I found a chart for a very pretty celtic spiral sock
here. I started swatching it last night with some Kroy in a natural color, and some Regia Stretch in a forest green. I am doing the background in the lighter color, and will either only do the cuff in pattern with a green foot, or if it goes easily, I will do a pattern down the top of the foot.
These are for a gift for my best friend’s mom, who has a birthday around Mother’s Day, so I have to get started on them.

Why is it that people think war protesters are against ‘The Troops’? I just heard some poor woman on the radio sobbing that her son is in Iraq and those of us that are against the war should stop protesting because we should be supporting the troops. Huh?
Wouldn’t the best thing for the troops be standing on deck in the port of San Diego cleaning windows or the runway or lubing a jet or something, with no one firing on them? Do people really think that one can’t be against the war without being against the soldiers? Holy crap, I don’t want to be a soldier at any cost. I am so grateful that these people have volunteered to do this work for me, and I want them to come home. In fact, I wish their idiot leader had never sent them in the first place.
And while I’m at it, when these soldiers do come back, they better be taken care of, medically and educationally. I am still sick from the news of the last gulf war where it was denied that some soldiers were even sick for years, even though it was clear that these guys were sick. A big chunk of that $75 Billion should be going to the VA.
I am sure she has heard nothing but the shouting of a bunch of unemployed hippie-wanna-bees pounding their drums instead of the views of any of the individuals in the crowds. I wish I could find that woman I heard on the radio and buy her dinner and explain my view. Maybe she would understand that we all know that her son didn’t make the decision to go to war, and that we are against the one who did make that decision. Not against the troops.

I am still working on the center panel of my shawl. I haven’t been having as many errors but still once in a while I lose a stitch and it’s making me crazy. The shawl is for me, so I just march on. I have 56 rows to go, and really want to finish this before Monday, but I don’t see how I can.
Today is the day of the parade when the Swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, and a friend who lives there has invited us to go. I am really going because I like bagpipes – I refer to swallows as ‘those damn birds that leave crap all over my windowsills’. No one ever mentions that the swallow also return to Foothill Ranch and build nests above my bedroom windows and that I can’t touch the damn things so my windowsills get full of dust and crap that they drop while they build there mud nests. What is the big deal with a bunch of birds? Don’t they all migrate? When I lived in Indianapolis, it was Canadian Geese leaving so much crap on the ground you could skate through it.
Anyway.

… from The Knitting Curmudgeon …
The best sign hanging from a freeway overpass I’ve seen all day
Who Would Jesus Bomb? – Anonymous

I spent a week with my Grandparents this summer, and found a book amongst their things. As I was leafing through it, I found a picture of my Great Grandmother and various cousins and such. How cool!
I have been searching for it on line since returning from Canada and wanted to get my own copy, and last week I finally found it. I ordered it from abebooks.com and the author even autographed it for me. Neat-o.
The book is by Caroline B Norwood, called Life On Brier Island Nova Scotia: Stories and Photos About the Place the People and the Boats.
If you happen to have the book, there’s a lovely picture of my Great Grandmother Viola Garron on her 90th birthday, on page 59. She had her 101st this year, and my uncle visited her over the summer. She had a bottle in her knitting bag, to keep her warm. You go, girl!

So, I spent Saturday in lovely, wet, Burbank at the TKGA market. I have to say, I wasn’t impressed. In fact, I walked around the place all day and only spent $100. There was a whole lot of the same stuff at most booths, and the Yarn Lady, which is my LYS, had 6 spaces, but I can just coast down the street to see that stuff so I didn’t stick around there much. And I confirmed my suspicion that she’s over priced on a lot of stuff. Everyone had Trendsetter, there was one booth with some Prism, and lots of books but none that I was looking for.
Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of stuff there, but I was looking for fingering weight wool, maybe some sock yarns in solid colors like pink or mauve (for a gift for someone) and maybe something crazy that might jump out at me. But nothing did. The sock yarns were all boring or baby colors.
It was pretty dead, I imagine because of the rain, and the fact that it was so close to Stitches West, I’ll bet a lot of people already spent their money up in Oakland.
So, what did I get? Some yarn from Shelridge Farms which was almost the only booth without the eyelashy frou frou. I found 12 colors of their Shelridge Soft Touch Ultra – 100% Wool Fingering Weight Yarn, in the colors that I want for my fair-isle design that I haven’t designed yet. I’ll take a photo of it later this week.
I picked up Joan M-M’s Heirloom Lace Jacket which I have been eying forever, but seeing it in person I just had to pick it up. Didn’t decide on yarn for it yet. Giggled at the i-cord butt floss.
The drive to Burbank and back was so stressful! I was exhausted when I got home and how silly is that to all you northern folks who drive in rain all the time! But this was big crazy rain and a whole lot of people who just don’t get it.
I guess I was expecting it to me more exciting than it was. I am a terrible shopper, I have to admit. I hate shopping. But I am happy with the purchases I did make.

OK, I am sure I won’t come up with one each day, but still, I thought I would share when they come up.

Having seen these and these and even some done in cloisonne and gold and stuff, I thought I could come up with a better idea come spring. And I did! Now, I wasn’t as frugal as I could have been, I could have waited til the day after Easter and probably done even better, but $1.49 for a dozen, I think I can swing it. Even if I break a few, I should come out ahead.
If you are wondering why I bought them, it’s because I am new to knitting, and I am sure some of my Kitchenered toes will need some help before the whole sock wears out. I am ready!!

Since I didn’t go to Stitches West, and Burbank is about 60 miles away, I am going to go and check out the market on Saturday. I didn’t hear about it soon enough to sign up for any classes, maybe next year.
I did join the TKGA, and also ordered the Level 1 Handknitting course. I even made my first swatch over the weekend. I am using the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool for it since I have some left over from Christmas presents. I may do a kool-aid dip on some of it later on, if I need another color. I haven’t read ahead to see if I do. I also have some blue worsted wt wool that I could use if there is a need for a color change. We’ll see.
Still working on the shawl and I had to tink 4 rows last night because I somehow messed it up again! I guess it’s all the carpool knitting, sometimes I lose my place or something. After all that tinking, I put markers in every 10 stitches. They move around because of the YOs and (Sl 1, K2tog, psso)s but between the markers there should always be 10 stitches. I think that I don’t need the markers on the knit side, but on the purl side is where I keep losing stitches, so this should help. I did 10 more rows last night and didn’t make any more mistakes, so I think it’s helping.
It’s in the crumpled mess stage, so I don’t think I will post a photo until the center is done, before I pick up around it for the inside edge. My brother-in-law’s birthday is this weekend, plus a day of shopping at the TKGA market might cut into my weekend knitting time, but I hope to finish the center panel this week and start on the edges. I can’t wait to wash it and see what happens, the swatch looked nice but it’s tiny, I want to see the whole thing done!

I have been toiling away at my fir cone shawl. I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but keep losing a stitch when I transition from one pattern to the next. I can’t see where I am messing up, although I am reading my previous rows so in general it’s all lining up. It’s just the ends that are not stable. The thing will need a good wash and block before it’s ready for prime time, so I am hoping that it won’t show. If I could figure out the problem, I would just fix it. I am only about 4 inches from the cast on, so if I do figure it out, I will be able to drop a stitch and break out the crochet hook.
I am totally sounding negative, so I should say that I really like the yarn and the pattern is going to be really nice once it’s done, I am just frustrated with it now. Perhaps I was too ambitious, but really, it’s just a 10 stitch pattern, what’s wrong with me? I need to get over myself!
Ok back to work.

So here’s my solution to storing circular needles in their ‘not in use’ place. Index cards, a stapler, a binder clip thingy, and something to make it stick to the wall. I was thinking of breaking out the sewing machine and making something a little nicer, but I saw the index cards before I got to the sewing machine so they took over. Just sort of bent them without creasing and attach one to the one before it with a staple. It works for me!