KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

Yeah - I am still around. The blog is still around and hasn't been touched in days. Why, I don't know. Every time I get ready to sit down and draft an entry, I get interrupted and no entry gets drafted. Maybe I'll have more luck this time.

WORK IS FREAKIN' CRAZY!!!

My coworker left for Joisey - she loved the scarf and was very touched that I knitted something for her. She is a knitter, too, but not so into the craft as I am. But I am not going to bore you with more whining about the office. The job is still a lot of fun - it's just a ton to do. The good thing is that my new coworker is starting on Monday and then we'll figure out what I will do and what she will do. Actually, I'll do that tomorrow with one of our attorneys. The newbie will be more of a team assistant and I'll be the office manager and accountant and HR person and the Personal Assistant for the managing partner. I think I'll still have a full plate. :-)

What else??? Maybe knitting??? YES-YES-YES - My haven from insanity. :-)

Mystery Lace 3:

This is my swatch:

The first clue for the knit-a-long was published last Friday - 100 rows of an awesome pattern. Not easy, but a lot of fun. I knitted most of it Saturday morning and finished Sunday morning. Hubby was still asleep, I had peace and quiet, strong coffee and the fiber dogs by my side for moral support. :-) Here is my output:

Unblocked - always looks like boiled butt.

And now temporarily blocked - much better.

The center of the triangle - what could the pattern be? A mystery...

A close-up of the border - perhaps a Celtic influence?

Now I am waiting for clue no. 2, being published tomorrow.

I have also been knitting Preemie Caps for the AKG community project, headed by my friend Brett. I am using Rowan Calmer leftovers on needle size US# 3. Cast on 60 stitches, knit in a pattern in the round for 25-30 rows, decrease over the last 4-6 rows and bind off.

In the meantime I've knitted 2 more - they go really fast. And they are so cute. It just breaks my heart that they will eventually have an afflicted little owner. My hope is that every preemie can keep the little hat as an heirloom and some day show their kids and grandkids. A symbol of how little they once were and that they turned into a strong and healthy person.

And I finished the 8 mosaic coasters for the AKG potluck table decorations tonight. I brought a camera and I hope I won't forget to take pictures.

Sunday I went to the Lucky Duck event at Knitch. There was a bin of rubber duckies marked with discount amounts for each customer to pick from. Boy, the shop was busy. I bought some awesome lace stitch markers from Allison. I love these little rings. I can't deal with big dangling stitch markers when I knit lace. These rings are perfect!

My duck gave me a 10% discount - better than nothing. :-) So here is what I bought from Knitch:

From left to right and top to bottom: Rowan Calmer for a summer top with a lacey bottom pattern and two-colored garter ridge pattern. Two books - Knit 2 Together and Knitting for Peace. And a mystery bag - with 7 balls of Cascade Pima Tencel in black. Very soft! Calls for a shrug or wrap.

And finally - I got a haircut last Friday. I told my hairdresser to cut it really short for the summer - which he did. I almost look like a boy now. But I love it. No blowdryer needed. So - I wanted to show you how different hubby's and my hair is:

I love hubby's hair. He has these gorgous reddish curls. And what you can't see - a fluffy Santa Claus beard. But since he is very private, he doesn't want his handsome mug plastered all over his wife's knitting blog. Can't blame him for that. And in the background you can see one of hubby's hobbies - jigsaw puzzles. If I remember correctly, this puzzle of an ancient world map has 5,000 pieces.

BTW - you know what is really scary? When a summer intern - yes, we get fresh meat from Germany for 3 months of internship - googles your name and finds your knitting blog. And then he starts talking to you about knitting and that his mom is an avid knitter. Too funny and scary... Oh, and that is also one of my jobs - being the intern mom... At least they are all potty trained and in their early 20s. This is the current combination - 3 males: one full blooded German, one Turk, and one Israeli. They all speak German, but one also speaks Turkish and French and another speaks Arabic and Hebrew in addition. Pretty interesting crowd.

Yesterday was my 40th birthday - I can't believe it.

I don't have much time this morning but I wanted to thank all of you who thought of me yesterday with cards, emails, text messages, phone calls, and gifts. I will write a longer post later this week.

Hubby left a very cute b-day card in the bathroom for me to find in the morning when I got up, which pretty much summed up yesterday's day:

And that really was my day - with a meeting and horrible traffic on the way home. Except hubby and I didn't throw a wild party to celebrate, but had sushi and wine and I got to open a lot of gifts. But more about that later.

AND - DRUM ROLL NOW - my parents had their 43rd anniversary yesterday!!! I don't know how they planned to have their first child 3 years after they got married, smack on the same day. Leave it to the Germans...

Mom & Dad - YOU ROCK!!!

Hubby took this picture when we were visiting my family in 2005. You can see one of my favorite lakes in the background. Its water comes from the melted snow from one of the skiing areas in the Alps. And yes, it takes the lake a long time to warm up during the summer. But the water is very clear. And girls don't have shrinkage, so we don't care about that. ;-)

And since it was my birthday - here are a couple of memes I picked up from the Knotty Girls.

The first one is SCATTERGORIES, and it’s harder than it looks!

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Claudia (my Dad named me after this actress.)

1. Famous Singer/Band: (The) Cure
2. 4 letter word: Cake (just had a birthday...)
3. Street Name: Church Street (we are in the South after all...)
4. Color: Coral
5. Gifts/Presents: Claudia’s Handpainted Yarn (yup, like it a lot and it's not my company - darnit...)
6. Vehicle: Corvette (my favorite car, but too crappy to buy one...)
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Candle
8. Boy Name: Claus (one of my uncles - variation of Klaus, meaning "victory of the people")
9. Girl Name: Carla (one of cousins - feminine form of Carl, meaning "man")
10. Movie Title: Casablanca
11. Drink: Cosmopolitan
12. Occupation: Construction worker
13. Celebrity: Claudia Cardinale (see above...)
14. Magazine: Creative Knitting
15. U.S. City: Cleveland, OH
16. Pro Sports Teams: Cowboys (Dallas, NFC East)
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Cranky (well - not really a good excuse...)
18. Something You Throw Away: Caps (from bottles)
19. Things You Shout: Crap (when I drop a stitch...)
20. Cartoon Character: Cartman (my favorite South Park character...)

And here is the second one.

The rules: You go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (day and month only). Then post three events, two births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday.

July 10

Three Events:
48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia.
1890 - Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
1938 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.

Two Births:
1895 - Carl Orff, German composer (d. 1982)
1958 - Béla Fleck, American musician

One Holiday:
Bahamas - Independence Day.

That's all for today - no knitting content, sorry. I'll try to be back with pictures and more stories later this week...

Y'all - it's really fun to turn 40. My boss told me on Tuesday (the actual b-day - before he left for Germany) - "Welcome to one of many clubs!" And yes, that is exactly how I feel. I never had a better time in my life. I met so many wonderful people last year - mostly knitters, I have to say tho'. It's just always amazing to me how you can bond with people who share the same hobby. And then I got this knitting blog going - and people from all over the place seem to read it. I even get b-day wishes from California. La - I like you lots, too :-) and I hope you can shake that stupid jury duty thing and join us for SAFF in October.

And this brings me to some of the awesome gifts I got this week. HEY - sorry if I make you seriously jealous. At least I had a cause to get gifts. Not like some people, who get gifts because other people move. But, she so deserves it. I am not jealous at all, REALLY. I am just very happy that I met her last year and that she is now a dear friend. When are we going to ruin your house with a dye party, Ms. Jen???

SO, here are some of the treats I received this week - don't want to hold out on you any longer.

Pixie sent me a gift certificate from kpixie. And I ordered sock yarn - Gems Pearl in Sandalwood - to knit Cookie A's Twisted Flower.

Phyllis gave me salty licorice - somebody really reads my blog. ;-) Yummy stuff - I am trying to be good and not eat all of it in one sitting...

Jacquie gave me one of the Be Sweet Needle Cases that are made in South Africa by artisans who work in job creation programs. The job creation programs give them the confidence and financial means necessary to support themselves and raise their families in an otherwise economically depressed region of the country. Gorgeous bag - actually way too nice for just holding needles...

Hubby's sister sent some goodies from Vermont - animal shaped crackers, a cute sheep picture and Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story.

In this refreshingly original detective story from debut German author Swann, a flock of sheep investigates the murder of their beloved shepherd, George Glenn. Leading the effort is Miss Maple, considered the cleverest sheep in the Irish seaside village of Glennkill. She slyly "pretends" to graze while eavesdropping on suspects who come to search George's caravan for something he may have died for. When a long-lost ram recounts an incident that occurred upon his departure years earlier, Miss Maple uncovers the catalyst for George's death. The wooly troupe reveals the crime's solution in a near-Shakespearean mime at the annual "Smartest Sheep in Glennkill" contest. The author's sheep's-eye view and the animals' literal translation of the strange words and deeds of the human species not only create laugh-out-loud humor but also allow the animals occasional flashes of accidental brilliance.

I am looking forward to reading this book. :-) Miss Maple, the cleverest sheep... hahaha...

This is one of hubby's gifts. I just love him - he comes up with the coolest things for me. He kinda focused on 1967 and gave me several coin sets that were issued back then. The sets are from Russia, the US, New Zealand, Canada and Israel. He also gave me a bunch of cool belt buckles and a DVD set with all Cirque Du Soleil shows. And some other stuff. ;-)

And one last cool thing tho’ - hubby went to the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal, Canada, with his mom and his sister right around the time I was born. Y'all know that he is 14 years older than I am, don't you? So, he found on eBay a china plate from that world fair and the booklet that was issued by the German pavilion at that World Fair. The booklet is in mint condition and actually had the parking ticket of the person who went there as a bookmark in it. SO COOL!!!

THANKS EVERYONE FOR THINIKING OF THE OLD LADY!!! I FEEL VERY LOVED!!!

And before I let you go and get ready for Friday, the 13th, here is some knitting content.

I have been knitting boy preemie hats and a blanket for the Stitch N' Pitch outing on Sunday:

Also in the works is a blanket for a little girl. And I want to make a matching hat. Hopefully I can get the blanket done tonight. The pattern for the blanket is from Knitting for Peace. It is the Project Linus Security Blanket. I just downsized it from 144 stitches to 67 stitches:

And I finished clue no. 2 for the Mystery Stole 3 KAL Wednesday evening:

You surely heard of the Summer Book Sale at Knitpicks. I figured, 40% off all books while I am celebrating my 40th b-day is a very good reason to completely pig out and buy the following books:

The Natural Knitter
Knitting Around
Arctic Lace
Stitchionary Vol. 3: Color Knitting
Knitting Beyond the Edge
Favorite Socks
Stephanie Pearl McPhee Casts Off
Knitting Color
Domiknitrix: Whip Your Knitting into Shape
Morehouse Farm Merino Knits
Dream Toys
The Best of Vogue Knitting
Knitting Never Felt Better
Knits from a Painter's Palette

So there... ;-)

Hope y'all have a terrific - not terrifying!!! - Friday the 13th and a fabulous weekend. Maybe you'll see me waving my pointy stix at the ball game on Sunday. Since the Braves are playing the Pirates - I will be wearing my YARRRN T-Shirt which can be bought at Jinx.

GUYS - You are such a sweet and loving group. I am very glad that I met you all and that I am part of such a fun and boisterous bunch. YOU ROCK!!!

And here is why!

They planned a special party for me at Starbucks yesterday. We lost our space at Why Knot Knit for the Friday group and started searching for a new place. Since that Starbucks location was pretty close by and also close to a MARTA station, we decided to check it out.

So, when I got there, Steve and Brett were already there and knitting away. Brett was working on my b-day gift, a beautiful lace shawl from A Gathering of Lace in silk... YUMMY!!! This was the first time I saw the shawl and it is AWESOME. I have to take a picture in progress, so y'all can drool on your keyboards. And Brett baked a rhubarb pie from scratch. I love rhubarb - so tart. :-)

Steve gave me this:

A cone of beautiful Alpaca! That calls for a lace shawl!! How much is a cone? A brazillion yards???

When Lou showed up, he gave me this:

More lace yarn - Knittivity Merino - 880 yards - I have to find a pattern for this dye, which is called Beach Glass.

Doug gave me a beautiful Pashmina shawl - I love the colors:

And Miss Diana - ever the crafty and talented girl - made adorable gift cards. I can't get over it how much work she put into these cards. I think I am going to be selfish and not send them to anyone...

She also made chocolate cup cakes from scratch.

And then Nancy and Melissa showed up with the MOST AWESOME CAKE OF ALL CAKES! Of course, also made from scratch. It was a two layer cake with balls of yarn and knitting needles as decoration. And because I am a dork, I did not have a camera with me that night. Nancy took cake pictures, and I will post them as soon as I have them.

Melissa also gave me cute doggie stitch markers:

THANK YOU GUYS AND GALS FOR BEING SOOOO GENEROUS!!!

We had so much cake and pie and cupcakes that we shared with the Starbucks employees who were a total hoot.

When I got home, I found another package. My parents' package from Germany arrived. And mom produced another gorgeous sweater. She is a tricky litte thing. While I was visiting in April, she started a sweater for me. A pattern out of one of the German Verena magazines (which, by the way, is discontinued - darnit, darnit, darnit) - lacy with long sleeves in some burgundy red cotton blend. And that's what I expected in my package. But she also showed me another stunning sweater pattern and asked me which of three different yarns would look best on her.

So when I unwrapped the gift, out came "her" sweater - OMG:

Mom used Austermann Lino, a linen/cotton/viscose/acrylic blend. It feels gorgeous - very silky. So, when I called her to thank her, I asked what happened to the other sweater. She said she wanted me to have a sweater I could wear during the summer in Georgia and therefore she knitted up this one really quickly and I'll get the other one some other time. Unbelievable!

And, yes, I am as tired as I look. I had this sugar rush from all the cake and then crashed afterwards. And I think the hot and humid weather is not helping either... Or maybe now I am getting really old...

All the elders in my family tell me how much my brother's daughter - my niece Julia - and I look alike. For proof, my mom sent me a baby picture last week:

This is yours truly at the age of 13 months - in August 1968. My Dad always told me I reminded him of the Michelin man (thanks Dad). Maybe a little less of that good Bavarian food would have helped...

But at least I am already wearing hand-knitted garments. Mom and both of my grandmothers were always knitting stuff for me and my siblings - well in August 1968 I was still an only child. My sister was born in June 1970 and my bro (not planned at all...) was born in December 1971.

Anyway, this is my darling niece on my lap a few days before her 1st birthday:

We sure have the same chubby hands with the cute dimples. I don't know about the rest. :-) But I was also told that she, my niece, shows a lot of the same behaviors I had as a baby. For example, she chews on her lower lip like I did. Too funny how things run in a family... I know one thing I did not have - a crazy aunt who wore YARRRN t-shirts...

I know, I know - I still owe you a Stitch N' Pitch review. I can tell you this much now - we had TURBO blast! I am working on the blog entry. Be patient. :-)

OK - here is the review: WE HAD A BLAST!!!

Please don't ask me anything about the game - I have no clue. And I am not ashamed to admit this, because a) I am not into sports and b) I am from Germany, where there is no baseball - shocking, I know. I was at the Stitch N' Pitch game for the STITCH part and to hang out with my knitting friends.

The Knitch package for the event was great. No worries about parking or waiting forever to leave the ball park after the game. In addition to the bus ride from the store to the ball park and back, and the ticket to the game, we got a goody bag with yarn, a t-shirt, water and snacks, and a 15% discount card for the next purchase (YAY for that). And as much beer and soft drinks as you could handle was available on the bus. So, I started the day with a Bavarian breakfast - a beer - on the bus, and all was well.

You can see Ms. Jane and Mr. Jane, Jen and Regan. There were a bunch of bloggers - I am sorry if I didn't catch all your blogs. Maybe, if you read this, you can leave a comment and I'll update the entry.

Despite all the concern that we had about going to a ball game in Georgia in freakin' July, the weather was quite OK. It had rained in the morning and it was overcast for most of the day. And we had seats in a covered area. But, dear TNNA organizers, please book next year's Stitch N' Pitch game in Georgia later in the season - maybe like September?

Here are some pictures I took during the game:

You can see Doug and Courtney (waving) and Diana (smiling).

Jacquie (with the sunglasses and the peachy shirt) is knitting away on a beautiful ruffled baby blanket. And Linda - always smiling - is holding up her yellow knitting.

The YARRRN pirates - Nancy, FAMOUS Steve and I - got a lot of attention. ;-) There were actually four of us with the same t-shirt and the all the girl pirates - Olivia, Nancy and I - posed later on at Knitch - after the game...

You can find more SnP pix here.

I was pretty tired when I came home - Jen and I left my house at 9:45am and we got back around 7pm. But it was wonderful that I did not have to drive a single inch all day.

And I also met a celebrity - Ken Bridgewater from Westminster Fibers. He was there as the TNNA representative. A very nice man - hi Ken! (He said he would look up my blog.)

I don't have much knitting content for you right now. I have almost finished Mystery Stole 3, clue no. 3 - only 6 more rows to knit. Clue no. 4 was published today - DANGIT - but we have two weeks to complete it, not because it's getting more mysterious now (which it is), but because some of the MS3 knitters also need to read the new Harry Potter book (truly!). I have to say that I've read all the previous HP books and saw all the HP movies (multiple times), but somehow I am not that hyped about the latest movie or the new book. Hence, I have not been to the theater to watch the movie, nor have I ordered the book. Oh well...

Too many others things to do. Which brings me to my current knitting situation. I feel like I am in a knitting funk right now. I have started at least 15 projects but I don't feel like working on anything I've started (besides MS3, but there is that knit-a-long group pressure...). Then I see all these other projects and I start another one. Is this a disease - the second stage of a serious addiction? Is it knitter's ADHD - a behavioral condition in which knitters have difficulty paying attention and focusing on any specific knitting project? Maybe I should publish a list of my UFOs to get my head straightened...

So I'm muddling along and grateful it's Friday. Tomorrow I finish my three-session weaving class. I am debating about blogging on the class. It might be a pretty bad review, for a lot of reasons, and I don't know if I want to do it or not. I feel like I should to save other people from spending over $100 on something they might not enjoy... Let me ponder a little longer. Or maybe I just have to have some wine tonight, finish my homework for tomorrow and get it over with... Wine YES, homework - I don't know...

Our Friday knitting group will meet this evening at our new location - we'll see how that works out. Since it is at Knitch, I have no doubt that we'll have a great time. Maybe I should just bring my sleeping bag in the future and camp in the store from Thursday through Sunday. Sleeping with cashmere sounds enticing, but not enough to spend the night away from hubby. ;-)

And Diana, thanks for reminding me that I am also not one of the cool kids. You can now check your status on Ravelry . In case you have not heard about Ravelry - it is a cool (still in beta) website for the knit and crochet community.

So, here is my status - pretty darn uncool...
Found you!
You signed up on June 7, 2007
You are #7547 on the list.
1486 people are ahead of you in line.
11198 people are behind you in line.
31% of the list has been invited so far.

At least they show you a cute alpaca to ease the pain...

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!!! TGIF!!!

I am warning you. This is a picture/project heavy blog entry - about time, I know. I took a bunch of pictures last weekend and throughout this week, so here we go. But before we move to the yarn content...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

Here is the long awaited picture of my "knitted" birthday cake. Melissa and Nancy surprised me with this beauty. It is made from scratch - totally original - I love you gals!!!

Do you now understand why I had such a sugar rush and crash a couple of Friday nights ago?

Remember that I am not able to concentrate lately on one knitting project. Well, here is a sweep through the most current projects:

The Mystery Stole 3 is coming along - slowly but steadily. I am about 10 rows into clue no. 4.

Yarn: Suss Crunch - Color Neutral (50gr/153yds)
70% Cotton, 20% Acrylic, 8% Nylon, 2% Alpaca

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Yarn - Color Yellowstone #201
100% Superwash wool (200yds)

Two more multi-directional scarves... Seems to be my favorite scarf pattern these days. And I guess I'll have a big stack of scarves ready for Christmas. :-)

I finished sock no. 1 with the Opal sock yarn. Sock no. 2 needs to be cast on, otherwise no. 1 will be an only child...

Last Sunday at Knitch I bought some gorgous Blue Sky Baby Alpaca Chunky in Petal Pink. Mouse pointed me to this cute scarf pattern on a German website and I thought that would be a perfect pattern for this soft yarn. I would like to just knit a big blanket with the Baby Alpaca and roll myself in it. Mmmmmmm....

This is what I knitted Sunday afternoon at the shop - I finished the scarf Monday night. Super-fast knit, really! It was funny tho'. I wore a black linen skirt to work on Monday and when I got off the bus (after knitting on the scarf) I looked like I had a petal pink baby alpaca sitting on my lap on the bus. I was covered with fiber. Note to self - bring a dish towel next time...

And here is the chart - I changed the symbols a little and translated it into English:

The chart shows only the RS rows. On the WS rows, knit the knits, purl the purls. Treat the yarnovers also as purls.

Cast on 28 sts.
Knit 1, knit the pattern repeat twice, knit 1. The edge stitch on each side of the pattern repeat is knitted on RS and WS rows. Repeat the 10-row pattern repeat to your little heart's content.

I used two balls of the Baby Alpaca (100gr/108 yds) on needle size US #13. Have fun, if you knit this scarf. Let me know if you have any questions.

Finally, I knitted a belt. Something I've always wanted to do. For my birthday, hubby gave me a bunch of really cool initial-"C" belt buckles. So, I bought a skein of Noro Daria Multi and started knitting the belt, thinking one hank (it had only 54 yds on it) would be enough. And it would have been if I were 20 pounds lighter. So, I had to go back and buy a second hank. Anyway, the belt turned out cute and I like wearing it. Since I have lots more buckles, I will go through my stash for other yarns.

Also finished the multidirectional scarf with Melissa's handspun. I love the curly fringe. :-)

I started the Twisted Flower sock from Cookie A. By now I am way past the heel. It is a very pretty pattern. I LOVE HER DESIGNS!!!

And I convinced hubby dearest dear to string beads for me for a scarf with a beaded fringe. He sure is a good cookie - doing all the crap work for me. Here is what his work space looked like:

And since the yarn I am using is some slippery cotton blend from Cascade (sorry, I will have to hunt the label down for more details), he also used Jen's method for winding the yarn:

And here is the beginning of the scarf with the beaded fringe.

So, that's what I've been up to. Interesting, besides getting into all these new projects that I also finished a few things. That makes me feel better. :-)

This weekend will be fun - dyeing yarn at the Peachtree Handspinners Guild on Saturday, and on Sunday I am going to Knitch for some quality knitting time. It'll be interesting tho' because the shop is renovating the upstairs and there is going to be no access to all the chairs, etc., that they usually store up there and take down for customers during the knit-ins. Kim and Nell actually suggested we bring folding chairs, if we can, since some of the groups are sometimes very crowded. SO, tonight I am not only BYOD (bring your own drink), I am also BYOC...

Have a great weekend!

PS: I told you about our fun interns. One of them has a blog and actually posted a picture of me, sitting at my desk. The blog is in German but there are actually quite a few good pictures of midtown Atlanta.