Soon, soon....

It's Christmas Eve.... so much excitement. I had to take my husband to the ER for an allergic reaction to ??. We're not sure. That took about 4 hours. I'm feverishly working to finish the hat now and get all the flowers done. I've got the scarf blocking upstairs and it's almost ready for a picture debut.

Stay tuned.

Debbie Bliss.... Why Why Why???????

So... I'm back. I've been sick for just about 3 weeks. So sick, I couldn't do any knitting :-( Crazy isn't it. I've been catching up but I'll neverr be back on track with what needed to be done for Christmas.

In any event, I started the scarf and hat from my last post. Do you know, that the pattern calls for 2 skeins for each the hat and scarf. I started the hat and I didn't have enough yarn. Well.... I bought that yarn in Columbia MD and I wasn't going back there so I went to my local yarn store in Alexandria, VA. They had the yarn but I was worried about the dye lot. The woman told me right off the bat that they have had problems with all the patterns in this book and they have been telling all their customers that you will need more than what the pattern calls for. I wish the ladies at the place where I had picked it up knew that at the time.

Any who... Picked up another skein and darn it - it was so close in color to the ones that I had. I pulled the price tag off of it when I got home and found out that it was the SAME DYE LOT! Crazy! I guess I got lucky. Why Debbie Bliss, oh why?

Did I say cashmere?

OMG. Look at this.... it's cashmere. Debbie Bliss PURE cashmere. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. It's so so so soft. I don't know what possessed me to purchase this yarn but when I saw the pattern for this cute little ensemble and I just couldn't resist. Who is that girl? I think it's her fault. Yea, let's blame it on her.

Things....

I finished this scarf for my bosses daughter. She's 6 years old. I love the look with the little knots on the ends of the fringe!

Finished this on the way in to work this morning on the train. I'm so close to finishing all my Holiday presents!

These are the next colors for Mason Dixon warshrags! 

Another scarf.

I'm continuing to complete Christmas presents and get them wrapped and ready. How's your list going?
 

Oh Boy what a Joy!

Completed this today. It had been so close to being finished but had been put off to the side while I was working on my felted bag. So cute!
 

Current Project...

So my friend Mandy says "Let's make a felted bag together!" Here's the progress... only 200 more rows to go (OMG). The pattern is the free one that comes from Lion Brand. We're rolling along! I've got to get going on some of my Christmas projects this weekend. More to come!



 

Boo!

Happy Halloween. Got these scarves finished for the Christmas pile. I love this chunky yarn. It
goes so fast!
 

Happy Birthday Susan!

For my friend Susan's birthday. A cake without the calories! Only lots of Sugar n Cream...

Christmas Cuties!

Could these be any cuter?

Christmas is coming people

I'm working hard at my Christmas presents. Have you begun? I wasn't too happy with the colors of this. I was hoping for a "red, white and blue" theme. The blue I chose was Navy but it was so dark, it looks like black. :-(

Baaaa

I arrived home today to find this! A super cute bookmark from Michelle. I can't wait to put it in my book that I am reading (Harry Potter 6 - I know, I know - I'm a little behind). THANKS Michelle. 

Projects and Works...

This is my new sweater project. Hmmm... doesn't look like much yet but ... if you look here, you will see that it will become something very pretty (let's hope). It's the sweater on the cover of the November 2006 Creative Knitting magazine.
Here are a few Mason Dixon dishcloths that I finished while on vacation. I finished two other items but they are Christmas presents and can't be shown on the blog. 

Long Overdue...

Package arrives from Singapore! Oh my.
Wonderful goodies inside including earrings, beads, two small purses, stuff to make green tea ice cream (yummie) and some very special yarn (see below).


All - I know that this is long overdue. This is the final package that I received from my secret pal. With things so crazy and our trip to Mexico, I was not able to post the wonderful things that Kessa sent to me. She is from Singapore and the most beautiful thing shown above is some yarn that she HAND DYED herself. WOW. I can't wait to figure out what I am going to make with that. I know that it will be something special just for me! 

Knitting in Mexico!

Does it get any better? Knitting in the pool. 

Vindicated.....

I just can't talk about it....

OMG... how did this happen?? My first sweater attempt. Look at it! I read the directions and thought that it was going well... "Dec 1 st at each end of the next 5 rows, then on every foll alt row until 10 sts rem". I assumed it was decrease one every other row. Well.... this is what I got.

Too Cute!

Finished this last night for a friend. How cute it looks all tied up with a bow.

September 11th - A Memory

As I pass the Pentagon this morning, I think back to an ordinary day five years ago. It was a Tuesday. I arrived to work at 7:30. All was quiet, not many people come in that early. I got up from my desk and Sheila said take a look at this! She was reading a news website that was showing a picture of Tower I on fire. I said “Is that for real? Let’s go to a TV and check it out”. We walked around the bend to a co-workers desk and turned on the TV and were mesmerized by what we saw. As more people came in, we all just stood.. hovered around that TV staring and watching the events unfold.

When the plane hit the Pentagon, that’s when it took an even closer, more personal turn. My phone started ringing off the hook. Are you okay? Is Paul okay? Family and friends called in to check and see where we were. Had we made it to work? Most people know that the subway here runs underneath the Pentagon and they were worried. Even though I had not heard from Paul yet, I knew he was okay. He was working at the White House at the time and I thought there could be no safer place. Then I heard it on the news… reports saying that the plane that hit the Pentagon was probably intended to hit the White House. I was stunned. I immediately counted my blessings and let out some tears when Paul called from out on the street around the White House where they had been evacuated. I made more calls then giving the all clear.

More co-workers arrived, everyone just stood. We all just stood in silence, in awe. We saw Tower 2 get hit and then we saw the Towers fall. We knew then that this day could never and would never be erased from our minds.

I got a ride home from a co-worker. The subway was shutdown... traffic was gridlock – everyone was trying to get home to their loved ones – simply to hold them and be thankful to be alive. I waited … Paul continued to work. The President came on that night… I waited…. I knew Paul was okay… and yet, I waited….. and when he came home, we hugged.

Update...

It's been a few since I last posted. I had mentioned that I was going to FL immediately followed by a quick trip to TX. Here's an update.

I had brought my blanket with me to FL to have my Mom help me with the ends and things. You know... there are certain things only a Mom can tell you.... well... she told me that my blanket had too many mistakes and that if it were her blanket, she wouldn't give it to anyone. Now... sounds harsh but I took it well and realized that she was right as she helped me frog all 10 skeins. Another lesson learned. There are so many! It's a sad sad day.

I happily casted on for a new project. A little girl sweater. It's my first sweater so we'll see how it goes. So far nothing too complicated. I'm moving slowly. This sweater is from Rowan and you can see it here.

Meanwhile... as always I'm knitting more warshrags. Here is my latest. This is my first Mason Dixon one. It took a few tries to get it going but I've got the pattern moving now. I'm almost done actually!

While in TX I taught my friend and her daughter to knit. It was great! It's amazing how quickly some people catch on to things. Stefani was rolling along on her scarf so fast and her daughter, even though she was a leftie, picked it up quick as well with me trying to show her and trying to knit as a leftie. It was pretty funny!

I picked up some of this thick and quick stuff and knit a fast scarf. It's a good teaching yarn. Knits up just like it says. QUICK. This will be a gift for my Boss's daughter. She's 6 years old. How perfect with all the pretty colors. I need to locate another skein to make the fringe. I went to my Michaels last night and didn't see any. Will have to search elsewhere. I have time though since I think it will be one of my Christmas presents. Christmas! Yikes. We're already talking about Christmas.

Presto Chango

I frogged the dishrag that I photoed in my last post and made this one instead. I'm giving it to my sister even though she's been making fun of me for all the crazy knitting I've been doing. Hmmm.. maybe I should keep it!

Almost done!

I've been diligently working on my blanket and it's almost done. I'm on the last ball of yarn before I start working on the border. I'll be glad when it's completed. It's become quite boring to knit but I'm determined to not start anything else until it's done. (Except of course my subway projects since the blanket is just too big to bring on the subway!).

I sent my secret pal her last package today. It's kinda sad to see this all coming to a close. I sure hope that this package gets to Australia safe and intact. I've enjoyed reading her blog. She just posted up what she made with the koigu that I sent her in the first package. Wow... it's beautiful. Check it out.

I'm leaving for Florida on Friday to see my Mom and Brother. My sister and 2 nephews are also going to FL (they are leaving tomorrow) and we will be able to hang for a few days (my trip is only Friday-Tuesday. I'm hoping to have my blanket completed and have Mom help me with all those ends that need to be tucked away! I also want to block it while I am there. The thing looks like a mess right now.

Here is the next dishcloth that I've been working on. I'm not so crazy with the pattern but it's cute. I'm ready for this one to be done.

Another one!

I got this done last night. I'm heading to Floriday in 2 weeks and wanted to have a few of these done to give to my new 'sister-in-law' to be Michelle that I'm going to meet in person for the first time. Mom says she likes blue so I hope she likes these. I really like the basket weave pattern...it's easy and it looks great! I better get cracking on that blanket. My friend is going to pop that baby out in no time at all and I won't be ready. Guess I'll work on that today when my company leaves. All is quiet now... everyone is still sleeping... we wore those kids out yesterday!

Tuesday Morning Commute...

On my way to work this Tuesday morning, I completed this while I listened to Brenda's latest edition of Cast-On!

Ahhhh Summer Weekends....

Watching the sunrise on the most perfect day is priceless... especially when it's with your husband. We spent the weekend with friends here in Virginia cruising around on a jet ski and a boat...... fishing and having lots of fun.

Here we are sunrise 6:15am on Sunday. Ahhh priceless.










Knitting was scarce this weekend because fishing was on the agenda! I caught an 18" stripper fish. Boy did he taste good for dinner! We were out in the boat around 6:30 and back by 9:00 to beat the heat. It was a perfect time and the fish were certainly biting well. Janet and I caught a bunch of fish before Paul even got his first bite! Who said girls can't fish?
This morning I started this on the train to work. I like the squares. It will make a cute dish rag. I'm having a lot of fun making these and ignoring the fact that I want to make and finish my first sock. I read my secret pal's blog and she whipped out a few socks this weekend again! Boy does she make us all look bad.

What's up?

Finally I went to the mailbox... it had been a few days. If you saw how close my mailbox is to my house, you'd laugh and say "Why the heck don't you get your mail everyday". It has been so hot that while I do pass it on my way home, I'm making a quick beeline to my house to get back in the air conditioner. I did find this awesome postcard from our SP8 hostess Bobbie. I was pretty excited. It's from Wisconsin as you can clearly tell. I've never been to Wisconsin before. The picture is "Balanced Rock overlooks Devils Lake State Park, near Baraboo, Wisconsin".
I love getting postcards fun!

I've gotten the dish cloth bug so to speak so I've been knitting these up like crazy. They don't take much time and best of all, they don't cost very much. I've already been using mine and after I washed the smaller one, it looked even better! The SP8 pal that I have had made one from the Mason Dixon book that she posted on her blog so I purchased that today via Amazon. I can't wait to get it! I also picked up Maggie Sefton's new one A Deadly Yarn. I can't wait to read that one. I really enjoyed these books.

Look at this cute bag that I bought from a friend of mine who happened to have an extra. It's actually a fancy lunch bag that is now my getaway knitting bag to take with me on the train ride to work. It's perfect!
Here's the next one I'm making, it's a basket weave pattern. I've been pulling different designs right from my perpetual calendar that my husband bought me for Christmas. Santa had sent him an email telling him that I wanted it. I'm so glad that Santa is in on the information age and on email! This is a great calendar with lots of design ideas. You'll never ever run out.

I probably could have been more productive with my knitting this weekend but instead, I finally installed new faucets in my bathroom. They look really sweet and are much more functional that the old ones we had.