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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Once again

The time draws near for the drawing; I'll put up some photos of the lovely finished stitchmarkers:




Odd, I could have sworn I'd already posted some pictures of these. I guess they've just been on my mind so much, it seemed like a "done" thing. Well, be sure to comment on the 2/26/11 post in order to be in a drawing for these cuties. The little buttons are only .25" across; I've used them on baby booties--too tiny & sweet! Disco got a little carried away, and there are 7 stitch markers in that set. She's so silly--the alphabetic set will include "LDIR" after the Harlot's response to knitting that's kicking her arse. I may get her to include "MSB" also; if you can tell me what these abbreviations mean, you're a real Harlot follower!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A quickie

Please send good thoughts (if not prayers) out to Laurie aka Crazy Aunt Purl. The universe seems to have picked her out for more than her share of unpleasantness, which is a d**n shame 'coz she's such a nice lady. Go over to Wendy Johnson's blog, http://wendyknits.net/, & take a look at her Japanese Garden shawl -- one lucky commentor to my 2/26/11 post will win a copy of the pattern! If you're on Ravelry, I can gift it to you directly, but if not we'll work out something!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

True story


It's a bit on the Seinfieldian side -- not much happens, but it's funny anyway. The Plaidman has been going deaf for a while now, and we're just living with it as best we can. DiscoDame & I aren't above getting a laugh out of his problem(s), far from it! I guess this "running gag" started in 2009, when we had dinner at Richard's (local Louisiana fare). There was a live band, and the only open seats were at a large table just half-way back into the dining room. So, there's a large expanse of table between us, and we're trying to have a bit of conversation with the deaf guy--an exercise in both hilarity & frustration. At one point, Disco said something to her Dad & got a puzzled look from him. Just then there's a lull in music, and he asks her, "What about Canadian sign language?!?!". She puts one hand behind her ear, asks "EHYA?", and then she & I just died laughing. So Canadian sign language has becoume our little way of ribbing the Plaidman. Many, many years ago he & I were listening to the radio in a car (long since gone!) that had no air conditioning, and he almost wrecked us because he thought the basketball team being discussed was the Hamilton Road Apples. (I heard the ad as Hampton Road Admirals, which turned out to be correct.) Wait for it. Two evenings ago, the chitchat over supper turned to March madness, and some team's miscue lead to the Plaidman saying that the Hamilton Road Apples were using Canadian sign language to communicate their next move. Rimshot! Yes, the Plaidman can even use our mockery of him to make a funny. BTW, thanks to all for sending good thoughts out on his behalf; he's much improved now, and is going today for a follow-up visit to his primary provider. I hope he remembers to call me after his visit, but I'm not holdling my breath--he'll likely go home & turn off his phone!
Not much to report on the knitting front, still plugging away at the pink stole. Last night I flipped through some of the knitting magazines I've got, looking for a beret pattern with some lace, that I could work up in place of the failed Janet beret. I will keep looking, there's gotta be something nice for Miss A.
3/26/11 ETA: I have selected another pattern for Miss A's hat, the Gwen Slouchy Beret, which I'm working up in Bamboo Ewe in a pale turquoise color. Let's hope this doesn't turn out to be a beanie!
Newsflash!: The drawing for the giveaway did not go off as planned. The stitchmarkers weren't ready, and without posting a picture I didn't feel like I had something to give away. Anyway, I've extended the deadline for comments on the 2/26/11 post to 3/31/11 (midnight, CDT). Please go & re-read that post, as I've editied it to show a picture & explain a VERY SPECIAL GIFT that will be in the drawing! Good luck!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

See the lightbulb?

I mean the one over my head, as in, "Boy do I have an idea!" I follow http://wendyknits.net/ and I love her patterns. I'm not usually keen to buy patterns, since there are so many available for free if you do a little digging. BUT! Wendy has a shawl pattern, Japanese Garden, which is lovely and for which all the proceeds (after PayPal's cut) in March & April will go to the Red Cross relief efforts in Japan. I am going to purchase one of these patterns as part of of my giveaway for March! (& I will likely get another just for me!) So, go to my post of 2/26/11 "Drumroll, please..." and get a comment on there WITH your Ravelry name, so if I draw you for this gift I can gift it directly to you through Ravelry.
Last night, DiscoDame & I discussed the stitchmarkers for the March giveaway, and she'll have something ready to ship out before the end of the month--but I'm not sure we'll have a picture before the draw date of 3/25. Sorry!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

T minus 3.5 days...

To the March giveaway! Not much other "news" per se, just stuff I/we have been up to:
The weekend of St Patrick's Day wasn't too dreadful. I did finally get to put the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes & carrots (plus 2 bottles of Killian's Red beer!) into the crock pot for Sunday dinner. Did that about 7:30 a.m & we ate it at about 5:30 p.m. The beef was delish & very tender, the veggies tender & flavorful. I cooked a good size slab of beef, about 2.75 lbs., and so have some left for hash or sandwiches.
The purple lace hat has been frogged again. All I can figure is that the designer must knit extremely loosely! I went up two needle sizes for the brim (still using same # of stitches, tubular cast on)--the brim was fine. Then I went up two sizes for the rest of the hat AND added another horizontal repeat of the lace pattern. I wasn't sure I'd have enough yarn to work 4 complete repeats vertically, but the lace was very much "lacier" so I thought 3 repeats would work for a beret. Well, it didn't work..I still had a beanie when I got to the top. (Are the knitting demi-gods laughing? Hope so; somebody ought to get a kick out of it!)
I got some more Paton's Lacette in Maroon Mist! So I'm back to work on the pink stole, with one minor glitch: I was going to pick out the bind off edge & continue on, only I unpicked the cast on. Of course, it's not unravelling--I just don't know what to do with it now! I've put the stitches on a holder, picked out the bind off & am adding more lace panels for length. Now that I have plenty of the Lacette, I can think about putting a wide border on the long edges, and a narrower one on the short sides (ends). Which should I work first? I think working the side borders first would allow me work the end border across the entire width, and might pull the thing together.
Disco says she needs more beads....girl needs to get a job; her hobby is costing me! We're still wrangling the stitchmarkers for the giveaway, so I need to hold her feet to fire now.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The wheels fell off

I wearing green & purple plaid, and bright green earrings. I bought a corned beef brisket & a head of cabbage, picked up some Killian's Red last night (the brisket will be cooked in it! Yum!), had potatoes & carrots in the house & a big CrockPot. But, alas, we won't be serving the corned beef tonite, because the Plaidman has to be on a liquid diet for a few days. I had to carry him to the emergency room last night, but at least he wasn't admitted. I guess my weekend will be devoted to attending a sick man--what fun.
I think we need a picture of something green -- this is the Grumpasaurus, not sure if that pattern's in Ravelry but you could search "toys":

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Count down

Ten days until the giveaway! DiscoDame is working on some pastel beaded stitchmarkers as spring has nearly sprung. She's also working on some with knitting abbreviations via alphabet beads. I've told her we need some with four-letter words, but I don't know if she'll make them!
Last night I went to the grocery to pick up two very important items that I'd forgotten in the weekly shopping: a beef brisket & a head of cabbage! Can you believe it, I got the last Savoy cabbage in the bin. There were lots of briskets available, though. And you know the Plaid Patrol needs their corned beef & cabbage on St. Patrick's day! I'll have to get up early so I can put it in the slow cooker before I leave for work. Yum, I think I can smell it now....

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Agony of defeat

I finished the Janet Beret last night; it seemed small, but I knew the tubular cast on would definitely stretch to 21" or 22". I made it in the "slouchy" version, with four 8-round repeats of the pattern as called for. Well, there was a brief struggle before I could get it on my head--and it's a beanie. A very pretty lace beanie, to be sure! But not what I wanted. So, it will go to the frog pond over the weekend, and I'll use bigger needles & increase more stitches -- a repeat of the lace pattern is 12 sts wide, adding a repeat above the brim would bring the total to 120 sts. Starting with 90 sts (actually 45 for the tubular cast on), I'd increase by 1 every third stitch. If the cast on is worked in US 7, then the 4 repeats of 8 rounds each could be worked on oh, say US 9? That should make a beret. I did have a good bit of the skein leftover, so will hope to have enough. Le sigh. I was really hoping I could have this ready to go to TEXAS real soon.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Lookee, new stuff!

Hi y'all! If it's Saturday, I must be posting from the library...and I am. I have some more pictures of this month's giveaway, which will be drawn on 3/25 from commentors on my previous post. Here's a pretty item up for grabs:

























I have pics of this month's stitchmarkers, but I haven't decided which ones I can bear to part with! DiscoDame is all about "reduce, re-use, recycle", so she's been saving the big pony beads from her old hair dodads, and put them to use in these:


I'm working on another lace beret, called the Janet Beret, and this is also done in a Stitch Nation yarn--Alpaca Love, in color Dusk. It's a lovely deep purple, which just happens to be a favorite of one of my nieces. I think I missed her birthday, but maybe a pretty lace beret would make her forget that!