The thing about blankets

I started another blanket. I just was not feeling that log cabin thingie I started. In fact it was ugly. I want to make a blanket but there is usually something icky about them to me. I think it's because so many people made ugly crocheted monstrosities out of cheap acrylic yarns. That gave homemade afghans a bad name in my opinion. The Cash Iroha I purchased on eBay arrived yesterday and I had been looking at the Hemlock Ring Blanket off and on for a while. When we went to the Puyallup Fair I also noticed a nice kit with several different kinds of yarn that made a really cute and cuddly blanket. The Cash Iroha is a beautiful shade of purple called Wisteria. See? And it knits up with a lovely halo due, I suppose, to the cashmere content. I also have several left over balls of Silk Garden and some beautiful angora and mohair that I bought when I was in Paris last time. I think that they would go very well with this yarn and add just a little extra to the blanket. I will have to experiment and be willing to rip back if it doesn't work. Something I'm not all that keen on, but maybe if I can make myself use lifelines it wouldn't be so daunting. Here's my start that I made while watching re-runs of "Lost" last night. Pretty gutsy, doing lace, even though it's on size 8 needles, while watching TV. I'll have to take a close look at it before I go any further to make sure I didn't mess up too badly.

Oh what's better than a good yarn bargain??

Yes okay sure, there are a few things better but .... I just had some spectacular luck on Friday. First of all it was gorgeous outside (and continues to be so -- supposed to be up close to 80 today and tomorrow). We have all been working so hard and such long hours and I had a free afternoon. So with the chairman's blessing I took off early. I needed to get some shampoo for the doggie and thought I'd swing by Tuesday Morning since people had been talking about a yarn sale there. Usually it's just junk but it never hurts to look. I found two skeins of Elsabeth Lavold Angora in a nice teal color that my friend Kate likes. Perfect to knit something for her. Nice yarn, too. Also earlier that day I snagged two skeins of Artyarns Beaded Silk at Yarnzilla for half price! An incredible turquoise color that I need to find the perfect lacy pattern for. And finally I got 12 skeins of Noro Cash Iroha in a beautiful lavender on eBay for less than half price. I am thinking I might use that for the Cascade Cables Pullover instead of the Seta Lana that I have started with because I think the Seta Lana is just a little too bulky. Well .... I'll have to (gulp) swatch. And also I am going to have to take some time and update my stash pictures for Ravelry. I am behind.

Saturday I did get my felting done, as well as my nails and grocery shopping for the dinner on Sunday. I was using S's top loader at the old house and I had never used it before for felting so I ended up having to run the thing twice. If I had been there I could have checked it during the cycle and just let it run longer, but ... oh well. The hat turned out perfect although I am not all that keen on the colors. The bag will be fine and useful when the handles are on it. I wish it had felted up a little tighter but it's fine. Great colors.

Saturday night was torture - the quarterback of the Huskies broke his thumb and although the second stringer did okay, it was not good enough to win. The Seahawks had a bye week. The weather cooperated and I got some good time in the garden on Sunday. The vegetables are all done and I cleaned out the beds except for the tomatoes. They will still be ripening for a while yet. The dinner was fine and I am looking forward to a quiet couple of evenings now. I am done with company for a while.

Hooray for the end of the week!

I am just so ready for the weekend. I have been exhausted all week and yesterday was just SO busy. All I want to do when I get home is collapse. I am going to sleep in tomorrow! I have all of the errands I never got around to last weekend to take care of but at least I won't have to get out of bed at 6 in the morning and maybe I'll even get to take a nap. I am quite anxious to get the bag and hat felted and I'll do that Saturday while my car is getting it's jiffy lube and I'm getting a manicure and stuff. The Husky football game isn't on until 7 pm so I'll have all day to do my things and shop, etc. and then relax and watch football (until it gets too painful). We're having a dinner for S's son on Sunday. He's going away to school Monday morning. And besides cooking and baking on Sunday I have GOT to get into the garden. I've not had time to do it the past couple of weeks and it needs some TLC.

I worked only a little on my peacock scarf last night. It's nearly done and I have to start thinking about what I'm going to pick up next. Maybe I'll get back to working on the Cable Cascade Pullover. I put it away when it got warm and now may be the time to pick that up again. .... or not.

Happy autumn

Oooo boy did I feel the difference today! I was cold on the way in to work! My ride starts off down hill and the wind on my hands ... wow. My fingers were numb by the time I made it down to the water and I had to stop and put on some little glove liners over my riding gloves. It hurt.

Had a super SUPER busy weekend and while I did get some good knitting done, in fact I'm almost done with the hat, I just couldn't bring myself to go out of the house on Sunday and go do the felting. In fact I fell asleep at 4 and slept until 7, then went to bed at 10 and forgot to turn on my alarm and slept until 7 in the morning with S's alarm went off! Now that's tired. Worn out. Lots of company with 3 little girls sleeping over both Friday and Saturday nights and then we had a family housewarming on Saturday afternoon/evening. The big bathtub finally got broken in. I know, it's hard to believe that I've resisted getting into that lovely tub but it's been just so hot! I haven't felt like a bath. Those little girls really loved it though, especially when I turned on the jets and whipped the bubbles up into a froth. That bathtub reminds me a lot of a bathtub a friend of mine had in Paris, although his didn't have jets.

I have a balance on my Paypal account that's eating away at me. I want to splurge on some really fancy yarn -- maybe Artyarns Beaded Silk. But I can't make up my mind so I'm going to let it go for now.

Work is just so busy -- yesterday I didn't even come up for air all day. I wolfed down my lunch in a few minutes around 1 and kept on going. Hopefully today it'll calm down a bit.

Genius!!

I have fallen in love with my iPhone all over again! While I was home sick on Tuesday I took the opportunity to download the updated iTunes and the updated software for my iPhone [which, as an unfortunately side effect, lost all of the music and I had to RE-load it which took practically the entire day]. The new software has a "Genius Playlist" function. What this is, besides pure genius, is a way for you to make a 25 song playlist based upon a song you like. How many times have you put your iPhone or iPod on shuffle and it just wasn't playing what you were in the mood for? Now you can pick a particular song you'd like to hear, hit the Genius button and it comes up with 24 little friends to match your mood. I absolutely LOVE it!! I had that thing plugged into my ears most all of yesterday. I highly recommend it if you haven't taken the time to download the software yet. It is really really cool.

Things that annoy me - there are plenty of them, sure. I'm a crabby kind of person I guess. No ... no wait, I think I'm just sensitive. Yeah. And truth be told I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who get annoyed at these types of things, just like I do. Plenty! So here's what is bugging me today -- the crazy over-protective state we find ourselves in. I'm not talking just about government regulating who can smoke where. Even though I'm a non-smoker I think it's just insane that a bar can't be designated a smoking place and if you don't want the smoke, don't go there. But I don't want to get off on that rant ... here's the deal. We have detour signs on the bike trail because they're fixing the places where tree roots have pushed up the pavement. I took the detour yesterday morning and it was ridiculous and dangerous and, yes, annoying! On the way home, realizing that I could bike 1/2 a mile out of my way when I was maybe 25 yards from my exit from the trail, I got off my bike and walked up to the barrier and looked. Hmmm ... nothing. So I pushed my bike around the barrier and went up a little ways to the bend in the trail and sure enough there was a patch of maybe 12 feet. Right in front of my exit. Now I had just seen a jogger come through there so I knew there was no reason I couldn't go through. So I pushed my bike along the dirt next to the pristine tar and that was that. This morning the signs were still there but I just totally ignored them and rode on through. You could see that was what quite a few other people had done as well. I mean ... it was hard when I went home last night! Who are they protecting??

I am just SO glad this week is over. I was so tired yesterday when I got home. I finished up the i-cord bind off for the Trellis Tote. As a side note, if I hadn't known how to make i-cord I would have been totally lost in the directions. She doesn't tell you to put the three stitches back onto the left needle after you knit them. It makes a lovely bind off though. So I got that done and started the hat. No pictures of the hat, but here's the bag pre-felted, obviously.

The strange laws of yarn

Yesterday afternoon at noon knitting I was working on the Trellis Tote and didn't really feel like that last skein of Kureyon was going to make it through the whole 6th row of the windows. Since I was still a bit under the weather I had driven in so I stopped at the LYS on the way home to get another skein just in case. And while I was there I picked up two more skeins for the hat AND a flat topped hat form. You know what that means though, don't you? Because I managed to find and buy a skein in the same dye lot I made it through that sixth row of windows with about 12 inches of yarn to spare. Not that I mind having an extra [hah, is yarn ever extra? It's like extra money .. no such thing] skein of Kureyon hanging about. I gave some serious thought to extending the bag two more series like the pattern suggests, but after taking a look at it again this morning I have decided that no, I don't want it to be that tall. I'm going to start the hat at lunchtime today. I will be going to Bothell for some grooming on Sunday so I could easily stop at the DH's old house which still has a working washing machine, top loader, that will work just fine.

We're having another open house this weekend for family since they weren't able to attend the last one due to a wedding [which we weren't invited to]. The weather has been absolutely heavenly lately but clouded up this morning and we're predicted to have rain just like the last one! No matter. I'm going to make some chili and we'll do brats on the grill and S can put up the canopy again. It's kind of cosy. Don't like all the wet being tracked through the house but oh well ....

I've got the itis!!

Startitis, that is. Not finished with the scarf, nor the socks, nor the Sizzle but I had to start the Trellis Tote. I had finished up my first punch card at my LYS and had that burning a hole in my pocket so I trotted up there Friday afternoon and purchased a couple skeins of Noro Kureyon and some Lamb's Pride Worsted for the trellis part of the bag, and also more Lamb's Pride to make my nephew's "Where's Waldo" hat. I hadn't read the tote pattern before I went up but had pretty much decided that I remembered the yarn amounts. But I goofed up. Lucky for me I had some gorgeous green Lamb's Pride at home in the stash so rather than use the black I had purchased I am using the green, and instead of 8 rows of windows, this tote is going to have six, which I think will actually be better. I am not going to put the felted handles on this one, but I have some purse handles that one of my Secret Pals sent last year which I think would be great. I also want to make the flap version with the felted handles (and grommets!) so I will need to get more yarn for that eventually. First though I am going to use the black Lamb's Pride I got to make a Trellis Toque. I need to find one of those had blocking things because with this pattern it is essential to block it so it's flat on top to get the proper look. Won't it be cute?

I got hit with what I can only guess is some little virus so I have been down and out the past couple days with a terrible sore throat and aches. I came in Monday but left after lunch and was in bed all day yesterday. I did a little work and downloaded new software for my iPhone which, again, erased all my music so almost the entire day was spent with me on the couch snoozing while the iPhone got filled back up again. I also bought the last season (5) of the Ricky Gervais Show and an episode of Saturday Night Live. I love my iPhone.

The Strange Workout Guy

He was on the trail this morning. I haven't seen him for a while, but there he was today walking backwards and clapping his hands. Step, clap, step, clap, step, clap. So strange.

My zucchini plant is dying rapidly and now it looks as if the pumpkin has caught whatever it is and it's on it's way out as well! I looked on the internet this morning and as close as I can tell, it's Verticillium Wilt. I am going to take both plants out this weekend. Maybe I can put in some cool weather vegetables. I was rather looking forward to the pumpkins but it's not going to happen.

I finally took some pictures of the gorgeous yarn I bought at the fair and a close up of the scarf I am knitting from it. The colors aren't really as neon as this picture came out. This yarn is SO soft And I think I'll have some left over after I get the scarf to five feet. Maybe I'll make a hat to go with it.

Yay for Wednesday

Noon knitting - my favorite lunchtime. Today I brought my peacock tail scarf to knit on. I truly intended to take pictures but completely blew it and I didn't have time this morning to snap any. I need to post pictures of my finished Trellis Shawl and also a WIP of the scarf. I didn't knit last night because after reading the paper and making dinner it was time to watch that new show "Fringe" and we don't really have a knitting light per se in the theater yet so I just relaxed and enjoyed the show. It's not "Lost" but it could be good.

The weather has been astonishingly gorgeous this week. As I come down the hill to the trail I am blinded by the sun coming off the water on these sunny days. That won't last much longer, so I don't mind it at all. This morning, 7:30, there was someone water skiing as I was biking by. Very picturesque. Oh and the mountain ... so beautiful. I'm trying to save up these pleasant memories because I know I'm going to be cursing the ride and the weather in the future.

Hah .... I never learn. I thought I'd try one more time to find that magic, easy way up the hill. I thought if I went on the trail three more blocks to the 100th St. exit, then biked to 103rd and went west up the hill to 48th from there that it would be easier than going up 97th to 49th. On my way in Tuesday morning it looked to me that the hill from 49th down to the trail was shorter and less steep than 97th. Not so. Optical illusion. I couldn't make it.

The little tomato plant in my garden is just exploding with ripe tomatoes. They are SO tasty! I can't imagine what we would have done had the last owner not taken two of the plants. I guess everyone I know would be getting baskets of tomatoes. Next year though, bigger ones. No beans or zucchini. I've never tried to grown vegetables other than tomatoes but I think next year I'll try to grown some lettuce and carrots as well as tomatoes and corn and then grown the herbs in pots on the deck. I guess we'll see how I feel about it in the spring.

Crrrazy busy!

Wow, it has been SO busy! And stressful. Not a good combination by any means. I am hoping by the end of the week things will have calmed down a bit.

The weekend was good and bad. Football = bad. Can't talk about it much but I can say two words -- robbed and beaten. One describes the game on Saturday and the other the Sunday game. Pitiful.

But the weather was absolutely stunning this weekend and we went to the Puyallup Fair! I haven't been to the fair in years and years. I saw the grange exhibits, which I just love! All that produce arranged in a pleasing way. ;-) I wanted to see the knitting but never did find it, nor the quilts. But I did see some amazing collections. For example - not kidding here - a collection of sprinkler heads. Too much. We shared an onion burger, and each had a scone. I did want a corn dog but I just didn't have enough room! We found the beer garden. My DH did find enough room in his stomach for a turkey leg, which he ate during our second stop in the beer garden. And oh the people. Heavens - that's what it's all about. People watching. A slice of Americana. I managed to sniff out the yarn and bought 220 yards of some absolutely gorgeous mohair in peacock colors! I immediately started a scarf with a feather and fan pattern and it's like a peacock tail. Lovely.

Sunday was laundry and laundry and laundry and knitting and football. I had been so busy last week I had let all of the laundry pile up and it took me most of the day to get the pile back down again. I don't mind it though because I can be knitting and doing laundry and feeling like I'm accomplishing something besides being self indulgent.

It's nice to get to the place ....

where my favorite go-to cardigan is one I knit myself! In fact I have two that are at the top of my list and both of them I made. I think I'm finally growing up as a knitter and knitting things that I can actually wear (usually) and not just things that look cool in the pictures, which is what I did a lot when I first started out. I still haven't decided which project to start next. I just worked on the socks a bit last night.

I want to be disciplined and finish that Sizzle before I start anything else. There's not much work left to do on it, it's just the dividing of that last ball of yarn in the body dye lot. I need to spend some time with the pattern and figure out where I left off, then do some measuring and probably a few more rows with increases (or decreases ....). Anyway, once I figure that out I can measure the yarn very carefully and with a little luck get the front done in the same dye lot and use the other stuff I got for the trim. But see .. it's a daunting project and I have to be in the mood. That very picky, precise mood.

I have found the route, corroborated by a couple other cyclists yesterday morning and evening. My instincts were correct - to get off Sandpoint Way as much as possible. I don't think that the ride home, up the hill, is really any easier but at least it's off the busy street as much as possible and it seems shorter. That's what counts. And it is definitely safer.

1 Project = 1 Lesson

With a nice long weekend to knit I finished up the Trellis Shawl. I sewed the little sleeves onto it last night. Short story - I sewed the sleeves one right side and one wrong side. To take the wrong one apart would be next to impossible. I was so furious at myself I almost threw the thing across the room. It's not obvious because of the boucle yarn. But I know it's that way. My problem was that I couldn't tell the right side from the wrong! I had to look very closely to find where I had woven in ends to ascertain which was the wrong side. But I goofed up anyway. Lesson learned - always mark the wrong side of a garment if it's not obvious. All that work ... errrghghghg. I'll still probably wear it but I'll always know and I won't wear it in public.

I don't know what project I'm going to start next. I do have the Sizzle to finish and as usual a pair of socks on the needles that I'm quite anxious to finish so I can use my Noro sock yarn. I should start some gifts. I have a couple ideas and I was looking through my One Skein book and the Knitted Little Luxuries and even the Scarf book. There is a pair of fingerless mitts that might be nice made out of some gorgeous angora and mohair I bought last time I was in Paris. I do have some cotton to make some bath mitts as well. My nephew wants a "Where's Waldo" hat, much to the chagrin of his wife, I must add. Lots of fun little projects in the works.

Saturday a friend and I went to check out a Labor Day sale at a yarn shop. Of course, being the second day of the say there wasn't that much there and only one thing I couldn't live without, which was Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran at half price. I bought 12 balls in a nice peach-y color. Don't know yet what I'll make out of it but something soft, that's for sure!

My new favorite iPhone App

Often when I'm riding in the car I'll hear a song on the radio and wonder who it is. Either the DJ will not say the name of the song or I'll have to leave before he or she does. But I have Midomi on my iPhone now. If I hear a song and I like it and want to know more I just point it at the speakers and in 10 seconds I have the name of the artist and the song! It's magic! This morning it was Plush by the Stone Temple Pilots. The link here is not the version I was listening to, which was acoustic. The lyrics are kind of icky but I really liked the acoustic version. I guess they're going to be here at Bumbershoot this weekend on Sunday. I'd be tempted to go except I know the weather is going to be crap. My little trip there tomorrow to see Joe Bonamassa will be enough. Let's hope the rain holds off.

I did my best to relax yesterday evening and although I did have a nightmare it wasn't so bad and I managed to wake up before I started screaming. I worked on the Trellis Shawl and I have about 2 more balls to go on the main part. I really do think I can finish that monster up this weekend, especially since the weather is going to be bad and my DH has to work. I'll bribe myself - one hour in the garden each day and other than that, knit knit knit! I do think I'll do one other chore this weekend and that's get the pictures and mirrors positioned for S to put up next week. I can just spread them all out on the floor in the living room and dining room and then decide which wall they go on. And keep my fingers crossed that S doesn't want to bring any of his "art" from his old house. [Oh I know ... I am just so bad!]

Tonight at 7 is the last pre-season football game and I'm going with my nephew and a friend of his. I have tickets for 4 games this year although I have 6 seats. Two of the games I will be taking, probably, my DH and the other two my nephew will be taking a friend. Tonight he's taking a friend. It's too bad though - the Raiders. Not going to be a terrific game since it's the last pre-season but it'll be fun all the same. Then I've got one in October, one in November and one in December! Sweeeeeet!

The constants in our lives

Every year I get stressed at this time. It's the job. I can keep my stress under control pretty much because I exercise a lot and I have my knitting to keep me calm, not to mention a cocktail now and again. Sometimes though it gets the better of me and last night I had a terrible nightmare and woke up screaming. Why stress gives me nightmares I do not know. But I'll be glad when the next couple weeks are behind me again.

I drove in again today - too many meetings and errands plus S had to get up and out before I got up this morning and won't be home until after 7 and I can't leave Tinkerbell that long. When I bike I leave before 7:30 and typically don't get home until 6 and that's just too long for her. I heard this song on the radio this morning driving in. (I'm trying something new here -- that link should take you to Jango Music and you'd be able to listen to the song.) I don't know why but it grabbed me and made me think of things that I try NOT to think of. Sometimes I can't help myself. I think I might put it on my iPhone.

Other constants ... the people I see when I bike in on the trail. It's not that odd when you think about it - we all have our little routines. We get up at the same time and leave the house at the same time. When I was in Paris I took a class and I would walk up the street to catch the Metro at the same time and would see many of the same people. One I remember still - a man, maybe Middle Eastern, who would wear a dark blue sweater with FBI in gold letters across the chest. it always struck me as so funny.

These days my constant odd ball is an older Asian man. Each day when I ride by him he is doing what I can only assume is some kind of workout. I haven't yet figured out if he's warming up or cooling down or if this is the entire workout. Granted I know nothing at all about martial arts but this still doesn't seem like a real workout. For example, sometimes he's walking backwards. Not fast, not slow, just walking backwards. Or standing up and, with alternating hands, slapping himself on the back. Just weird stuff.

I bought a birthday card for a friend with a picture of a woman in a goofy outfit in a silly pose toasting the camera with a schooner of beer and the caption said , "We're all the same age inside". I just love that! To me it means some things just never, ever, ever change. How you felt then is how you feel now. Which is neither good nor bad but simply the observation of the day. Now if I could just stop crying .... It must be the stress.

Welcome to the monsoon season

That's what a guy said on the radio this morning. "Didn't know Seattle had a monsoon season, did you?" I can't believe - no, I refuse to believe that summer is over! But holy cow, it has been raining like crazy! I am going to check but this must be some kind of a record wet August. Not to mention the breeze and the lower temperatures. I mean come on! It's August and in the low 60s! And this weekend coming up is Bumbershoot and the weather is predicted to be terrible the whole weekend. My poor DH has a stage and must work outside all weekend, including Friday before the festival starts because the Mayor is doing something at his stage. Lucky for me there's only one act I really want to see and that's late Saturday afternoon so worst case I can just run in and run out. I'll have the Huskies season opener to look forward to that evening at least.

My department's official office space is still being remodeled. We are slated to start moving back into our remodeled space in late October, although I won't be moving until late November because I am getting not a remodeled space but a space someone else has been using while their space was remodeled. In the meantime I've been "living" in the Annex, which is an ancient construction trailer sitting between Pacific Avenue and the Rotunda/H wing section of the Health Sciences Building. Things are less than perfect here, to put it mildly. The air conditioning either doesn't work (like in my space) or is so cold that one cannot even stand it (like my friend Kate's space). One of the reasons I chose this particular office was because it has windows that opened out onto a lovely lawn -- that got dug up and covered with blacktop the week I moved in!! Well now they're breaking up the blacktop and loading it into trucks. I have to have my window open to breath so it's noisy and stinky, to say the least. I am not one to complain too much [no, really!] but with everything that's been going on with work I am already nearly on my last nerve and then this constant noise just is making me crazy!!! People come and people go because it's a surge space. One of our new people is an Avon representative. Can you guess what that means? It means that every day besides all of the noise and other nonsense I put up with here I have the reek of a different cheap perfume wafting down the hall each and every day. [Good heavens, I AM in a bad mood, aren't I?] At least I didn't forget my keys again today. Well, I drove - pretty hard to forget the keys.

I worked on the Trellis Shawl last night. Only 2 1/2 (or so) balls to go for the main part! Woohoo! I measured it on the floor - 18 inches to go. The sleeves will be fast. Then I really need to finish up that Sizzle for my sister. Then I think I'll start thinking about gift knitting and KNIT FROM MY STASH!! Seriously. I think with the One Skein book I got and the scarf book I should be able to use that stash.

A couple years ago I knit a cute little flower outfit for my friend's little girl, who I saw yesterday. The little girl loved her flower outfit but now the skirt is too short and the top is too small. She wants a pink hat with a flower on it. I can do that! She's so adorable - looks like a little elf.

At least it's good for the garden

That's what we say when it rains and rains when we don't want it to. The weekend was nice on Saturday but Sunday, not so nice. Because of all the rain and the warm weather the garden is full of weeds. No, not "full" but I have to keep up with them. Sunday was the day but I only got about 45 minutes into it when it started to rain. And I'm not talking sprinkles here - big, fat wet drops. I am going to have to make myself spend an hour each day of the 3 day weekend coming up to get the weeds out. I can stand an hour at a time. Anything more than that .. ick.

We ate some of the tomatoes in a Caprese salad Sunday. And fresh basil from the garden too. Oh it was gorgeous! Next year more tomatoes! And I'm going to plant Early Girls rather than the Roma ones the previous owners planted. We roasted some of the home grown corn on the barbecue and that was spectacular! That's a first for me.

The Trellis Shawl is growing. It's now up to my chest and I have a little more than 3 balls to go for the main part. The sleeves are going to be quick. Lovely thing about this house is that it's got carpeting in some of the rooms and I'll be able to lay out some towels and spray my shawl and actually block it! Wow, that'll be a first. Real blocking.

I was dithering around this morning and managed to leave my keys behind. That kind of thing throws my whole day off! And in this whole great big health sciences complex there is ONE extra key to my office. ONE. My department doesn't have it and I have to go to the main building maintenance folks to check out the spare. Had to bring the bike into the building too because no key for the lock. Pretty annoying.

The good, the bad and the boucle

I couldn't wait to get home last night and tackle the Trellis Shawl stitch count problem. There is absolutely no way in the whole wide world I could have tinked back with that yarn. I am sure there is someone who could do it, but me? Not on your life. And after knitting a good 3 feet (or more) of this monster I wasn't about to start over either. The bad part about knitting with boucle is that it is just way too easy to mistake a curl for a stitch. But then again, the good part about knitting with boucle is that the curls can mask mistakes quite handily. The trellis pattern isn't that obvious unless you hold the fabric up to let the light through the holes. In that case, knowing that there was a mistake there, my DH was able to ascertain that yes indeed, it did look as if it zigged and zagged and zigged and zigged. But to the casual eye it will not be obvious. Just can't let my friend Peggy near it. Peggy is one of those knitters that I will never ever be - she's a perfect knitter. Everything she makes is so darned gorgeous!

I am still experimenting with ways home from work. It is now very obvious to me that I live on the top of a hill, so getting home is always going to involve at least a mile of steady uphill climb. My goal was to find path that would lead me home while skipping the steeper hills. What I've discovered the past couple afternoons is that my first inclination was the best. And it is the most logical - get off the trail at 97th and take the fairly gentle hill up to Sandpoint Way and just bite the bullet and power up those 20 blocks. Because the trail is nearly sea level I have to climb both west and north. There is no way for me to skip biking up the hills unless I want to bike down to about 135th and then walk up stairs - stairs as in over 125. Nope, not even carrying my new lighter bike. No matter what back roads I take, climbing to Sandpoint Way is steeper the further north I go even though Sandpoint Way itself does dip at one point. That's why I thought I might be able to find a less steep way up but .. not so far.

All this rain has just made the weeds in the flower beds pop up like crazy! Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend.

Is it just me?

Or is this not the most hideous paint job you've ever seen? I was walking Tinkie last night. I'm still exploring the neighborhood and came upon this heinous mess. I pretended to take pictures of Tinkerbell because I didn't want the people in the house to cop onto the fact that I was snapping pictures of their bad taste. What in the world would possess someone to paint their house that color? And that's not the whole house - I only have a portion of it. It's quite large and there is another part of the house and a double garage that you can't see in the picture. What an eyesore! I am SO grateful it's blocks away from my house. If I were a neighbor I would have been so unhappy to see someone painting their house that color. Ewwwwww!

I woke up in the middle of the night and heard it pouring rain. And when the alarm went off at 6:20 it was still coming down in buckets so I decided to drive in and do some errands on the way home. Of course now as I am typing -- it's brilliant sunshine. It is supposed to rain again this afternoon and tomorrow and then by Friday be back nice again. I must say the garden is just loving it!

I didn't get around to working on that mistake in the Trellis Shawl last night. And it's too big to take in to noon knitting on Wednesday. Maybe tonight I can work on it.

I am hoping to hear from the refrigerator repairman today. It is SUCH a hassle having the fridge out of commission and having to go out to the garage every time you need something from the fridge. Especially in the morning when I'm getting my food ready for work. S did some sleuthing about this particular model on the Internet and found that although it is the most energy efficient of the refrigerators out there it does tend to break down. Therefore I am very very thankful the people who bought it had the foresight to get the extended warranty!

Talk about your inauspicious starts

This stuff you can't make up -- I got ready to go this morning and turned on my "new" GPS thingie - my Garmin Forerunner 201 replacement I received yesterday from a guy on eBay. First of all I couldn't get it to switch from pace to speed mode - pace is for when you're running and speed for when you're biking. Since it was still trying to triangulate I didn't think much of that, figuring I'd check it out further at work and/or when I go running. I bought it from someone in Texas so it's going to take a bit of doing for it to find it's bearings, so to speak. But at least I could use it to time the ride, right? Off I went down the street, turned the corner to go up the hill, down shifted whereupon the chain derailed, my goggles split in half, my helmet fell off and my Garmin quit working. That took 50 seconds, ladies and gentlemen. As my friend Mikie says, "heavy sigh". Got the chain back on, picked up my helmet, put my glasses back together and tried to re-start the GPS but it was locked up. I guess trying to find the satellite was too much for it.

It rained most all of yesterday and I got a bit wet going home last night but honestly, it felt good. I am sure the garden is very happy. The lawn was looking a bit rough even though there is a sprinkler system. I know this is just going to make more weeds grow but that's the price we pay.

I was rather jangled when I got home last night - busy day at work and I hadn't slept well at all Sunday night. All I wanted to do after walking the dog was have a shower and a cocktail and read my paper. But the DH wanted to hang pictures! I tried my best to be nice about it but I don't think I was very believable. He got the big gilt mirror hung up over the buffet in the dining room, but when he came into the family room with a pair of ... well let's be honest here - hideous pictures he had purchased at Costco(!) and was going to put them up in the family room I am afraid I was a little less than polite. "Oh, those don't go there. I think they'll look better upstairs in the hall on that brown-ish wall, don't you?" I mean ... they have black frames for crying out loud!! I know he loves them and he can hang them somewhere, but lets find a place that people walking into the house aren't necessarily going to see right away. I know the family room is in the back but people tend to gravitate towards the kitchen area, especially since the doors to the deck are there. So I am now going to have to find some place, upstairs hopefully, that he will accept. Am I bad?

The Trellis Shawl is going along quite nicely except I found that I have 2 extra stitches. I am reasonably sure that I discovered this on the first row that it happened. One of the rows is yo,ssk and if you haven't done the previous purl row a bit on the loose side some of the ssk are pretty hard to do. Boucle yarn is tricky anyway so I am sure I ended up with the extra stitches on that row. The light just wasn't good enough and I was tired last night so that'll be my big chore tonight. Wish me luck!

Tink the Adventure Dog

We are still learning about our new house and garden. Tink helps out in her own doggie way, by showing me where the holes in the fence are. Last night while we were getting ready to go to dinner I let her out in the back to take care of business. S was on the phone and I was getting myself dressed. I called her and she wouldn't come in and I could see her at the back of the garden, sniffing at the fence. I know she heard me because she stood there, looking at me. Little dickens!! So I took off my high shoes, put my feet into my garden shoes sitting on the deck and marched out across the lawn to get her. As soon as she could see I meant business and was coming through the garden, up to the fence to grab her she started squeezing herself under the fence!! And I was that close to grabbing her but she got through and I could see her, tail high and wagging, running around the neighbor's back yard. I dashed back to the house and S hung up and got into his car and drove around the block one direction and I took off running in the other. He made it back there before I, of course, so when I came around the block I could see his car sitting in front of the house directly behind ours and my phone rang - he had her. That silly little dog - she is pretty smart. As soon as she saw him she came running to him, he said "Tink" and she stopped in her tracks, obviously not liking his tone of voice, and turned around and headed back to the fence to try to squeeze back into our yard! She wasn't fast enough for him though.

Now I am going to have to go around the entire perimeter of the property and inspect the fence. Another piece of the puzzle fell into place this morning while I was getting ready for work. S called out to me - "Come here, quick!" And I ran to the back and looked out into the yard and there was a whole family of raccoons, playing in the yard. Big ones, too! So that's how my dahlia got trampled. I didn't think Tink could have done that. And also, that's how the holes got under the fence. It's a wildlife paradise I guess. I found a gopher hole in the side yard this weekend as well.

It was blazing hot all weekend so what did I do? Turned up the air conditioning and did some serious knitting! My goal was to find the most comfy and best place to knit in my new place. Really, the first weekend I've had just time to myself with nothing to do but knit (and watch football). I found that the purple comfy chair in the living room is the best place to knit because a) it's comfy and b) there is lots of natural light. I measured the Trellis Shawl after using 3 balls of the Silk Mountain and calculated that I needed 11 balls for the body, so Saturday I rolled up 8 more balls. Now when this basket is empty I will be finished with the body of the shawl. For some reason that's less intimidating to me than stopping and measuring all the time. Here's how it looks so far: Not too exciting. You can't really see the trellis pattern, even in close up. Maybe when it's blocked. It's good TV knitting.

Oh -- the Seahawks won their second preseason game. That was my Saturday night while S worked. Pretty nice - knitting and football. We all know that's my favorite!