I haven't been posting, but I have been knitting.


This is the back of the entrelace sweater. I really like the way it's turning out. It's about 20 inches wide so I hope it isn't too large. The way the pattern is written it is difficult to change the pattern to reduce the size. I'm using size 2 needles which are smaller than those called for in the pattern.
This project was rudely interrupted when my Jaegger Zephyr came in the mail last Friday. I had to start Madli's shawl from Interweave Knits Summer 04

When stretched, it'll be about 19 inches across. The color is called Admiral,I'd call it royal blue.

Then for some reason I had the bright idea to try to handpaint some brown sheep nature spun that had been sitting around collecting dust.
It wasn't a success.

I think this will probably be socks--or felted into something.

After looking at some of the yarn on ebay, I decided to make a shawl from some handpainted yarn. I ordered this from Danette Taylor Designs.

She sells on ebay and I think her colorways are gorgeous. She'll do custom colors at your request. She says she doesn't keep her website up very well, but you can see some of her colors there, as well as her ebay store.

Add a few gray highlights and it'd be me!

I'm happy to report that my Violets by the River shawl has been completed.

It turned out as nice as I thought it would. From start to finish it took me about a week to knit. This was the only project I worked on, knitting 2-3 hours each day. As shawls go, I would say that it is small, but if someone is looking for immediate gratification this shawl is a good pattern to start with as it gives you the confidence to try something a little more challenging.

While I'm waiting for my yarn order to arrive, I've started a entrelac/lace sweater.

This is one of the sleeves, done in a mesh lace pattern. I have never done entrelac so only time will tell if I actually finish this one.

I'm almost done knitting my shawl. The directions say to knit the neck edge in garter stitch when knitting with silk yarn, rather than knit the honeybee pattern. I'm not sure of the reasoning for this, but that's where I'm at right now. Tomorrow I should be ready to block it.

I've already ordered some Zephyr from The Knitter. This yarn received rave reviews from some of the shawl knitters at the yahoo shawlknitters group. My next shawl will be Madli's shawl from Interweave Knits.

I underestimated the time it would take to finish up my projects. I did get this one done, though.


This is the bellflower tank from an old issue of Cast On Magazine. I used Lion Brand Microspun and it worked up nicely. Microspun does split quite a bit, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Then I started my Violets by the River shawl.


The lace weight yarn that came in the kit is 100% silk. I'm barely started, but I like it. The pattern is easy and a good beginner project for someone who would like to try lace knitting.

Yesterday I went to the mall for the first time since Christmas, and I saw a lot of ponchos. Most of them were very plain in a solid color stockinette. I didn't even look at the price tag. I have no future plans for knitting one, but ya never know if the right pattern comes along.

Despite the lack of posts, I have been busy knitting. In addition to the baby sweaters for charity, I've been trying to finish up my UFOs because I've ordered this shawl, Violets by the River, from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill. By the time it gets here I should have at least three projects finished and it will be a relief to have them done. So no photos today, but maybe tomorrow.

Can you believe that I've finished two baby surprise sweaters this week?

This pattern is terrific for using up yarn leftover from other projects. The only problem is that I don't have any yarn left for a hat or booties.

I was looking through a project bag that I haven't touched since last summer and found an unfinished baby surprise sweater. I also found a skein of Caron's Simple Soft variegated yarn that I bought for a baby sweater that was never started. Without buying any more yarn I think I have enough for at least five more baby sweaters. And that doesn't count the yarn from the unfinished baby afghan that may become sweaters instead.

That's good for the Cheyenne River Reservation, but now I have to finish up those UFOs I listed awhile back. My plan for now is to alternate UFOs with baby sweaters. Then I can satisfy my desire to start something new and still get some of my own projects completed.

Last night I started on the right front of the white cotton sweater. I hope to wear it this weekend over one of the tanks I knitted last month.

I've gotten sidetracked from my white sweater and started a baby surprise jacket. It all started when blogdogblog posted about the yahoo group knitbabysurprise.
I've made a couple of BSJs before but it's been a few years so I thought I'd use up some of my stash. Then I was wondering what I was going to do with it when it was finished and I found out about the Native American Support group. This wonderful group of people works to help the Native Americans at the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

I'm working on my second BSJ because the knitbabysurprise group is having a sweater drive over the next couple of months to support the Reservation and can use all the sweaters they can get. Maybe you could use up a little of your stash and send them a sweater or two.

Yesterday was a busy day. With all of the rain we had over the weekend the grass has just grown wild. I had to use the brush mower to cut some of the lawn and then rake it up and dump it on the garden. The flower beds needed weeding too, but I can only do so much of that before my hands get tired. So in between the yard work and knitting I made some soap.


I love homemade soap, but I don't make it fancy. For fragrance I used Milk Honey and Oatmeal in the first batch and Plum Spice in the second batch. It smells divine.

I'm making progress on my white sweater, too.

Yesterday, I received an email from TKGA saying that they've been contacted by CBS who is in search of a Domestic Diva. What exactly is their idea of a domestic diva? I'm not sure but I am sure that this show will be just about as ridiculous as all of the other phoney/reality shows that are on television. Isn't it amazing what some people will do for a few moments of fame and money?

I've been busy knitting the back of my white sweater. The Paradiso yarn is a thick and thin cotton, which adds some texture to the plain stockinette stitch.

I've started a very simple short sleeved cardigan using the Paradiso yarn that I bought over a year ago. Here's a pic of the sleeve.


This will be a cute little sweater to wear over the tanks that I have done (or started!) I don't know how long I will be able to keep it white.

I'm not having any trouble working with the cotton yarn. I've read a number of blogs where the knitter's hands became sore from knitting with cotton. So far so good for me.

I've taken an inventory of my UFOs
Bellflower tank need to finish from armholes up
Cabled turtleneck need to finish 2nd sleeve and sew together and knit turtleneck.
Lopi Sweater about 25% complete, probably won't work on it until fall.
Fast Florida Footies one footie 3/4 done
Baby Afghan 1/3 done, probably work on it between projects.
I think this is everything and it doesn't look as bad as I imagined it would.

I don't have any new projects on the needles right now. I've been making more scrubbies and dishcloths for Christmas 2004. I was trying a lacy cardigan pattern using Patons Paradiso 100% cotton, but I don't like the yarn. I might have to relegate it to scrubbies and dishcloths. Since it's white I could dye it with kool-aid which might be fun. It seems like a waste to use it for that, though. Hmm I wonder if I could sell it on ebay?

Have you checked out the Dishcloth Boutique? There are a lot of good patterns here to try for summer knitting including a kitchen towel pattern.

I've been reading the book The Automatic Millionaire. I have no interest in being a millionaire, but I like to read personal finance books. The premise of this book is to have your investments taken automatically out of your paycheck or bank account and over time (along with other good money management techniques) you will be able to retire early. Most of the information in the book I've read in other books. It's a worthwhile read, but I wouldn't buy it--get it at the library.

I'm up to the armholes on Bellflower.


I'm happy with the way the lace pattern turned out, except it does curl a little bit on the bottom edge.

The stockinette stitch has gotten boring, but now that I'm on the armholes, at least I have to pay closer attention to what I'm doing.

The mistake in the scrubbie pattern has been fixed. You can view it at the same address

My little green scrubbie was a quick project, but I think there is an error in the instructions so I had to improvise. Here's what it looks like after binding off.



Then you sew together the cast on and bind off edges, it will be tube shaped.



Then on the open ends you pick up the slipped stitches and pull tight to close up the hole. Here you have a cute little scrubbie.



This is made with kitchen cotton, but I'd like to try it with nylon or something more durable for scrubbing. Tonight I will give it a try on the pots and pans.

I've made some good progress on my bellflower, but no pictures today.

My next fun little project is to make the dishcloth scrubbies from the pattern at Knitting is Fun. I think this will be part of the Christmas presents I'm going to make for my mom and sisters. To go along with it I'm going to make some soap. I love homemade soap!
Did you see the photos of the scrubbies at Super Eggplant?

Yesterday, I drove almost two hours to return a skein of yarn--and buy more of course, only to find the store closed. Apparently, they thought they should have Mother's Day off. So in desperation I went to Michael's and bought some Lion Brand microspun to make this Bellflower tank from Cast On Summer 1999.


I cast on last night and had to rip it out 3 times. The first round starts K2, yo, ssk and that ssk is a pain on the first row. I tried casting on size 6 needles then transferring the stitiches to my size 4 so my stitches would be looser, but that didn't help either. So, on my last attempt for the night, I just knit the first round and started the pattern on row 2. I'm on row 7 and the small change in the pattern isn't noticeable.

Chip says don't forget to stop and smell the roses--or tulips.

Yea! A knitting webring for dog lovers


Chip is happy to hear about it, in his own aloof way.

I finished the shawl a few days ago. I like the way it turned out, but when I look at myself in mirror I feel like I should have gray hair done up in a bun.


Right now I'm working on a baby blanket that I started during the tax season. It's a patchwork design from FCEK. Rather than making individual blocks I'm making strips that I will sew together when I'm done. This was supposed to be done for a baby shower last month, but instead I gave her a gift certificate since the blanket was far from finished. I haven't decided if I will still give her the blanket or just save it for another baby.



It looks kinda funny here, but I hope once it's sewn together and blocked it will be presentable.

I've posted a couple of crochet booklets on ebay.

I have two pattern repeats left to do on the shawl, hopefully I can get those done tonight. Then I'll just have to work the edging, and I'll be done!

Now, I'm starting to look through my patterns to see what I will do next. I like a vest that's in Cast On Summer 2004. I'm still trying to find a pattern for a cardigan sweater that I can use up 7 skeins of white Patons Paradiso.

I'm making good progress on my shawl from Cast On Spring 2004.


The shawl starts from the top, so I have a ways to go, I'm still on my first skein of Homespun. I've had a few problems with getting to the end of the row and having too many stitches, but I'm watching the pattern a little closer and I think I can prevent some of my goof-ups now. One night I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

Finally, I have pictures of my almost FO, Take a Bow, designed by Linda Cyr in Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2002.


I still have to finish one of the straps in the back. I've made the straps just a bit wider than the original pattern.

Next, on the project list is this shawl from Cast On Spring 2004. I've wanted to make a shawl for quite some time, but the thought of knitting with lace weight yarn has held me back. This pattern calls for Lion Brand's Homespun, and it only takes two skeins and size 11 needles. Hopefully, it will be a quick knit and will come in handy for those cool summer nights.

My shawl will be off-white, but if I like the pattern I plan on making another one in a color appropriate for blue jeans.

I had very good intentions of posting progress pics of my tank, but the batteries were dead in my camera. I was going to list some items on ebay, too. Phooey!

I've been very busy around the house now that the tax season is over. Last spring I bought some paint for the kitchen, but never got to that miserable job. Actually, if it was just the kitchen it wouldn't be bad, but I have to paint the dining room, hallway and laundry area all the same color. I ran out of paint on Friday and picked up two more gallons today. I still have the pantry and the hall closet to paint. Then I'm going to start the family room...

I bought a carpet cleaner and I tried it out on a small area; I think it did as good of a job as the steamers that you rent from the store. I've never hired someone to clean my carpets so I don't know how it compares to the job that they would do. Of course, all this means that as soon as the painting is done, the carpets are next.

It'a a bit windy here today!

Here's my swatch of Clip. This is 100% Egyptian cotton and so far it's been a pleasure to knit. Knitter's have given it good reviews at Wise Needle I've found a tank pattern in a back issue of Vogue Knitting, though I'll be making a few changes to the straps. I don't want skinny straps because I want to be able to wear this to work. The yarn is much too nice to make a tank for everyday wear.


While I was out and about yesterday, I looked at Lions Homespun because I've thought about making a shawl using the pattern in Knitting into the Mystery. I couldn't decide on a color; I think I would prefer something neutral to wear to church or a wedding. I left empty handed, but with my current UFOs, it's probably just as well I didn't buy any yarn.

I just got back from Grandma's, two and a half hour drive one way. By the time I get there I'm ready to come back home. I picked up lunch at Boston Market, Grandma was convinced that I made it myself and it's hopeless to try to convince her otherwise. As her dementia progresses, I wonder how much longer before she no longer recognizes me. She confuses a lot of things, today she spoke of my dad (her son) as being older than herself. Sometimes I see a glimpse of Grandma pre-dementia, but that doesn't happen very often anymore.

On my way home I stopped at Crafty Lady in Macomb and bought some cotton from the Klaus Koch Kollection called Clip. They had it knit up in a cute tank which I really liked and now wish I had purchased the pattern. I'm sure though, with all of my knitting magazines I will find something similar.

Then for fun I bought a skein of Bernat cottontots that I'm going to knit into a bucket hat.

Now that the tax season is over I hope to have more time to post, more importantly I hope I have more time to knit! I have alot of others things to do here at home, including painting the kitchen and the family room. I have started the day with repairing cracks and nail pops in the drywall.

My book order from amazon came today, included was Knitting into the Mystery

I read through the book very quickly last night. Though I would never be one to start a shawl ministry, I think knitting shawls for others is a wonderful way to show people you care and are praying for them. I think I might donate this book to the local library when I am done with it.

Woo Hoo 4 days until the tax season is over! I'm trying to decide what I want to knit next. I still have to finish my cabled turtleneck. I'm 1/2 sleeve away from sewing it together.

I have a pattern for a moebius scarf from Fiber Trends. I started it once with a sport weight acrylic yarn, but made a mistake somewhere in the lace pattern and ended up frogging the whole thing. This time I think I might use a lace weight yarn.

I've seen a few summer tops that I like, but can't decide if I want to make something with cotton. The only cotton yarn I've ever bought is still sitting on my shelf because I don't like knitting with it.

My main project after the tax season is to start painting the interior walls of my house. I've procrastinated for a year on that job because I have some drywall repairs to do first.

There's an important trial going on right now in New York involving the constitutionality of the partial birth abortion ban. Every day the American Center for Law and Justice is giving a report of the trial. Partial birth abortion is a barbaric procedure, the details explained in the trial are gruesome to read. If you're not familiar with what happens I urge you to read it, no civilized society should allow this to happen.

I used to be a supporter of abortion, not that I would have one, because I was pregnant before I got married, so it was an option. Rather, I thought women should be able to make the choice for themselves. I must say though, that I didn't really think about abortion much, as far as what happens to the fetus or how it might affect the woman afterwards. It was only a seven years ago that my heart was changed about abortion.

Reading through the trial highlights brings to mind a situation in my family. My niece graduated a few years ago at the top of her class. She was named one of the best students in the state. She was attending college and dating a young man and became pregnant. Her parents pressured her to have an abortion, afterall she had a bright future ahead of her. Her mother especially was adament that this would be the best decision. My niece, bless her heart, was equally strong in her conviction that she would not have an abortion. Today she has a beautiful little girl, a child that has brought joy to my niece and to the child's grandparents.

I went to a baby shower today, but the baby blanket had to stay behind. I either have to tear out the edging or give it to my dog and I think my dog is going to be the lucky recipient. In the meantime, I've updated St. Francis since we finally have some crocus' in bloom.

The spring issue of knitty is online. Go check it out!

My BIL is going to allow me to try and sell some of my purses at his antique store. Most of the purses I've made so far have been copyrighted so I'll have to give those away, here is a photo of one of my own creations. I made this using Patons Classic Wool, which felts really well and doesn't show any stitches. Granted, an antique store may not be the best place to market a handcrafted purse, but this is mainly for fun and when I get tired of making purses I'm not obligated to continue to produce them.

If you're interested in checking out my auctions they have been posted here

Here's the photo of my newest felted purse.

My poor little blog just hasn't received the attention it deserves. My life is not so filled with interesting endeavors that I don't have time to post. Rather, I just haven't had any interesting knitting projects. I have knit another purse and it is in the washer being felted at this very moment. I'm using a free pattern on the net, called Alex's felted purple trapezoid clutch. I printed the pattern but I don't have the web address, so sorry. Pictures will be posted as soon as they are available. In the meantime, I have to go list some vintage knitting patterns on ebay.

I've made two more purses, I'm still looking for a button for the green one. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. Both of them were made with lamb's pride. The blue was one really shows the mohair.

I started the other baby blanket, but I don't have much enthusiasm for the project. I think that part of the problem is that I don't think the recipient will appreciate the work that will be going into it. She's invited 98 people to the shower and is registered at 3 different stores. She once told her mother that she didn't understand why people bought gifts that weren't listed on the registry.

Mother Nature has changed her mood. The snow has finally melted, but along with heavy rains there is a lot of flooding. This is our creek overflowing it's banks.

Thank heavens it's March! Spring is round the corner and Mother Nature is flirting with us right now. Work slows down abit this month and I can enjoy my life again.

I have almost finished the baby blanket. Now I have another baby shower coming up in April. I bought some yarn but I haven't decided on a pattern yet.

I forgot to mention this was made with Lamb's Pride in the color raspberry, The photo color is just a little brighter than the actual color.

The pattern is from Knitter's Winter 2003. I really like the purse and might actually make one for myself, except I haven't had a purse this small in ages. I normally carry my wallet, 2 checkbooks, a bottle of aspirin, a calculator, a couple of pens, two sets of keys and who knows what else and if there's any room left I use it to carry my lunch to work.

The felted purse is finished, except I haven't sewn the button on yet. I wasn't sure about using this button, for my other purse I knitted a bobble and felted it for the button.



Now I have to get back to the baby blanket, the shower is next weekend and I still want to make a hat and some booties or socks.

We had a beautiful hazy, frosty sunrise this morning.


We live four miles west of Lake Huron and I think that influences the colorful sunrises.

The little felted purse is almost knitted, probably no pics until the weekend after it comes out of the washer.

My poor abandoned cabled turtleneck.


This is the second sleeve and once it is done I just have to sew all the pieces together and then knit the turtleneck. But alas, it may be a couple of weeks before I get back to it.

Now I'm abandoning my baby blanket to work on a felted purse. My son is coming home from college this weekend and I said I'd make a purse for his girlfriend. I need to get it done so he can take it back with him.

It's been awhile since I've had 3 projects going at once.

Where'd the weekend go?

I started a mindless project.


This is a baby blanket from the Knit Baby Blankets pattern book. It's simple but I think it will be cute when it's done. The pattern is all stockinette stitch, alternating colors every two row. Hopefully, I will have enough yarn leftover to make a hat and booties to go with it.

Happily, the tax season is starting to slow down to a normal pace. I read the article referenced on Nanette's blog regarding introverts. Now, I know why I'm exhausted at the end of the day--too many people wear me out!

I wish I had some knitting to report but I've been too busy at work. By the time I get home at night I'm too tired to work on cables. I think I need a mindless project. I did start the second sleeve on Sunday, but it doesn't look like I'll make my Valentine's Day deadline.

I spent Sunday afternoon listing a bunch of books and exercise videos on Amazon. I'll probably regret selling some of them. I've already sold two and have to take them to the post office this morning. You know a lot of people make money selling used books, not me, I buy books new and sell them when I'm done. Another reason not to own a yarn store.

Chip says don't be shy!

I finished the front of the cabled turtleneck which amazingly looks exactly like the back. Tonight, I might cast on for the second sleeve. I just might get this done on schedule.

I've been thinking about designing a vest that would incorporate the swatches of my multicolored roving yarn. Right now, I'm splitting the roving into strips and putting a little bit of a twist into it using my spinning wheel. Hopefully, that won't cause it to be skewed when knitted.

I see I have to fix my archives, that is a problem for another day.

Here's my entry for the ugliest yarn contest. This is from the multi-colored roving I dyed yesterday.

Take my word for it, it is much uglier in person.

As a single ply, the yarn was quite pretty, but plied, it looks horrid. I plied only a small portion because I didn't think I would like it.

Here I've taken the roving and split it into thin strips and knit it. I like this a lot better.


I might separate the plies and either ply it with a solid color, or ply it with the dark blue/green I dyed yesterday.
If I knit the roving into a scarf, I might use the ugly yarn for fringe, so for now I'm going to leave it as is.

I've put my knitting aside so I could try handpainting. If I'm going to get more sheep, I need to spin up the roving I have stuck away in the closet. After looking at the beautiful handpainted yarns, I thought I should see what I could do with a little dye. I had some dye on hand, just enought to dye about 1 pound of wool. I used the handpaint method described on Gleason's Fine Woolies website. Truthfully, I don't follow directions very well, I tend to do things my own way. Since I didn't have a turkey baster or syringe I had to pour the dyes on the roving. When I was done with that step, I really didn't think I 'd like the final product, but I'm delighted with the way it turned out.

The colors are a lot richer looking in person.

The next attempt didn't turn out quite as well. Yuck!



So, I decided to overdye it with navy blue. I was hoping to keep some of the yellow, but I used way too much blue. I like it anyway. I hope it dries fast so I can spin it.

See my driveway.


It doesn't look quite so daunting in the daylight, but when you have to walk 1/4 mile, through the snow drifts, in the dark, into a 15 mph bitter cold wind, (up hill both ways) it's a challenge. One of the pleasures of rural living.

My son's girlfriend from Chile sent us a bottle of wine and a desk calendar with photos of the Chilean landscape, very thoughtful.

Work is really cutting into my knitting time, I don't know how those of you who work full time, year round, finish anything. Maybe that's why so many people have numerous unfinished items; I can see how you would get bored with knitting the same thing for months. I am somewhat bored with the cabled turtleneck, but I want to wear it, so I keep knitting, even though it might be just a couple of rows each day. I think I'll be bringing some work home this weekend, but my goal is to finish the front and start the second sleeve.

Can I complain about the weather for a moment? Maybe I just need to spend the winter in a warmer, snowless climate. Or maybe I need a job where I can work from home. It seems that ever since the tax season started I've been driving on snowy, icy roads. I'm a big wimp in that department. Today, we have freezing drizzle and will have 5-8 inches of snow before the day is over. My husband has volunteered to be my chauffeur.

One advantage of being driven to work is that I can knit. In fact, I have to knit so as not to look at the road icy roads. If all of my clients cancel their appointments today I can just sit at my desk and knit. Hey, things are looking up.

Yay an FO!


It looks pretty boring doesn't it? Every project is a learning experience, since this was the second time I made this hat, I did a better job of grafting the garter stitch seam. I washed it and have it blocking next to the woodstove.

I received an e-mail from the shepherd and she said they expect to start lambing in a couple of weeks and will have lambs available. She might have some ewes too, but I think I would rather have lambs. Usually when a farm is selling their adult sheep, (unless they are just reducing their flock) they have had some kind of problem, poor mother, lambs singles, difficult pregnancy, age etc.

Of course starting a flock with lambs means we probably wouldn't be able to have them bred until Fall 2005. But just think of the beautiful lamb's wool I'll have.

Today I sent an e-mail to inquire about purchasing some ewes or ewe lambs from a shepherd in Mid-Michigan. I'm still waiting to hear back from her. In the meantime, I've been knitting my son's hat, which should be done tomorrow. I usually don't knit the same pattern more than once, but for him I made the exception; that's probably why it's going so fast. I started it Monday night and have been knitting a little bit every night after work.

One of the reasons I knit is because I like the challenge of trying something new. I don't like repetition in anything. My husband is famous for repeating the same story, so when he starts telling me something I've heard before, I just say, repeat and that's the signal for him to stop talking.

I've been on a spending spree. In addition to the yarn for my son's hat, I bought some 100% alpaca Peruvian Collection from elann It is so soft, I've never knit anything with alpaca before. Then I bought Nursery Rhyme Knits from overstock I still have to get my cabled turtleneck done, but it's awfully tempting to start a nursery rhyme hat.

Only a few years ago I had a beautiful flock of Romney sheep; in many respects they were like pets. Because of my work schedule I decided to sell them, and have regretted it many times over. So, my DH and I were discussing starting another flock this spring.

One of life's simplest pleasures is watching the lambs spring about the pasture.

I think I've recovered from the weekend's knitting error. I am almost knitted to the cap again. Progress is slow during the week.

I received new KnitPicks and Herrshnerrs catalogs in the mail. I've never ordered from either of them. I've been looking through past issues of Knitter's and found a vest that I want to make but I haven't been able to find the yarn colors I want. It's hard to choose colors from the catalogs because the colors aren't true. (another reason I should open my own yarn shop)

I picked up the new issue of Vogue Knitting yesterday--a lot of scarf patterns. I have to admit that I am interested in a couple of them, BUT do I really want to spend $30.00 on yarn for a scarf??

Trust yourself!

After spending a little time each day on my sleeve, I was almost to the cap when I found a big mistake in the center cable. I think it was part of today's knitting progress(?), where it seemed I was ripping back almost as much as I was knitting.

I think the photo is too dark but at just over the half way point, I apparently missed a row because my cables were supposed to cross, but they aren't. I thought something was amiss when I noticed my small cables crossing on the first row rather than the third. Rather than really scrutinize my knitting I continued working. Good thing my personal deadline for this sweater is Valentine's Day.

Now I can actually start whining about not having any knitting time. I think it's time to get the book by Barbara Winter, Making a Living Without a Job, Winning Ways for Creating Work that you Love. I'm seeing a new job in my future.

Have you seen the front cover of Vogue Knitting? On the bookstand January 17th



I haven't gotten into the scarf craze. I don't wear fluffy scarves and I don't know anyone else who does, but I do like the scarf on the cover.

Yay! my yarn order came from Bemidji. Unfortunately, they didn't have the yarn I needed to make my son's hat. So, I'm putting together another order this time from Patternworks. Feeling a little guilty about this, not that I have a yarn stash to really speak of, but I think my yarn fund is almost dry, which means I'll be taking some cash out of the general fund. Good thing I take care of the finances in this househould; I've already given my approval for the expenditure.

I also should mention that I've started the Knitting Guild of America's master knitting program--level 1. I'm not going to post a picture of every swatch, but I will keep track of my progress here. I'm part of the TKGA knit along hosted by Sarah

I hadn't joined the guild until I decided I wanted to be a part of the knit along. Being a self-taught knitter, this experience should really help be improve my knitting and give me more confidence about my knitting skills.

I'm making terrific progress on my Vogue sweater.


This is the back and as you can see it's a raglan sweater. I found one error on the cable chart and luckily I only had to rip back four rows on that section of the chart. For future reference it would be wise to look up errata before starting a project. I'm sure all of the knitting magazines have them listed on their websites. The first sleeve has been started. If I didn't have to work all week I would really be able to zip along--maybe even finish it in one week. Of course I'm dreaming, because I do have to work all week and knitting time will be greatly reduced for the next four months.

Since my yarn order hasn't come yet, I thought yesterday would be a good day to make a run to Elaine's yarn shop in Davison

She has a nicely landscaped lot, too.


I didn't buy too much, just 7 skeins of Plymouth Encore to make a sweater from Vogue Winter 01/02. Do you find yourself buying the same colors? I suppose it's because a person knows which colors she looks good in. I navigate to purples and greens, but yesterday I bought a deep red. I don't think I've ever bought any clothing in this color.

The sweater I'm making is a figure fitting cabled turtleneck. I thought I would make a figure flattering sweater rather than a looser fitting one for a change, especially after seeing this Vittadini sweater modeled by Kerstin

I love that sweater! Maybe I'll stick to my healthy eating while I'm working on my sweater.