We interrupt this crappy week

For a random cute picture

unintentional radio silence...

Friday we took off for Dearborn, Michigan and spent the weekend at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Pictures and details in the next few days...

School started Monday. I am having a REALLY hard time getting my head into it this year - I do NOT want to be in the in-school suspension room again. Add onto that the fact that I have a new boss who is trying to change a bunch of stuff. She used to be in an elementary school - and she doesn't understand that high school juvenile delinquents don't respond *quite* the same way as 3rd graders. It's going to be a loooooooooong year.

No knitting updates to show you - look at my previous pictures, and add about 5 rows. You get the idea.

My knees hurt

Well, the softball games went better than expected yesterday - mass quantities of Advil seemed to help.

First of all, you should know that I am *not* a fast runner. I feel like I'm going 100 miles an hour, and I've only gone 10 feet. Add to that 9 years since I've played any organized softball, and I'm definitely a tortoise. I actually have fairly long legs; I just don't have the ability to use them correctly, I guess.

In the 5th inning of the first game, I got a single up the middle. Usually, my coach puts in a runner for me when the game is close (reason? See above...) She forgot this time, and the batter behind me hit one over the center fielder's head. I was actually going pretty fast for me (I have witnesses!!!) and as I was heading for home, I FELL DOWN. As Kevin so eloquently put it, my ass got in front of my body. I went skidding face first about 5 feet from the plate. I did reach out and touch home, though - from a completely face down position.

I finished both games, but my knees are a mess. After getting home, showering, and picking the rocks and gravel out of my legs, they look like this. I also have a fairly large scrape with gravel in it running down the side of my left leg.

Ugh.

I decided to work on my sock last night - I was in no mood for lace anything. I made it a little bit farther up the foot.

musings on ponchos, wool and other stuff

I was just reading Caryn's blog and it turns out that I am not alone! There are several things that will never exist in my house, and one of them is the poncho.

My philosophy? I was old enough to wear them the first time, so I am automatically disqualified from ever having them in my possession again.

I did a cursory inventory of my stash, and I do not own one single, solitary inch of Fun Fur. Believe me, I am not deprived - I will not have the stuff in my house. In my eyes, ANYTHING that is knit with Fun Fur (or one of the myriad "novelty" yarns) looks like somebody ritually sacrificed a Muppet.

I am slowly but surely weeding out the acrylic, also. Every month I donate old clothes, lamps, etc. to The Society for the Blind. and every month they get a few skeins of old acrylic yarn.

Note to anyone who cares: just because I'm a knitter doesn't mean I really want a giant bag of 1970's harvest gold acrylic yarn that you found in your grandma's house. From Gold Circle (which went out of business 30 years ago) and with a price tag of 79 cents. I mean, thanks for thinking of me and all, but it's not staying here. I had been trying to knit up donated yarn and donate the squares to Warm Up America, but old acrylic yarn squeaks when you knit with it, and my nerves are usually shot within 10 minutes.

I have a softball game in an hour (a doubleheader, no less) and I feel like absolute crap. Every muscle in my body hurts, and I have a fever of 99.5. That may not sound like much, but my normal body temp is 97.8... No wonder this entry seems so cranky.

Ugh. I want to stay home and work on my mystery shawl.

The Sweater that Wasn't

This is the sweater that I knit for KnitPicks. The pattern is called Renta, and it's from Vogue Knitting (2nd edition). Unfortunately, the pattern is wrong. They said that the sweater was great and beautifully done, but since the pattern is wrong, they can't use it - they can't promote an incorrect pattern. I knit it in a size small, and since I haven't worn a size small since the 7th grade, I had no way to know that the pattern is TOO SHORT. If you decide to knit this pattern, be aware that you need to knit at least 17" to the armhole, not the 15" that the pattern states. :-( So...if you're one of my family or friends that was looking for my sweater in the new catalog, it's not there.

(the water stain in the picture is from my steamer - it was leaking a little bit while I was blocking)

Lesson learned - always knit samples in a size that you (or somebody in your house) can try on repeatedly. Disappointed doesn't even *begin* to describe how I feel about this...

Calendar Contest

Since it's too hot to put the Baby Norgi on a *real* baby, the bear had to stand in. These are my entries for the Knitty.com calendar contest.
Personally, I like the ice skates and the wool "snow," but we'll see what happens!

She's Baaa-ack!!!!!

Gracie had her staples out, and she's completely off restriction now! She's been going absolutely stir-crazy in the
house since the day she got home from her surgery.

All that running around tires a puppy! You can see her incision in this picture - it runs from her breastbone all the way down...

Clue 2 of the Mystery Shawl is finished and waiting for the next clue to be posted sometime today.

Because I *needed* another project!

I've joined the Mystery Shawl-Along...or as WhiteStar so succinctly put it, I've become a Lemming. I started Clue 1 one Wednesday, and finished last night:

I took it off of the needles this morning to get a picture. For the first time ever, I'm using a lifeline (aka a length of dental floss). I'm going to run it at the end of each clue. I'm using a beautiful single ply laceweight from Iceland, which I brought home from camp
I can't read Icelandic (is that what they speak there? I have no idea...), but this is a really nice yarn to work with. Each ball has 225 meters, and I have a bag of 10 balls. You can't really see it in the pictures, but this yarn has hints of blue and red all through the purple.

And just because it's a cute picture (and inherently wrong, somehow...). Tandem napping!

YEEEEHAW!!

Woohoo!! Kyle and I just got back from the Medina County Fair, and they had just finished judging the needlework!! The results:

Coming in a disappointing 3rd place, the Hand-to-Hand Cardigan

The sweater that took first definitely deserved it - it was beautiful. The sweater that took second, though...big, floppy Lion Brand Homespun-type thing. Ah, well...

With a second place finish, the Cat's Paw Shawl

Not too bad, actually - considering the fact that it wasn't blocked, and I had to enter it in the Scarves category.

With 2 first place finishes, my Fingerless Gloves/Mittens

And my Dubbelmossa, entered in the Children's Category

But.....it gets better!!!! Look at this!!!!!!!!! Drum Roll, please....

My Baby Norgi took BEST IN SHOW!!!!

I almost fainted!! 5 items entered, and 5 ribbons!

Ha!

For those of you who were with me at Knitting Camp, I finished the #%^& entrelac tam! :-) I put an extra set of oblongs into the top, so it sits flatter on your head - more like a beret. Plus, when it's cold, I can pull it down and it will cover my ears.


Last night I decided that I needed to learn the Eastern European cast on. Meg Swansen wrote an article on it in the new Vogue Knitting, and I needed to make a pair of socks anyway. It was a lot easier than it looked! After one false start, I now have a completely seamless sock toe in my first-ever pair of toe-up socks.

It's weird, being able to put them on as you knit! I'm going to put an afterthought heel into these, just because I like the fit of afterthought heels. :-)