Angel.

This is my nephew Nathan's Steeler hat in the making.

I Can See Clearly Now

Listen: I Can See Clearly Now

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone

All of the bad feelings have disappeared

Here is the rainbow I’ve been praying for

It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies

Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

Book Club Selection

I've selected the first book for our book group: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

Another FO

I fell in love with Fair Isle knitting.  This is called the Fake Isle hat.  It is really fair isle with only two strands of yarn.  One strand is the cream, the other is a variegated Noro Silk Garden.  I don't know who the recipient of the hat will be.... maybe me?

I am working on a Steeler hat for my nephew Nathan.  Two years ago he asked me to knit a hat for him.  I hope he still wants one.  I feel guilty that is has taken me 2 years to knit.  Two years to a 11 year old is a lot longer time than two years to a 49 year old. I wanted to knit 4 hats in 10 days for Christmas but I only got this hat knitted.  I still plan to knit 4 hats--one for each of my nephews.  

I have fallen in love with knitting like never before.  It makes me so happy.  I love knitting gifts for my friends and family.  My sister liked her scarf.  It matches her new ski jacket.  I could not have gotten a closer match if I had tried.  I do believe in a power in this universe that makes things like that happen.

Mom is sizing up this hat and seeing what coats she has to match it.  I think she just might be the recipient.

Where Are You Christmas?

Listen: "Where Are You Christmas"

Where are you Christmas 

Why can't I find you 

Why have you gone away 

Where is the laughter 

You used to bring me 

Why can't I hear music play 

My world is changing

I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too

Where are you Christmas

Do you remember

The one you used to know

I'm not the same one

See what the time's done

Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here

Everywhere, oh

Christmas is here

If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind

You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas

I know I've found you

You never fade away

The joy of Christmas

Stays here inside us

Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas

Fill your heart with love

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I am spending the day with my mom. Last night we went to a Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Northway Community Church. I had mom open one gift from me. A Cabled Neck Warmer. She loved it. But she did want me to shorten it a bit, which I did this morning. It looks great. She is standing beside the Christmas stocking I knit this season.

This is the outfit mom bought me for Christmas.  It is perfect.  The right color.  Sweatpants and a long-sleeve t-shirt.  I love lounging around in comfy clothes when I am at home.

New Book Group Forming

*** New Book Group Forming ***

I am starting a new book group. I have two friends who are interested and I sent out an email to a couple other friends. This new adventure is a growth activity for me. I am not normally an organizer of people, but I really want to be in a book group and I also would like to start my own group with friends that meets in my home. I have led books groups at Barnes & Noble in the past and enjoyed it immensely. I stopped doing that when working full time and leading the group was too much for me. The last book group I led was a classics book group. I read one classic book a month. It was great. The new group will read a variety of material, but I hope we do read some classics. Wish me luck on this new adventure.

A little of everything

These are vacation pics.  This is Pam and me in front of the condo.  From left to right: Amy, me, Pam and Jelani.  What a great trip.  It brought me back to life.  I feel like I am living again.  I flew to AZ, then the four of us drove to Mexico and spent a long weekend in a condo on the beach.  It was so relaxing.  As good as camping.  I hope to repeat it next year.

I have a small decorated tree in my living room.  Sophie loves to lie under it.  Sophie and I came down with a cold this weekend.  She is on antibiotics.  I am not.  She had it worse than I.  

I do not like this cold weather.  The good news is that yesterday was the shortest day of the year and the days start getting longer from now on.  That is very good news.  The bad news is yesterday was the first day of winter.  UGH! We still have to go through winter.  I am looking forward to spring when I can sit in the park and read before going to work.  And go camping and hiking and be OUTSIDE.

This is my most recent FO: Christmas stocking.  It is my first fair isle project and now I am addicted.  I knit both continental and English style.  It was so much fun.  I plan to make more for gifts next year.  Let me know if you would like to be on my gift list.  Plunketts?

Christmas Projects

This is a reversible cable scarf for my sister.

OMGosh!  I love this project.  This is my first Fair Isle project and I have fallen in love with fair isle.  This yarn is luscious.  Cascade Pastaza.  I got the pattern from Ravelry.   Celeste was my inspiration.  She knit the Christmas Stocking which is on display at Knit One North.

My Family

Angel resting in her cat hammock.

Sophie prowling around.

Angel and Sophie mean so much to me.  Angel likes to lay around and take it easy.  Sophie likes to run around and play.

The Sun Came Out today

If you are reading this you are probably a friend or family member.   I want to say that today the fog was lifted off of me and the sun came out in my life when I woke up.  What a difference.  I feel so much better.  Life is really, really hard and depression makes it even harder.

A Finished Object!!!

I finished this hat this morning.  I'm going to give it away to charity. I knit it according to the pattern except that I used smaller needles.  It is too small for an adult head.  It will be fine for a child.  If I make it again for an adult I will need to do a few more repeats of the cable pattern before I decrease at the top.    

The Definition of Insanity

... is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different  results.  Do you ever feel this way?  I do!

Knitting a Little

This is my new project.  I am practicing the Norwegian Purl with it.  Sometimes I think it is easier to throw the yarn front and back than to make all the twists and turns required of the Norwegian Purl.  This was going to be a hat for my nephew whose favorite color is yellow.  But I think I better make his hat in gold instead.  This hat will probably go to Mary Ann so she can donate it to the winter coat charity she in involved with.

This is the sweater I started a year ago.  When I get to a part that I am uncertain about I stop.  This is where I am now.  I need to pick up the stitches for the right sleeve.  I am nervous about doing this so here sits the sweater.

Norweigan Purl

I learned the Norwegian purl yesterday from youtube.  Connie told me about it.  I had never knitted Continental style before.  It was slow going but I learned something new.  I am knitting a yellow cable hat for my nephew.  His favorite color is "butter."

Good Morning!

Hilton Head Island!

My nephew Evan making a great drip sandcastle!

I spent Labor Day at  McConnell's Mill State Park.

It was a beautiful sunny day.  A great day for a hike!

I spent Memorial Day weekend: Camping in Cooks Forest State Park!  Notice Molly is missing from the picture.  It was a sad time because it was the first camping trip without Molly.

My beautiful cat Angel

My Best Friend and Lifelong Companion Died

Molly was 14 years 4 months old.
She died January 17, 2008.
I am very sad for I lost my best friend in the world.

Recent Finished Object

This is a baby blanket I knit for someone at work. It is the second time I knit this pattern. It was enjoyable to knit. I would knit it again. I got the pattern from an old issue of Creative Knitting magazine.

Flattened Knit Pick Needles

This is what the USPS does to needles shipped in an envelope by Knit Picks. How dumb can Knit Picks get?

Dyeing Yarn Class

I took a Dyeing Yarn class at Knit One in Squirrel Hill. It was so much fun. I would like to do more of it. We used Dyes from Louet. Another option is to use Koolade. Flo and Stacey taught the class. The technique used is we squirted the dye on the yarn that had soaked in warm water for 20 minutes and worked the dye in. Then we nuked the yarn for 2 minutes, let is rest 2 minutes, repeated this two more times, then nuked it for 1 minute--for a total of 7 minutes in the Microwave. We hung the hank of yarn up to dry. I wound the yarn today and here it is:

Love From Knit One & Horror Story From Knit Picks

This is NOT the Horror Story. This is me picking out the yarn for my first sweater at Knit One in Squirrel Hill. The yarn is Shannon from Tahki Yarns in Blue Multi-color.

The Horror Story began when I opened a package from Knit Picks which contained several needle tips. They arrived in a bubble wrapped enveloped and all the needles were flattened. Boy was I angry. I am eager to start my first sweater....the yarn is bought, the pattern is picked out, I signed up for a "Knit Your First Sweater" at Knit One with Linda Voss Plummer. If you know me, I get very angry. And I am angry. I opened the package after the customer service line at Knit Picks was closed. Customer service received a very angry email from me tonight. I am eager to see what their response is going to be. I knit a swatch with dented needle tips. Here is the pic.

Life Is Good.....Very, Very Good

More Camping Pics

This is Molly and me at our campsite.

I thought someone transposed the 5 and the 7. When gas was going for $2.75 everywhere else, I found this station off on I-80 that was selling it for $2.57. I double checked my receipt to confirm the cost was actually $2.57.









This is a carved tree on the way to Cook Forest.

A F.O.

A FO. This was a gift to someone who is moving out of state. The pattern came from knitty.com. I used Patons wool. I knit most of it while I was camping in Cook Forest with Molly sitting in my lap. So there is a little of Molly knit into it. This was my second felting project.

I bought yarn for my first sweater. It is official. I am knitting my first sweater. I am taking a class "Knitting Your First Sweater" with Linda Plummer at Knit One. I will post pictures of the yarn and the sweater as it progresses.

I Need More Hours in My Day....

I have been up since 4:30AM and I still have not gotten everything accomplished I planned for the day or should I say that I would like to do. I've been updating Knit One's Web site....I could do that for hours and I did, but there are other things that need to get done also.

Another Terrific Day!!!

Stacey, the owner of Knit One, and I got the e-newsletter out on schedule yesterday. I had fun learning how to create the newsletter, polish it up and then send it out to all the subscribers. Stacey did the hard part of writing the narrative, while I inserted the photos and did a few behind the scenes tasks. It was fun. If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter go to the Knit One web site and click on the subscribe button on the Home Page.

Terrific Day!!!!!

I did some computer work for a LYS. It felt good using my computer skills again.

While there I learned the I-cord bind-off for my current UFO.

I visited Heather's Blog and found that like her I am pure Nerd.
I'm 69% Nerd, 30% Geek, 47% Dork.

Take the test for yourself....

I am currently reading The Secret which I got from work. I finished The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd which was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend the book for women, especial women who are spiritual journeys.

Let's try this again

More Chemo Caps

All these Chemo Caps were knit on size 9 needles from the same skein of yarn. I like that every one came out differently.

Camping Pics

I Am a Happy But Wet Camper

Just returned from a 4 day camping trip in Cook Forest. I don't have the time to post pics tonight I will try to get to it tomorrow. What did I do for 4 days in the woods with only my dog? I read and read and read and read. I could not stop reading. I finished The Other Boleyn Girl. I read most of a book about creating WEB sites. I started The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd which I absolutely love and can't wait to finish. I started Virginia Woolfe's book The Voyage Out. I learned HTML and hope to make improvements to my blog in the near future. I was so relaxed this week. Now I am back and have to face reality. Not that what I experienced this week in the woods was not reality it just was not the typical reality for me. Monday I start a new job. Need I say more about anxiety? I did not think once about that while camping. Only on the drive home did I start to think about it. I hope I am brave enough to say more about the Sue Monk Kidd book I am reading. Yes. I did do some knitting this week while it was dry and dusty but not muddy yet. Once it rained and got muddy the yarn went away. I will soon need to learn the I-cord bind off on my current project. I started a new project before I left on my trip....I am Branching Out again, only this time with Lace weight yarn. this is a little challenging. Enough for now....

Posting a pic of self for my profile

I Am a Happy Camper

I went camping from Tuesday through late Thursday night. Molly and I had a wonderful time. I loaded up and set up camp in 90+ degree heat on Tuesday afternoon. Good thing I don't mind the heat. It was so hot I did not even consider having a fire that night. It cooled down overnight, as the weather forecaster on the radio said "A cold front is moving in on Wed." It cooled down quite a bit on Wed. and Thurs. There were a couple of thunderstorms Wed. afternoon but nothing that ruined a camping trip. Thursday was beautiful. Sunny and cool in the shade. I started knitting the satchel pictured below...it was a good color it did not show the dirt it picked up from the dusty campsite and molly's paws. It does contain quite a bit of Molly's fur. I hope my friend is not allergic to dogs. I read the book The Other Boleyn Girl also pictured below. A totally enjoyable read. I read the paper and took walks with Molly around the campground. I ate a little. Nothing fancy like I usually do. I just did not feel like cooking. I woke Thursday morning feeling such a peace and happiness that I kept telling Molly how happy I was. It was remarkable. Nature definitely soothes my soul. I will try to go back as much a possible before winter comes. It does my soul good.

Current Stuff

This is a close up of the stitch. See entry below for more detail.

I knit this too pretty to be a dishcloth out of Creative Knitting magazine. I learned to carry a yarn up the side. I switched colors every other row. I'll take another pic to zoom in on the pattern. This pic does not do justice to the stitch.





I am knitting a felted satchel for someone who is moving out of state soon. I hope she likes the colors. It is hard to knit for other people.







I am reading this fabulous book The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory. It is a fast read and absolutely enjoyable. All 660 pages.