I've Been Tagged

As a child I never liked playing tag, I can't stand to be chased. However, a friend, Gail in Chattanooga, just tagged me so I thought I'd play along.

4 Jobs I've Had:

Data Transcriber for CID (Criminal Investigative Division), Fort Knox, KY
Missions Department Secretary for Chaplain at Oral Roberts University
Subsitute Teacher - probably my favorite job
Store Manager for a Cellular Company

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over

All Harry Potter
Hamlet w/Mel Gibson
Crimes of the Heart
Gone With The Wind

4 Places I Have Been

Port O'Prince, Haiti
Paris, France
Uppsala, Sweden
London, England

4 Places I Have Lived

Miami, FL
Tulsa, OK
Ekron, KY
Bowling Green, KY

4 TV Shows I Watch

I don't watch a lot of "shows", so I'm listing my favorites when I did/do get to see 'em.

Fox News
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Highlander
Angel

4 People Who E-mail Me Regularly

Hmmmmmmmm, mainly my on-line knitting buddies

4 Favorite Foods

Lobster, but I think I could dip bologna in clarified butter and love it. :)
Crab legs
Oatmeal
Breads

4 Places I Would Rather Be

France
Praque
Ireland
Scotland

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To

More grandbabies
Getting caught up on KALs
Going to see Wicked, AGAIN
A warm house. :)

4 People to tag

I don't know, wanna play?

Embracing Me

I'm a little behind in the Spring Shawl Surprice KAL. Clue 3 came out this past Tuesday, I finally finished Clue 2 tonight. That is okay. I'm learning to embrace who I am. I, my friends, am a lace knitter. Not only that, but I am an addicted to KALs lace knitter. And you know what, that is okay. I've come face to face with the monster and I can deal with it. I don't care how old you are, you can always learn new things about yourself. Clint Eastwood said, "A man's gotta know his limitations." Well, I don't know all my limitations, hopefully I never will. Hopefully I'll continue learning the rest of my life. But, there comes a time where we have to recognize our strengths. As stated before, I am not a great lace knitter, (you can tell that if you look closely) but apparently it is a passion.

Embracing who I am is helping me to cope with the fact that I have between now, Thursday evening, and next Tuesday to complete Clue 3 before Clue 4 comes out. AND Secret of the Stole II, "The Secret Is In the Mist", begins tomorrow. But, that is okay. I am "THE LACE KNITTER."

Somebody Stop Me!!!!!

I said I wasn't going to do it. I even put my foot down hard and bit my lip. I think I need a serious intervention. (But don't call Dr. Phil, please).

It isn't my fault. This time it is Anna's fault, the old Knit & Knag!!! I got an email from her stating she was going to be hosting another KAL starting in March. She is the designer of the gorgeous Mystic Waters Shawl. The new one, Mystic Light, will take in various elements of light. It is sure to turn out just as gorgeous as Mystic Waters. With Mystic Waters turning out so beautiful, how could I resist? Maybe knitting lace is my calling, my purpose in life.

Oh, come on, you know you want to do it!!!!! Everybody is doing it!!!!!!

It Was A Wicked Time

A "Wicked" time was had by all. As most of you know, if you read my blog regularly, Saturday we headed up to Cincinnati to see the touring Wicked. It was as awesome as ever. The girl that played Elphaba was the same one we saw in Chicago. It was amazing. Ya gotta go see it!!!!! Here are a couple pictures. My little Elphaba's (Emma Belle) fingers got smashed in the window on the way up. Her makeup isn't waterproof so there was some green lost in the tears. :( This picture is from left to right: Sara, Tabitha (Emma Belle's Mommy) and Emma Belle.










And my Elphie outside the theater.

Now the question is.....Where am I going to go to see it next?

I've been working on the projects for A Loose Knit Group. I've finished one of Jordan's gloves and one of the mitts using the Fetching pattern. I'm behind in my Spring Shawl Surprice KAL because I just want to do gloves/mittens. I'm spending today only knitting on the KAL though.












As many of you know, I'm big into lace shawl/stole KALs. I am no professional by any means. However, I have gained some experience and I thought I'd share with you how I approach lace knitting and charts. It takes a little more time, but I color code the chart with colored pencils. Typically what I do is color each set of ten squares on the chart in vertical columns. I also use a metal sheet, mine originated from my old cross stitch days, and magnetic strips. With these I mark the row I am presently on with a piece of the strip and I mark the column I'm on with another piece. With this particular chart shown in the photo below I color coded the 7 stitches on the right and left hand border, the next 14 stitches are coded to mark an inside border and from there it has been marked to signify the pattern repeats. As the pattern changes these have to be adjusted but it is a good way to keep track of the pattern and the number of stitches which helps me know if I've missed a yo or whatever immediately instead of getting all the way to the end and having to tink back.

Once I have successfully completed a row I use a highlighter to mark the completed row. As you see in the photo I place markers along the knitting to mark the columns as well. Another tool, pain in the butt, but important is lifelines. You can put a lifeline in at any point but I usually just put one in at the end of each clue. A lifeline is waste yarn that I pull through the row with a darning needle. These have truly saved the life of my shawl/stole many times. If you just really flub up you can frog back to the lifeline, which holds the stitches and start over at that point instead of having to start all over. Hmmmmmmm, I hope this helps. It is probably as clear as mud.

Are You Going To Go My Way?

I've been a bad, bad girl. Yesterday I went to my local cellular store and upgraded my phone. I got a Blackberry. I am a tech/gadget junkie. I love all that stuff. However, I spent the majority of yesterday afternoon and today playing (fighting) with the thing. Getting it to sync with my laptop, adding all my contacts, appointments, etc. I downloaded an e-reader for it so I can read books on it, particularly handy with a Bible on it. Then I don't have to lug one to church or just sit there not reading along with the stud muffin of a Pastor we have. (my husband) :)

Anyways, I can't do any more with it until I get a microsd memory chip. That way I can put more stuff on it. A huge biggee is music. And a gargantuan thing is to be able to use some of the Wicked songs as my ringtones. Yeah, I know, I bet you are sick, sick, sick of hearing about Wicked. Well..............hmmm.................tuff. This Saturday myself, Sara, Emma Belle and her mother, Tabitha are all trekking off to Cincinnati to see the touring Wicked. Can't wait!!!! Emma Belle will be wearing her Elphaba dress I made her for when we saw Wicked in Chicago. And yes, she will be wearing her green makeup. I know, I'm a Wicked freak!!!!!

Since I've been playing around with my new gadget I haven't gotten very much knitting done. For shame, for shame!!!! Monday evening I did get quite a bit done on the first glove for LBD (Little Baby Donna aka Jordan). Don't you think the glove is quoting Lenny Kravitz saying "Are You Going To Go My Way?" Maybe I'll finish it tonight and get the second cast on. I'm planning on getting a good deal done on Clue 2 of Spring Shawl Surpice tomorrow.

Sha LingALing (my new way of saying goodbye)

Yippy Pippy!!!!!

I believe I have the ole knitting mojo back, I think. I've had a couple of false starts. I began a set of Mermaid Gloves out of some of my hand spun but after working them for about four inches they just weren't happening. You know how I feel about unaffectionate items, they weren't very unaffectionate at all. I will eventually make them but out of different yarn and probably size 0's. I wanna be hugged when I put these babies on.

I also started Jordan's gloves out of the yarn our friends sent me. Noppie, not gonna work. The yarn is worsted but still just a tad too bulky for what I want. Then, low and behold, I was looking through various pictures on Ravelry for Fetching gloves and came across some made of Noro Silk Garden and remember I had some in the basement. When I went down to fetch the Fetching yarn I found other worsted weight yarns I had forgotten about. Some of which is a lovely grey tweed leftover from a scarf I had made Jorge aka Jordan a couple of years ago. I think it will be perfect. And there is a bunch of other wonderful yarns as well. How cool!!!!!!

#1, best thing, I finished Clue One of Spring Shawl Surprice. It is so lovely and since I am not a "pink" person, this is not pink it is Cassis. :) Clue Two comes out tomorrow. :)

I forgot to show you the scarf I started on New Year's Eve. We were going to some friends house and I wanted some "mindless" knitting to take with me so I started this scarf out of some handspun. The pattern is Enjoyable-Rib Scarf. It is indeed an enjoyable knit. Presently this is my in the car and Sunday School knitting.

What Are Friends For?

For a few days I kinda hit a snag in the area of knitting interest. I was really getting quite concerned about myself. Everything I picked up to knit got on my nerves, I just wasn't a happy knitter. I thought that maybe I had KAL'd myself to an early knitting death. And, for real, who do you call? Where do you go for help? I've yet to see a shrink or counselor advertise services geared toward the depressed knitter. Depression yes, but not specializing in knitting depression. You know, you can purchase various drugs that increase the serotonin in your brain, creating a happier feeling. Or you can get help in the area of sexual energy. But, what do you take to increase your knitting enjoyment if or when it becomes lack luster? I even went to my LYS with my daughter, Sara, to help her pick out some scarf yarn. I walked out with nothing!!!!! The owner asked if I was still into the lace KALs. When I told her I thought maybe I was KAL'd out, she just tssked and shook her head. If ANYONE could offer help you would think it would be her.

Thursday I headed up home to take my sister to the grocery. The 2 hour trip up there and back was spent screaming at the top of my lungs. Well, I call it singing. I tried to escape my knitting frustration by throwing myself into the songs of Wicked. But, there is no escape. As soon as I got back home and walked in the door I felt the same dark blanket of fiber disillusion fall upon me. I got to thinking, "Is this how non-knitters feel all the time?" "How do they stand it?" "What is to become of me? I have my own wool room, what is wrong with me???????"

I got me a cup of coffee and trudged up the stairs to "the room." There lay that stupid tomten, the beginnings of the Spring Shawl Surprice KAL, along with various other UFOs. I sat down in my little chair and punched the button to check my Ravelry messages. Low a behold, an angel appeared right there in the inbox. This angel's name is Arlene in Northern NJ. I read her message and thought about how sweet it was for her to say such nice things and to take the time to encourage me. As the evening progressed her message continued to ring in my ears and before long I found myself picking the SSS KAL up and I was knitting away. Some times we just need a little angel shove to get us up and running. Arlene's message was that little shove I needed. Here is her message:

"Peggy, I see your shawl has become an UGH. Is it just your yarn or something else? I know you are in a bunch of other KALs and were becoming overwhelmed, but I wanted to give you some encouragement with this shawl. So far, its actually not hard at all, and the reverse row work is all purls except for the faggoting in the 6 end sts at either side. You are always on the group giving everyone else a positive word, so I thought you might need the same! I know you have the skills to do this shawl!"

Here is the picture of one half of the first clue finished. Personally I think you can see the various moon stages along the border. It looks to become a very beautiful stole.

We have some good friends that are missionaries to Ecuador. They know of my love of yarn/fiber. This week they sent me four skeins of yarn made there. This was an great encouragement as well. With the cold snap we had this past week my baby, Jordan-23, said he didn't have any gloves. I said, "Well, if I was any kind of knitting mom I would take care of that." I mean, it isn't like I don't have enough yarn, but all the worsted I have is already spoken for by various patterns. And I am really going to try not to purchase anymore yarn for a long time. I had thought about spinning the yarn myself, however, I am wanting to get them done this month, not next year. :) After all, January is glove/mitten month for A Loose Knit Group.

So, thanks to Arlene and the McDonald's I am back on my game. What friends are for!!!!