Well, Hi!!

Did I really not blog at ALL in September?  Until now, at least.  No wonder Sandra has been on my case. I will try to get up to date... pregnant ladies should be given whatever they ask for!

One of the ladies I work with saw me knitting socks one day when our power went out, and said she’d like a pair for her grandma, who is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.  Since my mom had Alzheimer’s, I have a lot of sympathy for anyone going through that, and I gladly agreed.  Labor Day weekend, I cast on about 10 times in various configurations for cute socks for a little old lady who had been dressy in her heyday.  I tried to make a ruffled cuff, but ended up with socks that would fit an elephant’s ankles (no pictures of these exist, through the grace of God).  Finally I gave up and got out some light pink Opal Uni and knitted a pair of footie socks.  I figure the socks need to be machine washable, and nothing is better than Opal for washing and drying in the machine. 

As is always the case when I’m doing something I “ought” to do, I have been dragging my heels on these.  No sock pun intended.  Anyway, last night I finally finished up the second one, now I just need to wash them and give them to the granddaughter.  Then I can get on with the knitting portion of my “101 tasks in 1001 days” list. 

I started this back in August; I am not up to 101 tasks yet, but I have quite a few.  One of the major knitting tasks is to alternate new and exciting knitting projects with working off my HUGE number of WIPs.  I have 3 or 4 pairs of socks that are still in progress, and probably more than that if I look in some plastic bins.  These were just the ones I found on a fast inventory on the far side of the bed.  Then there is a shawl and a scarf, both of which I abandoned when the weather got hot here in South Carolina.  And I haven’t even gotten to the knitting workbags in the corner of the bedroom to see what’s in there!  So my rule is going to be that before I start something new, I have to finish a WIP.  Since I’ve finished the Grandmama sockies, I got out a pair I started for Katie.  She’s been, um, “reminding” me about them quite a bit lately, so I will get them done before I start something new.

I have a couple of ideas for a new project; since I have lost a lot of weight, the back of my neck is always cold, so Kathy suggested a cowl sort of thing.  I found a nice-looking free pattern here and I think I’ll make it with some of my onesy-twosie skeins of yarn.  

I cast on for it last night after I wrote this, in fact, using one strand of Kid Silk Haze that Kathy sent me, from a yarn store that was closing near her, and one skein of a mystery laceweight that I found, in a similar color:

It looks a little bigger now, since I worked on it after I shut down the computer and camera. More pics later...

Then I also found a bunch of laceweight cashmere that I got on ebay about 5 years ago…I think it has aged enough in my stash, so I want to make a shawl with it.  Amazingly enough, the Knitting Pattern a Day calendar actually has one pattern in it this year that is not plug-ugly, the Andrea lace scarf.  Most of the patterns in this year’s KPAD calendar are hideous, in my opinion; they have at least 40 from one “designer,” all for ugly, unstylish, loving-hands-at-home projects.  Couldn’t they get enough submissions for a calendar this year from better designers?  I actually emailed the publisher of the calendar, but of course there was no response.  The designer must be the mother-in-law of the person publishing the calendar -- it’s all I can think of.

But the “Andrea” scarf is pretty, it’s about the only thing in the whole calendar that is, so I am going to make it with the laceweight cashmere.  I'll post pictures of it and my progress as it goes along.  But first, I have to go finish those socks for Katie!!

It's so nice to have an artist in the house!

This is Judy--I have been coveting a medical alert bracelet from a website that has really pretty ones, but I just can't justify the expense. $75 and up is just not in my budget at the moment for jewelry, even medical jewelry. I had gastric bypass surgery a year and a half ago, and it is important for emergency personnel to know it, for a number of reasons. Anyway, wanted one, couldn't afford it.

Fortunately, my daughter is a very good bead artist; I showed her the bracelets on the website and ordered the medical alert tag, and today she made me two really pretty bracelets. I want a couple more, so they will go with everything I wear, but we need to get some more clasps.

Here they are:














Nice, aren't they?? We cannibalized some jewelry we had around for the mother of pearl hearts and the solid pink beads, and the other beads came from inventory she already had. Total for 2 bracelets was more like $8 than $150, and besides, mine are unique.

Knitting content will return soon, I promise. Maybe even tomorrow!

Whining has its price

Kathy here. Since I am a self employed accountant, my summers are pretty quiet. I was whining about being bored, so Judy suggested that I post to the blog. It reminds me of my mother who always had lots of suggestions for things to do whenever I whined about being bored. Most of them involved doing homework or housework. Up here on the northern tier, we are suffering through the last gasp of summer. though I know that others think that 86 farenheit is not hot, but we are used to much lower temperatures. Not to worry, the state fair starts tomorrow & after the fair, it is fall.

We are all in a frenzy here getting ready for the onslaught of Republicans & their convention. Many of them seem to be confused. I have heard several times that it is in Minneapolis, but it is really in St Paul. I hope that they do not wander the streets of Minneapolis looking for the convention.

My latest project is a knee sock, but there are no pictures, because it is too early in the process. Maybe more later.

Kathy

I am a bad blogger

I forgot to include Kathy's scarf in progress in the previous entry, which was kind of the reason for setting up the new blog today. Duh.

So here it is, a feather and fan scarf, using kid silk night held together with sea silk. Purty, isn't it?

What we are working on now

Even though we haven't been blogging, we have been knitting! Kathy finished a couple of triangular shawls that she needs to block and take pictures of (nudge, nudge). Right now though, she has just hit a yarn shop that's going out of business in Minneapolis, where they have lots of yarn shops, unlike here in the south.

Here is the loot from her raid, I mean shopping trip, to the store, with her cat Rosie guarding the catnip bush from human meddling. There is some Kid Silk Haze, some Kid Silk Night, some Dream in Color sock yarn, and I can't remember what else.

And look at that pretty green grass! It's nice and cool in Minnesota, at least by comparison to here.


Here is some more of the loot, intended for me; a pattern book and some fuchsia Kid Silk Haze, yum!!

And then there is my latest knitting:

It has been SO freakin' hot here in SC that even inside in the air con- ditioning I only want to knit with cotton. So I've kind of been on a washcloth jag. The pink ones on the bottom are for me, and the purple ones on the top are for Kathy. Look at that pitiful brown grass in my yard in the background, too. We are on mandatory water restrictions here (not that I would water the grass anyway), but anyone from the south can tell you that you know you are in the middle of a drought when even the crepe myrtle trees are dried out...they love it in August, usually!!

Right now I am working on a pair of footie socks for my daughter, but there isn't enough to even photograph. Maybe later in the week.

First post

OK, here goes.

This is the first post for our new blog; we previously posted as Dragonflyknits, but that is closed now. We are Kathy in Minnesota and Judy in South Carolina, best friends since college (and that's been a while!).