… you will have to look else where today.
Well, if you like rain, sleet, or snow – you have come to the right place. We had a bit of all of them today.
It was a lazy Sunday – some knitting, some spinning.
There was some puppy snuggle time too!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Hello Everyone!
I started a “live” knit along this morning. A LYS in our area is having a “block a month” knit along for the Manos Four Season Afgan. I joined in the hope that the group motivation will keep me inspired to knit the afgan, which I will have finished in December of this year! One square a month seems entirely doable to me and not at all a daunting task.
It was so much fun to see the color selections my fellow knitters selected.
I am doing this with Blogless Mary, Ann, and Ann’s friend Alice.
And, this morning – the topic came up about knitting styles and speed…
Yes, the great debate.
Continental or English, which is faster.
I came down on the side that neither one is faster than the other – but I believed that The Harlot could beat, hands down, anyone knitting either style. But, The Harlot aside – I think that all of us – whether we knit continental or english style – knit a relatively the same speed.
So, I am opening this up for your comments – what do you think. Is one style of knitting faster than the other? And, if you think it is – what is your proof for your theory…
I am waiting to hear your thoughts!
When life tries to give you lemons – knitting with your own homespun yarn takes all the sourness out of the day.
Add to that a good dose of Grey’s Anatomy and ER and suddenly I’ve got the world on a string – merino string!
Have a good Friday everyone!
Hello Everyone!
Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go in any direction that you think it should? In fact, the direction it takes is not even one you imagined in the “it could be worse” thoughts – because it is worse than you imagined?
Well, that would be my day today.
Yep. Fan-dang-tabulous!
It started off fabulously – the dishwasher was leaking all over the kitchen floor. Of course, I did not notice this until the floor was more wet than not….
Then, as I am rushing around to meet a friend for lunch – I had sent her a referral that just closed and she called saying she’d like to take me to lunch to talk about a few things…
A warning light should have gone off in my head… I think it may have, but I ignored it.
Yeah, that was brilliant, huh?
Well anyway – to get back to the rushing around – and remember that water on the floor – yeah.
Graceful, Thy name is not Kat.
Add to the list of things to do – Stop at the drug store to get some Aleve….
I am just thankful that I cannot hear dogs and cats laughing – and that they don’t know how to take pictures with my camera – yet.
Anyways – I get myself ready and head out to lunch and if any of you know Holland, then you know parking spots at the noon hour are a hot commodity. So, in an effort to not be late, I headed downtown 30 minutes before our meeting time.
25 minutes later I was parking a dozen or so blocks away from the restaurant and there was no way on earth that I could walk those dozen blocks in five minutes. But, I am hurrying.
No, I did not fall. Thank heavens.
But, I arrived so out of breath, one would have thought I had just run a marathon. Sweat is pouring off me and I am sure I no longer look like I spent any time getting ready for lunch. I am just praying that my Secret does not fail me now!
The lunch started out quite nicely – you know, those inane comments that we call small talk… of course conversation eventually came around to what she wanted to talk about and she then hit me with her news – which is not bad news. She is attending church. The catch is, she wants to haul me to church with her. Now, hear me out, gentle reader – don’t blast me for this. I gently inform her as I listen to her excitement in her newly found faith, that I have a church home. She presses on, maybe they are giving away prizes for the person who brings the most people on Sunday…. I don’t know. But, she presses on – asks me where I go, and then informs me that that is not a real church. Yes, you read that right – not a real church. Now I want to say something not very nice at this point in time, but I bite my tongue. She presses onward – boldly. She asks me when I was saved. I inwardly take a deep breath and ask for help – LOTS of help. I share with her, honestly, that I cannot remember a time when I did not believe. And, I try valiantly to change the conversation from focusing on me, to her sharing her excitement of her new-found faith. It did not work. This was the longest lunch I have ever had. Lunch ended with her inviting me to join her Book Club – so, I did not loose this friend. For which I am thankful. But, I am not certain that I want to go to a meeting where she can lambast me about religion either. FYI – my church that is not a real church – Lutheran.
Then, as I headed to my next destination – which I should have never done in the mood I was in – but I needed to clear up some things that were hanging, unresolved. The resolution was not fabulous. I did some work for some friends and they do not want to pay me cash – they’d prefer to pay me in goods – goods at full price. I am not sure how that would sit with any of you – but it does not sit well with me – at all.
So, to avoid any more calamities – I am not heading out anywhere tonight. No Knit Night. I am pouring myself a large glass of wine, putting my jammies on, and not tempting fate any more. I am not running the washing machine – in case that decides to leak too!
But, it has started raining – does anyone know how to build an ark?????
Hello Everyone!
I am managing to stay current in Blog 365.
I have “A” completed for the ABC Along.
I have spent some time each day to spin, which works for NaspiMoMo – National Spin More Month.
Whew – this is almost like a job!!
I have spun up some Kid Mohair that I got for a song from someone who was stash busting. It is from Koenig Farms. Mohair is a bit slippery to spin, but the halo on the finished product is really lovely. One draw back to this fiber – vegetable matter. The stuff was filled with it! Yeah, picking out pieces of wood, straw, and whatever’s was oh so much fun – not.
The color is not great – but it has shades of purples, blues, and very pale yellows.
Then, I finished spinning and plying some Merino that I got from the same source – there was just over a pound of merino – so I ended up with a good quantity of yarn.
Much more purples in this fiber – and some great greens. I need to set the twist yet on these skeins, but once it is dry – I want to swatch some of this up. I still have some “thick and thin” spots, but all in all, I am very happy with the end result.
I also have spun up some pencil rovings – in two different shades. One all orangy in the shades, the other greens. I want to knit this up into the Chevron Scarf – and it will be my St. Paddy’s Day scarf – The Orange and The Green. I should fit in with any crowd then, don’t you think?
Hmmm, I thought I had a photo of the orange – I will have to get one on here. I am extremely pleased with the consistancy of this yarn. These colors are right up my alley – and a bit of weekend knitting should have the Chevron Scarf completed in short order!
Then, one last high light from St. Distaff’s Day – my friend Rob did some dyeing demonstrations during the day. He dyed some superwash merino roving, one of which you see below. I am excited to spin this up. There are long color runs, but I am thinking that I am going to spin each color by itself and then ply 2 colors together…. stay tuned for progress on this!
Lest you all think that there is not job hunting going on here at the Home for the Unemployed, never fear. Job hunting is part of my morning routine. One cup of coffee and I head over to Monster.com each morning to check what new jobs I can apply for. Then heading over to the Michigan Talent Bank to see what new jobs are there – there are not so many here, but I look daily! Then, I direct my mouse to mLive.com to see what is available there.
Who ever thought looking for a job would be so unproductive!
I then reward myself with a bit of blog reading and some Ravelry play time.
Okay, I am off to knit on my Nordic Star Socks – I am through the second pattern set and about to begin the third pattern – the heel is looming in my sight! 9 short rows to go.
I will post a photo tomorrow to show you my progress!
Have a good one all!
Hello Everyone! It is just pouring outside – and I mean pouring. There is a river flowing through my backyard. I’d take a picture, but it is raining too hard!!
We had thunderstorms roll through last night and had some tornado warnings north of us. Yes, it is January in Michigan. We lost our power at about 3AM and did not regain power until about 6:30AM. Strange weather I am telling you.
I spent last night watching The Game and I was spinning away to watch the LSU Tigers emerge victorious over OSU. Nothing strange about that! And, it made this U of M fan exceedingly happy! This closes the door on college football until the fall – a bittersweet thing. I enjoy college football a tremendous amount! However – fortunately college basketball is heating up and March Madness is on the the horizon.
I notice that several blogs are posting about the political antics of the Caucus and the Primaries that are going on. Michigan jumps into the fray next week Tuesday with our primary. I am looking for the knitter amongst the candidates, and I see nary a one. I really want to know what are their thoughts on fiber and all things fiber related. I personally think that if there was more knitting time in the White House and Congress – life would be much more genteel. I mean, think of this gentle readers – if the President worked on a nationwide knit along, how much more focused would they all be?! He could even think globally and take a page from International swaps that would bring people together in a wonderfully creative way. After all, it would be kind of hard to fight with someone you are knitting something for. I’d like to invite any of the candidates to come spend some time in any knitting group – I know they would all be welcoming. Heavens, if they don’t know how to knit – don’t worry, someone will gladly share their love of the craft. They’d be knitting in no time. So, if you are truly a candidate interested in my vote – leave me a comment and I will get you directions to my Thursday night Knit Group. I will save you a seat!!
Have a good day all!
