Fridays are the nights I get to knit-I-mean-work at Columbine Yarns. I am really looking forward to it. I have some friends coming, and Cher took out an ad in the local newspaper so who knows what to expect. Nate made up some flyers, and I have to say, I’m uncomfortable with them.

In case you can’t read the bottom copy, it says, “SPEND FRIDAY NIGHTS KNITTING WITH LAURA OF POORMISSFINCH.COM • SAVE 10% on all purchases* • EVERY FRIDAY, 4 – 9 PM • COLUMBINE YARNS • 720 238th SE Suite E • Bothell • 425.806.8129 *Excludes clearance items and spinning wheels”

It makes me out to be famous or something. I said no, but he persisted, and then came home with a stack printed up, so I guess I’m taking them to the store tonight. I wonder what Cher will think. I’m guessing she’ll like it. She’s been talking about linking my blog on her website, and she wants to play the whole thing up. Considering I’m only going to be there through the end of the year, I don’t know, it feels weird. I’m loud, but I’m not flashy.

So anyway, come and knit with me if you’re anywhere close. It’ll be fun. Last week, I made peanut butter cookies. I think that tonight, I’m going to bring popcorn and some frosted, pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies. Maybe. I haven’t frosted them yet, so there’s no guarantee.

I received my prize from Becky for the Bucket Hat Knitalong contest. Neat stuff.

She included a nice little note saying how she loves using this yarn for traveling projects, such as lacy scarves. Sounds like a great idea to me. I’m thinking that these could make some lovely springtime birthday gifts for the girls. (We throw a big to-do tea party luncheon every spring for all the grandmas, aunts, and girl-cousins in the family to celebrate Abigail and Olivia’s birthdays in April. It is a dress up affair, and very large. I think that lacy ribbon scarves sound perfect. Thanks, Becky!)

Next, while yesterday was not a full on knitting day, I did get to work some more on…… you guessed it, mom’s sleeve! BUT, I also worked on something else.

Most of these swatches are from last Christmas. Two of them, I did last night. Any guesses as to which? One of those has been realized and is now a hat in progress. The hat in progress that will kick off our knitalong. (Nate gets to make a button!) These hats are a nice, quick project to rest my hands from the merciless cotton that is the mom sweater sleeve. If you’d like to see the swatches up close, click the link at the end of the entry. All yarn used is worsted weight Plymouth Encore.

I keep thinking today is Friday. It’s messing me up. I remember that it isn’t, and then, 30 minutes later, I’m thinking it’s Friday again. I’m going to lay low today.

Monday was intense. Between cookies, bread, and laundry, (and the oven being on for SIX STRAIGHT HOURS!!!), I deserved a rest. Not to be had on Tuesday however. Olivia’s Kindergarten class “got” to go to The Farm and trudge through mud and rain to pick a pumpkin. Being the good, supportive mommy that I am, I bundled up Olivia, Veronica, and myself and we went.

and then, because no wet and freezing cold pumpkin collecting excursion would ever be complete without it, they served ice cream.

They did that last year, too. Both in the fall, and in the spring. I don’t get it. All three times that I have been to this The Farm, it has been cold, wet, and ice creamed. Everyone involved would much prefer a “complimentary” cup of hot chocolate, I’m sure.

After claiming our pumpkins, we came home to a house that, for some reason, didn’t feel like cleaning itself while I was gone. Dang. So I played on the computer for a little bit until I was tired of being climbed on. Then I put on my pajamas, and laid in bed for about 30 minutes until I was able to suck it up and resume my endless life of cleaning and cooking.

I deserve a knitting day. I am going to take one if at all possible.

If you’d like a scenic shot void of people, click the link

For our date on Saturday, Nate took me to some of the Seattle yarn shops I hadn’t been to yet. First, we went to Hilltop Yarn where he bought me two Rebecca’s, the new one, and issue 26 which contains the pattern to one of his favorites….

Nate is all about racing stripes.

Then we went to The Fiber Gallery where they have some gorgeous navy Silky Wool that looks to be nearly perfect for Abby’s Harry Potter sweater. I’m thinking about heading back there at some point to get it. We were going to go to Weaving Works after that, but I needed to get back to the eastside, and our baby sitter was going to have to leave. So we hit Quizno’s for lunch and headed home. I turned right around and left again, but Nate sneakily took the girls BACK into Seattle, went to Weaving Works, and bought the Alpaca Silk book for me. (Yummy. I really, really like some of those sweaters.) What a guy! I’m a bit speechless, really. He said that they have a bunch of spinning wheels there, so I simply HAVE to go check it out. They offer classes. I’m very excited by this.

I am. I enjoy the knitting, but this is truly taking forever, and my sights have long been set on new things. I can’t wait to see this sweater on my mom, and I’m determined to get it done as soon as possible. There is a considerable line up of new projects behind it. The following is definitely NOT in any semblance of order.

1. I’ve found some yarn I want to use to make the Flower Basket Shawl from the Fall IK. I think I’m even going to get my friend Gayle to knit along with me. Any other takers? I know there was another knitalong for this project, but it looks to me like it’s closed to newbies. Mine will be an informal knitalong, for sure.

2. My sister-in-law wants a poncho, and I’ve already bought the yarn and swatched for it. She’s moving in a month, so I’d like to have it at least started before she goes.

3. My brother-in-law that resides in Italy wants a satchel-type bag thingy with a strap. I’m going to have to make it up, and he won’t give me specifics on what he wants. He asked for it at the beginning of August.

4. I have promised, and still really want, to host a REAL knitalong for my Slipped Garter Stitch Hats. (Although it needs a better name. Any suggestions?). I’m wearing mine as I type. It is my own pattern, (except for the stitch itself, which came from a book. But the hat is mine), and I love, LOVE, LOVE the thing. Now that it’s chilly outside and in, I need it in a few more colors so I can wear one everyday. It’s amazingly comfortable, amazingly cute, and I really like it, too. :-).

5. I want to knit and felt Nate a pair of clogs. I’d like a pair for myself while I’m at it.

6. I’d like to finish my daisy swatch/scarf (see sidebar if curious)

7. I’d like to knit the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl I blogged about last week. Oh, and the Lily of the Valley shawl, can’t forget that.

8. I have a bunch of beautiful, brown Icelandic Lopi wool marked for a cardigan for myself.

9. I promised Veronica I’d make HER a poncho, considering she’s the only female in the house without one.

10. There’s Olivia’s and Veronica’s dolls.

11. Socks.

and, and, and……. ok, I’m done. I’m sure that if I continued thinking, I could come up with at least 20 more, but that’s just depressing, so I’m stopping here. There are undoubtedly some I’m forgetting, and I’ll remember them in an hour or so I’m sure.

Last night, while at my in-laws house, there was a magnificent rainbow.

Good morning all. I had someone ask me yesterday what I was doing to lose weight. Then she said, “because it’s obvious you’ve lost weight”. Isn’t that nice? I think I’m just barely at a point where it is noticeable. I’ve had a few people say things, but mostly family and close friends, not casual acquaintances until yesterday.

I’ve had a really bad week for exercising. Last week was as near to perfect as I could get, this week was pretty bad. I have some viable excuses, such as my knee has been bothering me, it makes sense not to push it, so I gave it a break. However, my weight lifting doesn’t affect my knee whatsoever and I haven’t been doing that either.

Monday, I did 50 minutes on the treadmill.
Tuesday, I did 50 minutes of treadmill and lower body weights.
Wednesday and Thursday I did nothing.
Friday, I did 50 minutes on the treadmill again.
Today, I really hope I get the opportunity to do all three. (Treadmill and upper and lower weights.)

The scale says that I’m up 2 pounds from last week, but I’m still well under 225, and that’s all that really matters to me today. Considering what a rotten week I’ve had (and I say that because I ate a WHOLE lot of junk this week in combination with slacking on the exercise) I’m happy it’s only 2.

Here’s an interesting bit of information…. My skin has been extremely oily for a few weeks or more. I can’t remember ever having oily skin. Really oily. I can only hope it is fat coming off my tummy, riding the bloodstream, and then jumping ship out my face. I had an initial breakout when it first started awhile ago, but since then, I’ve been pretty clear.

Alright, this week is going to be better. I’m not going to sabotage my progress and hard work. I’m going to eat great and exercise my butt off. My knee will not bother me. Say it with me, “Your knee will not bother you.” Excellent, thanks. It doesn’t hurt bad enough that I can’t exercise, but I’m afraid that a low grade pain, if pushed, will become a bad pain/injury, and I sure as heck don’t want that.

How’s it going out there?

Today is going to be nuts. I have a million things to do. One of those things, the last of those things, is going to be working at Columbine Yarns this evening, starting at 4. I wonder if anyone is going to come for knitting group tonight?

Yesterday, I went back to the yarn warehouse and bought all of the unspun yarn they had in the same brown color that I bought the first time. I now have mountains of brown yarn in my living room. I spent a lot of time swatching it for Mari’s poncho last night, and it is bizarre stuff. It is made up of three small strands of unspun wool, and if you pull on it at all, it breaks.

Once it is knit, it’s strong, and it looks just like the spun stuff knit up, but I have to be REALLY careful with it in the meantime.

I also worked on the sleeve to mom’s sweater yesterday. Putting markers on the increase row really helps. I don’t mind knitting it so much now.

Thanks Gayle, for the idea. You’re brilliant. Speaking of brilliant, Gayle is also knitting the Brioche Hat from Weekend Knitting. It is the coolest thing, and it looks really complex. I’m impressed.

Happy birthday TO YOU! Happy birthday TO YOU!!! Happy BIRTHDAY dear mom, Gaila, and grandmaaaaaaaaa. Happy birth-day tooo youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!! Yay! Confetti everywhere!

While I wish that I had a finished sweater to show you, I unfortunately don’t. But here’s a picture of the monkeys.

And here are their artistic interpretations of the term, “birthday gift”.

This is Veronica’s Totoro

This is Abby’s cat

And this is Olivia’s portrait of the two of you

Happy birthday, mom! I hope it is glorious, and that your co-workers buy you donuts! Do you have a Krispy Kreme down there yet? Love ya. And if you want to hear me complain about the photo shoot yesterday, click the link.

That’s all. Just sleeve knitting. While it is faster than the body, it is still slow going. Plus, I’ve decided that I hate sleeve increases. I don’t know exactly why. There is no logical reason, but I hate them. I never space them right. And in ribbing, it’s harder to see where I increased last, so as to know where the next increase row should be. I know, I’m whining. It’s just that as I was knitting today, I remembered how much I hated the sleeve increases on Nate’s Manly Sweater, which is the only other sleeved sweater I have knit, and I realized that it must be the process, not just this sweater.

Wanna see what I want to knit now? I realize that I do this. I show a picture of a lovely, stating I want to knit it, and then you never see nor hear of it again. Well, Savannahchick was blogging about one of my favorite drooling books recently, and I had to go to my bookshelf and look at it once again. From this book, I have knit this….. (except mine has the optional eyelet panels).

I even wear it. It is beautiful. Mine is a fabulous cranberry red, and I have yet to figure out how to adequately photograph it which is why you’re getting the book shot. What I want to knit now is this….

LOVE it! It would take FOREVER! And there’s still the Lily of the Valley shawl that I’ve swatched for, but need to buy the remaining yarn to knit. Lace is tremendously enjoyable to knit, and a heck of a lot more difficult that sleeve increases. Don’t ask me what my problem is.