Back from the boonies

The entire Plaid Patrol rode to south Texas for the week of Thanksgiving.  It's a long darn drive, but then we spent the whole week with family.  We were only able to do that because we'd hired a pet sitter to come in twice a day, to keep the elderly cat at home & happy.  And he seems to have warmed up to the sitter, even playing with her and letting her pet him, and he was quite happy to see us back.  I would have posted from Texas, but never got near enough to an unused (& functional) computer.
I delivered the Diamond Halter top to niece A, did not get to see her in it but made her promise to send me a picture.  I'm still working on the red tweed capelet, just have about 6" of ribbed turtleneck to go on that one.  I got about an inch of ribbing done while there, but most days we had other fun stuff to do and the knitting just stayed in the bag.  Speaking of bags, Sis did not disappoint in the "birthday present" bag: It's a Dooney & Burke tote with Pittsburgh Pirates themed print on white leather, just gorgeous and a great bag for the knitting.  I will have to send her something wonderful and knitted asap.  Sis brought Pup over from his assisted living facility Tuesday, then Disco, Plaidman, the nieces & I went to the facility the next day and had lunch with him.  Later that afternoon Plaidman went back to Sis', while us ladies went to Savers.  Guess who we found there -- the Shopping Queen herself, aka Sis!  We all spent some time together there, then the nieces departed for home.  I spent way too much money there, even with the 30% discount card Sis gave me.  Most of it was for stuff Disco wanted, I wish I could find the receipt to show her!  We finally got all our purchases out to Sis' Giganto Craft (an ancient Escalade), then it took all three of us (Disco, Sis & me) to get me into the front seat.  I am not anything like nimble anymore.  In fact, since I stayed in the upstairs guest room, I had to climb 16 stairs every evening to get to bed, and come down those stairs (dressed & ready for the day) every morning.  I thought my knees would give out.  Then there was the guest bed, wonderful to sleep in but so tall that I needed both a stepstool and my walker to get into it.  Slept like a stone, until it was time to visit the loo.  And that was for six nights.  I've been home a few days, and I've recovered some.  Thursday we had Pup back over to the house for our noon Thanksgiving supper.  Afterwards, the annual T-Day lawn tournament was held out on the front lawn, with 3 father & daughter teams and one niece + boyfriend team.  Pup teamed with Sis, Steverino teamed with the Peerless niece, Plaidman teamed with Disco, and Miss A teamed with Seth.  Pup has macular degeneration, so his shots were guided by other players standing near the "hole" and waving.  It was agreed that Peerless & her Dad won the tourney.  I wasn't the only spectator, we had some neighbors come by to check out the game.  Then we all went back inside and played LCR; Peerless took a $27.00 pot!  Just her day.  Pup got delivered back to his home, and we all pretty much called it a night.  Friday Peerless treated a bunch of us to a movie, Justice League,
which we all found marvelous.   Saturday we began the long drive back home, and got here about 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Let's not forget why I started blogging

It was to show off & brag about my knitting!  So, for the first time since I got on Ravelry back in '08, I'm actually participating in a knit along.  I'm in the Cowls group, and for the January theme we're suppose to work on "something new" to us as knitters.  It could be a yarn that I've never handled, or a technique I've never used, or what ever is outside my usual knitting "envelope".  I have always wanted to try double knitting, and had just serendipitously come across the Allotrope cowl by Lindsey Freeman.  I cast on for it New Year's Day, and have so far worked about 5.5 rows of the patterning.  I'm really glad I had some experience with stranded knitting & holding a yarn in each hand, as that has been the key to getting this project moving.

Oh, and it is a double whammy, as I've never knit with Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK yarn before.  New technique + new yarn = interesting knitting.

And I think I'll find this a useful item, as it's been colder than that chunk of brass folks are always putting in a snow bank, at my desk.  

And of course I'm still working on Mi Kara, which is from a Drops free pattern.  Shh, don't say anything to the Plaidman, but I'm trying to buy some yarn from another Raveller.  See, I've got about half the amount of this yarn that I need for a particular project.  If I can get these skeins from one Raveller, and a few more from another Raveller, I'll have enough!  Cross your fingers.  

Teehee!  I just got this shirt from the Ravelry mini-mart.  I'd never ordered anything from Rav, but when I read the story I thought it was too funny, and had to have the names of many sheep breeds shirt.  You can see the error, running up my left chest.

Disco has been offered the chance to convert from a temp to a permanent position at Amazon, which I sure hope she'll jump on like a duck on a june bug.  Let's hope she's smart about it.

Plugging away

I restarted the Knitting Olympics vest, and I decided to just forget about the vertical stripes. I'm working narrow stripes on the light tan ground, in various shades of blue & green. I have to keep the ground color stripes fairly narrow too, since I may not have enough tan and can't buy anymore. Wouldn't you know it, the weather's finally turning towards spring, so this vest will likely be too warm to wear once it's finished. That's ok, I'll have a new vest to wear in the fall. Once I get this silly thing done, I'm off to the races on the Drops lace tank -- which will likely be done about next fall, when the only way to wear it will be as an undershirt/camisole. Le Sigh!
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I'd like to visit Bliss Yarns Thursday, just to sit 'n stitch with all the gals there, but for sure I'd want to buy more yarn -- and I can't afford to. Truly, I don't need more yarn! I can't even find enough storage for all I got, and I still haven't unravelled all the thrift sweaters I bought! I've been thinking of them lately, just itching to get them frogged & clean the yarn & wind it up...
Haven't a clue what I'll do with any of it, but once it's all clean & either in hanks or wound into balls, I'm sure I'll think of something.
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I looked at CAP's budget sheet for Excel, even saved a copy for the Man with a Plan, but I'm not sure if the Plan is more than "hey, maybe we can pay another bill or two next week when you get paid." He's not into actually committing a plan to paper, just not his thing. If I have to do all the actual planning & budgeting, I'm going to be a real witch on wheels. I tend to get entirely too tightly wound about money, (Ya think?!?!) so asking me to be in charge of paying the bills is asking for one grumpy Momma. And when Mom's unhappy, God help anyone who smiles in her vicinity.
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Let's think of more pleasant things, shall we? I picked up the Spring Vogue Knitting at the store -- just a little morale boost, you understand -- and wow, have you seen the nice lacey patterns? Looks like fun. I'd love to be working on my lace tank right now, but I'm blogging at work and the only knitting I brought up here is the Knitting Olympics vest. Not lacey, just soft & chunky (I resemble that remark...).