A Finished Object And A Started Object

While digging through my stash last Friday night I came upon the lace hat from Lace Style I had started last fall and then completely forgotten about while it fell deeper and deeper into my stash. It only needed ten rows to complete so I stayed up late that evening and finished it.



I've worn it ever since, even with jackets and sweaters that don't match. The hat does match the bulky down jacket I wore all of our frigid December and January with a cheapo hat from Target. How silly of me! The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I have enough yarn left over to make a second hat if I reverse the colors.

I know I last blogged about starting Cameo from Custom Knits, and I fully intend to start this soon, but Amelia from Knitty was calling my name too loudly.



So I started it instead. If I keep at it, I should finish with plenty of cool weather left for wearing this sweater. And better yet, I am using yarn from my stash. It's a teal green color of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I would have loved to have bought some new Dream In Color for this project, but it's good to use what you already have.

I'm at least an inch further along than this picture shows. So far it's been a quick knit. I had to give up on this for today though. This is how my index finger looks:



Ouch! I push the yarn along with my index finger and some yarns irritate it more than others. This yarn, along with the twisted rib stitch pattern, is making my finger almost the worst it has been. The Hemlock Ring project still takes first place though for hurting my finger. I spent my knitting time today working on my Lily Of The Valley shawl from Lace Style. The lace weight Alpaca I'm using for it doesn't irritate my finger at all.



And I still need to make up the pony tail portion of my sister's Pony Tail Hat.

A Pathetic Blogger

I just realized I've been blogging since October, 2006 and this is only my 101st blog. How pathetic.

Knitting

Even though I feel as if I've been living knitting in my spare time, though not much spare time at that, I have little knitting to show you tonight. I've mostly been reading all my new Elizabeth Zimmerman books and enjoying them very much. What an inspiring author. I have knit up one swatch for Cameo from Custom Knits and started on a second swatch on smaller needles. I'm think I'm going to go with the smaller needles.



I finished the hat portion of the Pony Tail Hat. I need to add the Pony Tail yet. Blogger doesn't want to up load a picture of the hat tonight so I'm skipping it. Who has time to fool around with this?

Sister in Ky

My sister in KY is still without power. It will be at least the end of February before she has power. Meanwhile, she is coping quite well. Like a pioneer woman, it's up at dawn with many chores in the morning before work, heating water on the fireplace, cooking oatmeal, taking a Navy bath from the hot water, then off to work as a Nurse Practitioner in a private practice with many patients in the hospital and in nursing homes, additional hospice patients have been moved to the nursing homes because they have no power at home. It's long, hard days for her, only to get home with no power at night. She reports ice (the kind you use in a refrigerator, not the kind that hangs on trees and power lines) is now more widely available in Western KY, along with open gas stations. The gas stations only take cash. She buys food as often as she can and stores it in a cooler packed with the now available ice. She lost so much food from her freezer. It's still difficult in Ky and I hope we don't forget all the people there.

Dogs

Thanks for all the comments on Bunny. She's such a lovely dog. I've entered her in March for her Rally Novice title. I'm not all that enamored with Rally, but I will say, it's a great place to start out shy, noise sensitive, retiring little dogs like Bunny. It will keep me motivated to work with her and that's the most important thing.



Above is Bunny taking it easy. Only in Minnesota can dogs and humans alike take such pleasure in +16 degree temperatures and longer, sun lit days. It always calms me to find my dogs so relaxed.

More Goals

Thanks for the comments on Percy's tail. It has healed nicely, too bad though he can no longer wrap it about his feet. Still, it's a very serviceable tail and Percy's a very handsome cat isn't he? At least in the winter he is - when he stays home, grows a plush coat and puts a little fat on him. In the summer, Percy goes almost wild, gets too skinny and comes home once a day at best.

Knitting

I completed the Valour Vest.



I stopped in at Knitter's Palette today so had a chance to check out the store sample again. Mine is as nice, but I am a teeny bit unhappy with it. I knit this vest on the suggested 10.5 US needles and I wish I had gone down to a size 10 US. I think I would like the tighter gauge better. But it's a small disappointment. Overall, I like this project very much. The vest is already boxed up and ready for the Post Office tomorrow. Can you believe it? A knitted gift ready before the due date. I'm not disappointed about that.



This weekend I played around with several different projects. I made a swatch for Cameo from Custom Knits and another swatch for Amelia. I also played around with a couple of sock patterns. I couldn't decide what to start next. Then I found the kit for the Pony Tail Hat my sister Rita had picked out.



This is what I'll do next. Should be easy and fast. I couldn't decide if I should make the hat green or blue, so I decided I'll make a striped hat. Why not? A Pony Tail Hat is already a pretty wild and crazy thing, might as well add to the wildness and craziness of it.

Dogs

I listed my knitting goals last post. I should list my dog goals this post.

I'm pretty ambitious here. Honestly, I know I'll fall down on some of these. Still, if you don't aim high, you'll always shoot low. So here goes:

Dot - OA, OAJ, AX, AXJ
Dusty - MX, MXJ, CD
Dak - NA NAJ plus a few UDX legs
JJ - OA OAJ CD
Shamrock - CD CDX
Bunny - CD
Fame - health

You can find a short description of these titles here.

Tonight I'll leave you with a picture of Bunny. Poor Bunny, she is so quiet and reserve, I have to be careful not to overlook her.



A final note, RIF means Reduction In Force - or laid off! So I'm still employed and starting this week, quite happily employed with a new manager. Life is good. Well, except for this interminable winter. I am so over it already.

A final question, does anyone else have trouble uploading pictures using blogger? I sure do. I have to try over and over again for each picture. It's probably the biggest reason I don't blog very often. How can I fix this?