Arizona

 Darling Daughter and I took a trip to Arizona last week.  When we booked the trip we thought we were going to a warm place but as we checked the forecast the temps kept dropping.  I wore my newly finished sweater almost every day.  Morning temps in Phoenix were 37 but rose quickly to 50 and by then we were on our way to Sedona, DD rented a car and did the driving, she has nerves of steel.  Temps in Sedona were in the 30's and 40's so we donned our winter coats and did more touring in the car than hiking.  We booked a bus trip to the Grand Canyon complete with fresh snow so the colors were magnificent, my photos do not capture the vibrant colors.  We had a grand time even though we were bundled in our winter duds.  Back home to more snow.  --Ann--

Easter M&Ms

Its so good to be healthy again.  I hadn't napped so much since the last time I was pregnant 27 years ago.  On several afternoons I told my then 5 year old I needed a nap, he was content watching something on tv and was surrounded by his legos, there was a glass of milk in the fridge and a snack on the table just in case.  He was told not to wake me up unless the house was on fire or someone was trying to break in the house.  I'm sound asleep but funny how as a mother of young children we become light sleepers.  I hear him tip toe into the room and whisper loudly in my ear "Mom! Mom! did you know they are making new colors of M&Ms for Easter?!"  He turned 32 two weeks ago.  Memories --Ann--

Ready to work

I spent a couple afternoons in my sewing room getting reorganized.  I don't know how that room gets so messy some weeks. Do the dust bunnies come to life when I'm not there and start their own little projects?  I cut strips from everything I had pressed then I cut the needed parts and stacked the leftover strips neatly in a box for future use.  I really don't want to press everything again, eventually I will get this wool sewn into quilts  I'm hoping when I get home I will have a new enthusiasm for this project.  --Ann--

Cable Sweater

Only about 6 more inches of sleeves to knit.  I'm doing them 2 at a time which took some thought and several long walks to get it straight in my head as to how to pick up the stitches.  Maybe in another post I will explain how to do it.  But for now I'm off on an adventure with my daughter and probably wearing this sweater as I am scheduling posts while I am away to warmer places.  --Ann--

Speed Knitting

Only a couple more twists in the cables and I'll be ready once again to knit the binding.  Its amazing how fast I can knit on a short cable so I'm not continually pushing stitches around and the use of a string counter to keep track of my cable twists and twizzles.  I made this one with 12 holes, I twist all the cables on loop 1 and the outside cables on loop 7,  quick counting!!!  I'll use 2 counters on the sleeves one for the cables and one for the decreases.  My center cable is doing a 1440 or a quad I need to add at least another 180 if not a 360.  Am I mixing my metaphors or just my terminology and sports??  Who would have ever thought the word grab would be used as a technical sports word in snowboarding. Rather refreshing to disassociate the word with men behaving badly and the me too revelation.  Hope you are enjoying the olympics as much as I am.  --Ann--

Practice makes perfect

another ball of yarn stretched and drying on the swift

     I tried this sweater on again just before knitting the binding and if I were a full figure gal it would have been perfect but I'm not so I ripped again.  It was perfect in the waist and hips but even wearing a button front shirt under it would not fill the excess in the bust.  I thought about putting it away but then watching the olympics especially the segments of the athletes practicing and training I decided to have another go at it.  I just need to pick myself up or rather needles and yarn again and keep on knitting.  The cable pattern is in my head now and my hands know how tight to hold the yarn its just repetition now until its perfect and after trying it on again I think  it's right --perfect on me  fingers crossed  --Ann--

A Long Week

Its been a long week of not doing much.  I have a cold and my first thought when I get out of bed is I need a nap.  Then after my nap I am thinking about taking some night time cold medicine and going to bed.  Other than that I have been curled up in a chair either reading or knitting and drinking water.  I finished birthday socks for son in good time.  Hubby will deliver them next weekend when he goes up there ice fishing.  Also finished the schoppel wool yarn socks that is rolled like a spool. Interesting how the colors stack up as the spool gets smaller and 2 pair of socks I knit a couple years ago with the same kind of yarn just to show how differently the colors pool.  There are 2 strands of yarn on the spool and it was dyed on the spool.  I have one more spool of that yarn to knit I wonder where the colors will go. Sadly I cannot remember where I ordered it and have not seen it recently on any yarn sites I frequently visit.  I started socks for DD for her birthday, I'm doing a slip stitch pattern that works nicely on the narrow stripes.  And my sweater again.  Its a good thing I tried it on last week because I think it was sized for a teenager or my gauge was way off,  it was very snug in the under arm so rip again and start over.  I have a terrible time getting an 18 stitch gauge on size 8 needles, if I knit tight I get 19 or 20 stitches over 4 inches so I went up a needle size and was knitting 16 stitches.  Then I tried knitting loose on size 7 my gauge was still off so I went back to the size 8 and knit loose because I knit a sweater of the same gauge with the same yarn a couple years ago and it fits just right.   I also changed my raglan increased to  kf&b from m1l and m1r.  I can see the seam is more relaxed.  Time to thread a ribbon through all the stitches and try it on again.  It will either be my olympic knitting project or it will get ripped again and put away and I try a different pattern when I have forgotten all the trouble it has been.  Its almost nap time.  --Ann--

Friday knitting

 Happy Ground Hogs Day!  I was going great guns on the sweater on top then I tried it on............too big I could have worn an orange life jacket under it.  So I ripped one ball at a time by winding the yarn on my swift and misting to get the kinks out of the yarn.  Slow process to let the yarn air dry then wind into a ball again but its like starting with new yarn.  I found a different pattern with a crew neck and a simpler cable now to move all those stitches to a ribbon and try it on so I don't have to start over again.  I like the look of this cable pattern better than the first which was a braid.  And just a couple more inches on the socks for son with the skinny feet and calves, his birthday is next week.  What are you going to be working on for the super big foot ball game this weekend?  --Ann--