Better Late Then Never

I feel like I haven't done much lately, but I do have Clue 2 for the Mystery Shawl#6 to show. I am almost done with clue 3, I hope to post pictures by the end of this week. I am very please with how this is coming along.

I also have clue #1 of the Spring Shawl Surprise done. I had about half of clue 2 done when I found I had a problem that really needed to be frogged back and corrected. Since this meant time and concentration, I had put it aside for about a week. Unfortunately these things done fix themselves (I kept hoping the knitting elves would make a secrete appearance, but to no avail). Finally I bit the bullet and proceeded to fix my problem on the piece. I ended up un-knitting 12 rows of the piece. While i was re-rolling the yarn back on the spool, I managed to knock over my fresh cup of coffee...all over everything on the desk(at least this time I missed my keyboard, unlike last week).

And ii finally found my Galveston Shawl, and slowly am working on this as well. I had it before Christmas, but then couldn't find it for several weeks there ( I had put it one of the Xmas ornament boxes, so it was put back in the garage for the whole holiday period. I was so frustrated, because I had seen it one day, and not the next, and had a vague image of me putting somewhere that made sense at the time (dope. I can't even blame the well-meaning-but-often-clueless-when-it-comes-to- knitting guy. Nope, I'm pretty sure it was me). At least i have it now. I have 4-5 rows to go on clue 5, then 6 and 7 to finish. It is making progress, albeit slow.

As much as I love the holidays, and this year was good-relaxing and fun, I sure am glad it's over and things are sort of back to normal. kids are back to school, and work is going. I am a little worried about work, but I'll either have a job or I wont. You keep hearing stories about the economy going bad, and we sort of see it, but by-and-large, we don't quite yet. I sometimes panic about losing my job then trying to make the end smeet with the kids tuition and the house payment. I just have to calm myself down, and remind myself, we have a little nest egg for just such emergencies. things will work themselves out...one way or another.

Back to the needles for now. I do fine if I take life, one stitch at a time.

Keep Smiling.

Another Holiday Has Come...

The aftermath, the carnage, Oh it was pretty gruesome! Christams this year seem to go on for days. This was probably just my imagination (that and having to stay home with the kids those few days after Christmas), but now I am almost (choke) looking forward to returning to work on Wednesday.

It was a full holiday season with 2 Christmas pagents for the Kids ( one each), plus parties for friends and family, plus working full time leading up to the day and trying like the dickens NOT to be sick(again) for Christmas. There were football games to go to(I just had to scream and holler for my team...to the point of losing my voice carrying-on such). It was all great fun, until the 2 days before Christmas when the cold hit hard. At least I was slightly better then my husband, who got hit hard with it shortly after me. I was able to cook the Christmas dinner for the family, and try to generally help the kids to enjoy the holiday. In the end it was a good thing I was off for the 3 days after Christmas, to stay home and try and shake the bug.

During all this time at home, I haven't done much on the craft front. My COS shawl is still sitting half way through clue 4(I ended one ball of yarn, and haven't dug the second ball out of the stash pile...). The Daffodil is still sitting around the same place I left it earlier this year. I am just about to embark on several KALs that are scheduled to start at the New Year, but I am wondering if that's a good idea.....


Here is clue one from the Mystery Shawl #6, this group started to work on it back at the beginning of December, and I am only this far along (not bad I guess considering I only started it after Christmas)...

Ok, I have to go, with everyone home, they wait until I get on the computer to decide they need it too. Ugh.

I will try agian later to post more news of what's been going on.

Hope your holidays were Merry.

Let Me See Clue #3

Clue two down, six more to go! I finished the second clue today,and will start on clue 3 this evening when I get home. I really like this pattern. It isn't difficult, especially when you get the design started. Then it kind of falls into place as you knit each row.

Several people that have completed their stole have made comment about the size ( in all fairness, the designer did warn about trying to meet gauge, as it was going to be pretty large). I am only a quarter of the way through and it is already 18" Long- before blocking. At this rate, I can see this blocking to 96"(or more). That's quite large. We'll see.

I haven't started the MysteryShawl #6 yet. I was thinking of knitting it in a soft grey yarn I bought on-line, but when i saw it was named "Snowflakes", I wasn't keen on the idea of a grey trianglar shawl. I was OK with a square shawl, but soon realized I don't have enough yarn for that project. I am back to looking for yarn for the project. I need to get a jump on it, as clue 1 went out last weekend, and I don't want to get too far behind.

Not much to show for it

I go away for a week and a half on vaction, and this is all the knitting I have to show for it. I was actually hoping to get quite a bit more done during our time away, but I made the mistake of picking up a book I was wanting to read. I couldn't put it down until I finished.
But who could knit with this to look at?


This was the view during our rain forest hike. We walked around for 3 hours- beautiful, lush scenery, wildlife abound - including the mositoes. Everyone in our group had their own personal cloud of the little pests (yuck).






While we were in Costa Rica, my DD1 had her 8th Bday. This was actually taken on her special day, which we spent in Puerto Viejo, shopping and hanging at the sports bar(the guys needed their football fix).






Here's one of the highlites of the trip - the Zip Line Experince. Here you see them getting the gear on- harnesses and safety lines.



















That platform sure looks way up there! I don't have a problem with heights, but the ladders was steeper then they look. We'd climb up to the platform top, they'd hook us up to the cables and away we'd go.







It was great fun to go flying through the air on these cables. I would like to try this again on a more advanced cable run (I heard such tales of more challanging set ups). I was able to pretty much control my positioning without getting turned around, or getting my fingers smashed, or knocking the guides off the platforms...I think that's pretty darn good.

From San Jose to San Jose

What a great vacation we had in Costa Rica!!! We flew out of San Jose CA, to San Jose CR. This picture above is the view from our window/deck at the first location we stayed at in Corcovado. This is on the upper Northwestern region, Pacific coast. This was an amazing view. It isn't quite beach front(although you can see the ocean in the background), but all the "wild life" visable from this vantage point is amazing. There were a few times we watched the monkeys travel through the trees you see out there (jumping from the tree tops to the next tree tops). Also there were many a times the Tucans were right outside on the trees (once not more then 10 ft away).

The weather was great. We feared it would be wetter( and it was some what wetter on the Carribean side), but aside from a brief afternoon shower the first day, it pretty much only rained at night when you weren't likely to be up anyway. It was hot and humid all the time (even at night), but by the end of the week, you don't notice it as much. The downside of the weather was the lack of ability to dry anything. We'd go swimming one day, any everything would remain damp for ages. We even had the laundry done while we were there, and the clothes were pretty much dry, but still a lingering sense of dampness (sweat like).

All-in-all, we'd like to go back again sometime, maybe to the volcanic region (I was really hoping we would make it there this time, but not a chance. Our tour co-ordinator had us all pretty busy throughout the trip). The people were very helpful and friendly, and patient with us silly tourists.

The food was great. We ate from the high end restaurants and roadside cafes, and always the food was good! The funniest part was that we ended up eating italian a couple of times ( I love italian, but the kids aren't nearly as excited by it as I am, so we don't eat it as often as I want. Who would have thought we'd have to go to Costa Rica for me to gedt good Italian food!). My younger DD loves beans and rice, so she was a happy camper. In general we were all very happy and well fed during our trip.


One thing I liked about the trip was how at the first place we stayed, they had no electricity, so the girls were waking and sleeping with the sun. Towards the end of the week, it was not uncommon for the girls to fall asleep while we were out to dinner. Here you can kind of see not only one but both DDs fell asleep at the restaurant. It wasn't terribly late in the evening, but the day was full of fun in the sun.

I have more pictures from the trip, will try to post a few of the more exciting times to share.

Picking Up The Pieces

Remember this?

I finally picked this back up to finish it. I was trying to see what the daffodil looked like here. I like the pattern and am anxious to see this done. I really like daffodils, ever since I went to Connecticut in the early spring several years ago. The daffodils and the crocus were just popping up through the snow.

My problem now is I'm not sure I have enough string to finish this project. i never think to check the requirement when it comes to doilies, I just plow ahead(besides, I usually don't knit to gauge anyway). I used this color because I liked it, but also because I thought I had plenty with 2 complete ball of the stuff. I will have to dig deep in my stash to see if I can find anymore. I'm not at a stand still, but I can see the cardboard tube the ball is wound on. I'm just getting nervous.

This is not the first time I've had this happen. A few years ago I started a doily in a royal blue color. It was looking real nice when suddenly I found I was out of string. I looked all over, but couldn't find anything to use for the outer rim. I just put it aside for the time being. I think it's still just sitting on the needle, waiting to be completed.

Happy Halloween

Happy Belated Halloween. This is DD2 in the middle in the flying Unicorn costume. She loved this costume we found at a fund raiser - $5.00. It was pink and a horsey. I wasn't going to go wrong with this one!

DD1 wanted something more Renaissance like - her school didn't do Halloween, but rather Cultureal Day. They were encouraging kids to wear costumes that reflected their heritage. We were trying something Historical (I'm sure there's a little english in us. Her coloriung is more of the Germasn heritage showing through).