Dsylexic Pattern Reader

Is it me or are some patterns written in a language other than english? I'm currently working on the pattern BYOB from Knitty and I'm feeling pretty stupid. I had to start from the bottom up because the part for the handles just don't seem to make any sense whatsoever to me. I know that I am not a stupid person - but for whatever reason - its not clicking in my pretty little head. So what am I gonna do? Exactly what a good KnitFloozy does - we ask the LYS for help and hope they are not as cornfused about it as I am. We shall see.... And in case you're wondering - a KnitFloozy who loves bags is making hers in red because - well - it must match her favorite pair of peeptoe pumps...

Say it Aint So

You have new Picture Mail!, originally uploaded by missthg.

Hey folks! I'm still around. I'm still knitting. I'm still trying to buy food for my family. Most people don't know it - but I could eat tuna fish sandwiches daily. And I make a mean bowl of tuna. Since I make it so often - I always buy the larger cans of tuna - in water of course - oil just tastes to fishy! I know it sounds stupid but if you ever get a chance - compare the tuna in oil and the tuna in water. Anywhoo...look at the price of this jar of mayo that ususally lasts me about two months. Not a big deal. But the last time that I purchased a jar of mayonaise that size it was not $9.59!!!!! I'm pretty sure that it was somewhere south of $6.00. While three dollars may not be a big deal for one jar of mayo - imagine all of your groceries going up three dollars each! Do you know what that does to a knitters yarn budget? Ok I know knitters and budget in the same sentence is just an oxymoron - but y'all know what I mean. How are we supposed to to feed our families and purchase yarn to knit! Thank goodness for the fore thought to hoard yarn before gas became ridiculouly priced!!! Now all of those dreams of making blankets for family members may come true. I can't afford to buy anymore yarn thanks to the overpriced gas in these parts!

Superhero

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You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

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Guess Who Turned 45?

Gotcha!  I'm not 40 yet - but I did have a good birthday!  I am blessed.  My health is good. My family is good! We have our aches and pains - but you know what - we are alive!I still have living grandparents - which makes us five generations still on this planet.  I'm still in my right mind.  And most important - well I thank God for another year!  Sing a long with me now - Happy Berfday to ya - happy berfday to ya...happy berday!!!! 

 

I must be in a knitting rut.  All I can manage to produce right now is more and more dish cloths.  And then - only the ball band clothes. Sooner or later my knitting Mojo will return.  Hey Bean - what kind of lace pattern did you have in mind?  Maybe that will start my Mojo on it's journey back!
 

Big Girls...

Hello Knitting World! Yes I'm still working on the cotton ease baby blanket. One last row of squares to knit and then the border!!! Wahoo!!! There is light at the end of this tunnel. I was beginning to think there was none. Well I'm sure I'm not the first to cheat on a project. I needed some small gratification so I worked on a couple of ball band cloths. What can I say - I need the variety. Hello - my name is KnitFloozy and I will never be a monogamous knitter.

So I went to visit my MamaC (my mother) and GrannyFr (Grandmother) on Sunday. (Thanks for the chicken & salad MamaC) Let me tell you - when the elderly speak - you always want to listen. They have some gems for you to put in your pocket and use later on in life and some you need to heed now. And then they say some of the funniest things that leave you speechless because - well - there is just nothing else to be said.

I was showing GrannyFr how I made the the cotton ease baby blanket and she asked me a few more questions about it and said - well - I think I could knit again - I stopped doing that a few years ago.

Somehow or another the conversation shifted to weight. You know with the elderly - the conversations change at the drop of a hat so you just roll with it and act like you know what's going on. GrannyFr said "You know - when I was younger - I wanted to weigh more than I did - because I was so skinny. The girls in my high school wanted to be skinny and I wanted to be fatter. What was wrong with us? My mother told me - you are never gonna be fat so just let it alone. The most I've ever weighed is 160lbs and that is because I was having a child." Seems harmless enough right? (In my best southern belle drawl) I know I'm not a stick figure - so I'm not concerned about the direction of this here particular conversation.

However - Mr. Knitfloozy who was outside playing with MamaC's dog happened to step in the door at that very moment and as GrannyFr was getting up off the couch asked him "Don't you like your women big?" He looked at me and MamaC and PapaC and ChickenusWingus and we all started laughing. I had no words for him or a snappy comeback. He almost fell over - he just didn't know what to say. GrannyFr turned around and said "I guess I rocked his cradle." We laughed even harder. Poor thing - I just couldn't rescue him from that one. PapaC made us laugh even harder because he said, " I can't hear that well anymore - but I heard that loud and clear." It was all in good fun. I guess when you're 85 you're allowed to say anything you want with no repercussions. I'm still chuckling...

Ruby for Keiv

ravelry 022, originally uploaded by missthg.

Isn't she just fabulous? A friend in a faraway land sent this beautiful hand knit scarf to me all the way from Keiv! I was sooo excited and to scared to wear it. I mean does one wear a scarf so beautiful all willy knilly? I should think not! It was cold one morning and I grabber Ruby off the shelf and boy o boy is she warm and squishy all at the same time! I was oh so grateful that day to have such a lovely warm scarf. Many compliments to the hand knitter who made this! I'm just not that' talented. Ok - it's more like I'm far to lazy to knit such beautiful lace....Ok more like to chicken....

103 Degrees and it's not summer yet!

Yes you read that right!!!! It's 103 today on May 16th in Antioch. When I went to work this morning at 7am it was only 68. We've been experiencing a little heat wave this week. I on occasion say the sugar melts in the rain but I now know that it melts in extreme heat also. I have some one more section of the baby blanket to finish and then weave in the ends. Think I'm working on it in this heat? Absolutely - why - cos it's time to move on to a new project. I'm really trying not to have starteritis...sometimes it's just better not to tempt fate with starteritis....But if you want some temptation and you live in Northern California try this place. They have fabulous fried chicken sandwiches. I am picky about food and I dont eat every one's fried chicken - but this place has fabulous fabulous food. So what you see is the Cotton Ease Baby Blanket that has one more row to be knit and then the border. But what you don't see is the millions of ends to be weaved in!!!! I will not let the weaving in of the ends stop me from finishing this no longer portable project. Hmmm what to knit next? Socks?" Probably. It's too doggone hot to knit anything else!! No I have no idea at this point. Probably more dishcloth sets....

Happy Mama's Day to all you Mama's out there!

Happy Mama's Day to all you Mama's out there....

I'm still working on the blanket from the previous post - but you know there has got to be something said for actually reading the pattern and it's instructions all the way through before actually starting the pattern. I'm a complete just dive in and start knitting the pattern. Well i don't thik i'll be doing that anymore. This cute little baby blanket is gonna become a wall hanging. Why? Ms. I can knit anything without actually reading the pattern used the wrong sized needle!!!!!!! It said to cast on with the sixes and knit with the eights! Can y'all see my blond roots showing? I feel like a complete idiot!!!!! Lucky for me I have enough yarn to actually make another - ok I have enought yarn to make about six more of these. Yeah - I know - that's a whole lotta cotton!!!! I love the Lion Brand Cotton Ease and well you know...when you shop on eBay you can never buy just one skein of yarn and well...I have quite a bit of Cotton Ease. Such is the life of a knitter.

I got some really pretty pre-planted flower pots. Yes that's what I wanted instead of the roses, birds of paradise or other various flowers! I wanted some plants that would last longer than the flowers in the vase. I forgot to take photos of them before the sun set today so I will add the photos tomorrow.

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Chasing Butterflies

Hey! Did I let the whole month of April go by with no post? I supposed that I did. Well spring is here and it's just wonderful weather! With the exception of a few days here and there it's been sunny and bordering on warm.

ChickenusWingus turned 12 in April! Wow time has really flown by. He reminds me daily that he is almost as tall as me. Like that's hard to do since I'm only 5"3'. He is a really smart kid and will be President one day. I'm a proud Mom - what can I say about a 12 year old who gets good grades and calls him himself a jerd - a jock and a nerd. His term - I didn't come up with that one. He's got a million of them.

I've knitted just a few things as my time has become limited. I was nursing a bruised ego for about the last two weeks because I did something so silly I'm almost embarrassed to tell anyone - but now that I think about it - it's kinda funny - ok maybe only in my twisted mind.

I was coming home from my long day at work and doing the usual transistion from BART train to my car and was chasing the butterflies through the parking lot. O.k. not really chasing the butterflied but enjoying the end of a long day. I had on some khakis a white t-shirt and my cute little baseball style keds. So picture me with my cool new red (is there any other color for a KnitFloozy) Jordana Paige knitting bag walking down the sideway and all of a sudden I'm on the ground. Now how I got there is still a mystery to me. I was just walking along and started stumbling - and the whole time I was thinking I'm gonna catch my balance and hope that no one saw me. Nope that was not the case. Not only did I fall all the way to the ground - but I landed on my stomach on the curb rolled on to my right shoulder and managed to knock the wind out of myself. Let me tell you it must have been one heck of a sight! Arms and legs in the air cute red bag and all contents of said red bag all over the concrete and the Knitfloozy trying to catch the next breath which at that moment seemed impossible. There were about 10 folks whom I am very grateful to helped me up - including a BART station agent. Several ladies offered to drive me home, call mr. knitfloozy and or do both. After I managed to catch my breath and make an incident report to the BART station agent I sat in my car and cried for about five minutes cos it really did hurt to fall on this 37 year old shoulder and hands and knee. I started my car and drove home to work on this really easy blanket. I know it looks like a hot mess right at this particular moment - but it will come together in the end. It's called the Cotton-Ease Baby Blanket and it's pattern is very portable at first. Not sure how much longer it will be portable. I am not crazy however about weaving in the ends of this thing. I do know that I will make another one as I have lots of this yarn in my stash already. I plan to replace the green squares with orange squares next time. Once you get the hang of the pattern it just flies by. The lady who created this pattern said that knitting backwards saved her a whole lot of time. I tried it and for me it's a lot easier to just do the purls.

Oh yeah - if you're chasing butterflies of your own - try not to land on your shoulder if you happen to be as clumsy as I am...

Mason Dixon Mitered Update

I almost forgot - I've started re-working my Mason Dixon Mitered blanket in two ways. First I doubled up my yarn to make it thicker. I chose not to use cotton which I am now regretting but I will finish this as a baby blanket as not to commit to the king size blanket I originally anticipated making. I am also using Kay's no sew mitered squares. This turns out to be one of the best ideas for making the mitered blankets. You just build one miter at a time and well you will have to sew a few together but not nearly as many if you didn't use this method. Scroll halfway down the pageto the May 10, 2006 entry and you will see the very long but helpful tutorial. I copy and pasted this to a word document and saved it and referred to it when I moved through the process. Instead of throwing the yarn away from the first ones that I did - I just went ahead and re-knit them into the square you see. Now that I've only got an hour or work left on the Argosy Baby Blanket - I will continue making the squares for this baby blanket and post when I get finished with this. Wow I tell you I don't think I'm suffering from starteritis anymore. Does this mean that I am cured? Probably not. But I'm getting better? Has anyone found a cure for this yet?