TGI - WEEKEND!

What a week. Whew. Thank goodness it’s the weekend! Have I been working on schoolwork since class ended on Friday? Not really. I did go to the National Gallery for a review of their ‘Acting the Part: Photography as Theatre’ exhibit (this is very school related all ye of little faith) and then did some research at Carleton University’s library. I also drafted for an hour last night before SD, S and ML and I went to see the new ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie at 10:10 PM (I thought it was good – very funny – but a bit long). Due to the late night, I slept in this morning, chatted for a bit during breakfast, went for a run, got cleaned up , picked up groceries and just finished making supper for all of us, plus two more, for tonight. The main part of the meal is in a crock pot/slow cooker and as, we’re not eating until after 7:00 PM, it should be ready without me watching it.

Another thing I did this morning was frog this little number again. You would be impressed with my progress if I didn’t keep tinking and frogging the poor darling. I mean, you’d be seeing at least 4" of really impressive knitting by now. I kept having problems having the pattern work out and knit up about 2" twice before I realized that I’d made a mistake on the first row of seed stitch after finishing the ruffled edge. This meant that the next part of the pattern wouldn’t line up properly. I was quite pleased with myself two days ago when I finally figured it out. As you can see though, it’s off the needles again. Why? Because I can’t seem to carry on a semi-intelligent conversation and knit at the same time. Darn it.

I sent a block off on Thursday. They said 2 – 3 business days, Samantha. Then I thought, why knit just one square? I had such a hoot knitting the last one last weekend. It was fast, I got to have fun ‘designing’ and it was finished in no time. Additionally, one of Samantha’s posts this week was about a woman who had sent five blocks (not that I’m competitive…)! I mean, one block seemed paltry. So, off I traipsed to my LYS on Thursday after going to the post office. I went in for one – I repeat one – ball of super wash and, despite the excellent selection, I was leaving with another ball of Mission Falls. Here it is. Gorgeous colour - #028 Pistachio.

Then the trouble began. Louise at my LYS is a pusher/good sales lady (she knows a fibreholic when she sees one). I went in for one ball (which is a little like going to McDonalds and asking for one french fry but, I digress) and walked out with this. It’s all her fault. Can you blame me?!? Look at it!

It’s alpaca. It’s gorgeous. It has superseded the shawl that I showed you in August as a ‘must finish before Christmas’ project. It’s from Misti Alpaca. The pattern I’m using is this one from my LYS – designed by Louise herself (she’s sickeningly creative and a phenomenal knitter to boot). The only problem is that the row of cast on stitches plus the one row of purl stitches that you might be able to see on the needle are as far as I can get without further direction on how to successfully produce an ‘SSK’. Well, there are two problems actually. That little ball makes a WHOLE SCARF for Pete’s sake! It’s thread! I’ve never knit with thread before. I am afraid.

On a less scary note but in keeping with the somewhat scary theme, here’s something that’s been growing in my garden that I’m very proud of. It’s for Halloween.

Congratulations to Elizabeth for ordering the ‘Rainbow Hat’ from Shelridge Farms. I hope you enjoy knitting your three hats as much as I enjoyed making mine. You’re going to need it for your first Vermont winter!