Friday Funny

Odd and Ends

1. School started. Job started. Time departed.

Kids are cute--

And getting old. Alex is in junior high and Grace is in first grade. Wow.

2. My job is a lot of fun. Cuts into the knitting and blogging time, but I did actually finish a sock during football and Orthodontist waiting time (that's the other job).

I also have turned in the paperwork to enter the fair. I am entering a shawl, socks, and the chicken. I was a little disappointed that I only have three things to enter. Oh well. I still actually have to finish the socks too. I have 3 weeks. Normally very doable, but with the life crunch going on it is going to be a close call.

3. Ravelry is great. I know I have said that before, but now I have proof. I have for several months now been trying to find a copy of Simply Knitting's March issue to get the patterns for the little barnyard animals by Alan Dart who designed the knitted chicken I made. The issue has been sold out, and the only time I found it on Ebay the bidding was over $20 not including shipping from England. Well, last week I joined in a Simply Knitting fans group on Ravelry and posted on the forum that I was looking for issue. A wonderfully kind Raveler responded and mailed it to me! Without asking for anything in return! Isn't that fabulous? I plan on knitting her a sheep. Hopefully she will find that charming and not weird.

Hopefully the next post will include some mystery stole action. Stay tuned!

Vote for my friend!

So... a few months ago, I nominiated my friend, Cynthia, for a national award. I was thrilled that out of all the nominations, she was selected as a finalist for the Stand on a Better World Awards. If she wins, her organization could get a cash prize that would help her continue the great work she does. If you could, please vote for my friend Cynthia Karraker.

http://www.standonabetterworld.com/vote/index.html

Pops and Alex

Father and Grandson camp August 07 004
Originally uploaded by CareyMW

Aren't they cute?

A Dilemma

I started a new job. I'm going to be a librarian at a small private school very close to home, but of course, not anywhere near the two schools my kids attend. I'm very excited and eager to jump into the new school year.

The faculty and staff went on a retreat yesterday to the foothills around an hour and a half from school. I knew I would be riding in someone else's car, so I brought along a new plain sock to knit (didn't want to waste prime knitting time, especially now that time is at a premium). I realized I would get a few questions about what I was doing, so there lies the dilemma I was faced with:

How much of the knitting self do I expose? I don't know these people very well, and I wouldn't want to steer their impression of me from "Gee, she seems interesting" to "Oh my, what sort of nut do we have here?" Especially after the reception my sock knitting got from my cousin at Good Things. Not everyone gets it.

When the conversation turned to what I was doing I told them I like to knit. True, no? The whole truth? Huh. I didn't volunteer my blog URL for them to see for themselves. Admitting to knitting and blogging is reserved for those who know the level of my, uh, involvement with yarn. I sort of decided that I would wait and reveal the inner knitter a piece at a time.

Meanwhile, I got this far on the sock-

I'm glad I didn't let the time slip by. I'm ready to start the last clue of the mystery stole too. This week is the first week of school for 4 of 5 family members, and all with different schedules that don't blend well, so knitting time will be scarce. Wish me luck, on the job, and on the stress management of home. Yikes!

My soul is refreshed

Two weeks ago, my very good friend, future bridesmaid and co-worker lost her 17-year-old son to a horrible accident. After a week fighting for his life, Zach got to be comforted in the arms of Jesus. I have peace because of that, but I am mourning the death of this great kid. The black days after Zach's accident are a blur now. Busy at work. Worried sick about my friend. Prayer with other friends, church family and co-workers. A huge, huge outpouring of support from those co-workers.

In the midst of it all, I felt the Lord at work. He was there during it all, helping me get through each day. I learned this week that getting through each day means getting back into routine. The Good Things meeting was scheduled way before any of this happened, but after a horrible couple of weeks filled with drama, sadness and a whopper of a cold, planning the projects was the very last thing I wanted to do.


Funny thing, though. It was exactly what I needed. I don't know how, but I healed a little bit by getting my hands in ink and playing with my scissors in the days before the meeting. My soul was refreshed during the meeting just by being with Tracy, Cheri, Lori and the gang. We laughed over silly things and surrounded me love. Thanks for that. I appreciate it more than you know.

We did three projects. Here they are:




Cindy and Tracy show off their hard work.





Lori and Carolyn enjoy strawberry cheesecake squares.

No Longer Behind

I'm officially on clue 6 now! Finished clue 5 today. I like the way the wing is shaping up - very feather like and all, but I don't really care for the dividing line between the main stole and the wing. I'm hoping it will all come together. I also am very close to being at the end of the first skein of yarn, 630 yards have been used so far (give or take a few yards).

I am so tired of knitting this! I am on the cusp (so close I can taste it) of casting on for the twisted flower socks. SO CLOSE! I am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Blackberry. Project Spectrum! Sock a month knitalong! Summer of socks! I would feel like Tiennie except I won't finish them in one week (she's a super fast and very good knitter, go check out what she knitted for her husband)

The Everlasting Sock

Can you imagine if Willie Wonka ran a yarn factory? The yarn that never runs out no matter how much you knit. Socks that change color depending on the time of day. Sweaters that grow thicker depending on the weather.





These socks were made from Willie Wonka yarn. They seemed to last forever. I worked on them pretty steadily (in my mind anyway) yet they never seemed to be done. UNTIL TODAY!

Hooray! These socks are my first installment in the Sock of the Month Knitalong that starts in August. I sort of started them in July, but we won't talk about that little detail.

Even though these were the socks that would never end, I loved the yarn. So pretty! In fact, I will make a declaration that this is the prettiest sock yarn I have used thus far! It is called French 75, purchased at Ancient Pathways.



Love it!

Nothing at all about yarn, paper, or scissors

Maurice wants you to see what he spent his Saturday doing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYhfQijuU0

Meanwhile, Grace and I went with Carey and Gram and shopped, lunched, and were ladies of leisure.

Ready for a wing

Big projects do not make exciting blog posts. I have been knitting away at the mystery stole in an attempt to catch up. I have now (on Tuesday) caught up to this week's clue.

Good thing, being that the mystery has been revealed. The stole is patterned to represent "Swan Lake." That sounds so normal and not mysterious compared to the offbeat and sometimes sinister guesses that have been floating around the internet. Anyway, the design is now going to feature a wing, which sounds very odd, but I think will look very nice, although will take most everyone out of their knitting comfort zone. I am used to symmetrical designs, so this will be good for me. And it is looking very pretty on the blogs I have been cheating and looking at.

I am also enjoying ravelry! What a great place to compare others' work and see the difference yarn choices and color make. It is really like a knitting/internet revolution. That sounds very melodramatic, but it has a huge potential that is very exciting. I love it! I haven't said too much about it since it is not open to the general public yet and can't be viewed unless you are a beta user, and that is a giant bummer because it is great! I am telling everyone it is like a Myspace for knitters, but it also keeps track of projects and yarn with photos and you can view everyone else's finished objects and find lots of inspiration, and I could go on and on! It will be great when it is finally up and running. Jesse and Casey are the brains behind it and they are brilliant!

Fun site and a celebration! Hooray!

Busy, busy, busy. With all the wedding planning and a crazy busy work schedule, things haven't actually been going so well on the creativity front. I've got a great plan to do a creative scrapbook album-type thingy instead of a traditional guest book. Actually sitting down and doing it, however, may be troublesome. So, to make a long story short, I found this lovely web site and accompanying blog that celebrates the lives of real women with real schedules and discusses how real women scrap! Looks like I'm not alone on the busy front!

Here are the links.... http://www.realwomenscrap.com/index2.php and http://realwomenscrap.typepad.com/scrapbook_lessons/

And, during the month of August, the site is celebrating blogging as well. I've attached the site's blog-a-bration button so you can click and find out what it is all about. Hope you like it.

On and on and on

I swear I am knitting. I seem to go on and on and never make any progress. Oh, yeah, I know I am on row 263 and all, but it is slow going. I am behind! Tomorrow is the next post, the all-important clue that tells us the secrets to the mystery stole universe, and I didn't catch up like I intended. Big bummer. I still have another 70 rows to go.

I also feel like I need (and want) to do a small project really quickly just to finish something. Part of me wants to do that, but that would just get me even farther behind! Knit faster!

If it weren't for the laptop buying, school supply gathering, uniform obtaining, shoe shopping, class list viewing, and driving in circles across town several times a day, I would probably get more done. Why does life have to interrupt my knitting time?