Bron's Blog II

Galena?

When I got to the join row on the 4-S vest, I realized I'd lost a shell somewhere. Phooey! So - I used the frogging opportunity to change yarns:

The is some Pakucho Cotton I received all the way from Down Under and the darling Nat. :) I've been waiting to find the right pattern and this is definitely it! I have 10 skeins, however, unlike the 8 skeins I have of the Garnstudio's "Paris" that I received from the lovely Silja. Soooo...I'm thinking from the green I'll make Galena:

and then go back and make the 4-S vest from the Paris with black accents at the sleeves and around the neckline & hem. With black buttons to boot:

The black (I'm thinking CE's new "Charcoal") would tone down the bright pink and the edging would give it a Chanel feel. :)

Decisions, decision, eh? I'm thrilled to be crocheting from stash too. :) The only thing I need to buy is one skein of Charcoal CE and I'll have two FO's.

Well....I do need to buy about 11 skeins of Caron's Simply Soft "Shadows" to make this:

But honestly, who but me is keeping track, right? ::wink::

My FIL's sale is going very well. We'll actually clear a few thousand from the deal AND have the house cleared out too. :) We're listing it for sale with the estate agent for 4% commission. If she does well, we might list our old house with her too.

In the meantime, this week we're having a big dumpster delivered to our old house for the yard clean-up & trash haul-away. At least things are still moving forward!

I've been reading a great book in my spare time that I'll be reviewing this week. Um - those of a religious bent won't like it so plan on skipping at least one of my posts soon. ::wink:: However, the 4 atheists who read my blog best stay tuned! LOL

Hope everyone's having a great weekend. :) I'm perky 'cause I've actually gotten some sleep. Yay!

Full Circle

My father-in-law's sale started yesterday:

In the end it's depressing how quickly your house, with all your precious possessions, becomes just like everyone else's house, with all their precious possessions of a lifetime.

We saved a few more things - things we didn't find but the estate people did. My FIL's solid gold Merchant Marine's ring, his wedding ring, my MIL's high school class ring....

Ultimately we still feel like we didn't do enough, didn't save enough. Even though looking around our house I swear half of the furniture & "things" are from my FIL.

It's just so f**cking hard to see.

Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan

Let me cut to the chase: It's definitely worth the price.

I was terribly disappointed with her last book - the patterns were based on doilies & done in bulky yarn - not me at all! So I ordered this one with a bit of trepidation.

To my relief, the patterns in here are accessible, wearable and very, very doable. ;) Each builds on the other in a very interesting way. For example, I decided to make the "4-S Vest" last night:

So to begin the pattern tells me to "make the same as Insight to completion of body." I turn to Insight:

And the pattern tells me to "work the same as Galena through join row." Here's Galena:

And here's my progress:

I love top down raglans in crochet - especially Doris Chan's designs. They crochet up quickly and are alway flattering (except the whole bulky yarn thing in her last book! IMO, of course. ::wink::)

This little vest shouldn't take me long at all & I'll even make my own buttons. Kind of a trial run before Ariann.

In "Everyday Crochet" the shell patterns you use are the same in each section with different finishes to distinguish the sweaters. It really make customizing (one of the main points of the book) very easy.

Gee - I just sold some Caron Simply Soft Shadows and now it looks like I need to buy more:

You can make this sweater with or without the large collar and sleeve ribbing. She also advises how to make it more and less form fitting. Basically she does this on every project - very nice for those who aren't yet sure how to adjust patterns for a custom fit.

I love this book and (gasp!) it might finally be the impetus I needed to present you all with an FO!

I know, I know - let's not get ahead of ourselves. ::wink:::

Our Night Blooming Cereus...Bloomed!

Here's a link to some info on the plant. Ours blooms once every 4 years:

And, as the article says, the bloom is gone by morning:

We've had these plants 12 years and this is the 3rd time we've seen the bloom. :) Hey- it doesn't take much to excite us!

Now - on to reviews. I recently purchased Vogue's Crocheted Shawls on the Go:

and IK's Crochet:

Shawls On The Go is a great book if you like motif crochet. There are lots of "join as you go" type of shawls like the one pictured on the cover. Although I usually don't like that type of project, I just might make this one:

There are plenty of other types, too. A couple of broomstick shawls, some fugly ones like this:

(Why I'd want to wear a 70s throw rug over my shoulders, I don't know!) but I liked this one:

And this one:

And this one, although I doubt I'd ever have the patience to make it:

I think it's definitely worth the price if you like crochet, like shawls, and are looking for something a bit different.

IK Crochet I would buy whether I wanted and of the patterns or not. I've said before that I'm a firm believer in putting my money where my mouth is & supporting new & innovative crochet. Luckily there were a few sweaters that caught my eye. I liked the blouson effect here:

And Annette's contribution is really lovely:

Very simple & feminine. The cords at the sleeve cuff gathering them in is a nice touch. :)

I like Lily Chin's offering (although I'd need to lose another 20 pounds before wearing a peplum!):

But...the neckline in this shot kinda concerns me:

Is the model scrunching her shoulders enough to make it gap like that? Or is the neckline just a little too loose? Hmmmm.... Maybe the sweater's just a bit big for her.

I had another bad night & bad day yesterday but went ahead & struggled through school. I could've had today off (at least I was offered it yesterday afternoon) but a job popped up overnight so I'll suck it up & go. I was subbing a couple of days for a gal with the flu and I'm afraid some of her germs may have been lingering in the classroom! I'm crossing my fingers I won't be down for the count.

Although, since my FIL was taken again to emergency yesterday I'm thinking my problem is stress, not germs. Sigh.

Whew! Gotta run!

6th Time The Charm?

At least it's a multiple of three.

I truly did start & re-start Juliet 6 times. Different yarn:

Different needles sizes (10 1/2 through 13), all coming out way too thick - kinda like a throw rug:

There's just no way I could envision wearing that top bit over my bust and have it look right. (Although my gauge was spot on - I was so desperate, I checked!!) Obviously the worsted weight I was doubling (Cotton Ease, All Seasons Cotton) was too thick - I needed to double a light worsted weight. But - I had none in "stock" so......

I'm doing something different. I'm knitting a garter raglan sweater on size 10 1/2 needles with one strand of CE. I'm not calling it Juliet because it's not going to be anything like it when I'm done. I have an idea - we'll see if it pans out. I'll post pix when I'm a bit farther along. In the meantime, Juliet is on hold like Fifi (and Cherie Amour) until I can find yarn that will work. Sigh.

However, I do have a couple of FOs to show. Here are my clay beads strung as a necklace:

And here's a set I call "Blue Moons":

It's hard to tell, but the earring pins have moonstones set at the bottom:

It's all made of real (dyed) blue shells and silver beads. I'll be wearing the set today. It certainly makes you feel more like going to work when you have something new to sport. Besides, I want to test the "wearablity" factor before I give any of these away as gifts.

Happy Monday! I picked up a couple of books/mags I'd like to talk about next time: IK Crochet, Crochet Shawls On The Go, and a beading magazine. Oh yeah - and one of these days I'll talk about how I keep getting reminded we all never really left 2nd grade. You know- as far as how people at work act. I'll bet the majority of you know what I'm talking about. ::wink::

A Long-Sleeved Juliet?

I started Cherie Amour last night (like Nancy I was dying to cast on) but found that the Araucania Nature Cotton was a little to light in gauge for the pattern. Leisel, once you mentioned the weird measurements on Cherie Amour I read it all again. I see your point about the larger sizes - something is probably off somewhere. I ended up deciding to go with a size large. The bust & hip would be about right & I can't believe the waist is as small as the pattern states! I figure if worse comes to worst, I can always add a couple of ribs to make it fit:

Even though I only got a few rows done (after spending a freaking half an hour trying to wind that yarn in a ball!!!) I can tell the pattern would be too loosey-goosey:

I de-bulked my stash a couple of years ago so I have nothing that would work with size 13 needles. The only yarn I have enough of to use doubled is Rowan All Seasons Cotton:

However I think it would work better for Juliet.

Speaking of which, I agree with Luni that it's young & cute looking. I may be cute but I ain't young. hehehe  Sooooo...I'm thinking 3/4 to long sleeves would de-cute it a bit. As would a single clasp like Jane mentioned - maybe something Celtic-y? Or I could leave the front plain & close it with one of the shawl pins I got awhile ago. Wanda, a poofiness factor might appear in the lace portion of the sweater if the yarn isn't heavy enough to drape well. Plus the fact that large-scale garter tends to look big on anyone, as Andrea pointed out.   

Hmmmmmm.....decisions! I think I'll try the Rowan for Juliet, but my real problem is finding a large-gauge yarn for Cheri Amour that's cotton or a cotton blend. Oh yeah - and a yarn that won't cost me an arm and a leg too. I really, really wanted to use stash for that one but......

Well - I have turquoise or red CE, but those colors just wouldn't be right for the sweater.

In the meantime, Colin is no longer waiting patiently for his blanket. Every day he points out the thread bare condition of his old one & wonders when his mother will EVER get around to putting his new quilt together. I did buy more bent safety pins last week so I WILL  get that thing layered this weekend!

FYI - I'm using my Denise set for Cherie Amour because I was an idiot & didn't try my Knit Picks Options size 13's when I purchased them. When I tried to tighten them on the cable last night, they wouldn't. The needles just catch for a minute & then go on turning. Sigh. Of course it's too late to return them now, but once again I'll warn everyone - make sure you test the needles on the cables when you buy them! About 10% of the time I've had a problem with the connections. In fact, I'm off now to test my other large size needles. If none of them work, I'll be really unhappy. :(

Does This Make My Butt Look Big???

Ha! Made ya look. ::wink::

But the title does tie in with this:

And this:

I was cleaning out my knitting basket last night & realized I was never going to finish Blue Sesame. I'm just NOT a stripe person and if I ever did go that route, I think I'd do smaller ones. (Yeah  - I know I already finished the back & part of a front. At least I realized I didn't like it before I finished it. That's progress! hehe)

All that CE brought Juliet to mind. (The longer version, not the one I've pictured.) I know a couple of people are making this with CE doubled and I've been wondering if the pattern would be right for me, even though I went ahead and bought it a couple weeks ago in a fit of enthusiasm.

Would it be too poofy? That's my main concern. I figure it probably would have enough weight when done with double CE or I have plenty of skeins of Araucania Nature Cotton that might work, although the thick/thin yarn would totally change the look of the sweater.

Hmmmmm.....

Then there's Cherie Amour over at Knitty. My Nature Cotton might work for that one too.

Can you tell I'm looking for a quick knit fix??? LOL

It's turned cold & rainy here:

So it's time for ham & bean soup:

Although this ham I'll leave out of the pot:

Dylan loves the rain even more than I do. ;)

I know I'm woefully behind in answering emails. I'm going to try & catch up this weekend. Daniela - I'm so glad the package arrived! Your email is one of the first I'll be answering - promise!

As far as the other stuff going on... We're getting bids on cleaning up the old house, FIL's Dr. had no answers for us & didn't seem to be bothered by anything that's going on, work is....bizarre and hectic. I might even talk about it next week because it IS so weird! Sigh.

Have a GREAT weekend & I'll be back tomorrow with actual knitting.....probably. ::big wink::

Slooooowly, but surely

Ariann is progressing. I've made it past the decreasing and now, aside from a few buttonholes, it's straight knitting for awhile:

Of course I love knitting with CE but I will say that this skein had way too many knots (3) for my liking. I seldom run into knots with this yarn and they managed to show up at inconvenient places. Sigh.

No school yesterday (In-service) so I experimented with my clay and made some fake lapis lazuli:

Lots of blue, a little black, and gold leaf. It came out pretty well for my first try. I'm going to make some funky leather thong necklace with the head & beads. I also used a bead roller for the first time and it turned out to be a little trickier than I thought. It took me awhile to make serviceable beads and even then they weren't "uniform" as the packaging breathlessly promises. But again - I need to practice. :)

Other stuff in a nutshell:

Our big screen TV has been acting up for months so we finally got it in to be repaired. No word, yet, on the damages.

My FIL made an appt. at his regular doctor for the 28th (sheesh) so Doug rescheduled for Thurs. No-one at the hospital made any attempt to explain anything to us (I doubt they knew or cared what causes his black-outs) so we're back to square one. As I've said, it took 48 hours to be seen by a Dr. in the hospital and then it was just for discharge.

I have a sneaking suspicion that even if he'd been actively dying they would've let him alone because he's almost 88.

So - We'll see what happens Thurs.

We got a bid on cleaning up the grounds of our old house through a guy that works for our real estate agent. $2,200!!! I don't THINK so! Our agent was real snotty when I told him we were going to get other bids so guess what? He's our EX real estate agent.

Jerk.

I set up appts. with 2 tree-trimmers/weed control companies over the next 2 days & then we'll have a guy we've used before come out on Sat. to also give us a bid. In the meantime, today I'll be talking to a gal at work - she told me awhile ago she knows an agent who works for 3%, buying the house if she doesn't sell it.

Things just might be looking up!

Happy Hump Day!

Autumn In New Mexico

That's the snazzy title I chose for this earring & necklace set:

Here's what it looks like on (I didn't tell Colin to crop out my face - I guess he took me literally when I said, "Focus on the jewelry!"):

The set is made from turquoise and carnelian beads with Hill Tribes silver leaf beads.

I also made these earrings:

and here they are on:

Again, Hill Tribes silver leaves with carnelian beads. I love 'em!

Arnold was a very paws-on assistant:

I've got to tell you all that I LOVED my massage on Sunday. So much so that I bought a membership. ::Grin::: I'd forgotten just how wonderful it feels. (Honestly, I feel like I had an attitude adjustment too.) However, I booked another therapist for next time - the one I had just wouldn't stop talking! Everything from the fact that she's an avid football fan to the fact that her cousin is 6' 8", the woman felt compelled to give me her life story and then some. Periodically she'd ask if I was relaxing. I felt like saying, "Well, if you'd just shut up....." Sheesh.

I booked a man for next time and I'm hoping he's a man of few words!

My FIL is home, but still very unsteady and his hip hurts him badly. He swears he must have fractured it in the fall he took last week but the hospital didn't check it out while he was there. (It took 48 hours to see a Dr. there - don't get me started!) So Doug needs to take him in to his regular Dr. today or tomorrow to check the hip & see about "needing" a nurse to visit. (There's a blood-thinner drug that has to be injected. If the Dr. prescribes it, voila! A nurse has to come every day.)

In other news, the boys & I had some retail therapy at Best Buy yesterday. They bought games (Bioshock for Dylan & the Resident Evil 3-pack for Colin) and so did I:

Dylan doesn't play his PSP - he prefers all things Nintendo & his XBox 360, so I bought "300" and borrowed it.

Sometimes the only thing that makes you feel better is bloodshed & flying heads. ;) Now - if I can only figure out how to kill the elephant!

Sorry Folks

My head just isn't in blogging right now.

Doug's Dad was in the hospital a couple of days and he's still very shaky although he's home now. At one point is blood pressure was 193/93 and, as he put it, he was afraid he would "depart this world." We're having a parley next week with his friend's children (the friend he moved in with) about what to do with both of them. The lady is so far gone with dementia or Alzheimer's that within a few minutes she forgot she was at the hospital with Doug for over 12 hours.

She left 27 messages on my father-in-law's answering machine wondering where he was. All in one day.

So - aside from being in a knitting slump of a sort, my head is spinning from the stress of the decisions that have to be made. Assisted living, whether in the home or IN a Home won't be welcomed by either of them. And I'm putting it mildly. I'm having flashbacks to the mess that was my parent's situation and I'm not liking it at all.

There's been progress on Ariann and I'm working on some jewelry pieces. I'll share when I have something decent to show - give me a day or two. :)