Ready for the next 3 days

This 3-day weekend could not come at a better time. We have no plans but with a new assistant starting this week, I am ready for a break. Honestly, I have trained 4 assistants in the past 2 years. It is old hat but so time consuming. There is already a pool going to see how long she lasts. She already called in sick on her 3rd day. Am I really that bad of a boss?

No real progress pictures to show. The Percentage sweater still looks like a blob but I should be starting the sleeves this weekend. My heel flap are just about done-after a week! Those had definetly been put aside for a bit.

I saw Rebecca's post about dedicating 48 hours to a project before changing to another. May be I should give that a try. I only have 4 on the needles but I am sure progress would be made the on the neverending Mix and Mingle blanket!

Hitting the links

Today I am playing golf with the other managers from work. Wish me luck, this is only my 4th time ever playing.

Not too much on the knitting front- Still knitting around the body on the percentage sweater but I am almost done with the waist shaping! More updates soon...

WIPs and a cat update

I seems like forever since I posted pics of my WIPs.

Right now I am working on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Percentage Cardigan. It looks at little blobbish now since I have only wokred about 8 inches on the body. I have the yoke colors picked out but have not figured out the order yet. I have teal, light blue, yellow (or pink or lavender) and cream.

My other major project are the cross-stitch socks. I am really loving the colorway but have not been too inspired on knitting these. I am at the heel flap so maybe once the heel is turned, I will feel better.

One the cat front, we decided not to get one but the next morning found this sleeping on our backyard porch.
This cat has no collar and is super-friendly. I am not sure who he belongs too but we have been feeding it a few treats here and there. Even when it isn't hanging out in the backyard, if we go outside, it will come. Softie, yet again.

Almost a Softy

About 4 years ago, stepson got a small fish tank with a Beta, a frog and a snail for a b-day gift. Within the first couple of months, the Beta and snail died but the frog continues to live on. I love to watch the frog swim around and last winter when the power/heat was out for 5 days, I brought the tank close to the fireplace so the water would stay somewhat at room temp.About 3 weeks ago, stepson wanted to get another Beta. As soon as he put it into the tank, the frog hid in a corner and never swam around. I have to admit I felt sorry for it and on Tuesday, we headed to the peet store to by another 1 gallon tank so the frog could return to its own space. He is so much better now.

While we were at the pet store, there was a cat waiting to be adopted and sitting in a cage. As we walked by, it purred and I went over to pet it. It was so calm and friendly- I had to walk away or else our four-legged petless home would be no more. Yesterday, hubby admitted that he thought about that cat all day. Me too. He is even allergic and thought about going back to get it. I had to be the voice of reason and (try to) come up with reason why we should not get it- allergies, no one at home during the day, new furniture, cost of food/vet, etc... I have to say even after all that I still think about getting it.

Bring it on!

I have decided to challenge myself. I had some credit to use at my LYS and bought enough Cascade 220 to make a Percentage sweater from Opinionated Knitter. There is alot of math there but I am up for the challenge. Even more, I am making a cardigan in the round which means- steeks! I cast on last night and my husband has prepared himself for a good amount of swearing during the next month or so.

The challenge did have one victim. I have frogged the Touring wrap. No biggie, I only had about 20 rows done.

My Rut-Busting Pal Rocks!

A big thank you to Merlin the Cat who was my Rut-busting Sock Swap Pal! She sent me some of her own Hand-dyed yarn. Check out the gorgeous colors.

On top of that she also sent More Sensational Knitted Socks, 2 Skeins of black Gloss yarn from Knitpicks, a yummy Vanilla Sugar candle and some sage soap. I cannot wait to knit this yarn up! You can buy your own yarn from her at her Etsy shop!

Back from vaca

I made it back last night with one more skein of sock yarn, a good tan and very little knitting done. Hope to get back into it tonight!

1 FO before I go

Finished and ready to wear- my Venezia Sweater. This was a really quick knit and something I think I will actually wear often, especially on those days when the weater is cool in the morning and semi-sunny in the afternoon.

Venezia Sweater by Cascade Yarns
Found in the 2007 SnB Desk Calendar
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic

Needles: Size 9

Off on vacation for a week. Swimming, bikes rides, golfing (?), plenty of drink and maybe some yarn shopping! See ya soon.

Finishing and Bad TV

I had so much planned to get done this week. Time alone and I thought I would be watching a movie every night, knitting away. I have been a lazy ass ( in a good way) and have been knitting but haven't done so well on the movie front. Fear with Reese Witherspoon was on and since I hadn't seen that, I watched it and it was ok but I had a stack of Netflix waiting- Bobby, Elizabeth, Muppet Show Season 2- but none have been watched. Instead I have been a victim of bad TV- Rock of Love, Scott Baio, Singing Bee. Why? I guess I am a sucker and would rather watch something mindless while I knit.

With that said, I finished seaming Venezia last night (while watching more mindless tv), picked up sts around neck and knit the neck band. Now is the hard part. When it comes to picking up sts for button bands, I notoriously either pick up too many (droopy) or not enough (bottom curves up) sts. I think it looks good as is but still in the back of head feel like I was beaten by the button band yet again. So I am calling it tentatively done. I plan on wearing it to work tomorrow and giving it a test drive. If I remember, pics wil be taken too!

One more night of alone time and bad TV. Let's see what knid of crap I can find to watch tonight.

Just Like Macauley Culkin

Yes, I am home alone. Only day 2 of 5 and while I looked forward to the time alond, I was bored and tired yesterday which lead to a trip to the LYS- and a small yarn buy.

We leave on Sunday for vacation and even though I should be thinking about what to buy and pack, I am thinking more about what knitting projects I will be taking. One for the car and one for the vacation itself. For the car- another Purl Scarf with yarn from the stash (except the Cascade 220 I bought yesterday) and the other? Not sure yet. Another Clapotis in Silky Wool? Socks? I cannot decide.

Even though I was bored, I busted out the finishing on the venezia sweater and just have 2 seams left to do. I also finished the Short Row hat!

WIPs and a trip

I know it has been a while since I have posted my progress on current projects. I have started a couple new things in the past week or so. First off, the Short Row Hat. This is a fun project and I liked how the yarn (Noro Silk Garden) was working until the big strip of green hit but maybe it won't be so glaring when it is finished.

New socks on the needles- The Cross Stitch Block socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I am using STR in Nodding Violet.

The Venezia cardigan is still on the needles. I have about 3/4 of the sleeves done. Then, seaming and finishing will be all that's left.

A group of us from PurlyGirls headed out to Bainbridge Island yesterday for Churchmouse's Yarn Sale. We got the a bit after it started and some of the people there had huge bags full of yarn. I was amazed at how much people were buying. I managed to find 7 skeins of Hemp for Knitting hemp/wool blend to use for the Pimlico Shrug from Knit 2 Together. Only a little over $4/skein! We also checked out the local fabric store where Mara, Meg and I decided to sign-up for a beginning sewing class. After lunch and a stop at the bakery, we took the ferry back to Seattle. I ended the day by going to the Seattle Sounders games with the fam.

Now, a week to myself since hubby and step-son are camping. Then, a week away on vacation. I can hardly wait!

No Socks?

Amazing but true, I currently have no socks on the needles. I am toying with a couple different patterns but I will be going on vaca in a just over a week and I want to good vacation project too. Nothing too intricate but something different than stockinette. So as I think that over, I have started another project- the Short Row hat from Interweave Knits. Lots of counting but I love the effect.

The Seahawks photoshoot went well. The whole think reminded me of a cross between Willy Wonka and Gypsy. There were 7 kids chosen to be in the ad. Each showed up with at least 1 parent and in one case- mom, dad, sister and not-so-well-behaved 2-yo nephew came. They put everyone in a conference room and we waited for 2 hours because the practice is super-secret and they didn't want anyone watching. So when they had a break, we were escorted to the practice field. On the elevator ride down, the host told us that the Coach doesn't like it when people sit so once we are at the field we should remain standing.

We get to the field and wait another 30 minutes while they set-up the shoot. Each kid got the do an individual shoot with a player. One mother yelled at her daughter for not wearing her hair in a ponytail because it was covering her face. "This is your big break!" The 2-yo started to get fussy and the mom slapped him in the face. Another kid laid out on the grass and rolled around. Apparently not everyone heard the host or read the email about what to wear- comfortable shoes, solid color shirt and shorts. No ponytail girl wore a striped shirt and cotton skirt with flip-flops, which by the end of the day were on her hands as she crawled around on the ground. We are talking about 8-13 yos here.

It was a great experience overall. We got to watch the Special Teams practice after lunch and met some of the players but I was more amazed/shock be the behavior of the other parents/kids. Yikes!