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January 31, 2007

Under The Wire

I can sneak this in just before the contest deadline, Lucia.

Me. Knitting in Public. Lunch Today. Padanaram Village Cafe. Dartmouth, MA

Posted by Carole at 3:26 PM

Walk With Me Wednesday

Can you stand another post about my adventures at the Y? It's not that it's such a huge part of my life that I feel the need to talk about it again and again, but I do have some more observances to share with you. Plus, I'm really grooving on the encouragement I'm getting from everyone!

Observations from the Y:

~It cracks me up that people circle the parking lot searching for a spot by the door. They are there to exercise and yet they won't park a few extra steps away. I know it's cold, but c'mon!

~I love that working hard makes your skin practically glow. I'm not talking about that red-in-the-face-and-neck thing that I get but rather that faintly pink tinge that your skin takes on when you're exercising.

~I think food commercials should be blacked out on the televisions at the gym. I really don't want to see the latest crunchy-cheesy-gooey-concoction from Taco Bell while I'm there. Ya know?

~I have to be careful about getting too "into" the music on my iPod. I've caught myself tapping my hands to the music and that's okay. But I've been tempted to throw my hands up in the air on a few occasions. And sometimes the lyrics hit me just right and my emotions just well right up and my eyes fill with tears. It would be downright embarrassing to cry while working out, people. And it would be even more embarrassing if people knew that the song that most frequently causes this emotional reaction is the theme from "St. Elmo's Fire." Geez, I'm pathetic.

I know there were other things I wanted to tell you but I'll save those for another post. Right now, I'm too tired to think about exercising. I think I'll go snuggle with Mason instead.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (50)

January 30, 2007

Jaywalkers for Jessica

Christine isn't the only one knitting Jaywalkers these days. I have been, too. And mine are finished, too.

These aren't actually mine, though, they are for my stepdaughter Jessica. And Jessica has teeny feet. In fact, they are a whole inch and one half shorter than mine and that makes for a fast knit. And Jaywalkers fit her feet perfectly.

Aren't they lovely? The yarn is Socks That Rock, of course. And I've finally made peace with the pooling. To the point that I actually look forward to seeing what it will do.

I just think it's wicked cool to watch the yarn colors line up and break up and change. I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm entertained by this simple thing. But I do know I'm in excellent company.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (46)

January 29, 2007

A Little Contest

My weekend was good in a bunch of ways - most of them even fun. I started on a new pattern of Kristi's that I'm test knitting for her. We had a romantic dinner out. We went to see The Queen and did a little shopping. All of that was fun.

The one thing that we did that was not so fun (because it's more of an obligation, I suppose) was attend the annual meeting of the New England Brigade. And it's not that it's a bad time it's just a long day and some of it is rather boring. Sadly, I was reelected as Clerk. Why is this sad, you ask? Because the clerk has to take minutes. It's hard to take minutes and knit at the same time. There was one thing about the meeting that was really fun. I bumped into a fellow knit blogger.

I had Dale snap this photo of both of us wearing our Fetching mitts. I'll send a skein of sock yarn to the first person who identifies the other blogger.

ETA: And that person is Jessalu who correctly guessed that the hands wearing the other set of mitts belong to Betty. Thanks for playing along everyone!

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (30)

January 26, 2007

Eye Candy Friday

4 ° this morning. Brrrrrrrr.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (25)

January 25, 2007

Show Your Wallpaper!

Kat wants to see your desktop wallpaper. This is mine:

Anyone recognize it? I took it when I received the "Margene Treatment" last June and it's been my wallpaper ever since. It brings back such fabulous memories of that trip. I got to make new friends and eat new foods and see new things. I look at it every day and it makes me smile.

So. What's your wallpaper?

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (30)

January 24, 2007

Walk With Me Wednesday

I thought it was time I update you on my progress towards 100 Miles by April 1st. And since it's Walk With Me Wednesday, well, what better time?

As you know, I walk at the local YMCA. I really love it but there's a teeny problem when it comes to the blog - I'm not exactly comfortable taking pictures at the gym. Judy has suggested that the photo opportunities are many - and she's right - but still. I know I wouldn't want someone snapping a picture of me while I'm huffing and puffing on the treadmill so I'm assuming that no one else would want that either. Nevertheless, I'll do just about anything for this here blog.

yes, it's a crappy photo. I was being stealth.

That's what my Y looks like on an average afternoon. There's about 15 treadmills, 15 elliptical machines, 10 stationary bikes and a whole bunch of strength training machines in the back. Plus televisions. It's really pretty nice and when it's crowded, as it often is in the afternoon, the people-watching is great.

There are the beautiful people. You know the ones. They're skinny and pretty and you wonder what the hell they are doing there. There are the athletic ones. They're very serious about the whole thing and they sweat a lot. There are the regulars. They are the ones that are there every time I go, no matter what day it is and no matter what time it is. And then there's the rest of us. Just your basic slobs trying to fit some exercise into the daily routine. Sometimes there's even someone there fatter than me. I keep a little tally of that, you know.

And the funny thing is that even with all those people there, and there's almost always someone there I know since this Y is right in my town, no one really talks to each other or looks at each other. Eye contact is a very rare thing at the gym, I'm finding. People walk towards the machines without looking around. They get on the machines and they face forward (sort of reminds me of being in an elevator) and they just do their work-out and mind their business. Oh, there's the sideways glance to the machine on your left and the machine on your right, just to see if you're working harder/stronger/better than the person next to you, but for the most part everyone is sort of in their zone.

I suppose the prolific use of headphones accounts for much of this. Everyone there, young, old, athletic, skinny, fat, whatever - they are all wearing headphones. Only the coolest of us have iPods, though. And let's face it, the iPod is my biggest motivator. I walk faster and push myself harder when certain songs come on. I find that the ones that motivate me vary from day to day but I almost always start with "Alberta Bound" by Gordon Lightfoot and somewhere in the mix will always be "I'm Gonne Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers. Just in honor of the whole Runagogo.

So that's what my walk look like, feels like, and sounds like. And when I'm there I feel like you're all there with me, cheering me on!

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (38)

January 23, 2007

Pie!

While certainly not as exciting as finding a lost hiker, the astute among you will understand that the title of this post signifies the return of the lost mittens. Can I get a woo? And while we're at it, how about a hoo?

The credit for the find is two-fold. Vicki suggested looking under the seats of the car. I had already done that, but I had only looked in the Jeep. Dale, always my hero, looked in the Suburban, and there they were, crammed between the two front seats.

And just in time, too, since we actually had a teeny bit of snow on Monday morning.

The return of the mittens meant really only one thing, though.

Now I shall have some pie. Chocolate cream pie, in fact, to match the mittens.

Mmmmmmm.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (60)

January 22, 2007

The Drafting Zone

This just in: He's been found! Thanks to Chris for this link to the news article! Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming for his recovery.

ETA: I just got an email from my good friend, Kim. Her daughter's fiance went hiking this weekend in Franconia Notch and he is missing. She is asking for our prayers that he be found safe and sound. I know you'll all do what you can to honor her request. Thanks.

My love for spinning is constant but my actual spinning time comes in spurts. I'll go for weeks and hardly spin at all and then I'll spin like a mad woman for days and days. The longer I go without spinning, though, the more I yearn for it. So, Saturday afternoon when I found myself with some free time, I sat down to spin. However, I quickly ran out of pre-drafted fiber. Damn. I find drafting to be rather boring and I don't like having to stop and draft while I'm spinning because I feel like it interrupts my rhythm. What I like to do is pre-draft my fiber so that it's all ready to go when I have the desire and time to spin.

So, I parked myself on the couch and proceeded to draft a whole bunch of this alpaca/wool/silk blend from Indigo Moon Farm. I started by pulling off lengths of roving about 12-15 inches long. I piled these up in my lap and boy did they warm me up!

Then I took each piece of roving and pulled it apart so that it would be ready to spin. Once it was drafted evenly I wound it up into a nice little ball of fluff. These were piled in my basket, one by one.

The time passed quickly as I had my feet up and was watching a women's college basketball game at the same time.

Before I knew it, my fiber was drafted and my basket was full and I still had time to spin for a while. Even better, though, is that next time I want to spin, my fiber is ready.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (41)

January 19, 2007

Eye Candy Friday

When the temperature outside is a single digit, I don't think there's anything better than a fire in the wood stove.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (42)

January 18, 2007

One Little Kitten

Like the kittens, I have lost my mittens. They were very nice mittens. They were brown and knit with bulky yarn from the pattern in the book Weekend Knitting. They matched my red wool coat with brown fur trim just perfectly.

I hadn't even shown them to you yet because I hadn't been able to obtain good light and a photographer at the same time. Not to mention that we haven't exactly been having mitten weather here in Southeastern Massachusetts. All that was about to change yesterday, though. I asked Dale if he'd take some photos of me wearing these new and very warm mittens and he said, of course. I was ready to go out the door and I grabbed my red coat but there were no brown mittens in the pockets. I searched through the basket of hand knit scarves and other mittens and there were no brown mittens. I searched the pockets of every winter coat I have and there were no. brown. mittens. I headed to work wearing purple mittens with my red coat with the brown fur trim. Such a disgrace for a knitter to not have mittens that match her coat.

While at my meeting I debated where the mittens could be. I became convinced that they were in a certain bag, one I hadn't seen for a while. Once home from work I searched for that bag. No brown mittens. I have looked in every place I can think of and I have not found my new brown mittens. Sigh. It just absolutely figures that we finally have weather cold enough to wear these mittens and now I've lost them. Just like the three little kittens.

I wouldn't even mind so much except now I shall have no pie.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (54)

January 17, 2007

Orange You Glad

Three day weekends aren't the only perk for this public servant. I also have my very own, very nice, very private office. And that means I can take photos like this:

And this:

I can even take a photo showing you the oh-so-pretty picot edge.

Yes, gentle reader, the orange Opal socks were finally completed last weekend. They fit perfectly and I love them. Of course, I always love Opal socks - it's the knitting of them that doesn't always thrill me. You see, to get Opal socks to fit me correctly I need to knit 72 stitches on size 0s and this makes for socks that take a looooong time to finish - almost a whole month for these. I'm going to have to knit for someone with smaller feet if I'm going to make my goal of 20 pairs of socks this year.

Nevertheless, they were worth it and my feet are toasty. Given that the predicted high today is only 23° (thanks, Dave), that's a very good thing.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (50)

January 16, 2007

Oooooh, That Smell

Being a public servant has its privileges. And one of those privileges is a fair number of 3 day weekends. Like this past one, for example. We managed to find a terrific balance between active and inactive.

Saturday involved breakfast and a manicure with my stepdaughter Jessica. We then came home and she helped me put away all of the Christmas decorations. I don't know if it's the unseasonable weather this year or what but I was ready to have my house back to normal and be rid of the snowmen and greens and lights. Saturday evening we attended a fundraiser/comedy night for Hannah's drama club. It was lots of laughs! I worked on the latest pair of socks while I was there but this was before Lucia announced her new contest so I didn't get a photo. I'll come up with something for that, though, have no fear.

After church on Sunday we headed to Concord to visit Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott. Hannah has been wanting to visit and we checked the website, saw that they are indeed open year round, so off we headed. The joke, apparently, was on us, because they were closed for two weeks of maintenance. There was nothing on the website about that and I was really annoyed that we drove all the way out there for nothing. We consoled ourselves with dinner at the Olive Garden on the way home. And the premiere of 24 took care of the rest of the evening. Jack's Back! Woot!

Since Saturday and Sunday involved doing stuff we decided that Monday should be a day for hanging around. We headed to the grocery store in the morning and stocked up on supplies. Since I had the whole afternoon free I decided to prepare a roast chicken dinner complete with stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. I even bought a coconut cake, which is what my mother often served for dessert if we had this meal on a week night.

I have to tell you, my mother has been gone nearly 9 years and I can still remember the amazing taste of her roast chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. Mine is good but hers - oh! - hers was phenomenal. If I could eat one meal of hers ever again in my life it would be this one. And the smell! There's nothing like the smell of roasting chicken!

It wasn't as good as mom's. But it was the perfect end to a 3 day weekend.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (49)

January 15, 2007

Yarnival

When I read a magazine, I always read the editor's page first. I like to hear what the person in charge has to say about the issue. I can honestly say, though, that I've never give much thought as to what it would be like to actually be the editor of a publication. Until I volunteered to edit an edition of Yarnival.

Let me tell you, this turned out to be harder than I thought it would! It was hard to be objective, it was hard to exclude entries, it was hard to organize the entries I chose. But I realized, as I read through all the entry posts (and I did read them all) that, while we all have knitting blogs, we actually post to our blogs for many different reasons. Sometimes we post to provide entertainment, sometimes we post to reflect, sometimes we post to celebrate a success or find commiseration over a failure. So, I organized this edition of Yarnival according to what I perceived to be the purpose of the post. Without further editorial comment, here is my edition of Yarnival!

Amusing

Hannah of The Purloined Letter posts No Beans!
~In which the concept of vegetables as knitting needles is pondered.

Marcy of Habetrot posts I Think She Needs a Margarita
~In which we truly learn that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or a thousand margaritas.

Reflecting

Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos posts Cha(o)sing the blues
~In which Chris discusses the relevance and importance of blogging in her life.

Christine of Knitting on Trial posts 2nd Annual Heartland Knitting Retreat................or, way too much fun!
~In which Christine describes the joy of meeting fellow knitters.

Debi of Fluffy Knitter Deb posts F is for Friendship
~In which Debi talks about a very special friendship.

Teyani of The Intrepid Fiberwizard posts Sunday Thoughts
~In which Teyani brilliantly captures the thoughts that wander through our minds while we knit.

Informing

Abigail of 1870 Pearl posts Long Tail Cast on Hints
~In which Abigail shows a remarkably simple method for estimating the yarn you'll need for a long tail cast on.

gale of She Shoots Sheep Shots posts Sock Clubs
~In which Gale gathers sock club information into one extremely useful post. Unless you're on that yarn diet thing. Then you should definitely stay away from this one.

Kristi of Designedly Kristi posts FO: Woven Sachets.
~In which Kristi teaches how to make some beautiful sachets.

Celebrating

Lolly of Lolly Knitting Around posts My Cherie Amour
~In which Lolly models a wonderful (and fast) new red sweater.

Jenniferof pieKnits posts The Littlest Stocking
~In which Jennifer knits a very tiny stocking.

Elspeth of Wry Punster posts Monarch Butterfly
~In which Elspeth finishes an epic project.

Rachel of Lickety Knit posts I've Been Sorted!
~In which Rachel meets Harry Potter.

Monika of Smoking Hot Needles posts Vertigo
~In which Monika knits a scarf that resembles a chameleon.

Heather of Lectio.ca posts Mom's Shawl
~In which Heather finishes a really big and really beautiful shawl.

Vicki of Knitorious posts A Tale of Two Sweaters
~In which Vicki uses leftovers from her sister to make a fabulous Fibonacci sweater.

Lola & Ava of Two Black Sheep post The One I Love
~In which a perfect sweater is finished.

Maryse of Monster Yarn posts Meatheads, Meatheads, Roly Poly Meatheads
~In which a hat is embellished in a very unique way.

Ruth of Wooly Headed posts The Grand Unveiling
~In which Ruth knits a baby sweater.

Bemoaning

Amy of Knit Think posts Deconstructing Einstein
~In which Amy finds a way to end her boredom.

Mary of Virgin Wool posts Torture, thy name is Linen
~In which Mary resents a dishcloth.

Mandy of Zigzag Stitch posts The Control Hat
~In which Mandy knits a very tall hat.

Nishanna of Nishanna likes to knit posts I was distracted by something shiny
~In which Nishanna realizes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Admiring

Kathryn of Kmkat and her Kneedles posts Saturday Sky and Stuff
>In which we see photographic proof of the change of seasons.

Julie of Frick Knits posts 31-40
~In which the hunk of the month is revealed.

Phew, that's a lot of links. I hope you have fun perusing all these great blogs. Are you interested in editing Yarnival? Go here. Are you interested in submitting to Yarnival? Go here! Thanks for reading.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (40)

January 12, 2007

Eye Candy Friday

Now that we're experiencing seasonal temperatures here in New England, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for last summer's vacation. Sigh.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (27)

January 11, 2007

What to Say, What to Say

Coming up with something to say after a milestone post that includes the 10,000 comment and my first major cabled project sure is challenging. There are things I could tell you but none of them truly make for a whole post. For instance:

I could tell you that I've walked 11.77 miles out of my 100 miles by April 1st challenge.

Or I could tell you that I'm so horribly bored with the orange Opal stockinette socks that I'm ready to scream.

I suppose I could do that 6 Weird Things Meme. I've been tagged for that a few times. Truly, though, while I believe everyone has a freak flag (or two) I'm not sure I have any left that you don't already know about. Besides, my 100 things about me is over there on the side bar and there are plenty of weird things listed there.

I should tell you that I've settled on a name for the HitchHiker wheel. It's not Hazel or any of the other suggestions but I did get my inspiration from Dave, who said a lady wouldn't hitch hike and Vicki, who mentioned something in an email that reminded me how much I love the television show M*A*S*H. My HitchHiker wheel will forever be known as Hot Lips Houlihan. I think it's perfect.

I could talk about the major car problems we're having and how I'm being forced to drive the Suburban to work these days. I truly hate driving that vehicle.

I could even tell you that I just finished my first ever Dick Francis mystery.

But I won't. Instead I'll do what knitbloggers everywhere do when they don't have anything to talk about. I'll show you a picture of my cat. Please note that he's clutching a handknit sock.

The picture of contentment, no?

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (45)

January 10, 2007

Fear Factor

Teyani left the 10,000th comment last night at 7:26 pm. Thank you all for every comment. Your encouragement, advice, and support is so important to me. Not to mention the wise cracks and sarcasm. Heh.

So. I thought I was afraid of cables. Turns out that fear was all in my head. Behold the progress on Dale's Cable Moss Vest.

That is the back almost to the point of the armhole decreases. This cable knitting with worsted weight yarn (Classic Elite Skye Tweed, in case you're wondering) goes pretty durn fast.

I got lots of hints and help, including a fabulous cable needle from Maryse and some real-time positive reinforcement on the difficulty of memorizing cable symbols from Martha. Lois gave me what is perhaps the best hint of all, though. She told me to color the chart with colored pencils. So, I colored the symbols in the key to match the symbols on the chart.

Isn't it pretty? And it's so easy to read now. It really really takes the confusion right out of those scary symbols.

I'm showing you a close up because I'm just so damned proud of myself and the conquering of the cable fear factor. Now if you could all just cross your fingers that I don't run out of yarn.

Fear Factor. It's not just about cables anymore.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (78)

January 9, 2007

Hitchin' A Ride

When I showed a picture of my newest wheel I sort of forgot that not everyone has access to the fabulous Dave. Therefore, some of you are not familiar with his reproductions of Canadian Production Wheels, his restoration of antique wheels, and his charming little HitchHiker Wheel. You can read all about it here.

I must admit it's taken me some time to adjust to this little wheel. First, I couldn't get her to treadle consistently in a clockwise direction. Then I couldn't get the tension adjusted right. Either the fiber wasn't getting enough twist and it was falling apart or it was getting sucked right out of my hand and winding on too quickly. I actually put the wheel in time out for a week because I was getting so frustrated. It was hard to resist her cute little thumb, but I managed.

Monday afternoon, though, I started to rally a bit from my cold and I could hear her calling me to spin again. I moved her over in front of the couch and started to spin. I was still having trouble so I finally did the first thing I should have done. I stopped spinning with the mystery fiber I had grabbed on Christmas and I started spinning with some BFL instead. Suddenly, everything clicked. The treadling was easy, the wheel spun in the right direction, and the twist was just right. I do believe that the BFL has magical qualities and I need to remember this when I'm adjusting to a new wheel.

See? It's not as thin as I usually get but I'm making yarn with my new wheel and that's a good, good thing.

Since I intended this wheel to be my travel wheel, I brought her to spinning at the library last night. She sure is easier to haul around than my Reeves Saxony or even the Lendrum. Luckily, the time I had spent with her in the afternoon paid off and allowed me to spin without embarrassment.

Now she needs a name. I generally take the "brand" name of the wheel and use the same first letter as inspiration for the personal name I choose. That's how I wound up with Alice the Ashford, Lucy the Lendrum, Rosie the Reeves and Tallulah the Toika. Abigail, my Canadian Production Wheel, is the exception to that rule. Her name was chosen because the woman I bought the wheel from is a docent at the Abigail Adams House and it seemed right to honor both women in naming the wheel.

So, what's it going to be? Right now I'm leaning towards Hazel but I'm open to suggestions.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (61)

January 8, 2007

A Saturday Jaunt

I have a cold. It used to just be in my nose but now it's in my head and my throat and my back, too. Other than the little jaunt that comprises this post I spent much of the weekend on the couch. I assumed that resting a lot would mean I'd be better today but that's not the case and I'm home from work. I have to be better by tonight as it's a spinning night at the library and I'm the one with the key! That's my health situation. We now return to our regular blogging.

I do not have a local yarn shop. This is something I lament frequently. Yes, there are a couple of those big box craft stores 15 minutes away. And yes, there is a small but lovely yarn shop 20 minutes away. But right in my town? Nada.

The closest thing I've ever had to a truly local yarn shop is Saftler's but they specialize in fabric and haven't really invested a lot in their yarn department. Until now. You see, Saftler's has undergone some major changes over the last year, including a complete redesign of the store.

One of those changes resulted in moving the yarn department to the front of the store and surrounding it with this cute picket fence. It's adorable and it's only 7 minutes from my house.

So, Saturday morning Blogless Sharon, along with our friend Debbie, and I went out to breakfast and then headed to Saftler's for their grand re-opening celebration and sale. Lois was there demonstrating Magic Loop and the yarn department was bustling!

They still have a lot of ack-rylic yarn but they've got some decent things to choose from as well - including Trekking XXL, thankyouverymuch. And Addi Turbos. Ahh yes, I can now purchase Addis without shipping charges. Squeee!

There were lines at the cash register all morning, a heartening sight for those of us who have been worried that those big box craft stores would drive our local craft store out of business. And I even had a brief chat with Eric, the owner of the store. I told him he had room to start selling spinning wheels and he said . . . wait for it . . . that he's planning on doing just that. Double squeee!

I'm definitely going to have to stop complaining about not having a local yarn shop now.

Posted by Carole at 8:00 AM | Comments (57)

January 5, 2007

Eye Candy Friday

And the age old question is: what do we do with the poinsettia now that Christmas is over?

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (45)

January 4, 2007

Random Bits of Odd This and End That

Odds and ends. This and that. Random bits. Call it what you wish because that's what it's about today.

*Thank you all for the encouragement for 100 Miles by April 1st aka Runagogo. Just to clarify, I'll be walking these miles on a treadmill at my local YMCA. I will not be counting my steps throughout the day but only the miles I walk while exercising. I walked for 40 minutes on Tuesday and did 2.42 miles. I went again on Wednesday and upped my speed just a bit in the middle of the routine and did 2.5 miles. I'm hoping to increase my speed as my body gets stronger so that eventually I'll be able to do 3 miles at a time!

*I finished scarf #2 for the Red Scarf Project. I know it looks a lot like the first one but trust me, it's a different one. The yarn is a tad more orange-y and the pattern is slightly different, too. The wood pile is also smaller now, in case you wondered. I'll be mailing both scarves off this weekend.

*I received the "Kindred Spirits" award from Jen and La in their Third Annual JenLa Knitblog Awards. If you don't read these grrls, you should. They're funny and witty and a tad sarcastic. Sort of like me, I suppose. Which is why I got this oh-so-fabulous award. I feel as though I've finally arrived! Thanks Jen and La. I'm honored.

*I'm ready to start Dale's Cable Moss Vest. You may recall that this was my abandoned Olympics Knitting Project. But it's a year later and I've got different yarn and a whole new 'tude about cables thanks to all my very encouraging readers. I swatched last night and got gauge (which I know means nothing because swatches lie) and hope to get started on the actual vest this weekend. Go cables!

*I'm nearing 10,000 comments on this here blog. Can you believe it? Frankly, I'm shocked. My blogiversary is at the end of this month and I'd be thrilled to hit the 10,000th comment milestone before then but it will take some effort on your part. As a bit of incentive, you should know that whoever hits the magic number will be receiving a nice little prize from me.

So, comment and delurk over the coming weeks. I promise the reward will be a good one.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (56)

January 3, 2007

I Would Walk 500 100 Miles

I'd like to draw your attention to the sidebar for a minute. Could you look over to the left, please? (If you're reading this in Bloglines or Google Reader you're going to need to visit the actual blog to see what I'm talking about.) There's some really good information there about my life and how I spend my time, as evidenced by the blog buttons. I actually like to think of those buttons as bumper stickers for my blog. There are only 4 buttons right now and, in case you didn't know, I list them in chronological order according to when the program ends. And once the program ends those buttons are gone forever. ABC Along? Gone as of Monday. 200Sox? Also gone as of Monday. In other words, the buttons that are there are the things I'm currently doing.

The Red Scarf Project, Twisted Knitters and Sock Madness have been listed for a while and you've probably heard about all of those already. But there's a new one there at the bottom of the pile.

100 Miles by April 1.

This is Rachael's brilliant idea and I signed up for it just yesterday when I read about it on Maryse's blog. As the name implies, those joining this have pledged to walk 100 miles by April 1st. That's a lot of miles but I think I'm up to the challenge. I need to get back to the Y and I clearly need some motivation to do it. And this is going to be my motivation. Actually, this and all of you because I'm hoping you'll hold me to this commitment.

If I had any doubts about whether I should be doing this or not, well, my new calendar gave me all the confirmation I needed. See, I got to work yesterday and hung up my new Sheep in the Meadow calendar. When I saw the picture for January I knew I was on the right track.

A mile walked with a friend contains only a hundred steps.

I sure hope that's true because 100 miles is a lot of freakin' steps. Even with all of you walking with me.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (48)

January 2, 2007

Fetching for Me

You just never know what pattern is going to sweep through the knitting blogs like wildfire. The first in my experience was the Clapotis. I knit two of those. Then there were Jaywalkers. I knit two pairs of those. And now there's Fetching. It took me a while but I finally hopped on that bandwagon. I had a skein of Classic Elite Wings in jet black that was just crying out to be knit into these mitts. They were my last finished knit of '06 and I wore them on New Year's Eve when we headed out for the night. But you know when they came in most handy? New Year's Day. Something about the name just really worked for me.

Honey, fetch me some coffee.

And could you fetch me the paper, too?

How about fetching me some champagne, too?

See what I'm talking about? I'm just not sure Dale is as fond of them as I am. Heh.

Posted by Carole at 7:00 AM | Comments (53)

January 1, 2007

Reflections on Knitting, 2006

Happy New Year everyone! I slept a bit late this morning because Dale and I were out partying until the wee hours last night. Heh. Luckily, I planned ahead and I'm ready with a post for today. See, on January 1, 2006, I posted about my finished knits and my goals for the upcoming year. Let's do something similar today, shall we?

First, my stats for 2006:
18 pairs of socks
10 dishcloths
9 hats
7 shawls
7 scarves
2 baby sweaters
3 pairs mitts/mittens
1 beaded bracelet

That's 57 knitted items in 2006, ten more than I finished in 2005! And, while this is not a race or a contest to see how much I can get done, it's nice to tally things up and see that I'm beating my own records. You can see photos of almost all of these finished items (there were a few things gifted without being photographed) in the Finished Items 2006 Gallery.

Now that we've seen what I actually did, let's take a look at what I said I would do.

Goals for 2006

1. Knit 12 pairs of socks done
2. Learn to dye roving and yarn done
3. Learn to Navajo Ply. done
4. Knit that cabled vest for Dale whoops
5. Finish the Einstein Coat! abandoned and finally frogged

Hmmm. That's actually not too bad. I accomplished 3 out of 5 of my goals. But it's a new year and time for new goals!

Goals for 2007

1. Knit 20 pairs of socks. I knit 18 this year without even trying. I think I can do 20.
2. Knit a Nancy Bush sock pattern. It's hard to believe, with all the Nancy Bush books I have, that I've yet to actually knit one of her sock patterns. This will be the year.
3. Overcome my fear of cables by knitting myself a cabled sweater.
4. Knit a pair of mittens from the book Folk Mittens.
5. Knit that cabled vest for Dale. I'll give this one more shot but if I don't do it this year, it's coming off the list.

I'm excited to get started on these goals although I haven't decided which will be first. How about you? What are your knitting goals for 2007?

Posted by Carole at 9:00 AM | Comments (44)