New Socks

Finished a pair of socks today. I called them my Black Samurai Socks. The pattern is Samurai from the Knitted Socks East and West Book, and the yarn is Kells from Three Irish Girls in the colorway George Bailey, which is a really dark chocolate brown color. Just Beautiful.

Dog Bones

I bought Tank a pack of those raw hide bones the other day. It was a pack of 3, and they are about 7 inches long. He's a 7 month old boxer, so they seem to be just about the right size for him. He ate the first one in the space of about 30 minutes. Just laid right on the floor and ate the whole thing. Then he wanted another. I was a little unsure about it, but I went ahead and let him have it, fully prepared to take it away if it seemed as though he was going to eat that one too. He didn't. He has been carrying it around the house with him for the last three days looking for a place to bury it. He's been really funny about it. He carries it up onto the bed, scratches at the edge of the bed (where the bed & the wall meet), sets his bone down, then tries really hard to push the covers up over it. Or he'll bring it up onto the couch, scratch at the edge of the cushion, push his bone down between the cushion & the back (or arm) of the couch, and try like hell to cover it back up. He did manage to "bury" it beneath some couch pillows today and ignore it for a little while, but when someone moved the pillows, he had to go get it. He has moved it from place to place all over the house for three days. And I have laughed at him over it. Today I finally felt sorry for him. He was outside attached to his tie-up line whining because he wanted to come back in the house, but I kept telling him that he is a dog, and that he can spend some time outside without actually dying. So I got the third bone out of the pack and brought it outside to him. Then I stood at the window and watched him. First he played with it. He was so excited just to have his bone outside! He would throw it up in the air and chase after it, then he would bark at it and throw it up in the air again. Then he picked it up and carried it around for a while, just walking around and around with it in his mouth. Then he realized that he was outside, and that there was dirt there, that stuff that he normally just digs in for no reason. Now he could dig in it and put his bone in the hole that he dug! So he started trying to bury his bone. He tried by one tree, then by another, then by the patio, then out in the yard. He could dig the hole, but either not dig it deep enough or wide enough or not be able to fill it back in afterward. This went on for a while. Then he saw me watching him. He stopped digging long enough to bark at me. I guess he didn't want me seeing where he was hiding his bone. I faked him out and pretended to leave, but I came back and saw him digging another hole near the edge of the patio. He wasn't taking chances either, he was really digging. He got a good sized hole, put his bone in, and covered it back up. Then he went and laid down in the sun. He was tired, after all. That was a lot of work. Don't worry, though, I won't let on that I know where his bone is buried.

Insomnia

Why does knowing that I have to get up in the morning make my insomnia worse? Technically I am still on cycle break, but I have a workshop to go to at 8 tomorrow morning. So why am I still awake? I've been in bed since 10, and I've taken something to try to help me sleep, but I'm still awake. Last night I went to bed at 11 and woke up this morning at 7, so really I should be okay tomorrow, but still. It just pisses me off when I know I NEED to get up in the morning and CAN'T go to sleep.

So, what have I finished since I last blogged? Well, I knit a pair of socks for the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) April Challenge. The pattern was called Baudelaire. They were fun to do. I am now doing a second pair for the same April Challenge. This pattern is called Saltos. They are not as much fun as the Baudelaires were, but they will be nice.

I Love My Knitting Group

My knitting friends and I get together once a week. Every Tuesday night at 6:30, there is a group of knitters in Baton Rouge knitting together somewhere. Most Tuesdays it is at McAlister's Deli where we generally get something to eat and drink then sit and knit while we visit and get progressively louder and probably scare the muggles in the adjoining room. (We do sit off on the side in a room known as "The Patio," even though it is closed in and air conditioned - this is Louisiana, after all) On the third Tuesday of the month, we get together at one of the yarn stores in town, and if there is a fifth Tuesday, we have a special dye and spin night at the home of one of our members. As with any group of people who get together on a regular basis, not all of us go every single week. Some of us do, others of us go as our schedules allow. And if we are just too tired to go, well, we don't go. There's no guilt. It's really very informal and very friendly. We range in age from college-aged to retirement aged, and we get along splendidly. We are always happy to see each other.
One of the best things about knitting group is that we have show and tell. Anything that gets finished (or purchased) gets brought to knitting group to be shown off. And everyone is always genuinely impressed with anything that gets shown. Let me tell you, we do have some talented knitters and crocheters in our group, too!
I went to knitting group tonight, and I brought 3 things for show and tell:

my Arwen Cardigan,

my Math Geek Hat which I finished last night











and this little guy who I had started and almost finished when I went to group (I finished him after I got home)










Everyone there oohed and aahed so much! They really make me feel as though I have accomplished something amazing. Really, though, I think the amazing thing is having friends like them. I love my knitting group.

I finished the Arwen Cardigan!!! Finished Finished. Seamed, ends woven in, finished! It is absolutely beautiful, too. It is a little short, though. I haven't washed and blocked it yet, so maybe when I do that I can stretch it out a bit. Even if I don't, I don't think it will be too short. DD is not that tall, and her torso isn't very long. It should be okay for her. I made my other DD try it on, and it fit her a little snuggly and looked like a cropped cardi on her, so I think it will be fine for DD#1. I will wash and block it tomorrow, let it dry, and send it off to her later in the week. I hope she likes it. :)
While I was perusing patterns on Ravelry the other day, I ran across one for a Math Geek Hat. Knowing my DS#2 the way I do, I just know that he will love to have that hat, so as soon as I finished Arwen, I cast on for the hat. I'm halfway through the charted section, so it is knitting up really fast. I'm thinking I will probably finish it tomorrow.

Lunch with Three Irish Girls

My normal lunchtime routine goes like this: kids are released at 11:30, I go home (two blocks away,) check the mail, take the dogs out of their kennels & put them outside on their leads so they can get some fresh air & sunshine, go back in the house, fix myself a sandwich or heat up some leftovers, eat lunch in front of the tv, then knit until it's time to go back to work at 12:30. Two days ago, lunchtime started like usual; I went home, checked the mail, threw it on the table on my way in the house, took the dogs out of their kennels, took them outside, then, while I was tying them up outside, I noticed a package sitting on one of the chairs on my patio. I grabbed it on my way back in the house to fix my lunch. Before I could begin preparing a bologna sandwich, though, I noticed the return address on the package. Three Irish Girls! And it was a BIG package! Was this the large order I had placed in order to knit my oldest DD the Cardigan for Arwen? I grabbed a knife, tore through the tape, lifted the flaps, pulled out the brown envelopes (there were two of them) that the yarn comes in, and ... IT WAS! This was the beautiful green BFL DK weight yarn that I ordered hoping to make an Arwen out of! The green is a bit brighter than I had originally thought it was going to be, but I have enough of it for an entire cardigan!!! I immediately forgot all about my lunch, grabbed a skein of the yarn, ran over to my swift and ball winder, and immediately wound up a cake of yarn. Then I hunted around the living room until I found the pattern that I had printed out two months ago when I first ordered the yarn, located the needle size I needed, grabbed those needles, and ran to my room and my tv. I turned on my tv, found a show to watch, and cast on for the back of the cardigan. I didn't even swatch first! I knitted my lunch hour away just as happily as you please. That afternoon after I got home from work, I looked at it again and decided that if I am going to do it, I need to make sure I do it right. So I pulled yarn from the other end of the cake and swatched. You know what? I was DEAD ON!!! The gauge is perfect. I'd like the fabric to be a little firmer, but I think it'll be ok. (I hope, anyway - I mean, I do want her to wear it)
So last night I was looking at the progress that I was making on the back and decided that I needed to blog about it right then because I was really flying on this thing. So I took some pics with the intention of blogging about it then, but I didn't do it right away and ended up going to bed instead. So now I'm writing about it and using last nights pics. To tell the truth, I haven't gotten much farther on it tonight because I had to go pick up DH from the airport and haven't really been home very long. But 13 1/2 inches in two nights is not so shabby, right? I didn't think so.

Failure to Plan

When I was packing for a trip to Virginia, I knew enough to bring plenty of knitting with me. I knew that I was close to finishing my two Ravelympic projects, so I brought along a ball of Noro yarn that I was planning on making into a scarf and a pair of socks that I had started before Ravelympics. The scarf I made in two nights and left for Carrie to use because I figure that she might need it more that I will since she's up in Virginia where it usually gets a bit colder than Louisiana. (And I forgot to take pics of it - I'll see if hubby will get some before he comes home Wednesday) I finished my two Ravelympic projects and packed them and the needles away in my suitcase that I was planning on checking for the flight. That's just a little less that I have to carry on to the plane, right? So, everything goes smoothly - I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, my flight is on time, no problem checking my suitcase, security goes smoothly (I did get patted down, though, which is something that had never happened to me before), then I found my gate and settled in to wait on my flight. I pulled out my ipod and my extra pair of socks that I was knitting, found where I was in the pattern, and got ready to start knitting. That's when I noticed and remembered that I had borrowed the needles from that sock project to knit my Ravelympic sock project. And what did I used to hold the place on those socks? A circular needle that had one good needle and one broken needle. I. AM. SO. STUPID! Failure to plan, or notice, or remember what I had done. What do I do now? For a normal flight it would not really be a problem, but for this particular flight, I have a 3 1/2 hour layover in Charlotte, SC. So I'm sitting in the Charlotte airport updating my blog and lamenting my stupidity instead of knitting.

Since I'm updating my blog, I might as well go ahead and update about my Ravelympic projects. I finished my Skew socks yesterday around noon then wore them the rest of the day.
They're okay, they fit well enough; they could have had a bit more negative ease, but I didn't really have a problem with them sliding around in my shoes or anything. I don't think I'd make them again, just because of the weird construction.
I also finished Tank's Shrug last night around 9:30. I don't know that he'll wear it, though because it does look a bit like a sweater for a girl dog (hello ... it's a SHRUG, Stephanie; that could've given you a hint)
Anyway, they are both done, and done before closing ceremonies of the Olympics, so that goal was met. I got so sidetracked with other projects, that I wasn't sure whether or not it was going to actually happen. At the last minute though, I just gave myself a pep talk and then a kick in the butt and got it done.