January FOs

K- Mittens for Jackie and Rebecca; these mittens were mostly knitted back in November, but were waiting for their thumbs. I found the pattern just in time for them to go back to school after the holidays... Rebecca promptly lost hers. =o(
K- Eye Lash kerchief scarf; I thought this scarf would be a cute one to have inside my jacket when I go out, but alas, it was too small to be practical for me. I will be giving this to Lissa {probably} for either herself or her dolls.
K- Granny dishcloth shawl; this is the first UFO eradicated in 2006. I may add another ball of the Light & Lofty, but I'm still undecided at this point, since I won't be able to get any more of the same dye lot. I'm thinking that the blended needle with the Bernat Softee Chunky might hide some of the imperfection.

What a disappoinment.

Colour me *very* disappointed... I finally finished off the second sleeve for my pinwheel sweater yesterday. I was very dismayed to discover that the sleeve I had just completed was at least three inches longer than the one I had done back in November to check my tension. Normally I would have done both sleeves at once, but I didn't have time to do more than just one sleeve after I had purchased the wool. It's gonna probably kill me in the process, but I will frog the older sleeve even though it's closer to the size called for in the pattern. I'm really wondering now if I'll be able to finish this before starting my KO project.

I still need to check that I have the needles I need for my booger. Lyz did her belt in the Patons Classic Wool with a 5 mm needle and it felted to about a ¼ inch. She says that she can't see the stitches on it either. I'm wondering if using a bigger needle will make it felt fuller or not. I also need to divide up the other two balls of wool, as well as practice my provisional/ crochet cast-on. Just ten more days until the festivities start!

I did get something productive done yesterday... actually two things. But the first was organizing and partially frogging my Homespun sweatercoat. I untangled the yarn and balled that up. I also frogged the last bit of knitting on my sweater. I cast on the stitches I needed to do the fronts and back together and got about an inch knitted. For right now, I'm just knitting off of the old sweater. It looks pretty neat seeing a sweater emerge from another sweater! Surprisingly, or not, the Homespun isn't kinking up like a lot of frogged yarns would. I guess since it's already kinked up, you can't tell! The only circ I could find in a 6 mm in my stash was a 24 inch, so it's tough going with all those stitches on the one needle. I tried using two circs, like having two straights that were 24" each, but that didn't work out too well at the ends. I hope that I can get my Denise's very soon so that I can try them out on this. I'm thinking of using two cords together to make about a 40" would be good.

I also got some work done on the review blog. I signed up for Amazon, so hopefully I can get a kickback or two on all this stuff I've been buying and reading! I added a few reviews, and have a few more to do. I can't afford the stress of knocking myself out on them, so I'll add them as I feel up to it.

Why do I do this to myself??? Part II: The Sequel

Well last week I finished the kerchief scarf I made out of one ball of Bernat Eye Lash. I wasn't totally pleased with the way it turned out... too small for my tastes. I guess I'll end up giving it to Lissa or the girls for them or their dolls. So what do I do Friday morning? I pick up another ball of the stuff to make myself a cowl. I don't even add it to my project planner... I just cast it on! To make matters worse, we also got some cool self-striping Bernat Baby Bouclé. There was a tear-off sheet for a cute little poncho, so I picked up two balls in a cute pink and lilac colourway, and off I went! I cast that on, on Friday too... SHEESH!!! What was I thinking anyway?

Well most of my work on the weekend was on that poncho. I've got about 7 inches or so of the bottom done. I altered the pattern slightly to make it worked in one piece. The pattern orignally called for it to be made in two pieces, and then seamed at the centre front and centre back. I thought that the nature of the stripes would make the seam really obvious, and that it would lend itself better to being worked in the round. So that's what I did. I'm extremely pleased with the way it's turning out. It's not the most fun yarn to work with, but the finished effect is worth it. I brought it with me to work instead of socks, and it gave me a chance to show off that I *can* make something else other than socks, as well as some of the cool stitch markers I've been making. Everyone that commented on it thought that the colours were working out really nice too.

I've only got an inch or two of the cowl done. I'll probably pick that up more once the poncho is done. I also started on my fuzzy "favourite" mittens... dunno why they called them favourites... the pattern is written for the birds. I got the first one done {sans thumb}, and should be able to get the other one done sometime this week... including the thumbs!

It's done!!! I think...

Just a fast post before I run off to bed...

Well I *think* my first UFO extinction project is done. All it took me was one evening... geesh... you mean I've been *that* close to having a warm, fluffy shawl?!?! Anyway, I just finished casting it off. I'm not sure, however, if it's going to be big enough. I want it to sit on my shoulders without the need for me to hold it at all. It sorta does, but it doesn't really cover my arms very much. I know it will grow a bit, but acrylic ain't gonna grow enough to make this that much bigger. I'm going to look at work to see if by some strange twist of fate, I can get another ball of the Light 'n Lofty in this dye lot. I have enough of the Softee Chunky for nearly another ball of that, I'm sure. I'll get someone to take a pic of this tomorrow, and y'all can let me know what you think.

WAY too true!!!

Here's a few more results:

You Are Likely an Only Child

At your darkest moments, you feel frustrated. At work and school, you do best when you're organizing. When you love someone, you tend to worry about them. In friendship, you are emotional and sympathetic. Your ideal careers are: radio announcer, finance, teaching, ministry, and management. You will leave your mark on the world with organizational leadership, maybe as the author of self-help books.

The Birth Order Predictor

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Your Blogging Type is Pensive and Philosophical

You blog like no one else is reading... You tend to use your blog to explore ideas - often in long winded prose. Easy going and flexible, you tend to befriend other bloggers easily. But if they disagree with once too much, you'll pull them from your blogroll!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

You Are a Strawberry Daiquiri

You're a fun, playful drinker who loves to party. You may get totally wasted, but you're always a happy drunk!

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Check out Blogthings!

I found this cool site thanks to Lyz! I've been taking a few surveys, and here's my results:

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You're An Alcoholic

Time to go back to step one.

What Kind of Drunk Are You?

I've got swag!!!

Well I signed up for a cafepress.com account! As I get more images and such, print-ready, I will be able to add more items available in the shop. For now all I have is a magnet with the Nicole's Crochet Bistro logo on it. It was a pretty painless process, and I figgered... what the heck? might as well have some cool "other" stuff along with everything I'm already offering on my site. If nothing else, it will give me a kick in the pants to get working on the new images for both sites.

Been busy!

Unfortunately, I haven't been busy knitting as much as I'd like. I got some cleaning done on Monday, and some laundry done yesterday. I still have tons more to do around here, including the fish tanks *ugh* today. At least the fishies will be happy!

I got some more markers made yesterday and got them all up on The Purl in the Oyster. I even made a few for me! I made 5 knitting markers that are destined for my silk waves scarf. I'm not sure how many repeats that is going to have, so I might need to make more. I really want to get my Denise's and use those for the scarf... I'm going to have to work on Derek a bit to get that, I think. He's really dragging his butt on them, and he already got his nerf bars on the truck... I WANT MY DENISE'S!!!!

I finished the damned Eye Lash scarf, and even survived having to frog the last row because I didn't have enough yarn to finish it according to the pattern. I just need to weave in the ends on it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it since the "tails" aren't as long as I was expecting/hoping for. It won't tie or double up around my neck, so I'm afraid of it falling off. I might just give it to Lissa for her to use, or one of her dolls as a shawl. I might make myself a cowl out of another ball since I was really hoping to have something for me out of this horrid stuff.

I'm seriously considering frogging my Kroy sock. I started it *way*back when I could barely follow a regular sock pattern, and now it's looking way too plain for me. I want something with cables or lacy or I don't know! I'm only about seven inches into it, so the roof won't cave in if I frog. I want to finish the second sleeve of the Skacel sweater this week as well as my granny dishcloth shawl. I'm really not inspired to finish it for some reason, and my Homespun sweater yarn is getting hopelessly tangled. I'm considering frogging that and restarting it since I originally started it nearly a year ago, and my skills have progressed so much since then. I want to do the two front panels along with the back panel... unless the seam is going to help it from sagging too much. But then again, if it's going to sag, it would look really funny with the seams pulling it up at the sides.

Wow! A week gone already?!?

I just checked my last post, and it was nearly a week ago. Holy crap! Where did the time go? At least my "week" at work went by fast and relatively uneventfully. First time for everything! I *think* I got a lot accomplished... including *some* sleep.

I didn't quite make my goal for the YOTS-KHKAL, but I did about 75% of the sleeve, so that still leaves me in good shape. I really want this sweater done in time for the Knitting Olympics. If you want to see what I've chosen for my event, check my previous posts for the details. If you haven't heard about them yet, click on the Olympics link in the sidebar to get to Yarn Harlot's Olympics page.

I finished Derek's first "Hockey Sock" and have made good progress on the second. I'm done the striped band, and am working on the leg/calf. I'm waiting for when his feet are actually CLEAN to put the sock on him for the final viewing and photography! When I showed him the first sock all finished, grafted, and ends all woven in, he was properly impressed. He even noticed the grafting... or rather... didn't notice it, because he commented that you couldn't see the seam. YAY!!!

I spent some time on Friday getting some more stitch markers made. I can't recall how many sets I did, but I'll know later on today when I do the photography. I bought a sheet of this cool foam stuff to take pictures on, and ended up using it to *make* the markers on. It's a *great* surface for the beads and stuff. They don't scatter all over the table that way! I bought another sheet of it today that I will keep pristine for pics.

In other notes, I finished off the horrid pink yarn for the charity/school scarf, and I'm about half-way or better done on the Eye Lash scarf. I haven't bothered adding these to the progress charts/bars on the sidebar since, IMO, these are little add-ons that don't really count. I also moved a few more pages of Nicole's Crochet Bistro over to the new home at The Purl in the Oyster. It wasn't without a few glitches, like the last time, but I think/hope everything is hunky dorey now.

To destash, or not to destash... that is the question...

My stash has been on my mind a lot lately. It seems that for every project I actually finish, I start two more. For every project I start, I buy supplies for two more. Houston, I think we have a problem. I'm thinking back to all of my recent purchases starting with the wool for the Skacel sweater which is now nearly half done.

On the needles {from recent purchases}: Kerchief scarf out of Bernat Eye Lash. Bernat Sox Army Hot for the girls. Briggs & Little Tuffy socks for Derek. Scrunchable scarf for Alex out of two strands of RHSS.

Waiting in line {recently purchased}: More army socks. STR socks now that I've chosen patterns. I have the Fibre Trends mittens kit. There's the silk waves scarf kit. HBC bogger bag. Lissa's cabled poncho. Fuzzy mittens in Bernat Softee Chunky and Eye Lash. Beaded bag for me.

I won't even begin to get into the other items around here. There's enough sock yarn to make us each a pair for a month, I'd bet. I have a ton of RH Comfort pounders for making the kids their winter stuff. More WIPs and UFOs than I can count. Plus I want to make items for the girls' school out of leftovers.

Then there is my WIM list of things to buy. I desperately want to make the circular shrug from Vogue Knitting. There's a dreadlock poncho kit from Ram's that I've been eyeing up. Can't for get all the designs I want to make as well.

I don't know where to begin. They say the first step to overcoming an addiction is to admit you have a problem. I'm not sure if this is an addiction or not. I truly *do* want to make all these things, but where to find the time? Add to that, that my hands have been bothering me a lot. I know it's because I've been doing so much knitting, and not enough crocheting. I need to come up with a solution that I can actually live with and follow.

I'm competing in the Olympics!

Today I was cruising the craftster site a bit while my connection to KH wasn't working. I stumbled upon a post about the knitting olympics that Yarn Harlot is hosting. Leave it to a Canadian to think of something like this! *ROFL* I've chosen to do my HBC Booger for my event.
This is my wool before I started prepping it. I got four cream coloured balls of Patons Classic Wool for the main colour. The HBC stripes will be done in Peer Gynt, a wool imported from Norway. I got it all on sale at Ram Wools on Friday along with Lissa's poncho yarn and my silk scarf kit.
I've done a bit of research, but still need to write down everything I will need to do. I may do a small swatch prior to the start of the project so that I can decided on stripe width and such. I got a great suggestion to use a provisional cast on for the beginning of the bottom. I think it will make it easier to pick up my stitches later, as well as making the stripes look great all the way around my bag. I've got two of the balls of Peer Gynt divided in half, and still need to do the other two. I also need to check that I have the needles that I require to make this. I am also going to have to pick up a zippered pillowcase for when I do the felting itself.

A (counter)productive day...

Well Shaw went and did it to me again... the damned servers went down as I was working on my web site this morning. ARGH!!! At least this one was shorter, and it only seemed to affect new pages... like it was running on a backup version of stuff.

I woke up just before 4 am today and started to "work". I tried knitting a few rows of my charity scrunchable scarf, but quickly gave that up as my hands realized what I was doing! I decided to do some web work. I took a quick peek at the Bistro site and saw that the holiday patterns page would be an easy one to switch over. I haven't worked on the new crochet graphics at all, so this was a good choice. It took a few hours, but I got it all the way I want it. I even found a web tracking service to use for it. I liked the page stats I got at GeoCities, and hopefully this one will give me similar results. Only problem now is that I've discovered a few coding errors in the transfer. I will have to take some time now to go and correct the files for the correct links. Especially since I deleted all the images off of GeoCities!!

I've gotten quite a bit done I think for it being not even 11 am yet. I spent about 15 minutes or so in Alex and Lissa's room looking for more yarn for this scarf. I didn't find any suitable yarn, but I did manage to get rid of a big garbage bag full of trash. I'm nearly done this ball of yarn, so I think I will get it done and then go back to my Eye Lash scarf. My goal for this week for the sweater KAL is to get a sleeve done, so I'll probably cast that on later today after this yarn is gone.

Why do I do this to myself???

When will I *ever* learn *not* to buy or use Bernat Eye Lash yarn??? I made Lissa a scarf out of this last winter before my hands gave out. I cursed nearly every stitch saying, "you're damned lucky I love you kid!" I've gotten better with the novelty yarns. The scarves I made the girls out of the LB Boucle and Fun Fur were relatively easy. It may also be that it was more manageable since there was two yarns held together, and it was on much bigger needles. This stuff is a fairly long fuzz -- about an inch -- that is also curly/kinky.

Well today I caved in and bought 3 balls of it. Two of them are to be combined with some Bernat Softee Chunky to make me a pait of mitts. The other is on its own to make me a kerchief scarf. Well I cast on, and immediately remembered why I never made Lissa a hat or anything else to match her scarf last year! It *is* progressing, but I fear that it will either consume all my knitting time on my weekend, or be put aside to work on other items. It's only about 45 rows total to make it, but it's gonna feel like 450!

I don't hate Mondays!

Well no offence to the Boomtown Rats, but I don't hate Mondays. Why, you ask? Well that means that it's my weekend!!! I have three whole days away from work!!!

I finished the front of my sweater on Friday, but I fell asleep before I could post it. Here it is:

The colour is a bit off compared to the picture of the sleeve in this blog entry. The colour is actually a nice light cream and denim. At least I made my goal for the KH "Year of the Sweater" KAL. I haven't checked in at KH yet, so I don't know what this week's assignment/my goal will be yet.

I could just scream!!!

When I got up this morning, I couldn't knit or crochet... as usual. I decided to work a bit on my web site switchover. Specifically, creating an actual home page for The Purl in the Oyster so that it will be easy to add my various pages over to Shaw as my time allows. Well after I get it set up the way I want, I go and try to upload it. It wasn't accepting my password! I tried about 3 or 4 different ones, just in case I had changed it... nuttin. Then I tried my personal space, and that wouldn't come up either. I'm thinking... geesh, what's going on? Then I try to load the page that's there, and I get the dreaded "page is unavailable" message. ARGH!!! I am *NOT* a happy camper right now. I even called them up, and they had a canned message on there... "we are experiencing technical difficulties"... ARGH AGAIN!!!

I updated the home page of Nicole's Crochet Bistro a bit to change the copyright date, and add the info for the new sales division. I'm too mad and frustrated right now to try and work on anything more than that.

Gotta love big needle projects!

Well I went through all the posts at craftster about the Skacel sweater, and I got a lot of good information. I would say that in about 4 hours work, I've got the pinwheel to about the 16 inch diameter point. I used my 10 mm dpns for the first part, and then switched to a 12.75 mm 29" circ when the pattern told me to switch. The first few rounds with the huge circ were a bit of a pain, but not *that* bad. After going through all the posts, and checking my pattern {and the pic!} again, I realized that there isn't a side panel on this sweater. The entire front or back is the pinwheel. That makes it tons easier to modify. One lady that finished her sweater added about 6 rounds to the pinwheel before the instructions that convert the circle to more of a rectangle, and said that was enough to give her the ease she needed. Well, if I'm only on round 22 or something similar, and have about 10 more rounds to go before dividing it into top and bottom, I might be okay just the way it is. I'll have to check the measurements again as I get closer to that point. My math may be wonky, but I'm guessing in the range of 10 rounds to 6-7 inches. That will give me about 20 inches across when I hit the round 32 mark. That gives a finished measurement of 40", and that's not too bad. I'll see when I get there.

I will need my other circ soon, and I need to decide what I'm going to do with the shawl that's on it. At the rate I'm going, I will need the circ tomorrow, and I don't think I feel like finishing the shawl first. Since it's a specialty size, I really can't justify having *three* circulars in this size, as well as the straights... decisions, decisions...

Knitting and crocheting for charity.

Well I decided today to use up some of my "unwanted" yarn, and make it into stuff for charity. Well not exactly "charity", but I am giving it away to those that need it. I started a scrunchable scarf in some dark pink acrylic I had kicking around. As I find yarn, I'm going to make it into scarves, hats and mitts for the Family Centre at my daughters' school. They've always been very helpful to us, and this is my way of saying thank you to them. They will be able to give the stuff to kids that need it for recess and such at the school. It's also a great way to get rid of my odds and ends that I don't want. I've also been known to give balls of yarn to the school for them to use for the classroom craft centres.

Geeks get distracted *way* too easily!

My excuse for not posting on Sunday was that I slept... I really needed the 11 hours I got after 2-3 days of only 2-3 hours. Well my excuse for the last two days is that I got distracted! On Monday it was by what has to be the most inane game on the Interweb... Badaboom! It's stupid, it's silly, and it's addictive! Yesterday it was by the new strategy game that Derek and I bought during the Boxing Week sales. It's called "Rise of Nations" and it's very similar in nature to "Age of Empires", another strategy game that Derek got me hopelessly addicted to!

At least I did get a bunch of work done on Derek's B&L socks. I was hoping to be done the first one yesterday, but I'm still about an inch short of the toe shaping. The kids had *helped* me on Sunday by taking the needles out of it while I was sleeping, so it didn't go with me to work that night. I'm doing the heels and toes in the cream as well, to make them look like a more traditional work sock. Derek didn't want the leg to be as long as called for in the pattern either, so I may end up with enough leftovers to make Alex a pair too!

My goal for today is to finish the first sock, and cast on the second. I also need to go through the KAL postings at craftster.com to check on any more corrections to the Skacel sweater. Then I can restart the first pinwheel. I've joined a sweater KAL at KH to help me finish this as well. Wish me luck!

When will I learn? *sigh*

When will I learn to call in to work when I have a day from hell? I didn't want to go in last night... I felt like crap. I hadn't gotten enough sleep, I'm still not over my cold, and things have been going lousy {as usual} there. Well, true to form, I got called into the office and was lectured for over 20 minutes on a trumped up complaint of my manager's. She obviously doesn't like me, and is trying her hardest to make me miserable enough to quit. I *REALLY* need a new job. Every day it gets more and more difficult to drag myself there... I just wish that Derek and I were as rich as the daycare subsidy board seems to think we are so that we could afford daycare for Alex and Lissa, and I could get a day time job.

More than ever now I want to go shopping. Derek isn't awake yet, and I better not go without him! He wasn't *that* upset last night when I told him how much I spent at Ram's and why/ what for. When I told him that GST came in, he seemed even less concerned. Problem is though, I didn't tell him how much I wanted the stuff I *did* see there... I might have mentioned the scarf, but nothing else. I was exhausted, so I just went to sleep. What I *REALLY* needed was a big hug... still do...

I'm heartbroken.

Well I went to Ram's today to pick up some stuff for friends and such. I was pretty good all considered, and spent less than $10 on myself out of a $100 tab. Problem is, I dunno how Derek is gonna react when he finds out how little of that $ I'm gonna get back directly. While I was there I priced out my shrug... and the wool that I can use is on sale... which will make a difference of around $25. Even without the sale, I can make it for under $100. I still have my Skacel sweater to make though. I also found a gorgeous scarf kit that was on sale for $10 off, and a matching top that was at least $20 off. The scarf is relatively reasonable at $30 for a silk and chenille kit... but that's still a lot of money. The top is about $90 I think. GST cheques are in, so *technically* I *could* afford it, but I *did* spend quite a bit already. Plus I need to buy a few supplies for my stitch markers... yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm very proud of my restraint at only getting 2 balls of clearance sock yarn for the girls, and a pair of 2.25 mm needles. It's just that I could buy soooo much if Derek lets me! I also found out that the Selkirk wool *will* felt, and I can make an antique-looking HBC Booger. I just don't know *what* to do... I feel like crying.

The Purl in the Oyster revealed!!!

Well yesterday was a productive and a frustrating day as well. I got a bunch of stitch markers done... which is the productive part. I got the pictures taken, edited, and uploaded... which is another productive part. I got the buttons created, descriptions written, and web page moved and tested... which is yet another productive part. Then, Geocities crashed on me... my bandwidth limit will only allow 4 page views of the markers page per hour before shutting down my entire site... which is the *extremely* frustrating part. Then I tried to get my web space at Shaw set up, and it just wasn't working out right... which was another terribly frustrating part. I'm thrilled to say that I've got it all fixed now, and I've got new web space with a *HUGE* bandwidth limit {for me}. I can now concentrate on getting pages reworked and no longer worry about space or transfer limits. Plus, it's another place where I've got "nicolethegeek" reserved! *teehee*

I've been thinking more and more about The Purl in the Oyster "brand" name, and over the next while I'll be working out just how I'm going to fit that in with my vision. I'm working harder at all of this, and with more commitment, than I ever think I had. I know that I had high hopes when I first launched the Bistro nearly 3 years ago. Part of that ideology was being pushed into actually starting the site by someone that was a very good friend at the time. I will never EVER regret starting it... perhaps my only regret is not giving it the attention it deserves. That is one of my motivators in making it over. It's like the Bistro was a tiny speck of sand stuck in a shell... an irritant. It was ignored until the aggravation became too much. Right now it's getting layer upon layer of nacre added to it... making it smoother and shinier... until at long last, a beautiful, precious pearl is revealed. I hope {and pray} that you will all be there with me as the oyster shell is opened.

Okay... where are my beads?

Since I spent a lot of time on my web site yesterday, I decided that I would get some work done on some markers today. I have beads ALL OVER!!! Some are in my containers, some are still in bags *somewhere* in my room! Plus, I bought a few findings on Monday when Derek and I went out. I still need to figure out a way to track what all I have, and what I don't, so that I don't keep buying duplicates at work. I still want to get a few different colours of stuff, and earth tones are always popular, and I tend to be lacking in that department for my bead stash.

Web burn out!

Well I think I've had it for today with my web site. I got quite a bit done, and am pleased with my results. I think I will leave it as is until I get a few more things done around here to keep me from just fiddling for the sake of fiddling. I need to get a few sets of markers made so that I can post them. I also need to get my hands on some graphics software so that I can get some of my buttons and such set up. Once I get the graphics set dealt with, I will have tons to keep me busy. With luck I'll be able to relaunch the site in time for the 3rd anniversary of NCB... including a partial name change!

HTML is just another 4 letter word!

Well I decided this morning that I was going to start on another one of my goals for this year, the redo of the Bistro site. I took some close ups of one of my tops I knitted to use it as a new background for the knitting areas. Well first of all, I couldn't seem to get the image editted the way I wanted with the software I currently have installed on here. I sent that image off to a friend of mine to play with and went to go play with the page for the stitch markers. I figgered the stitch markers page would be a good place to start since it's going to be an entirely new page, and I could play with my new styles there, before "fixing" other pages that are basically static. Well my new style sheet doesn't seem to be getting called up by my page, and my NCB banner is missing from some of my pages. The code is still there, the image is still there in my folder, but it's just not on the page... WTH??? No broken link "X", no alt text, nuttin!

Oh well... for now I'll continue on with the text and layout of the page, and worry about the aesthetics later. It's just frustrating to not have it work. A geek's life is full of disappointments and failed trials! Wish me luck... or maybe I'll just go work on a few stitch markers to give my mind something else to wrap itself around!

Found the shrug pattern!

I'm *sooooo* thrilled! It's the cover project of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 issue. I looked it over really carefully, and discovered a few things. First of all, it calls for Lorna's Laces yarns, which are available in Canada after all, they aren't available at Ram's, or any other Manitoba retailer. Secondly, the FA Dreadlocks that I thought would be a good sub for the Grace Boucle, is too thick. I did a heavy search through Ram's site, and have a couple possibilities for substitutes. I've got my fingers crossed for Ram's, and have an American friend pricing out the LL stuff for me as well. I looked at the Vogue Knitting website, and they don't have any cover shots of previous issues, so I'll have to take a picture of my issue and post it so that you can see why I NEED this shrug!

Luscious Loot!

Well I took some pics of the wool kit I bought at Ram's on Friday. It's from Fleece Artist, which is in Nova Scotia. I'm actually finding it kind of neat to be using natural fibres that are made in Canada. If the mitts work up nicely, I'll go back for more to make slipper socks for myself. I just wish the Briggs & Little I bought for Derek was a superwash, then I'd be more tempted to make myself a pair of socks out of that too.

The one on the left is mohair, and the one on the right is Blue Face Leicester, a 100% wool. This pic was taken before I balled it up. The pictures don't show it all that well, but the colourways are a variety of lilac and mauve shades with a touch of blue.

This is a close up of the mohair. Doesn't it just make you want to roll around in it? You can click on it to see a bigger version of it.

This is the Blue Face Leicester. The picture doesn't do it justice. The colours, while subtle, are amazing. The full-size version of this picture shows the colours better.

Here they are after I balled them up. The mohair was nearly a nightmare to do. It's going to be interesting once I start on the mitts. It clings to itself like there's no tomorrow. The BFL should make it a lot more managable though. I'm certainly hoping so!

Disappointed in myself... self reflection...

Well I'm kinda disappointed in my progress yesterday. I just got a bunch of yarn untangled, and did up a few rows on Alex's scarf. I guess it's better than nothing, right? My hands woke me up at 5 am today. It's not too bad since I went to bed around 8:30 last night, but I was *really* hoping to catch up on my sleep somewhat.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on what all I want to accomplish over the next little while with my knitting and crocheting, as well as my plans for the website. My only hope for escape from WM comes with these plans. Who wouldn't want to give up a job they hate to devote themselves to their first love {other than DH and the kids of course!!}?

I still haven't found the magazine that the circular shrug is in, but I'm gonna hunt for it more today. I have a few magazines that I need to review as well. I'm getting pretty behind on those, and I've found some great ones in the last 2-3 weeks.

Happy New Year!!!

Well here it is, the first day of the new year. I've spent a good portion of the day today sifting through the box of tangled yarn rescued from Alex and Melissa's room. I feel like I haven't made much progress when I look at the tangle, then I look at the other box where I've been putting the balled yarn. I would guesstimate that I've got it about half done or more. Another day or so and I'll have it all sorted out. That will be one step closer to being able to work on my UFOs.

I have decided that my shawl will be my first UFO eradicated. I'm not sure how much of the Light & Lofty I have left for the shawl. I know that we have more of it at work, and since I'm blending it, I'm not going to worry about dye lots. It's nearly done anyway, and then I can use the circ from that project towards my Skacel sweater.

I have have been considering frogging my Homespun sweater. I started it nearly a year ago, and my knitting skills have improved so much over that time, that I'm not sure I will be happy with what I have done so far. I need to find the pattern for it again. I *think* that it's in the bin where the sweater itself belonged, and that the shawl currently is in. I will make this decision while I finish the shawl.