Bad knitting week and some garden babble

Earlier this week I had a mishap with my sock and I couldn't fix the error. I frogged it.

A couple days ago, after six hours of work (not consecutive, of course) I had a misshap with my stole. Not my fault. But I was in the middle of a row in the project and the stole got flipped and a needle pulled out. No way of fixing it.

So that's been frogged.

What is up with the week?

And the stole is the first project where I have really felt the pain of having to rip something back. I was just starting to see the pattern and I'm just so excited to have this piece done so I can wear it.

The sock I started over again last night but I didn't get too far into it. The good news about the sock is that I've learned how to use Judy's magic cast on. I went to the knitty.com article and learned it. I tried watching the Cat Bordhi video on youtube. But honestly, all the talk about the vine, the sideways clock and the funny voices didn't do anything to help me learn this technique. Plus it was slow moving. I think I would have understood it better if it flowed faster. But that's me.

Well, I'm not sure how much knitting I'm gonna get accomplished this next week. I get to start showing the new people at work the ropes and routine of putting the paper out. I also intend to start getting more exercise in so the knitting is going to be put a bit further down on the list for a while.

Meanwhile, my garden seems to be doing good. DH mentioned how I used to be so proud of my garden and how I used to take all kinds of photos, which is true. I haven't taken much photos this year. This year I've got all these baby Jacob's Ladder popping up.

Since having a child and always having to mind what he's doing outside (and not running out into the street) I've been kind of lax on the photo taking and garden care. Gardening was my first passion. But the last four years I haven't been able to concentrate on it.

The green houses around here have not too much of a selection this year. I haven't gone to the higher end green houses yet. But I'm sure they are pricier. This coming fall/spring I intend to give it yet one more shot on starting plants indoors. Seeing Chrissy's success at the indoor stuff has just spurned me on. I certainly have the space. I have the lighting. It's no longer freezing in our house during the winter. I have no excuse. DH has even encouraged me and reminded me that I have two greenhouses, lol. The only thing I have to lose is the investment of time and the money I put into buying the seeds.

Today I am so proud of myself

I work for a weekly newspaper. Since January I've been "it."

Yesterday I went to priest and trans. deacon ordination and today I put all that together and finished a 16-page tabloid newspaper. Not to mention that fact that I sold all the congratulatory ads for this issue. Out of 16 pages I had almost 4 pages of various sized ads that I had to find places for. It's like a puzzle fitting all those ads together.

This from someone who had no training whatsoever in page layouts or Quark software. I have basically plunged into doing page layouts and literally done this by the seat of my pants and learned as I went. I am very proud of myself and feel a great sense of accomplishment in this.

It's been a tough and sometimes rocky road, especially towards the end. I have had a lot of support from people at my workplace and from those higher up in the ranks. May wasn't an easy month because of all the illness in the household and one issue I ended up putting together in twelve hours because I was home sick almost that whole week. Unless you've been in this line of work I don't think you can truly appreciate what it's like.

My mettle has been tested and I have passed.

To celebrate my "grand finale" if you will, I went out and bought a Sara Lee cheesecake to
eat. This is the (hopefully) last paper I have to plan and layout by myself.

On the knitting front, I'm just a few rounds away from starting the gusset and heel on a toe up sock.


It's the "riding on the metro"sock pattern from Wendyknit's new book.

I'm really liking this pattern so far. I just wish I had more time to work on it.

I'm getting ready to start the first panel on the Float Stole. However, I left it at work so I can't show my progress so far. It's not a lot to look at so far. Just six long rows of garter stitch. :-)

Another May FO ~ Lacy mock cable cloth

Pattern is here.


Rather than take a picture of the FO, I scanned it. I'm pleased at how well it showed up. You can see the detail much better. Not sure if I will keep scanning things, but I'm glad I did for this one.

And yes, I know I'm a bit late in posting it since now it's June. The color is almost blaze orange. I was going to make a Halloween washcloth and make a pumpkin cloth, but I wasn't able to find a pattern that really grabbed me. I seen this pattern and knew I had to make it, lol.

New project ~ Float stole

I seen the Float stole pattern in the IK Spring 2009 issue and I just fell in love with the pattern. To me it was beauty in simplicity. Very elegant. A classic look if you will.

The only that held me back so far was the pleats in the pattern. I have never made pleats before. I searched for information and couldn't come up with anything. One of my online buddies urged me to keep the pleats in the pattern when I mentioned maybe making the pattern without the pleats. So I sent a call out for help in finding a how-to and I had the idea to contact the designer and see if she knew of any tutorials. She got back to me fairly quickly and later sent me some instructions and information. Thanks to her and another friend I was able to swatch last night and make a pleat. Yay!


Thanks to the information the designer sent me I realized I was doing the lifeline incorrectly. I also learned how to insert a lifeline through the back of the item.


Tomorrow, I cast on!

May vanilla socks

I finished these socks last week. My first official toe up socks. I really like making socks this way. I love the fact that I don't have to wiggle the circs around when you get to making the gusset and turning the heel.

I've started another pair of socks from Wendy Johnson's new book. The "Riding the Metro" pattern, I believe. Naturally I've already made an oops, but I was sure to make a note of this so I can do the same thing in the second sock. I'm almost through with the first repeat.

cold brew coffee revisted

I forgot to post an update after I tried the cold brew coffee. It's really good. I can't drink it black, but I can use *WAY* less creamer for it. It is much smoother. In fact, I tried to pawn some off on my MIL and she was having none of that, lol. She's strictly a drip brew coffee gal.

I followed the recipe Meghan from the StitchIt! podcast posted on her Web site.