Knitting Story

I heard an interesting story today. A friend of mine told me about a conversation she had with a woman from Cuba. This friend was telling the Cuban lady that she was going to join our knitting group this coming Thursday. The lady was very excited to hear about knitting. It seems when she was in Cuba, she used to knit. She said that knitting needles were very expensive and she couldn't afford to buy any but she wanted fashionable garments to wear. You'll never guess what she used? Sticks? Pencils? No. She said she used the spokes from a bicycle wheel, and ground the tip to make it more pointed. Talk about creative!!! She also mentioned she sometimes used a fork!!! Just goes to prove, where there is a will there is a way!

Manners Poll

Ok, since the html on the eye quiz isn't working.....I thought I'd post on manners. I was surfing for blog etiquette or manners. Honestly looking for buttons that are ok to use on your blog, stuff like that. But then I ran across a blog by Dave Barry, the humorist, on manners. Bingo!!! One of my favorite topics!! So I thought I'd take my own poll, of all my many readers ;-) and ask "what is your number one pet peeve when it comes to manners"?

Monday quiz

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Sleepy Sunday

I'm in a knitting slump. I took the yarn for the baby blanket back yesterday. Margaret had other yarn from that company that had some color issues. So she is sending all of it back so they can see the problems. I've been playing with Koigu and a lace pattern I found in my old trusty Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. I can tell you what I'm good at.....getting about 4 or 7 rows into the pattern and messing up. lol I think I started that pattern 4 times in the past two days and the needles are bare at this moment. I know I have yarn in the stash that needs to be knitted. I just have to get the inspiration. Does anyone else get in these kind of slumps? I know I used to sew and I'd run into several problems and then just lose my drive.

Lexi napping in the sun.

A Saturday filled with friends

This has been one very nice day. I got up and around and was on the road by 8:45 this morning. Ran a few errands and made it to Knitty Committee. I think I counted 17 or 18 people. I took a few pictures:
















Later on Emily and I had the greatest pleasure of meeting THE Yarn Inspector, aka Sugar.





















And the pretty lady holding Miss Sugar is Susan, who thinks she has chubby cheeks. She and Shelly are starting a chubby cheek club. I think I belong too. It is very obvious the YI is in her most favorite spot in the whole world, her mama's lap.

Later on Emily and I dropped in on Margaret at The Gourmet Yarn. I'm afraid we kept her late yacking as usual!!! We ran into Susan (founder of our Norman group) there.

When I arrived home I think someone smelled a strange sugar scent on me.

Terri's 380 or Greek God in Norman

I really feel bad for those of you who couldn't join us tonight at Border's. I think we had one of the best times I've ever had at Border's. Karen and Jan, friends from Gourmet Yarn's Knit In, came and joined us. If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing Karen and Jan, get ready. I promise they will have you laughing in no time.
Rosemary brought her beautiful Clapotis. I took pictures so she could model her Olympic championship, medal winning item. (Yes, I'd give her the Gold!!) Oh and I did overhear about three different people comment or ask if Rosemary would notice if the Clapotis disappeared. Luckily, Rosemary was last seen walking out of the building with it on.


Now about that 380.......Terri is sitting at the end of the table, I'm to her left and we are talking. Those of you who know Terri have probably never seen her not be able to talk. You've probably never seen her lose her thought. And I'd bet money none of you knew Terri could do a 380 with her neck!! Folks, I witnessed these very events tonight. Terri is talking and all of a sudden a Greek God comes around the corner walking towards us. I saw him at the same time but being the proper, well trained lady I am (ahem!) I returned my attention to Terri. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were glazed over (in lust I realize now) and then her head did the most amazing 380 as she locked her eyes on this tall, handsome gorgeous hunk of male (in shorts I might add). After he was safely out of hearing range, I could no longer contain my laughter. It took Terri a few moments to return to earth and by then I was laughing so hard at what I'd witnessed that the others at the table were turning to see what was going on. Terri had tears streaming down her face, she was laughing so hard at herself and her reaction to this fine specimen of the male species. Now let me do roll call. Terri, myself, Karen, Jan, Shelly, Rosemary, Vanessa, Janelle and Susan were present. After Terri went to see where this precious man went, I think everyone but me got up to go wander by the magazines to catch another glance as he sat in the cafe looking at a book. Me? I caught my glances when I was leaving and waiting for Terri to check out. I will verify the man has the nicest thighs and legs I've seen in a very long time. The last I heard, Terri was calling Mr. D to tell him to get ready. I think the blood is flowing hot tonight!!!














More pictures of tonight's group:

Official...Ex-Olympic Contender

The blanket is frogged. Margaret said I could use the yarn as an excuse but I made a mistake and was becoming disenchanted with the pattern and the yarn was about third on the list. I started looking over the third skein and it too is very light like the first. Sounds like the mill may have had a problem when producing that lot. AND...Emily doesn't realize this, but she gave me permission. ;-) Ok, enough with the excuses.

Well, it's taken me over an hour to get this far....interruptions!!! lol I don't really have anything much else to say tonight. Hope everyone is knitting well!!

President's Day

How cool is this???












Look very closely, if you are linked to my blog or have made comments your name is probably in there!

I've been surfing obviously, but did run across something interesting, Southern Knit Bloggers. I have long felt a strong association with the South. After all, I do say ya'll and I love okra. I've had more than one person attempt to convince me that Oklahoma is not considered "south". I just smile as I know better. Oklahoma is considered to be part of the SOUTHERN Great Plains. And many of the Indian tribes of what was then Oklahoma, alligned themselves with the Confederacy during the Civil War. As most true Okies do, I have two tribes I can trace in my family lineage, Choctaw and Cherokee. And if anyone cares to look, pick up any Southern Living Magazine and look up events and see where Oklahoma is listed.....South. Need I say more? lol I've always been drawn to movies, books etc. associated with the South. I used to work with a guy who taught writing classes. He was always looking for recently released books to use as assigned reading. I suggested The Secret Life of Bees. And some how that started our conversation on the many novels about The South. I even suggested a title for his next book, Tales of the South as Told on the Porch. Oh well, all of that to try to explain why I was so tickled to see the Southern Knit Bloggers. I have joined and am now a proud member!!

Unlike so many others, I am at work today. It is very quiet and the phones are not ringing off the hook like so many other Mondays. It does seem rather odd though as this is the first President's Day I've worked in over thirty years!! I hope "ya'll" are enjoying your day off. I must get back to the grindstone.

One week left....

I don't know how many waffle fans read this blog, but if you've never had Grandma's Boy Raising Waffles out of the Gourmet My Way cookbook, you are missing out. I don't make these very often but a friend of mine is snowed in here and they are a special item to make from scratch.

The Knitting Olympics are half over and only one week is left. I may be in serious trouble getting my blanket completed. I've taken two pictures of the blanket. If you'll notice the color varies a lot when I started the second skein. It shows the peach more so than the first skein. Yes, I double checked the dye lots and all four skeins are from the same batch. Weird, huh?

Confession, I feel like I pulled a Lindsey Jacobellis yesterday. I decided to switch to continental style on the blanket! I can knit in continental style just fine but purling has always been a source of major frustration, so much so that I will give up. But something magical happened and I purled with ease in continental style yesterday. After I completed the 3rd row in continental style I noticed how the stitches looked very different from all the rows I knitted in English style. Guess that is what happens when I try to showboat. lol

Has anyone been out on the roads yet?? I'm too far off a main road to see how traffic is getting around. I hope to make it to Guild meeting today. But if more snow is coming, I will have to miss. I'm posting a couple of snow pictures also. Not much in the snow department here but lots of ice under the snow.

Frosty Friday

Just got home and it's coming down. Can't quite tell if its sleet or rain. Probably both. I sure do hope it gets in here and leaves before Sunday afternoon. I want to go to guild!!!

Had a great time at Border's Thursday evening. A lady came and I did not catch her name. I just saw the beautiful garments she made. She had a gorgeous shawl/triangle scarf tied on her shoulders, it was beautiful. Then she showed a gray cable cardigan. That really caught my attention. Then she brought out a lace christening gown knitted out of cashmere. Ok, I'm in the beginners beginning section. lol No, I didn't think to get the camera out for pictures. Next time I'll do better. But, for your viewing pleasure I did get pictures of Shelly and her beautiful shawl she knitted for her grandmother even though she had to go through the torture of a poorly written set of instructions. I would never have figured it out, way to go Shelly!! AND the gorgeous sweater Susan knitted with the great fit but too wide of a neckline for her. I think it still looks great but I understand problems like falling off shoulders.

Knitting blanket is calling my name. Hope everyone stays safe and warm inside tonight.

2-14

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. I had never been to this doctor before so I had the ole trusty knitting project in a bag. I sat down to wait and started knitting. Another lady came and sat close to me and said "I knew when I saw your bag you were a knitter". lol So we started talking and she knits socks. I took the opportunity to tell her about our Thursday night group and she said she wants to come. Wouldn't you know it?? before I could lure her further into my web, hahahahaha!!, and tell her about guild and knit-in, they called my name!!!!!!! She shook my hand real quick and said she'd come because she wanted to talk more. I hope she does, she really seems like a nice person.

After I got to work, I talked to a former coworker who is coming to OKC for some meetings later this week and I was telling her about Thursday's group. She and I have been good friends for 18 years or so and I just today found out she knitted when she was in high school! I told her to get needles and yarn and that I'm taking her with me to Border's but I don't know if I have her convinced yet. Oh well. I'm trying.

Monday's Olympics

This weekend I stayed at home almost the entire weekend doing household chores and knitting on the Olympic blanket. I've never knitted anything this large before so my expectations of "where" I should be are not correct. I can already tell the only true quality knitting time I'll have is weekends and evenings. Onward I push.

Olympic Blanket

Ok, so I am not counting Friday evening at all. Yesterday after frogging the entire thing, I finally started making some progress. I even put stitchmarkers in because even though counting to 15 is simple, I get engrossed in the tv or my thoughts and realize 30-50 stitches later I "missed" the point to change stitches. I'm glad I have two weeks to work on this! Because it doesn't look as if I've accomplished much! lol

I'm anxious to see Rosemary's clapotis and Emily's shrug. Who else committed to this Olympic event? I was laughing trying to explain this event to someone online. He thought I was knitting the Olympic flame or Olympic rings and was concerned that was a copyright violation. I was laughing thinking I'm not ready to do intarsia on a limited time frame!!!

Where is our Wonderland Knitter??

Knitting Olympic Baby Blanket

If we have to start over can we add the wasted time to the end? lol Okkkkkkkkk, I knew the answer before I asked. Knitting Olympic Baby Blanket is not going well so far. I've had to cast on four times I think, I've honestly lost count. I made it past the five rows of garter stitch and realized I had 159 stitches instead of 160. My next flub was not reading the instructions correctly and I changed pattern the second row instead of repeating row one for fifteen rows. I realized this mistake about 2/3 of way on row two and unknitted to the beginning of the row. Ok, I'm moving along fine now and flip to start row three of the pattern. Everything is great, I'm knitting along and am almost complete with this row and realize I started knitting in the round the beginning of that row. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! Frogged it all and just now cast on the requisite 160 stitches. The Knitting Olympics are not looking well for this participant.

An easy blog...

Ok, I've seen these on other's blogs and decided this would be a quick and easy entry. And I tag my blog readers who have not posted this in the past month.

List 4 jobs you've had in your life:
1. Secretary for a collection agency
2. Employment Specialist
3. Program supervisor for the foreign labor division of state of Oklahoma
4. Case manager for an immigration firm

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Dr. Zhivago
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Bridges of Madison County
4. Urban Cowboy (I love dancing movies!)

Places you have lived:
1. Sapulpa, Oklahoma
2. Tulsa, Oklahoma
3. Oklahoma City
4. Norman, Oklahoma (Okie thru and thru!)

4 TV shows you love to watch:
1. Dancing with the Stars (although I'm missing it since attending Sit and Stitch)
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Gray's Anatomy
4. Boston Legal

4 places you've been on vacation:
1. Mexico City
2. New Orleans
3. Memphis
4. San Antonio

4 websites you visit daily:
1. www.knittersreview.com
2. www.gourmetyarn.net
3. everyone who is listed as blog links on my blog
4. www.tulsaworld.com

4 favorite foods:
1. chocolate
2. Mexican food
3. asparagus
4. Pad Kee Mao

4 places you'd rather be right now:
1. Dallas
2. San Francisco
3. Seattle
4. Home with Lexi in my lap.

Not a Super Bowl

Ok, I'm not much of a football fan. In fact, I watch maybe three games a year. OU-Texas, OU-OSU and the Super Bowl. I mostly watch the Super Bowl to see the commercials. But for some reason I started watching the GAME in the fourth quarter. I get caught up in the game and when some Stealer ( yes I spelled it that way on purpose) was trying to make it to the goal and I start yelling. I rarely yell at all......so the foolish part is I have Lexi in my lap. Needless to say, she jumped and fled the room. As soon as the play was completed, I got up to find her. She was hiding under the bed. She wouldn't come out so I left her there. 15 minutes later, she comes down the hall but won't have anything to do with me. In fact, when I moved she ran again!! So lesson learned, keep my football comments to myself!

The pictures above are from the Knit-In at Gourmet Yarn. Two group shots and one of Terri caught off guard. And the one guy is Jeff, who minds the store while we are in the back having fun.

A week of knitting!

This has been one busy week! I started the knitting activities off on Thursday evening meeting with the Norman bunch at Border's. We were a rather small group that night but still nice and good company. Friday five of us drove up to Guthrie for some good eats and an evening of knitting. I think I pooped out around 8 and was pretty out of it for the rest of the evening. I get real quiet when I am tired. lol I did get to watch Shanidy knitting magic loop style on a sock. She made it look so easy. I had signed up for a sock class magic loop style for Saturday. So today I head up to Gourmet Yarn and learned Magic Loop! We knitted a baby sock so we could get all the techniques in. I did pretty darned good until the grafting of the toe. Ugh!! Maybe I need to sign up for Toe Up to avoid that, huh? One hour later the February Knit-In started and we had a great time!! I always enjoy the group that gathers at Margaret's. We have a good time and share lots of goodies. I always see several people knitting on projects that make me want to add three or four more to my list.

Since I haven't figured out how to "mingle" my pictures with my text, I'll just add them and let the pictures "fall" wherever blogger lets them fall. A few are of the sock class. Rosemary picked right up on Magic Loop. Of course, she is already an accomplished sock knitter. The very first lady I talked with the first time I came into Gourmet Yarn was in the sock class. I believe her name is Renee. It took me 2 hours to figure out where I had seen her before. lol The other pictures are of the crowd at the Knit-In. If you've never been, you need to go. It's the first Saturday of each month from 4-8. Bring a snack or treat to share and your current project to work on and show off.

Susan brought her entrelac bag. Don't believe her if she is crying about not doing it right. She is doing a great job and it looks great!!

I don't know how to start this next subject except to jump right in. I want to talk about manners. And to be a little more direct, people who interrupt others while talking. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years. I don't know how a person can be more rude to another individual than to cut them off, interrupt what they are saying or just overtalk the person or persons while they are talking. I had a very good friend in Tulsa who used to do this. She was always very mannerly in many other ways except that one. I finally had to tell her, how much it irritated me that she had no more regard for me or what I say than to butt in when I was talking. I have another friend who does the same thing. I've gotten so when she does interrupt that I just drop what I was saying. After all, it wasn't important enough to hold her attention, so why continue after she has so rudely interrupted with what was to her sooo important. I don't know where I'm going with this except to say that if I've ever interrupted anyone who reads this, I apologize. I try to be considerate and thoughtful and a good listener. I'm going to try even more so since this is becoming a public cry for me. If you are guilty of this break in your manners, please stop and think of what you are NOT saying to the people you interrupt i.e.......what you have to say isn't important, what I have to say is what everyone wants to hear, I have the attention span of an ant and I have to blurt out what I'm thinking before I forget.....need I say more? lol Ok, the rant is over, for now.