Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Do you see this "jerry-rigged" fence? Mr. Bettis slammed his 140 lb body against the fence and busted the bottom of it. Little Miss Gypsy who weighs in at 8 lbs, wiggled through the hole in the bottom of the fence and got out to inspect the neighborhood. In the meantime Mr. Bettis was worrying himself to death trying to find a way out for himself. There was no way that 140 lb oaf was going to get through the hole he busted for Gypsy.
I informed Mr. Bettis' owner (aka one hand husband)of the damage his dog has done now and this is how he fixed it. I was told it would be fixed properly in the spring. Hello? Spring is around the corner, buddy! We'll see how long it takes him to fix this fence.
This is what the two culprits were doing inside the house after their activity. Sleeping on the "dog forbidden bed" aka MY bed!
I took advantage of this situation even though they are breaking the rules. I tiptoed to the computer and visited www.theloopyewe.com





I consoled myself by falling in the Loopy Ewe Hole and purchased Dream in Color Lipstick Lava. I joined the TLE KAL on Ravelry and I'm making Mr. Greenjeans for self.
TLE Hole has a cushion landing so feel free to jump in.:)






My calori......what? I finished it! My Calorimetry. I love it. Considering I look absolutely ridiculous in a hat, this is perfect for me. Keeps my ears warm.








A BFL worsted scarf for me. All mine. I dyed this in the Elves n Gnomes colorway. The pattern is the One Row Scarf by the famous Ms. Yarn Harlot. I like this pattern because I zone out and knit. I don't have to think and occasionally after dealing with Mr. Bettis, I need to zone out. :)







I know it has been awhile since I have posted. I have been a busy knitter.

This Is The Stash.........

"This is yarn stash that I have built."
I bit the needles and decided to re-organize and count my sock yarn stash. This in no way reflects all of the yarn that I have acquired over the years.
The DH just looked at me when I decided to partake in this task. This is a picture of the sock yarn that I could find. I have since located yarn in the spare room dresser and the underbed container. There is enough yarn here for 216 pairs of socks. Not counting what's on the needles as UFOs.

"This is the yarn that I've added to the yarn stash that I have built."

This is a close-up of STR and DIC. There's enough there for 41 pairs. This total is included in the 216 pairs.


"And this is the yarn shopping bag that I made so I can add to the yarn stash that I've built."

I have been doing some sewing. Yeah, I know knitting should be my priority when one looks at the sock stash but I needed a tote so I could do my part and eliminate using plastic bags.
I made this yarn tote for my yarn shopping sprees. Okay, okay, I hear you. I don't need a bag this large to yarn shop when I have vast amounts of yarn untouched. But yarn must sit and look pretty for awhile. It is put into a basket for a few months. Then it is transported to the spare room for an undetermined amount of time. If it has not be cast on then it retires to the yarn room downstairs for an undetermined amount of time.


"And these are the bags to carry my SIP from the yarn stash that I've built."







p.s. DH tried to count my sock stash in $ but I quickly put it away. There are some things he doesn't need to know.

Christmas Gift Knitting Woes

It all started with this scarf. I decided to knit a scarf for the Piccolo Pirate's flute teacher. I purchased the yarn out of town. Listening to the DH who told me one skein would be enough, I purchased one lonely skein. (apparently the "yarn logic" side of my brain was on vacation).This scarf is not near long enough and I am about of yarn. Unfortunately it would cost $35.00 to put "liquid gold" in the car to get to the shop to purchase another $5.99 skein to finish the scarf. Not counting the 1 1/2 hour drive to the shop.


Trying to find yarn in my stash, I found this unfinished scarf. So I thought, okay, I can finish this for the flute teacher. Wrong!
It is knitted with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud. The grey skein is attached but the colored yarn is no where to be seen. So after going through 10 of the 25 containers of yarn stash and me grumbling to the DH that this was all his fault for talking me out of the second skein of yarn for the above scarf, I cannot finish this scarf.
This does wrap around the neck enough to put a nice stick pin through it and make a neck wrap. But not for the flute teacher, she is young and would want a nice long scarf. So I'll put this on hold. (not good for me to do this as it will probably become another UFO....again).


Going through UFO knit bags (and there are quite a few of them, stashed behind the couch, hidden in closets, drawers etc) I found these unfinished socks. Now I know why they're unfinished. I started these awhile back with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud (do you see where I'm going with this?). I put the socks aside and picked them up at a later date to finish the second sock. When I put the two together to size them up, something was very wrong.
I designed my own pattern but failed to follow it. One of those things where I think I'm smarter than my own notes. I made the right sock with the MC Trapeze in the foot. I made the left sock alternating the MC and the CC every two rows in the foot. I am out of the Trapeze yarn. AH-HA! So that's where the Trapeze yarn went to finish the Trapeze scarf. I'm in trouble up here. These were a gift.

Lessons learned:
1. Never, ever, ever listen to the DH when it comes to buying the extra skein of yarn. He does not knit and knows nothing about it. He is only out to eliminate my stash.

2. Never, ever go off on a whim and cut the yarn from a project to start another project with the yarn. If I should decide to do this again I must frog the original project or finish it.

3. Never think I'm smarter than my own notes. Always read the pattern. Although I admit, I have mis-laid the pattern somewhere.......okay, I need to find my book of notes........... now where could that be?

p.s.The likely-hood of me learning from these lessons is probably pretty slim with the exception of lesson #1.

Yarn Budget Busted!

Back to school for the DD and I was bored one day (imagine that) so I surfed the net. Not-a-good-thing for a knitter (especially me) to be bored and surfing the net. I checked out ravelry (and if you're not signed up? GO!), The Loopy Ewe and Astrid's. And that is where I got into trouble.

I ordered yarn from The Loopy Ewe then (this is where the credit card sighed) I ordered from Astrid's. First, more Kauni yarn. Hey, I don't have these colors.


Then of course more sock yarn. Aren't the colors gorgeous? I love this yarn. I even ordered duplicates and I plan to take them to my knit-in where I know the girls are gonna love it. A few of them knew I was ordering from Astrid's and already put in their order.








Last but not least I joined the Astrid's KAL on a Drops Norwegian sweater. Sadly my yarn budget is busted in a big way. But it's okay, I have plenty of stash to keep me busy for a very long time.........years to be more precise. So this will be added to the yarn stash room which is overflowing with plastic containers. I had to move the chair and table out of the 13' x 20' room in order to hold all of the containers. But I'm one happy knitter.










Obviously after the DD went to school, Mr. Bettis was bored also. The knitting DD left her chemistry summer novel (school owned, by the way) on the coffee table. Seems Mr. Bettis decided he wanted an education so he ate the book! The DH now owes the school system a new Napoleon's Buttons book. This dog is spending my yarn money like mad. I'm beginning to think the DH is training him for such.










p.s. Did I mention Knitpicks is on it's way?

Yarn, Sweat and Fear

Fear: When one winds yarn to be worked opposite as the pattern suggests and begins to sweat (see note above) that the yarn will end up matching instead of contrasting as the pattern notes.

My Kauni sweater in progress. I'm liking this knitting as I absolutely love color and a lot of it. Now the 15 yr old DD wants to knit one so I have pre-ordered more Kauni yarn. I failed to read the pattern more than once and did 3/4 inch more ribbing than necessary. But I wasn't about to frog that. There's too much work in it and I rather like it.


Okay, I signed up. I am in the mystery shawl #3. I like the pattern. I did decide on beads, believe me they are in there. I didn't use any of the suggested yarn colors but dug in my stash.


I found this cone aging nicely in the stash and decided on it. This is an alpaca lace weight that I purchased last year at Stitches East. Maybe I'll get it knitted before I attend Stitches this year. Anyone want to wager on that? ha



p.s. Fear is also when one finds the DH's huge 7 1/2 month old, 95 pound puppy (aka Bettis) lurking over one's fine knitting with a slobbering mouth.