4/5/2006
I know there have been grumblings out there that these blog contests are fixed. I hope this graphic proves that even though Snow and I are great friends that she won the contest fair and square! I have given her a choice between the fibers I dyed and the sock yarn to go along with the fiber-art journal. I’ll let you wait and see for yourself what she has chosen. I’ll be delivering it to her office tomorrow.
My thought on these contests and who wins them is that if someone is a regular to your blog, which in most cases means they are good friends whether just over the ‘net or in real life, they are going to comment with more regularity and more often than others. So, these game of chance sort of contests have a higher probability of someone who comments more frequently winning because they are playing the game more frequently so to speak.
In knitting news, I’ve completed chart two of Seraphim! That was the largest of the charts I believe. Also, my mom and I may tag team a Seraphim for my grandmother. Mom may also do the lace herself. We’ll see. There is a chance I might also change the lace at the bottom to a lace pattern she already has memorized or can easily memorize. For those people not in the know, my mom is blind, so while she is a good knitter it takes a certain type of lace pattern for her to knit it usually. We ordered some purple Jawoll for it so that it is blockable but still washable if the nursing home would accidently grab it on laundry day. It is going to be a gift to Grandma provided we get it knit fast enough. Mom bought some cheap finering weight yarn yesterday and is planning on practicing on a very mini version (36 sts on either side of the center st plus the edge sts on either side) to see if she can handle the ever changing lace pattern or if she’d like me to substitute feather and fan or something a bit more regular. Then, when she gets here I’ll get her started on the real shawl.
Yep, a week from today Mom is coming!!!!! I’m sooooooo excited!!!!!!! Last summer for her 50th birthday we told her to pick any time and we’d pay her airfare out here. Kind of a selfish gift I know, but she hasn’t been out since our wedding in October of 2002 and that was a quick and busy trip. She’ll be here to help me celebrate the big 3-0!!!! About 20 people are going to Dushanbe, a tea house in Boulder that was gifted to them by thier sister city in Tajikistan. We’ll be having high tea there. I think some of us fibery people will go a little early and also visit Shuttles before hand. Mom will also get to visit SnB that Monday as well!
3/31/2006
Elspeth encouraged me to stay honest by flashing my WIPs…
From top left clockwise: Skyway Scoop, needs one arm hole and the neckline to be finished; Wear Everywhere Pullover, needs two sleeves and yoke to be completed; Flower of Life Scarf, needs another foot or so to be knit on it; Seraphim Shawl, I’m at about 60% completion and this is the project getting the bulk of my attention right now; Nautical Baby Hat, it’s barely started but goes pretty quickly if I’d just concentrate on it; Siren Socks, needs frogged at least partially and some redesigning done on it; Leaf Lace Shawl, needs some detective work to figure out where exactly I’m at and then lots and lots and lots more knitting on it as I believe I’m only at about 10-12%.
That doesn’t count my unmated Mitten from Halland, but that isn’t cast-on so is it a WIP??? ;-)
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Liz was not only wonderful company, but she brought with her things form Maryland, including that adorable tote bag (which will nicely hold some of those WIP out of sight so they can also be out of mind for a while < evil grin >)!
Inside were many things indicative of Maryland, including lots of crab stuff - a pot holder, some notecards, some soaps, an ink well (I adore using dip pens of all types too), a magnet with a corn chowder recipe on it. There is also a postcard of some of the unique lighthouses though the glare is bad on that as well as some salt water taffy. She also included some great yarn - some Trekking XXL in wonderful colors which I’ll probably knit socks for DH with and some gorgeous and drool worthy Synchronicity (along with a suggested pattern). Thank you so much Liz!
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Speaking of gifties, I’ll be finishing up the prize stuff for the 1000th commenter. There will be a hand bound knitting journal similar to this one, and some hand dyed sock yarn or roving depending on whether the winner is a knitter or a spinner. I’ll probably also throw in a little something “Colorado” since I’ve been in that mode lately. There are less than 25 comments until we reach that magic number!
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Also, I’m kind of late on this one, but I added so many new blogs to my subscriptions after seeing people respond to this that I thought it only fair to contribute my 2 cents worth as well…
~ Your finds must come from knit blogs.
~ You may not use a blog for more than one item-all items must come from different sources.
~ Finds can come from current entries or archives.
~ You must post your answers with the title of the blogs they were found on and a link to the blog/item (permalinks where appropriate) on your blog. If no permalink is available, give us the post date.
~ Do not steal anyone’s bandwidth-which means you should not hotlink pictures.
~ You need to comment [on JenLa's site] and let [them] know when you have completed this meme.
My finds:
1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.
I suspect if you’ve made it to read here you probably know of many more knitting blogs that I don’t know of so I doubt anyone I would mention would be undiscovered…
2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.
The pithy newcomer to Ft. Collins, M&C of Milk and Cake is definitely the closest knit blogger that I know of. She moved here from the Pacific Northwest recently and has been attending SnB. She has an alarming number of interests that coincide with my DH.
3. An unusual or weird animal picture.
This may be considered cheating, but it has stuck with me a looong time. It’s a sheep in socks from Dogs Steal Yarn.
4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.
Snow *always* makes me laugh. In fact, she can make me laugh until my sides hurt. This entry was one that I had to share with DH and he just didn’t find it funny. But again, it is one that has stuck with me for a while. In general, Snows’ snippets of conversations at her house always entertain me and often make me feel like I’ve gone back home to my parents’ house, LOL!
5. An idea you wish you’d thought of.
Hands down, Project Spectrum! I love the concept, it is like something I would come up with, yet I didn’t…
6. Something you’d like to knit.
Mata Hari, Odessa, Dale’s Gerbera…
7. A picture of something you consider beautiful.
I adore most of Margene’s photos of nature, but I’m always drawn to the juxaposition of running water and snow so the photo leading this post of hers really caught my attention.
8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person.
I would *adore* meeting Mim. We have so many things in common even beyond knitting that I think it would be wonderful to meet her. I’ve heard rumblings that you may be coming to CO for the Estes Park Wool market, Mim, is that true??? :-) There are of course many others on my blogroll whom I’d love to meet in person as well.
9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.
Of course, who else could I choose for this one but Lizzy B whom I just met this past weekend!
JenLa tagged everyone, so if you’re interested, go for it.
3/2/2006
About a month ago Margene won a comment contest and was the 700th comment on my blog. Then, I dashed off to Minnesota at the last minute and then when I came home had a ton of stuff to catch up on and now my on-line classes started yesterday so I was a little occupied with that. So, needless to say, it has been a month and Margene’s prezzie hasn’t gone out in the mail.
I hadn’t photographed my prospective gift so when it was taking longer than expected to get this prize off I decided to personalize it for Margene to make up for my tardiness. I had the brilliant idea that Project Spectrum was just around the corner and both of us were going to be playing. I also knew this month’s colors of pink and red were colors that Margene tends towards often so I felt confident in keeping with this theme.
I also decided that I’m now somewhat quickly approaching the 1000th comment so I’ll be using what I originally intended (plus a little) to send to the author of the 1000th comment. I’m at 826 right now, so I’d guess we’ll have a winner in about 5-6 weeks if the number of comments remain where they have been lately.
So, those of you who are not Margene may continue on to see what I’m sending off to her tomorrow…
(more…)
2/2/2006
I’m not ready to conceed that socks soar on 2-circs yet, but it sure appears so when you compare yesterday’s post to today’s. I’m serious that the knitting post from yesterday was where I was at yesterday morning. This is where I am at as of this morning. I know, that makes it look like the 2-circ method must be incredibly fast. But, I must confess that I had *hours* of knitting time yesterday. DH stayed home from work trying to catch up on sleep that has been robbed by allergies, so since he was kind of in my way and messing with my schedule I threw it out the window and knit at Textiles a Mano in the later afternoon. Then, several of us SnB gals got together for Happy Hour at a local bar/pub and then out to dinner. Between all of that and then waiting for DH to get home from his writing group (which wasn’t until midnight) I got the heel turned and few leg rows completed.
If you look close, you can see my heels have tiny ears. I suspect this will somewhat remedy in blocking, but I suspect I could work one more set of short rows to get a slightly narrower heel next time. I’m not suprised. I have one of those kind of feet that could almost use a wide up front by the ball of the foot and needs a narrow in the heel.
Overall I did an *okay* job on the wrapped short rows. The stitches worked with thier wraps on the purl side (right) just doesn’t look as tidy and there was one there where I fubbed the pick-up of the wraps. Any tips on cleaning up that side when I pick up the wraps on the purl side so they match the other side? I’m certainly not going to rip back. This is very much a learning sock so some imperfections are okay. I actually enjoy pulling out my Spring socks and looking at the bad Kitchner and comparing it to my more recent socks to remind me of how much I’ve learned.
Now, as promised yesterday, I have a winner to announce! The moving to a new server kind of wreaked havoc on my comments to that post, but I went based on the order that I got the e-mail notifications as in some cases those came through hours before the comments actually appeared on the post. The magic number was 700 comments. That may sound as an odd marking point, but 7 is one of my all time favorite numbers so I was excited to see that I was close to 700 comments and decided to throw the contest. I’ll also be sending out a prize for the 1000 comment so don’t fade away! If you all keep commenting you never know, it might not be too long before that mile marker is hit!
The winner? Well, it was the wonderful Margene! The secret prize will be winging its way to the red rock region tomorrow and I’ll let Margene unveil what she recieves.
1/31/2006
Due to a freak injury in water aerobics on Friday morning I was forced into a knitting-free weekend. That kind of put the new nano necklace and Mittens from Halland on hold. I’m sure those who know me (and didn’t see me last night at SnB) are imagining all the things that could have happened to me to prevent me from knitting. I mean, it doesn’t take much to put me into a spiral of a flare of pain and such.
However, the injury is much less than that. It’s nearly comical really. Friday was the last day of the 4-week session so it was volleyball day. We recently got a real water volleyball set so we now have a net and a non-beach ball ball. It has changed the dynamic of our volleyball play quite drastically. I think it has made us all a bit more competitive as well as changing how we have to hit the ball etc. There are some who are unaccustomed to having an actual net so we have a lot of “net balls” right now - you know, balls that go striaght into the net and you have to play them off the net if you are in the front row. Well, I happened to have a net ball to play when I was in the front and center. And, our “net” is actually two nets and because it is a water set there are big, hard floating legs that stick out in the center of the “net.” Well, I went to play the net ball and somehow eneded up slamming my finger on my right hand *very* hard into one of those legs (or perhaps both).
The result I can only explain as some combination of a really bad hangnail with a really bad ingrown fingernail. I would have never guessed how much I actually use the pad of the middle finger on my right hand. I don’t really use it for knitting, but it was seeping and bleeding most of the weekend and I didn’t want to chance getting that on my yarn. I can’t make myself cereal because I can’t pour the milk. It’s 1/2 gallon in a heavy glass jar and it puts too much pressure on it. There has been improvement and I was a bad blogger and didn’t think to photograph it when it was at it’s worse, but above you can see it as of Monday morning and this morning. It’s getting better. But it still gets in the way. Typing even aggravates it so I’m much slower right now typing without my middle finger on my right hand, LOL!
I did do some knitting at SnB last night as it has finally stopped seeping and bleeding. I’ll share some of that with you tomorrow.
As an aside, since the new year I’ve been having troubles with my web host. Despite their gaurantee for 100% uptime I’ve had downtime almost daily. It was down again this morning which is why this post is so late. I’ve put in a request to be moved to a more stable server. So, you may find a bit more downtime if you try to visit when they start moving me over. I haven’t gotten the word that they will indeed move me, but I was told from phone support that they could. Though they said I had to put in the request on-line. But, just an FYI.
Also, I’m coming up on a landmark number for my comments so I’ll be giving something away this week to the lucky commenter who hits that landmark number. So, don’t be shy! Now is the time to say hi!
