I Did It!

I walked out of the yarn shop tonight and bought nothing. It was tough but I did it. But now, the Karabella still is calling me for a shrug. I have been searching on the internet for a simple pattern. None found that I really wanted to do. But, I do remember a couple of years ago, I had a little card from Interweave Knits that had a simple shrug on it. A smart woman would have put it in the file labeled shrug. Guess I'll have to break down and go look!

Today I went to my Aunt Ellie's funeral. She was 89.

Ellie had been in the nursing home for several years, but of my mom's 8 sisters and brothers, her and I had a special bond. You see, I believe she re-introduced me to the needlearts. Bob and I lived in an apartment across the street from her and my Uncle Ben the second year of our marriage. They had a swing in their yard and no air conditioning. Ellie and Ben would sit out at night in their swing, Ellie would crochet and we would eat popcorn and drink beer That was before she became diabetic and had to watch things like that. In the winter, it was not unusual for her to call me up at night, and say they had popcorn if I had the beer. Ellie and Ben made the best vegetable soup. She'd call me up when we were in our first house a little before lunch time and say the soup was ready and I would head down for lunch. Ben had a huge garden next to the railroad tracks and kept it up til he was in his late 80s. They always shared tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers. One time she tried to teach me how to make pickles (I loved em, but it was not for me.) Ben and Ellie had a great marriage til then end of their days. He took care of her before he died and it always amazed me, that he could do that even when his health was failing and he was nearing 90!

Ellie loved to crochet and she crocheted afghans galore. All of her kids had one and their sons and daughters. She crocheted me a baby sweater outfit for my baby shower. She had to crochet another after the birth of not one baby but two. today on a table with pictures of her life, was an afghan she had crocheted with a crochet book. Its the same book I have in my collection. We shared the love of yarn and also the love of sewing. She mentored me in my early years of marriage in both of these. Her daughter really was the one who started me on my trek of knitting after showing me a easy sweater vest that she was knitting. That is how my re-introduction to yarn began!

Ellie had a way about her. She called life as she saw it. She said what was on her mind. It could be about someone walking in front of her that should have seen what she looked like from our view (she would vocalize it in a not so quiet voice. I liked that about her too. Today, the minister who really did not know Ellie that well understood that too. One of great parts of his eulogy today hit it on the head for me. He said that Ellie understood that it was okay to live life to the fullest and she did.

I think that is the coolest and I believe even more now than I did a few months ago. Live life to the fullest! It is okay and we should. Be excited about it! What does that mean for me? Experience it all. Don't sit back and watch. Do what you want. If you want to knit yourself silly, DO! And I am gonna. How about you? Take life by the horns and enjoy because we never know.

To my friends and family there is only one thing I ask, when you put me in the casket, would you make sure that I am wearing some knitted sox, have a shawl draped over my shoulders and make sure I have knitting in my hands. I want to be prepared for the next life, wherever I am. But until then, I am gonna be living life to the fullest! Morbid, maybe, but you see I too can call as I see it, cause it's my Blog.

Fall is definitely in the air and I love it!

There are actually leaves in my yard. I remarked on them as we got home this afternoon, and my son reminded me that it almost October. My response is that it is barely passed August. But really, as I wrote in yesterday's blog, it is mid-September! So, I hauled out my tunic sweater to work a little on it this week. It is one of those things that might take more yarn than I bought and I would like to pick it up Thursday night on the way to Knit Night if I need more.

And then, somewhere on the bottom shelf of lia stuff, is the pieces to a Jamieson coat that just needs put together, and buttons procured for it. And a little to the left of it is the Einstein Jacket. Oh, yea and then there is Norma's birthday sox and before you know it, it will be the holiday season.....will I get it all done in time to wear it or should I just start Spring/Summer 06 now and I will be ready for it when it gets here?

Enough! For now I am gonna concentrate on Fall and fall means coffee at night, think I'll go make a pot of Kona Hazelnut from Hawaii and knit some more on the tunic. And worry about spring another day!

I like newsletters almost as much as I like new knitting catalogs and knitting magazines.

Every week Rob from over at Threadbear FiberArts sends an email version of a newsletter. It always tells whats new at their shop and website but also includes websites where some really cool free patterns can be obtained. I don't always care for all of them, but occasionally one happens along that I do. The best part about his newsletter and his blog, is that you feel like you know them.

Today, I got the print version of Wool and Company's newsletter. I get the opportunity to look at it electronically too, but it comes to my work email address and I don't always get the time to read it there. So, when today's came as hard copy, I was so pleased. You see I like mail! First thing I do when I come home is to check and see what cool stuff awaits me. Anyway, today's Wool and Company features Sally Melville's new book "color" Wool and Company says it will be available mid - September! Did anyone look at the calendar? I'd say it is just about mid - September! Now, I just have to decide who I am going to pre-order it from? And then, I will sit and wait for more good mail and hope that it comes on a Friday so I can spend my Friday night reading it from cover to cover!

It's the little things that make me happy, doesn't take much does it?

Getting a new yarn catalog is almost as good as getting a new issue of magazine. And from the looks of these, it would appear that they even come out more often and there are more of them than knitting magazines. Not that I personally need any more yarn....but it is always fun to look and dream at some. Don't cha all think?

Okay, I am not going to bore the blog with a picture of every scarf I do, but this one is so neat that you have to see it up close and personal! Done with a strand of Dreambaby in blue and a strand of a novelty yarn I picked up that has paper like pieces attached. It took a little longer to knit but was a great car project this past weekend.

I have decided to not knit for anyone anything that they do not have knowledge of! With the exception of scarves and sox (when I know their shoe size). Case in point, here is Bob's mom in the poncho I knit for. Sleeves are too long, the neck is too wide and it hangs funny ( because it is too big through the bust and arms) It may be better when she wears a heavier top under it, but I do not see this as a successful garment of mine.

I think I will just stick to knitting for myself, cause lord knows I can fit myself quite well and I have lots of ideas for ME!!!

Just got back from lia sophia Rally in Chicago. I actually was a passenger this weekend so I got to knit on a scarf all the way up on Friday and back tonight. This scarf is taking a little longer cause it is a strand of Dreambaby and a strand of a novelty yarn which has little pieces of soft paper (thats how I would describe it) every so often. My roomates for the weekend were so impressed with the scarf!

Rally at lia sophia is a good time to get psyched up for the upcoming season. You get to see the successes that other lia sophia advisors have = $$$$$ and I do mean $$$$, just by doing more shows. You come home wanting to jump in and start calling everybody you know to have a party and or recruit them to sell lia sophia. So, if anybody out there wants to join me in the opportunity to sell lia sophia or know of someone who wants to, send them my way.

Back to knit content. On Friday night, we went out to Oakbrook to shop and look around. In Marshall Fields, they had a great knit sweater by Eileen Fisher. I took just a couple of quick notes on it and hope to duplicate it. Hopefully more to follow on it. I just love looking at RTW to see what is out there that could be duplicated for Fall knitting. The yarns are so soft and cuddly. And Ann Taylor what do you think they had? A knitted capelet, imagine that! The stores up there like Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel are all putting their fall themes out and it is fun to see it all, even though it is 90 degrees and humid out there!

Hope to post pic tomorrow of MIL in her birthday poncho. They tell me the sleeves were a little long for her, but she rolled them back. We'll all take a look tomorrow and see how it looks. I hope she doesn't ask me to shorten the sleeves cause as I remember, the sleeves seem like they gone on for ever when I was knitting them. Kind of like the hot summer, huh!

Happy Birthday Char P!!!

Do you have leftover yarns that you can't bear to part with? I do. Why is that? Why don't we just throw them away? At the moment, I know I have two bags sitting there taking up space. There leftovers for cryin out loud. I have plenty of real yarn sitting there beggin to be knit, but yet I keep the leftovers in two baggies for just in case. In case of what, I run out of yarn. Yea, right. So why bother even looking at patterns from a book which uses them. I don't know, but I did. I actually am even contemplating doing one or two of these out of those two bags taking up space. That's what a weekend of cleaning a few scarf yarns will do to you.

A Weekend of Scarves - 8 Finished, 11 1/2 Skeins of Yarn Used




And this one will be for me! But not yet, I still have more to do for the benefit.


Now, tomorrow, I have to go back to work. I have had a great 5 days off even though, today really wasn't a day off. I am definitely going to schedule more long weekends for knitting before my annual Thanksgiving MOM Weekend. Didn't make to Lakeview for knitting tonight, I just didn't want my little vacation to end and just was too tired to drive back into Peoria tonight. Plus there is still another scarf to cast on.....

I am having so much fun this weekend, except for, the thought of our good friend Jan who will be leaving for Texas in a week. Yes, we will visit (I am going to start working on saving miles) but it will not be the same without knowing that she is close by. The pics below are of a wonderful crosstitch that our friend Norma worked so hard on. A little something for Jan and her wonderful husband to take with them to remember their home state and their new home state by and of course all of the wonderful people back here :)




This weekend, I am knitting scarves for a benefit late next month. I am having so much fun with them, they are using up some odd yarn that I had around and giving me a hoot of time, just sitting knitting and watching either QVC, HGTV, Food or the ball games. Could life get any better? Well, yes if I was retired and did not have to go back to work on Wednesday (taking Tuesday off for some test appointments)then all could be well.

I think scarves will be my new take along project, take along to work for sitting at lunch and for tomorrow for sitting and waiting on tests to be done. Who knows how many I can get done? And I could maybe use up the one bag of scarf yarn sitting there, while the other bag and a drawer taunt me to be used! One can never have enough scarves and I personally can't wait for cooler weather to come so I can wear a new one every DAY!

What is this?

It is a caplet that I knitted from Blue Heron Yarns. Will I wear it? Does it fit/look right on me? Don't know. It sounded/looked like a good idea when I chased the gal down at Stitches to see what she was wearing. Now, I am just not sure. I am waiting to try it on with something that I can really tell whether I will like it or not. The good thing, there is enough yarn to make the Potato Chip Scarf from the Knit Picks catalog for this benefit my friend is doing.

The weather was so gorgeous yesterday that I had to block it. Today is going to be equally gorgeous so I am going to block my mother-in-law's poncho outside. I won't get to see how she likes it or how it fits cause they are doing her birthday thing when I am at lia sophia rally in Chicago next Saturday. But I'll get Bob to take a pic of her wearing it so I can let you all know how it went over.

Having a great weekend, I hope you all are too!!

I'm Knitting Scarves This Weekend

A friend of mine asked me to do some scarves for a benefit that her family and friends are doing in October for one of their relatives. As usual, I only remember half of the story, but it is for a family member of hers who is in her late twenties with a fairly young baby and they have diagnosed her with cancer.

The benefit is late in October, but I want to do a scad of scarves for them along with donating some lia sophia jewelry and a gift certificate. I thought this would be a good weekend to do some. I finished two yesterday while putzin around the house (I took the day off from work, cause of little stomach problem I had been having and decided to just tag it on to the long weekend), and this morning I am tearing one out cause it is just too short and too wide. It is being a little snit while I try to rip it out cause it is a semi-eyelash, but I am going to take it out come hell or high water.

Anyway, the point in this all is, scarves are on the menu for this weekend, it will help someone out and will help me get rid of some of these ones and twos of yarn that I have. I had them for flip flops, but I think, I will put the flip flops away for the season, since this is the last of the summer holidays......where did the summer go?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORMA!


Okay, so I didn't get my yearly deadline done for Norma, but she did get socks for her birthday! These earring socks were fun to do and only took a Cardinals Baseball Game to complete them. I wouldn't want to do a whole bunch of them, but a nice little diversion from the big ones.

New Fall Knitters

There has been a small discussion lately on the new Knitters magazine and the direction it has been going. Basically, I agree with what they have been chatting about. The old Knitter's seemed to have so many things I just had to knit. I didn't but those magazines were worth keeping and buying back issues of on Ebay. I have noticed in the issue before this that there were some good technique articles that were worth checking out, but no knitting that I just HAD to do or thought I had to.

So, I went to this latest issued and really looked at it. There are some things I might check out in the future, but for now I just have way too many things from past issues or yarn excursions that I would prefer to work on this Fall. Here are some that I might want to remember for future reference.

I am hoping they get their act togethr soon, cause right now it really is a dissapointment and I just re upped for another three years!

I finished the cutest things last night, but I can't show you. I took a picture and I will show it after tomorrow night. They are just too darn cute and I made my yearly deadline with them. But more after tomorrow night.

Vests -- I want to do some vests for this fall/winter. One of our Radical Knitters, Jo wears alot of them over turtlenecks and I really like the look for casual days and knit nights, and besides they keep certain parts of the body warm. I have one all done, all it needs is sewn up and finished a bit.

Here are a few I wouldn't mind doing, and I think I might even have yarn for at least one, imagine, but the others might require yarn shopping!

Char pictured here is modeling Linda's wrist knitting bag that Linda bought at Stitches Midwest Market this year. A couple of years ago we had a howling of a time at Stitches at dinner one night and further into the weekend about a arm ball holder. I believe Linda was the instigator of the conversation. It was a hoot. Which has really nothing to do with her purchase this year, but I just thought I would mention it.

This is Linda. She is the owner of the wrist holder. We are waiting to see how/when she uses it and how she likes it. I did see Darlene of Mosaic yarn Studio at Stitches Midwest knitting out of a tapestry bag that was joined to her belt loops. That kind of intrigued me as there was a time when I did knit while I walked around the track at Pekin Stadium. The only problem I had was that my hands got hot and sweaty and the yarn did not want to knit as fast as I wanted it too. I could see a good use for these if you had to spend a lot of time standing in lines (like at Stitches). For me the jury is out and I will wait and see what Linda thinks of it.

Last night I started cleaning around my area and decided to write down those known WIPS and what needles are hiding there. Anyone want to guess that number? There are 16 of them!!!Can you believe it? And those are the ones that are just in my immediate surroundings. Today, I am going to see what is in the drawers and on the wire rack. And just from a glance at the list, my current project is not the one I want to be knitting on but must. That is how I get in a knitting slump. It's not the weather, it is the overwhelming number of projects out there...

I do not need to worry that there is nothing in the current knitting magazines I want to knit, I have enough right here in my own space. I have plenty to keep me occupied for Fall Knitting. I'll be lucky if I have half of them done by Spring!!!

The charter members of the Radical Knitters Society. Tom, one of our member's husband, dubbed us with this name a while back, because, I am not sure why, but you get the jist from our name. This is a group of ladies that knit together no matter what or at least we try. If we aren't knitting together, it is like not having coffee in the morning. In the next couple of weeks, Jan (bottom left will be moving to Texas) and Norma (top center) will be leaving us at the end of September to do a little traveling. The rest of us Char (center bottom row), Jo (right bottom row), Linda (top right) and myself (top left) will be left. We will do our best to take up knitting opportunities while Norma is away. I will occasionally have a lia sophia party to do and Jo will travel for work, but in between we will do our best to knit together when possible. We are recruiting for new members, but you know they have to fit in within us (okay so now you know how we got our name!)


These are the Radical Knitters with their bags that Jan and Norma had done for us. Aren't they great? I mean the ladies and the bags...I've said it before and I say it again, these are the best bunch of friends one could ever have! I am truly blessed. I wish this for everyone.

Just a couple of thoughts for the end of the week~~~~~

I cannot believe it is finally here. It has just seems like it has been an unending week. Don't know why, it just has been. Well, I do know why, I am just glad it is over. However, today I had some knitting patterns to look at it, and someone reminded me at work today that tonight was the first football game here in Pekin. It is a sure sign of Fall isn't it?? Which makes me want to knit and finish some things so they will be ready for fall/winter weather when it comes.

The Knitlist today actually had a dissenting opinion on the new Knitter's issue!! See, Linda they do post them. But of course the tag at the end from Gail had to tell how she disagreed. Imagine that! Could be interesting to see what kind of responses come. Looks like for me I will use some of those old patterns that I have for knitting inspiration this fall.

A website I like to check out when the seasons are getting ready to change is the website of Fiberworks in Toledo Ohio. www.fiberworksknitting.com
I see now that is where I got the idea to work through Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I love reading their newsletter Uncommon Threads. It looks like they have some great classes throughout the Fall Season utilizing some great resources. Too bad they are so far away, the Fall Fashion Focus looks like something we used to do when I worked for Off the Bolt. It was such a great time and gave everybody lots of sewing inspiration back then. And then they have Knit Flicks and Friday Night Potlucks. Remember those from our Dr. Deb days Norma? It is just a really neat sounding shop. I think alot of shops could take a lesson from both Fiberworks and Threadbear FiberArts. Just my opinion.

Sunday, Bob and I will be married 29 years. Can you believe it? Who would of thunk it? It just amazes me when I think about it. Cause you know I just had by 30th birthday!!!

Watch tomorrow for Radical Knitter's Society pictures and their bags...knitting bags you sillies!