Gold Medal !!!

isn't it pretty!!

Now to figure how to put the little one on the sidebar ....

what fun!!

Thank You Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) and team!

My finished felted bag (Olympic Knitting Project)

So here it is done and dried -- I love it - I made a mistake but nothing I can't live with for a first bag (besides I can't change it now LOL) And it isn't totally noticeable unless you look close.

So does anyone know how to get your gold medal for completing the project??

LaLaLaLaLa -- My bag is done!!!

and drying -- I went to take a picture and the battery on the camera is dead so charging it up now. I see couple of mistakes but nothing I can't live with -- one is one handle is on the other side of the edge (you can see it in the second picture I think Yikes! )And I can see one place I changed color - it has a little bump in it But I am still thrilled with my first bag ever !!!! And I will probably wear it out using it because it is my FIRST - did I do the happy song Lalalalalalaaaaa!!!

ok got my camera charged enough to take these -

My plans for the rest of this week

Thanks Trish - I am taking your advice - My plans for the rest of this week -- on my way to the dentist today I will be picking up the pillow case to felt my bag and finish my Olympic project, also going to look at the Lane chairs on sale for our living room while picking up the pillow case (same store)- then I have one meeting on Thursday and other than that I am resting!!! Well, I may look at some yarn while I am at the pillow case/chair store. This store has all of that and more in it. They say they are the first department store in America - and I wouldn't doubt it. But it wouldn't do to be resting and not have anything to knit at all would it?

I may work on a hat or try to come up with some arm warmer sleeves. I was thinking that they would be great for this time of life - I can be freezing and in need of long sleeves then WHAM a hot flash hits and I could whip the sleeves off and be cooler and when it passed I could put the sleeves back on -- much easier than taking a sweater on and off each time it happens. :D

UGH

well I got all the cooking done by 1 am last night waited for cake to cool off and dishwasher to stop and went to bed. Got up ironed my clothes got things ready to go and just couldn't do it - I felt awful (maybe I should make that AWFUL!!!!) So DH brought the food with him and I went to the doctor. Ended up with a breathing treatment there (nebulizer?) and a script for 2 different inhalers and orders that if I don't feel better in 3 or 4 days to come back. I sooo don't do doctors - I feel like an imposter when I go in and it isn't something visible like broken bones. Does this tell you just how bad I was feeling.

BTW anyone know how to bring body temperatures up?? I know to take aspirin to bring it down but what the heck do you do to bring it up?? Before I went to doctors it was 95.7 F. at doctors it had gone up to 96.2 F.

I will pick up my pillowcase tomorrow so I can felt my bag.

I was going to say tomorrow I promise will be better but I have to go to dentist for a filling that fell out -- how good can that be LOL

Still haven't felted the bag

but not so much because of fear as no time -- have spent the last 2 days cooking for a funeral tomorrow. Do you have any idea how much carrot salad you can make out of two of the BIG bags of carrots and how many beans it takes to make a full pot of baked beans. Still have two coffee cakes to do tonight. Guess it is a good thing that I work best at night HUH? Plus I have to clean up my kitchen and load the dishwasher AGAIN before I can start the cakes.

Then tomorrow will be kitchen duty at the wake. But I will take the time to stop and get my pillowcase so I can get the bag felted on Tuesday!!!

Olympic Project -not felted yet

Tomorrow I have to get a zippered pillowcase cover to felt this in - then my Olympic Project will be finished!! I have to say I learned a lot doing this - using big needles, picking up stitches and going from a flat piece to a circular, changing colors, slip a stitch to make a corner, icord - and enjoyed every part of it.

So why am I so nervous about how it will come out after felting -- I really mean it - I could put off doing it just to avoid that part of the project and seeing if I did ok or not LOL Oh, the joys of being a new knitter....

ps -- felt is one of those words that after typing it a few times looks like it is wrong... ;D

Time for an update

Well it has been a long time since I posted here - but I have had a bad bout with bronchitis and then an inner ear thing that meant I bounced off walls and if I moved my head it took a few minutes for the world to stop spinning.

Looks like my Olympic project will be a small bag - when I was able to ball up the yarn I got to wondering if it was enough to do the large bag that I had ordered for. So I went back to the page where I ordered from and no matter which size I put in for the yarn calculation it came up with 5 balls of each color yarn. Now if it were single yarn knitting I would think it would work but doubling up on it I just can't see how it will make it to the large size bag. Of course since I have never done this I could be completely wrong.

So it will still be a challenge as everything that was new to me in the pattern still is - I just don't have as long to do each thing to get used to doing it now.

Well off to help DH split wood - we are under a Blizzard watch and our woodpile is pretty low - want to have plenty in so if power goes out I can knit, read (by daylight or hurricane lanterns) and cook spaghetti and meatballs and/or beef stew on the woodstove. Of course, if the power doesn't go out I will do all of that just not by light of hurricane lanterns - and watching Olympic coverage on TV.

I'm in the Olympics

well the Yarn Harlot Olympics -- going to do the Farmers' Market Tote from Knit Picks (by Dennis Lorimor for Knit Picks) see picture below of their finished product.



in Extra Large. It will be a challenge for me for sure - but I ordered the yarn for it awhile ago and it came in and has sitting in the back room waiting for me to work up the nerve to do it. There are a few things in the pattern I am not totally clear on (picking up stitches and slipping the first and last stitch of the round on the short side -- and it goes on from there) But I will figure this out and have another tote (I have this obsession for totes [and storage chests - but that is another story]) you just can't have too many totes (or storage chests) can you?

So now I will go and try to figure how to put the Olympic banners in my sidebar.

I've been tagged

thanks Trish -- now everyone will know just how boring I am

*Four jobs you've had in your life:

1. worked as receptionist at a medical group
2. insurance rep. (life and health)
3. packaged meat in IGA
4. bank teller

not in that order..

*Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. Young Frankenstein.

2. Mystery Alaska (I love happy endings)

3. Harry Potter Movies

4. Bringing up Baby

*Four TV shows you watch regularly:

1. CSI in fact any forensic show (real or drama)
2. 2 and 1/2 Men
3. Antique Roadshow
4. any archaeology or history program

*Four places you've lived:
Oh dear -- I have lived in different places but all in two towns

1, East Hampton, NY
2. Southampton, NY

*Four places you've been on vacation:

1, Alaska
2. Phoenix
3. France
4. Austria

*Four websites you visit daily:

1. Knitter's Review (of course)!

2. USGS earthquake site

3. Panda Cam

4. Live Hillside Webcam (like to see the weather near friends in Alaska)

*Four of my favorite foods:
1. Anything Italian
2. fish (pretty much any kind)
3. Liver and onions (I know I know most people go euwwww) [Ha - spell check wanted that to be ewe)
4. old standby - hamburger

that was hard -- I love Greek food, Mexican, Italian, pretty much anything with spices and or spicy...

*Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Phoenix (as my wood stove is working hard to keep me warm with the wind from the north and living room on north side of house)
2. Disney World
3. Eagle River Alaska visiting friends
4. Scotland (never been there just always wanted to go)


Sorry Jane don't know who else to tag.....

it was interesting - but I would figure that everyone had the same answers as me and would get the same results. Try it and let me know if you are different or if I am just weird hehehe

My finished ribwarmer

So here is my first wearable object - wearable by someone tiny - but not by me. But it served its purpose and I learned short rows and turning corners and sort of learned sewing it together.

I couldn't find any instructions on how to piece the ribwarmer together so I kind of figured it out as I went along. Not totally thrilled with it but it isn't too bad.

Now to figure how to make something bigger and a little different for me. I have some ideas will have to see if it will work. I think that if I make this new project it will actually use up the rest of this green yarn. Buying way too much is a hazard of buying yarn when you have only made 3 things. But the yarn was super cheap and is serving a great purpose as a learning yarn. And years from now when I see any of these GREEN objects I will certainly remember that it was one of my firsts. LOL

Don't you just love my model? A towel covered box - but I didn't have to worry about her moving and the pay is right. And it fills out the vest about as well as some of the high priced famous models would.

1st half of ribwarmer done

is this what it is supposed to look like - or even close to what it is supposed to look like? Started work on the second half -- my next question will have to do with -- how the heck to you put it together to be a ribwarmer??

Frogging is good for the soul?

Well I had done 1/2 of the EZ ribwarmer and decided to frog it - I think that I have to go down to the numbers that EZ uses in the short rows even though I have more stitches on the needle than she does for the turn to come out right. In other words it has to go down to the final 15 stitches before you start knitting one more up to the number of stitches on the needle. Hmm that was clear as mud I am sure.

So I decided to do it exactly as written first - and give it to my MIL (at 89 she is always cold) and that way I can see what each part is supposed to look like so when I try it for me again I will have an idea if it looks right.


I guess it is a good thing I am a process knitter -- so the frogging doesn't bother me too much. WELL - not all that much. :D

ribwarmer

Well I have been stressing about making a EZ ribwarmer and have just decided to go for it -- I measured a favorite sweater did the formula to figure stitches, swatched and I'm starting it in a few minutes. This is my first actual wearable item so I am a bit nervous - but what the heck if it is horrible I will just frog it and start again. Or keep it like my weird learning neckwarmer :D ( I have to give it a better name than that)

Weird neck wrap as promised

This was a trial at circular knitting and seeing what happened with different techniques. It is strange and it could be a bit longer but It works for helping DH split logs (I work the lever on the log splitter while he does all the heavy stuff) and keeping my neck and ears warm.

I am finally starting to feel a bit more human -- although after a half an hour working outside I was shaking like a leaf - I am as weak as a newborn pup. But I am not gurgling when I breath now and the coughing is much less.

Why you shouldn't KUI

here is your laugh for the day - on oh so many levels. It definitely illustrates why a person shouldn't knit under the influence (KUI) I was going to frog it but decided I will finish it off and keep for my use -- heck I can use a laugh every so often also. So for now I am confining myself to a simple shawl that is straight knitting with a K1 YO K to the end of the row for now. I don't think even I can mess that up too bad right now.

rho

Do not knit under the influence

of narcotic cough meds. I have bronchitis and am on antibiotics and also the afore mentioned cough med. Between coughing my lungs up, the headache from it all and the drug induced fog -- the dish cloth I decided to try is hysterical. Lets just say that you may think you are keeping good count of the rows but.............

Once I can move without feeling like I will pass out from the coughing moving or talking induces I will post a picture so everyone can enjoy the sight.

remember never ever KUI (knit under the influence)

Needing to see an accomplishment

Have been working on my lap robe/wrap (haven't decided if it will be one or the other or a combination) and it is just knit forever -- so last night I decided I needed to do something to see an accomplishment that was still mindless (because of feeling pretty cruddy still) so I did a "grandmothers favorite dish cloth" I love that pattern - it is easy to do and works up pretty fast and you can see that you did something. I will probably do another today LOL I want to graduate up to some of the different pattern ones soon but I don't think I am in full concentration mode yet.

Went to the doctors yesterday and both DH and I ended up with shots and scripts. Hopefully this will knock it out - 2 weeks of this is ridiculous. Trying to avoid this going into pneumonia for DH (which happens to him) and bronchitis for me (usually a once a year deal for me) Also it really stinks when neither of you feel like doing anything - like cooking or cleaning up

my hair should be pink!?

Just for giggles I took this today and this was the result -

Your Hair Should Be Pink

Hyper, insane, and a boatload of fun. You're a traveling party that everyone loves to follow.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

boy was I surprised - I always thought I was just weird (and that is what DH tells me all the time too) - this sounds much nicer.