Sunday, October 26, 2008

October Surprise!

Surprise Cindy!

I'm actually writing a blog entry! Little did I know how prophetic the title of my last entry would be. In the last month I've become such a slacker in writing. Having my cousin stay with us for two weeks put me in a weird funk and even though he's been gone for about a month I haven't had the motivation to write.


I finally finished DH's sweater a couple of weeks ago. It took me seven months to finish it and I got it done about a month after the UFOlympics close up. I'm really happy with it. The yarn is heavier than called for in the pattern so I knit my gauge swatch and used that to calculate how many stitches I'd need for various parts of it. My only problem was that I didn't get the wrap stitch right on the purled short rows so I have a series of small holes where the wraps occur. I'll probably go back with some matching yarn and stitch those up so they don't show. There's 6 of them I believe so it's not too bad, and they're all on the right-had side.

Here is a charming wrist warmer pattern called Del Mar I found on Ravelry. The yarn is a lovely alpaca-silk blend that I got a Tuesday Morning earlier this summer. I call my version Foggy Morning as it looks like waves on a beach on a foggy day. I'm not sure if I'll keep them or if they'll be a Christmas present for either my mom or my MIL.

My final picture tonight is my version of the scarf on Ravelry called "October is For Spinners". It has a large spider knit in the center bottom. Her you can see four of the legs and the start of the body. Right now I have two strands of yarn held together but farther up I'll drop one of them and then start working on progressively larger needles to give it a drapey, cob-webby look about it. I'm excited about it.
I signed up a couple of weeks ago to do a Mystery Spin-along at Tempe Yarn. I haven't gotten the fiber yet but should in about a week or so. The actual spinning starts on November 8. We'll have 3 clues a week and will finish up the first week in December. A Meal is the theme for the spin-along since the store owners' daughter just finished culinary school. I'll try to post pictures as it progresses. At the end we will have a show-and-tell get together at the store to see what everyone has spun.

Part of the reason I've been slacking on posting the last month or so is that I've gotten caught up in the election. Each evening once DH has gone to bed I sit up and watch Countdown on MSNBC.com. I've gotten really addicted to it. I've also been reading a lot of Huffington Post and watching Daily Show and Colbert Report. Sometimes the fake-news shows are better than the real news. I am knitting a shawl out of Patons SWS in a blue and tan colorway that I hope to have done in time to wear on election day. If not, I will have it ready to wear on inauguration day.

We were up to visit DH's parents this weekend. They are doing okay although his dad has gotten pretty frail the last couple of months. He has PD and rheumatoid arthritis so he's been having more trouble getting around. He is only 73 and still has a very sharp mind but the body has lost it's vitality. DH's grandmother will be 96 at the beginning of March. She went through a bad spell for a while, was on hospice care for 15 months, but has recently started eating more and is getting a bit better. She was taken off hospice care last month and now her care-givers think she could hang on for a lot longer.

My parents have been doing pretty good. Last time I talked to them Dad thought he might retire at the end of the year. He will be 65 in March and still hasn't really got back all his energy after his surgeries this past spring. He is more than ready to quit working and take it easy. Mom will probably work another year until her 65th birthday. They would like to do the snowbird thing between down here and their lake place. It would be nice to have them down here some.

I guess I should finish this off and head to bed. More soon, take care, A

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Yay!! An excellent post and an excellent sweater. Your DH would be getting lots of use out of it here: we had our 1st snow showers Sunday and Monday. Really gets me in a knitty mood!

I also love your other projects and will be looking those patterns up on Ravelry (how did we do without it?? :) Glad to get the family update too.

Here's my short update: Our families doing well except for one pair (my uncle & aunt, more soon) and the fact that the kids' flu shots are the bane of my existence. Fall has been busy so far but should be a bit calmer now that soccer is done, flu shots are done, and Halloween is here! We are looking forward to that of course. We have also been following the election fairly closely and are glad it is almost here. I voted early with DD in tow to stay out of the long lines.

A real post from me soon too! C