Gargoyle

A gargoyle has been camping out on top of our laundry machines.

Finished Object!!

Home sick today. I don't know how I managed it, but I caught some kind of viral throat/cold thingy. Not pleasant!

On the bright side, MIT SnBers will be extremely surprised to hear that I actually have a finished object to show off!

This weekend I finished the Debbie Bliss Cross Over Jacket, for Lady S's new baby. I hope it fits the baby, but if not it should make a good sweater for a doll. I posted my comments/critique on my ravelry page, as well as project specs, for those interested.






Rhonda will be pleased to know that I am seaming my lace sweater that has been languishing for a while. I'm about halfway done seaming it, and stopped since I'm kind of delirious at the moment!

ummmm... DO OVER!

I frogged my poll. Check it out.

so I should explain

The reason for my new mini-poll.... I've noticed an abundance of cat references and photos on knitting blogs and ravelry. So far, things are leading to dogs. Very surprising.

I won't be in SnB today... I have to run to whole foods on my lunch break to get the ingredients I need for the annual bake off in my office, which is tomorrow!

This weekend I am determined to finish my secret project, so I can mail it and finally get to some other things, such as seaming my Aimee sweater, and casting on for ice queen.

stay tuned!

check out my new poll

It's been a while since I polled you.

Tis the season, eh?

scroll to the bottom of my blog for the poll!

branching out

I have yet to assemble my Aimee Sweater, my secret xmas project I can't blog about, OR my Sweater Number Two.

And yet, I'm having crewel thoughts

I've always liked how visually bold and expressive this kind of embroidery can be. Does anyone have other "cool" sources for iron-on patterns/kits? The crewel community doesn't seem to be quite as organized as the knitting community. Online embroidery pattern searches yield a lot of stuff that is (I hope I'm not offending anyone here) very cutesy and old ladyish.

I suppose I could design my own...

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a wonderful christmas and a happy new year!


The Friendship, Derby Wharf, Salem, MA

multi-tasking

At the moment I am:

1. blogging
2. making lasagna
3. doing 3 loads laundry
4. thinking about finishing my xmas wrapping
5. "supervising" DH, who has started re-painting our bedroom and bathroom
6. admiring my updated ravelry page. check out the projects and stash sections. I added some photos.
7. drinking a beer.

DANG! I forgot to take a "before" photo. Our bedroom has had purple barney walls and magenta wainscotting. from the previous owners. Throw in some velvet and you've got yourself Prince's "Purple Rain".

I'll be back!

holiday greetings!

I've been a lazy blogger lately. Bear with me! There's been a lot to do at work and at home, and I've had a few secret projects I've been working on for DH and others that I can't blog about yet.

I won't be able to make it to SnB this week. Lots of work, sadly. Have fun ladies!

I hope to get more up on my blog this weekend, and I'm looking forward to organizing a post-holiday knit-a-long with Rhonda, my kid silk haze enabler!

Farewell Emmy.

My friend, The Rev lost a very dear four-legged friend this week. I'm thinking about you! I tried to send you an email, but I got some weird error message, so I thought I'd send you a message via blog instead.

hih, hih, hih!

That's the sound of me hyperventilating. I just went online to Knitty, an online knitting mag that for some insane reason I don't really read that much, and I saw ICE QUEEN.

I must make it.

It would be the perfect pattern to learn how to do beads on a lace pattern. Maybe I should try this before attempting Butterfly? Eh?

oof !

There's hardly been any time for blogging!

This weekend I had to take patches to the vet (annual checkup, and NO she's still not speaking to me!), then caught a movie with DH (Dan in Real Life). In between, lots of errands and chores. On Sunday, I joined a few new friends in Salem for the annual Christmas in Salem walking tour of historic homes. Some very fancy places out there. I got a few decorating tips.... monogrammed silver goblets, for instance! They go with everything!! ;-)

On the train I've been working on a knitting project I can't blog about at the moment as it will ruin someone's christmas if I do!

I've also embarked upon a top secret xmas project for DH.

This HARDLY leaves time for working on my ravelry page, now does it!

what a busy weekend!

My Ravelry invite finally arrived. I have a lot of work to do to get my page together, but if you are on ravelry, check me out: bostonworkerbee

For those of you who aren't familiar, Ravelry is a new website for knitters/crocheters/fiberists. It allows users to create an online notebook with details and photos of their projects, yarn stashes, patterns, you name it. That is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of really cool "sharing" features. If you need pattern ideas for a certain type of yarn, for instance, you can search the websites of other ravelry users for ideas. It would take a long time to explain all the endless ways to use it, so I'll stop here. Ravelry is in the Beta testing phase, but eventually, everyone will be able to sign in and use it!

I finished the back section of Sweater number two. But the instructions for the shoulder shaping decreases were really difficult to understand (its supposed to be an easy pattern!!). I'm pretty sure I screwed it up, as the shoulder shaping on my finished piece doesn't resemble anything like a shoulder shaping.

The long wait is nearly over

I've been checking the ravelry waiting list checker for days now, and my long wait is almost over:

You signed up on November 1, 2007
You are #51757 on the list.
1885 people are ahead of you in line.
8252 people are behind you in line.
83% of the list has been invited so far

I think in 2-3 days I should have my invite. Yahoo!

Over the Thanksgiving break I will be:

Ravelry-ing
Home improving
working on a secret-knitting-project-I-can't blog-about yet-lest-I-ruin-the-surprise
working on sweater number two

Oh, by the way, I finished frogging those effing rows I messed up. I think I managed to eff up the frogging as well, because I was off by two stitches at the end. But you know what? It all works out in the end.

Close encounters....

... of the CAT kind!

This weekend, DH and I had a lovely new storm door installed. It was not cheap, but we think it is going to save us big $$ on our heating bill. The front door is old and very pretty, but lets a big draft in. We're also putting in new "sweeps" along the bottom. Hermetically sealed is the effect we're going for.

I was showing DH the features of the new door, when out of nowhere that rough looking orange tabby came running up the steps and nearly squeaked in. Patches happened to be loitering nearby, and they locked eyes.



Let's run that photo again, so folks can get a better look.



Whoaaaa! I guess Monsieur L'Orange isn't quite ready for his close-up. Simmer down, buddy.

Here's a peek at sweater number two not-fully-frogged. I frogged one row, and have five more to go, which I think I'll tackle tonite after dinner:

To frog or not to frog

That is the question. On the train home last night, I was counting stitches and realized I really effed up on armhole decreases when I translated the pattern for sweater number two, otherwise known as "Maggie" by Rowan (of course!)

Fixing this (unless I find more pattern translation mistakes) would involve frogging (ripping out, for my non-knitting friends) 5 rows. But I am actually contemplating ripping the whole thing out, and rewriting the WHOLE PATTERN so I can knit it completely in the round, as opposed to flat. I've discovered that my "knit" rows are way tighter than my "purl". It doesn't look so bad, but it bothers me....

The wee one

A special blog posting to my friend Lady S, who today became the proud mom of a baby girl! Congrats!

I doubt that she will be reading this anytime soon, but DH and I send our good thoughts and best wishes nonetheless!

I went and did it

I finally caved and signed up for the mysterious Ravelry

Here's my vitals:
You are #51757 on the list.
13061 people are ahead of you in line.
0 people are behind you in line.
68% of the list has been invited so far

When my invite comes, first order of business will be infiltrating the grey-tabby-loving-kid-silk-haze-worshipping community. Sometimes known as GTLKSHW

Vacation photos

If any one is interested in checking out my photos of Rome, Perugia, and Assisi, look no further!

An update on sweater number two will be forthcoming later today.

What's the buzz ?

I'm baaaaacccckkkk!

Man I'm tired! italy was terrific. I woudln't describe it as a relaxing vacation. Daily hikes of 12+ kilometres (uphill) is tiring. We saw so many beautiful things and ate so much great food. I'm hoping to post some photos online this weekend, so stay tuned.

I got some serious knitting done too. I'm almost half way done with the back section of my latest Rowan sweater project (kid silk haze!) that I started right before I left.

DH and I came to some realizations on this trip... mainly that we are getting too old and too soft to stay in really dive-y accommodations (like our hotel in Rome). We need things like a soft comfy bed, a hot shower, and clean clothes. We were away long enough to really appreciate the luxuries we have at home. Such as a soft bed, a hot shower, and laundry machine. Oh, and Patches!

Speaking of... How did she take us being gone? Pretty well. Gramma and Grampa (Mamabee and BabboBee) came over to hang out with her. Additionally there was the pet sitter, and another friend who stopped by to socialize. I think she didn't even notice we were gone! There's a saying that dogs have owners, and cats have staff. This is particularly true of Patches. Gramma reported that there was at least one toiletpaper attack, but sorry, no photo.

I'm trying to adjust back into work. Lots of work piled up. Stay tuned for vacation photos.