Since last we met....

I cannot stop with this logcabin blanket. It is all I want to knit. The last time I showed it to you, I believe it was in the hands of our brave heroes.
I believe I was on the first block of black.

Since then the blanket has been to an outing. I went to the Rockies game in Chicago this week. The folks in their season ticket seats were so nice about my knitting.
The first drunk man said, "are you expecting?" to me
The second drunk man said, "man I oughta learn to do that instead of stuffing my face"
and the third drunk man said, "My fiance can't sit still, like you. She comes to all my hockey games and knits.

I believe all were compliments. I was wearing my NY yankee pink hat at the Major League game.

Needless to say, nothing else is getting knitted around here, save for the quick crochet finish on Mr. Coopers coat.

My Minnesota transplanted sis won't get the vest until fall I am afraid. Not only have I deserted her gift due to the log cabin obsession, but the one day I did attempt to get going on it again, I discovered a huge mistake and ripped back most of the left front.

What's the longest someone had to wait for your gift knit?

Jil Eaton's Puppy Knits

Meet Mr. Cooper. Our dog trainer's new puppy. He is at a fitting for his new winter/fall dogcoat.

The pattern: Fringe benefits, from Jill Eaton's Puppy Knits book.
The yarn: Encore. Washable wool, of course.

Al and I worked on this together. 99.9% work done by Al. I crocheted the verticals lines. I think Al knit this in 2 days. Who doesn't love a deadline? I was crocheting the lines on the way to Gee's house.

Mr. Cooper is part PBGB and part something else. Gee has had Doberman's her entire life. What a change for Gee.

Oh Al and I left off the fringe collar by choice. Mr. Cooper is fringey enough.

Question:

How do YOU wash your socks? Regular detergent? Vinegar rinse? I love Kookaburra but I'm out and I'd like to wash some socks quick. Thanks!

splatgirl creates: Cookie Baking 101: So You Think You Know How To Bake Cookies?

splatgirl creates: Cookie Baking 101: So You Think You Know How To Bake Cookies? Look out. I found a link linker......and I may finally be able to make an edible cookie. You never know what the day will bring you. Too bad it is so dang hot here and I don't like to turn the a/c on. Soon, I'm going to try her tricks with cookies soon.......

Now Bianca of Lansingerland has made something so incredible I won't even say what. Try this link. She is amazing. http://lansingerland.blogspot.com

Al and I are working on a gift knit together. Hopefully we will finish it by tomorrow for the *party*

Why do a yarn Swap?

Emily at YarnMiracle link was my Garden Swap partner. What a great swap. She sent (in a package race no less) simply gorgeous Lorna's Laces Purple Irish and Claudia's Handpaint Bearded Iris sock yarns. Matching purple and green stitch markers. The best old kind; the kind that don't stick to your knitting.

The cookies are not just Chessman, but double chocolate Milano. Ya-huh.
There is a little box of some of the best chocolates to pass these lips: vermont chocolates.

The ergonomically correct spade and delightful garden basket will be put to sweet use soon. Emily, thank you. All of it is wonderful. Sock knits here I come. Note to self: Hide Bearded iris claudia handpaint from Al.....

Why do a swap? Well, some of us are just wild adventurers, that's all.
We live dangerously in the world of knitting. Things like Mail, delight us.
And we meet the nicest people.....all the way from Bay Minette Alabama.

Frogged......

Knitters liscence. Al frogged her Koigu baby sweater. I bit my lower lip as she unravelled it. She's fickle you know. She's in love with the Koigu Garden Party Shawl that I posted about awhile ago. (I went to a Garden party......I love Ricky Nelson) See you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself....

Since I am practicing my links, again, have you every been to Oh Happy Day? link
I fell in love with a cake there once......

Just practicing again......I'm happy ...

I'm practicing. I'm practicing. Practice makes perfect. Practice makes Kim from link may stay sane. Karen of link has tried to help me with this in the past as well. We knitbloggers are a sweet and helpful group. I bet we are the sweetest bloggers out there in the blogosphere.

I plan to watch the shuttle and the station tonight around 950 Chicago time in the clear sky. Since I don't fly, I find it astounding that there are PEOPLE in those little lights so far up. Other lights not so far up, of the firefly kind, are amusing me these days. Cidada's dare I say, are getting softer.....

Finally a LINK, thanks to Kim

I am trying to link again. Kim from Knitswithasilentk is real time helping me. I hope she does not get fired. I find this very difficult, but with Kim I am getting there. What a great person to hold me by the blogging/knitting hand and personally help me succeed. I promised her I would practice. So I am going to do that after dinner.

Thank you all for your great suggestions as I have tried to master this in the name of ease for you commentors, readers, lurkers and relatives forced to read the blog. (Relatives aren't very consistent, except for AL!)

Al gets cold easily. On a recent cool evening, she was on the phone, watching TV, and finishing her sweater at the same time. My brain hurts thinking about finishing and talking at the same time. Ah, youth.

Try try again

I WANT TO POST A LINK.

iwasknittogetherinmymotherswomb.typepad.com Garden swap is wrapping up for Emily and I. Tomorrow we start our package race. It has been great fun hunting for things for Emily.

My neighbor, Abby, showing us all her Katmandu pink shawl. I have knit a shrug with a this lovely yarn. It has washed well. Abby says she loves this most of all her knits. (Such a great feeling!) She knit it as her Father passed and it was comforting to her on Father's Day.

Let's hope my link worked....

Guest bloggers: Firefighter Softball Tourney for Burn Camp

My log cabin blanket is going to be much photographed in it's stages of development. Yesterday said blanket got to join some very sweet fireman at their union fundraiser for Burn Camp, now known as Camp I am Me. They didn't even blink when I asked them. And their team was up to bat, no less.

I am lucky to be alive today . These cicadas were nearly the death of me yesterday. My friend Jen came with me to the FF fundraiser. She does not have cicadas by her house, only 10 miles or so from my town. Well, as we were driving to the fields, she was pretty appalled at them flying into the windshields etc. Most unfortunately, a cicada had hopped into the car as she picked me up. Unbeknownst to her. I didn't spot him until we were on our way and it was between her feet pedalwise.

A very sincere prayer was said in my head "please don't let her see it until we get there, please dont " etc.


Damn bug. It climbed up her leg and we swerved across our lane a bit as Jen screamed and well, reacted. I recall saying :JEN! JEN ! DRIVE! And POP she snapped out of it when it flew off. We pulled over. She hopped out of the car. I found the little begger now under her seat and picked him up and threw him far.....
That was not our only excitement of the day.....

We won the grand prize raffle drawing for a very fancy Weber grill. I put both our names on the ticket as her birthday is today. We are going to split the thing somehow....hee hee hee.

and roast cicadas on the grill........................

knitting news tomorrow.

Of Log Cabins and Limericks

There Once was a woman in scrubs
She decided to give up the Cubs.
She began a new life,
It had such little strife-
and she found a new team to love.
(torn between yankees and red sox....)

There Once was a woman who knit,
She ordered a small little kit,
It came from the ComfortZone
She rubbed it on her old bonz
and her pain was gone lickety-split!
(Soothing Touch herbal heat and ice...orders@
knittingonthego.com

There Once was a girl in a blog
She worn handknit socks with her clogs.
Yet her dishcloths they were such a flop,
She decided to join a new swap,
and her sock knitting went to the dogs.
(Emily's frugal summer swap:at yarnmiracle blog)

There once were cicadas piled high,
They screamed as the rose in the sky,
NoOne could hear themselves talk,
Shells crunched underfoot on their walks,
The flew in girls' hair,
'Twas a living nightmare,
Thank God 4 weeks lated they DIED.
(serious...it is now to the Biblical plague stage......)

I am having so much fun with the Fixation Log Cabin Blanket.

Al's Cape panel from Not Just Socks for kids

The yarn Al is using is Lana Grossa Melienweit Meeting.
The cape is a series of panels that are knit independently and worked together at the end. She has a favorite cousin for whom this is being knit.

I haven't been able to finish my sister's vest afterall. Seems Al had translated the pattern for me once, and the left front side of the vest paper got accidentally tossed out. It was written on the back of a school paper in an effort to recycle. Well it got recycled too soon as Al cleared out her end of the year papers and didn't see her knit instructions for me on the other side....
She is very busy these days and doesn't have time to rewrite it for me.....
She told me to just reverse the other sides' instructions....
I still cannot do it.
She assures me I can.
Al does not know her right from her left. This intelligent woman would be crying like a baby in a maze if her only instructions were someone calling out left and right. I know some very intelligent people who also have this difficulty.

While I know my left from my right, I simply can't reverse right into left in the instructions......Do I put the instructions in a mirror and stand on my head? Do I ask irisheyes Lynn to figure it out for me? Do I go back to LYS and since I bought the yarn there, ask another employee to do the last page over for me backwards?????
I'd like to get it DONE.

So although I promised I wouldn't knit anything else until the vest was complete, and some of you praised me for this, I failed. I've casted on such a fun project that has been in my wishknits for a good while. I can't wait to show it to you.

Ling is a loyal commentor to this blog. Hers blog is MusingandDoing. blogspot.com.
She is in her last trimester and wrote a post today that was so sweet and sleepy. She needs some encouraging words. She has a list a mile long of things she has to complete before the baby comes. (no time to KNIT:(.....
Won't you send her some encouragement and maybe a timesaving tip? I told her to go paper plates until from now until the relatives arrive to help after the baby comes. Thanks in advance. This woman deserves a party, but some comments will have to do!
Babies need blood all the time. Won't you donate some blood today?

Irisheyes Meet........'.tis Maggie Jackon

The lovely Maggie Jackson of Maggie's Ireland patterns is spending the weekend with Three Bags Full in Northbrook, IL. You can catch her there this afternoon, Saturday, and she is leading workshops on Sunday and possibly Monday as well.

Last night I had my first modeling experience at Maggie's Trunk Show at the studio.
It was sooooooooo hard to be the QUIET silent model. It may be my last modeling experience. There was none of the America's Top Model shinanigans going on as the 6 of us hustled and bustled upstairs to get into our outfits as Maggie had directed.
There was a alot of whispered laughter amongst us.

I learned that Al has hung with a wild crowd over there at 3 Bags for the last several years. Never judge the store help by their professionalism on the floor.
Josie, Debby, Anne, and Penny T. were the other models. Oh, there was one extremely beautiful 17 year old (not Al) who modeled all of Maggie's dresses to perfection.
We are sure we shocked her having to dress with woman 30 years her senior. I am certain she thought we were the DOVE models.

Back to Maggie.
I was enchanted with her line. I love clever you know and her designs are just that. Usually I shy away from such shows; probably because I think the knitting will be complex and unattainable for me. (recall if you will My STITCHES class experiences) Well, I am here to tell you, her designs are within my reach.

The garments are created with simple stitches. The yarns Maggie designs do the magic for you. I have already ordered her Nautical Look patterns book. My favorite piece to model is from that very book.

All her pieces are....get this....SLIMMING! It's the drape and the way she accentuates the lines that draw attention away from you know where. I would say her creations are whimsical. You feel the magic when you put them on and play with which way you want to wear the piece. Few rules apply.

Lynnette is taking orders for her books and they will be in the store within a week for you. If you have your eye on any of them, call Lynnette and she can order for you. But, if you have the time and the inkling stop in to the store today, or tomorrow.

If any of my blog buds wants a book, I can place the order for you and get it right out next week.

Oh, and if you go, ask Maggie about her buttons. Everypiece had incredible buttons. If you browse her books, take a look at the buttons.

Is this my longest post ever?

Jen W. is having a contest, it is easy....enter it

Jen W. from amusingmyself.wordpress.com is having a name her quilt contest. There is a lovely fairey on the quilt which she is entering in a quilt show. You need to name the fairey. I've already named her and I am sure I'll win, but let's just support her anyhew ok? So far only two of us have entered.. She is giving away a great little knit bag that she made. So hurry over my creative knit pals....I want to know the winner at the very least....
Jen W. can sew! and Knit! and collect buffalos.......

I have to go now before someone drops a house on me! We are expected wild weather this afternoon.and remember


Babies need blood all the time. Won't you donate some blood today?

Purrrrrfect mini-socks

The ever elusive Fiona modeled Al's mini sock in Lorna's Laces pink and blue.
I love the cables in this sock. I know I should share the pattern, and I will, but it is early and Al is sleeping. Stay tuned please.

If you read the comments from the previous post regarding the letter B, you would meet Breier from the Netherlands. She introduced me to their holiday chocolate letter tradition.....I can always use a new chocolate tradition. :)

In UFO department I am still trying to finish my sister's zippered vest. I won't allow myself anything else on the needles until it is finished...:(

This is my new end of posts message:
Babies need blood all the time. Won't you donate some blood today?

Storms and Radar.......Both good blues

Kim, has been helping me learn to post better. I hope I have been successful this time. Hang in there please, if not. The last time I tried this, a scrabble of confusing marks and scary runtogethers was all that came out. So, I try try again.

There is yarn in the Radar image. I hope to cast on the last front of my sister's vest tonight. I learned this: I don't like to knit if I don't like the yarn. It is hard to knit it for her lovingly when all I can think is WHY did she pick this?
I think she picked it because it reminds us both subliminally of our mom's family room sofa in the 70s.

The storm clouds were just plain fun the other night. I have a great view now from the backporch and it allows for just such viewing. Bluetoned greys are one of my favorite colors. If I dyed yarn, (please God don't let me start doing that too, DH would leave me) I would name bluetoned grey yarn that I made: Weatherwatch....

Finally Radar slept in that very position for hours after the shot was taken. He is such a poser. I think he was a nude model in his past life as a human. Every pose he strikes is camera worthy. He has always been this way.....does your pet pose?

June and a full moon

I think there is a full moon tonight. I love a good moon view. Moonrising is my favorite view. Over Lake Michigan is especially good. Lately from the screened porch I can see the moon rising over my Linden tree; the sleepy cicadas do not fly past the moon, don't worry. We aren't at the Biblical stage where all light is obscured by clouds of insects. I wish I could make a little image of a huge cicada shadow flying by the moon. Hey Diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cicada jumped over the moon, etc. Do you have a favorite way to view the moon?

Anyhow, I digress.
The first beautiful sock is Irisheyes Lynn's. Al and I gave her some birthday yarn and she cast right on. (I am so happy she had to cast right on with it....) She is making the Embossed leaves socks from the Interweave Favorite Socks book. The yarn was named Teal, but we crossed it out and labeled it WICKED because it was Dorothy sky green. Okay well, I know the sky in Oz is in black and white, but imagine it that scary green color you see on the Weather Channel's Storm Chasers segments.

The second image is PRIZE yarn. Won by me! Thanks Lynn of href="http://iwasknittogetherinmymotherswomb.typepad.com/">iwasknittogetherinmymotherswomb.typepad.com . I hope that translates as a link on the post. Kim from KnitwithasilentK.blogspot.com has been trying to teach me links. Thanks KIM.

But yet again, I digress.

Lynn is moving and she had a yard sale. The letter B and the folk art chicken carving were not bought by anyone. So she had a 5000 comment contest and I won. Me. Kathy B. I won the b! (Not : I one a bee, like the old school counting game)

The B is going on my locker at work. My locker partner Anne B and I have shared the locker for years. She and I are both pretty messy. Best not to go lookin in our locker....But we often decorate the outside of the locker with photos. NOW it will have the B on it. Meant to B, don't you think.

The folk art chicken carving is so me. I love folk art. And polka dots. I must remember to keep the rubber chicken away from my lynn chicken. Rubber chicken is mean, you recall.

And, finally the yarn she sent as a bonus! What a bonus. It is wonderful superwash merino named Mare Blu. It is from Lulu's yarns and you can find her on etsy.com

I think I need some fingerless gloves......in JUST that colorway. Stormy BLUE.

To wrap this post all up:
let's sing: BLUE MOON.......
c'mon don't be a chicken.