« September 2007 | Main | November 2007 »
Beautiful sunsets are a rare sighting from our deck. In the summer, the sun sets past the neighbors evergreens. In the autumn and winter, when the sun sets farther south, we usually have cloudy weather that completely obliterates the final sparks of light. But, the last few days have been oddly clear and we have soaked in the sunshine and the unexpected beauty it has given us.
Sunday night ended with this spectacular show.
Today, I had this view from my office to enjoy all day long!
My goal for the weekend was to finish my pair of Moccasin Socks as the November project in The Knitter's Almanac. I'm determined to stay ahead of the Elizabeth's Year group in order to be able to help. Bit egotistical but it seems to me that if you start a group, you have a certain responsibility to be a guide.
Here is the little hitch in my plans. It turns out that the Moccasin Socks are the first Elizabeth Zimmermann disappointment I have experienced in over twenty years of EZ adoration. It was quite a crisis of faith on Sunday morning, appropriate day, don't you think? Anyway, I had finished the first sock Saturday afternoon. The thought of finishing off the second one made me feel like someone had told me I had to clean the refrigerator, do several loads of laundry, and get my teeth cleaned all in the same day. In fact, I did the refrigerator and laundry as stall tactics rather than sit down and knit.
Finally, I had an epiphany! Don't finish the second sock!!! I had enough information to help the EZ knitters and an opinion to share. By 10:00 Sunday morning, I was curled up on the sofa happily knitting the Moderne Baby Blanket. Simple garter stitch that allowed me to also read a cozy mystery. Now, that is what knitting is supposed to be on a sunny, autumn afternoon.
I did take progress photos that I have added to my instruction page. It is on my sidebar if you want to take a look.
I walked into my office this morning and noticed my shawl draped over the back of my chair. Isn't that perfect! Exactly how I wanted this shawl to fit into my life. Easily accessable, functional, pretty, flattering and comforting. Pretty much defines why I knit.
Speaking of comforting, Karen and Xena have an interesting ritual. Karen picks her up, flips her onto her back, Xena wraps her paws around Karen's arm so she can't get away and then cleans her hand. Apparently Xena feels Karen is lax in her hygiene routine.
Plans for the weekend? I will be knitting my Moccasin Socks. Don't worry, I will take lots of photos. The challenge will be to figure out where I left off before I mis-placed them for a couple of days. I tried last night but the instructions seemed to beyond my understanding. I'm sure it will all be clear Saturday morning.
Yet another grandbaby photo.
By the way, I found my socks! I had put them in a knitting bag/purse and then put it on a shelf with other purses. The only reason I found them was that I literally went through everything in my closet no matter how odd it seemed. I found all sorts of interesting things!
My friend, Elizabeth, is on bed rest as she finishes off her pregnancy. That means she has time to wander around the internet and send me tempting little goodies like this -
Well, dear knitting friend, I would have finished them if I had be able to FIND THEM!! Honestly, the short term memory thing is becoming a nuisance! Obviously I had been knitting them last week. But, when I wanted to start knitting Saturday morning, Nothing, Nada, Gone, Lost! I spent an hour wandering around the house trying to find them - closets, cars, behind chairs, by the bed, etc. Then I thought that maybe I had taken them into the office. Fine, I could happily work on the Moderne Baby Blanket through a rainy, cold, football infused weekend.
Walked into the office this morning - no moccasin socks! Really, nothing!! Time for a new plan. I will go home tonight, clip my iPod onto my slacks and calmly listen to a good audio book as I search every inch of my house. I may even check out the produce drawers in the refrigerator.
The good news? I made serious progress on the baby blanket.
Since I have not exactly been productive this month, I've decided to skip October's project - Collared Pullover. Instead, I am moving ahead to November - Moccasin Socks. That way, I can be ahead of the Yahoo group and be able to give some advice.
I took some Swish DK home with me Monday night and started knitting Tuesday morning. I have to say, these socks are very fast to knit!! I am less than thrilled with the colors (grey and blue) but they were all I could find around the office.
For now, I'll just share some photos. I will set up a sidebar page with all the photos and knitting notes.
I debated not sharing this photo but decided it would provide humor for one and all. Would you believe that the incisions for my surgery are so small they don't need stitches? Instead, the surgeon used "hot glue" (my term for it). Seriously, it looks like clear glue. The only drawback is that I couldn't take a shower for three days! Umm, can you say, "Bed head"? Monday morning I was in the shower at 6:00!
Back in the office!
By Tuesday, I absolutely had to get out of the house. Tina gave me a perfect excuse by tempting me with planning yarns for Spring 2008.
I can't believe the serendipity of my knitting the last couple of weeks. I received my yarn for the Moderne Baby Blanket one week, got sick the next week and then had surgery the week after that! Just the sort of real-life situation that begs for miles and miles of garter stitch knitting. Here is the status of the blanket before heading into surgery. I changed the cream color for Sand Dune because the cream ended up being the edging color on my first blanket and I didn't think that was such a good idea for something that is going to be drug around by a child.
When I get back, I hope to have lots more to show you and the beginning of my EZ October project.
Just to keep things interesting around here, I set up a couple of small entries to come up while I was recuperating from surgery. I like that nifty trick!
Our needle manufacturer was visiting earlier this week. While we were sitting around planning new needle designs for next year, I thought you might like a shot of us hard at work. Yes, you would like a photo of the new needles even more but you will have to be patient -- until next August. What can I say? It takes a lot of organization, planning, prototypes and time to get everything ready for you. From left to right - Bob's back, Tina, Xena, Diedre and Mr. Jain. That's my knitting bag next to my chair. It was a long and "productive" meeting for me!