And the winner is....

For the last three weeks, during the Back to Basics class, the UPS guy has shown up with boxes of (what I assume was) yarn. Carrie would then take these boxes to the back room, out of our line of vision, and loudly proclaim how soft and lovely were the contents of said boxes. Mind you, they didn't put any of this yarny goodness out for us to see, or experience for ourselves. (Well, I did get a little peek at the sock yarn - but just a little one). It was all for the Grand Opening. And, by the way, if you spend enough money, we'll enter your name into the grand prize drawing! How is that for a little temptation?

Earlier in the week I had made arrangements with my sister to ditch the kids (all of them) and head up to the store together. She couldn't make it until late in the evening, so I went in the morning without her. There was no way after all that waiting I was going to settle for 'what was left' of the new sock yarn. I picked this:










Lorna's Laces - Shepherd Sock Seaside & Sassy Stripes


And this:





Zitron - Trekking XXL











I would have chosen more, but I actually had a rational moment when I realized that we still need to eat and buy gas for the rest of the month. Will put it away for me so that my Sister wouldn't know I cheated and came early without her. Unbelievably, when I went back with her later that evening, I didn't buy more. I just paid for my yarn (and because I spent enough, I got my name in the drawing) and left. But not without having a really weird conversation with Will about sex education and kids....but that's another story.

Friday afternoon, after spending all morning painting marching band props (also another story) I got the best call. I was the winner for the Grand Prize! Woo Hoo! This is what I won:

Very cute knitting bag
enough yarn to make a purse & Pattern
Needles for pattern (Addi circs and bamboo straights)
Stitch Markers (2 kinds)
needle holders (2 kinds)
tapestry needles & case
Pattern and yarn for decorative felted pumpkin
Pattern and yarn for Halloween sock (teeny)
project bag
2 gift cards for 4 sessions of round table knitting at the store
knitting Christmas ornament

A fabulous end to a VERY LONG week! Now, if I just had time to knit.....The only thing I've done in a week has been homework for BTB class.

As a side note: Grand Blanc Marching Band kicked ass at Trenton on Saturday . They took first place, all three caption awards and are currently standing 2nd place in the state. On to Linden next weekend!



(This was practice Friday afternoon)

Knitters Anonymous

I am not sure how this happened. It started with two stitches ( I would do purls, but preferred knits). Pretty soon, two were just not enough and before I knew it I was doing YO's, K2 tog's, and SSK's. I even started knitting in public! From there I progressed to cables and then lace charts. I suspected I might have a problem so I took a class, but that only led to more and more knitting. (Not to mention, hanging out with other people who knit too...) I started to realize that there were dishes in the sink, laundry piled up and general disorder in the house on a regular basis. When I couldn't stand to look at the mess any more, I went to the yarn store. All tasks I performed for family members were preceded with "ok, just a second", "just let me finish this round/part" or "can you wait? I'm counting." The last straw was last weekend. RAVELRY. I have fallen, and I can't get up.

Reveling in Ravelry

It came on Friday - my invitation to Ravelry, that is. Since I've already cashed in my invite, I can't hang out with the impatient Alpaca. Last time I checked though, there were about 12,000 people in line behind me. That makes me one of the elite...

Now since it was the weekend I haven't had a lot of time to check out the wonder that is Ravelry. From what I did get a chance to see, I think it is quite clever, and I can't wait to see more. Just from the blogs of the Keyboard Biologist and Yarn-A-Go-Go (I picked two randomly) I think I should be prepared to be completely and totally hooked.

Lots to do today - must finish my homework for class tomorrow!

Back to Basics

I started another class Tuesday. It's the Ewe to You version of the 'Knitting Boot Camp' aptly named Back to Basics. It was lots of fun and very informative. Quite often, I don't learn anything at the classes I take. I have now attributed this to the 'cleaning your house for the housekeeper' syndrome (my mom used to do this - clean, that is, before the person she paid to do just that showed up). My problem with knitting classes is that I do a bunch of research on techniques, or the actual pattern that we will be working on and figure it all out ahead of time. This isn't necessarily all bad, as I have lots of time for chit-chat after the initial explanation is over. It's not all about the thing that you're making anyway - the company of others who share at least one thing in common with you and a couple of hours to knit without interruption is half the fun. I think this class is what I've been looking for, though, in the challenge department. We've got books and homework and such. Not to mention, Kathy said the magic words. "What do you want to learn?"

I'm making a list!

A Note on Pomatomus

I like a challenge, but these socks are kicking my arse. I have started them three times now. Tried new yarn, different needles, and lastly a different size needles due to yarn overs that were the size of my head. I think maybe three's a charm, because after two days of knitting, I've actually made it to row 15. Whoo hoo...... I have read nothing but rave reviews (and cute stories) about this pattern from those with the worst 'second sock syndrome' who claim the second in the pair just flew off their needles and those who have knitted 3 or 4 pair and can't wait to make more. I must be doing something wrong, because after 6 rows or so, my hands are cramped and forearms sore from wrestling with this thing. Me thinks I'm a stone's throw from defeat.....We'll see.

Carrying on, for now, with some sturdy hand painted yarn (not trekking XXL 100- too crazy) metal needles (not bamboo), and size #1's (not#2's).

A Very Strange Summer

It has been so dry. When it does rain, it's wierd like "Florida rain". I can look out the window and the sun is shining and it is raining - but only in the back yard. Several days ago, with thunderclouds looming above, I checked the weather and was delighted to confirm with the radar image that it was indeed going to rain. It was around 10am. I promptly made arrangements to go see a movie with Piper. (No warm sunshine, no guilt about sitting in a cool dark theater for the afternoon - Its a Michigan thing) Within moments of telling her we were going to see 'Underdog', the sky started to lift. No little sprinkles, no mist, no nothing. By the time we were out of the theater at 2, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was blazing hot - again. It was slightly overcast today. I did a little work in the garden - which is doing surprisingly well thanks to our sprinkler kicking on 3 times a day. It started to sprinkle A LITTLE at one point and I was so surprised at something wet falling from the sky, I thought a bird had pooped on me.

Next wierd event is this Japanese beetle thing. Late spring, I noticed these really pretty, iridescent beetles hanging out near our little wading pool. They were interesting enough to bother me to get online to see what they were. That's when I found out we were in trouble. (See link above) Within a very short period, they had taken over. Our grape vines, rasperry bushes and hops look like lace. Nasty little creatures they are. We discovered the beetle traps at Kmart somewhere toward the end of July. That's when I noticed our neighbors had the traps too.... Now disposing of the VERY FULL traps - that's another post. YUCK!

Weird weather, and bugs aside, this is my second post- drivers training summer. I have spent a lot of time A) fearing for my life at blinking red light left turns and B) enduring 50 minute journeys which normally take 25 (I prefer the latter to the former). Throw in a manual transmission and you have a recipe for gray hair and chest pain. Today, while turning left on a green light (Heather was driving) another car blew through the red light into the intersection going probably double the speed limit, the driver, talking away on her cell phone. Thank the fates, Heather saw her at the last minute and turned into the lane she wasn't blazing into. She kept her cool, I nearly crapped my pants seeing as how she would have plowed into my side of the car. We had the pleasure of catching up to her at the next red which she actually stopped for. She didn't even hang up the phone while I screamed at her out the window for nearly killing us.

Piper will not go out of the house. She doesn't want to go to the park, to the splash pad or to the beach. She does not want to shop or go to the library. She will barely play outside and won't even go in her pool. I am very distressed by this. Another strange aspect of this summer that I can totally not relate with or understand. I wasn't even allowed in the house when the sun was shining in the summer. I know it's different here and now, but this is a a tough phase. I hope the new school year will turn her around. We'll see. It's nearly here.

I think I'll go knit socks now. Nothing strange about that.

Rain, rain, please stay!

It finally rained today. Not much - definitely not enough - but it did rain. It is so dry that the leaves are falling off the trees and the grass is like straw. Not just a little dry, but brown and possibly beyond repair for the summer. I don't think I've cut it since the second week in July ( not too sad about that). There are no mosquitoes either, which is quite strange (not complaining about that either). The question is, will we be making up for this sometime this fall or looking forward to record snowfalls this winter?

I finished the Interlacements - tiny toes socks.





















This yarn was awesome! I absolutely loved working with it and also the way the color turned out. I used the fish scale pattern again but threw in some variations with a longer cuff and the star toe which I preceded with several rows of stockinette stitch so that you could see it a little better. They turned out quite nice!

Thanks to my Piper who modeled them for me. She also modeled her new smile....















She has lost 6 teeth in as many months and only 2 1/2 have grown back. If this trend continues, we are going to be eating a lot of soup!!