As soon as I cast off Ishbel, I cast on for another project.   I had mentioned that I was looking at the Ulmus shawl – I was sort of meh on it when I first saw it, but after I saw a few completed ones on Ravelry, it started to grow on me.  It takes two different fingering weight yarns – I looked through the stash, but if I had two yarns that went together well, they just didnt have the yardage.  Isn’t it funny how no matter how big your stash is, you never seem to have the right yarn for a project?  Anyway, I looked around for yarn online – I was leaning towards Malabrigo Sock, but couldn’t decide on colors.  I went over to Etsy to check out some of my favorite places…and I saw the perfect yarn at Fearless Fibers.   Deb was so nice to work with – I really liked the colorway Midnight Passion and wanted to know if another color would go with it.  Deb was great – she sent back suggestions of yarns she thought would go better than the one I had suggested.    I picked Sloth and   I ordered the yarn on a Saturday and it was here Monday when I got home from work – amazing!  Gorgeous yarns, very good experience.  Can’t wait to order from her again!

So I cast on for Ulmus, and after one false start (it really pays to actually read the key to see what the stitches are), I am clipping along

I think this is very blueberry looking – as I’m knitting it, I keep on thinking about blueberry pie, blueberry turnovers, tarts, buckle….I think I’m hungry!  I really am enjoying this – the yarn is gorgeous and the pattern is easy and its making such a great material.  I’m going to use the light blue on the edging lace, and I think this will be a beautiful shawl.  So glad I found the perfect yarn for this!

If you will remember, I bought a little bag from Stellar Babble Creations for my knitting tools.  I really love the bag, and wanted to buy some of her DPN organizers – so last week I bought the organizer for Sock DPN’s…my DPNs are all over the house, and I think that there is a good chance that I’m knitting with two different sizes.  So I think that this organizer will help!  Each sleeve is for a different sized DPN – I think they fit up to a 6″ – but they seem very roomy.

Once I have them all filled, they pop into the bag, and I will no longer have to hunt all over for DPNs when I start a project!

Cute, eh?  I think next month I’ll get the Hat/Mitten DPN organizer…

One of the blogs I read is Wandering Cat Studio  – she is very creative and makes gorgeous things.  Very recently, Valerie and her Mom opened an Etsy shop – Wandering Cat Yarns.   Very nice yarns – I have to admit that I couldn’t resist and ordered laceweight (I’ll show you when I get it – its gorgeous!  I’m thinking a nice lacy cowl for the winter).  Valerie is having a contest at her blog – so head on over, make a comment and maybe you will win some very pretty yarn! 

We finally sat down, figured out all of the college tuition and housing payment plan for next year (it is really a drag to have two kids in college!), and it looks like we will be able to squeeze out a vacation!  We are going to go to Cape Cod the first week of August – well, hopefully.  Everyone has confirmed with their work except Larry  – he’s working on it because the person that covers for him will be out that week.  But hopefully he will figure that out today.  We have a couple of houses that look like good possibilities – so I’m hoping to get it all resolved by the end of the week – then I can just look forward to it.  We haven’t been to Cape Cod in about 10 years  – it will be great to go back.  And having a week away is going to be heaven! 

OK, its time to get to work.  I hope you are having a great week!

Thank you all so much for your comments about Maggie – I was overwhelmed to hear from all of you – it helped to read all the comments.  It has been an adjustment for everyone – the other two dogs seem sad, and we’ve been trying to give them lots of attention and love.  It is weird to have just the two of them, and I think they are confused by it.  But for us, it is  the little things we keep on coming across that remind us again that she’s not here that make it hard – someone mentioned toasting marshmallows but I just couldn’t do it – she loved them so much I couldn’t imagine having without her (I know – you all think we did nothing but give this dog junk food – but she really did love certain things and she was completely spoiled).    But we know that we did the best thing for her in the end.  Thanks though – I really appreciate all of the support.

I don’t want to do to another post that makes people sad, and in the spirit of trying to keep my mind (and yours) off things, how about a finished object?  Yesterday, I cast off Ishbel.  And I’m pretty happy with it…

Pattern:  Ishbel
Yarn:  Wollmeise Sockenwolle, Colorway Am Kalten Polar
Started:  June 17, 2009
Finished:  July 3, 2009

If you recall, I started this with laceweight, but pulled it off the needles by accident.  I’m so glad I restarted this with fingering weight – I like the weight of this.  This is the small version, but I like the size of it. 

I really enjoyed the pattern – it really went pretty fast – just a bit more than 2 weeks.  The stockinette part was very fast, and the lace went well – a very easy pattern.  I think this would make a great beginner lace pattern.

As I’ve mentioned before, I think this is an amazing colorway – it really is beautiful and really deep rich colors.   The yarn  is soft, and I liked working with it.  I don’t think the yarn base is my favorite but her dyeing is really amazing.  And this is the perfect shawl for a slightly varigated yarn.  I probably could have made this bigger – I think I have about 1/3 of the skein left, but I think its a good size.  I’m not sure who this is for – I may put it aside for holiday gift giving.  Or I may keep it for myself. 

 

Cieara was very nice to model for me today – she’s actually not feeling well.  She’s been running a high fever for days – we went to the doctor yesterday, and she wanted to wait unitl Monday to run tests.  So Cieara’s been taking Tylenol every 6 hours – and when she doesn’t, the fever comes back.  The doctor suspects lyme disease.  But we hope that she doesn’t have it and that she’ll be better soon – she’s very crabby and tired.    So we are taking an easy day at home today – just relaxing, watching movies, walking dogs and using our new smoker (we are having ribs – cross your fingers they come out since this is our first time using this!).   I started a new project, but more on that next time when I have some pictures.

OK, time to go grill some shrimp - if you are in the US, Happy 4th of July!  And if you are elsewhere, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Tonight we said goodbye to Maggie, our Moo.

It was time, and after talking to the vet last week, we finally accepted that she was sick, and that it was time to let her go.  And it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

We’ve had Maggie since she was a puppy – we had 13 years of her playing fetch, eating donuts, eating popcorn, eating M&M’s (see a theme?), taking her to work, taking walks, faking out the other dogs and a million other things that made her the Moo.   She was an amazing dog, and our family will not be the same without her.

She went peacefully, under a tree outside the vet’s office.  She went with Larry, Andrew and I petting her, and with Dan and Cieara sending her love from home.    We will miss her always.

I forced myself to put down Ishbel, and pick up the sock – I was so close and it was time to finish them….

Pattern:  Diagonal Lace from Socks from the Toe Up
Yarn:  ShibuiKnits Sock, Pagoda Colorway (bought at the Loopy Ewe)
Started:  May 24, 2009
Finished:  June 27, 2009

Another toe up pattern from Wendy’s book – and I have to say, I really enjoyed it.  I think its a great pattern, very easy to memorize and I like the way it looks.  I used Wendy’s gusset heel, and started with Judy’s Magic Cast on.    I do love the patterns in this book – there are so many in it that I want to make, which I think its unusual.  I typically see one or two patterns that I want to make, or do make, but I can see making all of patterns in this book.   Really recommend it!

I bought this yarn because I had seen it on Opal’s blog and wanted to try it.  I am so glad I did – this is great sock yarn – beautiful colors, and just a nice feel.  I’ll definitely be getting more.   There are so many nice sock yarns out there – but its always nice to find another one!

I’m glad I finished these – these were my June sock of the month (started a little early, but still…!), and I wanted to get them done before the end of the month.   I have 6 bags left to pick from – but I’ve bought new yarn as well, so its going to be hard to focus and keep with the bags and not just start a new pair of socks with new yarn.  In fact, I think this pair didn’t come from a bag…but still, it was stash yarn so I’m counting it!

I’m so glad it is the weekend – its been a long week.  I’m taking a long weekend next weekend for the 4th holiday, and I’m looking forward to it!  Work has been really busy, so it will be nice to have a nice long weekend.  What are you doing for the 4th (or what do you do any long summer weekend)?  We are looking for ideas!

I’m still looking for yarn for Ulmus – I haven’t decided on what yarn, what colors yet but I keep on looking.  I’m holding off on getting anything because a) I really need to finish some of my current projects b) really should look in the stash to see if I have something that would work and c) can’t decide!  This is my favorite part of a project – thinking about what yarn to use, planning it, being excited. 

OK, I’m off – lots to do today.  Have a great weekend!

Much to my relief, this version of Ishbel is behaving.  I’m just about done the second A chart (so I’ve done A, B and most of A again)…so just C, D and E to go – I’m almost there!  If I continue to not spend a lot of time online at night I should be able to finish this shawl this weekend.  I’m still enjoying it, and am glad I switched to the heavier yarn.  I usually don’t repeat knit patterns, but I could see doing this one again – its just so fast!  This pattern is very close to the Wool Peddlar’s shawl, but for some reason, that shawl’s stockinette section took forever (I’m actually not done with it) while Ishbel’s went very fast.  Anyway, I do love it, and I’m enjoying this knit.

I’m working from home (Wednesday, yay!) and just saw a blurb on the Today show about the heat elsewhere in the country.  It isn’t hot here – in fact, I think yesterday was the first summer-like day we’ve had so far and it was in the high 70’s.   Looks like the whole middle part of the country is just cooking – and if you live there, I guess you know that.  I know that its probably too much heat, and that its miserable…but I wish we’d get a little bit of that.  I’d like to spend some time outside without being cold. 

OK, sorry – got sidetracked, back to the blog.

Thanks for the thoughts about our dog.  Maggie is 13, and we’ve had her since she was a puppy.

She doesn’t look like this now – she’s an old, cranky lady – but defnitely a member of the family!  She’s had medical problems for months now, and we thought it might be time.  But I couldn’t do it and we decided to look at our options.  (Maggie didn’t mind the indecision since she got donut holes this weekend!)   We are going to take her to the vet tonight to see if there is something we can do that would make her comfortable without putting her through all the tests, procedures and surgery the vet had wanted to do.  We don’t want to put Maggie through that, and I want to focus on palliative care rather than putting her through all this in an effort to cure what can’t be cured.  But I appreciate all the thoughts -  we know that eventually it will be time to let her go, but I want to really make sure its the right time before I do that.    Please cross your fingers for her – I am really hoping that the vet can find a better solution.

I’ve joined a couple of -alongs on Ravelry, and thought I’d share in case you hadn’t seen them…

Did you see that Tour de Fleece is starting?  Cookie had mentioned it on her blog, so I went over an joined Team Crankypants (definitely my kind of team!).   There are lots of teams, prizes and fun – so if you spin, give it a shot!  I’m looking forward to having a motivation to sit down and spin – I’ve had the same stuff on the bobbin for a while, and I’d love to finish it.  And I have some beautiful roving that’s waiting for me to get to it. 

How about Summer of Socks?  This has been going for a couple of years now, and I think I’ve always been in it – even if I wasn’t too active a participant.  I like seeing what everyone is up to, and having some motivation to crank out some socks.  (Speaking of which – just about done the latest pair and looking forward to picking another personal sock club project). 

What I like about both is that they are both very low pressure, low stress.  I like joining these things so I can see what people do, have a place to get inspiration, and have a little fun.  I’m not big on the KAL’s (or SAL’s) that are very high pressure, too structured and have a million rules.  I deal with all that in my job – I don’t need it in my hobby. 

I should really not be doing this – since I have a bunch of shawls going and really should go back and finish one – but I’ve been looking at Ulmus lately – and wondering what sock yarn would be good for it….when the pattern first came out, I was sort of meh on it – but its grown on me lately, and now I want to start one.  Malabrigo Sock?  Socks that Rock?  Enchanted Knoll?  Hmmm….

OK, well, I guess I’ll stop my stream of consciousness rambling!  Its time to “go to work”.   I hope you have a great week, and hopefully the next time I’ll be showing you either finished socks or a finished Ishbel!