Tuesday, October 30, 2007

My little icons keep coming and going...

Comcast is redoing their webspace and assured me of minimal disruption. I wonder what more than minimal disruption looks like? Haven't been able to even get to their main website, let alone log in.

Please forgive the missing icons! :)

Late breaking news... fever has been down all day and has returned with a vengeance. Doctor in the A.M.

Night-night.

edited to fix some grammatical and spelling errors. More than likely did not catch them all! :) (11/3)

A little progress and little heat

Seems I might have the flu - or something. 100 - 102.6 temperature over a thirty hour period. body aches, headache, chills and shivers, lethargy. Fever seemed to break last night and is hovering at 99. I feel much better today, but I'm not over whatever it was.

I did finish Hint 2 of the Secret of the Stole:



Hint 2 complete. Now, on to Hint 3. If I finish Hint 4 (insert maniacal laughter) by Friday and post a picture, I could win a prize. That is so not going to happen! Hint 5 is released on Friday. I'm a little behind.




A close up of the beads. The yarn looks two-tone here. It is not. There is a blue pillow behind the white blanket. The flash acted as an x-ray and the dark of the blue shows through the blanket. I do believe, however, that the truer color of the yarn is the lower half of this photo.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Stoling along...

My Mystery Stole 3/Swan Lake (no longer a mystery, but it was when I started!) is creeping along... I think my work on the other stole will help this one move more quickly. I had never attemped lace of any significant size and never worked with laceweight before trying this stole. I'm almost 1/2 way through the pattern, using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud on US3 Addi Lace circular needles. The very thin, but lovely, laceweight alpaca cloud makes for slow deliberate knitting on my part.

I have been working on my Secret of the Stole, too. Hint 4 comes out tomorrow morning. I've not quite finished Hint 2 (19 pattern rows to go, out of a 167 total revealed through Hint 2). I have developed a bit of rhythm with it and may well catch up by next week! That's my goal anyway. I'm doing this in a fingering weight and it moves a bit faster than the laceweight... it is building my confidence to work more quickly with the lace weight.

So.... I signed up for the Mystic Waters KAL as well! Triangular shawl, rather than a (mostly) rectangular stole. First pattern charts were posted Wednesday. I've printed them, but haven't started. More on that later.

Other things have been keeping me busy.

I went on my annual Women's Retreat on Rhinebeck weekend! Check the archives for last year to see a bit of what I saw this weekend. The theme changes each year, but the venue is the same.

I was able to finish twelve more 6" squares for Summer's Hope project at the Hugs and Stitches Yahoo! Group. I promised 24. Those 12, the 9 already completed and the three more I finished yesterday fulfilled my promise and filled the box. They'll head to GA on Saturday and will be assembled with other squares into afghans for children suffering with cancer.

I have completed three and will have at least two more 8" squares to send to San Diego for new blankets/symbols of hope for families that have lost everything in the devastating fires.

I completed the last of 6 hats to be added to the HAP table at a craft fair on November 11 to raise money for the Handmade Afghan Project. Deborah has received requests to send the afghans to Landsduhl Hospital in Germany and to a medical facility in Afghanistan. Postage to send fully assembled afghans was not part of the original vision, but we are all rising to the occasion and fulfilling the request. Since expenses are rising, the group got a table at a community craft fair and members made various items for sale. If you are in the Silver Spring, MD area on November 11 - stop by Fairland Community Center and check out the goodies!

Back to Stoling along now...

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Secret of the Stole - Hint 1 Done!



Hint 2 is printed. Eyes are too tired to continue, but I'll try this week to qualify for the prize before I retreat for the weekend.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Wazzup Wednesday, October 10

It's been busy. It's been hot. I've been roasting. But, I've been knitting too!

Secret of the Stole - left point, right point, bead close up. My camera is doing all sorts of weird things* and these were the only 'good' photos I could get of my progress tonight.






That's Wazzup with me. Wazzup with you?

* I hope it's just the batteries needing replacing. Can't afford to replace the whole camera by Saturday and I really need it on Saturday!

Monday, October 08, 2007

She Posts! On a MONDAY!

Today is the observance of Columbus Day -- so I have the day off, being a Federal employee. I'm usually enjoying an early autumn day of chopping down the summer flowers and greenery that have died, and getting the garden ready for mulching. However, today it was NINETY degrees F in Southern Maryland. 90, Nine Zero. Insanity.

I did get some things done. And did a few things I should have done during the summer - but it was too hot in July/August (after all it was summer time and 90 degrees! (Hahahahah -- Mother Nature, she laughs at me!)

The pool related things needed to be done today because, even though the high is still expected to be in the upper 80s this week, my pool is supposed to close tomorrow. It's hot work closing a pool in 90 degree weather. It turns out that the pool person would prefer to come on Thursday... so I have been given a reprieve and have taken it! I'll finish up the cleaning, putting away, finding of the closing stuff, etc. after work tomorrow and then I can drain the pool to below skimmer on Wednesday evening and hopefully avoid heat stroke.

On the knitting / crocheting front:

No new crocheting done. I finished Fetching:




I started a new hat - always have a hat on the needles!

I started Secret of the Stole, Hint 1 - got half way through Hint 1 yesterday, should finish tonight. Goes much faster then MS3 - because (1) I had never knit lace before MS3, so there was a learning curve and (2) I have fingering weight, rather than lace weight and it moves along much faster for some reason!

I continued on MS3.

In non-crafting news...

I'm getting over a nasty cold or a severe allergy attack or something nasty in the nose, throat and chest.

I'm preparing for my 30th High School Reunion. I'm co-chairing with a few other Alums. Event is Saturday. Lots to do!!

Hopefully I shall return on Wednesday and let you know Wazzup with me!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Wazzup Wednesday, October 3

Seems since I instituted Wazzup Wednesday, Wednesday is the only day I post! Life has been crazy busy for the past few weeks. Hope to have some time this coming Columbus Day weekend to take some pictures and post some FOs and WIPs and Wishes! :)

Today, words (and links) will have to suffice...

FO - a Charmed Knits beret in wide stripe, Ravenclaw colors.

FO/WIP - FO = Sock #1 of the pair. WIP = the Second Sock to be cast on tonight during Criminal Minds. Received the Yarn in the last Knitters Tea Swap from Emma

FO/WIP - FO = right hand Fetching; WIP = left hand Fetching.

WIP - Irish Hiking Scarf - a disappointment with Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Pines colorway - it is beautiful - but... I bought two skeins, same color, same dye lot, two different colors - the second skein is significantly darker than the first. :( I'll decide what to do after it's finished... But I'm not starting over! :)