04:00

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

A fleeting sense of accomplishment

2008-06-02T19:59:00.004-04:00

Hey gang. I am so busy that it isn't even funny (it stopped being funny a few weeks ago when I realised the ever growing list of things for me to do was just that... ever growing. Being somewhat an over achiever I think I can do anything at anytime - heck even two at a time! Somewhere along the line I got someone's an*lrensive qualities... very useful when being a fiddler of numbers, not so much when juggling three or four things at once. I am well aware my current state of affairs is 100% my doing and at the end of it I will clap myself of the back for doing many jobs well done - that is if I get to the end of it in one piece! Anyways, this is supposed to be a drive by post as I've divided up all the available minutes between now and three a.m. and cannot divert from the plan or the world will fall apart as we know it (a little melodramatic but it's part of the panic mode I'm in).

Without further ~~griping~~ ado, here's Adamas. And she's stuck to the wall! Trowel plastic has a few applications and today it is to show off a finished knitted item. What do you think?

Adamas Blocking

Look ma, no hands!

My "signature" floor shot LOL!!

I'm sort of happy with it. I mean it's all light and airy and beautiful but it just looks smaller than other Adamas-es. I mean, I've blocked the snot out of her but I'm not sure it looks the same.

Specs:

Pattern - Adamas Shawl by Miriam Felton
Yarn - Knitpicks Shadow - Sunset
Yardage - 1 and a quarter (approx) skeins
Duration - 6 months

Overall feeling - a nice knit... very long as most shawls tend to be, good pattern and not a head scratcher.

Also as promised, a few pics of the Knitpicks Gloss yarn in Dolphin and Parsley. The parsley colourway is for socks for hubby. He's very excited to get a pair and we've found a pattern that he likes. So when things get back to a less hectic form of normal, he will get his socks. Oh and my Best of Interweave Knits Book. Not blown away by it but it's nice.

Knitpicks Gloss - Parsley

Knitpicks Gloss - Dolphin

Best of Interweave Knits

Ok, off with me now. By late next week I should be able to do more in depth blog stalking sessions. Until then, take care everyone!

It's that time of the year...

2008-05-26T18:58:00.004-04:00

Just a quick question for you all... has anyone figured out how to add more hours to the day and require less sleep simultaneously? If you have, stop being an information hog and SHARE! I am indeed swamped - up the the eyeballs in stuff to do. The biggest thing on my plate right now is my upcoming exam. It's even more challenging than the last one if you can imagine (well, you might be able to imagine it if you're doing the same course that I am...)
Anyways, if you remember any of my previous posts that talk about exams you would remember that in order to keep myself from tearing my hair out in frustration, I knit to take the edge off. In that spirit, I'm pleased to announce that I've finished Adamas! Yes, and she's beautiful even in her rumply unblocked state. It feels sooooo good to finish it. I was beginning to doubt it would end! And you know what? I don't have any pics to show you as yet but I will soon. Also, I've FINALLY received my knitpicks order. I think I mentioned it sometime - some gloss sock yarn that I hoped to get before the second round of the Sock Penthalon started (guess that didn't happen), the Best of Interweave Knits book and a pair of knitpicks harmony needles. Between the company that deals with my shipments and customs held these items for almost a month and had the nerve to charge me USD$29 on top of it!!!!! GRRRRRRR!!! I'll post those pics as well as soon as they are taken.

Ok, unfortunately that's as much time as I've allowed myself to be on the pc for non-studying purposes. I hope everyone is keeping well and churning out those FO's like nobody's business!

Laters!

Promised yarn pics... and an elephant too

2008-05-03T17:43:00.007-04:00

Hey y'all! I've been having a really nice Saturday - what about you guys? After the usual Saturday running around (except for the spin class which I didn't go to because I didn't sign up for it yet) we came home for a day of relaxation - which for me meant doing a whole lot of nothing. We threw the front door open (which is a big deal for me because of my aversion to bugs!) and decided on a course of action. The kids settled in for some painting (translated as a mess contained in one spot of the house!) which they happily took to. For some reason though, the water that is used to clean the brushes was of more interest at one point for them. Huh, go figure!

I on the other hand took some pics of the yarn I purchased sometime back. I actually went outside!

Here's the seasilk in rose:

And here's the nature's palette sock yarn:

I don't have a pic of my Adamas progress, but I can safely tell you she is growing! I'm now starting repeat 11 and am motivated knowing there are only 3 more of these repeats and then the border edge (I think!). I'm soon finished though!

The other thing we did today was to complete my daughter's project for school - land transportation. I decided on an elephant! I found cool site that gave simple instructions on how to make an elephant with some basic items.

Here's our version:

I think he turned out pretty ok. One problem though... this was to be made out of a box or paper! Gah!! If I don't find another elephant to make within the requirements then this blue fella will have to be submitted. Oh well! At least we tried!

After our elephant adventure, I went to bed to read the last few chapters for my assignment and promptly fell asleep! That's tax for you - an instant snoozer!

Continue to have a great day even though it's almost over!

Oh... p.s. Brooke finally went home! I was doing the football touchdown dance lol!

Ok what is it going to take to send Brooke home?

2008-04-23T21:52:00.002-04:00

Poor Sayeesha, she just can't catch a break can she? I'm not her biggest fan BUT she's not as craptacular as Brooke! Have you noticed that when Sayeesha sounds good or bad they pick on her especially Randy. When Brooke stops not once but TWICE and starts over her songs, they butter it over and pat her on her awful mop of curls and says "there there you are human, you sound terrible but we won't say that even though all the listening public knows it!" GAH!!!! How has she made it through with those stupid pouts and terrible singing!!! Those three numbnuts are keeping her in the competition instead of telling it like it is and allowing our listening ears a much deserved rest!

Sayeesha is safe for now - but her number is soon up on this show! I guess if they can send home the likes of Melinda, Paris and Lakeisha then they can do anything!

*yes I am fully aware this is a television show and in now way impacts on my life in a meaningful way...*

The perils of being an eye-servant

2008-04-21T21:12:00.002-04:00

So if you're a Barbadian you might know what an eye servant is - or if you read your bible in the KJV - you might come across this term. I've been so busy stopping by people's blogs and going where they lead me that I've ignored my own bloggy for a little bit. Anyways, I'm here now and with very little knitting content.

I'm so happy to report the landing of my skein of Seasilk in Rose and two hanks of Nature's palette sock yarn in a lovely green. I would have posted pics but I had to charge the batteries (don't you hate when you get out the camera to take a pic and snap the first shot and you get the message - Warning Battery Exhausted! - well I do!) and I didn't get back to it after that. Tomorrow maybe. I'm feeling kinda swamped with work and studies and a bevy of other things so I am also distracted. On the way to me as I type is another package of knitting goodies - from me to me. The Best of Interweave Knits, some harmony needles in size two - 47 inches (methinks), an extra cable of 40 inches and some sock yarn. Hubby has requested a pair of socks and a cardigan from brooklyntweed's site. I figured I'd start small with the socks and then check out the yarn etc that I need for his cardigan - I'm thinking one with a front zipper and long sleeves - maybe some cables? Anyways, we'll see what I come up with down the line.

So, speaking of hubby... let me say that I love him very much. I do. However, there are moments like tonight that I wonder if I could soundly throttle him and get away with it. Actually, I should take responsibility for what happened. It's my fault. I came home from the gym after having my butt run up and down by a very s-e-x-y Swedish instructor and feeling rather good about myself that I survived the class (ok it wasn't so bad but I did feel it!) and I asked him as he was on his way out to the store if he would get me something to eat. He asked what - I said I really don't know but we need something before I go shopping tomorrow. He goes out and sometime later comes home with his packages and a little something for me. I said "Thanks, hon!" opened the bag and what greets me? TWO brownies. Uh, thanks hon... he means well but BROWNIES????????????????????? I should have been more specific - nothing laced with butter, sugar, flour, and valued at about 7,000,000 calories!

Gah!

Have you ever had one of those mornings...

2008-04-05T09:53:00.002-04:00

where you wake up at 6 a.m. to get to the gym for a spin class and on the way there have your car skid in a thin layer of hops spilled from the local brewery and then crash into the sidewalk? No? Must be only me then. Actually, it was me and quite a few other people who, in the attempt to get fit almost totalled our vehicles. One woman was feeling particularly stuntwomanish and actually jumped the curb while the car was skidding and landed perfectly in a parking spot. It would be funny if only it wasn't. It wasn't that terrifying for me as there weren't any cars coming towards me (Thank you Lord!) and so when the car lost the fight to the hops and decided to make friends with the curb I let it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember someone somewhere saying "don't smash your brakes when you're skidding" and so I didn't. The wheels weren't turning though so all I could do was hold on. Really, it wasn't that bad experiencing it - but somehow typing it out really brings home the seriousness of it all. In the end some people from the company - I can only assume were some management type persons, took the names of us who started our day a tad to excitedly and they promised to get back to us. We'll see.

So outside of that I've been doing some knitting recently and have fought off the urge - fairly succesfully - to cast on for something new. I do have a couple of projects in mind for the next cast on though... two hooded cardigans for my kids. The thought came up as we waited at the airport last night for hubby's flight from Jamaica to land - and it was COLD! Dana was actually up under my shirt (her head couldn't fit through the top with mine or she would have done it!) and Dylan had his arms pulled through his armholes under the shirt. It then occured to me that I should make these two shivering babies something warm for such an occasion or even for the event that we all take a family holiday together. My only problem is finding a nice hooded cardigan with a zippered or button down front with long sleeves. I've checked ravelry but I have not found anything to my liking as yet and ravelry keeps crapping out at page 35 of 60 in the kids section. If you have any suggestions I'll gladly entertain them.

Adamas is now starting repeat number 8 so I'm halfway there. Raglan leaf tee is coming along nicely and DSL is being treated rather poorly. I've made two delicious purchases from Vanessa's destash and I can't wait to get them. She always has such great stuff! Pics will follow (my niece just received a 7 mega pixel camera as a gift and I'm test driving it for her - well I will be once I get it out of the box) as soon as they land.

Ok, I'm off for now - a headache has secretly crept up on me and I think I need a rest in order to tackle the rest of the day... have a meeting at mid-day, have to go to work to do some pre-vacation finishing up, having lunch with a friend and her kids and maybe try to catch a movie tonight.

Have a great weekend people! And stay out of the hops!

Books n' beans

2008-03-28T22:18:00.005-04:00

yawn Goodnight all... shoot, is it 10: 30 already? Today just sped by and left me in the dust. After watching Monk, two episodes of Walker Texas Rangers, going to the gym, making lunch, going for hubby and doing some minor grocery shopping I am kinda wiped. But I'm not complaining. The kids are on vacation so I didn't have to take them to school or pick them up today so it was like a mini vacation for me too. Well, vacation is a bit of a stretch seeing as I have an assignment due in what... 4 days! hmmm - what exactly am I doing here in that case??

Before I go on, I want to thank you guys for your kind words following my last post regarding the beagle that never was. I'm feeling alot better now and I can think of the situation without grinding my teeth or welling up even just a little. Thank you! You are wonderful.

On the knitting scene, I have another FO! I've finished the Jacobean socks from the penthatlon. What do you think? I'm still not sold on them - I know I used a yarn that wasn't suitable for the pattern, but once I got started it was hard to rip back
and start fresh with something new. I'm ready for round 2!

Socks

And I've finally received my books! one of the the things about living in the Caribbean is that some companies don't ship to Barbados and those who do will have to charge alot higher shipping fees for obvious reasons. Knitpicks falls in to the former category so I had them ship these lovelies to my cousin in New York who is understandably busy and wasn't able to ship them until March after receiving them in late January was it? Anyways, I'm thankful to her for doing it - she's a darling!

Here's Sensual Knits (not that you haven't seen the cover before or anything!):

And here's Wrap Style. I honestly only bought this book for the lovely Shetland Triangle but am so happy to discover other gorgeous knits in here that will wind up on my to do list for example Moon Beads and Wrapped in Tradition.

I have some more awesome books such as Vintage Knits and Knitting Nature scheduled for an impending purchase - along with some 47 inch US size 2 needles for my next sock showdown.

Ok, it's bedtime for me. I have an early morning spin class. So far I'm enjoying it but last Saturday was a bit of a struggle. All this working out (at least 4 times a week) and not a pound lost. Seriously! This morning that evil scale tricked me by telling me I was 5 pounds lighter than when I last weighed when in fact it's stupid battery was loose. It's now in the "Garage Sale" pile.

Night all!

Heartbroken

2008-03-15T20:17:00.002-04:00

Some time last year I called the kennel club as I was looking to purchase a puppy for our family. I had done some research and thought that a beagle would make the perfect addition to our family. I was put in contact with a lady who had a beagle bitch and she told me that when the bitch had pups she would let me know. She did let me know and told me that around September they expected the pups to be born. When September rolled around she told me that the pregnancy wasn't viable and there were no puppies but she would let me know when they expected another litter. She called me sometime in December and told me that they expected pups in February or so and what was I interested in. I told her a male pup and when February rolled around she said the pups came and there were two males. She told me the price and said they would be ready in 6-8 weeks. Last week we made arrangements to go see the puppies today, after she sent me two emails of the darlings. We went today and I was instantly in love. We picked the sad eyed boy and talked alot about the care of beagles etc. She gave me a sheet and told me she'd write everything up so I wouldn't have to remember it all right away. She said that a judge was coming to see the pups next week and we would get sad eyes after Easter. This evening she called me - hours after we met and said that she wasn't going to sell the pup to us as she didn't think we were good candidates because (get this) we work and our yard isn't fenced in. He's a BEAGLE - he was going to be a house dog and he didn't have his last two shots so he couldn't go for walks anyways until late April. I said, "I see" and she started up saying "Don't be like that". I burst out in tears and bawled "I'm in tears here!" And I really was. So many things have disappointed me and upset me and caused me to teeter on the edge of depression and this was a faint light. Hubby is travelling at the end of the month and sad eyes was going to keep me company. We even went shopping for his little bed today.

I do think that her decision to not sell us Snoopy (yes, I had a name picked out and everything) was based on who we are. When she greeted us at the gate she said "Oh, you were the lady I met at the dog show", I said "yes" and she said "I thought you were someone else all along!"

All I know is that I'm so hurt by this - and thinking that it may or may not be because she thought I was someone else (or at least looked different) makes it worse. It's funny eh? I could hold it together when the workmen refuse to show up, when it seems as though this house will not get finished but something like this brings on the tears in a hot second.

: (

Orange sockie anyone?

2008-03-13T23:31:00.005-04:00

Sunday was finishing day for Jacobean #1. Like I said before, I am not so keen on this sock mainly because of the yarn I used. I'm seeing other lovely versions in the group albums and am ever so slightly jealous. Maybe next pattern will be the one for me and I can beat that woman who knit her entire pair of socks in nine hours! Yeah, I think that's kinda funny too. Anyways, here it is:

What do you think? Can you see the pattern from the top down shot? Hubby says he really likes it and can see the diamond shape things as he calls them. I've finally cast on for sock #2 and should have some progress shots soon (if the rubber band around the camera holds). Adamas is growing nicely and I am more and more enamoured with it as it gets bigger. It's the leaf tee's turn to languish but not for long - I am loving that too! I must remember to check ravelry again to see any new pics of both projects. I'm kinda thinking about my next project after I get these off the needles but that's on the back burners as Personal and Corporate Taxation is taking up a good deal of my thinking time and I have an assignment due soon as well! Don't they realise I only JUST got the books? That ITA book is about 2000 pages BIG!

Ok, I'm off to bed now, I have some errands to run tomorrow and really should get up early to get them accomplished. Oh and I might be able to squeeze in a pic of my purple peppers I got from the agricultural show : ) Laters.

Holy Immortal Kiss Batman!

2008-03-06T23:28:00.002-04:00

*kaff kaff* Hey guys *snort sniffle* I hope you're doing alot better than me. I got hit with the cold/ flu bug again. In fact all of us here at casa knittykitty has some form of runny nose, dry/wet cough, itchy eyes and an overall feeling of ickiness. The kids are mostly over it but hubby and I got hit at the same time and up to yesterday looked a sorry pair. Today is a bit better as I even went to work and had a meeting and all - now if I can get rid of this persistent coughing! My head feels like it's going to drop off any second. Blargh.

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it but in addition to getting my surf on I enjoy a good television show. I'm hesitant about getting in to new shows because I really don't want to invest my time in a show that turns out crappy - case in point Desperate Housewives, Dawsons Creek and (eek) maybe even Grey's Anatomy. I've gone off that show cold turkey and I'm not even sure if I want to get involved again. Too many quirky attractive rambling oversexed interns! Anyways I might change my mind later who knows. Anyways, I kept seeing these ads for New Amsterdam and thought that it did look good and had an interesting concept to it. I watched it's premier and enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised to see it was on again tonight! And I was pleasantly surprised. In case you don't know the concept behind this show, it's about this guy Amsterdam who, due to the fact he tried to save a Native American woman from being killed, was given the "gift" of immortality. Only when he finds "the one" will he be able to die. He's been looking for her for 400 years! Anyways, so one of his past loves that he hoped was the one was an African American woman. Now this may not be so unusual but there was some full on hot and heavy romance going down - and from all camera angles too. In all my years watching tv I don't recall seeing an interracial romance portrayed (maybe I'm watching the wrong shows, or maybe it's the fact that here in Barbados we get but a fraction of the channels bigger countries get - either way you tell me.) not even in commercials - again I might be missing something. Anyways, it was refreshing to watch! Did anyone catch it?

As for knitting content, I have an almost finished Jacobean sock. One more repeat and it will be done. I have to confess that I'm not really feeling this sock. Yes, it is a beautiful design but it's not working so great with the carrot coloured yarn I bought some time back. I can barely make out the pattern on it but it's knitting up fairly quickly (by my standards anyways) and I'm almost done this one anyways. I have no hope of coming first for this pattern so there's no rush but I do wish I could enjoy it more! I have some craptastic pics of it taken with my phone camera but I'm too tired to share. My wips are keeping me busy as I make progress on them all - man monogamy was so much easier! Anyways, tomorrow God willing I shall share and maybe you can tell me what you think about the orange sockie?

Btw - did I tell you that I've started another course for the CGA? Tax this time - good times, good times! Let the "fun" begin! (again).

Nite all!

Happy Friday!

2008-02-29T11:24:00.006-04:00

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before (I'm pretty sure I did) but I lov Fridays. I don't work on Fridays so I get to do things during the day that I obviously won't get to do while sitting at work. For example, go to the gym in the morning/ afternoon, go to the cafe and get a tall whatever-I'm-feeling-for and sit and leisurely enjoy it. Then I get to come home, flip on the tele and watch Monk and then mute it when Walker Texas Rangers come on, sit at my lappy and surf. Relax some more and then leisurely, without any pressure, get up and go for the kids. Of course my day can vary so much dependent on whatever project is going on with the house, or like next week is Agrofest here so I'll be going with Dana to the park on that outing... but all in all a very liberating feeling envelops me on Fridays. I feel like I don't have to work and I don't have a care in the world. Of course this feeling lasts as long as the sun is up and promptly fizzles as the sun slips below the horizon. Ah, that fleeting feeling of freedom! That's why I look forward to Fridays and I cherish them. Bliss.

SO this post won't be solely about me bragging about having Fridays off (if that's something to be seen as worth bragging about) - I do have some knitting content to share! I have made some progress on my Leaf Tee and I really couldn't show you how nicely it's working up, what with it bunched up on the needles and all - so I've done something I've never done before... I took the work off the needles onto a scrap piece of yarn and presto! A nice pic to share. Well... it wasn't really all for your benefit. See, I needed to accurately measure the upper arm area and couldn't do that with the work all smashed up on the needles. So I got my measurements (only 4 more inches or so to go I think) and got to show you how it's coming along. Multitasking y'all! So here she is:

I cannot wait for this to be done (hurry up Lisa!) as I can imagine myself in it with a cute pair of jeans (note to self - get a pair of cute jeans). As long as the camera cooperates, I'll be adding more pics of it.

Oh, and not to be outdone, here's a pic of the Adamas progress. Yes, I took her out of the basket. Her constant whimpering was getting on my nerves! I've just completed repeat 5 of 14 of Chart 2. I tell you the knitting on this is not hard but it is time consuming, as with every other lace project that has one zillion stitches in it! I'm loving it though and can picture myself in it at the movies or some such place. Here she is:

I also wanted to show you some yarn that I bought recenty and I think I mentioned in a previous post. Here are the Berroco Softwist in an uber deep blue. Got 7 of these in the stash. Nice to the touch but a real pill to wind into a ball. Then there is the Jaeger Trinity that I am thinking of making the Tangles Yoke Cardigan for my mother. If I get started now I bet I can finish by August. Heheh.

Berroco Softwist

Jaeger Trinity

Ok, I'm off for now - gotta go burn some fat! Laters!

Has this ever happened to you?

2008-02-15T22:33:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I love to knit and I love to surf the web especially for things to knit. Of late I've realised that I'm kinda stuck in a strange place right between my two loves. I've been surfing the web for hours looking for knitting patterns, yarn and trolling knitting blogs. All the while my knitting has been inexcusably ignored! Look! Right over there - my Adamas shawl sits looking at me forlonely quietly wondering what it did to deserve such a fate that it is now suffering - stuffed unceremoneously into a knitting basket. Then the DSL tank - well you guys know what is happening with her... poor poor thing. Must be hard for her knowing she was so longed for and now sits (goodness - where did I leave that piece of knitting?) somewhere silenty crying for me to rescue her. And the sockies and the Leaf Tee - sheesh. I'm coming soon girls - momma is a tad busy right now looking for sock yarn for the upcoming Penathlon and yarn for the delicious patterns in the Interweave Knits Spring 2008 magazine, and maybe some more needles and a notions case or two... and just finishing up a blog post and rolling around in ravelry.

Umm... guys I'll be right back - there's some Socks That Rock yarn that's calling me. I'll be right back...

2 posts in one day? Maybe Rihanna will win a Grammy!

2008-02-10T18:40:00.001-04:00

This is just to find out who'll be watching the Grammys tonight? I tell you, all of Barbados probably will be! Rihanna, who hails from our tiny island could make history tonight! She's performing so to me that's a giant clue that she will get at least one of the six she's nominated for. Good luck girl, I may not be your hugest fan musically, but I am proud of you for going out there and showing them how it's done... Caribbean style!

Progress pic

2008-02-10T09:01:00.000-04:00

Hi all, I thought I'd drag my butt to the laptop and post a pic of the leaf tee I mentioned from my last post. I'm somewhat under the weather with a frog in my throat and a cough that won't quit. I sound like one of those scary voice overs for a monster from one of those B movies... talking with three voices all at once. The kids are getting over their yuckies (well I firmly suspect they are the reason I sound like I do and feel like I do. Gotta love 'em)

Anyways, here's the reason for this post... the beginnings of the Leaf Tee. This is a very easy pattern and the stockinette isn't so horrible but I am itching to start something small to break up the monotony. Maybe I should start something with the ten skeins of Jaeger Trinity I got off of yaiAnn's destash. Maybe I should just finish those socks I started the other day! But I keep digressing. Here's the progess shot:

The calmer is soft and knits up into a delicious fabric. I will enjoy wearing this tee!

In other knitting news, I've received a wonderful invite from the Sock Knitters Pentathlon on Ravelry and I'm stoked! Of course I'll be posting progress and finished object pics of my sockies. What fun! I've also ordered the Interweave Knits Spring 2008 and Winter 2007 issues from one of my favourite online vendors Knitty-Noddy. Evelyn is so friendly and helpful and she offers such great products on her site, you can't help but to keep going back for more!

What's next on my list today other than getting in some rows on the leaf tee? Well, there's some ironing to be done, the baking of a cake (the third request by hubby and kids), portioning out of trout fillets for the coming week's meals, looking over my son's homework and grabbing lunch at the inlaws (in no particular order whatsoever!) So much for Sunday being a day of rest!

Have a great day everyone!

Now that, folks, is a load off my back!

2008-02-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! Goodness, it's FEBRUARY ya'll! Didn't the year just start? At this rate, the year will be over in a New York minute!

So what's been shaking on my end? Lessee... oh yes. I PASSED my exam! And with a 73 people! I was so sure that I barely passed that I was pleasantly surprised when I passed the mark with some to spare. Thank you GOD! So now, I'm off to Personal and Corporate Taxes. I underestimated the last course and will not do so again with this one. So come March I will be back in the thick of things once more and will once again count on my knitting to keep things sane. Ok, what else? Hmmmmm... oh yes, I whacked my little toe on my right foot into the door like it belonged to someone I hate. The toe turned a light shade of purple and promptly offered up a giant bloodshot that extended from just past the tip of my toenail (what's left of it) and continued right under the nail. The left side of my foot still reminds me of what happened by throbbing painfully ever so often just to keep things fun. Next on my list was the gym. I rejoined after much careful consideration along with the fact that the new scale I purchased advised me that I was 12 pounds heavier than I thought. How could this be??? Well, I'm giving this another serious go. I've bought the colon cleanse, the coconut oil and dusted off my ratty shoes that hurts my flat feet like a mother. I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new pair of Asics shoes that promise to bring sweet relief for the flat footed among us.

Knitting wise - I've purchased some Jaeger Trinity in a greyish colourway... about 10 skeins. In that purchase is Simple Knits for Little Cherubs and Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. I'm very excited to get these especially the books so that I can do a little baby/ older child knitting. Also purchased from another sale was 7 skeins of Berroco softwist in a deep blue and one skein of wildfoote sock yarn. And I'm still not satified! I'll be doing some ravelry/ blog trolling to see what yarn you guys are using and then get me some! I should get a pattern in mind first and then decide on the yarn no? One thing's for sure... I will be buying some Rowan Calmer! I've actually started a project with the much cherised rowan calmer. And what, dare you ask did I choose to use it for? Well this of course! I'm very excited about this project even though it is wrought with stockinette... the lace panel at least breaks up the monotony and it is knit in the round and top down, so I'm having fun. I would promise pics but you know the story of my piece o'crap camera.

Aside from this, my little girl has a cold and she's not having fun with it. She's blocked up and feverish at times but being very brave. She didn't go to school today and I'll have to play tomorrow by ear.

Well, I'm off to do some blog stalking - I'm sure I saw some yummy purchases out there that made me drool. Must.buy.more.yarn!

Later folks!

Testing... testing...

2008-01-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Good morning all! *yaaaaaaaaaaawn*. How's everyone doin'? It's FRIDAY! My day off... so to speak anyways. I usually end up doing one zillion things anyways but it's still nice not to have to go to the office at least one work day a week. Today, I have a few errands to run and I hope to complete them in good time and be back home for a little me time before I go back out to collect the kids.

So, I have a little pic to show you guys. Remember one of my last posts regarding the sock that was too big? Well I changed my mind and decided that I wanted the socks instead of gifting them to someone simply because they were too big for me! Why not just frog it and start over? Well, I did just that and instead of using the figure 8 cast on like I did the last time I used Judy's Magic Cast On and got a waaaay nicer toe than with the figure 8. I've cast on 48 stitches and am off again. I hope these won't be too tight now as the last ones were 64 stitches and too baggy. Anyways, here's my test pic using my Motorola Z3 phone camera (2 megapixels - I guess you can guess at the quality of the pic right now!)

I really need a new camera! I'll have to hop back over to Adrienne's blog and read up again on her suggestions for a camera and see if anything pops out at me. And I'll check amazon too.

Well people, I'm off to take the kids to school. Have a wonderful and blessed day ya'll!

Let the madness begin...

2008-01-15T23:25:00.000-04:00

Any American Idol fans out there? (Sigh) the first episode of season seven showed tonight. Same ol' same ol'. I'm not sure if I read somewhere that there is a twist of some sort for this season. *yawn*. I have this love-hate relationship with AI. The same silly for tv "singing" gets old for me after about the first two or three episodes but I still watch anyways. I'm one of those people who can't stand to see when someone is getting embarrased so I spend alot of time with my hands in front of my eyes and my thumbs in my ears. I predict lots of sob stories and heartfelt auditions where "good" people are given a chance at stardom. I get drawn in and get committed to the show only to be disappointed and swear never to watch again when people like Mandisa, Paris and Chris Daughtry get booted from the show and people like Sanjaya get chance upon chance. See my problem?

In knitting news, I am making progress on my DSL - it's still eating skeins of yarn for lunch with no end in sight. This DSL is a tricky one. I'm telling you - the other day after knitting every free minute on it, I lined it up against the front portion and estimated another six plus inches to go. Yay! I thought. Tonight, after knitting on this thing for a few days, I'm still about six inches away from matching the front to the back. ARGHHHH! I'm also knitting a pair of simple toe up socks on two needles with my Regia yarn in crazy colour colourway. I have a sneaky suspicion that these might be too big for me. My feet are about a size 7.5 in regular and 8.5 in sneakers and this socky is swallowing my foot whole, and since I like snug sockies, these are now a designated gift. Which reminds me - I haven't mailed the scarf and mitten set as yet! Must get on that pronto. Adamas is lounging in my knitting basket just waiting for me to pick it back up again.

Also, I've finally listened to all of the knitpicks podcasts. I will tell you the truth, I wan't sure if I liked this podcast at first as I had been exposed to Brenda Dayne for far too long LOL and Kelley's style was a little too "scripted". But Kelley grew on me and I couldn't get enough. I downloaded the episodes and they kept me company at work. Kelley's style and her passion for knitting is infectious and now I look forward to hearing her and Xena every Friday.

Non-knitting news - It's election day here in Barbados. Wow, that time has really flown. Ours is a simple process as compared to the head scratching process that's US prolitics (I just don't understand how it works). The good thing about this election is that I may have a day off tomorrow if a particular party wins or Friday if the other party wins. It betters be tomorrow 'cause I already get Fridays off!

Anyways people, I am veray sleepy. Hopefully I will have some pics of my wips soon!

Later!

Lisa

Quiet knitting days here in Barbados

2008-01-10T22:00:00.000-04:00

Goodnight from my sleepy island. It's after 10 here and I am in betwix and between. Lately, I've developed a feeling of restless expectancy and anticipation for the knitting new year. I have been steadily lurking on many blogs and would actually like to find some others to add to my growing list of blog favourites. I am feeling particulary inspired by the FOs that I've seen come off of some needles as Christmas gifts. Add to that a constant diet of the knitpicks podcast and you can begin to understand how I feel. There are some books that I have lined up to purchase and I am researching the yarns I will need to simultaneously aquire in order to ease the tension I feel building. This is one of the drawbacks of living on an island - access to things that others take for granted - especially if those things relate to knitting - can certainly put a cramp in a Caribbean girl's style, particularly when she wants to get her knitting on.

One of the many books that I have lined up is Sensual Knits. This books is absolutely stunning and it has styles that a plus sized person can knit and wear. As usual, I may come late to the party but I catch on real quick. Another book I am interested in is The Sweater Workshop. This is a book I had stashed in my knitpicks cart as a must purchase and Kelly Petkun in her podcast reinforced that decision by naming this a must have. I have been tinkering with some designs and I believe this book will help me accomplish one of my goals on creating my own designs. For me this is a big undertaking and I will tread with great care. Check me back in a few months.

Oh, I almost forgot! I have another FO - I don't have proof of it as the camera is currently playing the fool once again and I don't feel like wrangling with it tonight. Remember that mitten that was holding on to dear life to the scarf with it's ends all hanging out? (no? just read the previous post) Well, I've finished it's twin and I suspect that it might be just a wee bit shorter that the first one (nothing that a little stretching and pulling won't correct) and I'm happy with it. WIll I ever do mittens again? Yes, I think so. But this time I will attempt the convertible ones. I could have done that this time around but I really didn't feel like spending a terrible amount of time on these gifts... remember I'm feeling restless.

I also have been playing around with the idea of forming a knitting group here. People around here reserve knitting for old grammas and then still ask you - "What are you crocheting?" They call yarn wool. Everything is wool. Present them with a delectable skein of Lobster Pot Cashmere yarn and it will be promptly and unapologetically labelled wool. I learnt very quickly to NOT correct people when they say wool. It generally confuses them. But, oddly enough, I did meet a woman (my stand in hairdresser) who was able to correctly identify my work as knitting and she said that she used to knit all sorts of wonderful stuff. I must say that my efforts to get her back in the saddle were wasted as she's much too busy now for knitting. I was a little aghast as she did know what she was missing!! Anyways, I'm pretty sure my friend bajanknit will be there. I've already thought of a couple places that a group of women with needles could meet. The challenge now will be how to find these women. Surely there must be some other people on this island besides us two that love to knit and actively do so! Maybe there are some expats out there too that are sitting at home all lonely thinking that they have no one to knit with. Any suggestions on how to go about finding people will be greatly appreciated!

Anyways, I've rambled on long enough. I'll go now and see who has won the battle between Batali and Oliver and do a few more rows on my DSL - yes, that's right! I've been knitting on the DSL and I am confident that by the time it has swallowed the last few skeins of Pima Tencel, I will have a beautiful finished object to add to my first two for the year!

Later!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T22:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm six days late but the sentiment is the same. I wish you and your families all the best for the new year.

How has the new year started for you all? So far so good on this end both knitting and otherwise. I am very hopeful for good and wonderful things for this year and beyond.

One of the things that has made my month so far is the arrival of this:

That's right people, hubby bought me a Jordana Paige bag for Christmas! I LOVE it! It is simply gorgeous and divine to touch. The tweed of the flap and the green of the back of the bag go well together and the inside is very spacious. I can see lots of books and projects going in there! I don't care what outfit I'm wearing, this is my new everywhere bag. It has space for my glasses, various cards and my cell phone. I'm in lurve. LOL!

Now here's FO #1 for the year - the wavy scarf from knitty.com:

Unfortunately, this scarf will not have the pleasure to be carried around in my new bag - and I'm glad too cause you know what? I HATE scarves!! This has been a time sucking project, and absolutely no offense to those who make scarves - in fact I applaud you, but I don't think I'll be doing another one of these anytime soon. Not that I would need to anyways because of where I live but if the feeling ever strikes me to make another scarf I will strike it back! And yes, that's a mitten holding on to dear life to the scarf with its ends not woven in. In a few minutes I plan to start mitten number two and send these gifts off the the hopefully very happy receipients.

There are a couple of things that I'm thinking of doing to the blog - just to freshen it up for the new year. Now if I can just figure out how to change the background and rearrange some things on here maybe I could actually do it.

Cheers people!

Shaking off the holiday blues

2007-12-27T20:02:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and while enjoying the gifts, also remembered the reason for the season - the birth of Jesus our Lord.

Things have been quiet on my end. Knitting wise, I've cast on for the Adamas shawl, wavy from knitty and am still plugging away on the DSL tank (are you tired of hearing me talk about this yet?). The wavy scarf is for my husband's aunt in New York. She's complaining of the cold and since I had the wavy partially started from last year's attempt for my visit to Canada, I decided I would finish it for her. I'm using the malabrigo in colourway brown sugar. I think I shall make either a hat or a pair of mittens for her daughter who's been so kind to us up to recently, sending in the kids' Christmas gifts that I sent to her address so she could mail them to me. I'm leaning more towards the hat as it's a quicker knit and I might not have enough yarn to do the mittens anyways (I was thinking along the lines of the convertible mittens I saw on knitty).

Looking back on the year, I realised I have not met some of my knitting goals - one of the main ones being learning fair isle/ intarsia. This still remains a goal of mine and will add it back to the list of "must accomplish in 2008". What about you? What are your goals knitting wise for the coming new year? Another one of mine will be to knit faster and to get more than three projects out for the year. I understand this will include letting go of my previous tendencies to knit monogamously and put more projects on the needles at one time - I've already started!

Here's the Adamas shawl. I am enjoying her thus far. I know this may take me more than a month but I'm chugging along faithfully:

And here's Wavy:

And finally, the DSL progress:

There's still what to do with my Rowan Calmer. I think I might wait a bit to cast on something special as I have once again come to the grim reality that is my size. We borrowed my BIL's camera to video record the kids opening their presents. One moment the camera was focused on their little happy faces, the next it panned very unflatteringly to my overweight form. I really need to do something about this. How to do it though when I am stoveless and ovenless? (that's a loooong story but at least the cupboards will be done soon enough for us to get those two coveted items - and you betcha I will be posting pics of them!) It will take a great deal of perseverance and commitment on my part (two things that I have sorely lacked in - up till now I daresay) to prepare our lunches elsewhere, pack em up and reheat them for the next day. But I must try as it will be very veray heartbreaking to knit up my beautiful calmer and it not fit. I guess that's why I'm kinda stuck on shawls for now. One size fits all!

Later!

I've been a bad girl this year...

2007-12-14T18:00:00.000-04:00

or so someone thought as all I'm getting for Christmas this year is coal in my stocking. What a year. I'm actually kinda glad it's almost over. Even my knitting has suffered. I think that for the past twelve months I've managed to turn out TWO projects. I really don't know where the year has gone.
Knitting wise, for the new year, I hope to go through my stash and actually churn out more than two projects. I would love to start the new year off with my Rowan Calmer but I'm still looking for the right project for this.
Anyways, I can't think of anything else to say... I feel sucky so maybe saying nothing else is best.
Later.

Knitting and ting

2007-12-12T19:16:00.000-04:00

Don't scratch your head too hard about the ting part of this blog post. It's 7:22 p.m. and I'm tired and stuffy and kinda wondering if its the end of the year yet. Right now, instead of sitting in front of the tv with the freshly cast on Jaywalker sock in hand, with my kids curled up at my side and the hubby putting around nearby, I am holed up in my son's bedroom trying to ignore the hammering and the whirring and the banging. In case you're wondering, it's not an easy task! One of these days when I can look back on this whole "building a house" experience without red pooling in my eyes, I just might tell you guys the long long tale. Right now, what I will say is that I'm finally getting kitchen cupboards. No, not replacing the old ones that were there, I'm getting kitchen cupboards - where there were none before. The guys promise it should take a week or so to get them done - not including spray painting them either. Sooo.... there's sawdust everywhere and the chairs are piled on top of one another in front of the tv. I'm not sure how long they will be here till tonight but I'm hoping they leave soon - AFTER they clean up. This coupled with the runny nose and apparent dripping in the back of my throat is not making for a very relaxing night. You know what would make me feel better? My just started jaywalker sock. But I can't get to it. Boo.

I can't think of anything else to write. The workmen are having a chat in between the ruckus.

*whimper*

Shhhh.... do you hear that?

2007-12-05T22:44:00.000-04:00

It's the sound of a "free" woman. If you want to picture how I feel, cast your minds to those cheesy films where a woman is running in slow motion through an open field... hands flung wide, eyes closed and a big stupid grin on her face. Yah, that's me. I feel so free I feel like I should be doing something! (Yes, this is why I usually have so many things going at once - I don't like being un-busy!)See, tonight I sat my MA2 exam. How did I do? I'm not so sure. There's a whole question that got up off the page and smacked me in the face. My head spun and my ears rang. In the end I might have just written - RUBBISH across the page for that one and moved on. Maybe they will give me a few marks for writing my name. Anyways. I think I might be very close to the pass mark. I don't want to imagine the futile feeling of failing by 1 mark. I've heard it to happen.

Another thing that made me very happy today was my receiving my final SP package! Wow, is Ingrid a fab pal or what? Here's a run down of my goodies.

1. The absolutely beautiful Clementine. My pic does not do it justice! She did an awesome job on it and I am touched that she made it for me.

2. Two bars of scrumptious organic chocolate. I don't think I need to tell you folks that I wasted no time in getting to know them better. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!

3. Two cute little Korknisse and some candy for my son. I tell you I have never seen anything so cute! He will love them!

4. A hair scrunchie for my daughter and candy. My daughter loves to dress up - I know this will get lots of use!

5. A beautiful handwritten card with a knitted design on the front. This was a really speacial touch.

Ingrid has been a lovely pal. She's been awesome about me being so busy sometimes I couldn't get back to her and she's just been so generous to me! Thank you Ingrid, you've made this a wonderful experience for me!

(PS - I may have to add more pics later - blogger isn't liking me loading so many pics at once!)

Of Quakes and Tremors!

2007-11-29T22:52:00.000-04:00

So something very strange happened to me today. I was sitting at my desk working when I felt a gentle shaking of my chair. Now, if you can imagine it, it was like if someone snuck up behind me, all invisible-like, and started to shake the chair from the left to the right and back again. I kinda tensed up, furrowed my brow and convinced myself that I was imagining things. But the shaking got persistent and I then convinced myself that something supernatural was happening to me (ok. stop it now - quit that snickering!!!). But then the entire workstation began to move and my monitor began to dance. Oh crap, I thought, something is wrong with me! The room is shaking! Then the business manager in the other office yelled... is anyone else's desk moving? It didn't take me long people. I yanked the power cord from my new laptop, grabbed my bag and bolted for the door. I'm not sure how I got through it, whether I opened it or walked through it but I got through it. When we got to the door, the people across the hall were making a mad scramble down the shaking stairs. Fear gripped my heart as memories of the collapsed building catastrophe from late August sprang to mind. You see, back in August, half a building collapsed into an unstable cave in Britons Hill killing a family of five (a mother, father and their three children) and since there are caves all over the island that some buildings are constructed on, my fear was that this building was going to collapse!

Well, we made it outside and realised that there were other people outside at the adjoining clinic. Someone passed and asked if we felt that too. It was then I realised that it wasn't a case of an about to collapse building, but rather tremors from an earthquake. An EARTHQUAKE!!! Gosh, apparently the last time anyone felt a rockin' in Barbados like that was back in 1947. I finally got the courage to go back up the stairs for the rest of my stuff that I left in my haste to get out. I collected my past papers, my car keys and my shoes. I shut down the computer and got the heck out of dodge. Another thing that was equally scary was that the phone system was down across the island. I could not get through to my mother to find out if she and the kids were ok (no school today - THANK GOD!!)The system was jammed with people trying to do exactly what I was trying to do. I think that this is something the authorities need to look at. Well, I made my way to my mother's house, sucessfully beating the traffic jams that expectedly followed. When I got there, my daughter was sleeping - the little darling slept through it all. My son and my mother told me about how the chairs, fans, the tv, the ceiling light and every other thing in the place was shaking. My mother apparently grabbed my daughter and with my son in tow they had bolted outside to safety. Everyone was shook up! In the end, there was building damage and one person was trampled in town and had to get medical attention.

Unfortunately, the people of Martinique who bore the brunt of the quake were not so lucky. Lots of building damamge and one little girl was killed when a wall fell on her. Her seven year old sister is listed in critical condition.

My fear right now is that Barbados won't be prepared for a disaster. If today's tremors could shut down the island and cause the telephone system to go belly up, what would happen heaven forbid in a major disaster was to happen? Well right now, I still feel a little off kilter - like I'm dizzy or something but well past the initial shock. This is something that will be on the lips of Barbadians for a long time coming!

Swallowtail pics et al

2007-11-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

Hi all... taking a few minutes to post a pic of the ST. I have one pic that I think is halfway decent but that's of the shawl unblocked. I should prolly retake the pic of it blocked so it will look better but really... I doubt anyone cares. I can't envision myself taking pics like b r o o k l y n t w e e d so there's really no point (can you tell I'm in one of those moods? It might have something to do with the fact that I've recently had a big fight with someone that should have known better, broke my favourite mug, got stopped by the po-po for not paying my road tax and had to pay for a new licence for hubby - all on ONE DAY mind you - not to mention I had a b*tch of a headache last night - so I'm a little sour/ dour/ pissed etc etc). Anyways, ST is finished and that's the most important thing knitwise right now. See pics above.

Also attached is a pic of the source of my headache last night. That thing on the plate my friends is a conkie. Conkies are "highly nutritious steamed pudding-like cornmeal treat that exist throughout Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Pacific countries where most of the ingredients are grown in abundance and constitute a large part of everyday cooking and nutrition." Conkies are a national treat traditionally made in November around our Independence Day - November 30 btw. They are made of gratered pumkin, coconut, sweet potato, egg, milk, raisins, shortening, margarine, injun corn, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and some cornmeal and its DARN delicious (did I just say darn? Yes, I did... kinda maxed out the naughty words I could say this weekend). The mixture is placed on a 8x8 square of banana leaf (that was previously cleaned and swinged on the fire). They are then stacked in a pot on top of the criss crossed ribs of the banana leaf and a little water and steamed for an hour. And then... voila! A little piece of Bajan heaven! Took long to do cause I had to go searching for the leaves (hubby but you get the idea) and prepare the ingredients BUT I got loads of help from my mother-in-law who's really REALLY good at these kinds of things.

Anyways, I'm going to wash the day away, then grab that same conkie up there with a cup of coffee, my module 7 and Heroes and settle in for some eating, drinking, revision and some time travel. Later!

Zee Swallowtail - she is done!

2007-11-21T01:04:00.000-04:00

Drive by post...

Swallowtail is DONE!!! Less than a month! Wow, this is a first for me. This is just further proof that this is an easy knit... that and it is a smaller shawl especially in comparison to the DFS which reaches past my bum. I am looking forward to blocking this - I'm so eager to see it in its proper form!

Pics to follow...

Thar she grows!

2007-11-16T12:13:00.000-04:00

*waves hi to everyone*

I hope this post finds everyone well... the weekend is here so please enjoy it whatever you do!

I have a progress pic of the Swallowtail to share. I am halfway through the Lily of the Valley Border 2 chart and the nupps are really slowing me down. I know others have posted alternatives to making the nupps, but I may be a purist when it comes to patterns... that or I'm afraid of messing it up by doing something different! Either way, Swallowtail (ST) and I are like best buds, everywhere I go she goes, to work, to the store... everywhere. You see, she's helping me keep my wits about me as the exam I am studying for (well, certain topics within it ex linear programming a.k.a. evil evil subject) is making me question my intelligence. So whenever the feeling comes over me to run naked screaming Maximize profits! Binding Constraints! Sensitivy Analysis! GAHHHHH!!! I whip her out and knit furiously (well as furiously as those interferring nupps let me!).

Well what about the DSL you say? Well, its there somewhere catching dust. I think it will be refreshing to pick it back up and finish it before the year is over. There are a few other projects that I will be starting soon. They are in no particular order, Little Lacy Top - I have the perfect yarn for this... the allhemp3 that was previously dedicated to the Laura Tee. That's right, I am going to frog her. Or rather ignore her and just use the other skeins to start the Little Lacy Top. Then there's the Trapeze Jacket and hopefully these mittens by Eunny Jang. Why in the world would I want mittens when I live in the tropics - a place some akin to a fiery furnace? Well, I might be travelling again to Canada in April and I will NOT be tricked again by those cruel cold bone chilling winds again! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem... the last time I went I brought a storm. With the wind chill it was -30. All this extra layering of fat did NOTHING for me. I was shaking like a leaf. And no offense to North Americans, but I will not believe nary a one of you if you say that the weather is nice in April! Nice to you = hypothermia for me. But I digress LOL - if I go I will be prepared. The only question that remains, is will I be able to knit those mittens? I haven't ever done colourwork (well to that extent). Can KnittyKitty do it?

Stay tuned.

Pictures!

2007-11-04T22:10:00.000-04:00

My hubby is a darling! He dug through the mountain of boxes and found the camera for me and let me know that I didn't need the software to get it running. So I plugged it in (it still had in batteries and all!) and voila! Pics. I know I promised more than these but these are all I can manage for now. Here's the 12 skeins of Rowan Calmer in sour. I know! LOVELY! Next is the progress on my Swallowtail Shawl. I am at repeat 10 of 14 of the Budding Lace 2 chart. I'm using the malabrigo lace in Pink Frost - also from my pal. I'm really enjoying this pattern so far! I would say that it would be good for a first time shawl maker. Very enjoyable so far!

In other non-kniting news, I'm winding down on my assignments. Actually submitted one today. Two more to go then I can study for my exam! My son's birthday is coming up soon so I have to do a little something for him. We plan to do some work on the house as well and get my bike up and running (it's still in the box) so I can get some exercise.

Anyways, I wish everyone a great week knitting and otherwise!

Seven radom facts - I've been tagged!

2007-10-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged by Urban Knitrix!

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes!

1. When I was a little girl, I used to believe that the walls and chairs and any inanimate object for that matter, was alive. So if I bumped into the wall by accident I would tell it sorry. Yeah... Enid Blyton messed me up but good.

2. Again, when I was a little girl, I was in love with Michael Jackson. Seriously, in love and faithful to the man. I would sit in the closet and sing his songs and dream of the day we could be together. Darn... if I knew then what I know now. Thank you Lord for not hooking us up!

3. Now, this one may seem pretty weird, but I promise it's true. I've had at least three dreams that have come true. Scene for scene... came true. No, I wasn't drinking or anything of the like. I also get bouts of deja vu... to the point I stop and I have to convince myself that I haven't been here (whereever here is at that
time) before and haven't done whatever before.

4. When I was young (do you see a pattern here?) we used to live in an upstairs and downstairs housing unit and as was the norm back then, I used to pretend that I had long hair by putting my towel over my head and tossing my head to and fro. Well, one day I did that... on the top of the stairs. I apparently missed the first step (damn long hair in my eyes!) and fell down the flight of stairs. Can't remember what happened next.

5. My husband says that I don't blink. I can watch a show that's really really interesting and only blink during commercials. I think he's exaggerating. I blink at least once during the show.

6. I like to watch tv with the sound off. I would just turn on the television and hit the mute button and be very content for hours.

7. I used to fantasize about living in a tree. I would look around and see if there were any trees large enough to carve a big hole out of. I would imagine how cozy it would be just living in there. Again, I blame Enid Blyton and her Enchanted Wood stories. Good thing I grew out of that (I think...) I don't think I'd get a good DSL connection out in the woods!

I have more but I'll keep it to seven. I don't want you all to think that I'm fruity or anything. Gotta go... Forensic Files should be on. I think I'll have it watch me.

Alicia, Koolbreeze, Shorty, Phyllis, Allegra and Becka

Thanks Sherry!

On the Swallowtail train...

2007-10-29T00:59:00.000-04:00

I've officially cast on for the Swallowtail shawl. I received the Fall 2006 Interweave magazine, unraveled the delicious skein of malabrigio lace my super pal sent me in the swap and cast on last night. So far so good. The pattern and the yarn are going well together. I feel inspired if somewhat unfaithful to the DSL. I will take DSL to work tomorrow and squeeze in some knits and purls in the hopes of finishing it ~~before my kids graduate~~ in the near future. For some reason I feel energized by the shawl project. I can't really explain it but I'm psyched - actually I think its actually doing something other than k2 p2 over and over again without any apparent results. I'm so inspired that I am up at 1:11 a.m. blogging about feeling inspired. I'll have to add it to my ever growing list of pics to take.
In other news, SP11 is winding down. I am thinking of what to put together for my pal. So far I've been two for two. I really enjoyed this swap - both the giving and receiving. I can't wait to discover who my pal is!
Anyways, I think I need to get to bed. I'm tired but not... until next post!

Knitting... where's thy string?

2007-10-25T23:03:00.000-04:00

Meh, thought that title would sound cool but maybe after I get a good night's sleep I will think otherwise. Anyways, it's the only thing my brain can come up with at ten past eleven at night. I'm torturing myself it seems... or maybe I'm subconciously trying to see how far I can push myself in the not gettin' any sleep department. Or, maybe, just maybe I've found another site just as addictive as ravelry. It's facebook. Yes, I've heard of it before, but once again I'm late to the party. Everyone and their grandmas are on there. It's cool finding people that I haven't seen in years. Some nice and others that reinforces the reason God didn't give us super special powers. Ah... but that's in the past right? So, why am I not in bed? Why am I up watching reruns of Forensic Files? Well, not watching but having it watch me while I tippity tap on the lappy? I really don't know. Hubby is down for the count and the kids went off to bed literally kicking and screaming some time ago. Well, I'm not sure. I've read some of the required reading for assignment 7 and just have to look at the notes tomorrow. But tomorrow is a little busy for me. I'm hoping to go see the iridologist (no I don't have an appointment but I'm hoping my good looks will get me in - that or maybe she won't be busy tomorrow!) and I have to go get some food to put in the fridge and pay some bills. Oh, did I mention that the kids have tomorrow off? I'll drop them by my mother and go my merry way to do my chores and then collect them later. They will not be happy about that. Ah well!

Tell me, has anyone been watching Heroes? Now, I became a serious fan during season one. Even used to do that little outburst that means "I did it!" that Hiro liked to chirp at the top of his voice. I was confused by the ending but thought nothing of it. Anyways, this new season has started rather shakily for me. It feels like two distinct groups of people are writing the stories. One group is writing the part with the mind reader, Dr. Suresh (can someone please give him a bath? Please?), Peter and Hiro. Another less motivated group seems to be writing the story lines of Mya the bloodeyed hero and her brother, Sylar (sp?) and the new hero New Orleans Muscle Mimic girl and her family. Now here are some of my problems. Generalizations. Race generalizations. Tell me why Mexicans are always portrayed as trying to get across the border? Can't they be seen just catching a plane FOR ONCE?? Tell me why Mya and her brother are so passionate and eager? Tell me why muscle mimic girl is always pursing her mouth like her ol' grammy and talking like she's uber religious? Why is it that her nephew has his hair plait and a bad attitide? Why is it that when miss mimic realises her powers (and oh so suddenly?) she goes and tests it out on um... jump rope??? I would be trying to see if I could knit intarsia, speak Japanese or fly a rocket. She choses jumprope (and why didn't the girl just invite her to join instead of wagging her head and barking at her?) Generalizations people! And why is Clare suddenly so annoying and dumb? And the story isn't meshing. How did Sylar get out that vast jungle and wind up in the path of eager Mya and company? Not making sense! And that little girl that mind reader and Dr. Sweaty seems to have kidnapped is so annoying. ARGGGGHHHHH!!!! I could go on but clearly I'm tired - I know this is just a show but I hate how different races are portrayed so STUPIDLY in shows and commercials!

Anyways, let's see if I can get some knitting content in here. I ordered 6 skeins of Knitpicks shadow in heather, vineyard and something else (yes I ordered it BEFORE Knitpicks announced their sale - grrrrr!) so I get to start the Adamas shawl. I also ordered Knitting Lace Triangles and the issue of Interweave Knits that has the Swallowtail shawl in it. I am excited even though I don't "sound" that way. I'm sleepy and won't go to bed. Maybe, I can get back into some serious knitting and maybe these upcoming projects will somehow propel me to knit faster and finish the DSL already! Sheesh.

I still can't find the camera... maybe I should buy a new one... with printer to boot. So I'll just add those knitting purchases to the list of will post pics.

Gnite. I think.

Of yarn and headaches...

2007-10-14T18:27:00.000-04:00

Ugh... what a Sunday. Yesterday I planned on going to church today but today had other plans for me. Last night I went to bed with one of those kinds of headache/eye-ache combinations that makes you just wanna cry. I blame it on the sinuses. Might be sinuses might not be but my past experience says SINUSES. So I took two panadols when I awoke with the tv watching me and went back to sleep... secure in the knowledge that this will be all gone come morning. Morning came and it was still there, somehow empowered by the panadols I took. The entire upper right hand quandrant of my face hurt. The eye, the socket, the area above the eye right down to where my upper and lower jaw bones meet. I slept it off, and woke up with it still there. I lay motionless in the bed, turning only when necessary and it was stil there. At one point I thought the pain had gone (silly me) but when I inhaled it reminded me that it was STILL there. So this evening, I finally got some cataflam from the pharmacy and now I'm like a new woman.

I feel so much better that I can come on here and tell you all about the Knitpicks shadow that I bought in Vineyard and Heather. Adamas shawl here I come! Yes... if you are counting, that's two shawls on the to do list. I also ordered the book Knitting Lace Triangles and the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits edition. Turns out I didn't have that one in the pile. Hmmm.... I wonder how I was going to get the Swallowtail shawl done without it!

In other yarn news, as I mentioned, my awesome pal sent me TWELVE skeins of Rowan Calmer in sour and I promised pics as soon as I got internet connection. Seems I should have promised the pics after I got internet connection AND as soon as I found the camera and the software that goes with it! Seriously people, there are so many boxes in here and I was too lazy to label any of them (and at one point we were just throwing stuff in willy nilly just to get out by the end of month that labeling wasn't a real feasible option anyways)that now I cannot put my hand on either of them. Rest assured, they are twelve skeins of gorgeousness! When I/we get our act together and find the camera (among other things) I will post the long in coming pic.

Well, folks... if my guess is right tomorrow is Monday. AGAIN. I promised (before offending headache) to get all the pressing done (work clothes for hubby and myself and uniforms for both kiddies) for the week. I think I will only do the kids uniforms for the week and let hubby take care of ours for tomorrow.

Until next post! Happy knitting!