Mailboxes, snow and other problems

This has been some week so far. The winter is never ending-- and so far it is winning. The current count is Snow plow-4, Tonia-0. To date, I have lost 4 mailboxes/posts to the plow. I am sure there is no reason the plow driver could be mad at me (unless he is also the manager at Best Buy), so I am assuming is new/inexperienced-- because it is now 4 boxes in ~ 1 month. I called the county road crew to plead for mercy and surprisingly the person on the phone was very sympathetic. I was assured the Supervisor would be informed and somebody would be contacting me to arrange compensation-- can you believe it!


So, in addition to the plow issue, I have been wildly working on the project from the last post. Because I am pretty sure Amy does not venture to the blog-- I can reveal this is a blanket for her new baby boy due in March (if Amy does check in-- SURPRISE!). Anyway, I was following the pattern and quite proud of the progress and the stitch (very pretty and quite good for me crocheting, even if I do say so myself...). Needing positive comments and ohhs and awwwws (yes, I am sometimes needy), I proudly showed the progress to a very experienced (in needle arts you pervert!) friend Karen-- she commented that in fact the stitches were done well and it was pretty, but awful small. WHAT! Well, that is the pattern and there is edging I explain-- still small she countered. Not to be deterred, I stumbled off for another opinion-- after all, I have 2 skeins invested and it is PRETTY! (and the baby is due in a month!)... same comment from Janet. Well, this was late in the day and it was knit nite, so I am sure the other knitting crew (minus Amy of course) would provide support-- after all, it is PRETTY and 2 skeins worth done! Needless to say, same comment. So, I am resigned to frog the "dishcloth-sized" blanket and start again. I know, it is better to do it now than when the blanket was finished-- but it was pretty and 2 skeins worth! I have to say, I am still loving the Cotton tots yarn! Next time, socks and chemo hats!

Anime Sunday!

Well, here it is another week gone. Work was a bit last week-- lots of stuff going on, some late nights, working from home and sleepless nights. It has been a bit much lately, and I still have not recovered from this cold. I had an interesting thing happen last week. So I was getting over this cold, and I thought that I was getting a bit better. I started working on another knitting project-- using yarn purchased from Ollies (sort of like Big Lots), it was a good deal on Lion Brand... anyway, I had a relapse of cold symptoms-- but this time watering eyes, sneezing, etc. It took a couple of days to start to feel better, it was so bad that I couldn't even knit. After a couple of days, I picked up the project again, and what do you know the sneezing and eye leaking started again! It seems that there is something on the yarn causing a reaction-- this is a first (and it is synthetic, so it should not be the yarn!). So the stuff is sitting in a bag (8 balls of the stuff) until I can decide what to do.

In the meantime, I started another project-- this time with good old cotton. It is a crochet project and the stitch is pretty easy. The easy part is really important since, other than to do some edging or pick up stitched, I have not seriously crocheted since high school (and no, that was not the dark ages or by candle light!). Here is a couple of pictures-- not too bad if I do say so myself. And I suppose you are also asking why the title? Well, since today has been devoted to making a dent in the project, I have been in front of the TV all day-- which makes it perfect for catching up on movies and such. Luckily for me, Comcast On Demand has a pretty good Anime selection and today was catch up on ongoing series (GTO, Tsubasa, Beck, etc.)

Winter, YUCK!

Another day, another snow. I can't say how much I am over winter right now. Every day-- something white or frozen is falling. I am done, done I say! Anyway, I had to stay home today from work, sick with a sore throat and fever. You would think that I could bash out a lot of knitting in that time, but I could not even lift the needles for more than a bit. I did get through a couple of Netflixs (2 discs of Code Geass (anime- love it!) and "An American Carol" (right-wing satire, but not as funny as I thought it would be). I also had a chance to watch a couple of On Demand movies-- The Namesake, Definitely Maybe, and Reservation Road.

I did get a little knitting done. I started to work on another scarf-- this is a replacement scarf for my mom. During Christmas, I finished this one for her while at home-- it uses JoAnn Sensations Angel Hair yarn-- extremely soft. Well, I was knitting away and finished the thing in two days! Yay for me! However, when mom tried it on, the bloody thing was hanging down to her knees! I promised to make another (about 6 inches shorter) and mail it. This pattern is perfect when you need to stretch your yarn amount or if you want to show off a hand-spun. It uses a double drop stitch, is reversable, and uses only kint stitch (the key is how you wrap the yarn around the needles)-- perfect for a beginner. Here is a picture of the "long" scarf.

Even more exciting (at least for me!), I was reading the Yarn Harlot's blog and she showed a beautiful cashmere cowl she designed-- I have been looking for just such a pattern for myself. (blog entry here: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2009/01/09/pretty_thing.html). I even had a dream that I ran into the YH at a fiber show and convinced her to give me the pattern (sick, I know). So you know it was a fantastic day when I checked on the Ravelry YH forum and after all of the pleading from admirers of said cowl, she is working on getting the pattern for us-- SCORE!

Back in Action!

Hello All!

Contrary to popular belief, I am still here. After a few crazy months dealing with yard work, family visits, computer issues, a new camera and holidays, I plan to be back on track. I did accomplish a few projects-- I will post some of these pictures in the interim. I am currently working on two projects--

Project #1: Ear warmer/Neck warmer (pattern in Drops). This project is going well-- the yarn is a Angora-Merino wool mix by Garnstudio. It is very nice to work with, but is prone to breaking is pulled too hard. I have yet to do the edge work (need to get a larger crochet needle)-- which should be interesting since I have done crochet in years. The scarf is also coming along...

The second pattern is a Snow Drop lace shawl published by Stephanie McPhee (The Yarn Harlot). This project takes all of my concentration-- and is my first time using charts. After a number of froggings, it is finally taking shape. For you lace knitters-- learn to use lifelines, it has already saved me once. (If you look at the picture, you can see the lifeline is purple). This project is for my friend Jill (yarn hand-dyed by Jill) to show a completed project at Michigan Fiber Festival this summer. Well, that is all for now. I have to go work on my projects since work starts anew on Monday (yuck!)...