I'm a coward, reading and knitting

I'll admit to being a coward today. I didn't knit a stitch. I wanted to start a new week on the calendar -- to get this week and all its mistakes behind me before I started again.

Either that or I was lazy. Take your pick. Either way, I didn't knit today. I curled up on the couch and read, listening to the rain as it fell all day. I thought about casting on for the vest, but that is a lot of stitches. The yarn and the pattern were beside me. I read. Tomorrow is another day that Howard will be away most of the day, I plan to start then.

I like books on tape or CD for that reason. I can "read" and knit. Especially when I'm doing a complicated pattern. Once the vest is cast on, I can read an actual book while I knit it. The shawl has 3 rows that allow reading and one pattern row that requires attention. Not bad. But a book on tape allows me to sit back (instead of hunched over the book) and not worry about turning pages. That is a decided advantage.

Anyway, tomorrow is the start of a new week, time to start my projects again!

Oh for Heaven's Sake!

And just to prove my brain is not functioning, I show you the vest I've been working on. That is going to be frogged today. At 9 stitches and 13.5 rows an inch, this is painful. First of all, the gauge changed, the swatch was 8 stitches an inch, so it would have to be frogged anyway. But the BIG problem? The one that says, "yoo-hoo, anyone home in there?" I did the math for the half tuxedo points in front, and didn't do it right. I don't know where the brain was, but it wasn't home that day.

I was knitting along yesterday, knowing I just had a few more increases to go to be up to the right number for the whole body. Then all I need to do is knit back and forth until the underarm. Measured the thing. It seemed a bit narrow. Decided to count the front stitches to check. Good thing I did, I was 20 stitches short on both sides. There was a stunned moment of disbelief. I checked several times, but that is what is wrong. Somewhere, I thoroughly miscalculated. snivel. Took it off the circular, and placed it gently back in the bag to frog using the ball winder when we got home.

Dog Blast it, take 2

Here is the picture of the shawl still on the needles, just after Tucker had attacked it. As you can see, it did meet a Dogged End. Not all of the ring markers were recovered. I had been knitting about 4 stitches on the shawl, then throwing his ball. Couldn't he have appreciated that?

I started again ... the day after. In the room where he isn't allowed. No sense pushing my luck.

Duluth pictures

A collage of pictures from our trip. Just a relaxing time, a lot of walking, talking, and playing. I can't seem to take pictures consistently, so here we are with the few I have.

Mom's Mistake!

Nathan here -- Mom's son
I am posting this because Mom is a tad upset.

She made a MAJOR Oops.

She decided to check on Dad (who was doing some tiling), and did NOT put her knitting in a place that Tucker could not get to it. We all know what happens when a dog finds something to chew on.

You can see the pictures attached, and use it as a lesson to "KEEP ALL CHEWY THINGS AWAY FROM THE DOG!!!!"

There has been discussion that whatever this started out to be, it looks now like a thong that has lost something.

Duluth

We have been up in Duluth, having a wonderful time on the shore. Kim and Nathan reserved a room right on the lakeshore, and we spent the weekend exploring.

We watched two vessels go through the canal. I had to laugh at myself on the first one, it was 1,004 feet long. I had every intention of taking pictures of it as it went through. It was HUGE. After it went by, I realized that the camera was in my hand, and I hadn't taken a single shot. sigh The next one was smaller, and I STILL didn't take photos. It was fun watching the drawbridge go up, it is an arial lift bridge -- the road lifts 138 feet (they announced it) instead of the two parts going up.

Kim and Nathan like to collect sea glass, this was an excellent weekend for that. We came back with an 8 ounce beverage bottle filled pieces of all sizes that we collected this weekend. Yesterday afternoon Kim and Howard (Nathan had to leave to go back to work) went out with the bottle about half filled, with the laughing comment that they were going to fill it. 3 hours later they came back in laughing victoriously, chilled, with a filled bottle. It seems that each time one of them was ready to call it quits, the other was busy. So, they kept going until they filled it.

Today Kim is in orientation for the University of Minnesota Duluth for her grad program. We are at the Barnes and Noble in the mall in Duluth, reading (and obviously on the internet!)

Shoulder Shawl

So, here is the shoulder shawl I did over the weekend. I haven't blocked it yet, but you can see that it is just that, a small shawl that will warm the shoulders, yet the points are long enough to cross in front and tuck in the waistband, securing in place. A shawl pin is great too!

Knitalong Yarn is Here!

I'm heading up a Knitalong starting May 1, The pattern we are going to be doing is Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer's "Elegantly Simply Triangular Shawl". Our blog is here. If you want to join the fun, go here.

My yarn got here today. Isn't it gorgeous! It is Heritage Yarns Black and Grey in a Rainbow World in Cloud 9, a 50/50 cotton/rayon.

On other knitting fronts, I finally finished detangling the cotton/linen yarn with Howard's help. There were times I despaired. It took about an hour an ounce. Considering the fact that I had a pound of it, you can gauge the amount of frustration involved. I just did a gauge swatch, this yarn wants to be knit tightly to look good. I'd thought a size 2, I'm using a 0 with extra tension. If I had a 00, it would be happy.

Over the weekend I knit up a shoulder shawl with a mohair yarn and a ribbon yarn. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. I think the best color description is bittersweet. Makes me happy looking at it. The yarns were the same color, with the difference you get because of the difference of material.

LIFE, Knitalong

Life has come at us fast the last while.

• Nephew Derek is safely home from Iraq, he called his parents from Maine at 4:30 this morning. Yay!


• Last Monday Kim and Nathan announced that she has been accepted in grad school in Duluth, they are selling their home in the St. Cloud area and moving this spring:


• Normal duties for Howard have kept him going close to 60 hours a week:


• Still strugging with migraine residuals that make everything difficult.

We NEED a vacation!

I'm pleased to announce that I'm going to be knitting the Elegantly Simple Triangular Shawl in Heritage Yarns' Black and White in a Rainbow World (pictures to come soon!) We've started a blog to log our adventures here. I think it is going to be fun. I love the yarn, and have been bugging Margaret to dye this colorway. grin

This should be good vacation knitting, don't you think? We have declared a vacation toward the end of April. We are also going to fly out to California in June to visit Howard's family, hopefully see Derek, and relax by the ocean for a week.

Tangles!

Oh my! I have this lovely yarn. It is a linen/cotton blend. I did my gauge swatch, washed it, and it shrank. I figured it would, and thought, with some cunning that it would be easier to wash the yarn, taming the shrinkage, instead of knitting the vest to find out that my plans for shrinkage were wrong.
I tied the yarn in many places. Obviously not enough. Behold the results of 1/2 hour's work. Impressive, no?For your delectation, I've attached more pleasant images. sigh I will prevail, and will be knitting this up into a vest for my cousin Nancy. It is going to be worth it when done!