Month: March 2012

Dang!

John and I don’t buy lottery tickets. Except of course when the prize gets to over $500 million, at which point every other human in this country is buying them too, and our chances go from “nil” to “same as getting hit by lightning a bazillion times at once”. But we did have plans on how we would spend it. Inspired by Lee Ann’s post, here are mine. Were, not are, I guess. Oh yeah, somebody else won.

1. Buy all the yarn I want. Right. I already do that.

2. Pay off the house, remodel the bathroom.

3. Travel. Oh, right. I already do that, too.

4. Change the locks on the house. There are too many people out there that have keys and codes to the garage door.

5. Get an unlisted phone number.

6. Get my 1998 VW Beetle to the body shop and have the dings repainted. What can I say, I like driving an ancient car.

7. Like Lee Ann, say “I quit”. I’ve always joked that the first thing I would buy if I won enough money would be a fax machine so I could fax in my resignation.

8. Figure out which of our relatives would get to retire, too. 😉

I guess we’ll survive without the lottery winnings. We have a terrific house, even if the bathroom makes me want to take an axe to it. I have a great job to dream about retiring from, as do most of my not-already retired family members. And my beater car is paid for, dents and all. And I have more yarn and fiber supplies than I will ever use up in any imaginable lifetime.

Your turn! What would you have done with it? Let me know in the comments or on your own blog!

Blogiversary!

I almost, but not quite, forgot about it! Good grief. Eight years ago today, I got this blog up and running. It has been great big fun, I’ll tell you! I’ve learned a lot in the process, and met some terrific people. Even though I occasionally lose it and forget to blog for weeks on end, I’m still here!

In honor of the day, I decided to post some actual knitting. I know, you’re shocked. The past few weeks since we got back from vacation have been a bit of a slog at work, but I have done a few things. Here you go!

First up is True Blood. This is slowly but surely coming along. I have finished both sleeves, and started the hood.

 

The first photo is more like the real color. After the hood, I just have to attach the sleeves, then knit a big honking button band all the way up one side, around the hood, and down the other. And it’s a hemmed band, so it will be eleventy billion stitches. Then I can attach my little garnet and silver faery buttons, and I’ll have a wonderful wool hooded coat, just ready for summer!

Next up is an actual finished project!

 

Project Details:

Houdini Stole

Yarn: this is a combination of Art Fibers Houdini and Kyoto. The Houdini is a wide nylon ribbon, and the Kyoto is a silk mohair blend.

Pattern: made up stole pattern (see below)

Needles: Big ass 12 mm needles. This was a little like knitting with beginner crayons.

For: Me

Started: March, 2011

Finished: yesterday

What I learned: I don’t generally go for artsy fartsy novelty yarns, but this actually turned out quite pretty, and I think I will wear it. It’s quite long, good enough to wrap a couple times around my neck. The shop lady at Art Fibers just made up the pattern on the spot after I picked out the yarn. Since it’s hand written in pencil on a piece of scrap paper, I’m pretty sure I’m safe to share it here.

With Houdini, cast on 3 stitches. Knit every row (garter stitch). Increase at the beginning and end of every other row until the piece measures about 20 inches (or as wide as you want). Then increase at the beginning of the row and decrease at the end of the row every other row, until it is as long as you want. Then decrease at each end every other row until you have 3 stitches left and bind off. AT THE SAME TIME, alternate the two yarns (Houdini and Kyoto) every two rows. So, two rows of Houdini, two rows of Kyoto. I just did the increases and decreases with the first and last stitches, and did a knit in the front and back increase, and a simple K2tog decrease. The yarn is busy enough that you can’t really tell.

You end up with a big long rectangle, but with the knitting on the diagonal.

Now that I finished that, I’ve resurrected an old lace stole pattern that’s been marinating quite long enough.

The is the Morning Glory stole, by Anne of Knitspot. The yarn is Harmony, a discontinued yarn from Brooks Farm. The color is named Froot Loops. This is sort of “moose lace”, but the pattern takes a little concentration. It is patterned on both sides, so no easy purl back row, and the pattern repeat shifts around on almost every row, so markers are a bit useless. It’s making me pay attention! It is knit in two halves, then grafted together.

Enough for today. We have a cooking class tonight, which should be a lot of fun. I’ll report back…

 

Last Post From Vallarta!

Boy, that week went by fast! All the same I’ll be glad to get home to the house and mutts. I do miss them when we’re gone, though I know they are all in good hands with our house sitter. In fact, I’m pretty sure that at least the dogs like her better.

We went on a sunset sailing cruise of Banderas Bay last night, and I had to leave you with these photos.

That was our sister ship.

We actually saw a mama and baby whale, quite unusual for a night time sailing. They circled around our boat for about 20 minutes, giving us a nice show!

Of course there was knitting.

This was one of the eleventy billion sunset photos we got.

And of course, a full moon! What’s not to like: terrific weather, whales, an open bar, beautiful sunset, and a full moon! And knitting!

And that’s us at the end of the evening.

We’re headed to the airport in a few hours, so I’m off to pack! See you on the flip side! Buenos dias!

More Puerto Vallarta!

So what have we been up to??

We went to church at the local cathedral:

We got invited to a nice lunch:

I found yarn, sort of:

We spent a whole day at the resort doing next to nothing:

Today we took a tour out of town, and went to a botanical garden:

We saw cheese being made in a tiny village (and tortillas though there is no photo of that):

Our tour guide, Sandra, gave us the rundown on how tequila is made:

I found a parrot that wasn’t very impressed with my knitting skills:

We bumped around the countryside in an open truck:

And we tasted tequila, of course!

We have one more full day here, then home. The latest report from the home front is that the temperature is below freezing, and there is an inch of new snow on the ground. Sheesh. I wonder if they’d believe me if I called in sick and just stayed here. Right. Not so much. Later…

First Day In Photos

Puerto Vallarta, of course! Here you go:

I guess I’m easily amused. 24 hours in this sunny place, and my seasonal affective disorder is all but a dim memory.

P.S. The boys making those mojitos and margaritas last night were quite fascinated by the sight of me knitting a sock. I’m pretty sure nobody knits here.