Has it been a week already?

I'm sorry for the lack of blog entries. I'm swamped. No excuse I know, but something has had to give, and I'm not keeping my head above water very well. Love the job, but I am a busy mama!

In my spare moments (uh huh) I have been trying my best to make progress on the Twisted Flower socks. I have thrown in the towel for making the fair deadline with them. The Waving Lace socks will have to substitute. I have made progress on the TF sock, but it is slow going with the cables and twisted stitches. My new revised goal is end of September.

I did block the Mystery Stole, and persuaded Tracy to be my model. I am pleased with the results, although I probably wouldn't have made this pattern if I would have known about the asymmetrical part. I love the wing, and wish I had matching wings at each end. Ah, such is the chance the mystery presents. Oh well. I did learn a few things, and this is by far the biggest lace I have attempted. I now feel pretty confident with lace, and will come back to it again soon.

Tracy was a sport for posing. I tried to crop out as many body parts as possible, but I think she makes a fine stole model. I'll use her again. (She needs an agent to negotiate a better price next time).

Stamping humor

OK, Tracy asked for stamping humor. Here goes:

At the end of a very long life, a dedicated stamper and scrapbooker passed away.

She awakens to find a glorious craft room filled with every imaginable scrapbooking item: Papers of every color, texture and design, the latest in gadgets to make the most attractive pages ever. She finds eyelets, punches, stickers and ribbons in every color. She finds templates and scissors and ink pens of every color. The best part is it is all organized and labeled! Her work area is pristine, just waiting for her to create cards and scrapbooks for the rest of eternity!

She says to herself: Ha! See, it didn't matter that I wasn't always the most nice person and that I didn't do anything for anyone else but me! It didn't matter that I never set foot in a church and that I cheated on my taxes! Ha!

And then she realizes.... there's no adhesive.

Knitting humor

Here's a joke for you. (An old standard, but a good one.)

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER!" "NO!" the blonde yelled back, "SCARF!"

Sock in Progress

I finally got going on the sock.

I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Blackberry, which corresponds nicely to the Project Spectrum colors I'm supposed to be using. I finally got with the program, yes I did!

I'm knitting the Twisted Flower sock by Cookie A., my favorite sock designer ever. This is not a speedy sock. This represents my work for the day. I have a deadline of Friday, September 14 for this sock, since fair entries are due that day. I need the knitting fairy to add some speed to the needles. I'm back to magic looping these, and I noticed that my Knitpicks Options circular #1's are not straight anymore. I know I tend to bend the wooden dpn's, but I didn't realize I was so forceful on the metal needles.

I have very little else on the needles right now, except for the few hibernating projects that I am getting close to forgetting altogether. I still need to block my mystery stole (yes it is done!!) but I'm saving that for tomorrow morning. I am wishing I had bought those blocking wires I saw at Imagiknit.

Tuesday I start teaching Arts and Crafts as an elective to the junior high. I will have around 10 kids, not all girls, so I am trying to come up with some non-sexist crafts projects for the young teen crowd. I think friendship bracelets will be a good starting place. I had actually never done the weaving kind, and it is kind of fun. I'll go to the store tomorrow and buy some appropriate beads and then will try the macrame kind. From there the class will move into paper art, with a few stolen projects from Good Things, like the paper bag book, and maybe the Altoid tin card in a box thing. That will give me a good excuse to buy and eat several tins of chocolate altoids. Yummy, however, rather dangerous eating in this weather.

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?

Yarn Paper Scissors

Thanks to Emily the wondergirl for the blog banner and button. It only took a few bribes and/or pleading to get that done. It is very interesting that I have been trying for FOREVER to get a better banner and coordinate a photo banner with blogger but it took Emily like 2 seconds to do.

Anniversary stats -

177 posts

10 1/2 pairs of socks

17 road trips

465 comments (thank you)

2 graduations

1 blue ribbon

1 engagement

1 wedding

lots of dimples and curly hair (kid shots)

It has been an eventful year around here at YPS, and hopefully the next year will be just as blessed!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Blogiversary to us!

We are a year old! We are trying to do a little blog makeover and year recap in honor of our first anniversary. Stay tuned.

Stitch N Pitch Night

Carey, Alex, and I set out on Tuesday and made our way towards the Bay Area for our second Stitch N Pitch night at AT&T Park.

We took our time getting there, stopping at Continental Stitch in Morgan Hill (lots of Noro but not a lot of friendly from the staff) and a scrapbook store in Gilroy (sorry, they all seem to blur together to me the knitter woman and I forgot the name). We also stopped at Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos (love that store, and lots of good Harlot memories) and tried to go to Purlescence in Sunnyvale but THEY WERE CLOSED! Argh.

Eventually, we landed in the City. It was cold! The game was fun, although we weren't sitting close enough to a lot of other knitters so we saw lots of people with orange tote bags, but didn't get into the same spirit of fun as last year. We still had fun though!

Here is Alex and Carey right after downing some garlic fries-

And here I am with Alex, freezing my you-know-what off while knitting my sock--

Here I am seeing if it is time for the toe--

We left at the 8th inning because I was freezing and the Giants were losing pretty badly. We expected them to take Barry Bonds out like they usually do around that time. When we made it back to the hotel, we saw the bottom of the ninth, with Bonds still in and the score tied! Yikes! I knew if Bonds hit a homerun when we weren't there Alex would kill me! Fortunately for me but unfortunately for the Giants, they lost and we didn't miss any good Barry action.

I finished my sock Wednesday morning, while Carey was reading Harry Potter and Alex was enjoying the Palace Hotel pool.

We then set out for the east bay, and enjoyed Article Pract in Oakland, Stash in Berkeley, and My Daughter's Wish (killer scrapbook store, even I must say) in Walnut Creek. Alex went to baseball heaven with lunch at McCovey's. He took over 25 photos in the restaurant. Cool place.

Now we are home. I feel like the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Time to catch up with the rest of life!

LIttle House in the Big Woods

Hi! I've missed you! I've been taking a break from civilization.

We lived here for a week--

And spent a lot of time looking at this-

and a lake. A very pretty lake called Shaver Lake in the Sierras. Very nice. I got to experience life without the internet (but with excellent cell phone reception, thank you God), dishwasher, trash service, laundry facilities, or cable tv. You know what that means? Lots of card games, bird watching, sitting by the lake watching the kiddies swim, reading, and KNITTING! Yes, I did that, no technology required! I worked on the mystery stole and finished clue 2 and half of clue 3(had no way of downloading clue 4 so now I was not in a rush) and almost made it to the toe of the first waving lace sock.

I read the latest Maggie Sexton knitting mystery, Killer Stitch, which was fun. I started the latest Bennie Harper mystery by Earlene Fowler. I love that series and have been reading them for years now. I put that aside in the name of Mr. Harry Potter when it was delivered to me Saturday morning by my enabler and most beloved sister. Then I itched to start it while playing hostess to the family, but FINALLY got going on it on Sunday when we got home.

I would have blogged sooner but I was sincerely afraid of touching the internet for fear of spoilers. I had waited to long for the conclusion of story to have it spoiled. I will not spoil it here except to say it was a very satisfying read. Yes, Alex finished it before me.

Tomorrow we turn around and go to SF for the Stitch N Pitch game. Go Giants!