WWKIP

This is my first knit-in. I truly am excited because like bicycling, knitting needs a bigger audience to introduce people to the pleasures to be found.   I have often been accused of being very naive but I do believe if more people would just "try it"  we would have happier, healthier people.

However,  I am wondering about my mental facilities today.  Am I nuts? The smoke from the two North Carolina wildfires AND the fire in the Dismal Swamp are being blown this way due to a change in weather pattern.  The temperature forecast for today is 91. The lys we will be at will be in the sun until after 12 o'clock and I am taking a medicine that does not allow me to be in the sun.  So I have now applied the third coating of sunscreen. I have an umbrella, a construction-worker sized jug of ice and water and cannot find the fan. 

Enough!! We will knit, we will laugh, we will compare yarns, patterns, problems and joys.  We will have a great day and show the world (our little part) what enjoyment knitting can bring to our lives.   To that end let me share this joy with you . . .

This is fishing lure bag from the Bass Pro Shops in NewportNews. I kept reading on knitting people's blogs about these bags and had to go take a look. I am hooked.  See the plastic inside the lid. It is divided, zippered compartments that hold every little thing a knitter needs.  There is one on the the other side also.  The bags inside are the ziploc style on rings. Extras are available also. I have stored all my circulars in here.  But, but, but my hubby found a DOUBLE SIZE, that had a divider in the middle and the bags on the other side can hold dpn's!!!  Oh my gosh, I have it all together . . . I will have mine at WWKIP day. Come and see!

Crumble!

Last night I took my knitting life in my two hands and ripped out my pride and joy.  I finally tried on my Monkey sock and it did not look good on my leg!  About 25 tears ago, while playing football, I broke my two leg bones at the bottom and completely severed them to the extent both needed to be pinned together, one actually had to be threaded together.  Both muscle packages had to be cut to get to the bones and therein began my problems. My ankle swells and bone growth at the site has meant my ankle is very thick from the heel diagonally  up to the point where leg meets foot.  SO . .  unless I have very stretchy yarn I need to increase the needle size as I start the heel flap and continue to the end of the gusset when I will shift back to the smaller needle.  And only on one sock!!!  I loved the way it looked but the 16 stitch pattern and the yarn I chose did not look good on the larger needles and on the smaller it just was stretched so far it lost definition. 

As is my habit there is good news.  Now that I know what to do  I can return to yarn and pattern and needle selection with much more of a confident feeling. Whew!

So now I am starting over. The color is coffee, in an Austerman step yarn with aloe and jojoba.

There is a tiny stripe of a very soft orange so I have some strong orange reinforcement yarn for the heels.  Might as well make a statement for all the time I am taking!

Gosh I love knitting, it's so relaxing.  tee hee hee

Bicycling and Knitting

If you did not already know, we are a family of cycling enthusiasts. John is the only one riding, for now,  I SAG, follow behind to pick up the pieces, and Megan remembers  with uncanny accuracy, who won what, and what team, etc. She is a repository of Tour de France knowledge.

Yes, it is that time of year again. 14 days of TV and French countryside.  I have managed to combine 2 loves by joining, again, the Tour de France Knit a Long. This year I am helping to hostess and assigned a "team" of knitters.  We have the name of the Slipstream-Chipotle team, go Argyle! Their jersey is an argyle of orange and blue.  Each of us will knit a project during the ride and hopefully finish or at least challenge ourselves.  

 Since the cycling world was blown apart with scandal last year, Landis, Team Astana, and on and on have created an uncertain tour.  The cyclist favored to win this year is ????  This could be great.  BUT, just today the great Tom Boonen has been accused of using cocaine for recreational usage.  It never seems to end. 

If you are interested  look up   http://tdfkal.blogspot.com/   and see what we are all about.  We also have a group on Ravelry. Some beautiful items are planned . Come and join us!

107

With the heat index, the temperature for Virginia Beach, Virginia today with no wind was 107F!  I sat on the couch and tried to enjoy the AC.  John was riding in the early hours and all I could do was think of how hot he must be.  

Shep is in Miami at a friend's wedding.  Megan is in Chicago at NEOCON, a trade show for commercial furniture, etc.  John and I went to Dairy Queen, woo-hoo!   

Here for your viewing pleasure is the latest photo. Unless it is a wearble I know the part I always want to see is the stitch . .  so the baby blanket is a shell stitch (the knit 4 together through the back loop is nasty until my LYS owner showed me a trick with a crochet hook, I bow to your knowledge Sue)  and the Clapotis can be see full length on Ravelry, I loved the yarn. One Christmas present done!

Tag I am it!

While I was busy getting my paperwork all in order for the Tour ( ie, checking teams, reading my team members blogs, e-mailing them, etc) , Cheryl snuck in and tagged me for this meme .  so here goes . . 

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?  I had been working for Navy Federal Credit Union for 12 years and loved it.  Megan had Graduated from VCU, Shep was off to DC to work on a masters from GMU, John was playing  house husband. I was the only woman I knew whose husband did the shopping, vacumning, washed the clothes and the dishes.  Then my knees started to go bad. drat.  I bought a 3-wheel bike with 21, yes, 21 gears and rode the Bay Bridge tunnel that fall.

2. What five things are on my to-do list today.  I have already dug nut grass from the new bed at about 9 this morning, found the recipe for pork souvlaki,  did a sewing job on a new shirt for Megan to wear to Chicago,  plan to clear the coat closet of old coats, swim in the pool if it hits 101 again today.

3.Snacks I enjoy,  pecans, string cheese,  fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, Rainier cherries,) 

Pumpkin seeds, peanut butter

4.Things I would do if I was a billionaire.  I have always had a list if things I would do for family if I won the lottery, and things for me were not ever on the list. My favorite was to endow the Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters with one million dollars to pay for bone marrow typing for anyone who wished to donate. A few years ago a young teenager here at the beach died because a marrow donor could not be found, I HATED that. .Make sure every family member who wanted an education had the funds to do so.  Now to think for me I would book about 6 months worth of cruises, Panama Canal,  Australia-New Zealand, Greek islands, North to Alaska, then  get a smaller RV, start touring US and Canada esp. New England. and then go touring in Europe. No 7 cities in 5 days for me. I am a slow tourer.  Purchase a home in the FLorida Keys  big enough for visitors, and a compound   for the summer near John's family in New York, preferable along the Hudson, either side!   . 

5. Places I have lived.  Too many to list. I was a Coast Guard brat, and then a Navy wife.  All my life I have moved every 2-3 years until 1968 and I am now 67. I have been across the USA four times on military moves. I have been here in Virginia Beach since then.  I  lived in Venezuela for a year, the US Virgin Islands for 3 months, and the Phillipines for 3 years.

I am tagging  whoever wishes to answer these questions. Most times I find reflections very interesting.  

News, news and more news

I had to take some time off to come to grips with my life. Events, deadlines, family and knitting kept swirling into one another. Lately things have coalesced and I am back into everything again. The next knee operation is for September 6th and the diet is back on BIG TIME!

First biggie for Vicki and Cheryl are the finished projects  ta da . . . .

a pure white baby blanket in a shell pattern . .  try that with a black rottweiler shedding hairs. 

Second is my Clapotis . .  I probably will knit another as I would like it to be longer. . . if I wrap I like to really wrap up!! I am adding a tassel to each end (something to fiddle with) and sending it to my cousin in Tennessee for Christmas.  I love to think of her wandering out in the morning to check the chickens or cows or just to wander around in my handiwork.

Then finish 2, start 2 . .   For me, yes, yes for me . .  look Jae, Monkeys . . . at the urging of Suki I tried 2 circulars for my socks vice the dpn's and I am hooked.  I guess my old hands can fiddle with 2 needles better than 5. I wish I felt guilty but I spoke with my teacher and admitted how happy I am. She spent a lot of time with me on those dpn's. But she owns a yarn shop and now I can buy all her sock yarn!!

Then in keeping with learning something new each time . . . I will start a fingerless mitt set with a beautifully intricate cable pattern on the back of the hand. I love the colors in this yarn. They glisten like little jewels in the sunlight. This will cast on on July 5 and finish in 14 days, YES, it will

Because  I have been asked to be one of the hostesses on the Tour de France 2008 Knit a Long.  I am really excited about this. We watch the TDF like some watch the super Bowl, except for 14 days instead of a few hours.  We read all the blogs, make charts, eat in front of the TV, etc. Yes we are addicts. (see above for my project) .  My team is called Slipstream-Chipotle which if you follow biking sounds like a hot-paceline. Hopefully my knitters will burn up the roads (yarn). 

With the Olympic knitting trials coming up. the summer knitting is all in place.  Grab your needles and join me!