And, We're Off!

The great vacation of 2012 started with the parents' house FINALLY being finished.  This meant that they moved out of my house right before the FPU and I left.

On the way to the airport, we stopped to see Grandma in Chambersburg and then had dinner with Mortal before the MPU dropped us off at Dulles.  The drop off went fine, except he hit the FPU with the hatch door. 

There were no lines for checking in nor were there lines for security.  We made it safely to our gate and were some of the first ones there.  One of the advantages of traveling with another person is that one person can stretch their legs while the other watches the bags.  On one of my leg stretching strolls, I strolled down to the B&J stand and got both of us some.  It was very good.

We finally got to board the flight.  It wasn't full, which was nice.  We were in the center section of 4 seats and there was an empty seat between us and the person on the other aisle.  The only problem was that they served a hot meal almost immediately.  The flight left around 11pm.  Really don't need a meal then. 

We were both able to get some sleep before we got to Heathrow.  There was no circling of the airport this time!  We met 2 of the other members of our group while we were in the line for customs.  They had been on the same flight. 

After clearing customs, we left the big bags at Left Luggage and took the tube down to the Victoria & Alexander Museum.  They had an exhibt of Cecil Beeton's photographs of the Queen, but it was extra money, so we skipped that.  We did look at various statues (it's supposed to be a dragon at her feet),

furniture items,

and miscellaneous metal objects (this is a collection of biscuit tins). 

We couldn't see everything because we were getting tired, so we caught the tube back to Heathrow so we could get the bus to our hotel.  We managed to get on the correct bus and made is safely to our hotel. 

We were ready to have dinner when we got there, but the restaurant wasn't open yet as most people tend to eat later.  We rested a little and then headed downstairs to the restaurant.  It was an Italian restaurant and I had some very good fettuccini with flaked salmon and a cream sauce.  I decided to pass on the dessert.  On the way back to the room we passed a vending machine which had prawn cocktail crisps.  Do those sound appetizing?

Promises To Keep

I've been in the Nora's Yarn Club from Holiday Yarns.  For the most recent installment, we were asked what color we would like.  I asked if I could have a yarn that reminds Nora of snowy woods.

This yarn came on a Wednesday when it snowed and there was snow on all the trees.  It couldn't have picked a better day to come. 

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the yarn was the line from a Robert Frost poem. 

"For I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

I decided that I wanted to do a shawlette from the lower border in, using shortrows to shape it so it would wrap well.  What I ended up doing was a simple rope cable combined with a wee bit of lace. 

I was worried that I would run out of yarn, so I ended up making the shawl a lot longer and narrower than I had originally intended. 

Pattern is now available on Ravelry as a free download.

Vacation Time!

I was finally getting around to blogging about the great Vacation of 2012, and then something happened to the computer.

So, be patient all.

Finally!

Oslo Walk is done!

Since the FPU complained so much about modeling, I used a different model.  I think this one didn't enjoy it either.

The Shawl with No Name

Is named Musings.

It is the November 2011 Mythology Lace Club pattern from Holiday Yarns.

Prototype shawlette knitted in the Aphrodite colorway, which is more green than the finished shawlette suggests.  Actual Muses colorway is blue.  A picture of the full shawl in the Muses colorway can be seen in the KAL thread (ravelry).

This is the 11th shawl I completed this year. 

Mother says I need a manniquin. 

Number 10

Number 10 is a test knit of the Faceted Shawl pattern.  I started it right before my birthday and bound off on Christmas day. 

The unblocked shawl is being modeled by little cousin E.  The colors are better in this pic.

The blocked shawl shows off the pattern, but the colors are a little off.

Sometimes

I may be crazy.

Way back in January, I decided that I would do 11 shawls in 2011.  I actually got off to a pretty good start.  I managed to get three done in January, 1 of them a big shawl. 

It's now the last week of the year.  I have only finished 9.  Number 10 needs blocked.  Number 11 -- about 1/3 of the way around the border.  The border.  I am not liking the border. 

Mortal keeps bugging me about the Pole socks. 

MUST FINISH BORDER.

MUST BLOCK.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate, cherish and be grateful for what we have. 

It is not the time to spend hours waiting in lines to maybe get a "hot" item.  Maybe, instead of shopping, people should stay home and enjoy more time with their families. 

And, for all those people that complain about the food, lines, etc at the restaurant they went to, they should prepare their own Thanksgiving meal.  Do you really think we'd rather be there than with our own families?

Well, they both start with B

The barbershoppers get together was this weekend.  Mother made a comment that she thought I didn't like them.  Apparently, she thought it was the banjo weekend.

Here's another peek at the shawl with no name.

Things

The fiends are back to normal after Rose's solo trip to the vet.

The shawl with no name may have a name, and it is progressing nicely.

Things

So, Rose has survived his sojourn at the vet. Of course, to Gil he smells all wrong, so Gil is having nothing to do with Rose. He's been hissing when Rose comes too close. I told the MPU that it was payback, as Rose did the same thing when Gil came back from a solo trip to the vet.

Gl did do better as only cat than Rose, ie he wasn't all clingy and needy. He basically did the same things he does every day.

I dug out the jersey knit sheets for the parental units, or I tried to. I found both fitted sheets and both sets of pillow cases, but no flat sheets. Hmmm, wonder where they went?

The shawl with no name progresses. I'm 2 1/2 repeats in. 1 1/2 repeats will put it at shawl être size, to get to full size, it will take another four repeats plus the border. The yarn is working well. I was not sure at first, but the accent colors are only showing up here and there and for just a few stitches, there has been no major pooling. Hopefully, I can make more progress today and tomorrow.

I dug out the recipe for the chocolate fruitcake that I have been meaning to make for the past several years. I am going to be making a few changes, I am going to take out the pineapple and swap the dates for cherries.

Now, I have to finish the laundry and make pie. Yum.

Not A Good Day

Dear humans,

Please tell Mom to bring Rose back. I'm lonely without him. AND, there was no dinner last night and breakfast was LATE. TRAGEDY!!

And, Mom won't let me help with her shawl.

Gil

Rose went to the vet to get his teeth cleaned.

10 Things that Make You Go Hmm

1. If "What" goes up, why does "Must" come down?
2. Why don't magazines include a number for customer service anymore?
3. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
4. Why do people ask the same question over and over?
5. Why is the darkest hour right before dawn?
6. Why are they cardinal points?
7. Why can't Comcast's website remember my zip code?
8. Why isn't there one website for the general public that will show all hotels in an area?
9. Why are there such things as "fat-free" sour cream and "fat-free" half & half?
10. Why does the state have a general ledger code for illegal drugs?

Random Stuff

A new mattress has been procured for the day bed.  It will be fiend approved shortly.

I finished the lace pattern for Oslo Walk and discovered that I don't have the correct number of stitches.


I finished a new pair of socks and have the pattern written.  It will be up for testing soon.  I'd post a picture, but the camera isn't working.

I need a new phone b/c the old one has a big crack across the screen.

Reservations have been made for Rhinebeck.

It is fall, my favorite season.  It needs to cool off and above all, STOP RAINING!

Ophelia will need new front brake pads.

Happy Birthday!

Devious and Dopey, aka Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are 6 today.

Stuff

The daybed came today.  It will not be set up today.  Stuff still needs to come out of the craft room.
I have decided I need to go through the stash and make sure that the destash page is up to date.

I got some new stash.

I also caught a cold.

The Way Things Go

So, I started Oslo Walk (rav) with the moldy pumpkin.  Got the correct number of stitches cast on and everything!  Beading is done on the wrong side rows.  The holes in the (insert favorite word) beads are not consistent and don't all fit onto the crochet hook. 
Now, these are size 8 beads (from a BEAD store) and it's a size 12 hook.  I used the same size beads and the same size hook for Sun In Glory, and had no problems. 
On to plan B -- which is to use size 6 beads - of which I only have 590.  Yes, I know that's a lot, but I need 664 beads.  So......more beads have been ordered.  I'm going to use a mix of Root Beer and Topaz. 
This was after it took me 2 hours to find the magazine that the pattern is in. 

I got a call from a vendor who shall remain nameless about not receiving payment for a purchase order.  They wanted to know why they had not been informed that the invoices were to be sent to a specific address.  Facepalm -- it's on the purchase order!

The daybed is coming soon and I am not ready to set it up.

Back to the knitting

Since TDF is done, I'm back to my knitting projects. 

I have set a fiber goal of spinning at minimum 8 ounces a month.

I've been working on the sockses with pocketses and am almost to the toe on #1 (still need to do the pocket)

I also decided on my next shawl.  I'll be doing Oslo Walk with the Moldy Pumpkin and some metallic gold iris beads. 

The Finish Line!

Week 3

LtoR: 

• Art batt, 1 oz, 60 yards (single)
• Crazy Ball, 4.5 oz, 190 yards
• BFL, 4 oz, 220 yards
• Peruvian wool, 3.5 oz, 110 yards
• BFL, 4 oz, 713 yards
• batt/norwegian top, .5 oz, 40 yards

Close up on the Moldy Pumpkin (That's a quarter).

Total for the Tour de Fleece:

69.5 ounces, 9,099 yards of singles

Day 22

Today I plied up the crazy ball and the BFL to free up the bobbins.  I now am halfway through the Moldy Pumpkin.