What to do in a Hurricane and Some Exciting News

Hurricane Hanna was on her way and we were expecting heavy rain and some wind with a flood advisory, so what do we do? Go to Ikea. I've been reorganizing a bit (and that's a really long story for another time) and I wanted to get a new cupboard for my knitting. So we drove through the rain and wind and found what I wanted. And ate the meatballs. I bought this bookcase with these doors, and Mr. Truck got to play with his tools and put it all together. And now it looks like this. I can't show you the rest of the room because I'm painting the bookshelves and it's all topsy-turvy. But my stash and needles and books are all organized now.





Now for the exciting news: Maryeb has nominated me for a Brillante Weblog Award. I'm so flattered. Thank you so much!


Now it's my turn to pass it on to seven bloggers. I think I'm going to pick seven people who have commented recently since there are so many amazing blogs to choose from. So here, in no particular order, are my nominees:

RedScot
PrincessPea
Aim
CCC
minding my own stitches
pdxknitterati
marie

Go check out their blogs if you haven't already. They all have so much to share.

And more in the exciting news category I won a prize in the Ravelympics! Woo hoo! I was picked for a surprise prize and I can't wait to see it. Actually, I don't even care what it is, I've never won anything before, so I know I'll love it. I'll let you know as soon as it arrives.

Q is for

I've got no Q. I've wracked my brain, read every q in the dictionary, asked for help and I have no q. I thought Q is for quilt but I don't quilt. I bought this in the Amish country. It's a teeny tiny quilt in a frame. It's all I could afford. The Amish quilts are amazing and worth every penny but way over my budget.





Evan and Olivia's mommy has made some quilts but they're hers. She made this one for me for Christmas. A quilt and a matching pillow. I love it, especially because she made it.




It has a pocket for my feet.




And then I realized I do have a Q. Actually, a queue, bigger than most. I have 243 projects in my queue and I keep adding. I want to make everything but probably I won't. I keep saying that I'm leaving my queue in my will.




If you look closely, there are nine, count 'em nine, pages in my queue. Is that a record?

So I do have a Q after all and it was staring me in the face all the time.

End of Summer of Socks 2008

My KAL mania is drawing to a close. Ravelympics is done and now it's September, so Socks of Summer 2008 is officially over. I didn't win a prize but I had a lot of fun and I knit five pairs of socks. Two are Christmas presents and that's convenient. One is a toe up pattern, that's new for me. Three are for me and I like that.


So now I'm moving on to the swap stage. Have you read the Outlander Series? I read the first one in the early 1990's and I've been hooked ever since. There's an Outlander Group on Ravelry and we're having an Outlandish Swap. So this may become my new addiction, you never know.

Friday Night Cruise

Friday nights all over America people gather for Cruise Night. Mostly, from what I've seen, it's men with midlife crises. They bring the cars and trucks they idolized in their youth and open the hoods so you can see all the chrome on their motors. They paint them crazy colors and they all have do not touch signs on them. We take Mr. Truck's truck, go out to dinner and then stroll around and look at everyone's cars. Some have accessories.



Some remind me of the man that used to sell vegetables and fruit from his truck when I was just a very little girl.




Some are very strange. This car belongs to



this man. He likes to sing with the DJ.



Some are from the fifties





and some are very new.



Mr. Truck always likes a nice GTO but he's very careful to keep his hands off them.



What he really wants is one of these. I have no idea why.



I like the Model A's

That's because I learned to drive in one and no I'm not that old.

I'm also partial to Minis.


What has this got to do with knitting? Well, I always knit on the way there in the truck but it's very bumpy. A 1954 Chevy pick-up is the reason for the saying "rides like a truck." And Friday night I dropped a bunch of stitches going over a big bump. End of knitting until we got home and I could fix it.

The Finish Line

I've reached the finish line and I'm officially a Ravelete. I had my doubts, but my Swallowtail Shawl is done! I've been on the Podium and I've gotten my medal. It took fourteen days from start to finish, I think that may be a World Record, at least for me. Mr Truck has been alternately cheering me on and teasing me. He swears he's finished an afghan for an elephant on very little needles before I finished my shawl, but he has no pictures to prove it.




Here it is before blocking




And after blocking

Project specs: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark

Cherry Tree Merino Lace 900 or so yards
Size 4 needles
Started 8/8/08 8:00 AM ET
Finished 8/21/08 just before midnight ET
Blocked 8/22/08
72 inches wide x 33 inches long

The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of the Nupps

I've heard stories about these nupps, I've read a lot about how to cheat, I've seen others use beads instead of nupps, but I was determined. I found out quickly that I cannot purl through the back loops of five stitches. So I came up with my own method. Although I may have read about it somewhere I have never seen it done. I use a very little crochet hook. It looks like this.










You have to slip the crochet hook through the stitches and pull the yarn back through and then get it on the right hand needle. I need about four hands to do this but it has been working. Not fast, but working. And I am on the last row of the nupps. Sixteen rows of the peaked edging and then the bind off.




I think I'll finish just in time to get a medal in the Laceweight Long Jump.



And to celebrate, I ordered this:



from Beaverslide Dry Goods. I'm going to make the Apres Surf Hoodie while I'm in the lace mood.

P is for Cat

and it has been for a very long time. There was Polkadot, Precious Pussywillow, Pumpkin, Phineas, Pistachio, Penelope, Pettigrew, and now Phantom.




I can't say it started out as a concious decision but it's become a tradition. My cousins insist there's a Petunia but there isn't. If Mr. Truck would agree to a new kitty we could have a Petunia but Phantom is an only cat now.





Oh, and Cherry Pie has Paco.

Update and Tag

I thought I'd give an update on my yarn measuring saga. My fishing line measuring thingy which is actually called a ProGuide Lighted Line Counter by Rapala worked really well once I had figured it out. It's meant to attach to a fishing pole so I had to improvise a bit. A binder worked pretty well. I had to go slowly and I was winding the lace weight yarn by hand so it took a while and I'm not sure it's totally accurate. But all in all a success.











This week, I was tagged by two of my favorite bloggers: Aim and Marie. The tag rules are as follows:

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Hmm, six things, that's hard. I hate for my food to touch, makes for a lot of dirty dishes. I almost never use my dryer. I have more college credits than almost anyone I know and I only have an Associates Degree to show for it, but I really learned a lot. We have another son I never talk about, but I do really love him. I'm an only child, sort of, I do have a little sister who's only twenty one months older than our oldest. So we're both only children, sort of. I once got searched at a Jethro Tull concert for drugs but all they found was my baby's pacifier. I was so embarassed I think I would have rather they found the drugs. It's what happens when you have children really young. Well, that was pretty random.

I think I'll tag MicheleLB, Abigail,Penny, Stacie, Mardi, and Anna

KAL-aholic

Hi my name is Susan and I'm a Knit-a-long-aholic. It all started innocuously enough with a unofficial market bag KAL. I thought, no pressure, good idea. But I was hooked. I joined The Summer of Socks, knit as many or few as you want over the summer, maybe win a prize. Sounds reasonable. I knit socks all the time.



Then I saw the Seascape Shawl. Loved it, and there was a KAL with it. No harm in joining, maybe there will be some tips. And I can use it for the Lost Group KAL, too. Two birds with one stone. I can knit socks and a shawl , no problem.



Next was the Ravelympics, pick something to challenge you and knit it in 17 days. I've wanted to do the Swallowtail Shawl for a long time, I have the yarn in my stash. This could work out. A challenge yes, but I can do it. No problem.




Now look where I am. Three, yes three, projects all at the same time. I never have more than one going. I think I might have gotten in too deep.










Does anyone know of a 12 step program for this?

You're Invited

I wish you could come visit us when we're at our vacation condo near the beach. It is so nice and relaxing there. But since you can't, I took some pictures. Enjoy the tour.



And this is what I was working on.



It's Seascape and I'm really loving it. The yarn is so soft, like buttah, as they say. It's Lacey Lamb and it is very springy. Doesn't lace look funny before it's blocked? This has grown quite a bit since I took the picture but it's going on hold when the Ravelympics start this Friday.