7/29/07

I Finished, I Finished, I Finished!!!!

Even with an injured knitting finger, the Kauni Cardigan is finished and the final stage of the Tour de France hasn't even started!!!! Today is truely a ceremonial day!!! If is wasn't so blame hot, I would wear my cardigan to watch the day in Paris. It still needs blocking, but other than that, it is finished. I think it is pretty coincidental that I was going for the Green Jersey and green is the main color in the neck and front ribbing!!!

Off to watch the final stage. And of course, get to work on another project!!!

Chat later

Susan

7/26/07

Tour de France KAL Update
Here is my one armed Kauni Cardigan, with the injury to the "knitting finger" my hope now is to finish the second sleeve by Sunday. I think finishing work will have to wait until after the Tour. At least I can say it was done drugfree.






Have I mentioned that Macklin likes to be comfortable when he sleeps?

Reading

Still plodding along with Harry Potter. I have been devoting all my time to knitting. Want to finish it before someone tells me what happened though. On someone's blog I read the ultimate in love. Her husband is READING her Harry Potter while she knits!!!! My husband is wonderful, but I know better than to even ASK for this one!!!

Exercise has also been suffering with the push for the Green Jersey. Monday I have to redouble my efforts. Can't get completely out of the habit.

Chat later

Susan

7/25/07

Tour de France/TdF KAL Update
My finger injury was not "tour-ending" but it had slowed me down significantly. I was able to finish the first sleeve and get the second one picked up. I still doubt I will get it finished knitting as slowly as I am knitting. I had planned to compare my injury to Vino's and say if he can ride with all the stitches in his knees, I can certainly knit with a cut in my finger. But we all know what has happened to him. Why are these guys so stupid they don't realize they are going to get caught? Cycling has the strongest drug testing program in all of sports and they still think they can get away with it!!!! They may have powerful legs, but their brains need some work!!!

Off to knit slowly
Chat later
Susan

7/23/07

I know I say this almost every post, but where does the time go???

I have been watching the Tour de France. I think this is the best year I have ever watched. When Lance was riding, you knew he was going to win, it was just a matter of which day he wanted the lead. This year there are 10 possibles and you never know who is large and in charge that day until the very end. There hasn't been a bad stage yet.

My Tour de France KAL project, Kauni Cardigan is coming well. The body is done, I have one sleeve 3/4 done. The pattern is a translated pattern, so you need to know what you are doing to knit a sweater from it, but the patterning on the sweater is very easy to memorize and you can work on it and talk, or watch the Tour. Now for the bad news. I tried to shorten my left index finger with a knife yesterday. My sister had gotten 100 ears of corn. I was helping her wash and cut off the bad spots. I mistook my finger for an ear of corn. We debated stitches, but she grabbed the steri strips and closed it up. Last time the boys got a cut she did that then took them to the emergency room. At the emergency room they left her work in place. So I decided we weren't spending hours in the emergency room. Today it is VERY SORE, but doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore. BUT, this sweater is two-handed, two-color. I can run two colors in my left hand, but don't knit English well enough to run two in my right. So I think knitting is done for a couple of days!!! ;-( There is no way I can finish my project by the time to Tour is over and not knit for a couple of days. I only have until Sunday. Just a reminder, this sweater is in fingering weight yarn!!!

Harry Potter arrived Saturday at 6:10PM. I didn't even get to start until last night. I am on page 75. I fell asleep on the book, woke up at 3AM. So since I can't knit, guess I can read!!! I want to get it read before someone tells me what happens, but I want to savor it too. I don't think I would get as much pleasure from it if I read it all in one day. I finished the Diana Chronicles before HP. It is the least complimentary book about her I have read, but it also had more info I hadn't seen before. It is a new book, so there is 10 years of history rewrite there too. I am kind of stuck in the middle of Summerhouse by Jude Devereaux. Just can't seem to get into the story. Maybe too many Jude Devereaux books in a row. I haven't given up completely.

Had a great trip to the Beach. Weather was great. I still have revelations about my new weight that are fun. You would think a year at normal weight I would have had them all. We climbed Jockey's Ridge. Two years ago, I stayed at the cottage. I knew there was no way I could climb it. Last year, my sister stayed with me and I made it up with only one break to stop and pant. This year I was in the front of the pack, saying "Are you coming?" My 11 yo athletic nephew wanted to race down the hill. He said "Ready, Set, Go" we took off. He realized I was going to win, so he rolled down the hill, so he didn't loss!!!!! ;-) Guess my exercising really is paying off!!! Now I just have to get back in the habit at home.

No picture, sorry. I have to be retrained, it has been too long since I used the conversion software and my camera won't take a picture small enough to upload directly!!! ;-( You don't want to see my mangled finger anyway!!! ;-)

Chat later
Susan

7/11/07

Want to get a quick and pictureless post in before I headed off to the Outer Banks, NC again.

I have been knitting away on the Kauni cardigan. It is going well. I have the pattern memorized almost immediately. It is giving me a great chance to practice my two hand two color knitting. I am almost up the the armhole steek. This is my Tour de France KAL project. I am going for the Green Jersey so I need to finish it during the tour. I am sure I will do very little knitting while at the beach. My nephews are going and they keep us VERY busy.

Haven't finished any books or done any quilting, but I have been getting my running in like a "good girl".

I'll give you a full report when I get back from the beach. Hopefully we won't have as much rain as they are predicting. We need rain at home not at the beach. Home is so dry the grass crunches.

Chat later
Susan

7/4/07 Volume 2

This is the detail of the Smokin Sock Ribbing. I really enjoyed doing this sock, even if it did take months to do it.

Here are the next 13 blocks of my Dear Jane. I have a bunch more prepped, just need to quit knitting and work on them.

Chat later

Susan

7/4/07

Happy 4th to everyone!!!

First let me introduce the rest of the family.

This is Chad. He is the male half of the littermates. He really likes to nap on the hearth.

This is Chelsea. She is the female portion of the litter mates. She is the "bitch". Not just in the dog sense of the word. She thinks she is the alpha dog, but she forgot to tell Mack!!

The is Mack in his favorite sleeping position. That is the back of the chair, between the cushion and the back. He thinks this is heaven.

Another shot of Chad sleeping on the hearth.

I have been on a finishing binge so I don't have so many UFO's when the Tour de France KAL starts. These have been on the needles since March!!! They are Smokin' Socks from KnitSpot.com. Using Lorna's Laces Lagoon. Loved the pattern, it is a mock cable so you get the look of cables with no cable needle.

This is a bad picture of the Split Neck T from Knitting Plain and Simple.

This is the back and front of the Prosperous Plum Tank knit in Candy Apple Red Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. It fits great. I hope it doesn't stretch.

Have been running on the treadmill. That is going very well. Much easier on the knees and the treadmill helps me pace myself. I want to run too fast when I am outside. So this was a good purchase.

I am now reading three books, I am getting as bad about books as I am about projects. I have Summerhouse by Jude Devoureax, the JFK book by Vincent Bugliosi (this is good, but just too big to handle and read), and the new Diana Chronicles. Not sure who wrote that at the moment.

Another of my obsessions that has gotten out of control is I have 400 blogs in my bloglines account. That is not a typo, it is FOUR HUNDRED!!! Thank goodness for Bloglines.

I have 2 more pictures I couldn't get into this post, so I will do another one to try to get those two uploaded. Hopefully they will work with just the two.

Chat Later

Susan