KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

Hope you have a wonderful day!

My morning was already a ton of fun. Believe it or not - the bus driver put small gifts on everybody's seat this morning and I scored a candleholder shaped like a little heart. And the bus driver sang to all the ladies in the bus - a Lionel Richie song. He did really well - only in Georgia at 6:30am. :-)

When I got to work I found a beautiful dark red rose on my desk. Some little cupid put one on each assistant's desk. Very nice.

I am sorry that I have deserted the knitting blog for a while - life has been too hectic, what can I say... And I am simply too tired when I come home at night to sit in front of the PC for another couple of hours. BUT - I am still knitting up a storm - gotta stay sane somehow... I have been working on a post over the last few days. Hopefully I can finish it soon. Stay tuned!

Oh - and I saw on the news this morning a very handsome fella. Meet James, an English Springer Spaniel, who won the 131st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York, February 13, 2007. YAY for James - he is cute!

To read more about James, click here.

Let's see what the rest of day will bring!

Jeezopete, as Ms. Janice likes to say... I guess I finally noticed that my last post (besides the short and non-knitting related one from yesterday) was two weeks ago. SHAME ON ME… But, hey, I have an excuse that I am using these days pretty frequently - no time and no energy. (I guess that is two excuses.) I don’t know – maybe this is a 2007 thing… I am recovering from a few stressful weeks with lots of activities, work related as well as knitting and spinning related. At some point I had a New Year's Resolution for 2007 - "Keep up with the blog and post more frequently!" But guess what - it's not going to happen at the moment. And again, you have to read a little novel instead of a short and snazzy entry. I will try to do better. There are just too many things I want mention but never get around to.

Mainly, why I don't have much time for online activities anymore is because… they actually have me work at work, can you believe that? Not that I wish the old job back when I had literally zero to do, but a little balance between the current one (zero time for anything else - ha-ha-ha) and the previous job would be nice. But I have to say I like the new job very much. It's interesting and all the different tasks (a lot of them have to be finished the day before you get them - like I can do magic, right) make the days fly by super lightning fast. Which is nice - because I sit here and it's already Thursday and I am off tomorrow – so it’s kinda Friday...

Yesterday was already Valentines Day – I hope you had a good one and got some flowers or other goodies. And spring is around the corner. At least that is what I thought, after living in Georgia for 6 years. Not so this year – the weather is all weird. Freezing cold one day and then in the high 60s the next day… This morning it was 21 degrees and today’s high is supposed to be in the 40s. And since Pixie and I will spend this weekend in the mountains – to be exact in Highlands, NC - I thought I’d check the weather. And here is what I found – boy-oh-boy…

This is going to be fun – the forecast suggests flurries of snow on Friday, snow showers on Saturday and a few more snow showers on Sunday. Pixie, better bring warm sweaters, a quilt and blankets!!!

We are going to the annual retreat of the Atlanta Knitting Guild at The Mountain. Each year, around 50 knitters gather there for a long weekend to knit and socialize. I'm sure there will be drinking and tinking, too. I heard from other guild members who have gone before that what happens at The Mountain stays at The Mountain. But I will take my camera – maybe I can at least share some gorgeous nature pictures. Like from the snow flurries. I am actually excited about the possibility of snow. I sometimes miss the winters in my German hometown with 8 feet of snow during the months of October through March.

OK – didn’t I title this entry THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY...? Now, if I can remember what it was that I wanted to post about. Ha-ha-ha… I'm telling you the big 40 is approaching rapidly… Only 5 more months… I actually started to draft this entry about a week and a half ago. And at some point I also made a stupid mistake and somehow couldn’t save what I wrote and it was all gone and I had to start over. Very stupid user… So, what was I talking about?

THE GOOD
To relax from the recent stressful times and events I canceled all my weekend dates a couple of weekends ago. And OMG, that even included the Saturday SNB-NEGA meeting and the Superbowl of Spinning at Sandy's house. I truly missed knitting and spinning with my friends, but I have to say a weekend in PJs can be very relaxing. Hubby let me sleep in, took care of the dogs, made coffee and answered the phone. YAY – I really did not leave the house once. And I got a bunch of knitting done. Watching eight episodes of Desperate Housewifes and two movies was great entertainment for loads of knitting.

Here is my dream project for 2007 – I am giving myself a birthday gift this year – I think 40 is a good reason. Remember this fabulous coat from VogueKnitting (Holiday 2006 issue)?

I want to make this coat. And since this is a big free-form project and I have never done one before, I thought I'd give it a try on a smaller scale. It’s a big commitment and if I really knit the coat, I want to make sure I understand the pattern and that I also LIKE the pattern. Not everything that looks pretty in the magazine is easy to assemble. I had to learn that the hard way with a sweater last year… 4 hours of extra seaming for the collar band – not again, no thank you… Not going to happen again, these unexpected pattern dramas. Well, OK, granted it was my fault for not reading through the complete pattern first.

I have 4 balls of Noro Silk Garden in my stash (see – knitting from my stash as well!) And here are the first four hexagons close up:

As you can see, a lot of ends need to be weaved in… Well, that is a commitment I have to think about since I am not really fond of the finishing process…

I think I will make a vest from the hexagons with a black border in between. The goal is to have that finished before July and then I can buy myself some wonderful yarn for the coat. We’ll see if I still want to knit the coat after I finish the vest. I also want to change the yarn from Koigu to possibly Artyarns.

In addition to this fun experiment, I also finished a couple of projects. Here is no. 1 – a pair of socks. Voila – the Snaky Chevrons:

Yarn: The Great Adironduck Sock Yarn (100% Merino Superwash - 360 yds)
Color: Watermelon Wanda
Needles: US 1 and 0

Yes, you read correctly – I knitted the first sock with size 1 needles and the second one with size 0 needles. The second one is a little tighter but still fits. I don’t know what I was thinking… I'm hoping that after the first wash this will even out.

And here is project no. 2 - a big felted tote, before felting:

It was huge – as you can see Noah was able to use it as a sleeping bag – almost :-)

And here is the bag after it went through the felting process - still huge tho':

Yarn: Lionbrand Landscapes (12 balls)
Color: Campfire
Needles: US #13

Now isn’t that the cutest face you have ever seen? Beware – this dog is dangerous. Which brings me to the BAD part.

THE BAD
One night I came home and I found this. Notice anything?

Yup – the dog ate one of the labels. I have to say he did a pretty good job with just eating the label. The yarn is not very harmed and the dog is still alive. I don’t have any evidence but I am pretty sure that it was Noah and not Hermione. She never touches anything that doesn’t belong to her. But Noah has in the past. And I think – because my craft room is still extremely messy – he just thought that he needed to tell me that I need to clean. Yeah, well Noah, I know that. But now you are screwed because I have the door to the crafts room closed when I am not in there. Bummer, huh? Because Noah likes to sleep on the futon in the crafts room… Until Mommy cleans up, no more naps there for you! And finally...

THE UGLY
I bought a jumbo plying head for my Lendrum wheel at SAFF, back in October 2006. And I just got around to using it for the first time. And guess what, it doesn’t work. S#!+balls… Somehow it seems that the flyer has not enough room to rotate. I wonder if I am using the correct terminology here, but that's the best I can think of to describe the problem. Sometimes it catches and then it turns for a couple of times. And sometimes it won’t catch at all. Janice had several suggestions that I still need to try out – when I have a quiet moment. She told me to double check that the band has enough tension, that the plying head is put on the wheel at the right height, to make sure all the parts are oiled, to take the scotch tension brake completely off and give it a try. Another suggestion from the Yahoo Lendrumspinners message board was to sand inside surface of the plastic insert in the front maiden where you insert the orifice end of the flyer. Janice also offered to look at the wheel if I bring it to one of the next outings and I might just take her up on that. She is my spinning Obi Wan Kenobi!

Darnit – I was so excited about the fact that I could ply BIG TIME now… I guess I have to wait a little longer.

That’s it for now. I am trying to leave work early today, so I have enough time to pack all my knitting projects for this weekend and some warm clothes, etc., so I won’t freeze to death. Pixie and I will meet early early early tomorrow - at 9am. I AM SO EXCITED!

Stay warm!

Hello - I am back from the retreat and still alive. :-)

It was a very nice weekend with lots and lots of knitting. And some very interesting conversations… Some of them with drunken knitters - I am telling you... VERY INTERESTING - I actually took some notes which are still in my knitting bag. I was a good girl and only had a couple of glasses of red wine. I didn't want to wake up with a hangover and a bunch of ripping...

I taught some of the fellow knitters some German - of course, curse words first and then - OK - a few knitting terms. And now we have a new word for clinking glasses. We no longer say:

A votre sante! (French)
Alla Salute! (Italian)
Cheers! (British)
Egé szé gé re! (Hungrian)
Kanpai! (Japanese)
Na Zdrowie! (Polish)
Ooogy Wawa! (Zulu)
Prosit! (German)
Salud! (Spanish)
Saúde! (Brazilian)
Skal! (Swedish)
Slainte! (Irish)
Wen Lie! (Chinese)
Yasas! (Greek)
Za vashe zdorovye! (Russian)
Zivili! (Serbian)
Zum Wohl! (Austrian)

We now say Umschlag! which means yarn over in German. The others thought it was totally funny and it sure sounds like a toast. So, when with knitters, drink like a knitter and say Umschlag! If you care to hear the pronunciation for Umschlag – click here. If you click on the little speaker, a new window pops up and you can listen to the word. Have fun!

That toasting thing also gave me the idea to post some German knitting terms every once in a while - stay tuned for more!

Besides teaching German words and a few knitting tips and tricks (entrelac, toe-up socks, spit splicing, binding off without a big last loop/stitch…) , I also finished a couple of projects. For playing her chauffeur, Pixie gave me some great yarn when we got to the retreat. Gorgeous Berroco Foliage. I love the colors – black, purple, green, red (self striping). I finished the scarf Saturday morning and it was darn cold – so I actually wore it, too.

Here you can see Karen and me. She is knitting a beautiful sock - The Pomatomus. And I am hiding behind the scarf I started with the Berroco Foliage. I love this picture - Pixie took it - nice shot! She took more pictures - go check out her blog! These are three of our four dear male knitting friends - all fabulous knitters. You can see the weekend's charity project in my hands - I knitted a stoma cover which will be donated to the Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. And if you look closely - the finished scarf is behind me on the sofa.

I also knitted some on my dad's vest (298 stitches with Rowan Cashsoft for an Aran vest). I need to take pictures. But look at the number of stitches. It grows very slowly... And I started a pair of socks with greyish Trekking and some red yarn for a slip stitch pattern - also still undocumented on Flickr. I'll try to take pictures tonight.

And as the forecast predicted, we had snow on Saturday, and when I woke up sometime during the night from Saturday to Sunday, I thought we were in the middle of a blizzard. But of course it was dark outside and I couldn't see a thing. On Sunday morning, the wind was still blowing but to my surprise there was almost no snow, but a lot of sunshine. A very crisp winter morning. Total flashback to winters in Germany. And a very pretty drive home...

So, there - it's only Monday and I already made time to blog. Have a great week!

My haven from stress - somehow I feel like I am walking in minefields lately and every once in a while a load of s#!+ explodes in my face. But I guess that happens when you have a busy life and you deal with a lot of people. And as hubby likes to say "people are people and with all the good intentions you have you can't change them". Maybe one of these days I will get that into my little brain and I will not care so much anymore to try and make everything perfect for everybody.

So - enough ranting about life in general. Let's get down to knitting business.

Here are the promised pictures of the Berroco Foliage Scarf.

And with the paw models...

I love our pooches - they were pretty cooperative lately when mommy wanted to take knitting pictures.

I also finished another sock. And I haven't told you about this one - shame on me... It for my mom for Mother's Day. She always knits socks for other people (like three pairs the week before Christmas because she needed something to wrap money in... How about a money card holder, huh, mom?). And I am pretty sure she's never gotten any knitted as a gift. So, I was looking through my pattern books and found Valentine Cables - PERFECT!

And here is a close-up of the cables. I figured they are not very visible because of the self-striping yarn, but at least I don't get bored knitting the socks.

I know what you will say - please write up the pattern. I want to - please help get me cloned...

Gotta run now - I will convert four people tonight from non-knitters to newbie knitters. Just love that! Teaching knitting is truly one of my all-time favorite things. Nothing better than to look at someone who just finished the first row of knit stitches with a big grin on their face!

What can a fiber addict's little heart desire more? I am looking forward to this - and leaving this week's dramas behind. Life is too short... Especially when there are better things to do - like play with fiber and meet dear fiber friends! AMEN FOR THAT!

Tomorrow, the SNB-NEGA group will go on a little field trip to my favorite yarn store, Knitch in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. We'll stop for lunch first and then we go play with yarn for a few hours.

And on Sunday, I am going to the monthly meeting of the Peachtree Handspinners Guild and hopefully all my spinning gals - Janice, Jen, Jane, Mouse, Sandy, and Shari - will be there. I know Pixie is not coming - she needs to do stuff with her hubby. Lame excuse, Ms. Pixie. You will be missed tho'! Nobody to pick on, ha-ha-ha-ha! I will have the experts take a look at my non-cooperating jumbo plyhead for Ezmerelda, my Lendrum wheel.

Seems like these days I have a flurry of socks going... It would be good, tho', to finish one of the pairs eventually and not start new ones all the time - probably best if it would be the one I am knitting for a gift... Oh, and yes, Karen inspired me so much that I started The Pomatomus this week, and I turned the heel last night. Thank you Janice - for reminding me that there is a second chart for the instep. Whew...

While at the AKG knitting retreat last weekend, I also worked a little on another sock. I found this pattern in one of my German sock books. It looks like a brick wall to me. The pattern knits up really easy. You start with a knit and a purl row in your contrasting color and then you knit four rows of *knit 3, slip 1* in your main color and so on...

On the close-up you can the pattern a tad better. I like the color combination a lot. Very bright flashy red on muted variegated grey.

Oh, and here is also proof that we really had snow last weekend in Highlands, NC. My little Scion had a little frosty cover:

I am surprised that the second picture isn't blurry - I was freakin' freezin' my behind off taking these pictures. Very crisp 30's... brrrrrrrrrr...

OH - and I have some really great news. I will be in Germany for most of April. Yes, a good three weeks, working in my boss' office in Munich and hanging out with my family. The only down side - hubby is not coming with me. He would be bored to tears since I have to work during the week (and my folks don't speak English and he can read only so many books per day). And we would have to board the dogs for a very long time. So, he is staying home to take care of the poochies. I am sure I'll be talking to him daily. Thank goodness for the internet and cheap phone rates. And since I am good planner, I will be attending my niece's first birthday party. She is just the cutest cookie monster ever, don't you think?

With this I will let you be - have a great weekend! My weekend will start in 2½ hours with a visit to my massage therapist and a knitting session at WKK with wine and cheese! CHEESE GROMIT!!! Big grin :-)

Y'all - hubby was right when he told me earlier today that I got a package and that I would be very excited about this package. Here is the what I found when I came home:

MY FIRST FLEECE FROM SCHACHT FLEECE FARM CAME TODAY! I am running around the house, rolling in fiber - WOO-HOO!!! Total excitement - I am so crazy. Ha-ha-ha-ha... And Noah looks at me and at the box and does not understand why... It is fiber, pooch!!! From a real sheep in Indiana, and it is a lot of fiber. Michaiah gave me her whole fleece from last year's shearing.

Yes, I will take some to the Peachtree Handspinners Guild for show and tell. Sorry gotta go and roll in roving some more - it is very nice and fluffy!!! Don't be hatin' on me for that :-) Sorry, you can touch but I don't share - selfish little me...

... that saved the jumbo plyhead!

Hubby is my absolute hero - yesterday he did a fabulous (and interminable, he says) sanding job, and now I can definitely use the jumbo plyhead. YAY FOR THIS MAN - I knew there was a reason why I married him!!! ;-)

Of course, I had to try it the instant I got home and it worked wonderfully - I give you the plied hand-dyed roving called The Northern Lights in blue and purple colors. The fiber is a 27 micron wool. It is a blend of various breeds and types of wool sorted by micron count.

I bought the roving from Michele at Distaff Day in January. So far I have some 40 yards of a very chunky yarn. I need to spin the rest and think about what to do with it. It is scrumptous!!!

Maybe I can mix it with some chunky store-bought yarn (I am sure there is something in my stash...) and make a nice scarf.

I had fun this weekend - the field trip to Knitch was wonderful. I just love that store. The latest goody on the big wooden table - M&Ms. Look at these...

Just in case you can't read well what it says - "Knitch" and "We love knitters". Is that cool or what? Here you can see a bunch of our group knit and chat. And shop... of course...

You can glimpse at Tammy, Diana, Jane, Janice, Erica, Jacquie, Jessica and Leslie. Ann is running around somewhere - fondling yarn. ;-)

When we left, Kim - the store owner - said that we filled the store with laughter and a great atmosphere, and made the afternoon a very pleasant one. Now, that made us feel really special and wanted there. I have to say, this store does not only care about how much money you leave. They take care of you with coffee and water and treats... Kim suggested that we should come back every Saturday. Now there is an idea...

Sunday at the PHG was great, too. I got to hang out with Jen almost all day and we had time to catch up. The plying demos at the guild meeting were excellent, and the dinner at the pub, too. :-) While at the spinning guild meeting, I finished the No. 1 Pomatomus sock and started no. 2 right away.

What a fun pattern - once you get into the groove of the chart, tho'.

This will probably be my first and last post for this week. The Atlanta Knitting Guild hosts Beth Brown-Reinsel this weekend, and since I am the Workshop person for the AKG, I got to organize her three workshops. Which of course is a ton of work but I am very confident that it also will be a ton of fun, and as a reward I get to go to all the workshops - Fair Isle, Aran Sweaters and Swedish Cast ons - and hang out with a knitting super-star. And - I also get to take 1½ days of vacation. YAY for that - take a little vacation to go knitting.

I'll be back next week - see ya!