The cool scarves on the block

Don't you just hate blocking? I certainly do. Can't think of anything worse than the whole process of blocking. What a chore but .............
I just love the look of a blocked scarf. The stitches are so straight and perfect.
The lacey pattern is shows to it's full beauty.
And a scarf that looked like a green blob of seaweed comes out looking like this.
Blocking is the magic part of knitting.

Project Runway 3 show 11

I just couldn't muster up enough time to post this last week .... Probably because I was so disappointed in this show. Anyways, we're down to the final 4. We have wild print Uli, sexy hip hop Michael, I plunge everything to the navel Laura, and I'm so great and no one else is Jeffrey.

The challenge is to design anything they want. Anything at all. Evening gown, sport wear, beach wear, clothes to go to the grocery store. Anything at all that will give the judges a peek at what they will being to the runway at Olympis Fashion Week in NY. 30 minutes to sketch and $250.00.

Uli gets hummmm a wild print. Gee who would have thought Uli would get a wild print. Oh I know EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER WATCHED THE SHOW!!!! Michael decides to do an evening gown but doesn't really have a design when he picks out the fabric. Jeffrey is doing a "romantic red, white, and blue dress" to show the judges that he isn't all rock n roll grunge. Laura will be doing what Laura always does.

Michael is stuck. Can't decide on what to make. Sketches, sketches, sketches. You just feel bad for him. Uli makes this huge mumu wild print thing that would look great on nobody. Jeffrey's dress is starting to look like something Snow White might wear, and Laura is doing what Laura always does.

Day 2 Uli takes her dress apart and turns it into something shorter, more form fitting, and hipper. Jeffrey's fractured fairy tale dress just doesn't seem to look well made or like anything an actual grown woman would wear. Michael's dress has a keyhole front that is all keyhole and no front. Getting scared for Michael. And Laura's dress is the classic Laura's dress.

Off to take pictures in the street and choose one to present to the judges along with 3 words to discribe the designer's style. This is getting tense because both Michael and Jeffrey could be sent home based on this challenge ...... and this my friends is where I just can't believe I've wasted almost an hour watching this.

Runway show, judges questions, judges comments, and designers off while the judges make a decission. The winner is Uli. I wasn't thrilled with any of the dresses but Uli's was something fun and wearable. Would the judges think one note Laura should go home? If she continues to design feathers could be in short supply in the world. Nope Laura is going to fashion week. In fact so are Michael and Jeffrey. So the final elimination was actually show 10 because all 4 are going to fashion week.

What a waste of an hour! You know what this was like? It was like when I watched the movie Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. I started watching. Nice movie. Great scenes. Movie continues. Nothing really wonderful. I've been sitting there for almost 2 hrs. It's not really worth watching but I'm so close to finishing ..... do I turn it off or continue to watch it? I continue. And after 140 minutes all I can say is "Yup I watched Far and Away."

So this weel will be the reunion show where it looks like we'll get to hear Keith whine about getting kicked off for cheating, followed by Tim going to each desinger's house to see how they are progressing of their collection, and then the actual Runway shows which are already out of the web.

Yucky Friday

Overcast, yuck Friday to be shooting pics of trees for sure. Oh well, lots of leaves starting to fall.
And some knitting in progress. More socks for W and a hat well on it's way for W also.

Yup I've finished stuff .....

So here's what I've been doing. I finished an infant hat. Knit picks wool of the andes with a little i-cord action on the top. I should mention that I hate pom-poms (they don't fit well under a hood) so I usually use i-cord to finish little kid hats.
I started the green scarf again. This time I decided to use my size 9 needles since they have a very unique end cap .... no way to mix up needles. I finished this hat which I'm referring to as a gnome hat. W was running around with it on last night and it looked adorable. I'm making him one in a more "boy blue" since this one is too teal for a boy. This and the infant hat will be donated to charity. I have enough of this teal yarn to do a couple more things but maybe I'll set it aside for some CIC projects next year.
And finally, this is the finished green opal scarf. I must say I really love this one. The color and the pattern really work well together. I can't wait to see how this blocks out. Next I'll be back to some socks unless something else catches my eye .... and it seems that everything catches my eye lately.

Excellent customer service

Last night I decided that I just had to start working on a new shawl. Before you even ask NO I DIDN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO FINISHING THE FIRST SHAWL! The last time I worked on it was August 14th and it's now in a bag hidden away from view. Let's just treat the first shawl like gays in the military .... You don't ask and I don't tell.

Anyways, the new shawl is Tilly's Garden Shawl. It's a 6 row repeat and I think it'll be a good learning pattern for me. No fringe. I don't like fringe but I don't know why.

All excited I take out some lace yarn I bought a couple months ago and start to roll it in balls. I get about half way through the first skein and there's a break in the yarn. Ok, no problem. I place the ball aside and start rolling again. Another break, and another, and another. CRAP! Oh well maybe something happened.

I get the other skein and find that has even more slices in it. Now I'm upset. I grab my digital camera and snap pics of the yarn. Then I run upstairs to the computer and jot off an email to customer service attaching the pictures. I didn't remember when I bought the yarn but it was definitely over their 30 day return policy. I don't expect to hear anything from the company but at least I feel like I did something.

And today when I signed onto the computer to check email there was a note from the yarn company saying how sorry they were that the yarn did not meet their quality standards. They are sending out 2 more skeins to replace the damaged ones. No questions asked, no send it back and we'll look into it. Just a simple sorry we'll make this right. Thanks you Knitpicks!

If at first you don't succeed .....

frog, frog again..... Sometimes things just don't work out as planned. Take ISE3 scarf in opal green batik. I was knitting along going very well when I looked at my needles. One size 10 needle and one size 8. Oops! Had the size 8's out to make a hat for W. No way to cover that mistake to back to square one. Can't exchange a scarf that's not made correctly.
This is Friday's fall colors. A little mist on the pond this morning and a little more color in the trees since last week. I made a hat for N which I'm calling the NNNNNOOOOOO hat. When you put it on N's head he says, "NNNNOOOOOOO" and takes it off. Think I'll block it and donate it. Colors are knitpicks grass and daffodil
Then I made this hat for W. It's blue. Blue is his favorite color. The problem? The color is knitpicks stream and in real life it's a little too teal for a boy. Damn! So I'll finish this, block it, and donate it too.
And last but not least evil has a new location. No cushie couch for this gal. Nope, she's decided to sleep half in half out of an empty box on the hardwood floor. Go figure!

Plenty of pictures but blogger won't let me load them

I've got plenty of stuff to talk about but really why bother with no pictures. Maybe later the blogger power that be will let them load.

Project Runway 3 show 10

Well we're getting down to the end here. Last week's show was interesting in a "why the hell would they do that" sort of way. The remaining 5 designers were invited to a party and during the celebration Heidi springs a couple of suprises: Vincent and Angela. It seems that anyone (except Keith) who won a challenge was invited to compete again. In order to continue Vincent or Angela would need to win the challenge. 3 designers will be out.

The challenge is to designing a cocktail dress using only black and white material. With 15 minutes of sketching and $100 in hand they go off to Mood. Another twist is that they have to use every scrape of fabric they purchase in the design.

Every dress is different even though it's the same colors being used. Laura, very tailored, lace, feathers, crystals. So Laura.

Jeffrey's outfit looked like a halloween costume. Ultra mini with ill fitting leggings. What a mess. Jeffrey better keep his fingers crossed.

Angela's dress is awful with a shug she's describing as Edwardian that doesn't go with the dress and looks like it's going to strangle her model. Extra fabric? Stuffed into a purse off the Macy's accessory wall that didn't need stuffing to hold it's shape. Well at least we know Angela will be packing to go back to Ohio.

Kayne's dress is so not Kayne. Simple black, no rhinstones anywhere but oops also no white. Must use black and white.

Uli's dress was a black and white print, beachy again, long sleeves too long, and she used the extra fabric to make a necklace that didn't go with anything. Not impressive.

My guy Michael sexy white dress with a wide black belt. Cutwork in the belt to give it a lot of texture. Extra fabric? He put about 20 layers of lining in the purse the model was carrying.

Vincent had a bit of bad luck. His model was in a bike accident so the model for the runway was a little bigger. Dress was a tight fit. White top, too short black skirt, and a shawl to use up the extra fabric that didn't go with anything. Hope he didn't unpack too much.

Winner Laura. Out Angela, Vincent, and Kayne. I have to say I was sad to see Kayne leave but you just know that he'll have more work than he could ever imagine after designing that Miss America dress.

Now we're down to the final 4 and no show tomorrow. Guess that'll give me plenty of time to finish frogging the green scarf I started Sunday but that's another story for another post.

UGH Monday

I noticed that the leaves are beginning to change a bit so we'll watch them together. This view is wonderful to watch.
I had one of those kick ass knitting weekends where you don't think you did much but lots gets done. I finally started a scarf for my ISPE friend. It's made in a feathers and fans pattern Opal batik. Looks really nice. Notice the wonky needle? Medal needles and people's butts shouldn't meet on the couch. I'll replace it someday but it's only been wonky for 5 yrs.
And I finished the scarf for another secret pal. It'll match the rolled brim hat I made her last month. My pal has been enjoying everything I've sent because she knits for everyone but herself. I've gone out of my way to make sure I use the softest nicest wool I can find.
I also did a couple kids hats too but those have already been sent to my daughter's so "test drive" so I could make sure they were the right size.

And finally here's a picture of Oscar giving me the "LOOK OF DEATH" this morning. She gives me the look 24/7. You'd think that after 16 yrs she's like me but nope she hate me and everyone else. I think that as long as I keep making sure there's plenty of cat food in the house I'll be ok.

Finished Friday!

Welcome to finished Friday. Here is W with his finished socks.
And N with his happy feet.
And A with her new cap. Big discussion with D3 who thought the flowers looked "stupid"! I think they are cute. Besides how are people going to know it's a girl unless you put pink flowers everywhere?

The CIC sock story

Everyone seems a little curious about all the CIC socks. What would possess someone to make that many pair of socks for children on the other side of the world?

Every year I pick a charity to knit for. Hats and slippers for soldiers or newborn caps for a local hospital. Chemo caps for a local cancer center. Every year it's something.

Last year I taught myself how to make socks. I just love knitting socks! My grandsons call them "Gram mades" and they love wearing them. So I thought I'd combine my love of children and my love of sock knitting into one charity this year.

I set a goal of 150 pr of socks. I started knitting on 1/1/06. Now my game plan was to knit for the month, weave all the ends, and then pop them in the mail. Good plan. The only problem is I like knitting much more than I like weaving ends. So I just kept knitting and throwing the pairs into boxes saying, "I'll just knit a couple more and then I'll weave the ends."

When I got around to weaving the ends I had about 120 pr done already so I figured I'd just finish the 150 pr and mail them all at once (save a little money on the mailing that way). I finished knitting, got all the ends weaved, snapped a quick picture or two and packed them up to go. I have to say it was just a relief to get them out of the house so I could move on to other knitting projects.

I've got a couple other things to finish for another charity and then I'm back to my own knitting for a while. Come December I'll be thinking about next year's charity project so if anyone has some suggestions please feel free to post them.

It's a blue thing

Was a little caught off guard to see this guy in my yard. Interesting and useful (had a ton of other bugs in his web) but I scurried back in the house after taking this pic.
This has been a slow knitting week for me. I finished a pair of socks for W and started another. The blue opals are going to be for my son in law but I'm sure W will want them since they are blue and blue is his favorite color.

So 5 yrs ago today it was a bright sunny summer day. I was just leaving work (back when I worked part time in the office) to go to a dentist appointment when the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center came across the news. When I came back from my appointment it was apparent that this was no accident. I live in CT, the next state over from NY so just about everyone knows someone working in NY. The bosses let everyone who wanted to leave go home. I worked at home glued to the TV for the next week.

Today everyone and their brother has a story about that day. Some will launch into right and wrong, who is to blame, who is responsible, why were signs missed. Personally I'm not going down that road. I'm on September 11th TV avoidance today. I prefer to spend today reflecting on the tragic loss of life terror has brought to the world instead of watching the policitians and newcasters put their spin on events.

So if you get a chance today just send healing thoughts to those who need them to get through today.

Of course I needed more yarn.....

Thanks for all the comments on my CIC sock o rama. I'll tell you the true story about this sock adventure next week when I get some time to type. Today's post is all about the yarn.

No really I did need more yarn. Honestly would I lie to you? 10 balls of the new essential with the flecks of color to make socks for W who loves blue. The green will probably be socks for my hubby.
And of course with fall coming up I needed to get some yarn to make hats and mittens for both the little boys. Blue of course for W and N loves yellow but I figured I'd do green with yellow accents so it wouldn't have to be washed as much. Finished these for hubby. They are redish orange with tones of browns. Interesting but not really a fave for me.
And finally I was suffering sock envy. So I ordered some parade in crayon and daffodil. It was on sale so really why not? Since I work at home and run around in socks all winter I figured that a couple pair of nice sports weight pair would be nice. The crayon is sold out now so they must be getting to the end of this yarn.
So that's about it for today. Going to the Fall Festival tomorrow morning but haven't figured out who with yet. Weather is going to be beautiful so it'll be a fun day.

Project Runway 3 show 9

This week found our last 6 designers still in Paris. Catherine Malandrino dishes out the next challenge which is to design an evening dress using couture methods. Now this was an interesting show because it was very educational.

Couture is a method of clothing manufacturing that is totally French. Period. The design house has a huge list of requirements to meet and the French government will then allow the design house to use the word couture. Couture involves a lot of hand sewing, bead work, embroidery, etc. All by hand and all very time consuming.

The designers go to Montmartre and take 30 minutes to sketch while having a perfect view of Paris on a perfect day. Then it's off the a fabric store with a budget of about $375 to get everything they need. Then it's off the the workroom for 2 days to finish a dress.

Laura: black long sleeve, typical cut to the belly button front, and instead of fur she put huge clown ruffles down the front and on the sleeves. Awful.

Uli: very nice gray dress. lace at the top. several lengths of braided fabric for straps. fit was outstanding.

Michael: blue fabric with ruching (MICHAEL STOP! the ruching did Malan in!), really not good. he was definately in over his head on this one. he wasn't really a hand sewer and he was so focused on the mechanics of getting this done that he didn't step back and take a good look at the design.

Jeffrey: jeffrey went plaid crazy. fabrics in yellow plaid, yellow madra, and more yellow plaid. he had imunity and seemed to be taking advantage of the fact he couldn't be out.

Vincent: yet another WTF outfit for our guy Vincent. the fabrics didn't work well together, the skirt looked like draps, ill fit and if the model had any boobs they would have been popping out. back had a little flower glued on. yes couture gluing. nice.

Kayne: beautiful but just too much. always too much because that's Kayne's point of view. hard to scale back when you make a living selling pagent gowns for a living. say what you want his ability to fit a woman's body is second to none.

Paris runway show was during a party hosted by Catherine on a boat during floating along the Seine. On the way to the party someone threw an egg which spattered on Michael's dress. It didn't make the dress look any better.

Catherine did her judging and gave the scores to Tim Gunn. The next morning everyone is back on the plane to NY. Some dresses traveled well, others not so much. 2 hrs to fit the NY models and then only the runway for elimination.

Jeffrey won with his creation. Love it or hate it at least he seemed to understand the challenge and had a point of view. And finally Vincent was out. In my opinion Vincent should have been out long ago but for some reason he just kept getting a pass.

This years goal was to lose 30 lbs and make 150 pr of socks

Well, no one has mistaken me for a Swedish super model so obviously the sock knitting has gone much better.
These are the 150 pr of socks for CIC all finished, paired, and laid out on my back deck for a quick picture before the rain.
Next step is to box them up and pop them in the mail on Tuesday. These were so much fun to make ..... don't think I'll be saying the same thing about losing the rest of the weight.

Project Runway 3 show 8

And the show continues. Heidi comes out and announces that 2 models will be off. Blah, blah, blah, as my daughter says, "Why do we have to watch this? It's not about the models." I reminded her that their moms probably do care. Heidi says that the challenge will be to design an outfit for a hip jet setter and sends the designers to the workroom to meet with Tim Gunn.

Why are the hip jet setters? Well it turns out that the designers will be designing for themselves. Squeals of delight run through the room. 30 minutes to sketch and then off to mood to spend $75.00 followed by back to the workroom to finish everything by midnight.

Laura designs a cocktail dress. Kayne goes nuts for a Versace print that is crazy. He's cutting it out and putting it on a black shirt. Simple black pants will be made to complete the outfit. Jeffery decides to be a rock star so he's making a blazer, pants, and t-shirt. Michael is going to be a "Hampton meets the hood" with cargo pants made out of seersucker and a shirt. Vincent designs a v neck shirt and black pants (boring). He's never made men's wear so he takes off his pants and uses them to make a pattern. Uli selects about 5 different bright prints. It's typical Uli. Angela designs shorts and a tank- type top that just looks odd.

Onto the runway. Again what the hell is Heidi wearing?!?! UGLY!!

Laura ok. Kayne looks like an Elvis rip off but it's so typical Kayne (he's always over the top). Jeffery's outfit is one that Jeffrey has the personality to carry off. It's a great fit. Michael's is wonderful too. Again he's got the personality to pull it off. Vincent boring and safe. Uli makes the typical Uli dress which the judges say, "We've seen it before." Angela is just a mess. Top is awful, the shorts are wrinkling just standing on the runway. And those little rosettes on the ass. What woman would call attention to her all with rosettes?

Here's the twist: They now have 1 hr to get to the apartment, pack, and get to the airport for the second part of the challenge. When they get to the airport they find out they are flying off to Paris. First class! And Tim Gunn appears to fly off with them. All the designers are thrilled to have Tim along.

Landing in Paris they drive to Parson's Paris and go into another workroom. They are introduced to Catherine Malandrino who will be judging for the second half of the challenge. She is given the score cards and pictures of the outfits as they were on the NY runway.

Each designer walks their outfit and scores are tallied. The winner is Jeffery! I really think he deserved the win. Three pieces all fit to perfection. Good job. And Angela was out. While I'm not an Angela fan I do have to admit that I felt sorry for her. Obviously she's never really been farther than her backyard and the one chance she gets to go to Paris she only gets to stay for a short time. I don't know who Jeffery will pick on now.

Work in progress

Finally some flowers on the arch! It hasn't been a great summer for growing things around here but slowly things are coming along.
I bought some wonderful hand painted yarn last week. I did a roll brim hat for my secret pal for this month and started a matching scarf to send off next month. I love the colors and think the simple pattern helps show off the yarn. I also finished another pair of socks for N . Just have to hide the ends and turn right side out. I'm almost finished with the foot of socks for hubby. And I started a light weight hat for my granddaughter. It's a prototype at this point since I really think the shaping on the top will be wrong. We'll see. Plans are to add colored buttons to dress it up.

Gotta love school

Don't you love it when the kids go back to school? I always looked forward to it just so that we could get some routine back into our days. It seemed like the more we got into summer the more lazy we all became so back to school made sure dinner was on time, laundry was done, and there was more than canned tuna in the house to eat.

This year marks the first time in 20 yrs that I hadn't had a child in the local school system. No one will be rushing to catch the bus on Thursday. I won't have to sign 50 different forms. No running to the store 3 times to get specifically required supplies for each child's 8 different classes.

Instead I sent 3 children off to the local community college yesterday for their first day of classes. Books and tuition on my charge card so no trips anywhere other than the school for supplies. I kind of like this! Gonna be easy ......

Until the call today. "Hi Mom, I locked S1's keys in the car by accident so when D2 comes up can you make sure she has a key for S1's car." D3 has been driving for about a year and so far has managed to lock her keys in the car 4 or 5 times and left the lights on to drain the battery at least twice. At least D3 didn't leave the lights on this time. Think it's gonna be a long semester!

Project Runway 3 show 7

So this week the challenge was to design for "the everyday woman". Heidi brings out the models and you can see by the silhouette behind the stage that these models are all shapes and sizes. Designers are confused until they realize that their models are their own moms and sisters.

The twist? They aren't going to be using their own relative in this competition. Heidi brings out the velvet bag and each designer gets to choose the model they would like to work with. Of course all the thin moms/sisters are chosen first. It's like watching sides being selected in high school gym class all over again.

Everyone is taken for a walk to Tavern on the Green where they are met by Michael Kors and his mom Joan. She seemed like a sweet person. Kayne had his arm around his mom the whole walk. Michael Knight was holding his mom's hand. Very sweet.

Over lunch Laura mentions to her mom that she is pregnant again with baby #6. I LOVED HER MOM'S REACTION! She didn't flip out excited about being a gram again. You would have thought they were discussing something casual like buying a new purse or getting a puppy. And Laura's comment about how she didn't know how she felt about #6 but might as well throw it on the heap of the other 5? Very odd thing to say.

A nice visit is had by all and then it's back to work. The designers have a consultation with their "client" for 30 minutes to discuss colors, design, likes and dislikes. In a cruel twist of fate Jeffrey has ended up with Angela's mom, Darlene. Right from the start it appears that Darlene doesn't care for Jeffrey. Maybe Angela casually mentioned she hates him at the Tavern on the Green get together? Anyways, for someone who's daughter makes clothing she seems very vague on what she wants. Knows what colors she wants but not anything else.

After working for a while the mom/sisters come back into the work room to see what's going on. Everyone seems to be working well together except for Jeffrey and Darlene. Darlene doesn't like the fabric. It's the exact colors she told Jeffrey she liked but now she's disappointed and tells Tim Gunn about it. Jeffrey tries to work with her explaining that he sees her as a beautiful woman and is trying to bring something out in her that she might not see herself.

Darlene leaves the work area in fake tears and upset. Angela rushes in to fan the flames of the disagreement and Jeffrey's mom tries to squash the whole thing by talking to Darlene. Thanks for the drama Darlene but I didn't buy any of it.

Robert designed for Vincent's sister. Simple long black dress (because we all know black is slimming) with a red flowing jacket. Boring.

Jeffrey designed for Angela's mom and it was a mess. Shapeless with too many colors at the neck. I think he just didn't know what to make and had never designed for a heavy woman before.

Angela designed for Laura's mom. Black top and skirt with fringe on the bottom. It fit terrible and looked awful.

Vincent designed for Uli's mom. Simple dress with this HUGE brown collar.Ugly. The judges went crazy for it.

Kayne designed for Michael's mom. He designed very basic capri pants, orange long sleeved shirt and a "poncho" of fabric that didn't seem to go with anything.

Michael designed for Robert's sister. He did a shirt dress that was totally reversible. Very nice and stylish.

Laura designed for Jeffrey's mom. Her outfit was a high waisted skirt, a blouse with a huge collar and a scarf. Same old same old for Laura but unfortunately it looked awful on Pam.

Uli designed for Kayne's mom. Her outfit looked wonderful. Great patterns, wonderful fit and she should have won.

But alas, the judges couldn't let an overweight every day woman outfit win. What would high fashion think if a well designed outfit for a size 16 or 20 women won? Wasn't think what the competition was about? Guess not because Vincent's dress with that ugly collar on an almost model sized mom was the outfit of the evening and Robert was out.

The Princess has finally arrived

Grandsons W and N have been with me since Sunday. We've had a lot of fun playing with almost every toy in the house. I kind of miss the mess of little ones around so I think I'll wait til tomorrow to clean this up. It's funny how when my kids were little I was always quick to clean up everything but once they grown up a mess like this makes me smile. We counted trains and there are 112 Thomas the tank engine trains at my house.
There is W with his new sister who will be referred to as A from this point forward. She arrived Monday afternoon at 1:50 weighing in at 6lbs 13ozs 20 1/4" long. She looks like N.
This is N who is only 20 months old himself so he really wasn't all that interested in the new little one. He did like the fact that the bed went up and down.

Happy Monday

So many project started and yet I find time to cast on and do more. Oh well. Sooner or later they'll all get done. These are some socks for N. The lesson I've learned for knitting socks for the boys is to knit until you think the cuff is long enough and then add another inch. The leg is a fluted banister so they should stay up well. I'll be making another 10 socks all the same. It makes it much easier for mom if they are all the same. The yarn is knitpicks simple stripes.
My daughter and son in law are in the hospital today having the baby. FINALLY!!! She still doesn't have a name but she's 6lbs 13ozs and doing well. Mommy had some problems so hopefully she'll be out Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime I've had both they boys. We went to the playground, took a walk, ate, napped, played with trains, did a little reading, and had a great day. This one W ended up falling asleep before bedtime.

Cyber pals and Secret pals

In my circle of friends no one knits. There's no one who really understands the excitement of scoring Opal yarn at $8.00 a skein. My yarn stash is a mystery to everyone. Why would you need all that yarn? What's the difference between these 3 red yarns? Hello!!! One is worsted super wash wool, one is sock yarn and one is just worsted wool. That would be like asking why you need more than one book in your book collection.

So the internet allows me to connect with people who are going through the same thing. Crafting as a normal part of life. You make cyber friends and get to share your craft experiences and knowledge. I definitely think it's given me a good base to be able to try things I wouldn't have tried. I love seeing what everyone is working on and sharing in their excitment when they've come to the end of a long hard project.

One of the groups I belong to is having a secret pal exchange. It's been a lot of fun so far. My pal is in Australia so because I have to fill out a customs form it hasn't been much of a secret for her. One the other hand I'm totally stumped. I think my pal is in Canada but is sending things as part of a conspiracy to a friend in the USA for mailing. Anyways, this is my haul for the last 2 months.

Project Runway 3 show 6

So Heidi comes out, wearing an outfit that was so awful I couldn't believe she would wear it on a fashion design show, and announces that the designers have had it very easy up to now so the next 2 challenges will be hard. Michael decides to stick with his model .... really does anyone care about the models other than their moms?

Next morning 5 am Tim Gunn is off to wake everyone up to be ready to leave on a field trip by 6. Best line of the show was Alison's to Laura. Laura was wearing her riding gear and Alison said something like, "Oh good you are wearing your horse riding outfit. This challenge could involve horses." Laura probably get about as close to horses as she does to cleaning up after those 5 monster kids of hers.

Anyways, into a waiting van and off down the road to New Jersey. Out of the van and into a recycling center. Each designer get 30 minutes and 3 recycling bins to fill to create an outfit of their choosing. After that then back in the van and off to a store to spend 15 minutes and $25 buying glue, paint, etc to finish the outfits. They have 1 day to complete this task.

The work room is a flurry of activity. Still there are learning moments. We learn that none of the guys seem to like Laura. Robert and Kayne wolf down dinner just so they don't have to be in the room when Laura comes in. Vincent says he doesn't own the future. Humm.... The editing leads you to believe .... along with the really interesting looking outfits in progress ..... that just about anyone could go home.

One the runway Uli cute dress, Robert good design, Anglea did a patchwork ugly thing, Michael creative use of 3 different materials, Laura same old same old. Laura is really just a one note designer from what I'm seeing. Jeffrey I though had this competition in the bag. His outfit was interesting, unusual colors and very well done.

Vincent's was the usual Vincent mess. I don't know if it's too much medication or not enough with Vincent but he should have cashed in the 401K and used the money for additional therapy.

Kayne's and Alison's outfits were both a mess. In addition Kayne styled his model to look like she had been run through the recycling plant. Alison's model didn't fair any better with her hair tied up like a giant bow on the top of her head. They both could have done much better to compensate for the ill fitting outfits.

I think Vincent should have been out. Kayne and Alison both just had a misstep. Heck, Robert has had two already and he's still with us. But Alison seemed to be held to a higher standard than the guys because she was a women designing women's wear.

So in the end Michael was the winner (Jeffrey was PISSED) and Alison was sent packing. I really thought it was unfair to send Alison home since Vincent has not had a single outfit that was noteworthy.

The Mailbox

If you live in the center of my town (uptown as we country folk call it) a trusty mail delivery person walks right up to your house and places you mail in box attached to your house or slides it through a slot in your door. Your newspaper is delivered the same way or placed in plastic and left in your driveway.

When you live further out like I do your mail is delivered curbside in a mailbox. The newspaper people slide the papers into curbside tubes, usually while playing the car radio quite loud at 4:30am. When I first moved into our house I thought about getting a cute, custom painted mailbox. Two days later, as I awoke to find my mailbox had been hit by a baseball bat during the night I realized that a cheap mailbox was probably going to work out fine.

The way this whole mailbox thing works is: kids with baseball bats and too much time on their hands smash it a couple times over the course of the year. During the winter the snowplow dents it while throwing snow off the road. And each time this happens you as a home owner take a hammer and beat the mailbox back into shape to allow the front to close. After 3 or 4 years you replace the box with another cheap mailbox. Still it's nice to try to dress the ratty looking mailbox up a bit.....
maybe with some nice morninglories??? If you're looking at the flowers you probably won't notice the wonkie top?? Maybe it's time to get out the hammer again.

On the needles, off the needles

Ok, still on high alert over here waiting for my new granddaughter. She just doesn't seem to want to come out and be spoiled to death. I don't know what people who don't knit do to pass time. So while I'm passing time I've been working on these .... hubby's sock .... shawl to repeat 4 out of 14.

I'm going to say right now that while I know I can knit lace I'm coming to the conclusion that I am not a lace knitter. Too much concentration needed althought I'm learning a lot from the project. These are for a project I shouldn't be casting on until I've finished a couple things but I know I'll never be able to resist. We have balls of Knitpicks crayon and some train buttons so you know already it's going to be something for the little men.
I completed these on Sunday. They are socks for hubby Lana Grossa #6538. First time I've ever used this yarn and I have to say it's very nice. Gotta see how it washes and dries before I give it a thumbs up. Just to note that I don't make matching socks. I feel that life is too short to worry about matching your socks.
And I finished these Saturday. Some more CIC socks just waiting for the ends to be tucked safely away.

A day out with Thomas

Today Thomas the Tank Engine was in Waterbury, CT for another weekend of excitement. When my son was little he loved dinosaurs. Everything revolved around dinosaurs. We use to go to the Peabody Museum all the time so he could see the dinosaurs in the great hall.

When W came along, Thomas the Tank Engine was in Waterbury for a weekend. Hubby and I knew nothing of Thomas but it was a nice day so we took our 17 month old sweetie over to library park. Little did we know .......

Thomas appear to be a cute make believe story about an engine on an island. He has make believe friends and goes on make believe adventures. The truth is Thomas is a method of sucking money out of the wallets of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who happens to come in contact with him.

So here we are 2 yrs later and we're visiting with Thomas again. W 3 1/2 yrs old has his Thomas buddy, N 20 months old, to show around in the world of Thomas. In those 2 yrs we have bought about 100 train cars, 5 sets of tracks, buildings, accessories, shirts, shoes, sandals, cups, dishes, tooth brushes, DVDs, blankets, tattoos, balloons, birthday parties with Thomas themes, and hours upon hours of play.

You know you're totally in love with someone when you'll take money away from yarn to purchase yet another Thomas engine.

The town crier: Ten am and all is well

I work for a very very large national health insurance company doing a job that my own family doesn't quite understand. It's not exciting but really helps people because I fix their claims that haven't been paid correctly. Like I said, not exciting but so it goes.

The perk to this lack of an exciting job is that I get to work at home; yes I'm a full time telecommuter. So on days like today where it's beautiful out I have to try to work while daydreaming. Thankfully, Joey is keeping watch over the left side front yard for me this morning.
Leaving me free to keep an eye out on the backyard.
This is the view from my office slider. Sometimes there are deer in the backyard. Other times groundhogs, bunnies, and birds. The pond it a small town owned pond where I taught my kids to swim. Now I take my grandsons over to play and swim. Really who needs an exciting life when you have this?

Project Runway 3 show 5

Well I'm finally a happy person. My man Michael won a challenge! In my opinion Michael has an amazing talent and always gets to the next round without question but for some reason he's been overlooked. Seriously, a dress made from coffee filter should have won over a dress made out of bed sheets in the first round. Anyways .....

The challenge was to recreate an icon. The models picked the designer they wanted to work with. Then the models went into the work room and selected a picture of a fashion icon the designer would update. Cher, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, etc. Very intesting challenge.

I really like Bradley. I don't think he's all that talented but he's funny. Bradley's model had selected Cher and Bradley didn't know a thing about Cher. Seriously how could anyone not know about Cher?

Vincent struggles with Twiggy and Robert couldn't get the clean lines he needed to recreate Jackie O (he had traided some fabric with Vincent and the linen just wasn't doing it).

There were a couple arguments in the sewing room between Jeffrey, Angela, and Laura. Michael seems to like everyone and was affected by the tension. So he makes a phone call to get himself centered. Who did he call? His homeboys? Girlfriend? Nope, called his Mom. She sounded like a great person and gave him confort and reminded him to keep praying. Yes, Michael prays every night for guidance and support. How sweet is that?

On the runway, Vincent is a trainwreck, Bradley even worst. Laura finally did something without fur on the cuffs and collar all by herself. Angela was very impressing. Kayne (Love Kayne) did a great job with Marilyn Monroe.

Now again Robert Best was on the runway as one of the worst. I think Robert is playing it too safe trying to do what he thinks people want to see instead of speaking in his own voice. I still have confidence in Robert. Linen was just another misstep but definately now big enough to send him home.

But in the end my guy Michael pulled it out with his remake of Pam Grier. Way to go Michael. And Bradley was out. The outfit was poorly fitted and sewn terrible.

I think after the last show Tim was way over his make it work and carry on quote so only made it thru editing with one this time.

Waiting on the girl.....

My oldest daughter is due any day and we thought for sure my first granddaughter was going to make her appearance Friday. Well, she had other plans and decided not to come out and meet us yet. I had my grandsons Friday and Saturday so not much knitting. I think my granddaughter must hear her soon to be big brothers screaming and she's afraid. I've done my best to reassure her .... offering cookies, candy, staying up past bedtime at Gram's house but she isn't buying any of it.

I had a pretty productive week. Finished 5 more pair of socks for CIC. Did some work on my shawl. Finished the heel flap, turned the heel, did the gusset decreases and started working on the foot of my hubby's sock.
I was pretty pleased with this week's work .... these two could care less. This is a rare picture of Charlie and Joey. Joey is the tiger and Charlie is the brat! He's the annoying little brother to my other two cats. At age 2 he just wants to play and at age 16 Joey just wants to be left alone.

Shawls and cats

If you were at my house any time this week you would have seen Joey in this pose somewhere around the house. Here he's blocking the doorway. After this pic he moved to lay across the entire width of the hallway. It's a cat's life for sure. Charlie was smart and spent the whole week in the AC. Oscar slept out on the covered front porch on the concrete. I'd check on her ever couple hours just to make sure she was still breathing. At least is was too hot for them to bother with this.
I was working on it Monday night and when I picked it up again Tuesday I totally forgot where I was in this pattern. PANIC!! I couldn't remember what I had for dinner that night much less what row I knit the night before.

After a lot of counting, swearing, and Archie Bunkering (the famous line "shut up you" or "stifle it!" because whenever you are trying to count the entire household has 5 million things to say to you and only you as if you have suddenly appeared after being abducted by aliens.) I managed to figure it out. Hence you'll notice a little paper hanging from a split stitch marker at the edge of the shawl. It says "5" meaning I'm on row 5 of a 10 row repeat.

Project Runway 3 show 4

Couldn't post this yesterday because we lost power so no computer. Couldn't even knit last night in candle light since I have enough trouble working on this shawl in full light (hey I'm not Laura Wilder!!!).

Anyways the long awaited show .... who gets kicked off. The challenge was to design a 3 piece outfit for INC. Each designer sketched and pitched their design. 4 designers were selected as team leaders and they selected 2 designers to work with them. So 4 teams of 3 people. Ok. They shop, they sew, they collaborate, and they go back to the apartments at the end of day 1.

There's a problem. Keith has pattern books in his personal stuff. Pattern books are not allowed since they can give a designer a little extra knowledge in construction. In addition Keith went AWOL and used the internet; both are against the rules of the show. So Tim Gunn arrives and Keith packs his bags and leaves asap.

I think Keith's leaving showed the other designers how the production company believes in giving everyone a level playing field. Keith was the designer with the most personality, good or bad, so having him leave was losing a lot of interesting sound clips.

Day 2 arrives without Keith leaving his team of Alison and Jeffrey to finish the outfit. Those two did an amazing job pulling things together and getting the job done.

Runway show .... the winner was Angela's team in spite of Angela. I must say she was a great team leader because she listened to her team members, Laura and Michael, and didn't poof anything and cover it with those nasty fabric yo-yo things.

At the bottom was Robert and Bonnie. Robert's outfit looked a little frumpy from the front with a slit up the back almost to the model's ass. Bonnie's was just sad. So bye, bye Bonnie.

So it should be interesting to see where the show goes from here. No real dynamic personalities from what I can see in the bunch. Jeffrey with the cutting remarks is even being nicer since he actually has had to work with the other designers a couple times and is beginning to see they have skills too.