A shout out to all my peeps!

Yo, Peeps! What be up with you bad self, uh?

There are some things a middle aged white woman should never say. The above is a good example.

So, do you think beloved Hubby will get odd looks if I march him into the Yarn Barn to ask for Berocco Plush in Banana? Especially if he's wearing his BDUs(aka, Army camouflage)? The women would be thrilled to see a guy buying yarn. Number one, he's really cute (yes, I'm biased) and he's butch. Yes, he has a great decorating sense, uses 'window treatments' correctly in sentences, and has a copy of the Sound of Music. If there are gay guys for whom the above does NOT apply, stands to reason there are straights for whom it does, right?

Husband will torture me if I don't caveat this with a disclaimer: He has never broken the cellophane on the Sound of Music VHS. The movie was bought not because of the Julie Andrews affection but because Hubs has skied in the mountains featured in the film.

Yesterday was exhausting. I delivered the papers due to Fry and Father having a dinner at the Knights of Columbus. All the people made over our beautiful daughter and she even wore a hint of eyeshadow. She wore her little black dress and insisted she wear my Seascapes shawl. Sigh. I don't like her doing so, not because she'll ruin it but because of the mistakes. She loves it, though.

I had to hurry on the papers because I got to teach an Intermediate class last night. The library was close to home, so that was nice. I don't mind the driving time, but with the tight deadline, I didn't have the hour to get there to spare. Carissa, a student that was at a couple of other classes I taught was there and brought things to show off. She's a sweetheart and I'm hoping she'll come to the Sip, Sit and Knit, because I think she'll fit in fine. Plus, she lives down in that area of town. There was also another repeat from the prior class I taught in the library and she's a sweetheart, too. She's good and asked a ton of questions. The final two students were extreme overachievers. They knew how to knit and purl, but just barely, so in this class they should have been over their heads and frustrated. Nope! The ladies did wonderfully. We did yo, m1, and kfb (knit in front and back) increases. Then did the ssk and k2tog just to see the slants of the decreases. THEN, we mixed it up doing yo's and ssk's together in the same row, so they'll see how easy lace can be. One of the girls asked about psso (pass slipped stitch over) and k,p,k in one stitch. They're all eager for the fall and the advanced class. It'll be fun.

Plans for today? Getting the house cleaned up for tomorrow. There's a Monty Pythonathon on BBC America and I'm using it as an excuse to be a knitting sofa spud. I know I'll regret giving the SS&K group a miss, but...that's two hours knitting time I'm losing out, plus the spike in gas money would buy me a cute skein. Like, the Plush for the Peeps, maybe? ;) In Banana because I'm classic Peep kind of girl.

WIP Note: The Odessa hat is a do-over due to gauge. I kept thinking "Surely it's not supposed to be this small," and no, it's not. Look at the last picture of it I scanned and imagine bigger. Size 5 needles instead of 3s. Duh.

Coming up: Knit Picks Crayon review and finally, my answering MEME for Camie. It's only been in my draft section for days now. :P

It's not me, it's you. All you and all your fault.

I've made several of my triangle shawls on size 15US needles. In several different type of yarns. But this, this is bad. I hate this shawl. It's stretchy to a point where the upper points stretch beyond all reason. It's pretty, though, and Hubby says I look cute when I wear it like a babushka. My cousin will love it, even though I don't.




Ever have project anxiety? It hit me this morning as I looked at all my fabric. I was searching for a dress pattern for Fry's Confirmation. Must be white, must not be too foo foo. She's already not happy at having to wear a tiara/veil thing. I have to be careful in my glee. There's nothing worse than a girl in a sweet fairy princess dress wearing a murderous scowl on her face. There may be some sewing going on around here, first the dress and then me quilting all the pieced tops I've got laying about.

Didn't know I quilted, huh? I quilt in the very loose sense of the word. My edges don't line up like I think they should, but I've got good eye for color going for me. The scraps of fabric inspire me, so once the sewing machine is oiled, the dress made, I'll finish some quilt UFOs.


Oh but the knitting projects. With the shawl done, I'm wanting to finish up the Odessa hat. Then, for April's Project Spectrum, some Spongebob Socks for my father and his birthday. In May, I have some various yarns in seafoam green already allocated to my baby sister. For my just younger than me sister, Toppa, I'm going to have to make something blue to show of her gorgeous blue eyes.

It is soooo nice outside, I can't sit and type any more!

Happy Monday! Shine Worsted Review

How's THAT for an oxymoron? Cool, huh!

I have pictures and that Friday yarn review that I was too lazy to post on the actual day.

Voila'.

This is Knitpick's Shine Worsted. It's prettier in person and like butter to knit. Smooth, shiny, but not slippery, even on the metal needles seen here. Ribbing goes easy, as does purling. I've been doing a lot of circular knitting, so the purl is out of practice. There's been no splitting during the knit, and at $2.50 a ball, it's affordable. This, while cotton, would be better worn than used as a dishcloth. There's no scrubbiness to it and it feels good against the skin.




The only pattern featured on the site for this yarn is a shrug in Terracotta on size 15s. My friend Maenwyn is interested in the pattern. The yarn is lovely and easy enough, plus soft and smooth, that I'd rather use a pattern with more solid fabric. The yarn is that sweet against the skin.

Next Friday, which is really this Friday, I'm reviewing KP's Crayon. This is a buttery little cotton featured in an email I'd received from Knitpicks. The skein already feels like a stuffed animal, and I'm eager to knit this one up.



I'm a pushover for a Grumperina pattern, yes. But this is so lovely! Small, though, and yup, I did check gauge. :DThis is a great yarn, soft and again, sweet. Don't get it wet. Seriously. The stuff smells awful, like the cat peed on it or something. Blame it on the sheep. I'm not fond of how wet sheep or dogs smell. Ick. Still, it dried to a non-smell.


In honor of Project Spectrum March's Pink/Red theme, behold, the bikini! Or not. Really, it's the beginning of a shawl for my cousin. She covets one I made for my mother, and the mix of colors will look beautiful on her. This cousin is so pretty, everything looks good on her, though. :)




We had fun this weekend. Did pretty much nothing. Hubs and I had a date night for a couple of hours. Ate at an Indian place, then hung out at Barnes and Noble. Saturday was the knitting group, great as always. Sunday, grocery shopping while hungry. Bad,yes, but the cubords were bare, sort of. That's code for "We only had real food, no quick dinners or snacks."

Cameras are good, m'kayyy.

I love South Park's Mr. Mackey. Too funny!

I also adore Chelle! See what she sent me? Mom's Jaywalkers in progress. Sometime, I'm going to HAVE to join the 21st century and get a working digital camera. Ah well.

Do Over!

Darn uht! I had this whole post done, complete with next project news, the unravelling of the grey sweater, and then MSN dumped me out. Below is what Blogger could recover. Ah well, I needed to get off the computer and get going anyway. Crumbs.

What a wonderful time! Fry and I went on an epic road trip where we were spoiled rotten before coming back home. Mom and Dad fixed us fantastic meals, we slept in, and were their little babies. Once home, Hubs had cleaned up the kitchen, which was very nice. He missed us but drowned himself in geneaology. He goes on these ancestor jags where everyone who ever fought in a war must be registered. He's already a Son of the American Revolution several times over, but has to have every single guy in the rolls. I told him that it was silly, how many guys does he have to be decended from, but then, my own yarn addiction sprung to mind. Case closed. :D

Speaking of which! Mom was very sweet and patient while looking at my Knit Picks stash, and then the Socks that Rock skeins. Dad loved the STRs, too. I had in mind the Red Rock Canyon colorway in mind for him, once I could bear to take off the cute little labels. I suppose I'm going to have to order a whole bunch more colors, just to knit the ones I do have. ::insert innocent look here:: In the meantime, I'm doing a swatch of the Knit Picks Shine worsted for Maenwyn in our knitting group. I'll probably do that as a review tomorrow for the blog, plus bring Ms. M a little ball of the stuff to play with. Like Elann.com sends out in their samples newsletter. I might need to sign up with that again. There's nothing better than getting surprise yarn in the mail, even if it's in bits.

Mom has the picture of a family of Jaywalkers! Hers are done. The knitting group saw them, but I didn't even scan them in. Der! She loves them, and they're sturdy so she can wear them all the time. Plus, I have an entire skein left over, so if one should get snagged on a heater vent, they're easily replaced or repaired. Here's where I found this particular yarn. It's very inexpensive, yet has wool in it. I want do make socks from this in every color, but since I'm doing that with Moda Dea already... I might wait on that. ;)

Chelle, you're so sweet to worry! We got to Oklahoma just fine, and in time for the next day's tornadoes. They were a county away at the closest. Then, we left early enough yesterday to avoid the snow.

Road Trip!!

Tomorrow, Fry and I will undergo an epic journey. A saga of grand proportions. Armed with only a new Nintendo DS and an MP3 player, we will drive across the frozen tundra to the ever popular Gran and Pop's.

Gran, unlike us over here in the 18th century, has a digital camera. Fry and I are packing our Jaywalkers so that we can have her take our group foot photo. Once back home, I'll post it here and send it for Grumperina's gallery. I can't wait!

The Sit Sip and Knit group are a bunch of sweethearts. We had a lot of fun and everyone is so talented. I always get yarn envy when I go, the projects in progress are so cool.

I need to post pictures of the stash enhancement from Friday's oil change (our mechanic is a block away from a yarn store and a wonderful bead store). But, Law & Order: SVU is on and Mom's birthday present is in my lap, distracting me. There's also a huge stack of paperwork on the kitchen island begging my attention, never mind the packing I need to do before 10:30am tomorrow. Wonder if I can swing by Knit Wit tomorrow on our way out of town without Fry getting grumpy at Mom hanging out at a yarn store? ;)

Bad Blog! No Soup For You!

Blogger's been down for a couple of days, it's not me being too lazy or wrapped up in Sims 2 to update. Paper route and teaching a class on Thursday, Fry out early for spring break today. With us going to Gran and Pop's on Sunday, there was an oil change, shopping, and then we're having dinner at Jose Pepper's tonight. Nothing says St. Pat's day like Mexican food. Ole'!

Note to Gran: Fry was NOT happy that most UK citizens call their grans "Gran". Her gran is THEEE Gran.

Irish Gaelic is the worst to spell. I can say a few phrases, but type or write them? Nooooo. In honor of Saint Patrick's day, I'll tell you how to say it. Phonetically, it's Lyle ah Porrick. "Lyle ah" sounds like one word on my Irish tape. What's really fun is to listen to Radio ah Gaelgah (again, how it sounds, not spells) and hear words that are familiar. I'm always surprised, because that means I'm actually learning. Who'da thought?

Tomorrow is a birthday party for Fry to attend while I'm off at the knitting group. I'm returning "A Good Yarn" and working on Mom's present. I'm dying to start something else, but must stay focused. By Monday I'll have started something red/pink for the new knitalong, Project Spectrum. That, and I'm pinning down the family this weekend for the great grey unravelling.

Off in the distance, I hear it. In the direction of Jose Pepper's... Guacamole calls my name...

From zero to postal in sixty seconds

I swear to God, if I get one more f*ing call from "Computer Literacy and Benefits Program", I will drive to Denver, if that's where they really are, and kick their Punjabi asses. They called TWICE today, waking me from a nap both times. Why napping? Because I'm beat! I've caught Hub's cold and don't know how he stayed awake through it. I'm a zombie woman.

The two times I was called today were number five and six. Six times I've told these bastards, all named "John", "David", "Sam" or some other piece of shit 'Americanized' name, that no, I don't want a 'free' computer (for $299), a 'free for life' internet connection (at $24 a month), and 'free' $1000 (for God knows how much). Do not want it, am on the state and federal do-not-call lists (which does NO good in this case), and have TOLD them clearly "Do NOT call this number again, I'm NOT interested".

Not only is the daily call for this scam pissing me off, the fact they can barely speak English enrages me. Most of our larger companies' call centers are already IN India. THOSE people can speak English well enough for me to understand them. If they're going to scam me, at LEAST be clear in the enunciation. Even better is that this internet company doesn't have a website or domain name, I couldn't speak to a manager, and they wouldn't give me a phone number to call until I had a confirmation code. That probably meant I needed to hand over a credit card number.

The upshot is, if some Bollywood reject calls and harasses you to take one of their free computers, tell them to fuck off. So far, nice, then firm, then angry language hasn't worked. Next time, it'll have to be foul.

Sorry Mom. I think I've been very nice until now by not telling them that if they continue to call, I'll shove that computer so far up their ass they'll be shitting floppies for a week. It's silly I know, but a girl can dream.

If I don't answer the phone, use my cell number. It's all right. I think the extra cell charges would be worth not having to listen to some foreign huckster.

I do have a few friends from India and can understand their accents. This particular brand of telemarketers piss me off because they insult me with their adopted names and laziness in learning the scammee's language.


Right. In other news, I'm still working on Mom's birthday present. Shhhhh, to those who got to see it on Saturday. Chelle took a wonderful picture of my ill gotten gains from Knit Picks. Thankfully, Jen put the skeins of sock yarn back. You can see her holding them in the left of the picture. Every Friday I'm planning on typing up a review of each yarn there. I tried to get as neutral colors as possible, just so there's no color bias. We compared Socks that Rock (STR)yarns, totally fun. I think Jen is excited to be in the official STR club. At any rate, I'm thrilled for her. It'll be great to see what she brings in every quarter.

Fry had a program today. She's so cute, singing in the school choir. We had to suffer through a PTA meeting to get to the good stuff, and Fry was worth it. On Saturday, she was thrilled when Chelle asked if she was 'Fry'. Chelle herself has a tall, lovely daughter. I'm always amazed when women my age have teenagers for children. We just CAN'T be old enough! I mean!

I'd better go wash my face before bedtime and apply the anti-aging goo with a putty knife. :D

Update before I go back to bed

I've got another cold. It won't kill me, but of course I think I'm gonna die anyway. :P My lower back is hurting, meaning it's workout time. It only hurts when I need to exercise. I'm going back to bed anyway, because of the cold.

We had some serious storms yesterday! Poor Fry had to do collections then, because she'd put it off until the last day. A tornadic thunderstorm would roll through, she and her dad would come back home. After it passed, off they'd go. I helped with one round, and she did pretty good, considering. I know people thought we were crazy. We were only two blocks from home at all times, plus, I know enough about the weather to be safe. There's also a tornado siren practically in our back yard, making it even easier. The fun thing is, we can hear the sirens in the next county over, so when they go off, we know to watch out. I've already emailed Chelle about the golf ball hailstones. There were a very few, we were lucky, and most of the bigger ones were dime to pea sized. Loud, but not bad. We parked the pickup as far is as possible, and it was cute, because one of our other neighbors did the same thing. We have a lot of stuff for bulky item pick up, which is why I can't fit the pickup in there.

Something to add to the "Things I don't want to do" list.

I did start on the project list, then was distracted. Friday really was Fryday, she woke up in the wee hours very ill. Which made all of us ill as a result. You won't want details. So she was home all day. Then Saturday I got to go to the knitting group, then to a dinner with the Knight of Columbus. It's a group of patriotic Catholic men, which is why Hubs is a member, since he's both. You know it's going to be boring when the main speaker thanks the waitstaff. Um, yeah. They're not volunteers, so they're being paid to be good. Sheesh. This is going to sound mean, but it bugs me when speakers tell an internet joke as if it really happened to one of the people there. Yet again, um, yeah.

Hobby Lobby has another half price knitting and crochet notions sale this week. Other than class supplies, I'd like to get quite a few size 8 double pointeds for the re-do on the grey sweater. I know, sad to unravel, but true. My unravel party didn't work out and won't work out for the next couple of days. Fry and Dad are busy, so I'll have to rope them in on Wednesday. Unless I get impatient and do it myself, tangled yarn and all.

Mom's present is progressing nicely. I'm hoping to have it ready when we go to visit, probably the week of March 20. Fingers crossed that Fry won't have PSR (Catholic class) or Karate due to spring break. She has a party to attend on the 18th, then newspapers the following Thursday, so I'm hoping Sunday-Wednesday for the Oklahoma visit.

Good thing: Meds are working. Bad thing: I'm getting verrrry sleepy. Nap time, then clean time, and by then, Fry time.

Torturous Thursday

Sounds like it should be Torturous Tuesday, doesn't it? Nope! When there's a newspaper delivery day AND company coming over to hog out computer all evening, it's torture no matter what the day. Back story: Hubby makes calls to other Knits, uh, Knights of Columbus potential members to see if they want to join up with K of C and K of C insurance. Then the insurance agent trots off to harrass chat with them for a few hours about insurance. Our computer and his need to connect via SQL and the boys are having problems making it work. Since I'm a stay at home mom (SAHM), I couldn't possibly know how to help them.


We will pause here to let family members scoff. Last time the guy was here, they had trouble pinging the server. Probably because the guy wasn't sure if it was connected or even turned on. Come on, I mean, I had to ask if there was anything for our computer to hit, since the connection couldn't be completed from our end. When all else fails, make sure the device is plugged in. So, hopefully, they'll get done whatever it is they need to do tonight. Fry and I will be wiped out from paper delivery. We will probably hide out in the master bedroom eating fast food and watching TV.

Mom's birthday present is progressing nicely. I will have to start another project, if only to post progress pictures. Chelle asked if I'll redo the grey sweater right away or wait. Yes to both is what I want to answer. I don't care for do-overs, but this one is really nagging me. Even in a tiny size, I love the sweater, so I'll probably re-start it tomorrow.

All right, I did promise a project list and will post it later today. I totally pooped off last night, goofing around, watching South Park, eating fat & sugarfree ice cream, and working on Mom's present.

Everyone in my family is scared I'll post their weight numbers. Buh wa ha ha ha haaaaa! No, I won't. 99% of the time I really do try to keep the dirty laundry out of here unless it's only my own. For myself, I don't mind telling the world that I weigh 160 this week (grams, ha ha!). Being open about this keeps me away from the Cheesecake Factory, as in, to self: "If you eat the Thai Lettuce Wraps, the Chicken Caesar salad, AND tiramisu cheesecake, the numbers will be baaaad." I would post the other measurements, but they're the same as last week. No loss, but no gain, either.

We're having a party!

There's three of us, there's three colors in the sad grey sweater. Perfect for an unraveling party, don't you think? I confessed to Snow, and now I'll confess to the world...

When in high school, I took Future Farmers of America, not Future Homemakers of America. Besides wanting to be a veternarian, I vowed never to be domesticated.

It's ok, I'll wait until you finish laughing at my cooking, vacuuming, knitting ass.

Right. Even now, I know the difference between a Tamshire and a Duroc. We had Berkshires, THE cutest pigs ever.

Why all this? Hopefully, it'll explain why I don't know the difference between chest and FINISHED chest measurements. Well, of course I want to look at FINISHED chest, right? I want to finish. Nope. Chest is your chest right now, finished is when it's done and fits loosely. I should have known when drew close to finishing the sweater and had yarn left over. 300 yards to be exact.

Thus, the unknitting party for tonight. I'll take the main grey and let the other two have the other two colors since there's less of that. No need in torturing the family. For the yoke this time, I'm going extremely old fashioned and using doublepointed instead of circulars.

What's on the needles now? My grey sweater was my last UFO. Of course I HAD to cast on something new yesterday evening. I'm not even going to hint at it, since my darling Mom's birthday is in a month or so. It's already rather pretty, even better than I'd hoped, thankfully.

For fun tomorrow, I'll post a list of projects in the living room, waiting for me to knit up.

Bad sweater! Bad!

Not until I bound off could I tell that there was a marked change between the circular and dpn use. Same size, different result. Grrr. Not only that, but I slavishly followed the pattern, did gauge, and the only person this will fit is the cat. Fry inherited my linebacker shoulders, so there's no way. I could undo the yoke part, then increase the pattern repeats. The hell of it is, this is supposed to be a ladies' medium with a 42" chest. If I'd not done a test swatch, I'd say, ok, I'm an eeeediot, but I did check. The collar rolls, due to the joy of stockinette stitch, but that would be a lot easier to extend than ripping down to the beginning of the yoke.

I am NOT a happy camper.

Thus, I must go love on my newest yarn...

What are these people thinking? Knit SOCKS with this? Put them on my FEET? Walk on the FLOOR? Puhleeeze! This is yarn worthy of placing on an altar with golden needles as adornment. I don't know if any picture can do justice to these colors, they're the prettiest I've seen in real life. :) What if I knit up something with these, like the grey sweater and totally 'f' it up? I can't even take off the cute little labels!






Grrr. Stupid pattern. I'm going to brood over the grey sweater for a while. Maybe my smallest cousin can wear it. She's a tiny little girl and this WOULD be cute on her. Next winter of course. :P

Water park, grey sweater blues, and Mercury retrograde.

In honor of Mercury going retrograde, let's start with the last thing first. For non-astrologer types, this is when Mercury appears to be backing up in the night sky, due to the movements of the planets. For a more detailed explanation, I'll need a basketball, tennis ball, and a marble.

Supposedly, when Mercury goes retrograde, communications foul up in the worst way. Checks in the mail get lost, emails get bounced, people think you said "Stay out of any whores," when you actually said, "Stay out of any wars." Things like that. I tend to get really quiet (for me) and not chat or email much. Nor blog. I tend to want to cocoon instead of run around. I'm betting it's more of a lazy phase than anything astrological, but then, stranger things have happened.

Now, on to the grey sweater. I was going like gangbusters, doing great, when I noticed I'd skipped a row in the pattern. So, I un-knit three rows, then did the row I'd missed. Oh joy. Then a row or two later, I'd discovered I was off a stitch. Un-knit and fixed. Next row after the newly fixed, off again. I was calm through all this, thinking this is what I deserve for paying more attention to Law & Order:SVU than to the color counts. After the second or third time of me saying, "I goofed again, dang it," my dear Hubby asked, "Does it really matter if you're off by one?" I loudly replied, "Yes. It DOES matter, it matters to me!" Then, I took a deep breath and said, "Thanks, I really needed to say that." I'm thinking he was just happy I'd not thrown heavy objects or cursed at the top of my lungs. I seriously was calm through all this, oddly enough. When I'd goofed up on nearly an entire row, by ONE stinking stitch of course, I changed the to-knit stitch to the correct color, put it back on the left hand needle, then knit it. The nice aspect was that being off just a bit meant only having to change 4 stitches out of a 10 stitch repeat. This is why the back of the work isn't nice and straight, and why some of the stitches in the front aren't perfect.

Grr. So anyway, the Water Park. Fry went to a birthday party where there's an indoor water park in the hotel. Very wilderness oriented and quiet lovely. The first thing she said to me on Saturday after getting there was, "This is awesome, Mom. It's totally worth the money! There's internet, Nintendo, HBO, way cool!" The rooms run about $270 a night, which includes access to the water park as well. Ok in the winter, but the outdoor water park is less expensive. Still, the cost would be worth it if there were more than three of us in our family and we didn't live 10 miles away. My sister's friend had a special deal where it cost $80 for the same room with admission for four to the park, perfect for a kid's birthday party.

With all the activity Fry had on Saturday and how late she'd got back, she had an hour that evening to play. I know, very sad. Still, the way she ran around reminded me of Eric Cartman of South Park when he went to Casa Bonita's. She hit the ground running. They woke up early the next morning and by 1 in the afternoon, she was ready to go. Mostly. Toppa and I were sitting, watching Fry run around that next afternoon. A guy, who was thin but looked like he was three to four months pregnant, walked slowly past us, checking us out. Once he finally passed, I said sotto voice to Top, "Keep moving, keeeeep moving." A lot of guys were checking us out, in fact. Really odd. I expect it in a singles club or bar, but in a family water park? Not gonna happen.

I've put off the Monday house swabbing long enough, I suppose. Bleh.

Oh yes, baby, yes! Send it to me!

Ahem, what? It's yarn porn, of course.

"Blue Moon Fiber Arts Inc. used PayPal Shipping with U.S. Postal Service to create a shipping label for your package. Once the package is given to the Post Office(tm), it will be on its way to you!"

I didn't even have to ask.

Checking in at long last

Have I been busy? Well, yes and no. The expansion pack for the Sims 2 came in, installed, had some problems, I fixed them and have been playing ever since. While screens load, I knit. In the meantime, I managed to leave Sleeve island and start the yoke! I'm four rows into it so far. It started as 232 stitches around, but has been decreased and will continue to be decreased until 80 stitches. The Mitts really helped prepare me for fair isle color changes.

I ordered sock yarn from both Joann's and Blue Mountain Fiber Arts on Wednesday of last week. Joann's is here, but the Blue Mountain's is not. I'm tempted to email or call and ask "Is it there, yet?" like a little kid with a full bladder, but won't.

On to answering the questions in comments: Thanks for the suggestions on classes, Chelle. The library has given me permission to do whatever I want, and lace would be fun. If I do teach anything more advanced, I put the requirements in the class description so that no one is unpleasantly surprised.

Camie, knitting in the round then cutting arm holes is called steeking and nooooooo. I've read the instructions, know the 'how to', but have been too chicken so far. Since I haven't steeked and since it scares me, I'm going to have to do a steek project. You enabler, you, I've perusing the Knit Picks website and love the Palette yarn. The Palette Sampler is on my wish list in a bad way! It's 100% alpaca wool like Elann's Peruvian Alpaca. I'm really liking the price of Knit Pick's though. The supply of their colors stay constant, too, which is another good thing. Knit Picks has a LOT of fans, so.... Yeah, I'm going to have to order some and see how it works up. Not because I'm a yarn junkie or anything...

The Sip Sit and Knit gathering is something I'm missing this week, sadly. If I pushed, I could go, but with Fry going to the Great Wolf Lodge for a party, she and Hubby meeting with the Bishop (a requirement for her Easter Catholic commitments), and the lure of having the house to myself... Yeah, Fry and Hubs are doing all the activity, but everyone who's a mom knows that I'm the behind the scenes gal. For every "Where's my..?", I have the answer. The weather is cool and rainy, perfect for knitting a grey sweater. I do miss the group, though. They're really an interesting group of women, and I need the socialization.

I didn't mention the two classes I taught last week. A "Wrap it Up" class for finishing the unfinishable, then a beginner's knit. One person came to the Wrap class, not the best, but fun anyway. With tiny classes, the pace is as fast or slow as the group allows.

More later. I have a round of dishes to do and people to help get ready.