Tuesday, June 29, 2004

We've got visitors in and out all week, so entries here may be sparse for a while (or they may not -- who knows?).  Here's what's new at my house:

New shelves!

Not for yarn, unfortunately.  These are my new pantry shelves, as of last Friday.  They don't look like this any more, of course.  Now they're jam packed with canned goods and small kitchen appliances. 

New knitting!

What do they say about falling off a horse?  Or is it a bike?  Regardless, I've cast on a third time for the Neckdown Summer Cardigan.  Before casting on this time, I flirted briefly with the idea of tweaking the pattern and changing this into a v-neck, but I didn't want to deal with figuring out the border, so I'm sticking with the original pattern.  Bigger, Sarah-shaped size (unlike the first attempt).  Correct needles (unlike the second attempt).  What can go wrong this time?  Stay tuned -- I'm sure something will.  All I know for sure is that I have plenty of yarn.

New yarn!

When your knitting is letting you down, buy more yarn!!!!  This is from the "sidewalk" sale at Woven Art in East Lansing, and was hand dyed by the owner, Nancy McRay.  The colors are not as patriotic as they appear in this photo.  The blue isn't too far off, but the red you're seeing is actually a hot pink.  Yeah, I know -- it's not purple.  I'm trying to branch out.  It's a ribbon, similar to my Blue Heron yarn, and I originally thought I wanted to make another Basketweave Tee, but I bought THREE hanks, so I have enough to do something else if I want to.  I haven't decided yet.

Our closet renovations have spurred a whole mess (literally) of Spring (early Summer) cleaning.  Does anyone want to buy a used printer/fax/copier/scanner?  How about a trombone, only used for one school year?  If you want details, let me know.  I don't have any makes or models right now (okay, it's an HP printer, but I don't have the model-# handy), but I'll get off my rear end and look things up if anyone is interested.

Hey, it's worth a shot . . .

Sarah

Monday, June 28, 2004

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night's knit-in at Kathy's house coincides with a Classic Car Rally in downtown Dewitt, so if you're planning on going, Kathy says "the Airport Rd. to Howe Rd. to Schavey to Hidden Spring looks like the best route."  You can use the directions on the map Irene provided, or call or e-mail Kathy or me (Sarah) for directions.  See you there!

Sarah

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Did you ever get that enormous feeling of dread all of a sudden, when you realize you've done something awful and there's nothing you can do to change it?

I had just finished knitting up the second ball of yarn on my second attempt at the Neckdown Summer Cardigan.  I had just put the sleeve stitches on holders and joined the body at the underarm.  I had just reached into my knitting bag for the next ball of yarn, when I saw the glint of a shiny Addi turbo underneath those hand-wound balls of Rowan Summer Tweed. 

That's when the feeling of dread hit me, right in the gut.

I pulled out my needle gauge, but I already knew what it was going to say . . .

Yup.  Sure enough.  I had been knitting with the smaller needle that was supposed to be used for the ribbing. 

Sigh.

I pulled out my tape measure and measured my stitch gauge, in the odd hope that it was going to be close enough.

Nope.  Not a chance.

Poop.

I didn't bother to take a picture.  You can go look at the balls of yarn in my June 15 post if you want to.  That's what it looks like again.

I think I need professional help.

Sarah

Friday, June 25, 2004

You know, sometimes when I post something, I don't think it's very exciting but it ends up generating a lot of comments from readers.  Other times, I post something and sit back waiting for the comments to start streaming in, and nothing happens.  Or not what I expected, anyway.

Hmm.

When I asked if you'd heard the news about ThreadBear moving to Lansing, I don't think I mentioned that their new location is 13.7 miles from my house.  Of course, if I get lost on the way there (a likely scenario), it will be a little longer, but still driveable.

13.7 miles.

That's a left turn out of my driveway, a quick left and right out of the subdivision, a right turn onto Haslett Road, and then a left turn onto Waverly.  And then I'll be there.  At ThreadBear.  In Lansing. 

I think Sharon's on to something with her idea of a yarn shop themed bed and breakfast here in town.

Oh, look!  I finished something!

I wanted to put an "h" on "Sara", but didn't think the mom would appreciate it.  The name "Sara" looks funny to me, but I'm obviously used to the "h".  My name is often misspelled, which never ceases to amaze me.  When I tell people my name is "Sarah with an h", they look at me for a few seconds and then write down either "Sarha" or "Shara".  Never "Sahra" though.  Weird.

S(h)ar(h)ah

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Well, I got lost again.  Okay, so I didn't exactly get lost, but what I did was this:  I told my husband that Son Number One's baseball game was at Patriarche Park, and then I proceeded to go to Nancy Moore Park to watch the game.  Which wasn't there.  Because it was at Patriarche Park, like I had said.

If anyone finds my brain, would you please return it to me?  Thank you.

And we're not even through June yet.  This is going to be one long summer break.

I'm making headway on Phase Two of my Secret Knitting, but I still can't show it to you, so don't ask.

I'm off and running on my second try at the Neckdown Summer Cardigan.  See?

Looks a lot like it did the first time around, but trust me, this is a new photo.

While we're on the subject of duplicates, I'll show you my latest finishing job:

I've been hired to knit the second half of this baby blanket (I have one more row of squares to go), and to duplicate stitch a name, date, and some shamrocks (two shamrocks and the name left to do).  Because the blanket is being knit with a double strand of yarn, I originally used a double strand for the duplicate stitch, but that proved to be too bulky, so I switched to a single strand.  It looks pretty good, although a little white shows through the green.  I'm thinking it will fuzz over and fill in eventually.

I've done duplicate stitch before (on Christmas stockings, for example), but I don't remember (since I have no brain) if I knew you could work duplicate stitch from left to right as well as from right to left.  I thought it was best to work from the bottom to the top, and from right to left, but SWAK set me straight.  I feel like I've learned something today. 

Of course, when your brain is missing, you can learn something new every day.  And it's usually the same thing, day after day after day.

What else have I been up to?

You know those daily chore lists I made for my kids?  I made one for me, too, and it's actually helping me get a lot of work done.  For example, when I first published my website a year and a half ago, I posted some free patterns and promised that more would come, including putter covers to match the golf club covers already offered.  Guess what?  I posted the putter cover patterns today (finally!).  Click here to download them, and keep an eye on that page for the Hooded Scarf and Basketweave Tee patterns I've been promising.

Anything else new? 

But of course!  Have you heard the news?

Sarah

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Dorothy e-mailed me to let me know that she's made progress on her TKGA Level 1 swatches.  Go, Dorothy, go!

Joanne has joined the knit-along, and already has some swatches done.  Way to go, Joanne!

As of 6:00 this evening, I was completely caught up on my e-mail (except for the one I accidentally destroyed the sender's address for, which I can't return now).  As of 11:00 this evening, I'm behind again.  Sigh!

Here's the rest of Kathryn's information:

First are all my rejected swatches 1, 2, and 3. They look ok in this

picture, but trust me, the stockinette and k1p1 ribbing left a lot to

be desired. I eventually ran out of the yellow wool so I redid these 3

swatches and swatch 14 in Red Heart Acrylic. My k1p1 ribbing and

stockinette came out much better. I'm hoping it is because of all my

practice and not that I'm destined to only knit with industrial

strength acrylic.

Next are my rejected lace and cable swatches. Basically it was a
continuing stockinette problem. The cable swatches were actually pretty
good, but being swatch 14, it had to be done in the same yarn as swatch
1, 2, and 3.

Third are my decrease swatches. The three columns on the left are all
k2tog. The whitest ones actually had my best stockinette efforts to
date. The problem was the yarn. It was old and had ugly light brown
discoloration spots sprinkled all over my two swatches. At least my
purl sides no longer had disgusting gutter rows.
 

Fourth are my rejected increase swatches. Same problem. Stockinette
with gutter rows.

Fifth are some of my practice strips. Other than rejected swatches, you
are essentially looking at all I knitted during February and March.

Last is a close up of my k1p1 ribbing nightmare. I would love to hear
how others have overcome this switchback column problem.

Finally, my finished book.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have closure. I definitely met all
of my goals for Level 1.
I'll let you know what suggestions the reviewer makes when it is
returned.

Kathryn

Wow!  That's a lot of work!  Her ribbed swatch looks just like my ribbing.  I like that Kathryn included a picture of her binder -- it shows you what all that work has to be pared down to.

Thanks for sharing your submission with us, Kathryn -- very helpful!

Tomorrow, we'll see if Sarah has been doing any knitting in the last week, or if she's just going to live off of everyone else's glory from now on.

Hmm.  Sounds like a plan to me!

Sarah

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

As promised, I want to pass on the photos and explanations that Kathryn sent me of her TKGA Master Hand Knitter Level 1 submission.  Today, you get her original e-mail to me:

Well, so much for keeping people posted on what I've accomplished. I've

gone from nothing to finished in 4 months. I finally decided that I had

knitted the swatches as much as was humanly possible. My husband is

going to review my answers for completeness since at this point I'm too

close to the project to ever hope to catch any mistakes. My daughter is

going to make me some nice graphics to slide into the sleeve of the

binder and I hope to mail it all on Tuesday.

The quest for wonderfully tensioned swatches just about did me in. I'm

not a new knitter and always thought my skills were at the intermediate

level. I can't tell you how many feet of 20-stitch ribbing and

stockinette I did, with all different types of yarn, to try and figure

out what I was doing wrong. The entire month of February was spent

literally on stockinette stitch. I went to all the usual internet sites

for help. I tried combined knitting. I even retrained myself to knit

continental, and I did lots of swearing. After a few weeks of knitting

tighter and tighter and giving myself carpal tunnel problems, I finally

realized that for some strange reason I knit looser than I purl. All

the books say people purl looser than they knit. I'm obviously not

normal. Knitting continental, purling a bit looser combined with

knitting a bit tighter has given me the best results and my wrists no

longer hurt.

Ribbing is a whole other horror story. I am much better, but k1p1

ribbing is definitely still a work in progress. My knit stitches kept

leaning to the right and my purl stitches on the next row kept leaning

to the left when looking at the fabric from the front side. I basically

had columns of drunken stitches. A woman at my knitting guild suggested

I insert my needle, gently snug up any slack, knit the stitch, but

relax the yarn tension as I'm removing the stitch from the needle. The

only way the knit stitch can lean to the right is if there is too

little yarn from the knit to the next purl and too much yarn from the

purl stitch to the next knit. It has helped. For some reason I also

found that some wools were easier for me to get good results, such as

Lamb's Pride Worsted, and others were difficult, such as old Red Heart

Knitting Wool Worsted. Ribbing is something I will continue to work at.

K2P2 ribbing has been a bit easier. I still have to be careful with too

much yarn going from the last knit stitch to the first purl stitch. I

tried all the usually remedies without much luck. I liked the idea of

combined knitting the first purl stitch, I loved how my yarn didn't

coil up as I went, but my stitches never looked smooth. I haven't given

up on its promise, but I couldn't use it for finishing my Level 1

swatches.

I can send you pictures if you'd liked them. I have a box full of

rejected swatches and test strips. I am very glad I went through this

program, regardless of how my book is ultimately critiqued. I am a much

more conscious knitter, I can finally knit continental, and my ribbing

has definitely improved.

I will order Level 2 as soon as I pass Level 1.

Thank you for hosting the knit along. It got me motivated and on the

path to becoming a master knitter.

Kathryn

Wow!  I'm going to have to get started on one of those multi-feet swatches of ribbing soon.  One of the yarn stores I teach for has asked me to host a Master Knitter workshop, so that might just be the kick in the pants I need to finally put those swatches at the top of my list of things to do!  Details to follow.

Tomorrow, Kathryn's photos!

Sarah

Friday, June 18, 2004

I didn't post yesterday?  Oops!  I can't even remember what was going on yesterday.  Perhaps that's why I didn't have anything to say.

Lots of things happened today, both good and bad (apparently I was mistaken when I thought I'd reached my quota of bad things).

Good thing:  I went out for a long lunch with a knitting friend.

Bad thing:  I got lost no less than three separate times.  Driving in Lansing.  Where I've lived since 1979.

Good thing:  My handyman installed shelves in all of our bedroom closets and in the closet by the front door while I was gone.

Bad thing:  Although it only took a half hour to empty out all those closets, it will take about a week to go through everything and decide what goes back in and what goes out the door.

Good thing:  Cement was poured for the base of the new basketball hoop.

Bad thing:  My boys will be without a basketball hoop until Tuesday, when the new one will be installed.

Good thing:  We went out for a long supper with our next-door neighbors.

Bad thing:  A bird got stuck in our garage while we were gone.

Good thing:  My across-the-street neighbor came over to tell the boys they could play basketball at her house until the new hoop is in place (I love my neighborhood!).

Bad thing:  We can't find our beds under all that stuff that used to be in the bedroom closets.  We'd camp out on the living room floor, but that's covered with all the stuff that used to be in the closet by the front door.

Best thing:  Son Number One has been watching a lot of Emeril on television.  Tonight he presented us with "Emeril Ice Cream", topped with sprinkles added with a "BAM!" as the finishing touch:

Son Number One can watch Emeril as much as he wants, as far as I'm concerned, but I've got to talk to him about his use of oregano to embellish ice cream, even though the combination WAS visually pleasing.

Grab a spoon and help yourself!

Sarah

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

More than halfway through June already?  I'd better get to work on all that stuff I was going to do on my month "off".  I did try to play catch-up today, and got a lot of e-mail taken care of.  I'll try to handle the rest soon, so if you're waiting for an answer from me, please be patient for a little bit longer.  Here are a few tidbits from my in-box:

For the local knit-in folks:  the knit-in next Tuesday WILL be at Irene's house.  Please spread the word.

There are still a few openings in the Beth Brown-Reinsel workshop being held on Saturday and Sunday, Aguust 14 and 15 at Schuler's Restaurant in Marshall, Michigan.  Saturday's workshop is Textured Twined Knitted Mittens, and Sunday's workshop is Aran Pullovers from the Neck Down.  Each workshop is $55, and include a Continental breakfast.  Call Pat at (269)749-4140 to register or for more details.

Some local (and not-so-local) knitters took a trip to Philosopher's Wool in Ontario a couple of months ago.  One of the travelers let me know that there are photos from our trip posted on the Philosopher's Wool website.  Check them out!  Thanks for the info, Jeannie!

Kathryn submitted her TKGA Master Knitter Level 1 entries to the committee a few weeks ago (congratulations, Kathryn!), and sent me lots of photos and explanations of the problems she had.  I'll post those in the next day or so.

I was invited to join the Master Knitter web ring, which I did, in the hopes that it would help motivate me to get going on my swatches again.  I WANT to work on them, but I feel like there are other things I have to do first.  I need to re-prioritize if I'm ever going to get through Level 1.

Today I received an e-mail notification of a "hurt" book sale at Interweave Knits -- click here for some great deals!.

I think that just about does it for e-mail stuff I wanted to pass along to you.  I also worked on some of the piles on my desk, and found a bunch of little things I've been waiting to blog about.  For example:

There was a thing going around some of the blogs whereby you:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the sentence in your journal with these instructions

At the time I read this, back in mid-April, I followed the directions and wrote everything down, but never posted it.  Here you go:

Meg Swansen's Knitting, page 23, sentence 5:  " *knit together the next stitch from each needle, pass the first stitch over the last."  Are you surprised that it was a knitting book?  Me neither.  Phew -- now I can throw THAT piece of paper away.

Sister Number One (who lives in Colorado) sent me a flier long ago which included information about the Wool Market in Estes Park, which took place this past weekend.  One of the lines from the Wool Market article tickled my funny bone.  "The Wool Market is all about fiber animals, and all the things people do to and with them."  Snicker.

The Spring 2004 issue of Cast On had an article entitled "How many Master Knitters are there?"  Of the 300 people who submitted their entries between October 2001 and December 2003 (the time frame for which the current management company has records), 193 have passed their level, and the rest are still pending.  This includes both hand and machine knitting.  Of the hand knitters, 223 passed Level 1, 53 passed Level 2, and 21 passed Level 3.  I think those are pretty good numbers.  Since the program's beginning in 1987, 118 hand knitters have successfully completed all three levels.

A while back, I noticed that At the Green Frog had posted about having received her Level 1 submission back from the committee.  That was on March 6, 2004, and I went back and found some entries in her January 2004 archives about her swatching process.  I couldn't see whether she had re-submitted the one swatch the committee wasn't happy with.

I've really got to get working on my swatches.

Okay.  That takes care of most of my backlog, blog-wise.

In other news, I think I reached my weekly quota of bad things happening (they come in threes, you know).  There was last night's dreaded Cardigan Incident (bad thing #1).  I neglected to look at the calendar yesterday morning, and forgot to take Son Number Two to his first day of golf camp (bad thing #2).  I think that's the first time I've caused either of my sons to miss anything they were scheduled for, after all these years of driving them here and there.  I felt awful, but of course it wasn't a big deal.  Except to me.  This evening, I added a new ball of variegated green yarn to phase two of my Secret Knitting (green?  It's obviously not for me), and after knitting along for a couple of inches, noticed that there was a lot of white in this second skein.  I tore out what I had added and went to get another skein which would more closely match what I had already knit.  Lo and behold, ALL of the other skeins had white in them -- it was that first ball that was the aberration (bad thing #3).  Crap!  So after much cursing and stomping of feet, I chose to leave the first skein's worth of knitting in tact, and then had to re-knit what I had just torn out with the second ball of yarn.  Ugh.  

Oh, and there was another Yertle sighting down the road a little ways yesterday.  Or maybe it was Yertle's cousin Myrtle -- I really couldn't tell.  Trying to cross the road again.  Same direction.  Is my husband the only driver who screeches to a halt whenever he sees a turtle on the road, jumps out of the car and helps it to the side of the road?  Okay, maybe he's not the only one, but I bet there aren't many who take the turtle into the car and give it a ride to the closest pond.

I leave you with this poem Karen posted in my comments, which brightened my day:

You knitted a sweater
We all watched it grow
Then you ripped it out
Boy did that blow!

Your kids are at home
At least for the summer
You've got chores for them
Could it be any funner?

Thanks for the laugh, Karen!  I needed it!

Sarah

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

So yesterday, when I said "probably for the same reason I think I can finish a sweater when I don't have enough yarn," what I really meant was "probably for the same reason I think I should finish a sweater when I know it isn't going to fit."  Or something like that.

Case in point:  go back to Sunday's entry, the third photograph, and take a good look.  For extra fun, read the paragraph immediately following the photo.

Now imagine that the bottom ribbing is done and the neckband is on, as well as one of the buttonbands. 

Now imagine trying the sweater on to see how it looks, and finding that the front bands are never in a million years going to come close enough together to button.

Now take a look at what I worked on at the knit-in tonight:

I AM a trained professional.  Don't try this at home.

Sarah

Monday, June 14, 2004

Today's activities weren't as all-consuming as I thought they would be, on account of the torrential downpour we experienced this afternoon (and that Son Number One and I got caught in) which resulted in the cancellation of the simultaneous baseball games (hallelujah!).  And I arranged to share pick-up/drop-off responsibilities for one of the two basketball camps with a neighbor -- she gets the 8:00 a.m. pajama shift, and I get the 9:30 a.m. fresh-out-of-the-shower shift (yahoo!).  So the next two weeks won't be spent entirely in the car after all, although I stashed some knitting in there just in case.

I'm a tyrant during summer vacation.  Just ask my kids.  I refuse to let them become vegetables, although I don't try to budge them from the couch the first couple of days after school lets out.  The first Monday of summer, though, they get the first of their daily chore lists and the television stays off until everything is checked off.  If they stay focused, they can be done in an hour and a half, easily.  I include simple tasks like eating breakfast and getting dressed (both of which they need to be reminded of some days), but I also assign brain stretching exercises, like READING A BOOK or DOING SOME MATH.  I know -- I'm awful. 

My favorite item on their checklists is the "help Mom" one.  I've got those children of mine trained to come up to me each day and ask "What can I do to help you today, Mom?"  When visitors witness this event, their jaws drop to the floor.  "What wonderful children you have!" they exclaim.  "Don't I?" I answer.  Yup, that's my favorite one.

Another good one, though, is the Activity.  This is usually the child's choice, and involves doing something fun that doesn't involve batteries or the television.  Sometimes the chosen activity is fairly lame, like sorting Yugi-Oh cards.  Today, however, was a huge, whopping success.  Son Number One chose to write a poem.  With his permission, I present it to you, unedited (although I took issue with the word "blows" -- he got the raised eyebrow from me for that line). 

Here is "Rainbow Pie", by Son Number One:

It rains, it snows.

I know, it blows.

You stay inside watching the days go by.

Just do what I do -- make a Rainbow Pie.

"A rainbow pie!?" you say,

"What the heck is that?"

It's a wonderful thing

you have to try.

Now this may seem strange

but it isn't a lie.

You get a bucket of rain

and a liter of shine,

2 pounds of flour

ground 'til it's fine.

Put it together in an old mixing pan

and stir it right up with a beater in hand.

Put it in the oven 'til crust starts to form,

then take it right out.

Don't touch it -- it's warm!

Now cut the pie in half and there will be

a beautiful rainbow for all to see.

I'm so proud!

And as a bonus, here's a poem he wrote when he was five, entitled "Uncle Kurt's Shirt":

My Uncle Kurt's shirt fell in the dirt.

He's lucky he didn't get hurt.

His mom was furious.

I was very curious.

I asked him how he did it.

He just said "Forget it."

But wait!  There's more!

Look what Son Number Two chose for his activity:

His first knitting!  I had to sneak into his bedroom to get it for a photo, because he had taken it in to bed with him.  He worked on it while I read to him tonight, too, and we had a little knit-in this afternoon, just the two of us, while Son Number One was at basketball camp.  Hooray!  He's hooked! 

Oh, and here's Yertle, who stopped by to say hello this afternoon:

I wish I had thrown something in for scale, but I didn't want to get too close.  Can you see the spikes on his tail?  Yee-ouch!  And that shell was at least ten inches long.  Yertle was last seen being helped across the road behind our house by a kind stranger.  Why do turtles think they can make it across a busy road without getting hit?

Probably for the same reason I think I can finish a sweater when I don't have enough yarn.  Not that I would know anything about that, of course.

I'm just saying.

Sarah

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Okay, I think I've sent a summer schedule to everyone on my mailing list, either through e-mail or snail mail.  Phew!  There's gotta be an easier way to do that. 

I'm still behind on comments and e-mail, but I got caught up on banking and most of my business paperwork today (although you can't tell by looking at my desk).

Tomorrow (Monday) marks the beginning of the summer hoopla, with two separate basketball camps and two conflicting baseball games.  Mom's Taxi Service is ready to roll!  Oh, and I have two appointments with knitting customers, because I'm having trouble taking off the month of June like I had wanted to.

I returned most of the yarn in the biggest shopping bag from Thursday's entry.  Fire engine red Cotton Classic just wasn't going to get worn as much as, oh, say, a nice dark purple.  Speaking of which . . .

Look!  I got the Basketweave Tee done!  Here are two views.  The first one tells me I should re-think my ban on underwire bras:

And the second one tells me I need to get some more sleep:

But I think they both give you an idea of what the sweater looks like.  I love it!  I'll get the instructions written up and posted as a free pattern someday soon.

In case you're interested, I had about a yard of yarn left over (geez, Louise, that was a close one!).  You can un-cross your fingers now.  Thanks for the good vibes!

I also finished Phase One of the Secret Knitting (give or take a few loose ends), and started Phase Two, which involves another of those new bags of yarn.  You'll have to be VERY patient -- the Secret Knitting will need to stay a secret for many moons.  But don't worry -- I have lots of other stuff to show you.  For example . . .

I made significant progress on a very boring chunk of stockinette stitch: 

The Neckdown Summer Cardigan is looking like a sweater!  I tried it on to see if it was long enough, and it wasn't yet.  I also discovered that it doesn't appear to be big enough around, but I'm not going to think about that right now.  The gauge and the measurements tell me it'll be fine, and I WAS wearing big fuzzy p.j.s at the time, so hopefully that had something to do with it.  I mean for this to be a fairly close fitting summer top, not a roomy cardigan.

Now I've gotta go scrounge up some leftovers for a late supper.

See you later, alligator!

Sarah

Thursday, June 10, 2004

The first full day of summer vacation went very well.  I sent Son Number Two off on a four hour play date, abandoned Son Number One at home, and ran away with a friend for a flawless afternoon.  If only every day could be as fun and relaxing!

Sorry about the lack of posting, but I've been fighting with my e-mail program(s) yet again, trying to notify everyone on my mailing list that my new schedule has been posted.  Apparently I can only send to a hundred people at a time.  It would have been nice if I could have found that out BEFORE creating the massive distribution list that bombed out on me.  And of course, it didn't just send to the FIRST hundred people on the list -- that would have been too easy.  It alphabetized the e-mail addresses, and then sent to the first hundred of THOSE.  So I spent the last two days trying to figure out who had been missed, and creating additional, smaller distribution lists to include them.  Grrrr!  I think I finally hit everyone, except of course for the addresses that are no longer valid.  Oh, and I still need to write up a paper copy of my schedule to snail mail to people without e-mail.  That'll get finished up tomorrow.  I'm going buggy from poring over long lists of e-mail addresses.

I've fallen way behind on e-mail and comments again -- sorry!  I can't seem to stay caught up with those.

Knitting?  I'm tooling along on the Neck Down Summer Cardigan, down past the underarm now, but it still looks like a lavender blob, so no new photos there.  The second half of the Basketweave Tee is a few hours away from being completed (assuming I have enough yarn), and then I get to sew it together and try it on (please please please please please look like I want you to!).  Phase one of the Secret Knitting is progressing nicely -- that's all you need to know there.

Here is what has appeared alongside my knitting chair:

You may notice that there are not one, not two, but three (count 'em -- three!) shopping bags there, signifying three separate purchases made within the past four days.  What could be in those bags?  YARN, duh!  What does it look like?  Well yes, of course, there is some purple in there, but not much.  The rest is going to stay under wraps until it's on the needles, which won't happen until I finish a couple of projects, which won't happen until I get away from the computer and the e-mail addresses and get to work!

So off I go!

Sarah

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

I just posted my new summer class schedule on my website (finally!).

Last day of school -- kids will be home momentarily and then the fun begins!

Sorry to be so brief.  More later!

Sarah

Sunday, June 6, 2004

When I stay away from the computer, I get more knitting done.  Want proof?

Here's the Duck Hood and Bootees (info in the sidebar to the right):

And being modeled by the bunny (who's looking a little grumpy):

The Basketweave Tee is more than halfway done:

See that little dribble of yarn on the right?  That's all I had left of the first hank (of two).  Yikes!  Let's hope I have a little more than that left from the second one, or I won't be doing any finishing around the neckline!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I worked on the Neckdown Summer Cardigan some more:

That Rowan Summer Tweed is hard on my hands -- no stretch!  Knits up beautifully, though.

I owe answers to comments and e-mail messages.  I hope to get to them tomorrow night.

That's it for tonight!

Sarah

Thursday, June 3, 2004

It's a match!

I met LynnH for lunch yesterday (well, it was supposed to be tea, but I hadn't eaten breakfast, and we ended up going for lunch instead), and she presented me with the mate to the sock she had given me for our guild's sock exchange.  Hooray!  I immediately put them on my feet and wore them the rest of the day.  Comfy!  Cozy!  Beautiful!  Thanks, Lynnie!

I was also presented with Lynn's and Brian's newest CD, which I've been listening to in my car.  Very fun!  Makes me smile.  I know Lynn isn't aware of this, but I'm building a little collection of CDs made by friends of mine.  It's a very eclectic collection, ranging from ukulele music (Lynn and Brian) to bassoon instrumentals (from my friend Melinda's husband -- Hi Melinda!!!) and whatever you call what The Weepers did before they disbanded (country swing?  From my friend Terri's husband).  Yippee!!!

Another new blog has been added to my list on the left!  I met blog reader Karen at the East Lansing Arts Festival this year (check out her husband John's work!), and later discovered she has her own blog!  Go check out what she picked up at The Yarn Garden!

I'm still plugging away on the duck hat and bootees.  Now that I'm in the sewing up stage, I'm doing everything I can to avoid this project.  I'd better get to it, though.  The baby was born yesterday morning! 

What avoidance techniques am I using?  Here's the main one:

The Basketweave Tee is on the needles again!  I used Sweater Wizard to help me decide whether I had enough yarn to complete this vision of loveliness, and SW assures me I have plenty.  Thank goodness, because I MUST have this sweater, and I can't find any more of this yarn anywhere.  I have two 400 yard hanks, so if I can complete the front from one of them, I'll know everything is fine.  At the rate I'm going (I started this yesterday morning with Lynn), I'll have the front done by the end of the weekend -- heck, I may have the whole sweater done by then!  I'm on 5.5 mm needles (what is that, a U.S. 9?), which is VERY UNUSUAL for me, since I'm such a loose knitter (stop that!).  I'm usually on 3.0 mm needles.

Oh, and my fingers are turning blue from knitting with this yarn.  Hmm.

Speaking of ukuleles, I'm off to a year-end luau at the elementary school.  I'm wearing my flip flops, Rob!

Aloha!

Sarah

Wednesday, June 2, 2004

The no-yarn-buying pact I had with Sweatergirl has officially expired, so I guess it's okay for me to buy some yarn now. 

What?

Oh.

Yeah, so I bought some yarn during the pact.  Okay, so I bought LOTS of yarn during the pact. 

I didn't buy any in December or January, though.  That's gotta be some kind of a record -- two months in a row with no yarn purchases?

And besides, Tracy bought yarn too.  I don't believe her excuses that Elizabeth made her do it (although I did see Elizabeth eyeing the Manos the other day).

My next unrealistic goal:  not buying any yarn at Stitches in August.

Yeah.

That one'll hold.

Sarah

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

I just finished cleaning up from tonight's knit-in at my house.  Yes, I had knitters over AGAIN.  There was so much food here, the kitchen exploded (see previous reference to having just finished cleaning up).

Also just finished -- Marissa's grandmother's afghan:

My job was to knit the bobbly panels, sew everything together, and add the fringe as directed by the pattern.  Here's a close-up:

Ooh, knotty!

Inspired by Sharon's beautiful finished sweater, I started the sleeve of my Entrelac Jacket:

The shaping is achieved in a very cool manner -- by making smaller and smaller squares (hear that, Emma?).  The down side is that you need more and more rows of those smaller and smaller squares, so the knitting seems to go on and on (and on and on).  The trick is figuring out exactly when to switch from one size square to the next.  I'm just winging it, in the hopes that I'll get it right the first time (stifle that snort, please!).  I'm not sure my sleevelet looks as good as it could, but I'm going to knit a few more inches before I make my final decision.

I bought the perfect buttons the other day at the Fabric Gallery in Williamston.  They're pewter, which I never would have picked out myself, but the owner kept bugging me until I looked at the pewter buttons.  They look fantastic, but I'm sure they'll be too heavy once this fabric is blocked.  So I guess they're not so perfect, are they?  We'll see . . .

I had more to talk about, but I can't remember what it was.  I feel like I'm out of practice and can't remember how to blog.

Oh!  I met another blogger!  Go visit Sarah from And She Knits.  She's been trying the knit-ins on for size, and I think they fit!  Welcome, Sarah!

Actually, I know of a THIRD local Sarah who's been looking for a knitting group.  Maybe the three of us should form a Sarahs-only club!

Plans for world domination continue . . .

Sarah

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