Halloween Knitting

I felted my pumpkin last night. I have a front loading washing machine so thought I'd try felting by hand in a pail. Things weren't progressing as quickly as I'd hoped so after about 20 minutes of trying to agitate the pumpkin by hand, I threw it, the stem and vine in a lingerie bag and threw it in the dark load already in progress in the washing machine. I checked it after 5 minutes and that pretty much did the trick. I stuffed the pumpkin firmly with plastic bags and basted the top as closed as I could. I then wrapped acrylic yarn tightly around it along the seam lines. The pumpkin is still drying. It's going to look awesome when I'm done. I'll remove the red yarn once it's completely dry.

I also finished knitting the smaller pumpkin and will felt it next time we have a dark load.

I found this pattern for a really small felted pumpkin . I have to make another trip to my LYS to get more orange Ella Rae yarn.

Skip and Scooter golfed this morning so I went on a 50 minute walk. The weather has been gorgeous this fall. Now that I have fresh batteries for the camera, I'll get out and take those fall colour pictures.

Skip and I have decided on a resort to stay at in Cuba for our Holiday in November. I'll book that tomorrow.

I impulsively decided I wanted to go to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. All lodgings nearby are booked but I found a place in Albany that was the right price. I know it's completely frivolous but hey - doing stuff like this is exactly what I hoped to do in retirement. Skip will enjoy the sheep and the sheep dog trials.

"Hello, my name is Geri and I'm a knitting addict"

I got up fairly early with Skip today. He left to go pick up Scooter and visit Grandma. Scooter had his first high school dance last night.

I've been puttering around. There are lots of things I could be doing and many things I should be doing. Instead, I'm goofing around on the computer. Ain't life grand!

I finished all the wedges for my first felted pumpkin last night and started the wedges for the smaller one. I need to stitch the wedges together and find the yarn for the stem. I also need to go and buy a set of 8mm dpns. That'll be the third time I've been at a yarn store this week. Pictures will be forthcoming.

"Hello, my name is Geri and I'm a knitting addict"

No one will ever go without food because of this and many cool things will be produced. However it really is somewhat of an addiction.

I downloaded a few knitting podcasts (of all things) including a couple of video ones so sometime today I will put them on my iPod and check them out.

The leaves are starting to turn and fall. I think this calls for some picture taking. Hmm, I'd better add camera batteries to my shopping list.

CBC Classical FM is on and housework and errands call....

Season Openers

This morning I made it to the 9:30am Body Pump (weight-lifting) class. It was packed! 25 people with enough equipment for about 22 - too many people for the studio. I wish they'd offer another class and there's no Pump class at the other club on Thursday morning. It was a good workout although I didn't feel particularly strong. I did sweat a lot. Actually, I have been really sweating a lot during my workouts lately. I sure hope that means I'm burning off lots and lots of fat. I then did 30 min. on the treadmill.

I met Skip at his golf league's banquet at 1pm. It was a nice meal with very pleasant companions. Skip has really enjoyed it.

After supper, I went to the Sit 'n Knit. There were only 3 of us there this week (including Martina). She had made the felted pumpkins from knitty.com and had them on display. I bought the orange yarn and will check out my stash for the brown yarn for the stem.

I've been continuing to work on the hemp market bag and have almost finished the first skein. I thought I should knit the two straps with the second skein first before continue with the bag as I want to make the bag as big as I can and don't want to run out of yarn. The straps call for 'linen stitch' which I had never seen or done before. It's kind of a weaving type of knitting with not a lot of 'give'. Some of the abbreviations were a bit perplexing at first, for instance, sl 1 pw wyib. Huh? I figured it meant, slip one stitch purlwise with the yarn in the back. And it worked!

I watched the season opener of 'Grey's Anatomy'. There are lots of opportunities for turns and twists the plots can take this season with the departure of Burke, the arrival of Alexis, the breakup of Meredith and McDreamy, Izzy's declaration of love for George and his reciprocating. I have the 'ER' season opener on tape and will watch it at a later time. I didn't watch it that faithfully last year. They've 'jumped the shark' a few times and characters are coming and going all the time.

Life's Simple Pleasures

Today was very pleasant. I had a nice morning puttering around the house and on the computer. Skip was golfing. After lunch I went to Costco to see if Linwood Barclay's book was there yet. It wasn't :-( However afterwards at Chapters I had a lovely time looking at the knitting books. I especially enjoyed the Koigu book, "Knits from a Painter's Palette: Modular Masterpieces in Handpainted Yarns". I enjoyed my Grande non-fat decaf latte as well.

While driving to and from my shopping places I noticed the leaves have started to turn. Some of the maples are just breathtaking. It has been unseasonably warm (hot) this month. Today was another record-breaking high. I even had the air-conditioning in the car!

I dropped into Kniterary on my way home to pick up the 4mm 24" circular needle I need for the hemp market bag project - The Shop 'Til You Drop kit in the classic colourway. I also scoped out a couple of different yarns for the Cece lace sweater I want to knit. I also bought a ball of chunky yarn on sale for the water bottle caddy.

When I got home, I popped a roast in the oven and followed with onions, potatoes and carrots and sat down to watch Oprah and began knitting the market bag. Dinner was delicious.

All in all it was a very pleasant day. Not much money was spent and there was a lot of enjoyment living in the moment.

A Stash I Forgot I Had

I got myself out the door by 10am and over to the gym for my 1 hour Yoga class. Then I spent a half hour on the treadmill whilst watching 'The View'. I picked up some California rolls downstairs at Loblaws and headed home to eat lunch.

Skip and I had planned to go into Toronto today but he has come down with a cold and begged off for today. I need to get 4mm 24" circular needles but my LYS (Kniterary) is closed on Mondays and Ferguson's is only open Thursday - Saturday. So I decided to work on the Lady Eleanor scarf instead.

It's an entrelac pattern from "Scarf Style". The original pattern calls for 7 squares per row and is more of a shawl. I didn't want a very wide scarf so I'm doing 2 squares across and only will use 3 balls of yarn. I'm using SWTC Karaoke yarn - 50% soysilk, 50% wool.

I tried to locate the Philosopher's Wool sweater kit in the basement - to no avail. I did however find a bunch of yarn from another kit I purchased years ago (100% wool) and a bunch of worsted weight acrylic and some squared I had made from baby yarn. I also found a kit of Norwegian yarn in black and off white.

Tomorrow I have several errands to run. I want to go to Costco and see if Linwood Barclay's new book " No Time for Goodbye" is there. If not, I'm ordering it from amazon.ca

I also have to drop into Kniterary for the circular needle I need. I'll also look for some yarn for the CeCe lacy sweater - not that I need to start another project!

Back to Reality

I'm going to try to catch up on the week's happenings.

Tuesday I did a mammoth laundry and got all the clothes out on the line. We are doing our bit for the environment by line drying our clothes from April to November. And we love the fresh smell of them. The rest of the day was pretty much a day of sloth. I don't even think I got out of my sleeping clothes until late afternoon. I went to the Pickering Band rehearsal where I was the 4th (!) oboe player. They certainly don't need 4 of us. I did offer my services to the conductor if he needs someone to sub in for him. It was good seeing several of my former band-mates. There are a couple of other community groups I'm considering joining.

Wednesday was a pretty lazy day as well. I did do some grocery shopping but generally just puttered around the house (from what I can remember).

Thursday I went to a doctor's appointment and picked up fresh veggies on the way home. I made a very nice 'shake and bake' type chicken dinner with green beans and corn on the cob. After supper I went to Kniterary to 'Sit 'n Knit'. I finished knitting the top edge of the stained glass purse. I just need to finish by attaching it inside and finishing the second i-cord strap. Then it'll be time for felting. Martina offered to help me felt it. She also had some new hemp yarn kits and I bought the market bag one. I may start it this evening.

Yesterday, I went to the club and did the one hour weight-lifting class and then 30 min. on the treadmill while watching "The View". It went pretty quickly. It was the first time I had worked out since before our trip. Not surprisingly I'm feeling achy muscles today. I went over to the school I used to teach at to visit some folks and make sure some people were going out for a drink. We call that 'going to the curriculum meeting'. Skip and Scooter arrived home shortly after I got home.

Today, we slept in a bit and had a generally lazy morning. I bought a lovely sweater pattern for the Cece lacy sweater online from ChicKnits.com. Now I'll be in search of appropriate worsted weight yarn. I may try to find a nice cotton yarn. While goofing off on the computer today I discovered TWO (!) yarn stored I haven't yet been to in the Buffalo area. They'll definitely be on my list the next time we go there for a 'get away' weekend. Now that our dollar is almost par it could be relatively soon.

I have made a list of UFOs:
- triangular shawl
- baby surprise sweater
- Regia Canadiana socks in Scroll Lace pattern
- stained glass fan felted purse

I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them right now.

Home Again, Jiggety Jig

We arrived in Flint, MI yesterday at 5pm. Thankfully, I had secured our reservation for late arrival at the Sleep Inn with my credit card. Once settled, we headed to Don Pablo's for dinner. I was in the mood for an enchilada and a tamale. Of course there was the requisite Corona Lite with lime, as well. The amiable server, Kristen, recommended I try a Miller Chill which contains lime and salt. Unfortunately they don't serve it at Don Pablo's but I'll keep an eye out for it in the future. I think they sell it at Applebee's in the US. Skip had shrimp quesadillas.

After waddling back to the room, we headed for the hot tub. It felt great after the long drive and the rough road we experienced between Lansing and Flint. Ahhhhh!

Skip watched football and I continued to knit on the stained glass fan purse. I'm at round 9 of 10 on the sides and will soon be able to start the bottom.

This morning we set out for home by 9:00 and arrived at the border crossing at Port Huron, MI by about 10:30 after a 'comfort stop' and a fill-up of gas. We got home by 2:30pm and commenced unloading and unpacking.

Ollie was very glad to see us. The neighbours who fed him while we were away noted that he must have missed us as he paid more attention to them than to his food when they came to feed him.

Now there's a mountain of laundry which I'll do tomorrow morning and hang out on the line. I have also decided to attend a rehearsal of the Pickering Community Concert Band tomorrow evening. I have been asked to consider being the assistant conductor. At this point, I'm reluctant to commit my time but I DO want to start playing again on a regular basis.

I just remembered another favourite thing about the game on Saturday. Any time Indiana got a first down the band would play the opening of the trio of National Emblem march. Fans would pump their fists up and down to the music and at the end of the second phrase point in the direction the Hoosiers marching.