Show Us Your Stash

As part of the Secret Pal 10 thing, Shelby has asked everyone in her group to "Show Us Your Stash." Not a problem. First I had to delve into my knitting closet.....

... get out of the way of the various tools, books, spindles, etc. that invariably fall out when I open the doors...

...and brace my feet on either side of the drawers and wedge them open:



Whew. Then the fun part - sorting and rearranging and shamelessly stroking the beautiful yarns.
The baggies in the front hold partial skeins or scraps of solid colored yarn -- the self-patterning scraps are in the Mitred Square Blankie basket waiting for a little love and attention to become part of the blankie. The skeins at the top of the photo are just waiting for me to break a leg (or something less painful, please) so that they can become socks. How many pair? 45. Yes, 45. Had I realized there was so much sock yarn in that closet, I would never had placed an order with Angel Yarns 10 days ago. But if I hadn't placed that order, I would not have found this at home when I went home at lunch today to walk the dogs:

Hmmmm....what could that be? Yarn! Sock Yarn! Lots and Lots of Sock Yarn! Enough for another 16 pair!

Who can resist Opal sock yarn at 25% off? Even with the overseas shipping, and the sucky exchange rate for Dollars to Euros, this is quite a bargain. Plus, it only took 12 days to come all the way from England! This was my first order with Angel Yarns, but not my last! Thank you Angel Yarns!

Now for the most recent FO. This is my third pair of Jaywalkers hanging out on a lilac shrub.

Love lilacs, love Jaywalkers, must go now and sniff the lilacs and cast on another pair of socks. I wonder if I have enough sock yarn.......

Border Blues

Or should I say "Pinks"? Either way, the border of the baby blanket I have made to match this sweater set......
.....is positively giving me the berries. I don't know what I was thinking when I started it. There is no pattern, and I NEED a pattern. True, I used the stitch pattern from the body of the sweater, but I need someone to tell me "Cast on ______ stitches and blah, blah, blah." I can read. I can follow a pattern. I cannot make decisions on my own. I know this about myself. Why I ignored this defect in my understanding, I cannot say.

Anyway, I cast on 360 stitches, thinking that would make a nice size blanket. Wrong...360 stitches makes a honkin' huge blanket. I used a provisional cast-on, thinking that I could worry about the border later. Well, later is NOW. For weeks I've been looking through my meager library of stitch dictionaries, flipping right to the edgings and borders, made a few samples, and promptly frogging them. My problem is the corners. What to do with the corners. I don't want an awkward break in the border pattern.

Last night, I did this little sample:


It's a simple picot edging that I have used on socks before, and I experimented with doing increases and decreases to go around a corner. Not bad. Not bad at all. Then I read Jennifer's blog today, and saw the border on her alphabet blanket. Wow. Look at the corners - they look great. That border is so much better than my piddly little picot edging. Last week I ordered the Debbie Bliss book with the pattern in it, and am anxiously waiting its arrival. If I can make that border fit, wouldn't that be so much better? Plus, I would have a pattern! In truth, if I hadn't spent so many mind numbing hours on the endless pink blanket, I would frog the whole thing and make the alphabet blanket. Thanks for the post Jennifer - you are a lifesaver!

Now for an update on the pets - Mellie is doing good. She ate maybe 6 or 8 chicken nuggets this morning. Whenever she eats, and it stays down, it's a good day. When I went home at lunchtime, she was wiggling and waggling that little tail of hers, and barking at people who have the nerve to walk by HER house. Both excellent signs! Joey is doing great, too. His wound looks much better, and he doesn't mind the taste of the liquid antibiotic (it smells like ripe bananas - yummy).

Zero Squares and a Happy Birthday

Yes, it is Blankie Update Friday, and for yet another week I have no squares to report. But hey, it's only 5:45am - don't give up hope. Who am I kidding. Maybe NEXT Friday.

On the up-side, it is Mom's birthday, and she is [cough, cough, sputter] years old today. Happy Birthday to the best Mum in the world. Love you lots. Especially the way you continue to try and (gently) make me see the practical side of things. It's really very cute.

"I reject your reality and substitute it with my own". I saw this on a t-shirt once, and am considering having it tatooed in bold letters across my forehead.

Blankie? What Blankie?

Yes, it is Blankie Update Friday, but I have no progress to report.

This week started with a sick rabbit. Mr. Darcy has been wheezing and sneezing. Trying to get a liquid medicine into the right rabbit (there are four rabbits), twice a day, which takes two people to do, and my sister leaves for work before the sun comes up and I (normally) get home from work after the sun goes down... You do the math. He has been surprisingly good about it, though.

On Tuesday I got a call at work from the Nanny (she comes three days a week and walks the dogs at lunch time) that Mellie, my 9 year old Brittany, who has had on-going issues with a sensitive stomach, has had a flare-up. I raced home to get her into the Vet before he closed the office for a week. He's fishing in the Florida Keys this week. It is a long overdue and well deserved vacation for him. He's the best Vet in the world, and I love him and trust him completely.

Wednesday, I went in to work for a few hours, came home to check on Mellie, and she vomited two blood clots. I placed a panicky, tearful call to the Nanny (who also happens to work at the Vet's office - she is his "right hand man", assisting with surgeries, doing xrays, etc.) and she calmed me down. Love her, too! She suggested crushing Mellie's pills and mixing them in a little liquid to make sure they are dissolving and coating her stomach. Mom came over and walked in the door as I was on the phone with the Nanny, so she calmed Emma and Tara until I got off the phone, then calmed me, too. I have the best mom in the world. I am so lucky and love her sooooo much.

Thursday, Mellie was doing much better, had a good night's sleep, but I didn't want to leave her, so I took her to work with me for a couple of hours. That's right - she's my little working girl! I wouldn't have gone in at all, but some work that I was supposed to have had LAST WEEK never arrived, and it was emailed it to me 11pm on Tuesday night, and needed ASAP, of course. That's right, a week late. But she did not provide the required materials - I was supposed to run out and get them. What's that saying... "Lack of preparation on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part." Yeah, right. So Mellie and I went off to work, and thanks to Bev for getting the materials and Pat for making thousands of cuts into thick matte board with a big old honking papercutter whose blade is getting very dull, the job was done by 1:oo-ish. Big hugs for Pat and Bev!

That brings us to today. Blankie Update Friday. As good as Mellie was yesterday, she is 10 times worse today. She had a very, very bad night last night, and doesn't want any parts of her crushed up pills, even though I mixed them in warm milk (her favorite) and added a little honey (yummm, tasty). It is 7:00am, and all I can do it sit and watch her.

What little knitting I have gotten done this week has been on the pink baby blanket. As much as I have been frustrated by the endless, repetitive lacy pattern, and the miles and miles of pale pink fingering weight yarn, it has been therapeutic this week to have something that required a little thought, but not too much. I picked up the Mitred Square Blankie once or twice, but choosing the next color to knit was just too much for me. I have trouble making decisions on the best of days, let alone while sitting here watching a sick dog, feeling like I am neglecting the other two, feeling like the worst dog mom in the world because I can't do anything to fix my sweet Mellie.

Pitiful Blankie Update Friday

Well, not much has been done on the blankie this week. It's that stupid baby set that is taking up so much valuable knitting time. I'm so freakin' tired of pink. I treated myself to a couple of hours of quality time with the blankie, but only got four measly squares done.

On the upside, Tara (a.k.a. Tata, Tata Dog, Tattoo, Toodle Bug, etc.) graciously volunteered to model it for Blankie Update Friday. Well, at least she didn't run away when I draped it over her, so I'm taking that as graciously volunteering.

Here she is saying "What a lovely blankie. Thank you for allowing me to model it." Either that, or she's saying "Hey, somebody get this thing off me. I mean it...now...or I'll rip it to shreds." I choose the first option, but then again I have been told I'm delusional when it comes to my girls.

Confession time

I have been a very bad girl. Two weeks in a row I have placed orders with Knit Picks. Naughty, naughty, naughty. In my defense, their prices are really good, and I have fallen in love with their needles, both circs and dps, and, well, I am weak. No self control whatsoever. But look at the really cool hat I'm planning on whipping up. Yes, it's called a "scrappy" hat, but what's a girl to do if she doesn't have enough scraps? Have cold ears? No...BUY MORE YARN!

What's that??? Oh...a little voice inside my head just reminded me that I am under a deadline for the baby set. Yes, the sweater parts and bonnet parts are done, but they still need to be assembled. The blanket, however, is taking longer than anticipated. A LOT longer. 363 stitches of a lacy pattern on size 3 needles doesn't move along as quickly as one might think.

Pardon me???? Oh...the voice again. Yes, I have fallen behind on making squares on the mitred square blankie. That pain in the patoot stupid intricate baby blanket has taken up so much time.

What is it this time, little voice??? Yes, I know. Don't even ask how long it has been since I picked up and worked on one of the five (count 'em...5) socks I currently have on needles in various stages of completion.

How am I going to get that little voice to shut the heck up? I know...I need a hat to cover my ears. I know of a great pattern for a scrappy hat, but I'll need more yarn.......

And so it goes....

12 Squares and Happy Birthday!

Well, another week has come and gone, so it is time for a blankie update. Twelve squares - not as many as last week, but still not too bad. Here is a today's pic:



Here's a close-up of a new scrap yarn that has been added to the mix. This is the leftover yarn from my first pair of Jaywalker socks. I just love the wide bands of colors, and like the way a large block really shows them off.

The back of the blankie is looking pretty hairy - I haven't taken the time to weave in the ends for quite a while. One of these nights I'm going to have to resign myself to it. For now, the just-one-more-block thing is just too much temptation.

On another note completely unrelated to knitting or Brittanys, I have to wish the man in my life a happy birthday. He's a wonderful guy and I love him to bits. Today is the 42nd anniversary of his 29th birthday (hope I did the math right). That's right...it's my dad--the grandfather of my dogs! Dad, if you're reading this, yes you ARE their grandfather. They are the only kids I'll ever have, so that makes you their grandpa. Big birthday hugs and kisses to you! Especially sloppy wet lickey-face kisses from Mellie, Emma and Tara, aka "the quiet one" "the one who jumps on you and scratches your arms" and "brown dog with a tail"!

Blankie update: 19 squares

Well, even though I have not set a goal for the number of squares to be completed each week, I think 19 squares is pretty darn good. Especially since I have made no progress at all on the baby set. Couldn't be helped, though, as I've been sick this week and didn't want to knit any germs into the sweater & bonnet that might linger and infect the baby. No, I don't really think that could happen, but it has eased my conscience about neglecting all other knitting in favor of the blankie. Also, better safe than sorry, right? Who knows how long sore throat germs can stay alive?

Here's an updated shot of the blankie.

And here's a close-up where you can see the cotton yarn I use to keep track of progress from week to week. Now I'll just rip out the cotton yarn, and re-insert it along the new top edge of the blankie, and I'll know how many squares I have knitted since the previous update. You might also be able to see four safety pins - these are marking the spot where I want to add a large block. It's just a reminder not to add a small block in this spot as I am knitting along.

Hey - who's that checking out the blankie? Why, it's Mellie, of course. She had to get into the action. She is such a helper!

I'm off to make myself a cup of tea with honey, take my cough medicine, and hopefully fall asleep for a few hours.

Jaywalkers done at last!

At last. Done. Complete. Finished. Only two weeks late for a Christmas present. That's not so bad, is it? Yes, it is. Anyway, here's a picture. Don't you love the colors? This is my first pair using the Jaywalker pattern from Grumperina's site. The yarn is Opal, but I forget the name of the color.

How do you celebrate the completion of a pair of socks? Cast on another pair!!! I started another Jaywalker, but have cast on 84 stitches instead of 76. The first pair (at 76 stitches) was just a bit too tight for me, so we'll see how much of a difference the 84 stitches makes. Here is a shot of the socks so far. The yarn is from Knit Picks.

Yes, this is taken at the beach, specifically Fortescue on the Delaware Bay. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, could we stay inside? No. It's so rare to have such a lovely day in the middle of January in New Jersey, we had to take advantage of it. Here is a shot of the cottages along the shoreline.

And, of course, a picture of the dogs. Mellie was shy today, so this is just Emma (on chair) and Tara (on ottoman). My sweet little babes!

Happy knitting!

Blankie Business

Well, last night I did not work on repairing holes in old socks, so you might think I finished the Jaywalker socks, right? Wrong. I only have a couple of inches to go on the foot, but every time I pick them up and get going on them, my carpal tunnel flares up. It's been bothering me for several weeks (again) and I'm trying to ignore it. When I can't ignore it, I pop some Advil or whatever is handy and give the wrist a rest. Anything to avoid getting an evil injection again. [shudder]

Anyway, I put down the Jaywalker socks and picked up the baby set - very soft, larger needles (size 2 & 3), a loosey, lazy, lacy pattern that doesn't bother my wrist so much. Almost finished with the sweater front & back.

Since it's Friday (TGIF), here is my first Mitered Square Blanket update:

NO PROGRESS AT ALL...NONE.

But here are some pictures anyway. This is the blankie covered with the scrappy sock yarn that is just waiting to be turned into blocks.



This is a shot of just the yarn ---- oooooohhhhhhh. Much easier to see it on the floor as opposed to the blankie. Kind of makes you want to jump right in and roll around in it, doesn't it?


I promised myself that I would finish the Jaywalkers, since Christmas was a couple of weeks ago. They are for a dear friend, and she doesn't knit, but has a great appreciation for hand-knit socks. I know all will be forgiven when she sees the Jaywalkers - the colors just scream her name. I will finish the jaywalkers this weekend. Repeat after me...I will finish the Jaywalkers this weekend. Look for a picture of the FINISHED Jaywalkers on Monday. Really.

Holey Moley...

....what happened to them there socks? As I was pulling out my mitered square blankie to work on (after too many weeks stashed in a basket, pining away for me to give it some attention, like those poor souls from the Land of the Misfit Toys), and look at what I found. A bunch of socks in sorry need of repair. With all good intentions, I packed the blankie back into its storage basket, and decided to share these pics with you in an effort to shame myself into finally, FINALLY, getting around to repairing the poor socks.


This sock is just worn out, and even though this is a "replaceable heel", I hate doing this heel, so these socks have been sitting in this state for forever and a day:


Could be just worn out, from the location, but I don't think so. I will, however, give the dogs the benefit of a doubt and not blame this on them.

Again, could be normal wear and tear.

This one I KNOW did not occur naturally. I know this because I had to wrestle it out of my precious Emma's mouth....

See, she can't stay away from my socks. While shooting these images, she had to come over to investigate what I was doing with her woobies. Hey - I keep telling her that my socks are NOT her woobies, but I think it is falling on deaf ears. She thinks that anything soft and squishy that fits in her mouth is a woobie.

Anyway, the blankie went back in its basket. Just when I have officially joined the Mitered Square Blankie Knitalong, too. Shelly will be doing weekly updates on Fridays, and I am determined to do the same. Now it's a toss-up. Should I do the repair and replace routine on theses old socks, or should I work on the Jaywalker sock that is a Christmas present? Back to the Jaywalker...NOW! No excuses! Really, who would choose to darn socks when you can work on a pretty new one?

Gotta go and get another woobie away from Emma...

Christmas Cuteness

Who wants to see some cute pictures of the babes? I hope you said "I do", because here they are.

This is Emma (on the dog bed) and Tara (on the ottoman) lounging around, getting rested up for the Christmas excitement to come. Mellie declined the invitation to have her picture taken. She thought she was having a bad hair day, and didn't want it recorded on this blog for all the masses (ha!) to see.














"Hooray - presents! Grammie and Grampa brought presents! We love presents! We love Grammie and Grampa!" Emma has her head in the bag, while Tara watches patiently. Again, Mellie used the bad-hair-day excuse. I think she was just too lazy to bother getting off of the sofa.













Here's Mellie - caught on camera at last! She is sneaking away with one of the new bones from Grammie and Grampa.














Here's Tara, enjoying her new bone. Note the use of her paws - holding the bone upright so she can chew it better. So very intelligent... When we first got her from American Brittany Rescue (a GREAT organization), she didn't know what toys and bones were for. How sad is that? She was wary of people, too, but quickly learned how to wrap everyone around her little finger, or should I say dew claw.














And here's Emma, of course. She is posing with her new bone. Doesn't she look regal?


















Here's Grammie (a.k.a. Mum) decked out for Christmas with the bow from one of her gifts. This is just after dinner Christmas Eve, and we all opened one present each before she left to sing in the church choir. I tried to convince her to wear this bow to church. I think it would have been a nice addition to the traditional Christmas Cantata....

If you'll look very closely, you will see evidence of actual knitting. What looks like a misshapen blob on the table is actually the jaywalker socks I've been working on. Yes, they are a Christmas present, and yes, I know Christmas is now over.... Gotta get working on them there socks.


















And here is Grampa (a.k.a. Dad) opening one of his gifts. The mat says "Welcome to my garage. Not just parking space, but a world class destination." You have to know him to know just how appropriate this is. I stopped by their house on the way to work the other day, and he was on his hands and knees scrubbing the garage floor. I don't even do my KITCHEN floor on hands and knees. He's the original "Mr. Clean"-- it's a sickness.















Finally, here is sweet Mellie, zonked out from a day of partying and such. Please don't mention her hair - she's very sensitive about it.













I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. Personally, I'd like to see Festivus become a national holiday!

"And now for the airing of grievances...I've got problems with all you people!" Frank Constanza, Seinfeld, season 9, episode 10.

Pre-Christmas frenzy.

I am still without my car, so am driving around a big behemoth of a rental vehicle. I got tired of stopping for gas every couple of days and dropping $20 into the gas tank, so filled it this morning. $37 dollars...can you believe it? How do people afford these gas guzzling monsters? The rental company has been trying to find a smaller vehicle, but no luck. How hard can they be trying? It's been almost 2 weeks since my car accident. Oh well. My problem is that I need 4WD. Why? I don't know. Do I think it will snow? No. When it does snow, do I drive in it? No. Not if my father is able to take me to work. Why is my father still driving his 40-something daughter to work when it snows? He taught me to drive in the snow, and it was such a traumatic experience that I am paralyzed with fear at the first flake in the air. But that's a story for another day.

Well, I have been a very bad knitter this week. I hope the knitting Santa wasn't peeking in my window to see how much progress I have made on my current WIPs. Knitting has taken a back seat to Christmas preparations.


Here is my first Jaywalker sock. Complete except for the kitchener stitch at the toe, but that doesn't really count. I like to have several socks done to that point and finish all of the toes at once. I think that is a throw-back to when I first learned to knit socks, and had to have a book open with diagrams of the steps of kitchener stitch before attempting it. I would put off finishing the toes until I ran out of DP needles. I think my record is 9 socks at one time worked up to the final two needles and waiting for me to finish them. This is Opal yarn--a real pleasure to knit.






This is the pitiful progress I have made on the baby set. The thing in the center is the bonnet. I'm almost all done with the body of it, and will then just do the two seams at the back of the head, and them pick up & knit a couple of rows at the bottom. On the big circular needle is a blanket that I am making to go with the sweater set. I am just using the same pattern as the sweater, but cast on 363 stitches to make it big enough. I'm using size 3 needles, so from the gauge swatch, this should be approx. 36 inches wide. I used a provisional cast-on and will worry about what to do on the border another time. It's the old "I can't think about that today..." thing, you know?





And for your viewing pleasure, my little Christmas babes. Emma is up on the ottoman, and Mellie and Tara are sharing (!!!) a dog bed on the floor. Mellie (front) does not usually care to share her space, but I guess she is just chock full of the holiday spirit. Yes, that is the Christmas tree in the background. You would think that it would have been decorated by now, but noooo. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, for sure by Christmas Eve!

Work in progress....

I've decided to post my knitting projects that are in various stages of completion. Perhaps this will spur me on to finish one or two before casting on yet another sock. Socks are addictive, though. I just can't help myself.

me: "My name is Dianne and I'm a sock-aholic."

you: "Hi Dianne."

me: "It has been three days since I last cast on a sock."

Well, you get the picture. Speaking of pictures.....

This is a favorite pattern to work - an oldie but a goodie. It is called "Lattice and Cable" I think, and I got it from a Patons booklet about 6 years ago. The yarn is Kroy.

This is the sock that I just cast on a few days ago - and I think it is my new favorite pattern. It is called Jaywalker and I got it from Grumperina's site. The yarn is Opal. I love the colors - just perfect for a very dear friend of mine for Christmas. Gotta get busy on them, though!

This is a fun sock to work, too. It is all entrelac. The only bad part is the heel - I just cannot get the hang of doing these replaceable heels and having them look right. Grrrr. I forget what this yarn is.

This is a fun one, too, and my first attempt at color stranding. I have to pay attention to what I'm doing, so I don't work on these all that often. I usually prefer a "mindless" pattern.

This is a GREAT use for leftover sock yarn. I first read about it at www.socknitters.com, which linked to Shelly Kang's blog Shelly has a great blog, and a very informative tutorial on how to get started on one of these mitred square blankets.

And last but not least, this arrived today - yarn for a baby sweater, hat and blanket. This is for a dear, dear friend to give to her daughter who is having a baby. A baby girl, of course.

That's it for now. I'm going to try and convince myself to cast on for a gauge swatch for the baby blanket, but right now the Jaywalker socks are calling to me...