Baby Knitting = FINISHED

The baby shower is tomorrow and I've finished my knitting in the knick of time!



There are two sweaters in there along with two hats and one set of baby booties. The cream set will fit the little guy right when he is born while the green set will fit him closer to 6 months in age. I can not wait to give this to the Mama tomorrow.

I already know that her dog loves the green hat!

Swatch Obsession



As I continue my TKGA Master Knitting Quest, I have become obsessed with swatch #1. I've knit it three times in three different yarns.

Swatch #1 was first knit in Peace Fleece which I judged as too lumpy.



Swatch #1 was knit secondly in Cascade 220 which is a serious contender for this course.



Lastly I knit swatch #1 in Lamb's Pride Worsted Wool. Again this yarn is a serious contender.




I still want to find one more yarn before I make my selection. I plan to visit Churchmouse this weekend and yarn will be located there! I also need to block these swatches before making my final decision since blocking can reveal all.

Masterly Knitting



Now I've gone and done it! I've added another project to my already long list of projects. I've signed up for the TKGA Master Knitting Program Level 1 course. This is also one of my 31 in 31 goals.



I spent the past weekend highlighting the instructions and gathering potential yarns for my swatches. By mid-Saturday, the dining room table was looking a bit like a yarn school!



I gathered my yarns on started Swatch #1 which I plan to do in all three yarns before making a final yarn selection for this program. I don't want to have to re-do any swatches due to my yarn selection. I don't want to re-do any swatches period but I'd rather it be due to my knitting than the yarn. I have selected cream as the yarn color since the packet clearly states that lightly colored yarn must be used. I figure you can't go any lighter than cream!



Yarns in the running are:

1) Lamb's Pride Worsted Weight
2) Peace Fleece Worsted Weight
3) Cascade 220

The Hourglass


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Public Service Announcement! It was 101 today in Seattle and I'm melting! Melting! I am not used to this kind of heat and it can now go away. I've suffered enough!

Last week I cast on for The Hourglass Sweater (which I keep typing as the HouSEglass sweater) and while the 2 billion cast on stitches were hard to keep track of, I made it through and have a good 8 rows completed.



The heat is making it difficult to knit and so my sweater has been placed aside until the weather cools down a bit more.



Sweater Details (for those that asked)

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha
Color: Green -- Color 101, Lot C
Needle: 32" Circular Size 7 Addi Turbos
Purchased: On Ebay for a great price!

Saturday Sky


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Today is Saturday, which means Sandy Sky Day! The clouds bring me hope that today won't be nearly as hot as yesterday. It was 102 degrees yesterday which was much, much too hot for me.

However I noticed that one of my rose bushes has produced a beautiful flower. It hasn't produced flowers in years! My tender loving care is working.


click on photo for larger view

OK I'm off to lie on the cool floor and try to keep from melting.

Kitty Tales



On Monday night I skipped swimming and went to my Feral Knitting Group. I love seeing those ladies and the knitting was so much fun. I headed home around 9 p.m. with an intent to go to bed early since I had stayed up much too late the night before.

I run through the door and put my stuff away. My Mom tells me that there is a vistor in the backyard. I think that the racoons have returned for their yearly plum pilgramage. I look out to investigate.

The fiece racoon turns out to be a little kitten, maybe 8 months old. I take some time and with great patience catch it. Once I catch it, I'm not sure what to do so I take it around to a few neighors homes. No-one knows who the kitten belongs to.

I take the kitten into the house and my cat goes crazy. Destiny is frothing at the mouth and spitting. The kitten's little heart is pounding. Destiny is so crazed so the kitten can not stay in the house at night. I put the kitten back outside with heavy heart but she has chairs to sleep on and food outside so I know she will be just fine.

At 3 a.m., Destiny goes crazy and I hear a kitten crying outside my bedroom window (which is on the second floor). I look out and the kitten is right there on the ROOF. I can't get the screen off to get her off the roof so I wake my parents at 3 a.m. (I'm the best daughter). She disappears once my Dad gets up and eveyone goes back to bed. At 3:45 a.m. the kitten begins launching herself at my window. I try to ignore her since I can't get the window open and she obviously got up there on her own and needs to get down on her own.

In the morning, I peer out to the back deck and the kitten is out there crying. I wish I could take her in but Destiny can't handle it and she was here first.

I'm sure each animal spent yesterday day staring at the other from their respective sides of the sliding glass door. When I arrived home on Tuesday evening, the kitten was no where to be found and Destiny made busy patrolling the backyard. I hope the kitten has found its way back home.

Rhinebeck or Bust

I'm going to Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, New York. (sung to the tune of "Graceland" by Paul Simon) BUT I need a roommate! I've got my ride, I have the room reserved, I do need to book my airline ticket but I'm afraid I'll be oh so lonely in my room without some other knitters to keep me company with the clicky-clack of their knitting needles. So any one out there interested? Shoot me a comment and I'll email you.

Off to dream of Rhinebeck...

Satisfying Baby Knitting



I started knitting one more sweater for someone I pet sit for on Sunday and so far I am loving how it is turning out. I'm using my favorite baby sweater pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts but adjusting the hem to reflect Kate Gilbert's hem on her Pea Pod Baby Set. I love the Pea Pod sweater but I wasn't feeling up to knitting the lace and I wanted to experiment a bit on my own.

I am loving how this sweater is turning out and how quickly it is knitting up. As soon as I finish this little project, I'm starting the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I can't wait!

June Project Spectrum Post Card Swap

I participated in June's Project Spectrum and due to not checking my mailbox (I know who doesn't check their mail box!), it took awhile for me to get my beautiful postcard from Snowdrop.


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Isn't it GORGEOUS? I wish I had an ounce of drawing ability like Snowdrops, just an ounce.

Thank you Joanna!

Hotel Stories…



The hotel’s shower was like a coffin, a green coffin but a coffin nonetheless. I could barely turn my teenage body around in it and I don’t think I’ve ever showered as fast since.

We were heading home from California and a delightful time at Disneyland. Rides had been ridden, food had been eaten and festivals had been attended. A fun time had been had by all. My brother had finally stopped whistling and I knew my eardrums would repair themselves. However I don’t think my brain will ever recover from that hotel room.

The shower was just the tip-off. It felt coffin-like and was the color of puke green. The floor felt wrong and the sink facet was barely able to spit out enough water for one to wash their hands.

The actual room was amazingly bad. They only had a king-size bed with a sofa bed. My brother and Dad volunteered to take the sofa bed so my Mom and I could sleep on the bed. They unfolded the sofa bed and that is when the real troubles began. My Dad described the sofa bed as a torture device. After tossing and turning, it was decided that my Dad would sleep on the king-size bed and my brother would sleep diagonally on the sofa bed so as to avoid the metal pole digging too much into his back. The family was finally able to rest a bit after the re-positioning.

The dog burrowed into the covers and I snuggled up to my pillow. My Dad’s snoring kept me awake for a bit but I was used to it by then and soon drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, we all arose and threw our stuff into the car. I refused to enter that shower again and we headed toward Seattle, trying to shake the memory of the Travel Lodge from our heads.

Four Square



and only 76 more to go!

I'm slowly becoming obsessed with this blanket. I'm carefully weaving in ends and knitting the squares together to save me pain later on. For now, I'm just obsessed! What a fun project!

Whew! Four Day Weekends are ROUGH!
Picture Heavy Post!

It's been a busy four day weekend over here at Supergirl's house! Saturday moring I arose bright and early due to a phone call from Mot. I took the time to finish up the baby bolero I started in April while waiting for Meg to call me for a our run.


The Cute Front


The Adorable Back


Close-Up of the Lace

And I finished one of my Sundara Cascading Leaves Socks. It's fantastic and its almost as big as the Baby Bolero!



Then Meg called to cancel our run which was ok since I had already scheduled a bike and swim with some other friends and knew it would be better to rest some more. But the swim didn't work out due to a pool closure and I got my first flat tire on my bike in four years. I guess the odds were for me getting one and I'm just glad it wasn't during a race! We did however make it over to Lake Washington for a swim at Madison Beach which was great!



Then on Sunday I met up with the girls for an Indigo Girls concert at the Zoo. It was FANTASTIC!


Darcy and Meg pose for me


I finished up a hat to match the Baby Bolero


Meg takes a picture for her blog, which isn't on her blog for some reason!

Monday I was off from work so I headed out for another bike ride on my newly changed and inflated tire with my friend Diana. Diana is the woman who first convinced me to do the Danskin Triathlon many years ago. I love riding with Diana.

After heading home and cleaning up, I had to head out to work the Fiona Apple and Damian Rice Concert. It was quite interesting to say the least! Damian Rice was fantastic and Fiona Apple was entertaining. Her fans were even more entertaining.

Today has been about doing nothing, eating good food with friends, walking dogs (Zubin looks just like his old self and is even bratty! Yea for Zubin!) and now I'm heading out to watch the fireworks (well sorta, I'm not into them so I'm going to friends for a little bit and coming home before the fireworks to avoid the Rebecca Fireworks traffic meltdown).

Happy Fourth of July!

Two Peas in a Pod…



Some may say that we are like two peas in a pod. We often laugh alike, think alike and speak alike though we couldn't look any different than the other if we tried. Where you are tall, I am petite. Where you are like a gazelle, I am often more like a bear. Where you sport fine features, I exhibit stronger ones. And yet for all of our differences, we really are two peas in a pod.

Our Mothers may call us "The Bickersons" but that is only because we often preach to the same choir and often forget if we are supposed to be the preacher or the choir. And where I think you have zany ideas, you often pull me in on my more outrageous ones. We laugh and say that without the other, we'd run right off that cliff and forget to look before leaping. Though at times, like two peas in a pod, we grab each other's hands and leap, never regretting that we did not look before we took the fall.

Nestled in our sweet cocoon of friendship, we often lean on the other in times of need knowing that soon we will be there for the other to lean on. We've known each other for almost 20 years which is longer than some marriages. We've seen the other grow up into a competent woman. We've seen each other through the awkward phases and into the beautiful times. We've been there when the other was down and when the other needed to celebrate.

And now as we each move through the next phase of our lives, we'll make many more memories that we can secret away in our pod of friendship as only two peas would. This pea can only say that she is lucky to have met you during the Lemon Swatch War.