A Social Hobby

I saw this book at Gourmet Yarn the other day. The title obviously caught my attention. I know I picked it up but I guess I didn't really pay attention to what was inside. So today I thought I'll look it up on Amazon and see what it says about it. There was one review, I'll not go into what the person said but one thing that did jump out was her comment about knitting becoming a social hobby. That caught my attention. I picked up needles (after 20 years and a less than dismal start) about 2 years ago. I knew pretty quick that I needed some lessons so I'd learn how to do it right this time. That desire led me to take some classes that fueled a spark I'd never felt over a hobby before. That ultimately led me to Gourmet Yarn and to a never ending group of women, many I'm happy to call friends, and the socialization I'd yearned for ever since I moved to the metro area.

When in a conversation with someone I used to say so-n-so told me there is a new store going in at X Y intersection. Now I often have to say....who was it who told me there is a new store going in. Did I lose you? lol Before I knew the small circle of people I'd talked to and now I talk with so many more (from my social hobby) that I have to THINK and remember who told me what! lol That is not a complaint. It amazes me what each individual can bring to the table, be it a cool pattern they found, their humor and wit, some beautiful yarn I'd overlooked, or a sincere desire to learn more. I hope this never ends.

Oh, the only person who hears that line from me is poor Lexi. Bless her little kitty heart.

Sunday Update

Although I have neglected my blog for a bit, I have been knitting. So I thought I'd take today and give you an update on my WIP's.


This is the boatneck sweater from Minnows, Too. This is the one I'm knitting for CIC. As you can see I have one sleeve completed. The hold up? Picking up stitches on the other side. Sigh!! I'm rather clumsy at it and cuss like a sailor while attempting to do so. Because of that it isn't a task I want to do while at Barnes and Noble or at Gourmet Yarn. I'm sure you understand.


Bet you thought you'd never see Nina again, huh? lol When I hesitated at picking up stitches on the boatneck, I hastily grabbed Nina. The Nina Shawl from Mason Dixon Knitting has a sure and steady stockinette stitch. No heavy concentration just sure and steady rhythm with enough color change to keep it from becoming boring. A project easily knit while visiting with friends or distracted by traffic in a book store. I even did fair isle while in Barnes and Noble the other evening!! I don't know why I cringe so, it isn't all that hard. I can do continental in the knit stitch but I have to drop each color while purling. It's just not as smooth and rhythmic as single color knitting. I'm half finished with this last section of fair isle. As you can see it's a rather short rectangle. I think since I appear to have sufficient yarn that I'll add some color on each end before I complete the ending ruffle. What do you think? Any suggestions on how I should mix the colors?



Lexi votes for spots. Too bad I don't do intarsia.

Enjoy this beautiful weather!!!

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What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!
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Boatneck Sweater

Last night I finished the front or was it the back? Is this the front ? This is the Boatneck Sweater from Minnows, Too by Jil Eaton.













Or is this the front? lol Who knows!! But I'm glad they both came out pretty much identical. I hope I didn't offend too many people in Barnes and Noble last night. Shelly, Shanidy and I grabbed some comfy chairs and knitted and visited. It was so nice to see Shanidy again. And as usual she was knitting on some great looking socks. Oh...back to my offending comment....I did my first three needle bindoff and I'm afraid I said more than a few choice words aloud. Shelly didn't shush me so I think the worst was damn. lol So now the next step is to pick up stitches to start sleeves. What fun!!!!!!!!!!



And here it is opened with the two shoulder seams completed.


Btw, Shelly was practicing her creative writing skills last night....so if any of you hear any stories from her about ME....that is what she's practicing. :-)









And Lexi says....thank you for not making me model that sweater. This is her basking in her sunbeam yesterday morning. She has the softest hair on her tummy. Too bad she doesn't like it touched. I think I have a scratch on my arm from not resisting!!

September Knit-In

I think this was the most popular gal at tonight's knit-in. This is Linen and I hope her mama doesn't mind I'm showing her sweet baby's picture on my blog. Isn't she gorgeous!? She is the sweetest dog. She's a service dog and has a very important job to do but she also manages to charm everyone in the room.

Once again we had many new faces. The crowd was a tiny bit thinner than last month but not by much. MIA: Emily, Karen, Jan, Susan and Kristie. I know Karen was on her way back to Oklahoma. I don't know about the rest.

We had plenty of good desserts tonight. Cookies, cheesecake, more cookies, Hello Dolly's, and many more I can't recall. We had some good olive spread and some other goodies. And I won first prize for my cocktail meatballs! Yay!! Oh wait...I finally spent my last gift certificate (won for my Better Than Sex Cake months ago) last week!! lol Darn, I just can't seem to get rid of those things. (Just kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) lol

I saw Margaret's new yarn. It is gorgeous. Lovely fall colors and soft soft touch. I apologize as I didn't take pictures of anything except Linen it seems.

I finished the back of the CIC sweater tonight and cast on the front. Rosemary finished the sleeves to Jamie's sweater tonight and she was very happy.

This little girl was happy to see me but boy did she sniff out my hand and arm that was covered in Linen kisses!!


This was taken a few weeks ago. No, she is not cross eyed, just enjoying her "sit" in the cool tub. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Loops on Labor Day

I had a great day today. Shelly, her daughter Amanda and I drove up to Tulsa. Shelly drove (I think she's afraid of my driving....although I am a first hand witness AND survivor of a red light infraction) and so I had LOTS of knitting time. As you can see in the picture to the left I am nearly finished with the front of the CIC Boatneck Sweater. I do have to admit that navy tweed is a sharp looking yarn. First we stopped at Chimi's on Cherry Street. I think Shelly and Amanda fell in love with the fresca salsa. Chimi's does it up right!




Next we traveled to Utica Square and went to Loops. It was Shelly and Amanda's first visit there. With Gourmet Yarn as my all time favorite yarn shop, Loops comes in at a close second. They had a 25% off sale on the project wall and this is what I left with. Three skeins of the softest Blue Sky Cotton in natural color. I swear if you didn't know it was cotton you'd think it was cashmere or alpaca. It's soooooo soft!! Speaking of alpaca, I knew Plymouth did a smaller weight alpaca than the Baby Grande and I found some. So I have three skeins of that in lime. One skein of Cotton Classic for some bright washcloths and two skeins of Claudia Handpainted sock yarn. It may become a triangle scarf or something other than socks but it sure does have a nice squishy squeeze to it!!


And when I arrived home Lexi let me know it was a nice day to sleep while the rain came down.

Chalks and Startitis

I just read in The Yarn Harlot this week that she suffers from startitis as I do. Terri and I went to Gourmet Yarn yesterday to spend the afternoon knitting and visiting. I had the Nina Shawl and a washcloth to work on but that just wasn't enough. Shelly has been tempting me to knit for the CIC kids and the idea formed in my head that a sweater for a child in Russia would serve two purposes: one for me to cut my teeth on a sweater!!! and two for some child to have something to keep him/her warm during the freezing cold. So here we are, to the left is the picture of the front of a boatneck sweater in navy with red stripes, barely started! I love the look of tweed and this is 100% superwash wool. CIC requests at least 70% wool. The navy had some slubs of red in it so I thought the red tweed would be the appropriate color for stripes. The yarn is Smart and in DK weight. The pattern calls for size 5 or 6 needles and wouldn't you know it, after swatching I have to use 7 and 8's. ;-( Size 8's are almost like telephone poles to me. Although the up side is the knitting goes faster.



Terri was telling me yesterday about her class at SNU. This past week they had to bring a momento that meant something to them. I was thinking of that this morning and immediately thought I would have taken a box of conversation hearts. Seven years ago today, I lost my Daddy. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in March of 1999 and died in September of 1999. Looking back, the spot on his lungs showed up a few years before he was diagnosed. But because it was contained and showed no growth and since he was a former smoker, the doctors just made him have lung x-ray's every six months to keep watch. No diagnosis at that point. Once he was diagnosed, the doctors wanted to blame it on smoking even though he quit 25 years before his death. He was a career Southwestern Bell employee and in his early years had handled asbestos coated telephone lines long before they knew how dangerous that was. He was very fortunate that it didn't show up for 36 years after exposure. In most cases it shows up 20-30 years after. I believe it was the asbestos that caused the fibrosis. Anyway, I look alot like him as I have his round face,his pale skin, his true blue eyes and his upturned nose. He had a good sense of humor and he was never mean to anyone. He had a soft spot for animals and as you probably already know I took that and "perfected" it a bit. lol Daddy was a freckled red head. His mother died when he was two so his grandmother and aunt raised the sibling group. Since he was the baby, my great aunt doted on him. She was the other bread winner in the extended family group (in addition to my grandfather). The lived in Cleveland, Oklahoma but she worked in Tulsa. She often went to Tulsa to shop too. She'd always ask the kids if they needed anything as she was going to "the Brown Dunkin" in Tulsa. My dad would say "Aunt Katherine, would you please buy me some freckle cream?" She'd smile and tell him he should be proud of his freckles as they were the marks left on him when the angels kissed him. I get my storytelling affinity from my daddy also. He always had some interesting stories to tell and of course, as small kids we'd beg him to tell us things about his childhood. He's the one who when I asked how he came up with my name told this story: He claimed the Kay was for Kaye Star who he thought was a great singer. And when I asked where my middle name came from he told me this story. He was in the car driving to the hospital to pick me and my mother up to bring us home. On the way he saw this bum laying in the ditch. He stopped to give the guy a ride. He started talking with the bum and learned his name was Lee. He decided that was a good name only I needed the girl's spelling of Lea. That was just a joke but that was my dad. Always teasing. When we grew up and left the house, Daddy started buying us candy for Valentine's Day. It started out as a card and box of conversation hearts, which we called Chalks. My sister and I didn't like chalks but Daddy did and that was his signature gift to us. I finally convinced him after years of boxes of chalks that he needed to put the "lates" on the chalks.....choc-o-late. And he then started giving us the signature box of chalks plus the 4 piece box of Russell Stovers. lol It took me awhile but I started saving those boxes of chalks. I probably have 7-10 boxes stashed in different places. The one in the picture is the only one I could lay hands on today. It just seemed right to post a picture of his signature Valentine's gift today. I know he's in heaven, getting to know the mother he never knew and playing Yahtzee with his sister and listening to her squeal when she rolls seven of a kind, talking with his dad and oldest brother and hugging the aunt who was like a mother to him.

The Face of Innocence

You've probably seen my comments on other people's blogs stating that Lexi never bothers my yarn. I can practically drape it across her and she might chew on it (if I let it happen) but she wouldn't go after it or anything. I was very cautious when I first started knitting because I was worried she might get into my yarn and not only mess with my knitting/yarn but could possibly get herself tangled in such a way that it would hurt her. Oh don't think that can't happen!! lol YEARS ago when I had sister cats, Thunder and Lightning, I left some balls of yarn in a basket at the end of the sofa. This was back in the days when Michael was in grade school, I was working on my degree at night and we often didn't get in for the day until almost 10 at night. I walked in and found Thunder suspended almost in midair an inch or so above a dining room chair. She was suspended in yarn!! Apparently she and Lighting had a yarn tossing party and Thunder was so tangled it was nearly cutting between her toes and wrapped enough to suspend her. So I have personal knowledge of cats and yarn possibilities!! lol So today I came home at noon and walk in the house and this is what I find. It was in the den when I left for work this morning. Hmmmmmmm how did it get from the den to the hall?



"Yarn? What yarn?"














Strreeeetchhhh......."let's see what you are talking about."




























"I swear I don't know how it got in here."











Right!!! lol


Closing with a pretty sunrise from a few days ago.