Hotsky Totsky

It's HOT HOT HOT!! You know the song. It is now at 11:20PM still 29C outside (without the humidity). It was about 41C or 42C with the humidity during the day today and yesterday. So it is not only HOT but also HUMID. Last week it went to 48C/49C and an hour or so out of the city it was 53C. That is with the humidity. Thank-goodness for my window A/C which is keeping my apt cool and making it comfortable for knitting. I can even cook with the A/C unit without too much of a problem. Of course, when it is at its hottest outside it is not as cool in the apt but definitely still quite comfortable.

So what is new. I recently came home from my Fall Epicure product launch. AND what a catalogue it is and what wondrous tasty goodies I got to try from the new catalogue. I even won a prize at the meeting tonight. I won a jar of the new product brought back for a limited time in this new fall/winter catalogue, a jar of Pinot Noir Wine Jelly. And OMG does it ever smell terrific and can you smell the wine. I didn't get to taste this one but I did taste the Blanc de Blancs Wine Jelly. Some of the other new items to be available as of Sept 1 include: Turkey Rub, Sage & Apple Stuffing Seasoning (I liked the smell of this one better), Savory Cranberry Stuffing Seasoning, Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix that can be prepared to be served hot or cold, Cranberry Sauce, Hot Buttered Rum, Mulling Spices, Christmas Tea, Crystallized Ginger, Cherries & Berries (which include cranberries, sun dried cherries and blueberries), Tiramisu Dessert Mix, and Mocha Beans which are roasted coffee beans coated in white, dark and milk chocolate all in one container. Five or six beans equal a cup of coffee. In addition, there are new pots, knives, a roasting pan, new and revised spray pump, cookbook and a few other new items. I got to try chicken made with the Turkey Rub, the Pesto Artichoke Dip warm, the Crystallized Ginger, the Stuffing mixes just mixed with butter on toasted rounds, the Mulling Spices and the Tiramisu Dessert Mix but when I tried the Hot Buttered Rum mixed with the Cherries and Berries (and butter) spread over cream cheese I thought I had died and gone to heaven. If you want to check out some of what is available from Epicure go online to http://www.epicureselections.com/ I do not know if the new items are online yet thought. I didn't see them when I went there a while ago. I brought my friend Lori with me to the meeting and she won the 50/50 prize which was over $50.00. WOW

I also had a chance to go to my knitting meeting tonight but I had made plans to go to my Epicure meeting two months ago. Usually our Avon meetings are on Monday nights when we have them. BUT, alas, I couldn't be in two places at once. I really would have loved to see the new items Avon has coming out for Halloween. OH WELL!!!

On to knitting news. I have now completed the cuff and the leg of my first Circle of Friendship Socks. Some of the instructions were not right so it drove me nuts for a while trying to figure out the pattern as it was a graph but somehow the graph made it a bit easier to see what I was supposed to do and how the circles were to go. At the end of the last circle I also did my own thing to get the finish I wanted. I have put it down so I can work on the second leg of the pair. Here is a photo of what it looks like so far.

KNITTING GOODNESS

Yesterday meaning Monday I received my summer color dishcloth swap. This was the second one sent as for whatever reason I never received the first puffy sent. It is done in a variegated colors of blue, green, white and yellow. The pattern is Double Broken Ribs. Thank-you Susan. You do a wonderful job knitting. Your tension is perfect as is the size. I can assure you these cloths will never touch a dish.


Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the informal knitting get together. I don't have a tote to show the gals as I never received one from my ITE4 swap partner although it could still come. It is supposed to be here by tomorrow August 1 but I haven't heard from my partner since she sent her first email May 31 saying hello and she was going to send me a questionnaire to get to know me better. I don't even think my hostess has heard from her either. I was a hostess myself for five gals and all packages have been sent and received. PHEW!!!!! BUT out of 150 if only three needed angels that isn't so bad. So I may end up getting something is someone volunteers to be an angel. I still will join the ITE5. They are fun and I am so addicted to swaps I guess if someone bails out in one with all I partake in, it is not too terrible especially if an angel comes through.

Oh and I have been really bad swap wise. YEAH I joined SP11 http://sp11.blogspot.com/ and have heard from back that I am in it!!!
BUT I also joined the Christmas Around the World Swap (http://christmasaroundtheworldswap.blogspot.com/) only problem is there is quite a bit of writing on the dark blog that isn't really legible.
I also joined the August Color Swap as the color for this swap is pink and peaches. AND I love love love the color pink. I haven't heard back on this swap yet as I just signed up. Sign up deadline is 12:01 a.m PDT. August 3, 2007. You can find it at: http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/search/label/Colorswap
As soon as the Knit one Tea Too swap opens up on August 3 I will be joining that one (http://knit1tea2.blogspot.com/). I have already purchased something for it. I love all kinds of tea, hot, cold, flavored and plain, black, green, white and red. So why not join it.
Are there more to join? Of course there are.
The fall felted bag swap (round 2) (http://feltedbagexchange2.blogspot.com/). Registration Opens August 15th and Closes August 27th.
If there is enough interest there will be another knitters coffee swap this fall (http://coffeeswap.blogspot.com/). AND I also love coffee. Again hot, cold, flavored or plain.
AND if there is another a Monkey Socks Swap 3 I would be interested in that.

So I have been keeping busy in the heat, knitting, finding swaps to consider joining, and I even managed to get some errands done despite all this heat.

The latest on my standing at Ravelry

You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
6880 people are ahead of you in line.
7525 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

MY MY MY

Knitting Goodness

Yes more knitting goodness. Yesterday I received my bottle swap minus the bottle from my partner in the whenever group I belong to. On the box was taped a sheet of paper with a nail enamel bottle on it and on this sheet of paper was written I'm a little bottle , yes I am. This was the second part of my bottle swap. Earlier I received the first part which was two skeins of Panda Wool and the pattern for the Circus Chevron Socks designed by KyleAnn for June sock of the month in the whenevergroup. How excited I was to receive it. Oh how I would have loved to order it. I loved the pattern and the yarn isn't available locally but, alas, there was no budget money for it at the time it was available. So I just looked at it and thought one day maybe if there were any kits left I might be able to get one. Then it came as a gift and the sender didn't even know I had been wanting it. Did I send vibes to my partner or what???? When I heard I was getting more in the swap I was quite excited as at first I thought this was my bottle swap package not that this itself wouldn't have been a wonderful package. Only I didn't know who it was from. So I made a general thank-you to the group. It turned out my partner was busy. I though at first on vacation but her note said she was buying a new home. Congratulations Anarii on your new home. Live in it with much happiness. Well in this box aka little bottle substitute was more yarn. YUP more yarn for my ever expanding stash. I received two skeins of Knit Picks Telemark (a DK weight yarn) in colorway Bayberry which is a wine color. It is 100% Highland Peruvian Wool and is feltable yarn. I also received a skein of Hemp Yarn in a natural color. When I first looked at it it looked like twine. It is 55% hemp and 45% wool ~200yds 2 ply WW made in China but who makes it the ballband doesn't say. This is a very interesting skein of yarn. I know from my knowledge of hemp whatever I make make with it won't wear out too soon. Which would mean if your favorite jeans were made of hemp you would never have to worry about them wearing out and you having to break in a new pair. Back to my swap package. To feed my eyelash addiction there were three skeins of a pink yarn called Petalo 60% cotton & 40% nylon with 62yd per skein from Joann's. The eyelash portion is very very short and a true pinky pink while the yarn itself is a very pale pink. I see a scarf or border on a bag, or a tiny infant item. AND there was more in this little box, a container of Simply Idaho Potato Lotion since Anarii is from Idaho. Who would have "thunk" potato lotion???? It does have an odd smell but it did make my hands and arms feel soft. I still like the smell of coconut lotion better. Ah yes there was also a bar of Honeysuckle hand made soap by Greencastle Soap Company. Last but not least there was a set of Susan Bates Sock Needles One can never have enough sock needles. I am loving my Knit Picks sock needles but they keep falling out of the stitches on one of the sock projects I am currently working on. A photo of my goodies is below. Are you a little jealous? Just a little?

What am I working on? Well one of the projects I am working on the is The Circle of Friendship Socks. A pattern purchased from Elann. I also purchased the same pattern for Sharon, my year long partner in weluvknitting group. I thought it would be fun if we worked on it together. So in our first of four swaps I sent her the pattern. It wasn't until after I bought it I realized it was a graph. I only can do simple graphs but Sharon generously offered to translate it for me into the written word which she did. Thank-you again Sharon. "Anywho", we decided to start the socks in June each using yarn of our own choice. I chose to use some Fleece Artist sock weight yarn. I am much slower than Sharon as if I remember what she wrote she either has completed her socks or is close to finishing them and she started knitting hers way after I started mine. From the photo you cans see I have done the cuff and one set of circles of the leg. I have altered the pattern slightly by not putting the cable on the cuff. I also will be doing a plain foot instead of doing the cuff pattern on the foot. I think being the pattern is so textured I may not like it. If it were slightly textured I would contiue the pattern on the foot but it way too textured for me. What do you think?

I had to go and find my DPN needle keep as the stitches kept falling off the needles especially when I was working on the first stitches with a cable needle at the beginning of each needle and also when I would take them out after having put them away between knitting. Here is what it looks like when the DPNS are on a needle keep.

If a needle keep is something you would be interested int you can go here to find out how to order them. http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/marelston/NeedleKeep/index.html. Each one is made when it is ordered.

AH, I know the ITE4 bag I sent out on Monday was received in the country of destination on Wednesday and received at 5AM this morning where it will get sorted to be delivered. It is too early to know if it went out for delivery today or will go tomorrow. So my bag definitely is arriving on time and it may have even arrived today.

Ravelry Update

You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
7372 people are ahead of you in line.
6537 people are behind you in line.
33% of the list has been invited so far

It is slow going but I am moving up the list a few slots at a time.

I AM IN AWE

OMG!!!! A woman after my heart. A goal to live up to. Am I up to the task?
Click on the link and look only if you dare. http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/?p=111
Who would have "thunk"? Do these photos take your breath away, make your heart skip a beat? Did you also have to do a double take on what you saw with your own eyes. So what do those of you reading my blog think? Are there awards given out for such dedication? Anna I must thank-you for putting these wonderful photos on your blog. I would have left a comment but your comment section is closed. I hope you don't mind me putting the link to this entry on my blog.

Knitting Goodness

Today I received my "sub weener" prize from Nancy in the addictedtoknitdishcloth group I belong to for guessing who won the needle lotto. It was a great prize. There is nothing like going to the mailbox and finding knitting goodness in it. I received four stitch markers. Two say I love knitting and two are of a ball of yarn with knitting needles. I am sorry to say I tried and tried and tried and tried to take a photo but couldn't get one close enough and clear enough. But I also received a knitted dishcloth which I was able to take a good photo of. It is a round one made in my ever fave S&C "Gundrop" colorway. And I am not fond of orange but I do so love this colorway. So here is a photo of my new dishcloth.

Today Cathy and Diane came over. You will notice most of my posts are done late at night and I write them as if they are the day that just passed and not as the day the time stamp shows. We had a lovely lunch. Then after eating and gabbing but before they left for home we went to Mona's. Unfortuantly Mona doesn't have any A/C and it was just deadly hot and humid so we didn't stay long but long enough for both Cathy and Diane to make purchases. I got to touch and pet the yarns. While there I showed Mona a skein of Crystal Palace Panda Wool I have that I received as a gift hinting it would be a great yarn for her to carry along with its' sister yarns Panda Cotton and Panda Silk.

I must admit I had a nap after I got home from Mona's. After I awoke from my short nap a customer picked up her Avon order and I spoke to my girlfriend Lori as we had plans to go to the an evening movie. And yes we did go to the movies. We were going to see Sicko but it wasn't playing at any of the Silver City theaters. AND the Silver City theaters have specials on Tueday which we wanted to take advantage of along with it seemed thousands of others this evening. The theater was so crowded it took about 25 minutes to get throught the refreshment line. I was very very happy with what we saw instead. Not only on Tuesdays do you get to see the movie but you also get a medium popcorn and medium drink of your choice in your movie ticket price of $8.95. My friend Lori and I saw Hairspray. I did not know much about this movie except the brief glance I saw of the coming attractions on the TV which seemed like a fun movie to go to. So when the movie started I did a double take at one of the characters and who played it. I won't say who as not to spoil it for those who also don't know. It was a fun movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed so hard at parts I had tears in my eyes. So everyone reading my blog make sure you see it. It is well worth the cost and a great evening or afternoon outting. Finally I can say I saw a movie worth the money I had to pay to see it and got free popcorn and soda. I certainly wish I was living in New York again and could have seen the broadway version of it.

Do I have more to write? Of course, I do but am I going to write more now? No as I have a big day tomorrow. The weather forcast for tomorrow is again hot and humid with a possible thunderstorm and I don't do boomers. Add to that I have an eye doctor appt and may have my eyes dilated again, have to deliver two Avon orders, go to the postal outlet with one of my ebay sales and make sure I am home before Shelagh arrives when we will eat leftovers from today and knit. AND I do all this by bus and on foot.

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY

Knitting Goodness
My Knit Picks order arrived. How very exciting. Not only for me but also for Cathy as she ordered some knitting goodies when I put my order in. Here is a photo of what I ordered for me.

I know the photo is a little dark but the others were blurry. This is the best. So you can see what books I finally decided on. They include: Heirloom Knits which I have been oogling everytime I am at the bookstore at my knitting get togethers, Picture Knits which from how long I have had it out of the library you would think it was mine, Nicky's Epstein's Knitting Beyond the Edge (now I have all her edge books and just need her Emblishment book, and The Yarn Harlot's newest book Casts Off. I also got myself the Baby Suprise DVD and two skeins of Gloss in the color Dusk. Of course, I got a few items to go into my ITE4 exchange which I mailed today and should arrive at my partner's home by August 1. Cathy also ordered Knitting Beyond the Edge and yarns. I felt the box was not packed very well. They put the DVD under the two Knitting Beyond the Edge books and it got crushed. As for the yarns, the yarns are probably packed 10 to a bag. The bags I received were all ripped open. The yarns not ordered were removed and others yarns ordered were shoved in those ripped bags as a full bag of yarn was not ordered. The bags were not cut and not taped back up. They were ripped open. Some yarns were not in bags. Some of the labels on the yarns were even off and coming off. The box was gaping. Boy was it heavy. It was good I was home when it came and I didn't have to pick it up from the postal out. Yes I was disappointed with the packing of this box of goodies. I have not yet had time to play with my goodies it was such a busy day.

The postman came about 1PM or a little after. What I did was take out what was for my ITE4 partner to pack it all up with what I already had for her. After showering I headed out in this awful heat and humidity. I made three Avon deliveries and came back for my cart that contained more Avon to be delivered, library books to be returned and my package to mail. I delivered more Avon, mailed my package via express so it would get where it needed to be in time, went to the bank, went to the library and went to the grocery store. Remember I do not have a car and need to take a hot bus wherever I go. Thank-goodness for my window A/C unit in my apt when I came home. Being Cathy is coming over to visit tomorrow, collect her Avon and her Knit Picks order and cool down I wanted to make her something nice for lunch. When I got home I made Beet Soup with fresh beets from the store. I also got a large container of sour cream. We will also have a fresh summer fruit salad although the sweetness of the watermelon and cantaloupe leaves a bit to be desired. I hope the cherries I added without the pits as I have a cherry pitter, strawberries and blueberries make up for the lack of sweetness of the watermelon and especially the cantaloupe. I also mixed in a can of manadarin orange sections. We will also have sandwiches on multi grain whole wheat bread from the local bakery. I even did up some huckleberry tea we can have iced. Neither Cathy or Diane who is also coming over have been to Mona's shop up the street so after lunch we will go there and pet some luscious Lorna Laces and Fleece Artist yarns. Yes, Cathy it was okay you invited yourself and Daine over to have lunch and to visit. LOLO And when all that was completed I put a small Epicure order in online. Not enough to qualify for a party but the items are needed by a certain date.

More Knitting Goodness

I also got my Whoduknit Bottle Swap package although not in a bottle. It was from Debbie. This was the second one she sent since I didn't get the first package.

It was a box filled with lots of goodies which included the following items
- a tea towel with a coffee cup on it. It is very nice thank-you
- a darling dark green granny's fave dishcloth which matches my kitchen if I decide to let it touch dishes
- a skein of Moda Dea Sassy stripes in a blues and wines variegated colorway
- a skein of hot pink yarn which is either DK or WW I will have to check using my WPI guide but I do know it isn't wool as it didn't dissolve in bleach
- Avon Soft Pink Bubble Bath (love it) well I should I sell it also. For all of you who don't know it removes most stains since it is "soap" without a lot of other ingredients. There are tons of great uses for this product besides as a bubble bath
- Candy (Werther's Original)
- Lipton's Ice Tea to go but it is now gone it is so hot here
- Caramel microwave pop corn
- a new book to read by Anne Perry Half Moon Street and I am on page 32 already. It isn't in the photo as I am reading it and forgot to put it with the other goodies.
Again thank-you Debbie for the treats. I love everything.

Ravelry, here are my new stats. So I am slowly moving up the list.
You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
7947 people are ahead of you in line.
5499 people are behind you in line

No more now as before I head off to bed I want to browse through my new books and touch my Gloss yarn some more. Then I can have some sweet dreams.

WHAT IS RAVELRY?

I have been asked what is ravelry? WELL for those of you who do not know, ravelry is a knit and crochet community.
Now this is directly from ravelry and is their words from their site so it is in quotes "Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.
The content here is all user- driven; we as a community make the site what it is. The Yarn Harlot wrote recently about Representing, showing the world the power of our community, and I believe that on this site we can really show the strength of our numbers and the depth of our creativity.
So what can you personally do on Ravelry? You can talk about your own projects, integrate that information into your personal website and contribute to someone else's project a world away.
If you are not a blogger, we give you a great way to share and show off your projects, participate in -alongs, and socialize with other crafters. If you are a blogger than Ravelry is the perfect complement to your online journal; it provides structure and organization. All of your information is easy to enter and easy to find. You will not need to update your own FO album again- it is all here on Ravelry!"
You can check it out and sign up here: https://www.ravelry.com/account/login.
You can read the ravelry blog here: http://blog.ravelry.com/.
It looks like it might be a lot of fun to join. A couple of the gals in my knitting get together group already belong. Others in the group are hoping to get their invites soon. Since my last post I have moved up 201 spots on the list with now ONLY 8251 people ahead of me instead of 8452 and a lot more behind me. At the rate of about 200 invites being sent out daily it is going to be at least 41 or 42 days until I get my invite to ravelry. In my last post there were 4037 behind me waiting for invites and now there are 4577 waiting for invites. Boy is word getting around about this new community.

I still have not received my Knit Picks order but any day now is when I expect it to arrive (you don't see those crossed fingers on the keyboard do you)? Here is a photo of my finished ITE4 tote which is waiting to be filled with some of those Knit Picks items.

The outside of the bag.


The inside of the bag.

As you can see there is a lot of room for me to put goodies. I want to fill it up to the top but still be able close the three snaps. I chose snaps instead of a zipper as I thought the snaps looked nicer. There is also a snap on the pocket. The bag is a sage green and navy blue. It is not grey and black as it photographed.

AAHHHHH My ebay sales are over and two of the three auctions received bids and sold. One item is going to the states, one item is going to Australia and one item (the tote bag) is staying with me. Maybe I priced the tote bag too high or maybe no one was interested at this time. I have some more items I will try to list on ebay Saturday afternoon or evening.

Tired eyes say enough I need sleep.

#14564

Well I am #14564 on the Ravelry list. That is fourteen thousand five hundred and fifty six. Yes you read that correctly. AND there are ONLY 8452 people ahead of me waiting for their invitation to join and there are 4037 on the list after me. Apparently 31% of the list have received their invitations to join already. Will my invite come by Christmas? Will my invite be one of my pressies for Christmas?? Did someone once say patience is a virtue. HA!!!! By the time I get my invite I may have forgotten I joined and then wonder what this revalry is?

Oh yes my new or redesigned centerpiece. Have a look and let me know what you think?

Here is a close-up photo.


Look at all that sock yarn. HMMMM YUMMY!!!! There are two special skeins of yarn dyed just for me from Vigdis in Norway. The front yarn is Hawaii from Knit Picks and that lucious blue cake is a skein of Lorna Laces and is actually variegated blues and purples. The matching skeins are stored elsewhere. You will often find me taking out the containers of yarn and rolling in them, petting them and letting them know they are loved. I change the yarns in the centerpiece often. They all take turns in the bowl so none feel left out. The crystal punchbowl was a birthday gift from a friend who knew it would be a great gift as I was always borrowing one when I had small get togethers. Little did she know I was going to put it to work on a more full time basis. The table runner you see is hand embroidered. I found it in a second hand shop. It was very inexpensive. To put it bluntly it was cheap. Too cheap actually for the work someone put into it but I am not complaining. Maybe one day I will post other photos of what a knitters home looks like or should I say what my knitting home looks like. I am sure all yours must look similar. Now if I had a larger living space I guess I could put the yarn in an aquarium for all to see. All those colors. It could make you dizzy if you weren't careful looking at it. I guess I will stick with the punchbowl for now.

Knitting News
Everyone who has seen my Maisie Dobbs cloche which looks like a large beanie agrees it needs a flower on it. An icord flower has been suggested. So that is something I need to do. I also need to work on a project having to do with the whoduknit July book read called Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Picard and work on some of my socks. My whoduknit summer tag sale pal has contacted me anonymously. I need to answer her back and contact mine now, also anonymously. I called Knit Picks to see where my order is in the packing, shipping and delivery process and was told it was shipped on Monday. That is good news. Knit Picks does say delivery takes 5 - 14 days so it could be here by the weekend. YES!!!

I saw a friend today, Luna, I haven't seen since before Christmas. Yes she lives in the city but also out in the nether regions in Transcona like Cathy. I can joke about Transcona since I once lived out there also. Luna and I do speak frequently on the phone. We joked as the time passed it would probably end up being July until we got to see each other and VOILA!!! Here it is July and mid July. We had a lovely dinner. Spagetti squash with an Arrabbiata sauce, jumbo shrimp and then topped with grated old cheddar cheese. I made some delicious Chai Tea and poured it in a rimmed glass mug, topped it with frothee and a sprinkle of chocolate. The Chai Tea and Arrabbiata Sauce Mix (dry), Fireside Rimmer and chocolat sprinkling are all from Epicure another product I sell.

I hope I have time to knit tomorrow. I have a funeral to go to between 1P - 3P. My friend's partner passed away. I have to make sure I am home by 4:30PM as anytime after 4:30P my Avon could arrive. I have seven boxes of Avon being delivered. There is only one week to get these Avon orders out and money in as the this brochure's money needs to be in the Avon account by a week from tomorrow or Thursday July 26th. I will date my brochures for the Friday July 27 and since I put my orders in online I have until Sunday evening July 29th to get my new orders from C#18 in. These quick turn-a-arounds are awful!!!!

I have a headache starting so I am going to end this blog but today I am going to close it with a funny. Yes I am going to put some funnies on my blog. You may also find recipes on it and if I ever design anything I may even also put that on my blog. You never know what I will put on my blog so you will have to check it out frequently. Don't forget comments are appreciated.

I love this one!!!! Thank-you to the person who sent it to me.

When I was married 25 years, I took a look at my wife one day and said, "Honey, 25 years ago we had a cheap apartment, a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10-inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year-old blonde."

"Now we have a $500,000 home, a $45,000 car, nice big bed and a Plasma screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 50 year-old woman. It seems to me that you are not holding up your side of things."

My wife is a very reasonable woman. She told me to go out and find a hot 25 year-old blonde, and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap apartment, driving a cheap car, sleeping on a sofa bed and watching a 10-inch black and white TV.

Another mid-life crisis resolved by a woman's logic!

TUESDAY NIGHT KNITTING

The third Tuesday of the month is the knitting get together of knitters in my city. We meet at McNallys. We knit, chat, share all kinds of information, tips, techniques, check out each other projects, have show and tell and genearlly have a enjoyable evening. Did we ever think we would have show and tell when we got out of kindergarden??? So I am going to share with you a show and tell of some photos I took of our lastest get together Tuesday July 17. This first photo is of Nadine who loves to knit miniatures. AND is that ever small knitting with the very very very thin needles. So thin it seems they would bend when you tried to use them. The second photo is a close up a minature jacket she is knitting. Sorry the sun was in your eyes Nadine.

Now you have to admit that is very tiny knitting. Nadine has brought in for us to see her miniature dolls she knits the clothes for and the dolls are no bigger than my thumb.

In this next photo Erica on the right brought her swift and ball winder to our get together. She is shown helping another Erica (on the left) turn a skein of yarn into a ball of yarn. I am going to have to get swift and ball winder for myself. AND Good on ya Erica for getting your swift at the Sally Ann for almost nothing.

There was some four way knitting going on. It was practice for our KNIT OUT on Aug 19. This is when four people knit on the same project at the same time. AND of course here are the photos to see what this is all about. The second is a close up of the knitting.

There is talk of donating it or having a raffle for it when it is has been completed. It is one of the interesting things we will do at our KNIT OUT in August since many different people can work on it. A novel idea.

I will share more photos after our next knitting get together.

Before going to our knitting get together Shelagh told me all about her time at knitting camp last week. She also showed me a couple of new books she came home with and some lovely lace weight 50% silk and 50% merino yarn with "glitter" in it she purchased. Shelagh let me know if I didn't remember the yarn contents correctly and I will correct it.

One day I would love to go to knitting camp and/or to "Stitches". DREAMS GLORIOUS DREAMS

AND while I am dreaming there is a a 10 day "Stitch and Beach" Cruise with Debbie Stoller leaving New York Feb 27 I would love to go on. For more info or to reserve a spot, call the Stitch 'n Beach cruise desk at 1(800) 760-7447or visit http://www.stitchnbeach.com/. It sure sounds like a fun event!! Hope all of you who go have a really good time.

On to knitting news
I finished lining my bag for the ITE4. I decided against the zipper and put in snaps instead. It really looks nice but I won't put a photo here just now in case my partner finds out I have a blog and then she would see it before she gets it and it won't be a surprise who it is from. I am very happy with the results. Those who have seen it also thought it was nice. I only hope my partner enjoys it as much. It needs to be at its' new home by August 1.

More swap news is that I have my partner in the sockamaniac hometown sock swap, my partner in the whoduknit swap and my partner for the animal cloth swap in addictedtoknitdishcloth group. In the hometown sockamaniac swap we send sock yarn to knit a pair of socks, a sock pattern and items the place we live are known for. We can send other items also if we wish to do so. In this specific whoduknit swap we can only spend $10 and have to scavenger and hunt for bargins for our partner trying to get the most bang for our buck,

As for receiving swaps I am waiting to receive my International Tote Exchange IV (ITE4) swap, whenever bottle swap, whoduknit bottle swap and my color swap from addictedtoknitdishcloth group. The color swap was mailed mid June and never arrived so a second has been shipped and the 2L bottle of goodies in the whoduknit bottle swap also got lost somewhere in Montana???? I don't think it ever crossed the border and came into Canada. You should see the mailperson's face when a 2 liter soda bottle full of goodies is delivered. My whenever bottle swap goodies which may or may not be in a bottle was only just mailed. The ITE4 swap is supposed to be received by August 1. Those are swaps that should have arrived and/are arriving shortly. Then there are the new swaps I am in. AND then there is my Knit Picks order. AND AND AND.... I didn't win the knitting needle lotto in the addictedtoknitdishcloth group but I won a prize for guessing who won the knitting needle lotto which means a prize is coming my way. So there is going to be lots of KNITTING GOODNESS coming my way soon. WHOO HOO I guess I am not to difficult to please, just a few goodie packages and a knitting cruise or holiday or two and I am a happy camper. HEE HEE

Tomorrow or since it already tomorrow then later today I will post a photo of my new centerpeice. It isn't new new but it is rearranged. Leaving you hanging with that to figure out for those who don't know I will say good night and happy knitting dreams.

AND now for the PS I first did this in my edit (don't ask) and had to figure out how to get it to create without retyping and was I ever having problems. After that I ended up with too too many labels and had to revise that. So I hope this works and it appears on my blog.

FILLING IN SOME MISSING LINKS

HMMM I almost didn't get to do this post and who knows if this will even go through. Does anyone else have problems with blogspot? Everytime I tried to upload a photo it would ask me to sign in, so I would and then I would find the photo again, click upload and yup I would be again asked to sign in?????? This went on and on and on and on...... Anyway I finally shut the computer down and now it seems to be working BUT for how long?

I will start with showing the finished hat or cloche I knit for the Maise Dobbs whoduknit project. I felted it Saturday while visiting my friend Cathy in Transcona. What do you think? Is it finished or do you think it need a flower or something? Yes you can see the glitz even if you can't tell from the photo. It is quite close to the head like a big beanie hat.


This next photo is a close up.
The hat is from the book Knit it! Felt it! There are some other interesting patterns in this book. I would love to make the Shades of Blue Wristers. In the photo of them in the book it shows them felted but you can see the ribbing pattern very distinctively. I wonder how this happens when you felt. I thought when you felt you loose any and all pattern and the finished piece looks like a piece of fabric so to speak. If anyone can help me figure this out I would love to hear how this happens.

So I went to Transcona to visit Cathy and while there I threw some of my dark summer clothes in her washer along with this hat and went home with a few clean clothes in addition, to my hat having been felted. Oh I did two loads of wash today but have a couple more to do. Thanks Cathy for letting wash some of my stuff while visiting. AND Cathy made me two pom poms for my bag for the ITE4. For whatever reason I can't make pom poms. I even purchased the pom pom maker that was for sale in Avon. I do have to own up I didn't try to use it. I wanted the pom poms to look good on the bag as it is a gift. I will have to get around to trying to make some with this pom pom maker one day.

Okay so now you know I was at Cathy's. Getting to Cathy's by car isn't really too far. It is about 20 minutes. Unfortunatly I don't own a car so I have to take the bus which means it is about an hour each way. If I go via one bus I have about a 15 minute walk from the bus which is how I went Saturday. I can also get there on one bus and be dropped off just around the corner but that is only at rush hour or I can take two buses and the second one will also leave me just around the corner but the connection to the second bus isn't always that great. Who is "this Cathy" since I know several Cathys online.

I removed the photo of Cathy for those who are wondering where it is. A better photo will be in this spot I hope soon,

Thanks Cathy for the pizza. Did you know I took another slice while I was sitting at the computer?

About those three items I put on ebay I want to let you all know where you can find them if you are interested. Here are the photos of what I listed.

Here is the link for the 5-piece bathroom dollhouse furniture: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280134110916&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:CA:31 and the listing number is: 280134110916

Here is the link for the minature shoe and bag: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280134114236&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:CA:31 and the listing number is: 280134114236

The black and white canvas tote can be found at: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280134098576&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:CA:31 and the lsiting number is: 280134098576

So if any of these are of interest to you, check them out. With a link and number you should have no problems. This is only #2,3,4 I have listed with ebay which is also very new to me.

I have been selling Avon a long time and I have lots I can sell so if anyone is interested just let me know and I will check and see if I happen to have it. Now I don't have everything. Oh and for those in the states when you order online you cannot put my phone number in with your order to give me the credit. You can only do that if you live in Canada. AND Avon is global????

I have given a lot of thought to my ITE4 bag and have decided that snaps would look better than a zipper so after the lining has been completed I will sew in the snaps. Then when it is completed I will upload a photo for you all to see. We have to mail our totes and bags by July 18 but since some of the goodies I want to include with my bag will not have arrived by the time the bag needs to be posted I have decided to send the bag first and "all" the goodies after seperately. They will probably only be mailed a few days apart but the bag needs to be received by by partner on August 1. That means "my" bag will be arriving soon also. I have been some beautiful bags on the blog and I love lots of them but my favorite so far I think was done by Deb. She wrote: it is going to another part of the country, can't say which state but since I don't live in the states it won't be coming to me. BOO HOO!! BUT I am sure I will love the bag I receive from my partner just as much. I hope my partner loves her bag. Here is a teaser photo of my bag. If you want to see it put together but not completely finished you will have to search the ITE4 to find it.

Oh since I am filling in blanks I guess you think I am going to list which books I ordered from Knit Picks BUT you are going to have to wait a while for me to tell you.

Shelagh how was your kintting camp? Did you come home with some money or did you have to buy another piece of luggage to bring home all the yarn and goodies you purchased? I look forward to seeing you and all your new goodies on Tuesday before we go to our knitting get together.

Boy was I having problems with Firefox today so I am back using Explorer. I will use Firefox when I am working on ebay. I had problems reading mail, uploading photos and sending emails. It could partly be my computer which is eight years old and I am still using the NOW unsupported windows 98 (2nd edition). One day I will get a newer model computer and monitor but until then I baby this one.

Look at the time. No wonder I am tired but being tired and trying to get to sleep and staying asleep are totally different things.

Well What should I Call this Post

I don't know what to call this post. I thought of frustrations, no knitting I've been at the frog pond swimming instead or decisions decisions decisions.


Let's see why decisions decisions decisions? Remember those books on sale at Knit Picks. Yes, those all books that are 40% off. Well I wanted them all. Almost all of them anyway. AND I didn't think I was going to be able to make a decision and chose only one, a couple or even a few. Especially when they are 40% off. It was just terrible. I did finally get it down to only 11 books (there were over 100 to choose from) and them I was stumped. Remember I wanted them all. I paced, I thought while I paced, I crossed out one or two and then changed my mind and crossed a different one or two off and then would change my mind again. BUT finally I did make up my mind on which I would get for me and one for a swap. I also got some yarn for socks for me. Not that I need any more sock yarn. HEY what does need have to do with it anyway. I also got some yarn for a swap pal. I finished my order off with something else for my pal in one of the swaps I am in, something that was asked for. Last but not least I ordered the Baby Surprise DVD for me which I've previously ordered but wasn't available yet. HMM!!! I wonder if that will that help me finish the UFO baby surprise sweater I have in my LR staring at me. All it needs to no longer be a UFO is to sew up the two seams. Of course that is unless I want to add a collar and cuffs. It then will be ready to give away to someone. I also ordered some items from Knit Picks for my friend Cathy. One of the books she wanted wasn't available and if she wants it she will have to wait until next month to order it but they said it would still be on sale. So instead she ordered extra yarn. They only ship to Canada on Tuesday and Thursday. I hope it comes quick so I can add those goodies to my swap. It is funny. I called and spoke to someone in Vancouver Washington who took the order but it is shipped from Ohio I was told. I thought the sales rep on the phone said it went from Ohio to somewhere in NY close to the border and comes over to Canada that way. A very around about way but by doing it this way it is brokered through a craft company for a 10% fee and it is delivered directly to me with no customs fees or duty. Apparently the 10% covers any taxes and the extra $5.00 delivery fee charged when ordering from out of Canada. AND with the dollar so strong here it is even a better deal than it would have been a few months ago or last year even. BUT boy did I sweat over which book I should get. And as soon as my package arrives oh my some more knitting goodness.



Now why the frustrations and why I knitted very little. Last night I thought I would use up that last half ball of yarn on my Noro serape shawl and then put it away, unfortunately in the UFO pile until I can purchase some more Noro on sale. There I am knitting merrily along doing several rows of garter stitch for a while with no problem until I get to the pattern row and it doesn't work. YUP I was short a stitch. Now how could that be. I had to tink it back to fix it and when I thought I had it fixed and started to knit the tinked rows again after counting three times the correct number of stitches it still was short a stitch when I finished that first reknit row. I even found the original missing stitch that seemed to have been dropped but wasn't really running down the shawl which would have made it obvious to find without going to the frog pond and getting my feet wet. It was strange. I would count one way and it was correct but when I counted the other way I was a stitch short. I just wasn't getting anywhere. It was like when you knit and knit and measure and then knit and knit some more and when you measure you haven't seemed to have gotten anywhere. There must be a little knitting frog or elf somewhere above sprinkling some magical dust on the knitting and us just to make sure we do not get to full of ourselves thinking how wonderful the knitting is going along and what a great knitter we are especially when the knitting we are doing is a very easy pattern. So no knitting for me on Thursday. AND no knitting for me on Friday.

Friday I put three new items on ebay. I had to talk with the live chat computer ebay person three times. I had to clean out my history again and I had to install Firefox. I have to admit ebay was easier to list items with Firefox. I wonder if blogger will also work better with Firefox. Only it is something new to get used to. It has messed up all my favorites which were in alphabetical order. No I do not have an A personality, just check my apt and you will agree with me but it is easier to find what you are looking for when it is in alphabetical order. And it is difficult with Firefox to have my two yahoo email programs open. It keeps changing the one to the other leaving me with two screens of one email program. I also worked on my tote for the ITE4 this evening. I am putting a lining in and am fighting a mental block on it and the zipper I want to put in the bag. It is not that I haven't made bags and totes before or put zippers and linings in them. AARRGHHHH!!!!!

And now I can't sleep. BUT I better try again. I am going to visit by friend Cathy in the nether regions of the city sometime Saturday. While there and watching her walk (she had a total knee replacement about six weeks ago and will have the other done in a Sept) I am going to felt a hat for the whoduknot group Maisie Dobbs project and put Cathy to work on making me two pompoms for my ITE4 tote. Gotta keep Cathy out of mischief.

Solara who was bugging me while I was trying to make a test lining for the tote this evening says MEOW and will you get to bed already again.

Gotta say bye for now..

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell from the exclamation marks in the title? My blog has not only been read but there is even a comment which I responded to. Makes me feel good.

Knitting Goodness

There is always knitting goodness to report. Today I finished my cloche I knitted for the Whoduknit group I belong to after reading the June book called Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. I am looking forward to reading her next three books she has written about Maisie Dobbs and see how the character Maisie evolves. This is a very very very fun group. We read a mystery each month. We discuss the book the first two weeks in the following month. We do a project based on something in the book. I was going to knit some vegetables since in the book Maisie's dad is a costermonger but chose to knit and felt a hat. The story takes place in England just after WWI with some flashbacks to the war. Maisie wears a cloche. I was going to knit socks as her feet are always cold but didn't think I could finish them in a week with all my ongoing projects. I now need to felt the hat. I may put a flower on the hat but that depends on what the hat looks like after felting. As you can see from the photo there is some fancy yarn (Plymouth Eros) knitted along with the wool (Plymouth Galaway) both which came from my stash and with this fancy yarn the hat may not need a flower.

Thank-you Janice for modeling the hat for me. The color is a little darker than the photo shows but it is not navy.

A little more clarification about this group. The mystery we read in a specific month is voted on by the members of the group. We are not just told this is the book we read. Everyone in the group can nominate one book and we each get one vote to pick which we would like to read. The book with the majority of votes becomes the book we read. I am a new member and if I am correct the book with the second most votes is read in the following month. Only in August there won't be a specific book to read. It is a month to catch up and read books that were voted on but didn't get enough votes to be chosen to be read. The project we do also is totally our own decision. We post photos of the project we make on the Whoduknit blog and in the photo section of the yahoo group. There are also optional swaps. I love swap. I am so addicted to swaps. There is a new swap now in the group. It is a tag/garage sale swap. We can spend no more than $10 not including postage. We are to see what goodies we can find for only $10 but we can raid our own stuff. I have been given two items (read not part of the $10 allowed to spend) from my friend Genie that are perfect for this swap. One item was an ugly hat (90% wool & 10% nylon). I say was because I unraveled it into a ball of ugly yarn and the other is a knitting mystery I never heard of by Jill Churchill. It is quite old. We will get our partners in a few days and we have until the end of August to mail out our packages to our partner.

********Oh does everyone know Knit Picks is having a sale on their books? All their books are 40% off through August 17. This is going to be a problem for me especially with the Canadian and the American dollar so close.

As soon as I figure out how to link to another page on the sidebar I will list what I do have in my knitting library. Until then the list is in my head and the books are all over my apartment. I love owning books. AND the more pictures the better.

I heard from my swap partner Sharon in the weluvknitting group today (read Wednesday). She received the package I mailed her July 3. This is a swap where we have a partner and we send four packages to each other over a year. This was our second package we sent to each other. I love putting together packages as much as I enjoy receiving them. There is something special about trying to figure out what your partner would like, finding it and sending it to her. AND it is really neat waiting for packages and wondering what goodies your partner has chosen for you.

I had hoped to finish my Noro Silk Garden Serape Shawl by the end of July but it looks like I will have to wait until Ram has another good sale. I have about two skeins of yarn left but the colors do not blend well with what I have already knitted. The serape shawl calls for 10 balls of Noro Silk Garden but with two and a half balls left to knit my serape shawl seems only half completed. Below is a photo of what is completed on my shawl. I hope you are able see from the photo how large it already is. At this stage of completion it won't wrap around me and yet it is just shy a couple inches of the actual measurements given in the pattern instructions. I think when completed it will be like wrapping myself in a small blanket. I tried to take a close up photo to show the stitch pattern but it came out blurry. Oh and this photo shows the back of the serape shawl. When completed I promise to photograph the right side of it.

AND as soon as I put it on the floor to take a photo my knitting kitty Solara decided she should check it out. You have to admit she is very pretty even if she isn't a small and delicate kitty.

And I guess she figured well now that you have taken my picture on the shawl I think I will get down to business and clean my foot and where better to do that than on a partly finished knitting project lying on the floor.

I think that will be all for this post. Believe me I have much more I could write......

My First Post

My very first post on my blog. I was not sure this day or post would ever happen. Why you may ask?

I couldn't get the title link to work and the stubborn person I was didn't want to have posts without titles. That was the easy problem it seems since some how I fixed it and it is working now. The more difficult problems I can't seem to fix include figuring out how to put buttons on my blog and how to type of a list such as of books in my knitting library and then you readers who are interested in what I own can click on a link to go to it instead of it all being down the side of my blog. I also have a pet sitting on a web site I want to put on my side bar along with calendars, a clock, ticker tape and other items (Also where do you find those other items since I do have the pet waiting for me to take her to her new home). I would like to learn to be able to type "my blog" or "blog" in email and or on another blog and when you click on that one word or both words it will take you to my blog. So if there are any knowledgeable bloggers out there who can help me I would greatly appreciate it. Sometimes the add a page link doesn't show up on my template and I can't add anything to my what is on the side of my blog or even add a new page link. HELP HELP!!!!!!

BUT now on to some knitting goodness.

I rececived a package this morning. I have several I am still waiting for. This one is from my pal Sharon in the weluvknitting group. We are exchanging four packages over a year. This was number two.

Here is a photo of all the goodies I received.

There is some yummy Patons SWS yarn in a blue color called Natural Denim (three balls of it), lots of Americana goodies includeing notepad, pen, small US flags (4), an Americana pail, small photo album and stickers. To go with the red, white and blue theme there were two red voltives and a larger red candle. My bathroom is decorated in Americana. I also got candy, a large box of Skittles, and a box of Red Fish Candies. I got a poppy grow kit which I will save for when I get to move into my townhouse. I need to call the co-op to see where I am on the waiting list. There were two Mary Engelbreit items (an P magnet and a small photo album). Even my knitting kitty received a couple of gifties. Solara got some Temptations treats and three mini mice. She was in the box trying to get at the mice before I was even able to take them out for her. They are lost now most likely under the coffee table. This package was sent out July 3. Mine to her was also mailed out July 3 and it is in limbo somewhere. I sometimes wonder about the postal system here. I also mailed some Avon brochures to customers I wouldn't be able to get to. One customer I called said she received hers today and when I asked her what the post mark date was, she told me July 6. So what happened to it between July 3 when I took it to the postal out, purchased a stamp for it, mailed it and July 6 when it was post marked??????

I guess I will close my first post now.