Another FO!

Again, for my friends who are not on Ravelry. Here is the shawl I made using Mas Acero by Brooks Farm. It was my only purchase at the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival. My good friend Chris picked out this skein. I was pleasantly surprised about how it came out because while knitting, I couldn't picture how the shawl would lay around my shoulders. The fringe is made by dropping 5 stitches on each side and I knotted them as recommended in the instructions.

Sushi, Anyone?

Today was a very snowy, icy, icky day. I chose not to venture out and go to work. This gave me time to finish up some knitting projects including the Sushi Wallet. I saw this wallet years ago in the LionBrand catalog. Every so often I would look it up on their website and think about buying it. One day I walked in A.C. Moore and there was the Sushi Wallet by Coats & Clark! I had a 50% off coupon so I bought it! The yarn is bamboo and was extremely soft to work with. The wallet was a cinch to knit up. Those little sushi pieces were a bit of a pain because I had to change the colors very often but I got it done. The felting process took some time. I had to reset the machine 3 times until I got the desired effect. I let it dry for a few days pinned to a thick towel. Today was sewing day. I first sewed the sushi pieces onto the wallet. Then I had to put in the zipper. Since I'm not much of a sewer, I had no clue on how to do this. The directions were very clear but something wasn't right. I even looked on the internet on how to put in a zipper. When I looked at the printed directions that came with the kit, I never read the part that said, "Open zipper." Oh, now it makes sense. How did I miss those two words? I did it correctly and it looks great. Here are some pictures:



Wasabi, anyone?

Catching Up with Me!

So, here it is. It's Inauguration Day. I greeted the day by walking into work and noticing on our weekly calendar, someone wrote "Inaugeration Day". Can you believe that I work at a school? Seriously! I hate that!

What's been happening to me. Fifteen helmet liners were completed by me and my knit-out friends Toni and Edie. They were gratefully accepted by Nancy, the mother of the Marine in Afghanistan. This allowed me to finally make a swatch for the February Lady Sweater. (see Ravelry for this pattern or google it). I ended up starting a very easy shawl with yarn I bought at the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival.

We had some bad news. Our fish, Tiger, died on January 8th. Here's the stats on this beast of a fish. First, Tiger was 10.5 years old. We got him for $.25 from Wal-Mart when Elijah was six weeks old. The fish was originally silver and with a black tail and black lips. He looked like Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ten years later and a twenty-gallon tank, he was 11 inches long and weighed 11 ounces. I insisted that we do the post-mortem measurements. Here's a picture of our dear, departed Tiger.



He's in our freezer now waiting for the ground to thaw. I had to shove him to the back because every time I opened the freezer, there he was staring at me.

Now back to knitting:
My cyberfriend, Alison, is ill but she is on the road to recovery. Elizabeth, one of our KnitTalk people asked for a bunch of knitters to make a square for a blanket. I thought of ways I can make a square and how Alison would know it's from Robin of Yorktown Heights, NY. I finally figured it out:



It's my signature line for my e-mails. It's also one of my favorite Talking Heads songs! It will be mailed out by tomorrow!

Finally, in my need for instant gratification, I decided to make a small project. I mean this is truly a small project. Berroco posted a pattern to make a "jamb", a key sweater. I had to make a few. Here's my first one. My other one is on my car keys.


My Knit-Out friends made fun of me but you know what? I have received so many comments on these little sweaters and requests for the pattern!

That's all the news for now! Later for you!

What's David Byrne Doing on My Blog?

One of my favorite songs is "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. You can see it on YouTube. I just love the beat and I always loved the Talking Heads. I remember seeing them way back in 1977 when they were touring and came to Binghamton. My friends and I paid a big $4 to see them at a very little venue called The OP (the Other Place). They just came out with their first album with the infamous "Psycho Killer" song but we use to dance to all the songs on that album on our dorm floor.

David Byrne got back together with Brian Eno and came out with a new album. I love the first song that was released, "Strange Overtones" and if you go to the box area on my blog, you can advance to that song and listen to it. It's so David Byrne!

Remember, I use this blog to write about knitting and everything else on my mind. I think I'm just damn proud that I was able to embed this music onto the blog. What's next for me?

You can sit and knit while listening to the music. It's really good. You can also go to the website and download the song for free. I just added it to my iPod. I'm happy! I'm a hipknitta!