Turning the page

I'm sure many of you have heard that phrase once or twice (and very often during this election season). My experience with it recently came by way of a shawl that I endeavored to create. I just remembered that I own one of the very wonderful Barbara Walker Treasury of Knitting Patterns book -


I decided to try one of the lovely lace stitch patterns for an over sized stole that I plan to wear to my library's annual luncheon. I had just gifted myself nearly 750 yards of some delicious Habu yarn that I bought for a mere $20 bucks from Purlsoho.

After about 3 repeats of a 12 line pattern my lace didn't look anything like the picture.





What could possibly be wrong? I began to wonder about my lace knitting skills, could I be so lame after all of these years and not know it?

Then, in an attempt to find a more mindless lace pattern, I turned the page and Voila! There were 18 more lines to the dang pattern!

Now that's much better

There were other surprises to my weekend. I turned 49 and that feels as bad as I imagined it would. A blizzard blew in out of the blue




and screwed up any attempt at fun canceling a weekend trip to Boston that was to include a basketball tournament (yeah big whoop). I had dreams of lunching on Boston clam chowder and touring yarn stores while my son ran around some basketball bubble. Instead, I got to be tormented by the child because I decided not to risk my way too old life and drive among New England's historically bad drivers in 20 degree weather on 2 feet of snow!

In the end, I managed to divert my attentions by watching the rerun of the Obama/Clinton debate.



National politics is sometimes a lot kinder than the dirty tricks my 13 year threatened me with if we didn't at least try to drive to Boston.

I'm not ashamed to say that I ignored him while I instead yelled at the TV, jabbing points with my needles and otherwise pretending that I could solve the nation's problems if only my son would stop whining about his bad fortune for have a wussy mother who is afraid to drive in a blizzard.

Knitting is my salvation for now, look what I got done in just a couple of hours!

Lamb's pride bulky, 2.5 skeins

If only I could stop pondering what it feels like to be as old as my mother. I guess I'll just turn the page on that one.

It's all Ravelry's fault

So, I'm minding my own business, checking out the pages over on Ravelry when someone posts a picture of some Peaches & Cream dishcloth yarn. It caused me such a dilemma. I had sold off most of my dishcloth yarn some months ago and thought I'd give that fad a rest for a while.

Alas, I couldn't resist those colorways


Those people over at Elmore-Pisgah must have used magic to process my order because I got my package in just a couple of days. And, to make matters worse, I learned that their plant is in North Carolina, the grand state where my son's tuition payments goes! Now, I can't wait for Homecoming weekend!

I did set some rules with this repeat fad. I must churn out a bunch now. So check out what I've done so far. Instant gratification love:

I made several Valentine's themed cloths to give away

Mary Anne over on Miss Wolly Knits shares her lovely Feather and Fan recipe. It is a breeze to knit. I could make these all day.

I've always admired Hakucho's ball band cloths so I thought I'd give it a try myself

Chairpads are now in my future!

And a whole lot of knitting going on

As you all are well aware by now, I'm stuck sitting around a lot. I sit for hours watching my boys play basketball. I sit in lots of school and community meetings. So, I get to knit a lot. This week alone, I totaled over 10 hours of meetings and games. So what did I get done??

My LYS had a few balls of Rowan Ribbon Twist in the 40% sale bin. The trick for me is to USE THE YARN RIGHT AWAY. I made the tam the same afternoon.

My weird and wonky cables

I finished up my second pair of Dashing using this fabulous Zara yarn that I bought the same day I met two blogger buddies for the first time - Ina and Monica. Monica, who works at Stix-n-Stitches and hosts the group over on Ravelry, told me about the first Ravelry meetup at her store in Montclair.

There, as I was leaving, I met Ina -

She called me by my name having recognized me from my blog. As I looked beyond her bicycle helmet, I realized who she might be because Ina often blogs about her bike riding adventures! So cool.

Over at my LYS, Close Knit in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, Jen, was finishing up her pinwheel sweater. It was soooo nice, I said to myself, "self, you should make one for ourselves." And so I am.

After miles of veritgo inducing, ever expanding stitches for that dang pinwheel sweater, I decided to try something a bit more fun. I had a few skeins of Silk Garden in the ol' stash so me and my ADD self, started this simple tank top from Vogue's Winter '04 edition.

Ribbed U-Neck Vest

And speaking of knitting stores, I saw this great blocking board and table over at the Skein Attraction in Teaneck, NJ that I've been saving my pennies to buy. I hope to pick it up this weekend so I can block the vest and seam it up.

Last but not least is my 3rd pair of Dashing. The yarn, Bernat's Cashmere, inspired by Beate's friend,Erin.

Properly placed cables

This weekend, if all goes well, I'll get some reading done(Free Lunch, David Cay Johnston) and a few Valentines Day dishcloths I'm making for Mom.