Happy Halloween!

I've been saving this picture especially for today! I feel like Yarnstorm, finding the perfect picture out and about. We're going to let the neighbors hand out candy for us this year and we're about to head out for a celebratory birthday dinner for my Scary Guy. We're going to the O for "fries as big as your head!" as I always say to the boys. Dave and Younger Son are downstairs trying to find the candy Dave bought. (Dave's accusing me of having eaten it.) Not much knitting going here, but we knitters are always ready for whatever the season brings.

Cold

I have one. And I'm miserable with it too. My sister came to visit from North Carolina this weekend and she put me to work cleaning my dad's apartment. I thought my sneezing and scratchy throat were just from all that dust we threw up. But then yesterday it became apparent that I was coming down with a cold, and I've been getting steadily worse all day. I can barely breath now. Dave won't even come into the same room I'm in, let alone touch me or anything else I've handled. I sent him off to the drugstore to get me some decongestants. I wish I had some mulled cider or even some hot chocolate, but no go until Older Son gets home from class at about 10.

So I spent the weekend cleaning and got very little knitting done. We took a break on Saturday to watch the Breeder's Cup. I bet on Hard Spun (of course!) who placed. My sister picked the winner.

Wednesday and More Trees

More pictures of trees. Still not much knitting. I need to pick up some beads for my Leafy Heather, I think. It's been colder and rainy here in the 'burgh. I'm up in the air about knitting this week. Actually I'm up in the air about alot of things. But wait! I've been busy at work. I actually had to work an hour and a half over so far this week. I can't decide if I'm going to leave early or go out for lunch. Maybe both. Trader Joe's is within walking distance. I could go down and get a salad. But the cooler weather has me thinking of sweaters, too. There's the The Celting II, and Celting Remix to consider, as well as A Fairisle Vest and hmm, maybe a Chain Mail sweater. I'd also like to revisit Irreversible for Younger Son. I've seen some swatches and scarves in Araucania and I think it may be a good fit for the pattern. If I can only find some in a sufficiently murky man color. And then there is the lace. Leafy Heather is almost a done deal. Heather got the prelim pattern last night. She says she's waiting for the right tools to tackle it. I told her and CQ that I didn't want it to be too simple, but I may have gone too far over to the dark side. But honest, Heather! Stitch markers are your friends! The pattern repeats are logical! No large patterns over the width of the entire shawl (what killed me with MS3) -- these all have a logical progression and once you get started you almost don't need the chart. Really! And besides, it's not everyday you get to knit yourself a cashmere shawl. The pattern should be heirloom quality.

Tuesday and Trees

It's that time of year again, when I post gratuitous pictures of autumn trees for my readers who can't experience this wonderful color. I can see this tree from my front porch, and it shines like a beacon on the hillside, so when I was driving past it on Saturday I stopped and snapped a picture. We were having one of those wonderful autumn days where the sky is a deep clear blue. It's raining and getting colder now, so these leaves will probably be gone soon.

I really don't have much knitting to talk about, so if you're just here for the knitting, my apologies. I'm still working on the charts for Leafy Heather. Heather herself swatched the Heather lace pattern (I wrote it myself) and is raring to go on the shawl. I have some logistics to figure out on the attachment of the final border, but other than that it's just about ready to go. I just have to commit to spending some quality time with my pc doing some polishing. (Kinda like seaming, sewing on buttons and working in the ends on a sweater.)

The Lost Boy

Younger Son had a field trip today to the NASA WVSGC. He left at 7:30 this morning and would return at approximately 4:30 this afternoon. No problem. I had to get Older Son to an appointment at 5:30 and then had to get to my dad's to give him a shot. I figured we'd all go together and we could just grab dinner while we were out. I had to work late today so didn't get home until about 4:45. No YS. Well, at about 5:15 OS and I were getting ready to go. I figured I'd drive to the school (which was on our way) and pick YS up. Got to the school, sent OS in to ask if they knew when the bus would be there. No one was in the school. It's dark, locked up, no one home. So now I'm starting to panic. The kids should have been back an hour ago. Did the kids get back at 4:30 and something happened to YS? Did something happen on the trip? But if the kids weren't back, surely there'd still be someone in the school, right? I called the school and just got voice mail. Left a panicky message asking them where my son was, and drove home, thinking I might have missed him when I drove up to the school. He wasn't home, or anywhere in between. Drove back to the school to look one more time before heading to the police station across the street. Just before getting to the school, saw YS walking down the sidewalk. The kids had just gotten back, over an hour late. So there was my exciting day.

Tinking the Pomatomus sock again. I just can't seem to get this one right. And my CTS is flaring up in my left hand something awful. Bleah.

Swatch Me

I've been busy, knitting and ripping and knitting and ripping this swatch all weekend. I didn't want this shawl to be too simple, but I think I may have gone too far to the dark side. Although I was able to knit the dang thing I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to chart it. It's definately going to need a half dozen or so charts to get it done. But I'm totally hooked on the thing. It's hard to put it down, I keep wanting to do "just one more row". I've knit enough to establish all the patterns at this point, and I really think it's going to work out. (Well, if I can work out the charts, that is.) My last big hurdle is going to be working the border on the two sides. I think I'm going to knit it on, and not try to turn the corner with it, which I think would push me over the edge. The border, by the way, is knit in on the long edge and it's the charting of this border which I'm having trouble with. So I think it's safe to say that I'll be knitting it again, and charting every stitch. Ah, the things we do for our art (and friends.)

On the home front, I saw the dentist today, whom I have been avoiding because I knew what he was going to tell me, which is that I have to have some major dental work done (involving oral surgery) and spend hundreds of dollars. Merry Christmas to him! Dave is travelling out of town this week so I'm having to manage alone. I think I might clean out his dresser and closet while he's gone. (He says he doesn't read this blog. We'll see.) The guys have lost a season of Stargate (before they watched it) somewhere in the house. So all weekend long I have had to put up with them rooting around in my room and through my stash because none of them can believe that I don't know where it is and are therefore convinced that I hid it from them. Now, Finding Lost Things is one of my minor super powers, I admit. But in this case, I never touched it. I'm going to have to find the dang thing just to keep them from pawing the stash. They get it all a out of order and upset the delicate balance that allows me to find what I want relatively quickly.

On My Mind

I've been thinking alot about lace this week (just don't ask me about MS3). I'm working up my pattern for the Leafy Heather shawl, so watch this space (or maybe this space) for more details. I think I have the patterns worked out for Leafy Heather, I just have to iron out a few kinks with the edging and work up a few more charts. Heather is swatching the main lace pattern for me (hopefully) right now, and if it looks good, I should be able to finish up the charts and give her the completed pattern early next week. My Pomatomus socks have hit a snag. I don't know what I was thinking (or smoking, apparently) when I started working my instep after turning the heel. I need to tink back several rows. I'm hoping to get straightened out and start moving forward again tomorrow. We'll see.

In other news, Older Son had to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers for his Sci-Fi class today. When Celtic Queen and I discussed what we thought were the best sci-fi movies all of mine were from the 70s. What's up with that?

KISS

This is something that's been on my mind lately. You see it all the time in the knitting magazines, knitters bemoaning the dearth of Men's Sweaters. And the designers try. They really do. But the result is always some monstrosity that no man in my life would be caught dead in. (And truth be told, probably not even then, some I've seen are so bad they could reanimate a corpse.) A week or so ago I was watching television (OK, ok, it was Stargate on dvd) and there on the screen was a guy in a sweater. (Orlin, did you see that episode?)
And after I got past the "Hmmm, that's a pretty good-looking guy" thing I was able to note that he was wearing a sweater. A basic small vee neck, full fashioned sleeve cap, otherwise plain stockinette sweater.
Alot like this. And it occurred to me, "THIS is really what men wear." OK, a classic Aran or cabled sweater, and maybe some stripes. But usually just a plain sweater in a murky man color (see photo). And we all already have this pattern, right? This is why there are no Men's Sweaters in the knitting magazines. So as a knitter, you really have to decide -- Make him a colorwork /textured monstrosity that will take you months to make and will spend eternity in his drawer/closet, or the B O R I N G plain stockinette sweater that he'll really wear. Knitters choice. But you have to ask yourself why are you knitting a sweater for him. So he'll have something he'll really wear? Or to show off your prodigious knitting skills? If you choose the latter, you can't really complain when he doesn't wear it.

Hmmmm, what is this? A bit of green lace??

Catch Up

Lots to talk about. Older Son has been commandeering my computer for school work, so I've been lax in my posting. I finished the first Pomatomus sock and started the second. I finished turning the heel on sock two and started on the gusset this evening. The Pseudo-Pod is stalled. I admit to a certain amount of knitting ennui. Maybe it's the heat, maybe I'm tired with these projects, who knows? I think it's the projects, though. Thing is, they're both small projects so I don't want to abandon them, they just need a little more work to complete them. So I'm trying to slog on through to the end, but it's not easy.


And the weather! It's been almost 90 degrees here! Not October weather at all. It's supposed to turn seasonal later this week. I hope so, I'm tired of summer already. Celtic Queen and I took the Celtings to a local farm for gratuitous pumpkin pictures and consumption of foods high in fat and sugar (the Hawaiian shave ice was a big hit). I also got some apples -- I'm very picky about my apple selections. I like a very crisp, slightly tart apple. My choice this time around was Empire. We went on a hay ride and there were fiber animals.
Sheep! And goats!
There was a llama too, but I didn't get a picture. CQ and I were the only people snapping pictures of the fiber animals.

Finally, I spent a very enjoyable evening with Heather watching Kaffe Fassett videos and eating some hot pepper mustard and peach salsa on pita chips (yum!). Almost like being at a workshop and as I pointed out, we can spend the difference on more yarn!

Weekend

Busy weekend! Here I am with the Big Winner! The Elder Celting has WON! the Metropolitan level of the Elk's Soccer Shoot. I got some shots of the action, too (but I'm going to leave some for His Mom to post. And speaking of CQ, it was her birthday yesterday. She's 28 (again). The Celting Consort says she's 28 and will remain 28 until the Celtings catch up. That's the Celtings and one and a half of my Sons in the background.
I gave her yarn, and uh, more yarn. Claudia Handpaints, Koigu, and some wool for felted slippers.
I also finished the first Pomatomus (sorry, no pic). I've cast on for the second, but have only knit a round or two. And I've lost my notions bag with my scissors, stitch markers, stitch holders, and Chibi in it. :( Think good thoughts that it will find its way home. Dave and the sons are maybe not best pleased with me because when I found I couldn't find it last night (and after asking for help in the search and being ignored) I went on a rampage, flinging things about the house in search of it. I've come to the grudging conclusion that it is not in the house, so am broadening my search afar. If you see it, let me know!