Shamrock Knits

Lace Shawl Update

I've finally finished the body of the lace shawl I started in July. It's the Shaped Triangle pattern from A Gathering of Lace. I bought the book and the yarn at Meg Swanson's camp. Since this book was originally published in 2000, I thought I'd be ok. Of course with my luck, I have one of the original books with all of the errata in it. Aand of course, this pattern has errors. There was about a week where I kept ripping out and starting over before I realized this. I thought I was doing something wrong. Anyway, here's a picture.

The hand dyed sock yarn is called Old Blue Jeans. Perfect name, huh?

San Fran

I went to San Francisco on a work trip a couple of weeks ago. Attached are a couple of pictures. This one is the curviest/windiest road. The streets to get to it are pretty steep. I walked around alot that day and boy, did my calves get a workout!

The next couple are from Alcatraz. We did the audio tour at night. That was pretty cool. The one thing I love about digital cameras is that you can switch from color to black and white photos in a snap. Most of the black and white pics looked better.

On the audio tour, one of the former inmates said that his niece or daughter taught him to crochet. He then, taught the other inmates. In the front, left corner you can see a pink crocheted blanket.

These last couple are from our day trip to Napa Valley. The morning started out gloomy, but by lunchtime, the sun came out and it was gorgeous. Some vinyards plant roses or other flowers at the end of the rows. They're a beautiful combination, but the flowers are an indicator for weather/soil changes. If the plants die, then there will be a problem soon with the grapes.

This vinyard is where we had lunch. The family that owned it lives on the vinyard as well. The wife is also a sculptor and had pieces throughout the property.

 

I'm resting in front of one of her pieces. It looked like a good place for a snooze.

Camp Projects

One of the things I learned at Knitting Camp was fair isle and steeking. I knit a fair isle circular swatch using Magic Loop. For the most part, it wasn't too tight. There were several rounds towards the end that I pulled the floats too tight and the swatch puckered. Here's the finished swatch before the scary part.

 

This is an "X and O" pattern. The vertical rows is where the steek is done. I learned a crochet steek. I should have chained a few before crocheting back down the other side, but it was fine for practice. Here's the crochet stich in before the "c" word.

 

Now the scary part - cutting. AAAHHH!!! This part was scary even on a swatch. It turned out really well, but I'm still not brave enough to try it on a garment that would take a lot of time and effort to knit.

Catchin' Up

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. I feel like my life has been a bad country western song. Work has been hectic, I had to put both my cats down (within a week and a half of each other), and have had news of a few friends and family members that have cancer. I'm going to try to be positive, so one to better things.

I went on a short trip to Savannah with my mom. That was pretty relaxing. The city has so many squares and they're all beautiful. Basically, the squares are little parks every few blocks or so. Some are simple, with just landscaping and benches. Some are more elaborate, with statues or fountains. I left my camera in a public restroom and thought I lost it. I went back about 20 minutes later, and some kind women brought it to a check-in area. I couldn't believe it. I thought my camera was a goner for sure. I'll definitely pay that kindness forward when the opportunity arises.

I finally finished the crochet bag I was working on during the Vegas trip and completed the Adult Surprise Jacket. The only thing left for the ASJ is a bath and to sew on the clasps I bought. I went to a knitting retreat that was fun. I started my first lace shawl (first lace project). It's going pretty well. I make sure to count the stitches after the yarn over rows. I've messed up several times, but I catch the problems right away. I'll post more and add my pics shortly. I have to get the pics off the camera - that I still have. LOL

Workin' on it

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. I have been working on some of my resolutions. I knit 2 machine knit squares for a wedding afghan. I've started throwing out old bills from my office and bedroom. I'm not done with that though.

I have been doing some knitting. I started the Adult Surprise Jacket. Of course, I had some gauge issues and had to rip out and start over. Now, I'm about half way done. I'm using Silk Garden. Overall, I like it. What I don't like about it is coming across pieces of twig while I'm knitting. The colors are beautiful though and the picture doesn't do it justice. Some of the lighter colors are rows of green.

Resolutions

I don't think I would've met very many resolutions even if I set any last year. Maybe if it was to say sane, then ok. This year I'm going to try.

1. Declutter office - get rid of old papers, books, etc.

2. Declutter bedroom - get rid of old clothes, and non-bedroom things like bills etc.

3. Declutter basement - go through charitable items and donate/throw out, organize yarn stash, get rid of old holiday items.

(seeing a trend yet?)

4. Machine knitting - make more projects on the machine.

5. Crochet - write up pattern for mom's blanket.

6. Hand knitting - knit more garments, try to visit the frog pond so much (rip it, rip it).

Well, I think those are enough goals for now. If I get some of those done, it'll inspire me to do more. I hope everyone has a much better year than last year was!

Mom's Tribute Blanket

I finished my mom's tribute Colon Cancer blanket. It feels like it took forever because of the charts. The colon cancer ribbon is a ribbon, star, person. It's called the Blue Star. I'll be writing up the pattern and creating a tribute page in my mom's honor to raise funds for awareness. My mom loves the blanket, so that's what really matters.

This is a picture taken while she's getting a chemotherapy treatment. It's cold in the office and there are blankets everywhere, because the patients get really cold during their treatments. This was her 11th out of 12 treatments. We're pretty excited that there's only one left! The extreme cold this week has been rough on her side effects. I hope the cold doesn't last too long for her sake.

Merry Christmas!

It doesn't feel like it's Christmas already! Last year, I didn't put up any decorations. This year, I bought a smaller tree that's prelit and got at least that up. I've been doing some crochet. When my mom started her chemo treatments, I decided I was going to design a blanket for her. Colon cancer has a ribbon/star, so that's what I'm using. There will be one smaller star in each of the four corners. One bigger star in the middle. Then I'm going to have "Colon Cancer Survivor" and the date of her surgury at the top, and her name at the bottom. This is what I have so far.

Is This Year Over Yet?

Several months ago, I was talking to a coworker about what's happened with me at work and my family's health. I made the stupid mistake of jokingly ask, What else could happen? Where to begin..

My kitty:

After I got back from my "vacation", one of my cats (Taz) had a rash over his entire belly. I could see this because he's an over-groomer and has licked his belly bald. Half of his face was swollen and had cuts on it. I first thought he got into a fight with the other cat (Sam), but I think the rash caused him to scratch his face so badly. I took him to the vet and they took some hair samples to see if he had a fungus or ringworm. I had pills to give him, which put him in a haze most the time. I also had to try to give him a medicated bath twice a week. That's soooo easy to do for a cat! Plus, the whole time he's wearing a cone so we won't scratch anymore.

After a week or so of this, he started laying in the litter box. I had to rush him to the hospital because he had a urinary blockage. He was in the hospital almost a week and had to have bladder surgery because he had bladder stones. The doctors were afraid they would cause him to bock again. That week cost me a small fortune and had me in tears because I don't know if I'll be able to afford much more.

Now, he's losing hair and we're back to trying to find out what's wrong with his skin. We've done a blood test to rule out some things. I take him to a dermatologist vet today to see if he has some kind of allergy or something.

My family's health:

My mom's chemotherapy has been going well overall. She's finished 8 of the 12 treatments now and will be completed at the end of January. We don't know whether she'll need radiation or not.

My dad was rushed to the hospital again for his gall bladder. They did surgery this time, but had to do it the old fashioned way. He had about 40 staples across his belly along with other holes here and there. This is what happens when you're too heavy and they can't do it laparoscopically. He had a minor heart attack caused by the surgery. He healed much better than I thought from the surgery. He's wearing a heart monitor now for about a month so the doctors can look at the results. He's seems ok.

My aunt that I visit with in San Diego has bladder cancer. They did a procedure to see how bad it is, but it was inconclusive. They have to try it again in a couple of months. This will determine what type of chemo she's going to need. Apparently the choises are a) not too bad or b) really bad if it went deep into the bladder. The upside is that she's not in any pain.

Me:

Now it's my turn. I had my colonoscopy because of cancer in the family. Man that liquid is terrible. Everything is fine and I'll continue every 5 years now. Yeah. I also found a lump in my breast. I had a baseline mammo at the end of June that didn't find anything. I don't know if this lump was there then or it developed afterwards. I don't do a self exam often enough. Anyway, I had it biopsied and it was a begign "shmooshy cyst". That's what the doctor called it during the biopsy. I asked him if that was a technical term. :) I'm still sore in one spot because it was in a tender part of the breast. I think I'd rather have a colonoscopy than do that biopsy again. At least you're knocked out and don't feel anything afterwards.

Well, this is my drama for the last couple of months. Needless to say, I haven't felt like knitting much. I did knit the felted pumpkins from Knitty, but still need to felt them. I also continued to work on the cable cardigan that was in Vogue awhile ago. I've never done a flat piece before and the set in sleeve and shoulder instructions for the fronts are confusing me. Plus I think the back is at a looser guage than the fronts. We'll see if I keep it or rip it.

I did read all four Twilight books and then saw the movie. I love the books (any vampire stories really). The movie was ok. I'm not a fan of the guy. I just don't think he's cute at all. I think the movie would've been better if they added about 30 minutes. They could've covered more relationshippy things. Anyway, this post is long enough, so I'm off.

Catchin' Up

I've got alot of catching up to do. First off - fun stuff. I received another Secret Pal gift.

Inside the purple gift box were the knitting tools. I seem to misplace those all the time, so it's always great to get more.  My secret pal, Jo, made a pair of hand knit socks and put the foot lotion inside. At the back right is a package of beach themed beads. Thanks alot Jo! Of course, I'm not organized, so I'll put the link to her blog next time.

I also finished another log cabin blanket. I love this pattern. It has texture, yet it's not all garter stitch. The yarn is acrylic for durability (and for the non-knitters). The colors are a more muted than in the picure. I had the vivid color setting on my camera. That feature appears to be working just fine!

I went on a trip to Cancun through work. It was mainly for sales winners, but a few support people got to go as well. I'm one of those lucky ones. We stayed at a resort that had dolphins. We passed by them back and forth from our rooms. Here's a picture of one of the dolphins that kept hopping out of the water. It was like he wanted to scratch his back.

This picture is at the Mayan ruins in Tulum. The corner of this building is the face of a man. It's a profile shot if you look from each of the sides. If you look right at the corner, you see the whole face. See it?