Not sure this is a good sign

I'm going with 4's for the Glimmer. Nice hand, good variegation but ....
The gauge is 6.66 sts per in.

Glimmer

At soccer practice working on gauge swatch for my Paper Crane inspired cardigan.








The colors are richer and fuller than they look here. Hand will be important so I'm working Glimmer in 2,3, and 4. Meanwhile Kinsale dries on the back porch.

Sorry

I thought after last weekends soccer tournament I would have finished Kinsale. Clearly I underestimated it's tiny gauge and intense darkness. Oh well this weekend - I just finished the back shoulders so speeding up.
I went crazy and splurged on some Juliespins Glimmer and I can't wait to start working with it. Oh wait, another tiny gauge, dark colored .... Clearly I'm a masochistic with a narrow track mind.
Well for fun, here's someone taking a bath and someone else who finds him tasty.





Sad day when you can't play with your Legos without getting licked.
Have a nice weekend!

Last of the new windows and a new back door

It's hard to appreciate how much better this if you hadn't seen our old door and gross window...

Necklace and earrings

Leopard Jasper, garnet, tiger eye glass and gold beads. I need a model - this doesn't do the colors justice.

Day not at work

But not exactly off either.  Dentist, termite inspection, cleaning dryer vents, washing the floor.
One nice thing about cleaning the dryer vents this time.  For one thing, it wasn't very dirty so it took only a few minutes.  For another, I've mastered taking down the laundry closet doors without killing myself or hitting walls.  Lastly, I'm both stronger and skinnier than the last time I did this, I was able to wrangle the things no problem and slip back there to undo the vent hose with no twisting or getting caught.  Old age doesn't have to suck I suppose.
If I get all my chores done, maybe I'll make something and take a picture of it.

Finally some action shots

Thanks Urban Farm Wife for taking my picture outside today. I think these give the best sense of the colors of all my pictures so far.

Blocking!

Very carefully, cool water no soap

Random Friday night fun

Dinner at McGhin's

Trying to finish Kinsale

So I'm trying to go through my knitting basket and clean it out.  I've picked up Kinsale, which I love and can't wait to wear but it's black sock yarn (Risata) on 2's so I think this is the 2nd year I've had it on the needles.  Need to check Ravelry to be sure.  But dang it, I'm not starting anything new until I get these 2 self pattern black sweaters off my needles.  I'm sure I'll suddenly discover I have a metric ton of needles I'd forgotten about because they were buried in all these dang projects.


What else?  I have some Cotlin in Harbor I'm dying to make a cable pull over out of.  Some people don't like Cotlin, find it's too sheddy and hard on their hands.  Perhaps the color has something to do with that, because I love it.  I've lots of Imagination in various colors I want to make things with - I think using the colors together with a black background to make a stained glass effect would be very nice, and I have two sets of neutrals I want to try in a fair isle.  And then I'll have massive amounts of tag ends of all this sock yarn so I can make everyone I know hideous Mrs. Weasley socks for Christmas.

I've also been on a jewelry making kick - not that I've been organized  enough to take pictures of that.  My mom asked me to re-string some ivory beads she had for our nieces and of course once you buy beads for a project, you use only 1/2 to 1/3 of each strand, so then you buy a few more things to finish them off, and before you know it you have a huge stash of beads and people at work who want to buy your stuff.



And finally, 5th grade starts on Monday - yikes.  He's half way to moving out of the house.  Here he is playing with his soccer ball while we waited for practice to be called on account of thunder and lightning.

Trying to work up enthusiasm

It's hot down here - heat index in the hundreds, soccer practice started and I'm trying to finish projects.
So not much to photograph except these guys in our lawn this morning

Steeking!

Sewing them by hand this time:



This one is done:



Ugly back side



I hope to start assembling tonight.

Cleaning out closets

Going to Goodwill - the cat was hanging out with me, so we played "hand attack"

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Random but tasty

Curry chicken salad - tasty in pitas, my nine year old liked it

Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
6 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
2 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3 cups finely diced chicken (about 3 boneless skinless breads poached)
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2-3 teaspoons brown sugar

Preparation
Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, sugar and curries in medium bowl. Mix in chicken, peppers, nuts and green onions. Season chicken salad to taste with salt and pepper.

And I'm working fingerless gloves pics soon.

Kinda broken

Ever have one of those days where the grown up part of your brain comes unhooked? You know, the part that makes you persist in work activities or chores just stops working and all you want to do is sit around? I'm blaming it on the heatwave - it's just been disgusting - but I think I just break every so often and wallow with my medulla.
Anyway here's a picture of the finished socks - I like them but I couldn't knit last night I was so tired.

Back

We went to Gatlinburg for vacation. We hiked (12 miles, my knees think I'm too old for that) and rode horses and went to Dollywood and saw fireworks and now we're all really tired.
Here are the socks I did on the trip and some nature shots while I wait for the bread to cool for dinner:

Chroma

Looking at the Ravelry boards, one sees that Chroma is a love it or hate it kind of thing. I love it, but I think appropriate use is important to maintaining the love. It's thick and thin, it felts if you look at it funny, it occasionally has big honkin' hairs in it. (All singles have that thick and thin thing I find). My only real complaint is the knots in the balls. Having to pull out lots of yarn to match up colors seems like a waste and hassle.
But the felting, that intrigues me. In the back of my mind I'm working up lined felted slippers and a felted vest.




Mmmmmm Lollipop ...

Well, that's interesting

Tonight I made the mistake of leaving a can of refried beans our on the counter, which the cat ate half of.

I wonder if beans give cats gas?

On a less totally disgusting note, here's the front of the stained glass pullover, which most assuredly does not have gas:

That's more like it

Happy fathers day!
We went to a AAA baseball game last night






And to see Super 8 today. I liked the movie, but that could just bey generational thing there.
Started on the back of Stained Glass again, much better



Gag, so not a hand model.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Man, I HATE FLYING ANTS

5 nights a week my spouse and I go running and do 3 miles. We've adjusted to the dogs, the light, the HEAT (yes even running in 94 degree heat doesn't bother me that much any more) but in the summer, when it rains, all these flying ants come out. And we've had a bit of a drought until last night, so we're talking an ant plague of biblical proportions. Up your nose, in your mouth, in your hair, into your shirt, catching in your throat, getting in your eyes (and when stressed, ants secrete acid, isn't that just awesome in your eye???) GAGH. Disgusting.

What's not disgusting - I'm going on a finishing campaign. No new projects until I clean out that basket and I have ideas for socks and cardigans and mittens galore.

So, first down, the Green Mtn Spinnery Stained Glass pullover. Looking at it now, I think I stalled out because the color repeats were so nicely spaced on the sleeves, but when I got to the body, the repeats were cut in half and I wasn't as happy and really not sure about putting the whole thing together. So I think I'm going to take out the body and make the front and back as flat pieces so the color intervals will be more like the sleeves and then I'll be happy. It's much too nice yarn and such a great pattern and I was so happy with those sleeves, I can short change it by not having the color intervals look right.

I'll post pics later to show you what I mean. After finishing this one, I want to get Kinsale done, which I love but damn that's a lot of knitting and my god I started it in Feb of 2010. Maybe I could wear the dumb thing this fall??