Pirk's Knit and Crochet Attic

CED February 3

2012-02-03T09:57:00.005-05:00

I knitted the socks for my boss. She liked them. I used Patons Grace yarn, and the pattern is "Spindle Socks" by Anna Bell.

This square is for Marsha. She collects squares and assembles them to a nice blanket. Project Heartmade Blessings.

I might even draw something today.

My plans for tonight:

Finish one square that I started this morning

Work on Crovontuli Shawl, at least a few rows

Watch telly

dump more yarn on the living room floor

sort some of the yarn that is on that floor.

Enough for one night. Tomorrow is another day.

Creative February 1st, 2012

2012-02-01T08:31:00.006-05:00

The theme for February in Creative Every Day Challenge is "Night". Of course it's optional, and

I have already opted mine to "morning" haha. I finished a 12" crocheted square this morning,

and sorted some yarns to take with me when we go out and he is driving. The white one was finished last night, and it goes to January challenge. All these are for HeartMade Blessings Charity.

Creative Every Day

2012-01-31T12:27:00.004-05:00

Once again I joined the challenge Creative Every Day.

After reading that it didn't have to be ART, I decided that I am creative every day already.

Well, if I am lazy and watch telly all day, then my creativity might become questionable.

I have already done something today: crocheted a few rows on a charity square.

I just received my book from Amazon, and I hope it will inspire me as I expect.

Last Day of January

2012-01-31T11:05:00.003-05:00

Here I am waiting for my book that I ordered from Amazon.

It's called "One Drawing A Day". I was amazed that it was shipped the same day

as I had ordered it.

I hope I could start drawing again. My attempts have been ridiculous and resulted next

to nothing. I don't think you could call it drawing when you take a pen, your sketchbook and

stare at the blank page, as if it was your enemy, close the book, sigh, "tomorrow" I will do something.

Later I take a crochet hook, yarn and start making squares for Heartmade Blessings project.

Mind you, I would consider that for some sort of drawing, too. Well, you create forms and

also texture. However, I do miss my pens touching the paper, other than what I do at work.

I "bought" another free book for my Kindle. It's about understanding people. For a few moments I hesitated if I should get the book: will I read it? Am I too old to learn the complexity of a human mind? Well, not really, I would be reading these books when I retire, and then try not to become a miserable, complaining, rude and negative retiree. That is, I need to change my attitude before I retire. Why is it so difficult to give a smile to a person who cuts you off at a grocery line-up? Something to do with personal space? something to do with "I was here first"?

Sometimes there is a reason for everything, but I am not sure if I want to know what those reasons are. I keep crocheting and knitting, and perhaps one day my pens will please me enough to glide on the paper and I will be happy forever.

HeartMade Blessings

2012-01-28T10:42:00.006-05:00

For many times in the past years I have made crocheted squares for HeartMade Blessings organization, and finally joined the Yahoo group. I have not taken pictures of my prior squares, but will start now.

The picture here does not show exact colors, but if you imagine white as white, purple as amethyst, and red as cherry, you got it.

The required yarns for these squares shown here are Red Heart Amethyst (356), Red Heart Cherry Red (319), and Red Heart White.

I also have two shades of blue, but have not worked with them yet.

Hubby and I made a trip across the border to Amherst, NY, yesterday, just to get yarn for these squares. Amethyst yarn is hard to find in my corners, and we thought it would be a good idea to try the stores in Amherst. I had several options, K Mart: no yarns there at all, Jo-Anne: no amethyst there, but had the blue colors. We stopped at Tim Horton's for a cuppa, and a very nice lady was telling us about the brand new Hobby Lobby and Walmart nearby. I thought, great, two possibilities. Hobby Lobby had the yarn in amethyst, and I was so happy that I forgot

to check what other yarns they have. As you might know, if not, that's OK, I have yarns and yarns and yarns at home, but "not the right colors" . Every time I go to a yarn store, I ALWAYS check the yarns, but not yesterday. I headed straight to the yarn section, caught Red Heart section, and that was all.

On the way home I crocheted with the yarn I had with me for the trip (hubby was driving), and

Canadian Customs officer asked if I was going to make a scarf for him, LOL.

Got thru that part with a smile and good feeling in the heart.

I crocheted all night, really, all night until 3 a.m. I was up that late because I was watching the movie "Shining". I should have not read the book first, because the movie left me cold.

So many good parts were either changed or omitted. That's the way it goes, I suppose.

I would have given 7 out of 10, but I am not a critic and have no statue made for me.

“Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.” Said Jean Sibelius.

I just didn't find the movie scary, and had no nightmares. Enough said.

It's starting to snow with tiny snowflakes, you cannot see the individual ones, just white rain-like stuff running down from the gloomy clouds. I was going to walk to the mall, but I changed my mind, and decided to stay indoors and perhaps crochet some bright green squares.

Monday in January

2012-01-23T09:10:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone,

We have a strange winter here in our area. There was some snow, and then no snow. Today the rain will take away all the snow that is left. At least most of it.

I had made a few Revontuli Shawls (Northern Lights), by knitting. Sherri found a pattern at Ravelry for crocheted one. I jumped, and now am crocheting one. It is called "Crovontuli"

I am using yarns that might go together, and what I have in my stash. However there is only so much of those shades that I already have that I had to go and

buy some more. Mostly using Kroy Sock yarns, and TicoTico yarn, which is now in process.

I started with solid navy Kroy sock yarn, and then a variegated Kroy, then Tico Tico. I have not decided for the next one. I'll see what happens when this TT yarn is finished. I still have a full skein of that one, fortunately.

I have been working also on a Central Park Hoodie for my dear friend Gaby, but she is not going to get it until in May. She lives in a country that has the winter when we have summer.

I'm also working on lace gloves for my DIL, in black Koigu. Pictures will follow for those two when I am finished with them.

You might remember that I have a serious case of startitis syndrome. This means that I like to start new things before I finish a current project. It's sad, really, but can't help it.

In other news, drawing is once again in the back corner of my intentions. Seems to me that every time I want to draw something, a knitting needle pokes at me and gets the yarn all

tangled up in my bags, and I have to clear those, and then knit a few rows, and then some more.

Soon I realize I must go to bed, since the next day is usually a work day.

I finished reading "Shining" by Stephen King. It took me a long time to read. Well, I just found out there are 464 pages of reading. I have the book on my Kindle, and pages only show by percentage of read pages. It kept going and going and finally I started skipping pages. It was just too much of the same horror. No, I am not saying it was a bad thing, it was just getting to me, and I wanted to see how it ends.

Now I can watch the movie, which I got a few weeks ago. I am waiting for a good gloomy night to watch it, haha. It might give me some nightmares.

Moby

2012-01-09T18:14:00.002-05:00

Here is our new pet. It's not easy to take a picture when he's moving around so much.

Betta Fish

2012-01-09T12:35:00.004-05:00

On Saturday I went shopping with my friend Sherri. I had four items on my grocery list.

Needless to say, the store buggy was full of unlisted stuff. That store is dangerous for me, I wanted to buy much more, but the little person on my shoulder started pinching me and I didn't buy everything I wanted (not needed).

After the grocery store, we went for lunch to an El Salvadorian restaurant. I had chicken Quesadilla, recipe here, but not the one in the restaurant:

http://www.juicy-chicken-recipes.com/chicken-quesadilla-recipe.html

Sherri had Chicken Burrito and Pupusa.

To Sherri's surprise, I didn't like Pupusa, but one cannot like everything, I did like the burrito, although it was a bit too

spicy for me, but never mind that, it was good.

From the restaurant we went to get some fish food for Sherri's fish at home. I was going to stay in the car (to read a little bit, I had my Kindle with me), but she told me it's going to take a while, so I went into the store with her.

Mistake.

I used to have several fish tanks and all kinds of fish, including small sharks. I had too many of them, and when we

moved to our apartment the fish and tanks were sold.

I used to have a Betta fish, Sam, he lived about 3 years, and then got old and died. I was looking at those beautiful fishes (?) and all of a sudden decided to get one, and so I did. He's not very colorful, but it was hard to see in the

dark area of the store, where these animals were located. I will take a picture of him tonight. I completely forgot to

do so, even though Sherri had taken a picture of hers.

My hubby named this little creature "Moby" (Actually Moby Dick, but I didn't want the whole name), he does look a little bit like a miniature whale, if you squint your eyes and let your imagination fly.

Hubby and I bought him a new home yesterday, when we went to Dixie Mall. It's a glass bowl, was meant for a candle to put inside a smaller bowl. When I told the girl in the store that it's for my fish, she looked horrified. The bowl has a designer's name on it, big deal, I don't even remember what it is. The most important thing was that it

is clear glass and is big enough for Moby and it was on sale 50% off. There, Designer bowl or not, Moby is happy.

Another Day in 2012

2012-01-04T12:49:00.004-05:00

This is my first doodle this year. It's done on writing paper, thus the faint lines in the background.

I am promising myself to use my pen/s at least once a week, and my crochet hook as well.
I spent most of the day yesterday crocheting a scrumble with yarn that Sherri had spun. She gives me the "leftovers" or her "mistakes". Her yarn, whether it's crp for her, it's a treasure for me.

I have Kindle reader, actually two of them and Kobo reader. I am reading now "Shining" and
am almost half way thru. Can you believe, I never saw the movie, but now I have it on DVD, from amazon. Can't wait to finish the book and then watch the movie. I like it in that order, the same as I did with "The Help". I read the book first. I am glad I did, because the movie left so much out. Of course, that is understandable, otherwise the movie would have been made to a TV Series.

On the knitting site I have a few projects going on, all for gifts, but I'll talk about those later.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-02T11:50:00.006-05:00

How am I going to start again? It's been too long, almost a year since my last post.

Year 2011 went with lots of knitting, some crocheting and hardly any drawing.

There were no trips to other countries, no significant vacations. All in all nothing

truly interesting happened.

I hope this new year

have been mostly following other people's designs, which is good in a way. I needed somewill re-kindle my interest in drawing and scrumbling. My projects

time off from my imaginational designs. That way I am able to start fresh this year.

Mind you, I made some freeform creations for FreeForm International annual chal

lenge, and some scrumbling in the summertime, when I was dog sitting Jasper, my son's dog. I stayed in their home two weeks. That green scrumble was my achievement in freeform projects while staying at my son's home.

I am hoping to begin this new year with more of my own ideas and creations, however, if there

should be any gift projects, those usually are done from patterns that other people had designed.

If you are interested, here are some of my freeform scrumbles and projects

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9793630@N03/sets/72157601039327688/

Title is a five-letter word.

2011-04-14T15:36:00.006-04:00

Why is it so hard to invent a title for a blog story?

Title has several meanings, it tells what the story is going to be,
or at least supposed to be. It can also tell if the person is married,
single, or if we go to professional titles, then that will be another meaning.

Some people have two letter words as a title, but trillions of letters
after the name. Depending on the title, a business card might be filled
with extra letters.

Now, the title for today's news is nothing much,
I will think about it later, or not.

I have been very lazy in writing anything and for anyone.
Sometimes a person needs to be lazy, it is like re-charging your brain power.
I don't really have that much of that power, but I still like to think
that being lazy will bring some extra oxygen molecules to my poor brain cells.

I bought a Kobo e-reader some time ago, and was quite excited when
I was able to put my PDF files in it, and carry all my important documents
(=patterns) with me, just in case I decided to knit or crochet some.
I also have some free books and at least three bought books, the "Girl"books.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", The Girl Who Played with Fire"
and the last one, the name has escaped my re-charged memory filing folder.
I have seen the movie Dragon Tattoo twice, and red the book once.
I am in the middle of the second book, and for some insane reason
I am not too interested in it. There is too much about the magazine,
which I skipped, most of it, I want to know about Salander, and never
mind the magazine. Oh, well.

Then I decided that updating library on Kobo was way too complicated
and decided to buy Kindle reader from Amazon. I have been very happy,
and it's much easier to load books in it. I have the wireless whispering
delivery, love the swoosh, it's like a ghost floating by.
I have tons of free books, and some bought ones also. One of the free books is
"The Abandoned", by Amanda Stevens, and the story was to be some kind
of psychological thriller with some paranormal stuff. Of course I nabbed it,
since that sort of thing fascinates me.

Ghost Hunters is ... em...was one of my favorite programs, but it's getting
boring, those guys talk too much. Oh, and we get re-runs, the new ones
might appear in a year or two. I don't have satellite TV, so I have to rely
on our wonderful Rogers system. (Did I say "Wonderful"? I meant something
else, but I am a polite person and don't say bad words) (sometimes I try to
manipulate the truth a little bit, forgive me)

Yes, the book Abandoned.
Well, yes, it had some ghosts and spirits, and shivers, but I was not too
impressed because the whole time I knew what was going to happen,
and sure enough, I just knew it. At the end, checking the next book in
this series I found out it was a Harlequin Romance series. Not too fond
of those books. Not that I am saying they are bad, at least very bad, but
not for me, thank you very much. It was a good thing that the book was
easy reading, and not too many pages.

Some of my lazy time has been
with my Kindle, she's a kind friend. Always available to help me in my
moment of "I don't feel like doing anything". Do you ever have those moments?
Well, I do.

Of course I have done other things too, since the last post...ick, it was in
January. A few hoodies for the grand kids, some socks, and several
attempts in other type of projects. I have been working some on my freeform
challenge piece which is due May 1st. I might be able to swing it, if I stop
this laziness cycle. My pride project was a pair of socks, design by Lucy
Neatby, and here they are:

New Year, it's now 2011

2011-01-03T09:54:00.019-05:00

I would like to wish each and every person in the world a very Happy New Year.

and I will, so have a Happy New Year!

It's been a strange past few weeks, realistically, months. I've done so many knitting and crocheting projects and posted nothing about them. Most of them were for charity and for Christmas gifts.

I made mittens, hats, some tiny blankets.

Also made scarves, a hoodie, and a blanket with car appliques for grandson. The scarves were for granddaughter.

The hat here is too big for

us, therefore

it will end up for charity.

Here is a

picture of Portland

Tweed Jacket start

Hat for granddaughter, and she loved it. Fingerless mitts for me, pure cashmere yarn. Nice and warm, but my fingers are freezing. Hmph.

Some hats and a moebius shawl with Christmas colors. I made it too small, so it ended up being a cowl.

It is a nice, sunny January day. I am here with Buckley's wonderful syrup, and hubby went to the store to get some more miracle medicines. (I asked for candies). The plan for the rest of the day is to finish the back part for the jacket, get dressed (might make me feel a bit better), since

I have been in my PJs for all morning.

I downloaded (uploaded? - never know which one) some free Kindle books for my Kindle for PC,

and have been reading "Queen's Dollmaker" book. It's a story of a woman who makes fashion dolls in England. She is from France originally. The time is before and during French Revolution. I love historical books. This book is more a novel, but the real events are within,

and it's an easy read. I got into it so much that I had to Google the history for that time.

If anyone is too picky about correctness about history events, don't bother, there apparently are many mistakes, but I don't care, it's nice reading and takes you to imagine the times then.

My Kobo reader also found some free books, but I can only read one book at a time. It's a different story with knitting and crocheting. I always have more than one going on, but let's not go there. I must finish the jacket, that is my New Years resolution.

I also sent the bears to Finland, only to get really nervous about their arrival in time for Christmas. You see, there was a two week postal strike and to make things worse, also Finnair strike. My parcel should have arrived to its destination in 5-6 days, instead it took 3 and some weeks, but the bears arrived on Christmas Eve. The rest came after Christmas (had sent two parcels). Here is a picture of Hugo and his new friend, who came from Finland in time for New Year.

Things have not gone too nicely. Just about a week before Christmas, the slight pain and numbness in my leg became so painful that I gave in and went to see an Osteopathic doctor,

who treated me with those nasty needles. Three visits later, I still had pain, and had no interest in doing any Christmas preparations, as in cleaning, or clearing the living space. Nothing got done other than food for Christmas Eve. I have taken everything easily, not doing too much

moving around, and slowly my back is getting better. It's not back to normal by any means,

but is more bearable than two weeks ago. All I would need is another week for doing nothing,

and I bet I would be OK.

Hubby has a bad cold that has been dwelling in his being for a few months. He did call the doctor, and they promised to call back. Well, apparently the person who took the message screwed it up totally. The doctor got a message that my hubby is going to go and see him that day, and that he needed meds for four months. WHAT? who is this

message writer. So, hubby waited and waited, and got angry and was ready to go to a walk-in clinic or emergency. That was the plan for today, but the dear doctor called last night, and asked why hubby didn't go. DUH.

And, on top of all the sickness, I got my share of the cold. For four days now, and getting worse.

What the hell is going on in this part of the world. My friend and her hubby, another friend's kids, and according to the doctor, MANY more. Oh, and a co-worker, sick for weeks, and still coming to work, thanks a lot.

I have been knitting feverishly since last week. The project is "Portland Tweed Jacket" and I have almost finished the back piece. I don't have a picture of what I have done by now, but here is a picture of the start. The pattern was in Knit 'n Style August 2010 magazine, and my yarn is

Cabin Fever Cotton Tweed. I love this project and can't wait until it's finished. There are lots of

cables, so it's not a quick project.

On a very positive note, hubby just informed me that if I sort the laundry, he will go and do it tonight. Thank you so much. Oh, I love it. That way I don't have to bend down, and my poor back will not suffer. He is such a gem, that hubby of mine.

Bears

2010-12-16T08:35:00.010-05:00

Here are some pictures of Otto and Lotta, who are trying to get home for Christmas, but some postal strikes and airline strikes are messing up the smooth trip. I just hope they will get home

in time.

They have been traveling a little bit here, and they loved everything.

Knitted Leg Warmers for girls

2010-11-01T17:21:00.010-04:00

These leg-warmers are for our granddaughter, for Christmas.

I just could not find a pattern that I wanted to make

I decided to use seed stitch for the leg part and here is what I did:

Yarn: Bernat Mosaic / Acrylic 44130 (Mosaic)

I skein is plenty, since there is a lot of yardage (209)

Needles: 5 - 4 mm double pointed

and 5 - 5 mm double pointed

Tapestry needle

Scissors

Gauge: 8 stitches seed stitch with 5 mm needles = 2" (5 cm)

Size: 8" (20 cm) leg circ. Bottom ribbing 1", Leg 9", top ribbing 4"

Stitches used: knit, purl and seed stitch

Seed Stitch:

row 1:*K1,p1 repeat from * to end

row 2: *p1, K1, repeat from *to end

Repeat these two rows.

Cast on 32 stitches. Divide evenly on four needles (8 stitches each needle), and join,

but do not twist, keep a straight face.

Knit 5 rows of k1,p1 ribbing with 4 mm needles

Change to 5 mm needles and then

purl on knit stitch, knit on purl stitch throughout all the stitches.

This is called seed stitch.

Do this until the leg part

measures 9" (23 cm)

change to 4 mm needles

k1, kfpb, *k2,p1, k2,p1, repeat this rib pattern from * until you have 4" (10 cm) done (24 rows).

For the top ribbing you will have 33 stitches, since you added one (kfpb = knit on the front loop of the stitch and purl on the back loop of the same stitch.

Cast off loosely, and hide the yarn ends with a tapestry needle that you have handy.

Afternoon in the park

2010-09-25T15:01:00.010-04:00

After grocery shopping Otto and Lotta came with me to enjoy some coffee and donut holes in the park. It was a beautiful noon time. Our stay wasn't too long, because it started raining. At least we had time to do some knitting and reading.

Some colors in the park.

Otto and Lotta were excited, they were about to have coffee and donuts

Here is the young couple, having a gentle moment.

Weekend yapping

2010-09-25T07:43:00.003-04:00

Nothing special happened between now and yesterday's post.

Other than I didn't knit one stitch, lying, one row of 69 stitches and a few on the next row.

Well, that should count to almost nothing done.

Trying to get Adobe Digital Edition to open its arms and let my library book into my Kobo. My

"Knit One - Kill Two" book is behind locked doors. I have it on the Edition but I want to read it in my handy e-reader.

During my lunch hour at work, on Friday, I was happily crocheting a nice scrumble, which probably will be forgotten somewhere, since for a scrumble, I don't like what I did. The good thing is, that it

doesn't matter, it's not from a pattern, it was done during a card game with co-workers and the boss. Now I understand why this scrumble looks so miserable. haha.

Plans for today:

1. Laundry (and related chores within)

2. Dishes from last night (too busy doing nothing)

3. Vacuuming (why doesn't the machine follow me easily?)

4. clearing my clutter from this dining table (this one has been on my list for months)

5. Cleaning (like dusting, right!, wash the floors, clear some .... oh, now I am getting a headache)

6. Grocery shopping (milk, coffee, bread - should not amount to 99 dollars? but it will)

7. knitting (three choices right now, maybe more)

8. searching for something in my stash room (I will do this, even I have no plans yet)

9. Bedroom stuff, sheets and things, plus fluff the pillows. (This is fun)

And the above isn't necessarily in the order that anything gets done. I am curious, no, I know,

which one is the first. Just by knowing it, or thinking of knowing, I will do something else.

I left bathroom out on purpose, because that would have been number 10, and that would cause

my listing to go off the nicely organized fashion. Besides, the bathroom is my hubby's job.

Plans for Tomorrow:

1. Wake up when ever

2. Get ready to go out

3. Knit a little bit

4. Read a little bit, perhaps The Ghost Pirates, or e-mail

5. Go to Purple Purl

6. Have fun with friends

7. Come home

8. Make Dinner

9. Eat

10. Knit (I am sure of this one)

11. watch telly and go to sleep. (what's on TV?)

I hope my list comes out in orderly fashion, since I have two digit numbers there.

Again, some items are not in order, or are missing, but I really don't care.

What a nice day.

I have to get started, or else. Is there a way to eliminate most of those Saturday Chores, and leave more lazy time for that day? I could grocery shop on Friday after work, but that one doesn't always feel desirable. I just want to come home and relax, it's been a long week anyway.

Reading stuff

2010-09-24T09:18:00.019-04:00

The brown shawl pattern is from a British magazine, August 2010 issue of Yarn Forward, and the name of the shawl is Willow. I am using yarn that was given to me by a nice lady, who had spun it herself.

The lonely sock pattern is a combination of patterns, from basic sock to ribbed sock, using 64 stitches and 2.5 mm needles. The other pair is at the same point, but not with me when I took the picture. The yarn is Kroy Sock FX yarn, which I like very much for warm socks.

The Cable socks I started in Finland with Novita Wool yarn (discontinued - can't understand why, it's a nice yarn). I finished them a few weeks ago. The pattern was in one of Novita's booklets (from a few years ago).

Lastly in the knitting section:
I finished hubby's cardigan, one day before his birthday. The zipper is not on in this picture. I need to take another with the zipper on.

Now I will get to my present reality check.

I must admit, I might have flipped completely.
My impulse motor is very strong, and will not stop when started until at least one
of the plugs is out.

Short story long: I was summoned to sit in a jury pool for five days. There was a lady who had
a small device on her hand and she was staring at it immensely. I was getting curious, and asked her what the heck was that. She smiled and told me it's an e-reader. What is that I asked, and she explained that she has books in it, instead of the paper books. Then she went on and told
how it really worked. I was very interested and was staring at my blackberry and wondered if
I could use that for reading books. The screen is not larger than 2" x 2", that does not give too much reading area, IMHO.

Every time I saw this lady using her e-reader, I swore that I will not get one, since I don't read
that many books anyway. Mind you, I had two paper books with me at the court house.

First two days I spent knitting, but on the third day one of the clerks, sitting behind the desk, doing nothing, came to our little corner (three of us knitting) and told us that we have to be careful, because we are not supposed to bring any sharp objects with us. (I am thinking of the thin, size 1.75 mm needles and 1.75 steel crochet hooks and scissors in my bag, bag that was scanned by security, same kind of machine that they have at the airports, and nobody said anything).
The nice and very understanding clerk advised us that don't bring knitting tomorrow. OK, we continued knitting and about half an hour later another clerk came and told us sternly that we can't knit. Put them away. We tried to explain that we were told to be careful. She insisted that we put everything away. Well, after some exchange of useless arguments, in a polite manner from the three of us, the clerk just shrugged (many times) and could not explain to us why all of a sudden this was prohibited, when one of the security guards had seen one set of long knitting needles with one of the ladies and
told her to have a nice day. Nothing said about not bring them in.

I started crocheting and a little redhead clerk stared at me and then came to tell me to put it away. I said this is crocheting not knitting and showed her my size 5mm bamboo hook. Pencils are sharper than that. She insisted that I can't do that. I obeyed and felt sorry for her. She must be a sad woman. I did finish a pair of colorful socks for someone in my family. Who is the lucky girl, I don't know yet.

Oh, back to my reader thoughts. I was playing with my BB for the rest of the day, and the next day, too. Getting very itchy for this miraculous e-reader. I even checked the web sites. I was surprised on the low price, and that gave me more interest on the device.

A lady, in one of the yahoo groups I am in, was telling about Kindle e-reader, and that there is a free Kindle for PC. Guess what, when I got home that day and downloaded the free one in my PC. I even got my first free book "The Ghost Pirates" wow, I never thought that I would be interested in a book that was written eons ago, with strange "accent". However, I am reading a little bit every day, and have already done 60% of the book. That book is free in the web, even if you don't have any type of a reader, other than your eyes.

On my visit to Purple Purl on Sunday, I noticed a lady using yet another reader. This time it was not a text that she was following, it was a chart for a knitting pattern. I want one of those, I said, and I said it aloud too. One other lady started telling me about this one, and one that she had, Sony reader. But I was more interested in this jazzy little whitish device with a nice little blue blob in the corner.

Went home, checked Chapters Indigo on-line store and sure enough there was Kobo, and it was on sale. I clicked on the buy key and there, the impulse motor kept running and didn't stop until I finished the order. What have I done?

I started waiting and when my Kobo came, I was surprisingly less happy than I was when waiting for it. I knew that I made a mistake, at least a small mistake. Now I must start reading again. Just like I did when I was much younger.

The sad part now, is that i want Kindle reader. I was counting my money in my mind, when I was coming to work this morning. I could use this credit card or that one, or maybe I just see how this Kobo works. That would be the smart thing to do, and logical. But, you see, I lack talent in the logic department. It would be logical, in my humble opinion, to get Kindle now, but since I am smarted that logical, I will not get it, until I have become totally dissatisfied with Kobo.

While I wait for my impulse department to settle down, I will crochet a little pouch for my new friend Kobolita. (I hope that is not a real word somewhere and means something nasty). I had some nice leather pouches from Argentina, but both of them need a lining, since the leather inside leaves some little thingies on my toy and I don't want any of them get inside the reader and start messing up my pages.

Drawing? I made a zentangle drawing on the fourth day of my jury pool day. Unfortunately, the sketch book is not with me, so you just have to wait for the picture.

That is my story for today. I will return again one day, when the Saturn is bright.

Startitis, Knitting, Time Management

2010-09-04T21:37:00.008-04:00

It's unbelievable how difficult it is for me to work on one project for a full day. Well, not the full day as in 24 hours, but a full day as in 3-5 hours per night, not including an occasional hour in the morning before getting ready for work.

I have a project, a big one, it's a cardigan (picture shows how it is supposed to look) that should be finished by Friday. I started on August 31st, thinking I had lots of time. Well, I happily started knitting the back first. Oh, before I did

that, I measured and measured what size I should make. I decided on the third size on the pattern, which doesn't tell me if it's small, medium, large, x-large, xx-large or what ever. I don't know the sizes in cm without spending oodles of minutes trying to find something suitable to measure. Then they have two measures, the actual size of the person, and the finished size of the garment. Well, this would have been easy to do, the measuring part, if the person knew that I was making the dang cardigan, but it's a surprise, so no measuring while the person is around.

My decision on the third size was not even close to the size I needed. I had about 15 cm excess in width. Arrrrgghhh. I measured the gauge, or tension, as the pattern calls it. The tension was the same, even though my needle size was smaller and the yarn was thinner. Go figure. I decided to

step down on the needle size as well as the pattern size. Smallest size it is. And the measures for the front pieces seem to work just fine. I am so baffled with this, since the person who is supposed to get this cardigan is usually size L or X-L. Maybe people in other parts of the

world measure differently.

Today was the day when I had promised myself to completely finish the front pieces, with my

pattern changes (very normal for me to change something). I also planned to get the back piece up to the armpit decreases. Well, at the moment I still need some 5 cm for the fronts, and the back is now only 10 cm. Not even close to the arm hole part. It's 10 pm and there is no hope in hell to get 30 some cms done by 12 tonight. That was my plan originally, in the morning, before

I went shopping.

First I stopped at the bank to pay some bills, then off to the grocery store. Sure, the grocery store was somewhere to the left on my route, and I just kept going northbound and ended up

in Michaels (arts and crafts). I decided to go in, instead of turning around and took a basket.

I put my handbag into the basket, thinking that if the dang basket was full, I would not buy too

much stuff.

Somehow I steered my feet towards the yarn section. I started checking the sock yarns. It's

amazing how easy it is to buy sock yarn when you really don't need to do it, since there are

two, at least, big plastic tubs, from WalMart, and other stores, full of sock yarns already. Not to mention all the sock yarn that I bought in Finland in July/August, when I was there for two weeks. That is another story.

This is one of the yarn stores I visited in Finland.

I had bought some Kroy sock yarn the other day, two of each color (three colors), and as I was looking at those yarns, I decided that hubby needs socks for Christmas, and the yarns I had bought earlier wasn't enough for nice long socks. I bought one more of two of the colors that I had only bought two. Then I bought three different color skeins for my hubby's socks. Oh, and

another color for myself (haha, I don't even like to wear socks too much, they make my feet warm)

Oh, and Chapters was on the other side of the parking area and I had to go and check the magazines. I think I bought two, have only glanced thru, and then set aside for later reading. I do buy these magazines for the articles, not the patterns. I know I will never make everything anyway, but I love looking at the pictures and reading about new "tools" and other new ideas.

How hard is it to go to a grocery store and buy bread, coffee and eggs? I chose to go to another

grocery store than the one I normally use. What, they had beautiful strawberries, blueberries and gorgeous nectarines. A kind man gave me to taste velvet plum, and that was so delicious that I had to get a few, 6. My total bill, for these few items was way over 100 bucks, I am not going to tell how much, but those were expensive fruits and breads etc. (I think I had other items there, too, but they were not on my list).

At home, it was time to do laundry and clean some floors and do the dishes. Finally I was able to sit down and start on my plan to get the cardigan going. Hah, dream on. I had to see how the new yarn would look on the needles. But hey, first to find a pattern. Not to mention that I have about four sock pattern books. It was much easier to open Ravelry site and start surfing socks made with Kroy yarn. This took several minutes (about 63), and the evil cardigan was staring at me with a shameless smirk. I decided on a basic pattern that I could knit without so much as trying to think what's in line on the next row. Let the yarn do the talking.

Fortunately then my brain started screaming at me and like a good girl I took the cardigan project and started working on that. It's going to be a hard and painful project to finish, because there are so many other projects that I would love to do right now.

Life is hard enough without knitting project dilemmas.

Back to my cardigan project now.

I must be off the wall, seriously

2010-08-25T11:06:00.010-04:00

There are three items in my bag, to do today at lunch.
I have a pair of socks, working on the gussett decreases,
a start of a vest, pattern from Knit 'n Style, October magazine,
and an unstarted yarn skein, that is going to be socks from a
British magazine "The Knitter", issue 21.

Do you think I could do all that, while I eat my lunch, chat
with co-workers, and play cards? Not likely. Why do I do this?
I knew that I could not work on everything at the same time, but
yet I took all this, and almost the Ishbel shawl also.
A friend of mine had bought the pattern for me, for my birthday.

I must admit that I feel lost and missing something (other than brains) if I don't
have many projects with me.

Yesterday I went to a nearby yarn store to buy one circular needle,
size 4 mm. I have lots of them, but all are somewhere else, or I don't
like how the cable coils and doesn't stay put as in my older circular
needles. Well, I did not have any projects with me when I went to
that store, and I felt a big anxious. I might have a slight problem
with this "knitting/crocheting carrying with me" business.

I am also waiting for a sock kit to arrive from the States. It's a kit
to make socks and the money, most of it, or some of it, goes for
charity. Ovarian cancer society. The sock yarn color is teal, which is
supposed to be the color for this charity.

I am also waiting for my copy of Knit 'n Style, August magazine,
which I have ordered about two weeks ago, maybe less, but it feels
like hundred years ago. There is a pattern for a cardigan that I want
to make with my Novita Alpaca yarn that my SIL bought for me in Finland.

Oh, yeah, I went to Finland in July and came back in August. That was just about two weeks in there. My trip was a total success. It was relaxing and laid back
trip. I didn't have to go anywhere special, like tourist attractions. I visited the family and that was the main reason for my quick visit.

Continued later:

Would you believe this: The Knit 'n Style magazine arrived today, soon after I posted about it.
Here is the jacket I want to make:

Walk to the mall

2010-07-02T15:30:00.009-04:00

On a beautiful Friday noon, I decided to walk to the mall, instead of driving. It's amazing what you can see on your walks, no traffic, no road rage, no honking horns, just sunshine and warm breeze caressing your being.

Look around you, and see what really is there. Flowers, fences, blue sky, trees and playgrounds.

This little lonely flower is light blue or light lavender, but it was so sunny that my poor camera got confused and made it white. Just as the yellow flowers, they are much more yellow than the picture shows.

These white pompoms are by my home building. Don't ask me to name them, because I am not very good with plant names.

These plants are in the playground park. I suspect they have not been there very long, since there is construction going on in this area. At least some planting has been done already, which is nice.

The park has a playground area for the kids and why not for the adults, too. At least we have fun watching the kids, and help them to swing, or just sit on a bench and enjoy a nice summer day.

I could never stop and look at small wonders if I was driving and watching the road and other vehicles and whatnots that are on the road. Of course, there would be many wondrous things, like traffic lights, cross walk signs, and bus stops with leaning shelters. Those you could easily see from the car while driving. However, the small, lonely flowers, the amazing weeds, that look like garden beauties, are there hidden from the view in the heavy traffic areas. They are there, trust me. We just have to see things from a different view, admire nature, and appreciate the green that appears in the summer time.

Wow, Look at this beautiful litter box, have you seen those before?

And finally, my shopping trip is done, and I am going home.

Shawls shawls and more shawls

2010-06-21T18:39:00.007-04:00

I don't think I have anything else in mind right now. This is obsessive startitis phenomenon is
taking up all my energy these days. It's one start today, another tomorrow, or better yet, two or three on one day.

While looking for something in my stash room (yes, I have a room for my hoarded yarns and other important items) I find interesting yarn and then I must try it. Sometimes I like the pattern and sometimes not, but if I like the pattern, I go and find some other yarn that might look even better on that project.

Tell me if I am weird, I have four shawl starts on the table and one in my bag, which is almost finished. Oops, no, I still have to knit about four rows with 336 stitches, then double the stitches and then knit about 20 something rows. I forgot how many. The shawl is designed by Myra Wood and is called Damselfly Shawl.

I have great knitting time when watching the World Cup games. I have not made too many mistakes, but indeed a few. Frogging has been minimal, because my mistakes have not been design features, but actual missed stitches, which would have spoiled the look even with my Noro yarn. So, what I have done, I added a missing stitch, or knitted two together when I had too many. That has happened with this one.

I am now on the last chart of the pattern and have 672 stitches on this project. In the picture it's hard to see, because my cable/needle is only 100 cm long and the shawl circ is way bigger than that. I can't wait to finish this one and show off.

I also joined a Collage Swap group, and this is my first ever collage. I was supposed to do two of them, but I am not very good at reading rules, so I missed that part. I must work on the second one tonight, so not too much knitting done on the shawl. Yeah, right.

It's raining and the traffic flows with the rain, miserably.

Where is my doll?

2010-06-10T14:17:00.011-04:00

Hugo, the teddy bear was missing almost a year. He was found by his cousin Oscar.

The two of them are playing happily and I am keeping my eyes on them every chance I get.

The World Cup starts tomorrow. I made a doll four years ago to represent Lionel Messi. but he's hiding. I can't believe this. I just saw him the other day, and now can't find him. There is no hope in finding anything that I am looking for, unless I am looking for something else.

Yesterday I went nuts looking for my Messi doll, instead found some neat papers and stickers for collage art, and some not quite finished ATC creations.

I was also looking for yarn to make a gift for my SIL, but did not find the one I was looking for, of course, but I did find some nice "Muse" yarn, that I had won in a raffle at our local knitting group meeting.

I am using a very commen ripple pattern, which suits this yarn very nicely. The scarf is supposed to be light and airy, because it's a summer scarf.

Once I get home tonight, after my granddaughter's dance recital,
I will make another doll. It would be faster and less frustrating than look for a doll that refuses to let his whereabouts known.
Then I will have two of them, because I know, I just know, that once I have made the other doll, the original will show up. It's the way it is.

Another "Here I go again"

2010-06-09T11:38:00.010-04:00

This time it's creating collage picture. Is that the correct definition? I've never done this, on purpose. When I was a teenager, I used to make cards with somewhat similar method, but theywere not called collage, they were called self-made cards.

I don't have a picture to show yet, since I just started. I got the inspiration form Janet's blog.She's an expert on this kind of art, and very good at it too. Just take a look, and WOW.

This new "hobby" is probably going to last only for a few creations, just like when I was makingATCs. I made maybe four or five, bought all kinds of papers, cut paper in the right size, and put everything in an "art" box. They are still there, untouched. BUT I have a need to try different things, and eventually something sticks with me. Just like Zentangle drawing. I think that is one wonderful and relaxing method of guiding a pen on a paper.

Oh, and another thing, too, the watercolors, hmph, had to try that one, too. Fortunately I didn't get to go to any art supply stores to buy something that I already have. Like brushes, I found tons of them, and watercolor buttons, oodles, I also found some acrylic paint tubes, and that tickles my inspiration regarding this collage creation I am going to do when I get home tonight.

Of course I will do some knitting first, since one shawl is almost finished. I am on the cast off row, but there are over 200 stitches, so it's going to take a while. I'll post a picture of that here.

The pattern is Forest Canopy Shawl and yarn is Woolen Rabbit Oasis, which is silk and camel.It's a nice yarn.
Any other projects that are waiting for my attention might get in the way of my new interest. However, I am not always so sure of my actions, and don't like making plans, so I just might do some collage art tonight.

I must mention here that the International Freeform 2010 Challenge book is now available here. The book is amazing. You would be able to see the wonderful art in this book that was created by over 60 members. You will be very pleased to see all the eye-candy in this book.

From one thing to another

2010-06-04T19:41:00.006-04:00

During this week I have crocheted scrumbles, crocheted a few hexagon motifs, knitted mitered squares to make a bag. I also doodled and tested watercolors on my doodles. What a fun experience.

There is way too many things right now that I want to do. Weaving is one of those things that I have not done for a long time. After seeing Zann Carter's work, I wanted to take my weaving loom out and do something. Sure, I did and headed towards my stash room to get the loom. I got sidetracked, saw some painting material, and picked up a watercolor pad and started playing. Needless to say, the weaving loom is still in the stash room.

These two drawings are my watercolor practice projects. They are both unfinished, at least the one with small circles. Not so sure about the other one. I might just leave it as is.

Hugo the teddy bear

2010-05-24T09:26:00.005-04:00

This little teddy bear, named Hugo, was missing since he came
back from Argentina, last June (2009). Somehow he ended up
in a bag that had some birthday gifts, that I had bought for my sister to mail later.
Needless to say, I forgot about the bag, and never even paid attention to it. I searched everywhere else.

We had some major cleaning done in our home, clearing stuff away
from the rads, creating a major mess in one bedroom, that now has
become a mess room. Hmph.

We also had a visitor from out of country, and once again, re-arranging everything, and moving things around. No wonder everything was out of place, and so was the bag where Hugo was sleeping. I want to say that he was hibernating, so I won't feel too guilty for not finding him. He needed the sleep.

On Saturday I decided to re-create this teddy bear, once again, my third try. I found yarn that
seemed to be quite similar to what Hugo's color was. I spent almost all day trying to get the new
bear done. I did the head twice, and just in frustration cut it off, and tried again, and finally gave up and decided that this little bear has to do. I named him Oscar. There was no way I was going
to replace Hugo. Funny thing, Hugo has done a lot: He came with me to work, to the stores, he played in the snow, he went to Finland, he came with us to Argentina, and then disappeared.

Oscar and I decided to make one more search on Sunday morning. We both decided that if we
cannot find him now, then he must have gone to bear heaven. We looked and looked, and then Oscar yelled: what's in that purple bag? There was Hugo, and we all danced and sang happy songs.

Here, Hugo and Oscar happily posing, first after the successful search and then tucked in the car under the seat belt. I took them both with me when I went out to the market.

When I came home, later in the afternoon, I remembered that Hugo's
friend Otto, from Finland, had sent him
a Christmas gift (2009). It was still waiting for him, unopened. Hugo was
totally happy to see that he had a surprise gift.

He had received Lapland boots, and he will wear them when the winter comes.

The boots are beautiful and Hugo sends his warm thanks to Otto for the nice gift.

International Freeform Guild Show 2010

2010-05-24T09:15:00.006-04:00

The 2010 International Freeform Fiberarts Guild Show
Somewhere in My World, has opened, and you can see all the entries here:
http://www.freeformcrochet.com/

My world is in a round shape, thus showing more than one picture. I wanted to
show the world that is around me.

The show is absolutely amazing, and there are artists that have pieces that make me
just look in awe. Anyone who is interested in freeform crochet or knitting, or any other
type of freeform creation, would, in my opinion, be inspired and ready try their hands on
this type of project.

Of course, you do not have to be freeform-type crocheter or knitter,
you still will enjoy the show, I promise. It is a show "somewhere in my world".

Enjoy.

Food is not good

2010-05-21T09:47:00.002-04:00

This morning, 1% milk, don't ask how much, "this much" see my fingers, some chopped strawberries and out of this world icky store brand fiber (10%) cereal. Eating with a teaspoon.

I figured, if you eat foods that require a spoon, use a smaller one, it will take longer to eat, and
you will be full sooner. do you like my reasoning? I didn't have a big spoon handy, and lazy as I am, didn't feel like going to the drawer and getting a nice dinner size spoon.

No, I am not on a weight diet. I have sufficient amount of weight already, and since it wants to
stay with me, I don't want to fight. I am on a carb-kind of diet, because my blood sugar (as in
BS) keeps me on my toes, literally. I keep hitting my toes on things and that hurts.

Lunch is going to be a soup that was made of left-over veggies that I found in the fridge. Chicken
broth, with minimal carbs, is added to those veggies and the soup is delicious, with some other
spices, like oregano, and garlic.

I am having more fun preparing my daily meals to take to work than I enjoy getting ready in the
morning to go to work. The thing is, usually I want to wear something that is too wrinkled, so can't wear that, or have to iron. By this time, however, it's getting a bit late for leaving. Then
I must find something else, and at the same time decide that I will get my clothes ready in the
evening and iron all the clothes on the weekend. I like promising myself these things. I can do it
every morning and every weekend. Promises keep me on my toes. And the iron is still cold.

Lunch, veggie soup, boiled egg and leftover chicken breast. Lot's of protein.
Afternoon snack, Kiwi fruit.

Outside the kitchen stuff, I have crocheted some freeform scrumbles with thread, still knitting
February Lady Sweater for a friend, whose birthday is coming up. The sweater is not going to be done by then, because I have re-arranged my priorities, the sweater is for a cool weather, not for a hot and humid summer weather. I have been also drawing zentangles and gotten some new pens. I get excited with simple things, and am happier when I don't have to
think about buying designer clothes or purses or other more expensive items that I really don't need. I let someone else enjoy those.

I was so happy when I saw a purse at Winners the other day, it was mustard yellow, had little
side pockets and some zippers, and it just screamed my name, and I had to buy it. I have another purse in my desk drawer that has not been used yet. I might give that to my sister, who also likes purses. My yellow purse has a name, Bueno, but it does not ring a bell for me.
It was very inexpensive and ... well, I love it.

Another impulsive thought

2010-05-05T17:54:00.009-04:00

These are my current projects that are being worked on every day. I will get the red shawl finished tonight, if I stop blogging.
The shawl is called Otono. I have modified the pattern, because I made two others already, but I like the edging very much.
The yarn is Alpaca Paint.

The orange project start is going to be another February Lady Sweater. This one is for a friend of mine. She has a birthday in June, so this will be finished soon, too. The yarn is Tanis FiberArts
Merino wool.

The green project is for me, it's supposed to be a summer tee. The yarn is somewhat heavy cotton, Butterfly, thus creating slightly heavier top than I could wear in our humid summer days. Perhaps it would be better in the autumn. Hopefully I will finish it before the summer is over. I do have some free form crochet projects also in my tote bag, but
the two items are now first on my list.

I went to Winners today. It's a store, if you don't know what kind of a Winner I went to see.
They have designer clothes at discounted prices, and some other stuff. I was looking for a pair of pants, and perhaps some nice summer shoes.
I came out of the store with a cook book, small box that fits either some of my needles, little things needed in crocheting and knitting, or pens and then there will be three or four smaller slots for something else.
Well, that was not so bad, since I wanted (want ≠ need) those. My impulse purchase was an oil painting kit.
Included: booklet, two canvases, several oil paint tubes, some brushes, palette, and knife.

Now, do I need this now? No, but I wanted it anyway. I want to try my patience with oil paints.
(the paint dries so slowly). We'll see, in the future.

First I must clear my mess around the dining table. Think about my weaving looms, and all the
other interests that I have lined up for me.

On Saturday I will go to DKC Knitters' Frolic. I will NOT buy any yarn, but will look for nice needles. The tools are very important. I love tools. Whether they are for knitting, crocheting or for art. Other supplies will then follow, but tools are important. I am trying to convince myself that I do need nice needles.

Once again I fell into Amazon trap. The other day, could have been yesterday, I ordered two
Alice Starmore's books, one in Fair Isle Knitting and the other Celtic knitting. I am sure someone should take me to see a professional for my insanity. Oh, and then, to get free shipping, I ordered two more books. One for socks, and the other a non-fiction book Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

What's in your purse?

2010-05-04T08:57:00.005-04:00

If you are carrying only one small purse, the following might scare you.

I often wonder why my purse(s) are so heavy. Most of the time I blame loose change, since

I have a very nasty habit just to toss the change into my purse. Never mind opening the

small change pouch that I had bought in Argentina. It's a perfect little coin purse, leather and with a zipper. Sometimes I organize (oh oh, what a dangerous word) my purse and am surprised

how many coins I have. It's usually a nice surprise. I collect somewhere 2 to 3 dollars in nickles, dimes and quarters.

So, why is my purse heavy?

Let's see, what's in my TOTE bag, never mind the purse.

1. Knitting bag

-Otono shawl start

-February Lady Sweater start

-Summer tee with Butterfly yarn start

2. Ball of copper color crochet thread with a steel hook (1.50 mm) attached

3. Ball of var. reds Tencel thread with a scrumble still worked on

4. 4 Sets of knitting dpn needles, various sizes

5. Crochet hooks One Tulip 5 mm, one Novita 5 mm

one size 5 steel hook

6. 2 cable needles

7. Tapestry and darning needles in a red plastic candy tube (no candies)

8. Key-ring measuring tape

9. Two small note pads

10. Pen

11. Scissors

12. Nail clippers

13. Six Ink Drawing Pens

14. Eraser

15. Pencil

16. Three different size Sketch books

17. Small "album" for drawings

18. Book of Japanese Irish Crochet Lace

19. Two Green Tea Bags

20. Hand Cream

21. Curling Iron (butane)

Are we there yet? Bored?

22. Pattern Printouts

- February Lady Sweater

- Victorian Thread Holder

23. Other Printouts

- Carb chart for fruits

- Carb counter, Low Carb Counter, Fiber Counter

- Diabetes Daily "A 7 Day Meal Plan" missing one day

24. Blood Sugar measuring thingy

25. Zentangle drawing from 1985

26. Journal

27. Thread Scrumble

28. Leather pouch for a small sketch book

29. Folder with paid and unpaid bills

30. Lightweight nylon shopping bag.

And I do not understand why I have pain in my back. And furthermore, I have not even

mentioned my handbag. The one in orange color.

Perhaps later, when I have sorted all out, and emptied the unnecessary stuff. That way I

might have a more reasonable content of my purse.

May 1st 2009

2010-05-01T13:57:00.008-04:00

Another anniversary today, 5 years no smoking. I might have smoked in my dreams, once, if I remember correctly, but it does not count.

Today is also a May Day in Europe, which is similar to our Labour day, except the celebrations might be different the night before and during. I remember having cow bells with us and we went from house to house to wake people up. That was fun, when we were kids. A few people got really angry and threw water on us, but most of the folks new that kids do this at night before May Day.
This is a long time ago, so I cannot say that this is the case now.

I spent some of the morning and noon time at Riverdale Farm in Toronto. I was supposed to meet Sherri and her friends, but it didn't happen.

I have a slight allergy towards barn areas, and the animals that live in there. I can look at them outside, but when I go inside, my breathing has some issues, and my brain tells me to get out.

I walked around the farm area, it's beautiful. Found a place where spinners and weavers were showing their talents. The room was very hot, so my stay in there lasted a few minutes only.
Long enough, though, to say hello to a friend Sheryl, and take a picture of an interesting woven
project, still on the loom.

Walked out, sat down for a bit, and then continued towards a bench by the tulip field. I sat down, crocheted, and enjoyed the silence, the calm weather, and a beautiful view. By the bench
there were some nettles and of course I had to take a picture, because I have not seen those plants in a few years. We used to play around that plant, when we were kids, and see who would
be the bravest and not get stung. I didn't touch the plant to see if it did the stinging, a picture
was sufficient.

As I was walking towards the main areas, I started feeling unpleasantly weird. I found another
bench later and called my friend that I had to leave. So, I missed her, and the other friends.
I also missed the shearing and some other activities, but did watch the sheepdogs taking care of the lambs.

Road Trip: Part 1

2010-04-05T11:46:00.001-04:00

Our trip started early in the morning, way before any stores were open. We took our sweet time (I drove the speed limit) to get to our first destination. Looking for a Bayview Avenue from Davis Street in Newmarket was a back and forth driving. Once we hit
Yonge street, we knew we had to turn around.We decided to go back, and if we hit Leslie, we had gone too far. Bayview street name changes somewhere and we didn't know it. Finally, we turned on another street and I said that it must be somewhere "here". So it was and we found our first destination,
Serenity Knits. The store had not opened yet, but the owner had just arrived and welcomed us in anyway. She went to walk the little puppy "Stitches" and let us take care of the store.

We started looking around, what a nice selection of yarns.I really liked the store, the owner was super nice, and she has
the friendliest smile.
I found Butterfly yarn, and bought enough to make a summer top. The colors are Forest and Haze.

I also bought fun needles that are called Swing Needles. I have to find out how those are used. Well, I found how to use them, when looking for the link.

After the fun experience in Serenity Knits, we headed towards our next goal, Unwind Yarn store.

Road Trip: Part 2

2010-04-05T11:30:00.009-04:00

We headed towards the center of the town and found Unwind Yarn Store with ease.
Another nice store with a friendly lady helping us choose yarns. Unfortunately I was suddenly not in the mood. Rather, I was imagining what I could make with my Butterfly yarn that I had bought at Serenity Knits.

I had fun with the mirror, though, taking pictures of me.

It was Easter Saturday, and of course we met the bunny on the street near the Unwind store. He waved at us, but didn't talk. Don't Easter Bunnies talk?

Road Trip: Part 3

2010-04-05T11:10:00.008-04:00

After Unwind Yarn store, we headed for lunch. My boss had recommended Cachet restaurant.
We sat in the patio, and enjoyed the warm weather. I had a hamburger, which was all beef, no frozen stuff neither. It was just way too delicious. Sherri had something with eggs (Benedict), and Carol had a very yummy looking salad. I was just too much in need for a hamburger, didn't even
look at the menu.

We chatted, watched people walking by, with kids, with dogs, and watched the water playing in the river that was near the restaurant. I took some pictures outside, and I must say that this
area was very nice.

After the tasty lunch, it was time to hit the next yarn store, which was in Unionville: Mary's Yarns.

Road Trip: Part 4

2010-04-05T10:32:00.010-04:00

Our last yarn store was in Unionville: Mary's Yarns.
What a quaint store. We browsed in different rooms that were
set up more or less for type of yarns. There was even a room for "on sale, 50% off". And lots of buttons. The baby yarn room was quite imaginative.

I found Lang Merino Superwash, #239, yarn in that 50% off room. I got 12 skeins for $4.00 a skein. That was a steal. Oh, and the color is one of my favorites, very odd mustard yellow/green/brown something color. I am sure it has a name. I searched the web, no luck for that color (most likely discontinued, no wonder, it looks icky, but I love it).

I have to be careful with that yarn, it's superwash, and I don't have too many positive thoughts of superwash merino yarns. Zara was one of them, once you wash it, when wet, it stretches every which way and scares the living hell out of you (which is a good thing, hell escapes). However, after screaming and being worried, the fabric decides to return to its original shape. So, I have decided to wash my new sweater-to-do with this yarn and then dry it in the dryer, so I don't have to get worried. I dries nicely in a dryer. I've done it with Zara.

From Mary's yarns we headed for home, but stopped at Tim's first. It's a must.

Road Trip: Part 5

2010-04-05T10:24:00.003-04:00

No road trip isn't perfect unless you visit Tim's at least once. Our last stop was there, and with the "Roll up the Rim" contest, we once again won "Please Play Again" or something like that.

After 153 klicks in total, I was at home and allowed myself to be extremely lazy for the rest of
the night.

What a great trip.

Butterflies, Flowers and Cards

2010-03-23T09:00:00.017-04:00

I was looking for ideas to use on cards that I want to make. I found a butterfly that I had made a long time ago, and decided to use those little critters. Now, where to find a quick and easy pattern, so that I don't have to start thinking.

Went to Crochet Pattern Centra l and then Butterflies, and WOW, the first one I clicked on was this one: Crocheted Sass.

I made three butterflies in about 5 minutes, and loving the easiness yet prettiness in making the winged beauty.

After a little while, I went back to CPC and clicked on Spring Butterfly and that one is easy, also.

Of course there are oodles and oodles of butterfly patterns, but I need to finish the card before Easter is over.

To make this card, you will need:

-a blank card, either bought or made from cardboard
-felt fabric
-good glue, fabric glue would be good for the flowers and butterflies
-crocheted rope (or if you want, some ribbon)
-scissors
-patience

Here is what I have done this far:

1: Cut a suitable sized card from a file folder

2: Cut felt fabric to fit on top of one side of the card

3: Glued the fabric on

4: Assembled the ready made butterflies and flowers on the fabric. I will glue them on later.

5: I have stopped for tonight, because I don't have good fabric glue, which I will get tomorrow.

Of course, if you think it would be better to sew the flowers and butterflies on the fabric go ahead, but do it before the fabric is glued on the card.

March 24, 2010.
Finished the card. Now I need to invent some sort of text inside.
This is a birthday card for a friend.

Latest spree

2010-03-13T12:12:00.007-05:00

Zentangles have given me some new ideas for crocheting.

Most of these were done in March. However, when I look back into my drawing "career" I have done this type drawing for years.
I have more in my flickr album, if you are interested in seeing some of my work. Not everything is there, most of my stuff is in
a chest that my father gave me when I was a teenager.

From this style of drawing I decided that I should be able to use a crochet hook to "draw" some zentangles, and so I did. Here is a picture what I have done since the idea came to my mind:
I was fortunate to find more of that lighter color thread, which is used to join those pieces together. I went to Romni Wools yesterday, and later met my friends at Purl around lunch time. My idea of going to Eaton's Centre didn't pan out, since wanted to go to Purl. Had a great time, once again.

My upstairs "neighbors" woke me up this morning, by banging something with a hammer or what ever. Do people have to nail things at 9:30 in the morning when people like to sleep in.
Oh, well, I really don't like getting up that late, because half the best time of the day for chores is gone. Besides, I have to have this lazy time too, when I wake up. It's been a bit too long now.
Time to get going and looking productive.

Sunday in March

2010-03-07T14:58:00.014-05:00

I have been watching Jule and Julia on DVD. How much can one person cook in a year? I would not think of making something out of a cook book every day. I forget that I cook every day of the year, except when hubby cooks, or we order pizza or KFC or we go out. But, regardless, we cook
every day possible. I just didn't think that one would do it from recipes all the time.

I have many cook books, even the Joy of Cooking, but not Julia Child's book. What a shame, is it not? Of course my Joy isn't the original, it's the one that has been made to fit the modern kitchen, with food processors and microwave ovens, etc. My book is on the shelf unused. I think I have checked one recipe during the years I have owned this book.

It's been a week of no production in my knitting world. I tried to crochet a little bit, and managed to make an Irish Crochet beginner's motif

Any other projects are sitting either on the table or in my bag.
I managed to knit a few rows at our monthly knit group meeting.
I am trying to make a scarf from Margaret Hubert's book "Knit or
Crochet - Have it Your Way".

The scarf is knitted with Noro Kureyon sock yarn.
Of course I have a long way to go to finish the scarf, since I have a mere 30 cm done out of 2 meters (which is my goal). But it's going to be very pretty. What do you think?

I have done a few more rows than shows on the picture, but not much.

The "Forest and Trees" socks are now resting, and I will get back to them when my knitting slump has recovered. Until then, I will do my zentangles and watch TV.

Back in December, someone decided to come too close to my car, when I was waiting at the red
light. The damage was not substantial, but my car is leased and has to be fixed before I return it
to the dealer. The man's insurance is paying the fix, which is not too much money, but I refuse to
pay it myself, since I didn't cause the damage. Well, I have been guilty of causing damage by turning left and gotten hit by another car, but that's not the point here. The dealer would charge much more to fix any damages I have on the leased car. So, anyone who has a leased car, if any damage is done, fix it before the dealer takes you to the cleaners.

So, I have been thinking of getting the bumper fixed, thinking and thinking, and finally, after a dream one night (I was at a body shop with my car), I decided it was time to just go, leave the car, and take the public transit to go to work. It's going to be fun. One way is to take a bus to
a subway station, take one subway going north, then another to go east, then take another bus
to work. Fun. I wish I felt like knitting, I could do lot of it in the subway and bus.
Another way is to take a bus to another bus, go north, take a bus from a subway station......are you still reading? I am not, this is so boring. I wish I could just fly in a traffic plane, wouldn't that be fun?

Oscars? Are you going to watch the Award show tonight? I am. I've seen so many of the movies that were nominated that it would be more interesting to watch now than before when I had not seen any of the movies. We got movie passes for Christmas, so it's been fun. We even saw Avatar. My favorite actress is Sandra Bullock, and she was excellent in "The Blind Side". I also liked George Clooney in his role in "Up in the Air"
If you like country music, you should see (just sayi'n) the "Crazy Heart" with Jeff Bridges.

Back to food:

I have a tasty and easy soup recipe here:

2 containers of low sodium chicken broth
1 package Cole-slaw mix
1 package bean sprouts
1 Spanish onion (chopped)
3 celery stalks (chopped)
1-2 green peppers (chopped)
1-2 cups cauliflower buds
1-2 cups broccoli buds
2 cups green beans (cut in nice pieces)
2 cups carrots (I use baby carrots)
couple tomatoes (chopped) or canned chopped tomatoes
add spices to your liking

Cook until the cabbage is soft (this will take about an hour or two)

About half an hour before it's ready, throw in some uncooked chicken
breast pieces. Make sure the chicken is cooked before you start enjoying
your soup.

Of course this is just an idea for a soup, anything else can be added, and
if I had dill, I would add that, too. I don't think there is a limit to what can
be mixed in. I don't use potatoes, because I have to watch starch intake.

Well, I think it's time to sign off, and make more coffee and watch some telly.

Knitter's exercise

2010-02-26T17:51:00.007-05:00

Have you ever thought about how to squeeze in some healthy exercise when knitting?

When I was knitting these socks thoughts for exercises came to mind:

*Knit some stitches
drop some
pick them back on the needle

Perspiration

drop a needle on the floor
pick the needle from the floor
not getting off the chair

knit some stitches

yarn ball falls on the floor
run after yarn (have to get off the chair)
pick the yarn ball

Perspiration

drop a needle on the floor
pick the needle*

Repeat ** 10 times.

Adding some important tips:

The shorter the fingernails are, the more difficult it is to pick the needle up from
the floor, thus creating more bending time, thus more stress movement for tummy muscles.

If you are knitting socks with very thin needles, and have some scrunched together stitches that
need to be separated after the cable stitches, it would be a good idea to have a slightly longer thumb nail to be used as a tool to separate the stitches. Trust me on this one. I am going to
make sure that my thumb nails are nice and somewhat pointy, just for the above reason.

Any other tips from my readers would be welcomed.

To clarify the above, I am knitting a sock with minuscule size needles and the stitches are
always very tightly together after the cables. Did I show you a picture of my sock start?
well, here it is, isn't she pretty?

Emergency Tools

2010-02-24T09:08:00.005-05:00

How can I go anywhere without necessary tools for my knitting, or crocheting?

Well, this morning I was looking for a cable needle to go with my minuscule size knitting needles. All the ones I have are too fat. My needles are size 1.5 mm. It's less than 0 in American size.

What did I do? I collected some dull pointed tapestry needles, another size 1.5 mm needle (how many times am I going to mention "needle") (must count: 7) and then looked for a toothpick. Where do we keep toothpicks? Nowhere where I am looking. So, that will be a future idea, after going to the store and buying a whole package of them. I only need one, thank you. I wonder if they sell single toothpicks. Perhaps I should go out for lunch and get some from a restaurant.

I have tons of paperclips, small, coloured, big and huge. I picked the one that had approximately the same body type as my 1.5 mm needle: skinny. Opened the clip, made it more or less straight, and cut it in almost the middle to make two. With an nail file I smoothed the ends. Of course I don't have any nail polish handy to cover any roughness that the file didn't catch. I'll do it later at home. I came in dang early to work, an hour earlier than our office opens.

Oh, and the toothpick will be painted with nail polish, or some lacquer, if I have any at home.

Here are samples of my "cable needles" in emergency:

We got snow!!!

2010-02-22T17:38:00.008-05:00

Here are some not-so-interesting pictures from my way home from work.
The trip took double the time than in a normal weather, and I even left 5 minutes earlier that
usually.
Perhaps they look boring, but for me it was interesting to see how the traffic was moving with the snow. Not very fast; I think my average speed was 25 km/hr.
This probably isn't anything to write home about, but considering that we have received about 10 cm (4") snow this year, it is kind of fun to see the white stuff. Mind you, there is more in the forecast for the rest of the week, and I am not looking forward to that.

I think TTC (our transit system) sounds pretty desirable.

Ravelympics WIPs done

2010-02-22T00:08:00.006-05:00

Finally, after some frogging and switching needles and swearing, and with some occasional frustration, I finished the Zigzag socks.

I went to Purple Purl today, sheeesh, it's after midnight, so yesterday, and I knitted four rows before I noticed a major mistake, and that was not even a design feature, it was the fault of chatting and knitting. Seems that I can't knit and chat at the same time. Oh, well. I changed to my emergency project, but made a mistake there too, so what could I do?

I bought some variegated green sock yarn
to make the pattern I bought today. It's called Forest & Trees. The designer is Kate Atherley from our beautiful city.

My Saturday went quite nicely. I drew this picture, and I like it. I usually don't appreciate my own work, but somehow I really like this one.

It's late, and tomorrow is a work day, it's time for some under the eyelid movies.

Sunday and laziness

2010-02-21T10:10:00.007-05:00

I tried to drink coffee that was left on the burner on. EwEwEw. So a glass of milk tasted good, really!
I am having withdrawal symptoms, have not been visiting Purple Purl for quite a while. I miss the people there, comfy chairs, coffee, that I usually forget to drink, yarns that want to hide in my bag.

So, I decided to go and visit today, with my Ravelympic project, the blue socks. Perhaps I will find out what kind of yarn I am using, since I have totally forgotten the name of it.
So typical for me to forget to write down the yarns that I have.

Of course I could have been smart and write all that down in Ravelry, but didn't.

Saturdays are usually days when I do my weekly chores, like vacuuming, other cleaning, laundry, etc. etc. Guess what, all I did was draw zentangles, prepared lasagne, tomato salad, and tossed salad for dinner at my son's place.

The kids were wonderful, and I played with my grandson in the kitchen. He was sitting on the kitchen table, and had a keyring, with keys and a small truck attached. Well, his legs were mountains and I had to drive the truck up and down. There was a bridge between the knees. Sometimes the truck (and the keys) fell on the "floor", and then he wanted to show me how to do it. We did this for at least half an hour. "I'm having fun with mummi" (mummi is grandmother)
he told his dad. My grandson is 2 years and a few months old/young.

The sweetest thing was when he found out that I had brought French Fries with me for the kids,
He said: They are my favourites! and then he came and gave me a kiss and a hug, and "thank You Mummi". What a sweet child.

I am not going to make new coffee now, no, I am going to Purple Purl, and enjoy the coffee there.
I might even get a lemon square pastry. It's not THE lemon square, but I don't know the name for the ones they have, I usually just say "that lemon thingy, please" hah, and the girls know.
It's like heavenly manna, never tasted that one, but I have a vivid imagination. Not good for my figure, but it's Sunday, and I can do what ever I want on Sundays.
Mondays are good days to start watching what you eat. And then there is always another Monday, and another. I tried to start on a Wednesday, but that didn't work, Still waiting for the right Monday. Maybe tomorrow. But first I will have a lemon square thingy at Purple Purl.
It has a nice lemony cake and on top a lemony icing. I have to go now.

Socks and Yarn

2010-02-18T09:09:00.006-05:00

I must admit that I chose wrong yarn for my Fishbone Gansey socks.

My FG socks are in this picture, trust me!

The trick is to use solid color yarn, not a yarn that has tons of different colors, in short sections. (duh)

All the hard work for following the (any) chart, tongue on cheek, with occasional blurry eye syndrome, with some coffee breaks, and skipping a line or two in the chart, would be wasted when using yarn that deliciously hides the incredibly handsome pattern.

The picture how the socks would look with different yarn is here.

My other socks are a different story. The yarn, was probably bought at Purple Purl, but I am not sure, since I have a great talent in losing the yarn labels and bills. Bills I lose easily, because I really don't want to be reminded how much I really spend on yarn. Hmph.

I will say that the yarn is soft wool, since it does not make my skin itch. If you didn't know, I am allergic to wool, when it's that rough kind, with real feeling of prickly thingies.

For these socks I used solid color, and the pattern shows up very clearly. These socks are my

Ravelympic Team Canada, Team WIPs - Dancing challenge. I have to get the finished before

the closing ceremonies in Vancouver. Otherwise I will be disqualified. Oh, I don't want that.

If I want striped socks, I will, from now on, use sock yarn that is meant to create striping pattern. I will not use fancy patterns with striping yarn, I swear.

It's OK to use (mildly) variegated yarns for complicated patterns, but I would suggest strongly to make a swatch first to see if the design shows with your choice of yarn, if it's not the same as recommended. It's not always possible to use designer's selected yarn. It might not be available everywhere in the world, or the price might not meet your budget requirements, or you just like your yarns better. It's up to you, but make that dang swatch first (I speak from experience for NOT making swatches).

I would also, from now on, read the pattern instructions first, before starting to knit. Once you get to the third pattern chart (if there is one), which I didn't notice when started, you better have clever attention span happening, otherwise you, just like me, will have some serious frogging ideas and bad words blurting out. (unless you are somewhat more organized and possess sharp eye sight, and are more keen to details, then this is not an advice for you.)(and experienced sock knitter, oh, almost forgot that one)

I will make sure that the pattern will keep me interested at least until the heel part. You can always omit the pattern for the foot part (yes, you can). I tend to think that the foot part might be hidden in the boot or shoe that is not a sandal type, but is more to the style of a running shoe. Not necessarily any fancy running shoe, but one that keeps your feet comfy. Also, when the sock is plain stockinette stitch it fits better into the shoe, instead of a bulky cable patterned foot part.

Of course all of the above is your own choice, yarns and patterns, striping or not. I am just saying what I have done to make my blood pressure to go up a notch.

Personally I will still do everything that I am not "supposed" to do, but that's just me.

Next socks that I'll make will be plain stockinette stitching throughout, except the ribbing for the opening, and I will use my wildest sock yarn that would not be good for a lace patterned socks.

I swear, I will not obey my own instructions.

I will not make any comments about toe up socks, because I have started two pairs, over a year ago, and stopped just before the gusset and/or heel part. I'm not scared to screw up the process, I just don't want to proceed. I like looking at unfinished objects (UFOs), they remind me of my home.

Fun MeMe

2010-02-17T09:44:00.031-05:00

This was originally in Marmelade's blog, but I saw it in Janet's blog.
I think these are fun to do. They are all about self.

If I Was....

a color....Copper

a verb....imagine

a day....Friday

a TV show....Lie to Me

a taste....coffee

an emotion....Aloof

a month....June

a flower....Lily of the Valley

a holiday....Midsummer Day

a movie...Deeply

an article of clothing....Over-sized tee

a book....Freeform

a car....Mustang (I had 1969 and then 2000...what else is there duh)

a piece of furniture....Recliner

a scent....Jasmine

an instrument....Flute

a store....an art store

a shoe...crocks

a fruit....Peach

a song....Misty

a tree....Birch

a planet....Moon

a tool....Tool box (haha)

One down, one more to go

2010-02-17T09:05:00.004-05:00

I am talking about the Ravelympics WIPs-Dancing Challenge. I finished a dress for my granddaughter. It was meant for Christmas, then Valentine's Day and now for Easter. Well the
dress is done, except blocking. The dress pattern is from Ulla Neule, and the name is Vaapukka and the yarn is Tanis Fiber Arts Fingering
yarn in Royal Flush.
Unfortunately the dress pattern is only in Finnish, but the lace pattern is in easy to follow chart.

My next goal is to finish blue socks for a friend, who has a birthday coming up soon. The pattern for those socks is kind of invented by combining two patterns, and changing the chart direction on my whim. I'll post a picture later.

Does anyone know a good trick to tink on a circular needle. I have two socks on one needle, and noticed that I had made a little design feature, which I wanted to change. going back on a circular isn't that easy, or is it? Previously I had just taken a straight DPN to tink, but hellooo, I don't have all my needles with me at all times. Only a few sets, but not the one I need TODAY.
("tink" = knit back) (or unknit or frog or fix the dang stitch!)

So, I did fix that one stitch, with great difficulty, but did it. There must be a way. My circular needle is 100 cm long, so there should be enough give for twisting and turning, wouldn't you think?

2010 Olympics

2010-02-12T16:25:00.005-05:00

My Team Canada WIPs - Dancing section challenge for me is to finish the pink dress and those
blue socks during the 2010 Winter Olympics. This challence is at Ravelry groups Ravelympics 2010

I am sending my coldest snowy thoughts to Vancouver so that they could get some really cold
temperatures and lots of snow.

Wishing all the best for all the athletes!

February thoughts

2010-02-11T12:18:00.014-05:00

Hello all,

If I don't mention this around Sunday, then Happy Valentines Day to all.
In Finland they call it Friendship Day, so I would like to Wish you all a
very warm Friendship Day!

Tomorrow is the start of the Olympics. I have some friends in Vancouver
(work related) and one of them sent me an e-mail telling that she and her boss
and another girl from the office went to see the dress rehearsal for the opening
ceremonies. Apparently the show is "spectacular" as she put it.

I have not decided what to do during the Olympics, but definitely a WIP program.
The evil head of Startitis is lurking in every corner, and guess what, I have, with me now,

two skeins of yarn, not used yet, and two WIPs, crochet WIP, scarf, and drawing
supplies. (oh, they don't have anything to do with this upcoming challenge).

I suppose my first choice would be to finish my granddaughter's dress, don't you think?
Second, something blue for my friend in Finland - get this, for her I was going to make
a lace scarf, then socks, then entrelac tote bag, then entrelac scarf, and now
I am thinking of socks. I think I am losing my mind. I am so happy that Monday is
a Family Day, and I can sleep in, and then knit.

Does anyone have a foolproof remedy for startitis, or indecisiveness syndrome?
Should I just start my life over again? I could do so many things differently.
For example get some clear plastic boxes and sort all my yarns in colors.

It's going to be an exciting night, I must decide what to make and watch The Mentalist, and then

Ghost Hunters. I miss the show Lie To Me I wonder what happened to it.

My drawing inspiration has come from hiding, and I've done a few zentangle drawings. I joined Zentangle group in Flicker, and have enjoyed looking at the artwork from members. Even if you are not interested in drawing, have a look at the marvellous, amazing and incredible zentangles in that group.

It is such an interesting area of artwork that I am just in awe to see different creations.

Be safe over there in snow-covered lands.

We have just a little bit here.

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-13T18:02:00.008-05:00

Here are a few things that have kept me away from my blogging events. The shawls are Revontuli aka. Northern Lights Shawl.
Green vest is my own inspiration using mitered squares pattern. My favorite is the Urchin Beret, here in variegated colors. My friend Riitta sent me the yarn for Christmas. The Teal Color Beret is Pinwheel Beret, and I made two of those, the other is black, and does not show well here.

I have done, and finished other things, but I'll just name a few.

We are already half way thru January and I am enjoying the mild weather we have had on many days.
Mild for me, cold for some others.

I did not make any New Year's resolutions, other than told myself to finish off the projects I had started, and not start new ones, at least in January. Well, thankfully I didn't make that promise publicly, because I have broken it. Many times. I think I have about 5 new projects on the needles. The old ones just wait miserably in
a basket, or a bag. Needless to say, I have not weaved at all.
I managed to read a book, wooohoooo, "Summer on Blossom Street" I read it in a few days. There is another book started by Debbie Macomber "92 Pacific Boulevard" which has nothing to do with knitting/crocheting, which is fine with me. My attention span isn't what it used to be when I read all the books in the library. (that was when we had no television yet, and the boys were not interesting enough, so I read books).

I have decided that this year I am going to spend more time with family, with friends, I try to be more positive about everything. I love my work, I love my hobbies, and I am happy that I am healthy enough to wake up in the morning to get ready with ease to face what is on agenda for that day.

Sometimes I look back at my life, and think what I wanted to become when I was a teenager. I wanted to go to art school, make a career of being an artist of some sort. That was my main goal at the age of 17. I still draw and paint sometimes, but mostly using yarn and needles/hooks to do my art.

What you were thinking of doing, when you were 17?
Do you have a job that you like or love? (or hate?)
Do you have hobbies?
What is your favourite pastime activity?
Do you think that it is important to have a hobby?

I'm still here

2009-12-17T14:12:00.003-05:00

I stole this one from Margie's blog.

1. First thing you wash in the shower? My face

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? Teal

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yes

4. Do you plan outfits? Usually when going to work.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? Sleepy

6. What is the closest thing to you that’s red? Poinsettia plant on my desk

7. Describe the last dream you remember having? Don't remember

8. Did you meet anybody new today? No

9. What are you craving right now? Coffee, and I have one from Tims on my desk

10. Do you floss? Yes, before I go to the dentist, or when something is stuck between teeth

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Cabbage soup diet, hahah

12. Are you emotional? oh, gosh, yes, too much so

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? perhaps not

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? lick and then bite, and then lick etc.

15. Do you like your hair? Most of the time

16. Do you like yourself? Huh? not all of me

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? Why not? I could use a good laugh.

18. What are you listening to right now? Ringing in my ears.

19. Are your parents strict? My father was, not my mom.

20. Would you go sky diving? No

21. Do you like cottage cheese? Yeeesss, and mixed with fresh fruits. Also with mashed potatoes

22. Have you ever met a celebrity? Yes, Brad and Sharon from Y&R, Ella, Cleo Laine, et al, many other musicians, and Valerie Bertinelli, and I am sure others, but can't remember. I don't pay attention enough, so I might have missed a few.

23. Do you rent movies often? Not any more, used to, but too busy knitting and crocheting

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you are in? Just my smashingly sparkly smile

25. How many countries have you visited? Close to ten, I think. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Germany, USA, Bermuda, Argentina, Chile, and Canada, of course. Does London Airport count?

26. Have you made a prank phone call? I don't think so, unless someone has called me and I have been snarky, does that count?

27. Ever been on a train? Many, many times, love traveling in train

28. Brown or white eggs? The ones with white and yellow stuff, other than that I don't care.

29. Do you have a cell-phone? I have BB Storm

30. Do you use chap stick? No

31. Do you own a gun? No

32. Can you use chop sticks? Yes, carefully

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? My hubby

34. Are you too forgiving? I think so

35. Ever been in love? yes

36. What is/are your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? Working and or knitting or crocheting

37. Ever have cream puffs? Yes

38. Last time you cried? This is a hard one, it must have been a while ago

39. What was the last question you asked? to co-worker: what's wrong? when she was leaving to go see a doctor

40. Favorite time of the year? Early autumn

41. Do you have any tattoos? nope

42. Are you sarcastic? Yes, used to read Mad magazines and learned

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? No, is it any good? Looks kind of interesting.

44. Ever walked into a wall? Yes, in the dark

45. Favorite color? Green

46. Have you ever slapped someone? Playfully, yes

47. Is your hair curly? No, straight as can be

48. What was the last CD you bought? Must have been some classical music

49. Do looks matter? What kind of looks? If looks could kill, yes, tender looks matter and are good. Or is this a trick question, how one looks from outside? I guess it would matter if situation requires certain looks.

51. Is your phone bill sky high? it's high, should be free

52. Do you like your life right now? Yes and no, I want to win lottery, and retire

53. Do you sleep with the TV on? Yes, if I watch telly sitting on a recliner chair.

54. Can you handle the truth? Depends

55. Do you have good vision? I can see, good enough?

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? I dislike more than 3 people, hate no

57. How often do you talk on the phone? Not often

58. The last person you held hands with? My hubby

59. What are you wearing? Clothes, pants, shoes, underwear, shirt and vest, oh and socks

60. What is your favorite animal? teddybear

61. Where was your default picture taken? You mean my profile picture? In Buffalo, NY

62. Can you hula hoop? Little bit

63. Do you have a job? Yup

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? groceries

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? many times, when I was young(ger)

My Square Needles make my Stitches Round!

2009-08-18T11:01:00.029-04:00

And here we go again. Summer is almost over, or is it? Rumors tell that September is the beginning of a new summer for us. Oh, phhleeez, no. I want a cool weather.

I just visited CGOA blog, and started thinking of the weekend in Buffalo. I went with my friends,
Sherri, Maggie and Gisele on the 7th of this month.

We left early on Friday morning and stopped at Walmart, spent some money there and then we had lunch at this amazing bread place. Would you believe (you would, eh?) that I forgot the name.
Must love google, they remembered the name Panerabread. I had the most amazing cheese-broccoli soup I had ever tasted in my life. Well, I have not had that combo, only plain broccoli, but it was the best.

Off to find the hotel. We had the greatest room in the world. Two rooms, and I had my own private sofa bed, which allowed me to sleep quite nicely.

The others, poor things, had to sleep in the actual bedroom, haha, I had my private little space.

As soon as we had settled in, we headed to the Market. The first booth made me stop with the beautiful display of a shawl, Figure 8 Fantasy Shawl. It's in the book Special Little Knits
(guess what, I have that book at home, nicely in my bookshelf, oh, geeez and I almost bought it at the show)

I wanted to buy the book very badly, just for the shawl pattern, but I could not buy the first thing I saw, I had to see at least a few more items in the market, before I could open my money pouch, the one with all the US dollars that I had been saving and guarding a few weeks before.

I am not sure at what point we decided to go for dinner, but it was later in the afternoon. The hotel had a restaurant, and we checked the menu and the prices and ran away as fast as we could. We settled for the hotel lobby restaurant and had no complaints about the food or the prices. The service, though, was unbelievable slow that night. Unlike the morning services, but it was mostly buffet in the morning.

Later in the evening we had coffee and tea evening with CGOA Chapter group. There were lots
of cookies, and we were told that all the cookies had to be eaten before we left the meeting.
It was an interesting night. Every attending Chapter had a spokesperson who was telling what their chapter was doing.

I left the meeting for a little bit to go and look for my freeform friends in the hotel, but everyone that I had seen before, had gone either to bed or somewhere else. My friend Vashti was asking others if they had seen this person or that person, but no luck. So Vashti, thank you again for your kind efforts, you are truly a wonderful person. Not to forget the great silk vest you were wearing. It was so beautiful.

On Saturday we went back to our shopping adventure and spent more money than anticipated. At least I did. Way too much, but here is my loot, the picture does not show the items too clearly.

There are several items that are my favourites, but the most favourable item that I bought is a set of dbl pointed square needles. Wooohoo, I love them. I must order more sizes, since I only bought one set of those and one circular needle in larger size. I noticed, when I was testing my needles with the sock yarn I had bought, that the stitches still came out round. I had been cheated. I expected square stitches. hahah.

Of course I bought sock yarn, which I don't need, but what the heck. There are lots of cold feet in my family. Specially up north somewhere.One of the exciting events at the Market place was to have Crochet Dude to sign his booklet for us. We also got our picture in Buffalo news. We are so famous now, hah.

The four of us, Sherri, Maggie and Gisele and me, of course, took a sight seeing walk around the hotel and found it strangely quiet. There were no other people walking but people who looked like tourists, ahem, like us, with cameras and maps and lost looks.

We went to a nice restaurant to have lunch, late lunch, which later approved to be a bit too late.

After "lunch" we headed to our hotel and started getting ready for the evening event. It was Dinner and Fashion show. We were doing our hair, putting on some make-up, even me, surprise, surprise, and wore our fine art work. Sherri had an elegant Nefertiti shawl, Maggie wore her great crocheted skirt, Gisele had her beautiful "spider web" shawl, and I had my black freeform vest on me.

At dinner, I didn't feel hungry, although the food was excellent. There was chicken, and beef on the plate. Plus some veggies, of course and I think there was a potato, also. I just could not eat
everything. I still had my lunch traveling in my insides, so unfortunately I just ate a little bit, and drank a lot of coffee.

The fashion show was amazing. So many great designs and creations. I didn't take any pictures, because my little camera would have objected with the light in the room. It was terrible, the only way you could see the show properly was to go right beside the stage, which was not possible for me, because I was too full to move. Tsk Tsk.

Margaret Hubert was wearing beautiful freeform top that she had made (of course), and the top was truly incredibly attractive.

Barbar a had a swirl purse with her, that I wanted to make, but did not have time to attend her
class on Sunday morning.

After the fashion show we chatted with many friends and then headed back to the hotel.
We decided to have a drink before going back to the room, and then it was time to have a little shut eye.

On Sunday morning I dashed to the Market place as soon as it opened, and bought some Tulip crochet hooks and the rest of the small balls of yellow crochet thread.

The ride home was full of excitement. We had rain, we sort of got little bit lost in Niagara Falls, NY, but finally got to our beloved country, Canada. We headed immediately to the Flying Saucer restaurant and had a feast with French fries covered with yummy meat sauce. We also had Chicken quesadilla and Gisele had a hot turkey sandwich. After the meal we just headed home, and all went well.

Thanks girls, for the great trip!

Tenant BBQ

2009-07-15T14:13:00.004-04:00

Well, isn't it nice that our work landlord gives annual BBQ's for tenants. There are three buildings in the
community.
We get either hamburgers, hotdogs, sausages or chicken. Potato or Caesar salad and this year even a corn on a cob. For drinks there was a choice of water or different sodas. And to top it all, even an ice cream of your choice (what they had in that ice cream cart, that is).

I stood in a line-up for 25 minutes, so you can imagine how many people there were, considering the fact that there were at least 4 if not even more food stands.

Entertainment was ... well, not to be nasty, but I don't think these three girls were ever going to
be in the "So you think you can dance" program.

Oh, and all was free.

Slow motion time

2009-07-11T08:57:00.013-04:00

It's been, once again, a long time since my last post.

I've been riding on a free form crochet road like a mad person, and have reached a frustration city. I feel like I am in a tunnel, but there is no light at the end of this one.
There are only scrumbles that don't want to fit anywhere.
(See the explanation for scrumbles at Sylvia Cosh and James Walters site, quite interesting)

I am using crochet thread in different sizes, the thinnest being size 20, which isn't too bad, just nerve wrecking to see the blackness in this delicate thread.

I have hoped to finish this creation by the time I will travel to Knit and Crochet Show in Buffalo. It is in four weeks. Some would think I have lots of time, but when I make one idiotic scrumble in one day, and then either "fix" it, or frog it, then it becomes an idiotic object. I need quite a few sane pieces, but am unable to go beyond the box. I am very surprised that I, a free spirited, laid back individual, would be so stuck in only a few stitches, and does not feel comfortable to make a double crochet stitch, or any other after making chains and single crochets, occasional half double crochet, picots, and buff and limpet stitches, that's about the size of my range of different crochet stitch world for this project. It seems to be a lot, but there is not very much variety in the travels. Oh, I forgot the occasional flower motifs, that do have some double crochet stitches. Hmmm. I need to take another look at my project today and hope that something will look like a vest or a shawl or a headband, my head feels very big these days, not because I am good, it's because it's ready to explode.

Yesterday, while chatting with friends at Purple Purl, I felt brave, and tried to make a circle that was in a pattern in a crochet a magazine. That was to follow a pattern. Ok, sometimes I feel very self assured, and thus started making this said circle, but came to the last stitch on the first row, and got stuck. I could not tell how to make the joining stitch, perhaps because I had incorrectly started the first one. My frog pond is getting very full, since there was another one for the pond. It's been a constant battle with this project, and I had an insane moment the other day, I took scissors and ALMOST cut the whole dang thing. I stopped, though, when I started sobbing and the scissors got wet from the tears that fell on them. Oh, no, I cannot have any stains on this thing.

I then forced myself to crochet something, since I had planned to stay for a while at the store, besides, my parking ticket had another hour and a half left, so I was not going to leave, not only for that, but also for the fact that I had a full cup of coffee in front of me. Oh, and the main thing to stay was to wait for my friend Sherri to arrive.

Well, once I got home, I started again, and this time I was fairly excited because I was able to create a scrumble that actually fit in between other scrumbles, well, with a little help from some
ever so eager chain links.

Here is a short video from Mendoza. I wish I had taped more.

Finally at home

2009-06-20T09:14:00.009-04:00

FreeForm book: Four Seasons is now published, it's available at Blurb. I have one item there, and cannot wait for my book to arrive.

The book includes works of International FreeForm artists' from around the world. The challenge was to create something for the four seasons, winter, spring, summer, autumn.

We came home from Argentina last Saturday (June 13) after 18 hours since we went to the airport in Mendoza.
We had a great vacation for four weeks. Meeting the family, spending time with the little kids, attending their birthday parties, and just having a great time.

I will write more, hopefully, about our vacation, but right now I just want to make sure that you know I am still here.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Argentina

Knitting Imps

2009-05-01T09:18:00.018-04:00

Another month has gone.
In some parts of the world this is a Special Day. In Finland it's Vappu, and they drink Sima and
eat Tippaleipa. In some countries it's called May Day, not the one that calls for help, but calls for
parades and other festivities. If I am correct, it's equal to Canada's Labour Day, which is in September. We don't drink Sima or eat Tippaleipa, we do other stuff, like if I knew, I would tell.

I did not make any of those traditional items, but I did bake a cake for Easter.

Can you imagine,
I have not been here since in the beginning of April (I hate the month of April).

Some of the reasons for not liking April

1. It's the tax month. I have every intention to finish this
tax return stuff during February, but there is always "tomorrow"
and all of a sudden it's the mid April. Hate it, Hate it.

The only good thing about April is that my son has a birthday.

2. It's the tax month. Getting papers to our accountant in the last minute kills me, because she is busy with other last-minuters. I don't want to be one of them, but I am, and it makes me sick, but not sick enough to do the paperwork in February.

3. It's the tax month. Every day is a day of "I should do the paperwork" Oh, please, some powers, please erase the procrastinator syndrome from my being, and make me an organized,
go-get-it-done-now person. Oh, phleeeez

Well, I think you got the idea. Next year I will not hate April, I will hate February. Oh, yes, it's better, because in February I wait for the winter to end, and all the yucky snow melt (the snow that is covered with road dirt), the white stuff is pretty.

What else was happening in April? I was creating stuff every single day. It was either crocheting freeform scrumbles or knitting socks, or making a mess with a sweater I am TRYING to knit for my stepdaughter. I have frogged the front piece once. I have frogged one sleeve completely, I have frogged the other sleeve half way down. I have frogged many rows, due to twisting the stitches wrong way, or cables turning the wrong way. This sweater is a real DEVIL.

The picture shows a beautiful sweater, mine is not nearly as nice as that. Besides, there are no bobbles on mine, that's just too much work. This pattern is in a Sandra magazine from 2003.

I am using Filatura Di Crosa Zara yarn. It's a nice and expensive yarn, but don't ever let me buy this yarn again. It splits, it does not hide loose stitches, they just don't even out, after blocking or washing.
The sweater, though, is going to be super soft.

I finished, finally, a small size pair of Jaywalker socks, Finally. I will not make another pair of Jaywalker socks, not for a loooong time.
The pattern is nice, and the socks are pretty, but don't ask me to make a pair. Thank you very much.

On one beautiful April day, I went to see the Coral Reef pictures at "the Institute for Figuring". Of course I had to make one, once again. I am always amazed to see the pictures of those Coral Reefs that people around the world have made (including me, I have pieces in Londong, UK, and NYC, exhibitions). Not the one that is in this picture, though. This one is my last week's inspiration. I don't have a picture of the complete piece.

April was also a month for Knitters Frolic. I went with an idea to buy a weaving loom. Instead, I bought a canvas knitting bag, two skeins of sock yarn (50% off sale on that yarn), some bamboo sock needles, a circular bamboo needle, Misti Baby Alpaca yarn, and
"Hooked on Murder" novel. No, I have not read it, must finish the sweater first. Didn't buy the weaving loom, Cricket.
I am waiting for a better balance in my savings account.

My sister is building a doll house, so I decided to weave some little rugs for her house. This will be a surprise for her, so do not tell that these two little rugs are already in the mail.

When I come back from my vacation, I will take up this weaving thing more seriously. So far I am just a beginner, and have done only small things, with my Pink WL.

Other pleasant things during April,
My son and my granddaughter and of course me, went for lunch for his birthday. This was a few days later, because he decided to have his special day in the middle of the week. Who wants to go out on a weekday? We went on Sunday. The place belonged to a Mr. Greek. I didn't meet him, but the food was good, and plenty, and believe it or not, I could not finish my salad, only the olives, cucumbers, feta cheese, and some of the lettuce, but I did manage the chicken on the pita (did not eat all of that pita) and that white stuff, tzatziki yummy. Grandaughter had ice cream, too, because she had the kiddie menu and it came with ice cream. what's with that policy? I wanted some, too, but there would have been an extra charge for that. Grandmothers should be treated with same respect.

Socks and Weaving

2009-04-04T16:02:00.009-04:00

What the heck has happened lately? There hasn't been a moment of non-creativity during the last few weeks. Have I finished anything? Yeah, socks, what else. I am so lacking
imagination, when I have things on my "must-to-do" list. These socks are all for gifts.

The pictures show the two pairs I finished this week.

I have also done some weaving, but there isn't a picture that I could share at this time.

A friend of mine sold her RAM Loom to me, and I picked it up last night, and assembled it this afternoon.
Here is my new toy:

I almost forgot, I received the other weaving loom, Spear's Loom, size 3, over a week ago, and have not even tried it yet. The socks have taken most of my time. I have one more pair of socks to make, and then there is a sweater to finish for my DIL.

The picture shows my collection of weaving looms. What else is new.
I started with the pink one, and then came potholder loom, and then Spear's weaving loom. Oh, for crying out loud, yes, the Ikea one is the first one, but it was in the box, until I discovered how wonderful a new hobby I had. Mind you, I don't really care for that Ikea one, but I will give it a try, one of these days, when I want to do something crazy. The creation that is with the Spear's loom isn't mine, it came with the loom. That is the one I won at e-Bay, early in March.

It's Saturday afternoon, and I have some chores to do, before hubby comes home. I spent too much time with my new toy. After finishing the chores, I will try to knit as much as possible on the pair of socks that are on the needles and then relax...sure.

First MEME for 2009

2009-03-28T00:12:00.003-04:00

I have been too occupied with my projects, and hardly anything getting finished, so I decided
to put this meme here, just to entertain.
I saw the questions in the facebook and stole them from one of my facebook friends.

1, What color is your toothbrush?
Green and White

2, Name one person who made you smile today:
Ghislaine

3, What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Turning my computer on at work.

4, What were you doing 45 minutes ago?
weaving

5, What is your favorite candy bar?
Skor

6, Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope

7. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Good Night to my hubby

8. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Peach

9, What was the last thing you had to drink?
Coffee

10, Do you like your wallet?
No, there is no money in it

11, What was the last thing you ate?
Homemade hamburger, oh, and after that, blueberry cheesecake

12, Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
no

13, The last sporting event you watched?
a soccer game

14, What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?
popcorn

15, Who is the last person you sent a text message too?
don't text message

16, Ever go camping?
not any more, we used to go for fishing trips, in the summer, nearly everyweekend, but
then came the computer in the house, and fishing rods are now collecting dust.

17, Do you take vitamins daily?
Yes, B6, B12, and D

18, Do you go out on Sundays?
perhaps shopping or visiting friends or family

19, Do you have a tan?
not right now

20, Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?
sometimes, I do like lemon or orange glazed chicken

21, Do you drink your soda with a straw?
Depends, if at home, no, if outside, perhaps,, but I don't drink soda very often anyway

22, What did your last text message say?
N/A

23, What are you doing tomorrow?
Laundry and then a birthday party (it's not tomorrow yet)

25, Look to your left, what do you see?
TV

26, What color is your watch?
Gold

27, What do you think of when you hear Australia?
I would love to visit

29, Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Sure, why not, inside is better, but MacD breakfast sandwich is a drive thru

30. What is your favorite number?
3 or 7 or 15 or ......

31, Who's the last person you talked to on the phone?
Hubby

32, Any plans today?
See number 23, it's now tomorrow, haha

33, How many states have you lived in?
none (if talking about USA)

34, Biggest annoyance right now?
Too many projects on the go

35, Last song listened to?
don't remember, honest

36,Can you say the alphabet backwards?
of course

37, Do you have a maid service clean your house?
No, if not counting me.

38, Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
Crocks

39, Are you jealous of anyone?
No, I have enough to deal with myself

40, Is anyone jealous of you?
I don't think so

41, Do you love anyone?
Of course

42, Do any of your friends have children?
Most of them have children, some don't

43, What do you usually do during the day?
Work.

44, Do you hate anyone that you know right now?
I don't hate anyone, I might dislike some, but hate, no

45, Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
I use "hi, how are you"

46, What color is your car?
light sage

47, Do you like cats?
not really

48. Are you thinking about someone right now?
yeah, dream fairy, I should be sleeping now

49, Have you ever been to Six Flags?
no, and don't know what it is

50, How did you get your worst scar?
surgery

Potholder Loom

2009-03-19T06:42:00.008-04:00

The tool/toy arrived the other day. Last night I decided to try create something. The PL came with ready loops to make a potholder. I wanted to make a red one. Not enough red, added pink,
not so many pink loops. I ended up with pink, red, some orange and purple. So much for a red
potholder.

Also, I made the thing too tight, so now it's more like a hotpad. I started another one, but got distracted, and decided that this thing just doesn't like me. Or I don't like IT. I took that second start out, and decided to try with cotton yarn. Whelll, the stupid yarn kept sliding off where I had
"securely" attached the end, securely - my behind. I got one yarn weaved in, and then the whole
thing fell apart, due to my secure yarn attachment manipulation.

I am back to freeform crocheting now, at least that makes me feel appreciated by my hooks and yarns and threads.

And here is a picture of a bag I made this week:

Isn't it pretty?
The original pattern is knitted, and is here. I saw someone's bag that was crocheted,
and I decided that if I wanted to make it quickly, I better crochet it.

I used Red Heart yarn, and there is one panel with Bernat's yarn. The bag is not very deep, but perfect for a fun show-off, or shopping for light stuff.

More weaving

2009-03-16T19:50:00.013-04:00

I made two more pieces on the weekend. That's about all I was able to accomplish, except about 5 rows on two socks.
Oh, and lots of sitting and staring in the air, attending to sick hubby (cold and fever), and generally just doing nothing.

The bigger piece has homespun yarn (solid grayish/purplish shade) by Sherri,
and the smaller piece has also homespun yarn, by Sherri, tambien.
That is the yarn on top of the smaller piece, looks like purple, and below and at the bottom the same grayish/purplish homespun as the bigger piece.

Don't you just love the words I use for colors.

I am eagerly waiting for my new weaving looms, one is spear's and the other is potholder loom,
both of them on the way. It's going to be a mail waiting week, as I have some books coming in, also.

The books that have been shipped are:

1. Margaret Hubert: Knit or Crochet--Have it Your Way: 15 Fun Projects with Complete Hook and Needle Instructions for Each

2. Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Daina Taimina

3. Crochet Embellishments (Leisure Arts #4419) Jean Leinhauser

However, they are coming from the USA, so it will take some time before I am able to enjoy any of my recent purchases.

My latest obsession

2009-03-12T07:35:00.011-04:00

It was Cricket weaving loom in a Lion Brand newsletter that tricked my interest in weaving.
Oh, I was in love, it looked so neat. I asked my friend Noreen for her opinion. Of course she liked the loom. I got very excited and started using my math brain cells, and this time they worked, and I came to a decision, this Cricket was way over my budget in price. First, there is the over the border hump, the dollar amount has to be brought over it, and then the carrying charges, plus the customs officer's salary has to be paid somehow, so Canada Customs probably would take someone's hourly pay from me.

I was not ready to fork out that kind of money, so I settled on a potholder loom, which is going to cost me an arm and a leg to get it over here, from the good old USA. I also won one weaving loom at the e-Bay, and that shipping isn't free either.

Plus the books I now need to learn to put yarn thru those wasps, ooops, warps....let me check it that is the right word. Sounds weird, but I think that is the word. Anyway, I have now spent the amount of money on other things, including some knitting and crocheting books, that I would have spent on that Cricket. I am not sure if I have done a right choice. I will, I know, buy that Cricket one day, too. Unless I absolutely hate weaving.

My friend Sherri would know exactly what I mean by upgrading the tools section in crafts. She spins, and has some nice equipment to do that. Just like that Lucille 2 in the picture, with Hugo sitting on top of it.

While I am waiting for my nice looms, I am knitting socks, crocheting freeform scrumbles and dream about having enough time to finish all my WIPs before May. Why May? because I have to have my job stuff done
before I go on vacation. That's why.

last part of the sock

2009-01-25T19:41:00.003-05:00

pictures first, because the written part is the most difficult part.

Here is a video of how to make Kitchener stitch.

While we are knitting

2009-01-23T09:29:00.001-05:00

here are some pictures of the process. I will explain the pictures better, when I have had my nightly sleep.

Sock continues

2009-01-22T13:48:00.003-05:00

We are now at the start of the heel. You have 4 needles with 12 stitches in each. Knit the 12 stitches from the first needle so that they will be together with the 12 stitches from the last needle.

If you have a marker, which I didn't mention in the beginning, your first and last needles are siding the marker.

We are now working only on those 24 stitches, that means that you turn your work and start from the wrong side of work.

Slip the first stitch
purl the next
hold yarn in front of the next stitch and slip it purlwise,
purl the next,
slip the next,
and so on until the last stitch, which you will purl

next row is slip the first stitch and knit the rest

next row, again, slip 1, purl 1, slip 1, until the last stitch, which is purl

next row is slip and knit

continue this way until you have a total of 20 rows, don't panic if you have more.

Count the bigger knit stitches, and if you get 10 of those, you should have a total of 20 rows done.

I will continue later tonight.

Second part of socks

2009-01-21T14:32:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone is interested in making these socks.

I am almost done with the leg part for the other sock, so I can take
pictures, and show what I am doing.

I promised to post the second part today, but looks like life has other plans for me for tonight. Hopefully I'll continue either much later tonight or then tomorrow.

Here is a picture of the other sock that I made before I decided to write the pattern down. At least it might give a better idea how it would look.

Let's knit some socks!

2009-01-20T14:33:00.016-05:00

This will be the first session.

The rest of the sock instructions will follow tomorrow.
This sock is fairly easy to make, after the square cuff.

These will be socks with mitered square cuffs.

You will need

5 dbl pointed needles, 2.5 mm (US 2)

DK / 8 ply Wool/nylon mix yarn
about 400 yrds (390 m) (100 gr)

Gauge: 13 sts = 2" or 5 cm
20 rows = 2" or 5 cm

Size: women's medium (can be adjusted with more/less rows in the foot part)

Cast-on videos here.

First square: Long tail cast on 25 stitches

Knit one row

From here on, every second row (3, 5, 7, 9 etc.) will be knitted (garter stitch)

Row 2: k11, k3 tog, k11 (23 sts)
Row 4: k10, k3 tog, k10 (21 sts)
Row 6: k 9, k3 tog, k9 (19 sts)
Row 8: k 8, k3 tog, k 8 (17 sts)
Row 10: k7, k3 tog, k7 (15 sts)
Row 12: k6, k3 tog, k6 (13 sts)
Row 14: k5, k3 tog, k5 (11 sts)
Row 16: k4, k3 tog, k4 (9 sts)
Row 18: k3, k3 tog, k3 (7 sts)
Row 20: k2, k3 tog, k2 (5 sts)
Row 22: k1, k3 tog, k1 (3 sts)
Row 24: k3 tog (1 st)

One square done.

Do not cut the yarn, instead continue and pick 13 stitches from the side of the square you just finished. Pick the stitches from the loop between the nubby things that come when you knit every stitch, even in the beginning of the row.

You now need to cast on, on the same needle, 12 more stitches. I used Single cast-on.
When you knit these stitches, make sure you twist the loop so that it will form a nice and firm stitch. If you don't, the stitch will be very loopy and stretchy and difficult to hold on to.

Now we have 25 stitches on the needle, let's knit one row, and then continue the same way as on the first square.

You now will have two squares knitted together. Repeat the pick-up from the side, and casting on 12 new ones, amounting to 25 stitches again. You are now ready to start the third square.

Knit the first row and continue as in the first square.

The last square is now ready to go and you will do the same as with the other squares.

When you have finished the 4th square, do not cut the yarn, instead start picking up stitches on the side that has the nubbies showing. Pick up 48 stitches and divide them on 4 needles.

Join the stitches and start stockinette stitch in the round. When ever you feel like doing some whip stitching, join the squares to form a closed cuff.

Scarf Day

2009-01-19T00:49:00.002-05:00

Here is a scarf I created on Sunday. After organizing my sock yarns, and sock WIPs,
I decided to make a scarf instead of finishing any of the socks.

The scarf is called Cascade, and the pattern comes from here.

It was an easy and quick project, and I am delighted that I finished something that I had started.

Oh, and the yarn I used is Alize Angora Special. Unfortunately I could not find a sample in the web to show different shades of this yarn. I know I had bought the yarn many years ago. I just never could make up my mind what to make with it.

Playful Day

2009-01-17T16:58:00.005-05:00

This was a fun Saturday, Hugo came with me to our local crochet group meeting, learned to spin, with Sherri, ate lots of food and spun some yarn (well, play along, ok).
After the meeting Hugo and I went grocery shopping, and he loved it, except when he, by accident,
went inside the frozen vegetables section. Funny, he didn't mind the Ice Cream section.

The pictures will tell the story

Projects done

2009-01-17T08:53:00.008-05:00

This was a one day creation. I cast on Thursday night, and finished
Friday early night.

The other picture is of a Freeform Bag that I made last year, but it didn't have handles. Last night, after the hat, I started working on the handles, and here is the picture. There are some yarn ends to finish and the handle connection is still a mystery, but I will figure it out, eventually.

If you noticed, there is a teddy bear behind the bag. She is going to be Hugo's new play pal. Hopefully the two of them will keep me silly and playful, for at least this month. January is a Playful month in the CED group.

I was creative last night

2009-01-16T10:39:00.002-05:00

Started knitting another teddy bear, but he seemed to develop to a huge bear so I didn't, instead frogged it, and started a hat for my hubby.

Hugo, my teddy bear is helping me here:

Hugo makes me feel silly

2009-01-14T11:52:00.011-05:00

I have decided that playing with my teddy bear, Hugo, is too much fun. I have not done too much of anything else but being creative with him , as in taking pictures. Here are a few of them:

Hugo came to work with me today. Perhaps playing, and being silly would wake up some dormant inspiration.

Playfully creative

2009-01-12T20:39:00.003-05:00

Here is my playful creation. The bear was made some time ago, but his new found activity is knitting, and here he is, knitting a scarf.

Too much socializing

2009-01-12T11:06:00.009-05:00

My hermit-like nature has recently entered a somewhat unfamiliar atmosphere, and that has given me a taste of excitement, and inspiration to explore beyond my quiet cul-de-sac.

I have put myself on an expressway that has exits to other expressways. I have signed up for a CED group, a book group, and I am already involved in two or three crochet groups. (Surprisingly none of them are strictly knitting groups, unless I consider our local, physical knitting group as one. But that does not have a lane on my expressway. That group has its own side street, in a quiet area of a busy metropolis.)

However, I have experienced speed pumps on my road. Some of them have made me to come to a halt completely. Those are the evil doubts in my abilities, my interest in socializing, and unsteady inspiration sprees. I blame my driving skills on these roads. I would like to drive on the slow lane, and watch everyone whizz by, while I am looking for an exit that would take me back to my own street.

It's Monday, and after staying up most of the night, my brain is cramping. I need to go to my cocoon and take a "nap".

Creativity?

2009-01-11T10:00:00.008-05:00

As I was reading CED 2009 blog, there was an interview with Goddess Leonie
She was talking about her own creativity, and what it is for her. I only read a few lines, when I had to stop and think of my own ideas of what creativity is for me. I have to go back to read what else Goddess Lionie is saying, other than her smudges of paint, etc.

Mine:

Tiny pieces of yarn on the floor, on the dining table, in the hallway (don't ask)
some knitting needles and/or crochet hooks under and beside a stack of knitting or crochet magazines, topped with loose pattern leaves
yarn skeins and WIPs in tote bags
almost finished crocheted toy on the table

newly purchased plastic pencil case which is full of color pencils
sketch book by the pencil case

I also think that being creative is going thru everyday life. There are enough turns and obstacles on the way from the morning to the night when you dive in under your blankets and close your eyes trying to catch your sleep. When you close your eyes, do you see images? I do. Sometimes they are blurry, sometimes I see faces going by as on a film strip. That means I must draw something the next day.

I believe that making another person feel good about themselves, treating your co-workers/staff with fairness, requires sometimes some creative skills.

Thus:

In my opinion, creativity isn't only something that is visible, it can be emotional, or physical, too.

Just imagine yourself sitting by your computer, "talking" with your internet friends, and your body starts getting stiff. You do not want to leave the computer, but you have to make some moves to relax your muscles. What do you do? You create a mini exercise program that is done sitting down, while typing. If you are trying it now, it's not that easy, is it? Unless you are a professional exercise guru or choreographer, which I am not.

While thinking of this, I am glancing at my treadmill, in the corner, by the window, covered with my knitting stuff, yarns, magazines, pattern sheets, some tote bags. I could clear the treadmill walkway and start exercising, and getting my few minute walk per day going.

As I will be walking and reading my book, I might listen to my Spanish lessons and creating tonight's dinner in my mind. That is another thing, creating meals. Well, another topic for another time.

But for today:

I will try to be creative, and get on my treadmill and read a book, I will let myself go crazy with all the ideas that are currently brewing in my head. And to think that I was going to go to the movies today, when I have so many fun things to do here at home.

Here is my poor treadmill before clearing the mess:

and some of my "work area" on the dining tableI will post the "after" pictures when I have created something out of this mess.

These are after pictures:

Even little things count in CED

2009-01-10T19:46:00.005-05:00

Today, this morning actually, I felt totally lazy, and did not want to do anything.

Somehow I forced myself to do some knitting, but that was not going well. My needles
gave me a hard time. I could not find a needle that felt good with the project I was working on.

What did I do? I dumped all my straight needles on my bed, and organized them in groups, and then sorted them in sets of sizes,

smallest to 3.75 mm in one set,
4 mm to 6.5 mm in one set,
and 7 mm to 20 yet another set.
I also have quite a few Tunisian crochet
hooks, starting from size 14 (US size) to 5 mm

Let's not to forget the needles that are shorter than 13", they are now in
one container, regardless of the size. However these are not dbl pointed
needles, they are another story, another organization event another day.

I am so glad I did this, and felt as if a great creation was done.

I have been knitting most of my life, starting in my pre-teens and even inherited my
mom's stash, thus my needle stash was fairly sizable.

Of Being Creative

2009-01-09T10:08:00.005-05:00

Last night, at our local knitting group meeting, we were shown how to do slip stitch knitting with two colors. I created the first two patterns with no problem, but then realized that I was getting too self-confident about my knitting skills, and neglected to follow the pattern carefully. Sure enough, my little creation was going the wrong way. Aah, there went my inspiration, too. Of course I had several excuses, like my yarns were not the same weight, well true, one was Dk and the other fingering. What an idiot I am, trying to insert freeform into a clearly-called pattern knitting. Here is one sample how to do slip-stitch knitting with two colors.

I took my freeform scrumbling project from my bag, and started crocheting, and felt much better.
Why is it so hard to follow a pattern, for me, when I think I know what I am doing.

After winning some nice Tangerine color Svale yarn, by Dalegarn of Norway, I was even happier, because I had a project in my mind, immediately. A top for Valen. At home I didn't look too long for a pattern (!!!) because one from Berroco free patterns appeared on my computer screen.
It's called Sherri. I already started knitting it last night.

On the drawing plate, I drew an eye, with color pencil that has several colors in one. Of course the eye looks interesting, but not skillfully created, but a creation nevertheless. No picture
taken, but hey, I don't want to bore anyone with some of my silly drawings.

January Day

2009-01-08T15:50:00.006-05:00

Here is a picture of my view, if I look outside from my window.

On the creative site, nothing is happening today. As if an invisible blanket was thrown over
my imagination cubicle. I went to Walmart this morning before work, and was getting extremely annoyed because there were no knitting needles. Not even one. I wanted to get some for a co-worker, because I could not find the right size in my needle stash. I had some color pencils in my hand, in case I wanted to do some colorful doodling at lunch, but my irritation took over and I put the pencils back and bought nothing.

It is so sad that little things can make my blood boil. I have yet to see that in reality. How does the blood boil in the veins? Must be pretty hot in there. Maybe it's just an expression.

It would have been Elvis' birthday today. I was sure, in my foolish teenage years, that he would see me, and marry me, instead of that Priscilla woman. Well, he didn't, but I'm sure, had he seen me......although he was much older than me, but it didn't matter.

Now I'm stuck admiring Johnny Depp's eyes. He has the best eyes in those pirate movies, and he looks really yummy in Chocolat movie. Leah mentioned this movie in her blog the other day, and now I am determined to watch it as soon as I see it on MTV or HBO, or BlockBusters. Just for the eyes.

I think I will go home and start drawing some eyes. Hey, that is a great idea, isn't it!

Inspiration has speed limits

2009-01-07T14:52:00.008-05:00

I had to stop and think what I did yesterday. "Practically nothing" was the answer. Yesterday has gone unnoticed.

Thus this quick sketch this afternoon

well, well, blogger is not liking my picture, and will not post it....or anything else, BTW, so I posted it in the CED group album @ flickr.

Finally!!! at 7:20 pm.

Drawing all night

2009-01-05T21:48:00.001-05:00

This is what I did tonight

I call her my nature lady.

Forgot to comb my hair

2009-01-05T11:53:00.001-05:00

She has a wavy, curly hair
The curls are done with
much effort to make them
flow around her small face.
The massive hair
takes the attention from
her beady eyes, fake smile and
blotches on her cheeks.
Her gaggling laugh suits
her unfriendly and cold eyes.
It is difficult to capture her
expression in a drawing as it
slithers away like a snake.

Books and magazines

2009-01-04T14:39:00.004-05:00

Do you ever feel like getting out of the house and go nowhere? I did today.

Instead of going to a yarn store, I decided to go to a mall where I could find a store with discount books. Lucky me, I parked my car near the entrance. By the entrance (inside the mall) there is a magazine, smoke, whatever shop. I just quickly glanced at the magazines and there were two that caught my eyes: Verena and Knitter's. Well, I just had to get them to add to my pile of magazines that will be great entertainment when I feel bored, and don't want to knit/crochet/watch telly.

I love my magazines for the nice things inside. Not that I will ever make anything from those patterns. That is not the reason I buy them. I used to buy gossip magazines, and after finished reading the articles, tossed the magazine in the recycle bin. Unfortunately my knitting magazines will not go there, they will stay with me forever. The only time I get rid of a magazine, is if I had
by "accident" bought two of the same. See, that is the problem with my magazines, I buy them,
glance thru and put away. Two weeks later, in a magazine rack, I look at the same magazine, and want it. Oh, well, this does not happen too often, thank goodness, but sometimes.

From that shop I went to the bookstore. I was looking for self-help books, I need those, to become more interesting. I believe that I might be a very boring person.
In that bookstore nothing is in alphabetical order. They have books in type order. Well, if one is looking for a particular self-help book, which was my case, good luck, which was exactly what the
storekeeper said, after I asked if they had this book "How to talk to anyone" He "recalled" seeing it, but didn't know where it was. I spent over half an hour staring at the mishmatched rows of books. Then I gave up and proceeded to hobbies section. There were some knitting books, but, wow, nothing interested me, so I continued towards the middle section where the paperback books on sale were. I found Debbie MaComber's book "Back on Blossom Street".
After reading Sue Grafton's book "T is for Tresspass", I wanted to read something that didn't require going back and forth and skipping pages. Let's hope that Debbie has done at least a similar job as in her book "A Good Yarn" and "The Shop on Blossom Street". To my delight, there is a pattern for a shawl, which I noticed when glanced through the book at Tim Horton's coffee shop.
Oh, and I must mention that I bought, in that same bookstore, a Learn Spanish Deluxe set. Only because there was this magic word on the box: I can load this to my ipod!!!, (I did not pay #39.00 for it, I paid $12.00, haha) it was on my pile of purchases. The Blossom book, a reading book for my granddaughter, and the Spanish lesson set.

After the trip to the bookstore, I decided to take a peek in Chapters store, which was nearby.

I was disappointed with the magazine section, they didn't even have those magazines that I had just bought in a smoke shop, of all the places. However, there was an interesting looking magazine, which I had not seen before, "Living Crafts" I had to get that one, because there was an idea for a Starry Starry Night project. I have to visit LivingCrafts.com and click on Winter 2009 Issue. Which I will do one of these days, I mean click on that. (I did, and saved the project)

I also got the book that I went for "How to Talk to Anyone". Hopefully I will be more talkative when surrounded by any type of people, like co-workers, knitting and crocheting friends, and anyone in general. (if I believe this, then I have truly a very naive personality).

I have not knitted a stitch today, and it might stay that way for the rest of the night. It's time to do some laundry and hope the room isn't too busy.

New Projects

2009-01-02T21:18:00.010-05:00

The two scarves for Special Olympics left this morning. I hope that someone will have some joy from them.

Sherri and I went to Purple Purl today. I have a cowl WIP in my bag, and Sherri had her Lucille with her. Lucille is a device that spins when Sherri steps on the flat foot parts, and the wheel starts spinning, and then there is another thing where the yarn goes, after it has gone thru Sherri's fingers. It's an amazing phenomenon, you must see it yourself. Having this fluffy stuff miraculously transform into luscious yarn is still an amazement for me.

After watching Sherri do her spinning, I started looking around the store, and did not feel knitting anything. I was restless and uninspired. There were too many nice yarns calling my name, but as I had decided, earlier,to buy as little as possible, my calculator in my head was going on overdrive.
The quiet humming of Lucille and variety of yarns staring at me, made me go and touch the softest yarn I have touched for a long time. It was cashmere, in a creamy color, in hanks and balls, with a pink sign beside them promising a 30% discount.

You can imagine someone, who cannot make up their mind immediately, standing and touching those yarns, making calculations, and walking away, but returning in a few moments. I think I made some path dents on the floor when walking back and forth.

I also checked some books that were on sale, and almost bought a book with shawls and scarves, but that cashmere yarn was staring at me from the table: "if you buy that book, you will not be able to buy me" I kept the book by my coffee mug, on the table, and told everyone that it was mine, although not paid for.

After walking restlessly, again, around the yarn shelves, I decided that I didn't need the book, and put it back on the shelf. From there I headed straight to the cashmere table, took two hanks and begged Sherri to make up the decision for me. She didn't, really, but said it was a nice yarn.

I ended up with two hanks, but so did Sherri, LOL.

I am making a big deal out of this yarn, because this is my first ever 100%
cashmere yarn. I have some mixed with merino wool, but it's not the same, or is it? No, because Merino wool comes from a Merino Sheep, and Cashmere comes from a Cashmere goat. (oh, isn't he cute?)

I have not wound the yarn into a workable ball form yet. I am still admiring it on that hank. I am afraid that once it's on a ball I must start working with it. That's the rule, isn't it?

Now, I need to go and finish a scarf...hah, I have not even started it. I forgot completely about the real reason behind checking out yarns at Purple Purl.

I had some charcoal coloured llama yarn that I meant for a cowl for a coworker. However, I was not too sure if a cowl would be to her style, and hence wanted to buy another yarn to make a straight scarf. I found a perfect yarn immediately. Mirasol Qina, from Peru. It's dark charcoal and very soft baby alpaca, 80% and bamboo, 20% The next thing is to find a pattern for it. I bought only one hank. It should be enough for a short and narrow scarf that fits under a coat collar.

I have also started making small Amigurumi animals. My first one is a rabbit. As soon as I am finished with this little toy, I will post a picture of it. Hopefully tomorrow.

Right now I go and check my books for a scarf pattern. You will hear about it, perhaps tomorrow.

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-01T16:15:00.003-05:00

Wishing all my readers and non-readers, lurkers and others a very Happy New Year!

I have been more or less lazy all day, except finishing the second scarf for the Special Olympics in February this year.

I will mail them tomorrow and hope that they will get to their destination in time.

Here are pictures of the second scarf and a picture of the two I made for the Olympics.