Finally Finished Daisy Sweater.

Yarn - Classic Elite Flash, Lotus Blossom, 4 skeins
Size 7 US needles
Daisy Sweater by The Yarn Harlot from Knitty.

This sweater has been sitting around waiting to be sewn together for months. Lesson learned, knit raglans from top down from now on. I struggled with the raglan seams trying for both comfort (flat) and attractive. Seaming is not my strength. I could not find both and decided comfort was more important as I thought about car seat straps and things. I'm not happy with the way it looks, but I'd be less happy if I thought it didn't feel nice. The sleeve seams look nice, but are quite bulky. I'm hoping a bulky seam there won't be an issue.

The sleeve seam.


This project was started in an effort to use up some stash. I had 3 balls of this yarn. I had to buy another to finish the sleeves, so I bought plain orange and was making stripes. I lost the sleeves on a bus and had to buy 2 more balls. I found the multi-color yarn on sale so I didn't do the stripe. So my effort to use up 3 balls of stash ended up in my buying 3 more balls of the yarn. The yarn is quite soft, and Baby B hasn't outgrown it yet, so I'm happy with the project overall. I'm even happier that it's done and out of the house!

Fluctuating Mojos and the Color Orange

I haven't been very excited about knitting lately. Oh, I'm still looking at yarn and projects to see things I want to do, but I'm not making much progress on things I've got going. Instead of always knitting while watching tv, I've been going through my Games magazines. I've ripped out the lace curtain about 3 times now. I should know better than to try to knit when I'm just not feeling it. I know it will come back, it always does.

I've mentioned before that I am learning to appreciate the color orange. My newest yarn acquisition is this.
.

Jawoll Cotton isn't easy to find, and the selection of colors is fairly limited, esp if you're looking for a solid color. The best selection I found was at Simply Socks Yarn Company. I took the plunge and bought orange, which I think will look very well with Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks. I will definitely need my mojo before starting on those! The yarn arrived today - great service.

Something that helped me to appreciate orange.


Yes, more hiking. My other blog has way too many pictures and details and Flickr has even more. I managed to get out and enjoy October before the dreaded November arrives.

As my knitting mojo rests, my baking mojo is waking up. This is great pumpkin bread, which is kind of orange.

Fall Colors

I've done some hiking over the weekend and here are a few of the pics from a Metro Park and an Arboretum. The Arboretum was much greener than the Metro Park. These colors are all the way my camera saw them. Sometimes when I see nature pics that have been altered to be saturated with color, it makes me sad.

I did the math.

I've never counted stitches on a project before, but when it seemed as if I was making such slow progress on the baby blanket I started many months ago, I needed to see what was going on. First off, I realize I am not a prolific knitter by any means, and my expectations are usually pretty good as far as when I plan to get things done. Now I wonder "What was I thinking?"

The blanket will be 30 x 30 inches when finished, done with fingering weight yarn on size 2 US needles. I calculated that this blanket will have, and not counting any edging or anything, 115,200 stitches. Yikes. I've done about 40,000 stitches. Wow. So I HAVE done a lot of knitting on it. It feels better to know that.
Here is a pic of a pic of what the finished product will look like.


I am in the midst of reorganizing my yarn again. I've frogged a few things I had on needles - one was an experiment for a tam design and the other was a scarf that was to be a gift, but for some reason I could not make myself work on. I've restarted this several times. Notice the colors. They are Red Hat Society colors. Friend is fed up and plans to quit her group at the end of the year.


This is what I added to my stash to make stuff for Baby B. I was ready to make something easy care and less demanding than the other projects I have going for her.


Speaking of other projects for her, I STILL haven't stitched up the Daisy Sweater. We went to see her yesterday and I should have had it ready. I didn't know in advance we were going, but that's still not much of an excuse. I think I'm going to check around to see if I can find someone to finish the Angel Dress. After all of the work I put into it, I don't want to cheapen it by substandard finishing I might do.

So much for working from my stash.

Some day I may learn to never say that, at least out loud. I am going to have to buy more yarn. Last night, my DIL asked if I would make some hats for Baby B to go with her winter coat. There is no way I would refuse such a request! She wants one to be a solid color and one to have the 4 different colors that are in the coat. While I may have the colors in my stash, they won't be soft enough for Baby B, so I'll have to buy something. She wants one of the ear flap hats (fun!) and one she saw with a brim. I'm still hunting around for a brimmed hat pattern like she wants. I'm not to where I can look at a picture and just knit something up, at least not this.

Katy's test has confirmed bladder cancer. Her new medicine will arrive tomorrow.

Still waiting

We are still waiting on Katy's test results. She has been eating the last few days and tomorrow is supposed to be cooler so she can spend more time outside, which she likes. I think the NSAID she started taking a few days ago might be helping her to feel better.

A Sick Beagle

We are still waiting for test results, but I can't stop crying today.

Several months ago, we found out that Katy has a heart murmur and were told what to expect, but were also told there was no way to predict when to expect it. I innocently thought that was the worst thing, the not knowing.

Over the summer, she has had a never ending bladder infection. She kept seeing a different vet because they worked us in as quickly as possible, and each time they gave us medicine and a "wait and see" directive. I like all the vets there, but Dr. Kelleher has an intuitive talent for knowing when there is a real problem. Finally we were able to see him and he said we need to find out what's going on with Katy. He discovered what he calls polyps in her bladder. A few tests have been done that have ruled out the best outcomes and now we are looking for a possible cancer diagnosis. The first test came back inconclusive, so Friday he called me and asked if I could get her there right away to do another test so he could get it sent out by the end of the day, so that's what we're waiting on now.

When cancer was first mentioned, I thought we might be spared a long decline with her feeling badly and then the inevitable decision that would have to be made because of her heart condition. He had earlier told me her heart condition is not painful and she's not suffering from that. The growth in her bladder is at the opening. She struggles to pee and isn't very successful. Now, the best case would be that the growth is benign and we can shrink it with medication so she can pee.

The situation hit me hard last night. I realized she is already declining, but I was in denial attributing it to old age. Katy is around 10, that's the vet's best guess. We have switched to canned dog food for her. She misses many early morning meals, even though she will usually eat some of it around noon. She has lost some weight. We have the air conditioner on because the heat seemed to be
bothering her more. Last night I looked at her and knew she just doesn't feel well. Her tail wags less than it used to. If I have to decide when, that is going to be so hard, I can't even imagine right now.

I know there are some people who would roll their eyes and say "she's a dog." I don't care.

I know some people would totally understand this.

Katy had a rough start in life and was rescued in very bad shape by a wonderful woman who found her and took her home and gave her a new life. I came across her when I went to this woman's house for my job. I instantly fell for Katy when she looked at me with those eyes of hers and wagged her tail. My husband had been vetoing dogs for many years, but I wanted Katy. The wonderful woman told me she was a foster mom, I told her I had a fenced yard and we looked at each other and knew the right match was found. Husband agreed, and within a few days felt the same as I did about her. This happened after we had been through a rough patch ourselves and Katy was just what we needed around here. She has given us nothing but joy for the last 5 years. My heart is breaking.

Lace Valance

I've started on my lace valance using the Knitpicks Lace Curtain free pattern. I'm using the Shine Sport yarn, which is so soft to knit with, but I'm wondering if it's too soft for this use. Maybe I can starch it later. My kitchen has yellow in it so I bought the color "Butter". I couldn't believe how well it matched the "Banana Split" color on the walls! It matches even better than the photo shows.



This is the first completed pattern. I'm going to do 4 repeats.


It's a fun knit in that you have to pay a little bit of attention to it, but you don't have to focus solely on it.