Nottin' of Importance

Strange week. Doctor said take it easy and so I did. I was working on Pure and Simple top down Henley pattern with some Paton's Cotton Top yarn (that I got free at the yarn frenzy last fall). I was knitting the body part in the round and it was great mindless, pain medicated knitting.

Friday Nite Needlers are talking of doing the EZ Surprise Baby Sweater as a knit along. The Guru will be leading us in this and gives everyone a chance to use up scraps of yarn. For others it will be the first sweater of any kind. This has minimal finishing so a great place to start learning to advance past scarves and blankets. A couple of our people only seem to crochet so we are encouraging them to take on the Larger Than Life Crocheted Bag. Have found a CAL on line that they can refer to and see if they can find the pattern.

Last Tues 4 of us got together and went to see one LYS, Babbetta's, new store. She had moved over the 4th weekend to a bigger place in the same complex. The lighting is better and it appears the amount of yarn has grown or maybe its just easier to see. Since they have no drop in knitting place we went over to the coffee shop and knitted for couple hours. I miss knitting in the store.... so many times you sit there with others and see things you want to try and wander store and end up shopping instead of knitting. Seems to be a good way for shop to make more money but this appears to not be of concern here. And on the other hand........a desperate knitter doesn't spend more money!! The positive side.

Am waiting to hear from Felted regarding Lambstown gathering from yesterday. I couldn't handle the car ride or heat to go... She will most likely come home with great yarn and make me feel worse for missing it !!!!!!! again a money savings for me.

I promise to get up to speed soon. Maybe even picture of FO.

knitting

Knitting around and around and around and around. Am dizzy !!!!!

Knitting Friends

A while back I wrote about childhood friends. Another group of people have entered my life. Knitting Friends. I have to say since moving down to Roseville from Nevada City, I have joined a rather large and interesting group of Knitters. The first friend here, I met through a Forum called Knitters Review. She later went on to own the LYS and had to close do to family demands. I still think of her as the Head Frog. At her shop I met other knitters, some knitting for years, some beginners. I think I was in the middle range of knitters. We 'ran' into each other every Tues afternoon. Would knit and laugh together for hours. Days moved into weeks and then into months and as you went in and out of the LYS, you met others. By the time the Frog Pond closed its doors there was a good size group of knitters tied together by a common thread........ Yarn. Nothing more just yarn. We come in all ages, sizes, shapes, from assorted backgrounds. Some we learn first names and never last names. A few of us struggle to keep knitting groups going. Sometimes it succeeds, other times it flounders. We just have not found our little circle of chairs and sofa that we had at the Frog Pond, with the right light, within a comfortable to all driving distance.

On Friday nights, we have the neighborhood knitters, or as they are formly known as the Nighttime Needlers. Again all ages. We share yarn. A few do a great deal of charity knitting. Some use that single hook and crochet. I go all week and maybe see one other of these ladies, but on Friday nights there we are. The Knitting Guru keeps us all on track and fixes our boo boos. We just celebrated one of these beautiful ladies 90th Birthday. At her party we had almost 2 tables of her knitting friends. Made her happy to see us. Her family were so wonderful to us, and we were told how much we are a part of their Mothers life. Feels good to have that kind of needlers for friends.

Today a few of the former Frog Pond Knitters met up. Another LYS has the table, chairs, and today they had the right combo of people laughing and knitting together. We had 4 of us from the old Tuesday group. Two new ladies who work at this LYS. And doing a drop in Guest Appearance was Lou. Lou is the king of lace knitting. An amazing man with small needles and 1000's of yards of tiny lace weight yarn. He pulls up a chair and fits right in with us. We had lunch, back to the shop for a few more rows of knitting and sharing this new bond, again Yarn. We will continue to search for the right group of friends, the right location, winter months approaching and all will be right again in the with a circle of knitting friends.

P.S. Knitting Guru, Lou said to tell you hello

Back on Track

Back on track with the bump sweater. Took a while but have gotten the one edging done and ready to start the short rows. This time in the right place at the bottom of sweater and not at the neck line. This is my project of the week. The sleeves will go very fast as they are knitted from seam around. I do think I need to shorten them. I have to remember how small the Mom to Be is.

The rest of the knitting sits here and stares back at me. So many thing I want to make. I do have some stash cotton yarn I got in the yarn frenzy at the knitting guru's house last fall. I am eyeing it on the shelf for a top down Henley Sweater for myself. A free sweater. I do have some other yarn from that day that I need to sort through and lay out some plans for.

The heavy yard work is finally a thing of the past, now its maintain. The huge thorny shrubs out back are way down and cleared up underneath. Walking along the house in the back is not long a tortured trek. For that am glad. We woke to clouds today and a sprinkling of rain. Its only about 85 degrees today. It makes me long for fall and hope we don't go back into the 100 plus weather that makes you want to hide under the bed with little or nothing on to maintain your sanity. I guess I will never get use to the heat again. I am also busy working with the contractor to replace 4 more windows before winter. One is extremely large and is a whole wall from counter to ceiling, in the kitchen. I am loving home more and more with each project completion. I still have painting I need to do in places but it will happen when the mood so moves me.

I am back to giving grandson a ride home from work each day at noon. I can't tell you how sweet that 20 minute commute is with him. Little short chat that makes me feel like I am apart of his life. The best kid ever. The grands on the east coast are going to summer camps. I hope I see them again before the end of the year. They have grown up so fast on me.

Mtns, Babies and old Friends

As promised, a picture of Mt. Shasta taken last week. There is little snow left on the mtn and the summer climbers have started to scale the 14,162 ft mtn. My brother has climbed Mt. Shasta several times, and friends from work have also climbed both in summer and in winter months. Through out my life I have heard many stories of the climbs and of the folk lore surrounding this beautiful peak. I am happy just driving to it and looking at its beauty.

I have finished my first top down sweater and made it in mini style. This is for new grandchild and I am looking at doing a couple adult versions. What a relief to not have to seam one part of this sweater. When it comes off the needles you have a few ends to weave in and its over. I used Plymouth Yarn, Encore Colorspun. For a baby its perfect, 75% acrylic/25% wool. I hand washed it in some dish detergent and blocked it last nite. It was dry by noon today and feels so soft and sweet. Again I have no idea if we are having a boy or girl but think this sweater would look great on either.

The small bootie shoes above were a fast to knit up once I had my favorite knitting guru go through the instructions with me. I was having trouble translating the pattern through my brain to my fingers. (also known as operator error) These were made on size 10 double point needles. I may try another pair on smaller needles.

I have frogged and re casted on for the front of the bump sweater. I want to finish this up so I can start a top down summer sweater for myself. By the time I finish it, I will wish it had long sleeves!!

Last nite a few retiree's from the Sheriff's Office had dinner at one of my favorite places outside Nevada City. I didn't hear about it till 3 PM yesterday and the almost 100 mile round trip was just a little much for me to do alone at nite. I hope they do something again soon on a nice fall afternoon. I do have to make a journey up there soon. I miss Nevada City so much and know I will be pulled back into a beautiful place I spent almost 28 years of my life in. There are lots of friends left up there. Plus a storage place holding things I need to deal with. On the bright side there are 3 great yarn shops up there.

Re entry to my life

Check this knitting out. Izzy is knitting on the set of Grey's Anatomy. I knew she was one of my favorites for a good reason. Now if we could get her to visit Sacramento and a knit group here. I wonder what she is making?

I have returned from trip to Mom's. Was nice there as house finally has A/C after all these years. Son divided up the time with me in taking care of mother and cooking meals. AND........ I got to sneak off one morning to Ashland, Oregon, for a visit to Websters. First class shop. Plus what ever it is you buy there has no sales tax added. Sort of like getting an extra skein of yarn free. I got one more of my Rowan Books to add to my collection. They are all $20.00's there with, again, no tax. Got to love shopping in Oregon.

Time at Mom's goes fast with taking care of her and the house. I forget how use I am to being alone and doing nothing more but dust a kitchen. We did get Mom down to get her hair done and had lunch out. Son took her to lunch one day, while I made my fast trip over the hill to Ashland. One day we packed a picnic lunch and took Mother down by the Klamath River for a picnic. Made her happy to be by the water.

Knitting consisted of making one small pair of baby socks, Casting on for a EZ Surprise Baby Sweater, not sure I won't be frogging that though. I also frogged the front of the Bump Sweater. Was having trouble getting the short rows going the right direction. Coming home Friday was so hot (106 degrees) that I just couldn't handle yarn while sitting for 5 hours in the car.... wasted time that could of accomplished so much. I also think I was worn out. I slept most of Sat after I got up at 3:30 am to take son and granddaughter to airport. Tomorrow is back to norm and Tuesday back to work. I did take a photo of Mt. Shasta with out much snow on it. But have not downloaded yet. Maybe next post.