sherriknits

It’s been so crazy busy here.  Here’s a long, picture-heavy update.

Last Saturday, the mama-to-be had a shower on the daddy’s side of the family.  I couldn’t go because I have been missing so much work and will miss more when baby comes.  Here she is with a gift from a knitting friend of mine that I gave her before the shower.

These are little leggings from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitters Almanac.  How cute are they!  They’re made from sock yarn.  What a treasure.

I’ve been trying to get myself prepared for that big trip to the hospital.  We got some snacks to leave in the car.  Now it looks like there will be more of us headed to the hospital than I thought.  #1 son is going on a mission trip next week and is really hoping baby makes it’s appearance before that.  He and his girlfriend want to be there even if it’s in the middle of the night.  I’m thinking we may fill the waiting room!

Things are definitely progressing…she went to the doctor today and she’s beginning to dilate and all those good things.  She continues to swell terribly but so far no sign of danger there.

She was horribly disappointed that she didn’t get to go to Stitch n Pitch this year but when the time actually came, she was happy her hubby said no….she can barely walk because of the swelling.

But….we all took off for a day of adventure. 

He’s ready.

We stopped to fill up….we actually got 30 cents off with our Safeway card.  Who’d ever think it would be exciting to pay only $3.89 for gas!

We got there early and got a great parking place a block from Safeco Field.

I always get excited walking up to the ballpark.

It was especially fun to see Shanda and Julie standing there in front.  Right after I snapped the picture, Shanda tried to call me not realizing we were waiting to cross the street.  Shanda managed to disappoint a little lady who was excitedly running around the stadium looking for the ballplayers who were signing autographs.  She told her they were Devil Rays, not Mariners.  lol  She wondered why the poor lady had walked right by the ballplayers a few minutes before and wasn’t interested then.  Methinks the Mariners wouldn’t be hanging around outside the stadium before the game.

We always end up waiting outside, the first ones to get through the doors.  It’s all because we don’t want to pay for parking.

On the first leg of the trip to the 3rd level…we found all the escalators, including the one that almost did me in.  It was 2 stories high and me with my fear of heights was getting pretty shaky by the end of it.

The family.

The first pitch was thrown by Larissa Brown, author of Knitalong.  She said she practiced a lot but was really nervous when she got out there.

I started the Houdini socks by Cat Bordhi…a great mindless project for the game.  I’m almost ready to close the heel.

Ichiro in his famous stance.

and Raul Ibanez, my favorite Mariner (who happened to win the game for us once again!)

We walked down and got our books signed by Larissa Brown.  Isn’t her pinwheel blanket beautiful?  She’s so sweet.

It was such a beautiful day and evening.

Here’s the little bride with her knitting….she’s making leg warmers.

I always love the people who come out and rake the dirt.  They didn’t dance for us this time, though.

It was pretty exciting when JJ Putz came out to pitch.

And then the best part of all….and unfortunately, my memory card filled up….but this is when Raul hit the homerun that won the game.

 I bought a new memory card tonight…this is so ridiculous how often my silly card is full.  I need to figure out how to auto-delete on this camera, I’ve only had it a year!  I had meant to buy a new card on the way to the game, though…and forgot every time we went into a store that would have them.

Today as the Olympics started, a group of us started our Olympic event.  We’re doing a relay, knitting squares for a blanket to be donated to a women’s shelter here in our community.  Each person gets a “training” square that could be started during the opening ceremonies.  (5 a.m. our time).  I know of at least one person who actually got up at 5 to start knitting.  Then they can start their “relay” block when they get the call from the person before them.  We had 2 very fast knitters in the front of the line.  I suspected I’d be getting the call sometime today because I was 3rd in line, but imagine my surprise when that call came at 12:30 this afternoon! 

I had such a crazy morning.  I went for to get my hair cut and foiled at 9 a.m. and got out of there at almost noon.  I wasn’t ready for work or anything so I was late getting there.  One friend was there working on her training block and when I got my call, I switched places with her.  In no time at all, she finished hers and I was back in the starting gate.  I’m afraid I have slowed up the progress…lol.  I feel for the person following me because I’ll call her in the morning and I’m sure she expected she’d be doing hers next week sometime!  I’m sure things will slow down at some point, but it’s so exciting to see the enthusiasm.  I was reading my Knitalong book while knitting this evening and I get to frog back a few rows as a result..but I’m really pondering her insight on knitting together.  Lovin’ it!

When we finish our relay block, we have our final event….our last block.  When we’re all done, we’ll get together at knit night and assemble the whole thing. 

And now, I must get this block done and get to bed so I don’t end up being a very tired Grandma when I get to meet my little sweet pea!

We are halfway through sp12.  I have a great secret pal who has made it a lot of fun for me because she really tries (and succeeds) at doing things that I love.  That makes it fun and I do hope to make it more of a 2-way get-to-know-you after this is over.  She’ll be fun to stay in touch with.

Here’s this week’s question….

Have you ever entered your knitting (or anything else) in the fair? Would you ever consider it?

No, I have never entered anything in the fair.  I think I never think my finished objects are really good enough.  I know I’m a good knitter, but I am so critical of my mistakes.  (aren’t most of us?)

I have watched a good friend of mine with delight as she knit the yarn that she spun into a shawl and entered it this year.   I guess I will vicariously live through her fun.  She finds out today how she did because the fair opens today.  She’s headed right after work.

Sadly, at our fair you see mostly Red Heart projects….pot holders, afghans, those dish towels with crocheted tops, and many, many stuffed animals. 

It is my hope that the judges see the worth of my friend’s project.  If they do, I think it will inspire other friends of mine to participate again.  In the past some did but clearly the judges were on another wavelength.  I don’t mean to sound critical but a very intricately knit shawl of one’s own design really does not compare to some of the things they were put up against and the comments were heartbreaking.

Ok…this is making me think. 

I never realized before I started knitting again what a huge world it was as far as how endless the opportunity to learn is.  I realized early on that one could knit socks for the rest of their lives and never learn it all.  There is top down, toe up, short-row heels, standard heel flaps, lace, plain stockinette and endless patterns.  Then if that isn’t enough, you get Cat Bordhi coming up with her new pathways methods.  You can use double-points, 2 circulars, magic loop.  Then if you think you got that all figured out, Cat comes up with her Houdini sock (have you seen that?  wow!)  I could go on and on, but do you get my point?

From the beginning of my return to knitting, I somehow caught the vision for the opportunity to learn.  A friend recommended “Knitting Without Tears” and that blew my mind wide open for opportunity to understand knitting in a whole new way.

I would never have thought socks would become a mindless project for me.  I was one who couldn’t knit 2 stitches without constantly checking out the pattern.  I was nervous and terrified of errors.  Now it doesn’t scare me at all…anything is fixable or so what if you have to frog it all and find another project for the yarn?

It’s really funny how some people look down their noses at knitters.  When people ask me, “Do you ever do anything but knit?”  I’ve learned to respond, “I bet you watch tv at night, too.”  Knitting gives us a way to redeem the time.  I am almost never worried about having to wait for something if I have my knitting along to fill the time.  I love that it has taken the edge off my fidgeting.  I’m almost disappointed if I don’t get a few minutes when I have to wait for the kids or an appointment.

So…I didn’t expect that this simple question would get me thinking so much….but there you have it.

Today I’m trying to plan my Stitch n Pitch knitting for tomorrow!

Can you believe July is over? You know what this means?  We are getting closer to having a baby!  She is now considered full-term, 37 weeks.  I can barely contain my excitement. 

My niece had her baby 2 days ago.  The girls were 2 weeks apart….my niece was induced, though, so who knows how close they might have come.  We went to see her in the hospital and the nurse there was almost overbearing in saying my little mama-to-be needed to be home in bed.  Her poor feet and ankles are so swollen but she’s been taking it easy and the doctor is watching her closely.  She goes tomorrow and is on her once a week appointments now unless they decide she needs to come in more often. 

Doesn’t she look like a cute mama-to-be?

Thankfully, my niece and little one are doing just fine.

I managed to get some knitting done!  I joined the Caffiene Addicts swap and we had to include a knitted item.  At first I was a little overwhelmed at knitting anything and then I decided to go for it when I found this pattern at one of my favorite yarn shops!

This is a handout with purchase at Village Yarn and Tea.  I made friends with the owner a few years ago so I always like to pop in to say hi but I have yet to see her there!  I do plan to see her at Stitch n Pitch, though.

I accidentally made too many picots on the edge but I do like how it came out….a lot!  Also, the pattern calls for an I-cord drawstring but I had the little imp help me wind up a twisted drawstring cord instead and I like it.  I just forced it into the stockinette stitch and it works just fine.

I might actually start drinking tea to have something like this! 

….or else I’ll just add to my teapot collection that I have …. and none of them ever see any tea.

This morning we got up early.  Actually, I barely slept last night.  Bunni went to sleep about 6.  She woke up around 10, we watched a movie and i think we tried to go to sleep around 12:45.  I woke myself up this morning scoldingly saying, “Stop it!”  Bunni asked, “What???” and I woke up and got confused about where I was…that was it.

No worries…we had the whole day and I knew we could rest if we needed to.  I told Bunni I was hungry all night, literally, and all I wanted was pancakes.  I guess they have become comfort food when I’m overly tired.  We went to the restaurant downstairs and asked if they had any.  No, waffles.  We decided to go find pancakes.  We drove … and drove … and drove.  We couldn’t find anything open.  At one point we must have been feeling desperate because we both saw this long blue building and thought….oh, a restaurant at last, and lots of people in it.  Then it moved.  City bus.  We both were startled.  lol  At the same time we both said…., “Oh!  I thought it was a restaurant!”

We drove and drove.  We got lost.  We found our way out of our mess and ended back up at our hotel…and went in and ate waffles.   $10 worth of gas later.

We had decided yesterday that we wanted to sign up for a class called “Meets in the Middle Top”.  I must say that *I* read it right, but Bunni spent some time confused over where was the top room we were meeting in?  In the middle of what?

The class actually  was for a top that angles down and V’s in the middle.  We had no idea that we were going to spend 2 hours with Lorna Miser, the original owner of Lorna’s Laces!  What an incredible lady.  We learned alot and I am really anxious to make the sweater we made a practice bear sweater for. (or half of it)  There were only 4 of us in class so we really had opportunity to visit with her and hear about the things she is designing for different companies.

It’s really something to be able to sit with people you admire and learn from them….but to realize they are just real people like you and me.  In Cat’s class yesterday, one of the ladies taught her how to do a ssk bind-off and she was so excited about learning something new.  Both ladies were incredibly encouraging.

We also heard that Jared of  Brooklyn Tweed fame was wandering around there yesterday with his mom, who is a knitter, but we didn’t see him.

We decided this afternoon to buy some woolpets kits and try to make them this evening.  I’ve been working on the one from my secret pal but was afraid I’d ruin it so I wanted to practice on something else before I went any farther.

Here are some of the early stages.

Can you tell what they are?

I had to run to Target to buy needle and thread to put the bead eyes in.  While I was gone, Bunni nearly finished hers.  When I got mine done, we decided we should have a picture shoot even though it was getting dark out and the light wasn’t too great.  I cleared off the couch and asked Bunni where hers was.  Here’s her side of the story taken from a file she put  on my flash drive entitled, “You killed him”

Sherri and I picked up a couple of ‘woolpets’ needle felting kits today.  She got a lamb and I got an elephant.  We worked on them in our hotel room most of the afternoon.  Baby elephant was ready for his finished photo and was waiting patiently on the couch when Sherri brought over her sheep, tossed everything that was on the couch into the corner and posed her sheep for pics.  She got out her camera and was looking around and asked, “Where is yours?”  She had killed him. 

Photos are untouched.   Nothing was moved at the crime scene.  lol

We were able to revive him, and he agreed to pose with sheep for pictures.  

 And the little sheep close-up..

As you can probably tell, we have had some good laughs and some good times this weekend.  We’ve learned a lot from some incredible people.  We have a few fun things planned tomorrow before we head on home.

Bunni and I got to get out of town for a few days and the focus of the whole weekend is yarn and knitting!

We got a great place to stay.  When Priceline gave us the name of the place, we thought we were about 5 miles away from where we were going but this morning I found out we are walking distance.  It might have been smart to check the address.  haha

Today we had a class with Cat Bordhi and I always sit in awe of her when I get a chance to take any kind of class from her.  Her mind is so incredible and it’s like the lightbulb just goes on when she starts telling you her discoveries.  What I love is that her whole intent is to break you free from having to use her book.  It makes more sense to me every time I listen to her.  Here’s our class project today. 

The yarn is so busy that you can’t see the sock itself very well but Cat helped me see what I was doing wrong on my wrap and turns on the heel and by george, I have got it now!  Perfectly concealed wraps and turns.   I’d show closer but you can’t see it for the craziness of the yarn.  It actually wasn’t very pleasant to work with so I won’t say what it was since it was generously donated along with Addi turbo lace needles!

Here’s the top of the sock.

Can you see the increases along the top?  Once again, kinda wild.

Here’s where we spent our day.

And here’s where we are spending the evening.  In all fairness to Bunni, I will not show her studying like the diligent student she is. 

Yep, knitting piles already.  Ravelry bags in use, too.

And of course, gotta be in touch with Ravelry itself!

And now, I am going to go practice what I learned.

I don’t know another way to describe the last few days.

Wednesday I had to stay home with the boy because there was no one available to watch him and we didn’t want him spreading the bug.  My friend, Bunni, came over and we sat outside and made a few tribbles.  It was a great visit and felt like a great way to recover from the day before of all the laundry and cleaning up after the little imp.

Somewhere towards the end of her visit, I started fading.  Isn’t it weird how you don’t recognize what is happening.  I asked her later if I even said goodbye, I just remember hubby coming home and her leaving but before I knew it…I was down and out.  A little secret about me…I don’t throw up, can’t for some reason….so stomach flu is not quick.  I was sick all night.  At one point I thought I was better and ate a popsicle…it tasted so good I ate another.  Big mistake.  haha

Anyway, I was sick all night and feeling so bad because Thurs. was hubby’s birthday and he was not going to get his birthday breakfast, at least not from me.  All the kids were feeling bad, too.  Our new son-in-law’s birthday was Wed.  and I totally missed seeing him.  I thought about asking one of the girls if they could do the breakfast at their house but I didn’t have the energy and hubby said it was fine.

Wellllllllllllllllllll, good thing he said not to worry because when I woke up early in the morning, he was sick too.  We were quite the pair yesterday.  Isn’t it funny how the most easy task suddenly becomes the highest mountain to climb when you’re not feeling well?  It took me so long to get myself upstairs to tell hubby I called in sick for him, then he said I needed to call the church to say he wouldn’t be at his meeting last night, I had to lay down to rest in order to go back and call them.  haha

Now #1 son has it. 

Everyone else has bounced back quicker than I did, though.  I’m so happy for them.   lol

The little imp has gotten the silliest smile on his face when we say we got it after he had it.

And now I plan to have a normal day!

I spent my day running up and down stairs, dumping bowls from the little imp being sick, doing laundry, wiping  up floors….I am wiped out.  I’m glad I discovered tribbles…I’d have made more but I was just too tired.  I told hubby I feel like I am just going to start crying and not stop.  It’s all so one-sided when this kiddo is sick.  He won’t answer and it’s all a guessing game.  I knew he wasn’t bad sick but it’s still really hard to figure it out and I felt pretty comfortable letting him rest.

Tonight I’m washing all of our bedding because he was in our bed and he didn’t do too great at hitting the bucket. 

Anyway, tonight as I do laundry, I made 2 tribbles.  I used the one this afternoon to wash the kitchen counters and I really liked it.

It will be more fun when I have yarn here that I love.   I think they’ll be great gifts and way faster than a dish rag!

We got home about 4 last night.  That was perfect and we just had a nothing evening, which was fine.  I managed to find my missing camera charger and ordered a car charger and extra battery on eBay so when sweet pea comes, I won’t be caught without my camera.  I can’t imagine how awful that would be!  I’ve meant to get a back-up battery since I’ve had my camera.

This morning I got up and wondered what was on the stairs.  Didn’t take me long to realize the imp had gotten sick.  He’s funny.  He won’t answer questions, says he’s fine.  Mooooooooommmmmmm.  He answers in disgust when I ask him if he’s ok.  I think it’s a case of if he doesnt’ acknowledge it, it isn’t there.  He’s sleeping in our bed right now with his bowl by his side.

I sat down and made a tribble this morning rather than fret over him.  I found the pattern quite by accident this morning on Ravelry.

Loopy volunteered to hold it up so you could see.

And now I’m going to go use it!

Tonight was knit night and my dear little friend came in with her sock almost ready to kitchener the toe closed.  I am so proud of her!  We may have started that sock last fall and sometime between then and now she was on the mission field for an extended stay.  She then spent some time in Canada with  the missionaries she worked with while they gave birth to their 3rd child.  When she picked her knitting back up, she was knitting pretty loose compared to what she was doing before so we had to work on that a little bit, but then she took off flying.  Just a few days ago, I helped her turn her heel and pick up the gusset.  Tonight we had to frog most of the toe because there was one loose little stitch hanging out loose in the beginning of the decreases.  She has a great attitude and wants it right.  Ahhhh, a knitter, she is!

In no time at all, it was time to close that toe.

the concentration..

and it’s done!

I’m almost done with my market bag, half a row to go and then binding off and figuring out what to do for handles.

The weather is beautiful, the little imp has already broken his “claw” but he doesn’t seem to care.  It would cost me more to drive back to return it than just cutting our losses.  Made him happy.

It’s been really nice here.  Today after church, #1 son and his girlfriend had barbecue with us.  Afterward we sat around the patio table visiting and I knit a little on my 2nd byob bag.  I have frogged back the mesh twice now.  The first time I forgot to switch to the bigger needles and it just didn’t seem right.  For some reason now I can’t get 3 rows into the mesh without ending up in trouble with the pattern.  I did have to add a few stitches so the pattern would work out, but on the 2nd time around (twice) it gets off.  I don’t get it, but I decided today must not be the day for working on it (neither was Saturday).  After I frogged it, I left it on the table and I think we came inside to watch the Mariners, we actually won a few games! 

When it started getting breezy and clouding over, I thought I’d better get outside and get my knitting and I had to just stop and laugh at the sight.

My jumbled mess of yarn, my melted ice from my coffee and the birthday gift a friend gave me today at church…all exactly as I had left it.

I got the gift early because my friend is leaving this week for the east coast.  She wasn’t sure it was something I’d like but she kept getting drawn back to it.  She didn’t know about my “100 things about me” list, but one of the things was that I love to laugh but that I don’t do it enough.  What a great reminder.  I plan to put it where I’ll see it often!

Later both girls and their hubbies showed up.  #1 son-in-law bought cherries for me from the fruit stand and brought them over to share.  What a guy.  The newlyweds were out riding bikes and stopped in.  I love it.

The day was beautiful but this evening the fog rolled in and it got cold and windy.  We may get some thundershowers tonight and then another nice day tomorrow.  Hubby had to hurry out and put the roof up on the Jeep.

The dog thinks he was helping.

We were scheduled for the imp’s therapy session tomorrow but the OT is sick so the mama-to-be and the little imp and I are all headed out of town anyway to look at baby car seats.  We just won’t have a schedule to meet now.  We’ll meet back up with the OT probably in September because the only day she had open to re-schedule us was our anniversary…no can-do.

And now I am headed to Ravelry to figure out some baby knitting since I can’t get this bag right today.