Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

Merry Christmas To All!!! Here's hoping that your knitting projects were done in time, here's hoping that your holiday festivities are fun and full of friends and family, and here's hoping that your holiday season has a few moments to remind you of why we celebrate all of this in the first place. My projects are done, except for the socks. Mom's not going anywhere in the future; her socks will be given when they're done. The shawl and stole turned out lovely. Pictures will ensue which will show the receipients in their new presents. Now, we knitters get to start planning for next year. My biggest goal is to spin enough cotton for a shawl for my sister. She is allergic to wool.

Hey, if you have a size 7 ladies' foot, please measure from heel to toe and tell me how long the foot should be for the socks on the left, I'd be MIGHTY appreciative! They're for my Mom for Christmas, so don't tell her! For my MIL, the Secret of the Stole is DONE!!! Ok, so...perhaps the right term is knitted. Notice the different hues in the stole? That is the bad washing of the wool after it was spun. The stole is now sitting in uber-hot water with Dawn in it to get out the dirt. At least I hope so! Other than finishing knitting projects, my only other excitement is to shovel snow whenever it falls. So far, we've got over 8" on the ground. I got my car stuck in the driveway last Monday. The ice that covered the snow had made the driveway so slippery that I couldn't get out.

I forgot to tell you what I did to fit the pirate hat to an adult. I knitted the hat on size 5.5 circular needles instead of size 3 ones.

I've finished off the newer and bigger skull cap. OK, I've actually made two of them out of Misti-Alpaca with Misti-Alpaca laceweight liner. These do fit actual adult humans. I've got another one to make. I only wanted to make one, but as you see, this one does not come off my son's head. He'd sleep in it if he could. So I had to make another one for my Nephew and then another one for my Niece. She saw it and had to have one. The shawl and stole are at a standstill. My progress on a lot of things was halted. My Great-Uncle passed away on Sunday Night and we had the funeral yesterday. Uncle Ken was 88 and loved horses, old tractors and bluegrass. I've said 'to heck with it' on the smoke-free effort. I'm smoking 3 ciggarettes a day these days. On day 5 without a cigg, it took me 3 tries to fill the coffee maker. I finally admitted that I was not prepared to become the most frustratingly awkward person on earth just because I stopped smoking....

This is my 3rd day without a ciggarette. I quit on the way up to the In-Law's on Friday. Why? Well that of a Governor put another $1 tax on each pack of ciggs. Don't get me started on why that is just another log thrown on the witch-hunt bonfire that goes on against smokers. And certainly, the 3rd day nicotine free is definitely NOT a good day to tick me off, it could cause me to commit homicide. For those of you who have never had to kick a habit; first of all I congratulate you on not having a stupid moment and starting one. Next, let me give you a hint on how it feels to be in nicotine withdrawl. Take one of those days that you've had a bad day: Things not working, stuff breaking, nothing going your way, people constantly butting in front of you, cars cutting in front of you then stopping suddenly. Now take that bad day, and DOUBLE it. Now remember, keep your patience! Don't snap at others for their stupidity, don't show any impatience at all. Remember: y...

The last few weeks have been busy ones. This week, much of my family will be eating Thanksgiving dinner here. That meant a thorough cleaning last weekend. You know, the kind of cleaning where you actually dust stuff instead of sucking off the dust with the vacuum attachment. My Mom and Dad joined Weight Watchers about a month ago. They've done well and have started mall-walking in the mornings. Since washing out of the PTA program, I've not been able to work out. I do miss the fitness center at the tech school. So I'm driving the kid into school, and then joining Mom and Dad for an hour of walking. Um.....ah...........I think I'm the youngest one there. That being said, there's a few ladies and gents that can kick my butt around the mall! Now, for eye candy: The pattern is called "We call them pirates" online at: http://www.helloyarn.com/wecallthempirates.htm and when I saw it, I knew that it would make a wonderful hat for my nephew and so...

15 years ago today, I had this boy. Now, he's a teenager 100%. Mom and Dad are freaks, and he's terribly cool. He's grown 6" this year, and his voice has changed. Yep, he looks like me but in a male form. How weird is that? Happy Birthday Son!!!!

8 Years ago today, I woke up next to my Fiancee and said, "We're getting married today!" That day was as unconventional as our treatment of it. A wedding in our opinion was a ceremony to note, but it was the marriage that we focused on. In our opinion, too many couples focused all their energy on the perfect wedding and not on the perfect marriage. We got hitched in a church for 1/4 of what many people spend on their weddings. I made the bridesmaid's dresses, the flowers, my veil, the decorations and left the making of the dress and invitation to professionals. Before we got married, we did agree on a few things: to consult each other before purchases made over a set amount. We would also have respect for each other no matter if we were angry with each other. On issues of dealing with the kid, we'd provide a united front. Any disagreement is done later and in private. Here's to another 80 years of marriage!

I think I've made the perfect sized medium bag. What you see, is the big bag I made last week on the bottom and KIP's sister on the top. I LOVE this batik! The size is about 16" wide by 14" tall. The pockets are big enough for lots of stuff and I've snuck in a hidden scissors pocket between the outside and inside. It's got a snap closure and will keep those pesky scissors (or cell phone for that matter) in reach. And just because I wanted to see it; I dug up some really cool designer fabric in my stash for this one: They're available on ebay. ETA: Removal of photbucket pics that were deleted years ago 11/17/11

What is this; # 8 or 9 in prototypes? Eh, who's counting. Anyways, it's too big to be called a bag for medium projects. I had some insomnia early this morning and came up with the smaller pocket between the inside and outside. I like it and will be using it again, but with a smaller bag. Pefycfyccrhaps about 1/3 smaller...........

Yeah, blogger and I got into a fight and it won. I deleted some older pictures in order to put up MORE pictures. This is my son in his samurai costume last night. He refused to lift his head; he said that I had shamed him by putting his obi-belt up too high. These kids these days have been brainwashed into thinking their hips ARE their waist. No matter how many times I tell him that it isn't so, he refuses to listen. I've also created a French-Maid costume for me for Halloween, but there is no way on God's green earth that I will post a picture of it!

Happy Halloween to all, or All Hallow's Eve, or Samhain, or whatever you call it. We get into the day here in our household, especially with the costumes. All practical work is abandoned for the creation of whatever-you-want-to-be for the day. This year, my son wanted to be some sort of anime-samurai kind of character. So, without a pattern, I've created the Haori and the Hakima and re-used an inner Haori from last years Jedi costume. I'd put in a picture, but apparently the blogger doesn't like my selection of costume today. I'll put in a picture of it when the spirits are more willing to allow it!

During the past few weeks I've been tinkering with a larger bag for knitting. Tinkering because they've all just been a bit not right. The first one: bad in all kinds of ways. The second: another drawstring bag, made out of a recycled sweater, is so-so. (See Pic) It's about 5" taller than the usual bag, and a bit wider; which makes it 14" tall and about 10" wide. I'm still thinking of the best way to make it close. The one that sticks out is to use grommets and make it close like one of those lunch bags. It would still be washable/dryable, but it would make a racket in the dryer. Prototype # 2 is more like a tote bag, but will have the usual pockets in it. This one was a pattern out of a packet, something I got from the fabric store when I was working there. As something to sell, I can't. It's copyrighted. But I cut them out, sew them and get ideas of what I want MY bag to have. I make up my mind on what is good and what isn't working that wa...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secretofthestole/ Clue 3 is finished! I am knitting it in handspun 2-ply yarn on size 3 addi circular needles with beads. The beads used to be only green, now I've added lavender and gold ones also. To me, this looks like a spider and web-themed stole. Notice the 3 spiders on it? I call them spiders because they have 8 legs each.

I tried to post about the return of the lawnmower and accidentally hit the wrong button. I tried to post about spinning, but there was an error uploading messages. So what's a blogger to do? Ah well.....perhaps tomorrow.

Mystery Stole3: Ok, I am confessing that I honestly and truthfully did try to like the stole as the pattern was made, but it didn't click with me. Even after trying to re-dye the whole thing, I considered the wing with the stole portion to be discordant. So last night I frogged it all. OH the horror!! I'm re-working the stole portion as it's own pattern, probably for my Mom for Christmas. I've started it again, and put in the beads this time. Secret of the Stole: I started this one with my own handspun cream Targhee wool. It's weight is fingering weight and it's being knitted on size 3 addi circs. The beads are green. I didn't realize until I had gotten home with them that the chart has green squares as the indicator to put in a bead. Wow....can we say, subliminal? There was a comment on the email group that the two points were a great bikini top. My DH said the same thing this last weekend when I joined them all together. I was in the car at the time, drivi...

I have this thing for color: it renews me in a way that I don't understand. I went down to the local fabric store to get recharged and restocked. More bags will be built next week! Check out the new colors: There were two fabrics that I wanted to buy for the Halloween Season, or what I like to call Dios De Los Muertos. I like that, it rolls of the tongue and sounds so much more ......mysterious. So, let me show you the fabrics: I may have to pry the flame/skull fabric out of the grip of my son, who will find it tooo coooooool! I also made an attempt to re-dye mystery stole 3. Well, it didn't work out like I had hoped. Instead of being one shade, it's now 4 shades of pink. I will try again. DH says it's time to get out of town for a bit, so we'll be up at his folks' for the weekend. He says I need to get outta town. I think he's right!

This is a very difficult thing for me to say to all, but it is time for me to stop being so close-mouthed about it. I have failed my course in Physical Therapist Assistant. Last Tuesday night I had a third chance to pass a lab test and I didn't. You get three chances, and if you do not pass, you are out of the program. Today would've been the next class in the program, as I used to have Monday's and Wednesday's off. I'm not myself; I keep feeling the urge that I must be studying, but there is nothing to study! I should be in class, but there's no class for me to go to. What will I do now? Being a faithful sort; I am sure that there is a divine reason for this failure. My life is not supposed to go in this direction. I feel adrift on a raft, not seeing an island nearby. It is my hope that I will see land soon.

I've been busy, thanks to a lady I met on ebay: That is 30 bags going to a fiber festival. I'm not going ~sigh~ but look for them. I missed this years' Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival due to school. I was studying for my first big test. Last night I had a dream where I was at the festival, talking spinning wheels with a lady. The festival was one of my only times to mix with other fiber enthusiasts and I do miss that. I've been sneaking a bit of spinning or knitting while waiting for Alex to get out of school or right before bedtime. I find it relaxing not to think of either sewing or school for that short time before bed.

The bags have more pockets! I was thinking and sewing at the same time and thought: what if I just have one loooong pocket divided into sections for stuff? So I sewed a few and the pockets turned out great! They're on ebay now. I think I made about 5 of them Saturday. The wedding went great, and I got to see some friends I hadn't seen since last year. We had our usual wild time. Angie was radiant, and so was Scott. Her Mom thanked me for giving her the wedding stole, and complemented me on how talented I am. You know, sometimes you are just running around so fast that you don't really think you're being talented as much as you're getting things done. It's a bit hard to explain... We have a new addition to the family: My Neice had another baby girl last Monday. We had a welcome baby party at the house yesterday. She's so small!!

I finished the Mystery Stole 3!!! Isn't it the most hideously colored piece of lace you've ever seen???The pattern's great, but my selection of yarn meant that I had to grab all of one type of yarn that I had spun regardless of what the color was. I will attempt to dye it one color, perhaps a bright pink or black. Meanwhile, my Sister's granddaughter turned 2. She was in her typical mood (both Sister and Granddaughter) Someone did put her in a sundress that I had sewed for her about 4 months ago. Isn't it cute? That was one perk with working at a fabric store. We were allowed to pick out a current pattern, and make it from fabrics that were new also. After 6 weeks, we got to take the item home, no charge! I made a skirt, a dress and this dress in the year that I was there. Oh and there was one night when it was snowing and no one came in. I proceeded to knit a fashion scarf in an hour and display it. I think it was in Lion Brand Fettucini. Interesting stuff. This we...

Many thanks to all who gave me compliments on the shawl. Here is the prospective bride wearing the shawl at the bridal shower: (She's going to kill me for this but....) I told her that you only get married for the first time once, you need an heirloom for it! My hideously colored shawl is sulking on the loveseat, almost done. School started for both Rudd Jr. and I this week. Well, actually I started last week, but who's counting! The course I am taking is an intensive one that gives the students lectures and lab time to become a Physical Therapist Assistant. Well, at the youthful age of 37, learning new things takes a bit bigger hammer than it did before. I learned how to take a patient's vitals this last week: along with a test on all that I've learned. Also being tested, was our ability to wash our hands, and converse with patients in a way that they know what is going on and why. That's something you don't normally get in a doctor's visit, and it...

I know the picture is not the best, but it does show the basic shape of the shawl. It's a faerose shawl, knitted for a friend of mine who will be married next month. The middle is a pattern I've memorized from somewhere, but the wings were from the Mystery Stole3 Pattern. Now the left side was the easiest: I picked up 100 stitches from the middle and just utilized the wing chart from the Mystery Stole3. The right side took some canoodling. I figured out that if I read the wing chart from the left to the right instead of the 'usual' way it would work. The last stitch was not a slip stitch, but a k2tog stitch. I then slipped that stitch and purled all the way back to the edge of the wing. It worked out well. The total knitting time was 2 weeks. I knitted like a fiend. Last Thursday I realized that I had to start school this Thursday. I knitted faster and faster. I finished it during the Packer game last night and blocked it on my son's bedroom floor.

Click on picture to see them bigger. They are all the same size: 8 1/2" tall and about 7 1/2" wide, with the two pockets you see on the bottom. One pocket has 5 slots in it for dpns, and the other is small, but can hold a pair of small scissors. All are drawstring: Simply pull on the strings and it will close and stay closed. I carry one with me all the time to keep whatever knitting project I have clean, and keep the ball of yarn from wandering away.

We have had over 6" of rain in the last few days. The basement is leaking, but at least we're not flooded. I've always said the flood would have to become 'biblical' to raise this far. Doba.com is still trying to squeeze 80 bucks out of me for 3 hours of perusing their overpriced crap on their website. Yeah, that's going to be disputed. I went up to the In-Laws' for the weekend. Their was something hinky in the air: I went upstairs to take a nap at about 3 and slept through dinner . I've never done that! They got much more rain in NW Wisconsin than we did. The flood warnings started Saturday and they still have more rain coming. There are 18 new bags to show you. I'll post them in a second. I pulled out some of my most favorite fabrics for the bags. As you will see: I like color.

http://www.doba.com Place is a dropshipper, and they promise 'big profits' for those who sign up. I got suckered into paying $250.00 for a premium account, only to find that their wholesale prices were TWICE what others were charging for their goods. How can I get a profit out of that? That's the scam: to get you to pay for their account and then overcharge for items. I don't have that kind of money to throw down a hole. Their response was, 'did you take our education program?" Dude, I don't need a class to know that your prices won't get me a profit. Let me think back to my econ class, Supply-Demand stuff: If someone wants product A and business 1 has it for $10 and business 2 has it for $20...consumer will buy it for 10. Oh that is SO HARD TO CONCEIVE! I tried to cancel my contract within 12 hours of making it. They said that in the state of Utah that is not true. Um, yeah...its a FEDERAL LAW. Anyone has the right to cancel a contract without...

This is what my mystery stole looks like through Clue 4. I did a bad thing: I did not dye enough yarn to complete the whole thing in one hue. When it came to the darker pink, I tried to replicate the hue found in the middle. Oh, I didn't even come close! Now that I have an idea of what Clue 5 is, I'm considering what to do. The end of the stole becomes a wing. Now on this one, I don't think it will make much of a difference. I will knit the wing. But there's the one that I've started for a gift: This one shows up on a photograph as being striped. That's because I didn't wash the white wool well enough before starting. I am hoping...crossing my fingers....that it will be white when I wash it after I am done knitting. This one will be knitted in symmetry. I will knit it to the 'frog line' and then knit another one and attach them. This will need to be done before September.

I finished the book last Wednesday. Now back to REAL life!

I was so psyched to spend Saturday reading Harry Potter. My sister had come down to pick up my nephew and they left our place. My nephew had spent the last week at our house trying to see if he could eat all of the food in our fridge. He darn near succeeded. That's my Sister in the front and my Nephew and My Son in the back, riding up from the Barn with some more boards. About 45 minutes after she left we get a call; her truck blew a rod. My husband took the call and got directions to where she was. We took off without a thought to bringing a cell phone, or anything like that. This is probably where we should've started using brain cells. My Sister, love her to pieces but her directions weren't even close! She said she was outside of Oregon, but she was actually in Verona. It took us 3 hours to find her, plus three phone calls. On a side note: if you need to use a stranger's cell phone....ask a guy. The ladies we asked got this vague, flaky look on their face and said,...

A few years ago, I was at my Sister's house and suffered what my husband and I thought was a very mild stroke. Sitting on her couch, my face felt odd-hot, tingly, flushed. My vision became tunneled, and everything looked as though I was looking through the wrong end of binoculars. Then I got up and went to my Sister's computer to fix some program that had a CD for it. I kept dropping the CD. My hubby got concerned. I said screw it, took an Imitrex and then headed for a bedroom to take a nap. Now mind you, I was probably about 34 or 35 at the time. When I woke up a few hours later, I felt drained, but that was about it. Since that time I have had issues with what they call Nominal Aphasia. I can be talking about some object and cannot bring the name of it up. It's easy stuff: like refridgerator, door, radio...and today Clothes Basket. I needed my son to fill the basket up with clothes from the dryer but I couldn't remember the word "clothes basket....

I received a message asking if I can make bigger bags. My brain starts bubbling like champagne just poured into a flute. Oh I like challenges! The criteria was that the bag needs to be large enough to hold 12" size 15 knitting needles. My brain added a few more criteria: More Pockets and More Sturdier Drawstring. So this is what I came up with: The bag is made out of a jungle print cotton and a dark green satin interior. I noggled my brain for a bit on the pocket closure. It obviously needed one, but I didn't want to use velcro. I have a bag I carry projects in from time to time that once was a diaper bag. It has a velcro closure and it keeps catching all my yarn on it. So I settled for a button. Harder to open/close, but it won't snag your stuff. I was ticked off when I put a pair of needles in the slots. I thought the needles I was using were 12". They were sticking out of the top of the bag and I didn't like it. BUT, I measured my needles, and they were over 13...

I'm done with Chart A and B. I've been working on Chart C but it's been uncooperative. That's the stole in pink. I've been selling my bags on ebay again, so I thought it would look nice next to them. Pink is not my color either so why am I knitting in it? Not a clue. I picked up a ball of yarn out of the stash and started with it out of simple frustration. The other tries at the mystery stole weren't good.

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation and headed up to Perrot State Park in Wisconsin. Nice views of the convergence of the Trempeleau and Mississippi Rivers. It was blasted hot, I mean like Africa Hot, but not Saudi Arabia Hot. We did some canoeing, some fishing, some swimming and some sight-seeing. Up the way a bit is Merrick State park, which is also along the Mississippi, but would be better for fishermen. Ah well. I spun and knitted up a coffee cozy along the way. It's in the van right now, wrapped around my cuppacino glass. There's also another bag or so that was knitted. This morning I was spinning and thinking of what needs to be done today and this week when my mother called about her computer again . So I went down and looked at it. It refuses to talk to the modem, and I hate fussing with it. This time, I just took the CPU with me back home. Back at home, and just in time to dodge the rainshower, I wanted something done to prove I could be productive. So I grabbed some...

It's the lineup of bags: There's about 8 bags done total, but one of them is holding my Mystery Stole in progress. The ones above are about 8 1/2" tall and 6" in diameter. Each have an inner pocket divided into 5 slots for dpns. Ok, well here let me show you: The cord that is the handle also lets you loop the bag through a belt or a beltloop. Slip the cord through and then put the end of it on the button and you can knit without holding onto the bag! That Mystery Stole is giving me fits. It's my first time reading and knitting from a chart, so it's going slow. The original idea was to knit it out of cream -colored cashmere. Um yeah, that didn't work out so well. I goofed it up and had to frog it 3 times. So I went with some of my handspun instead: It's a nice pattern so far. The main concern with knitting from a chart is to use the lifeline. See the white yarns going through it? When you get done knitting a row, the yarn is slipped through the stitches...

My First Post! Well let me say that I've had a blog elsewhere ~cough~ livejournal ~cough~ but I think that many of my friends have no real wish to hear about my inane trials of trying to knit stuff. They think it's 'old fashioned' and 'quaint'. Well I like old fashioned! My current projects are the knitting bags, 7 pairs of black socks as a commission, and a Knit-Along for a stole. I've been working on improving upon a design that came to me after using a small drawstring bag that a parafoil kite came in. It was handy. I could put the string over my wrist and leave the yarn in the bag knitting while I walked. Working in a fabric store, I got a LOT of fabric at a discount. So here is what I've come up with: Made from a bit of fabric, it is reversible and looks better than the kite bag. This one is holding my kip...the sock. It's oh, about 6 1/2" tall and about 4" in diameter. Not too big to throw into my bigger knitting bag. Today I gave thi...