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I found some acrylic yarn in my stash - a huge - ball and decided to knit up a Kimono.  This yarn knitted up easy and quite washable. 

But the sweater keeps getting lost.  
I test drove a new car and left the knitting bag in the back and called the dealership twice and they swear they didn’t find it in the car.  I, luckily, bought the car and there it was it the back!

Then that weekend I went to Maine with my girlfriend to visit her Mom and left it there.  SIt’s finished now. I was just attaching the i-cords in Maine.
So now it’s vacationing there until she goes back.

 Feeling frustrated I did the sweater in a 100% Mercerised Cotton by Tahki.  That’s finished too.

Then I decided to organize my stash.  That was a 6 hour project, which included unraveliving some left over balls of yarn that the dog thought were toys.   I have a lot of stash.  

I wonder . . .  Is it alright to throw away stuff you don’t like?  Nah, give it to Good Will.

 I just finished reading a book about “The Troubles” in Ireland (that’s not the name of the book) The Marching Season by David Silva.

Now I’m reading the book club book, which is an easy read.   Next on deck Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan. A book about Frank Lloyd Wright’s life.  My sister-in-law read for her book club.  She said it was great.

This my new Grand-Cat, Cleo.   Isn’t she sweet?

 This is Beckett, last night, waiting for me to finish brushing my teeth.  I didn’t know that dogs could sit like that.

I am finished with the 8.5″ of the back of the sideways sweater.   Now to cast on 72 stitches for the right side.  I hope to have this done before tomorrow morning when I go back to Sit N Knit Too to start a shawl with Audry.   I seem to do so much better with goals.

I have a weakness - that’s buying some yarn every-time I go to Sit N Knit.  I also see a new project I want to start.  I need restraint.

I updated my reading list.  I can’ t remember two or three books.  I should do this more often.  Next Tuesday is the Berlin Peck-Memorial Library Book Club to discuss “The Last Lecture”.  Two of my neighbors are coming with me, Maryann and Sheila. 

 We, the some of the ladies of Beckley Farms, have started a Monday Night Card Club.  It’s lots of fun.  I lost $3 last week!!!

 I also spent $700 on repairs for my 3 year old Subaru.  The dealer said that it was spark plug coils were corroded.  This is in a garaged car.  WTF?

Well folks,  I have some more advice (yesterday I warned to save before publishing) and today’s advice is:

It is important to add your stash to Ravelry.  I went to Sit N Knit Too today to get a last skein of my yarn for the Lady’s Sweater and I couldn’t find the label I thought I brought.  Aha, says I –  I’ll just look on ravelry!  Judy set me up and low and behold, I didn’t have it in Ravelry.  I bought the wrong color.

 In adition I bought 4 balls of Porto Cervo In Jeans,  Lot 0010 Color 110 Orange  for a second Pea-pod Sweater.

 I am always amazed with Judy’s memory.  She always remembers your name and she even remembered that my friend, Martine, yarn order hasn’t yet arrived.  No wonder everyone loves that store.

We’re getting our taxes ready to do the taxes, what this means is (I do the bills in our relationship) and my husband says get me this and get me that (because he does the taxes).

I have been knitting and reading and staying in.  In addition, unbeknown to me, I’ve been growing my hair.  I am in desperate need for a hair cut.  This is what happens when I don’t make an appointment when I leave the shop after a haircut.  Then I start thinking maybe I should grow it longer or maybe cut it really short.  Thinking like that always makes me sorry.

I’ve read Home to Holly Springs, and a book about a father talking about his son’s drug addiction.  I also read a novelette by John Grisham  called The Bleachers.  I’m going to gather the info and put it on the reading page on the blog.  Now I’m reading a Kellerman mystery.

On the knitting front I am working on my Pea-pod baby sweater-set. This is my first time using a knitting chart and I’ve frogged a few times. I thought I was finished and realized that I didn’t make the armholes big enough when I went to put on the sleeves. So I had to frog again.   This is the yarn that I bought when Martine and we snuck up to the Webb’s sale.  The other yarn, grey, is waiting for the perfect men’s sweater pattern.  But the hat’s done (but no picture of the hat). If I don’t put in the stash on Ravelry, does it count?

I also ordered some things from Knit Picks.  I had to…  I stepped on my number 5 interchangeable harmony wood needle and had to reorder another one.  Here’s the catch.  If you order $50 or more they ship it to you free!  Who doesn’t like free?  I bought a few knitting accessories and some sock yarn and the Mason Dixon Knitting Book.  Hey if was 40% off.

At the end of next month my grand-dog is coming to stay a week with us.  I can’t wait.  He is so calm and good.  He even gets along with Miss Princess Fluffy. 

Speaking of Miss fluffy, she is getting to be a hairy beast.  I try to brush her while we are watching Television, but she is impatient with me.  I tell her that she is going to have to get groomed, but she just gives me that stare.  As a parting note, always remember to save before you publish

Christmas was the best time I’ve had for a while, all my children,  grandchildren,  brother and grand-dog, Murphy, were together.  If you know me then you know that I could wish for no more than that! 

When I went to starbucks  in Newington, I saw this wreath:    It’s yarn and Glass balls, pretty cool.

 The day after Christmas I went furniture shopping with my daughter’s boyfriend.  He bought a leather sectional and I bought some glass topped coffee and end tables.  I also applied for some more reasonably priced health insurance, and hope I’m accepted.

 My hubby and I went and saw Doubt,   and boy, MS and PHS are great actors.  My hubby said it was just like being back in middle school.  That night my hubby who has officially listed himself as a professional poker player (to the naive it means he’s made more than he’s lost!) and was playing on  www.pokerstarz.com and won a seat to play in a Poker Tour event at Paradise Island.  The package includes one week at the Atlantis and some spending money.  We’re taking Jet Blue 1/4/09!  Good by snow.

Had a big scare with my daughter, who has been out of work - hence no health insurance - even after I harped all those years on the importance of it — and she thought she’d have to have surgery on her L5 disk.  Wedding / Surgery?  It turned out to be a flase alarm after a second opinion.  The best news is that she starts her new job on 1/6/09.

 On Monday my friend from Canada, Martine, and I went to the blow out sale at Webs.  Since I’m on a yarn diet I only bought some baby yarn for a sweater and couldn’t resist 20 skeins for $60.00, that could be a nice sweater for hubby.

 Then on Tuesday, Martine and I went to Sit N Knit Too hoping that Helen would be there and we’d be able to start on the custom sideways sweater.  Unfortunately Helen was taking some time off.

While I’m sitting here writing I can see  our bird feeder and I wish I’d taken out the  screens so I could see them better.  

It very very cold and the wind sounds like a freight train as it whips by the side of the building.  Our room is near the end of the hallway and you can hear it make the turn, if you can imagine that.  The wind is blurring vision and the evergreens are bending.  It even looks cold out the window.

 I’m glad I did my exploring yesterday.  The area is so rural that I thought I drove 100 miles but it was only 40.  I had to find a CVS and then I found Diana’s Yarn and Craft store.  As you can imagine, I’ve added to my stash by purchasing some cascade 220 for the next project - an ear flap had and some more sock yarn.  I left them in the car and haven’t put them on Ravelry yet.

I’ve all but finished the Australian wool sweater.  Here it is handing on the shower curtain  at the Hotel.  It still needs some weaving in and the i-cord and buttons.  98.9%  finished and guess what, IT FITS! 

I’ve made some project with the February Lady’s Sweater.  I think each section of the pattern is 2″.  I’m planning to do some more tonight.

I’m reading Kidnapped again and find it as exciting as it was the first time. 

I have three major projects growing:  My February Lady Sweater - 60% finished, My Australian Wool 85%, and a pair of socks 85%.  My friend Martine is coming to see her boyfriend for Thanksgiving (from Canada) and she suggested we go to Sit N Knit Too to start a new project.  I hope to have one of them finished before I start my next one.  I hate to get more wool but I know I will.  I have soo much stash.  I need to sell or trade some more on Ravelry.

 I’m almost finished with “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and can’t wait for them to blow up the bridge.  Hemingway’s style of writing in short declarative sentences makes the characters seem somewhat illiterate at least to me, but I’m told it was a revolutionary new way of writing hailed by the critics.

I’m 8″ into the February Lady’s Sweater - for a class I’m taking at Sit N Knit Too with Audrey.  I have ripped out three times trying to get the increases to look good.  I’m done with that and ready to increase for the lace

I’m using Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a deep purple.  The following is a picture of the project with the cast on of 94 stitches at the neckline.

That’s also my sofa and remote in the background:)

In between I’ve cast on for a pair of Berroco self stripping socks made in a k2 p2 rib.

   The picture doesn’t show the colors well but it’s a green/grey/blue combo.  I tried to cast on doing the toe up but didn’t feel comfortable with it.  Last night at SNB, Allison was doing the same thing and not having a problem, so maybe I’ll try again.  I guess I’ll use a dk or worsted weight as that worked well when I was learning on 4 needles.

This is the last week of daily babysitting for my grandchildren.  My husband says I should do it two days a week from here on, so I countered with I’ll do one and you do one.  My only complaint is that they don’t eat what I think is healthy.  I know I should get over it, but I can’t.

 I touched on the subject of a second cat and John didn’t freek out, just said that’s a slippery sloap.  I think he thinks a dog comes next.  Ha!  I’d love to have a dog except when I think I would rather sleep in rather than walk a dog in the morning.

I’m on the last sleeve of that New Zealand Wool sweater.  So close but so far. I don’t think I’ll have enough yarn to do a shawl collar.  It’s hand dyed so there’s no getting more and the colors would be hard to match.   I’d have to do a contrasting color.  We’ll see when it’s all together.  Remember this:

We had our book club meeting last Tuesday for “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Morrison and seemed to agree that it was written dis-jointedly (is that actually a word?) but the message was powerful.  Imagine meeting Bin Laden!

 Next book is by Stewart O’Nan.  I read the Good Wife by him, the next book is entitled Last Night at the Lobster.  As a great treat he is coming to talk at our book club.  Instead of borrowing the book I’ll buy it and hope to get it autographed!

 I just finished reading The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith.  It was enjoyable.  Some of the names (Mr. J.B.L. Matkoni)  in the book remind me of the spam mail telling me that I can receive 1/2 of an inheritance if I help this poor South African person etc etc

On a home note, they fertilized the grass at our condo and now our lawn is striped.  This place is a f’in disaster since the builder went belly up.

Today I was checking my email and my ebay site when I looked up and saw a Turkey Parade walking across our yard.  I ran up stairs to get my camera, but naturally the chip wasn’t in and neither were the batteries.  Finally when I got back down stairs there were only 8 left of the 12 and here’s what I saw:

After that I decided my feet were cold and I needed some wool sock yarn and bid on a couple of skeins on ebay.  The stuff I have (and you know it doesn’t count as stash) is cotton. That’s my excuse.

Tomorrow my hubby has his colonospocy and I should get in a lot of knitting waiting for him, possibly finish the sweater sleeve and start the next.  I also have to swatch the yarn for the sweater class at Sit N Knit Too.

I decided to write here before I entered my new stash in Ravelry.  If I go to Ravelry first I’ll never get here.  I seem to get lost for hours on that site.

 Yesterday, I had the most enjoyable day.  I had a haircutand then went directly to Sit N Knit in Wethersfield until 3:00.  A relaxing day of knitting - hence the stash increase.   I worked on one sleeve of my sweater and am halfway through.  I chose not to  do 2 sleeves at once since the last time Idid that I spent more time untangling the yarn than knitting, at least it felt like that.  My goal is to finish the sleeve tonight and cast on the next.

 Also I recently bought some “doesn’t count as stash” sock yarn.  Blue Socketta, green Pattons stretch because I had to buy the other skein I forgot to buy to make the knee-socks.  You need to skeins of stretch to make a pair, so in order to save on shipping I bought 4 others.

I signed up for Sit N Knit’s Lady Sweater and bought the yarn.  Here’s a picture of what the finished product will look like.The yarn I bought is a soft Berraco purple, it feels so nice.  I snuck in a single skein of a soft soft baby wash pink to make my Granddaughter a pair of wristlets.  Why?  Because she went to Justice with her Aunt and bought a blouse with short sleeves, that  came with a pair of cotton gauntlets.  Flimsy material.

 Today I wait for the cable guy, not HIM, but comcast to put in the second box so we can see hi def on the downstairs TV, then off to Farmington to wait for the school bus.  I’m getting better at this.  I have a goose step schedule and it seems to work without tears.  I wish I could wait and watch Ty practice but I have to sit and wait for the 7 year olds practice - I guess that what you call 15 little girls that can’t stand in a line for more than a minute and the high school girls that are the “coaches” .  The coaches need a  little bit of management skills and to learn the meaning of “preparation”, instead of standing there trying to think of a new routine.

So I can’t get through a post without ranting about politics.  What’s with “THAT ONE”? What was John McCain thinking???  They say as people age they seem to become more ethnic, or maybe it’s the people older than me that get that way.  I think it’s from when they were young all people were “foreigners” - 1st or 2nd generation (and that’s a generalization).  People tended to stay within their groups of ethnicity.  But hey, he’s a politician and should have better handlers.   Slip of the tongue that shows what he is thinking.

 I am voting for Obama.  I made my mind up a year ago.  My first reason is that I think we are going too far right and the church/state thing is to integrated.  Church and state should be separate, no ifs ands or buts.  Second:  Health care!   Does John Mcain really thing a $5000 tax credit will purchase health care?  I have a pre-existing condition, “Pre-Diabetes” (which means that I control it with diet and exercise - not drugs) and when my COBRA ended I was canned because of that condition.  Now I am in a HIGH RISK company and pay - are you ready for this????? $375.50 /per month.  YES THAT PER MONTH - MORE THAN $13,000.OO PER YEAR  - YES MORE THAN THE $5000 TAX CREDIT.   How does that help people like me?

Ok, I am calmer now.  I’m off to Ravelry.