Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post to say that I finished my Embossed Leaves socks for the SAM4 KAL while watching the Ghosthunters Live investigation of Waverly Hills. Spooky! I'll post pics of the socks and the girls while trick or treating.

Happy Halloween!

What have I done this week?

That's a good question. Well, let me recall.

Monday I finished my Harvest Sock Swap pal's sock, and casted on an Embossed Leaves sock for myself, in the same color way of Trekking as I used for my pal.

Tuesday I developed a soar throat. Stopped at the store for soup after picking up the girls. Went home, made said soup, and waited for my Auntie Elaine to drop off some yarn for knitting I promised to do for the family Charity auction. No knitting accomplished.

Wednesday, my throat wasn't soar, but I felt like shite! Went home, made a quick one dish oven meal, and sacked out to watch Ghost Hunters all evening with Mr. S. No knitting accomplished.

Thursday, felt a little better, voice was a little horse. Didn't feel like cooking dinner, hit Rally's, and went home to watch Grease & Grease 2 with the girls. Knitting accomplished, finished the first sock of my Embossed Leaves.

Today? Well, as soon as I get off of work, I have to pick up Mr. S at my house. Then it's off the pick up the girls and Taylor. Once all the kidlings have been loaded into my dark green easter egg of a car (a Kia Rio Cinco wagon), we are off to Dayton. Katie and Taylor are staying in Dayton for the weekend for my niece's b-day. And, at lunch, I splurged a little and bought 4 balls of Regia 4 fadig in natural, to make a pair of Over the Knee socks from Handknit Holidays. I have been waiting to make these socks for a long while. I just had to make up my mind of what yarn and in what color. I figured that natural is the best choice, as we like to dress up in costume for festivals, balls and such, and it would go with a lot of my period costumes and not look out of place.

Tomorrow, for as craptastic as I feel, we are going shopping, over most of the city. There is a book that I want that details how to make period costumes, so I'm off to see if the Book Loft in German Village has a copy (if not, I'll order from Amazon); Mr. S wants to go to Polaris mall (all I can think of is Rocky Mountian Chocolate factory and the giant caramel apples, yummmy!); and then various other locations that I'm sure we'll find time to get into.

So, that was my week, in a nutshell. How was your week?

An FO and an update and a package!

I did it! I finally finished my Candle Flame Shawl. But first, I'll start with the update.

I wasn't able to find the color way of Lana Grossa that I wanted for my Harvest Sock Swap pal. But I did find some nice Trekking that will work just lovely. See:

So, I have a pattern, I know have sock yarn, and some great ideas for goodies. So, since I have knitted a stitch since I finished the shawl, I'll be casting on tomorrow.

Now for the package. Monday evening, I came in late and there was a box sitting on the kitchen table. I didn't get to open it until yesterday, and wasn't able to blog about it till today, 'cause those blasted pixies ran off with my camera cord! Really, if anyone have a pixie bone grinder, please send it this way. Anywho! Here is what my lovely pal, Claudia from Rhode Island, sent me:

Here is the card that was in the package, along with the pattern for the bag:

Here is the bag, in the perfect colors. It will go with just about everything I have:

Here are some yummy goodies! Mmmm...... White chocolate, my favorite! I've had to fight off the girls and Mr. S. There is a good sized sail boat and 2 pumpkin suckers:

Here's some fibery goodness. Some Paton's SWS, which I haven't got a chance to work with yet. The colors remind me of Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries:

And here's a smell good. A great smelling Juicy Apple candle. I love candles:

Thank you, Claudia! I just love everything!

Now for the FO! The Candle Flame Shawl. I love this pattern. I would like to make another, some time. After I finished, I can to the conclusion that it looks a lot better in person that it does on the computer. It turns out fabulous! Here is a pic of when I finished it Friday night, before washing and blocking:

Here it is, after washing, and blocked on a piece of foam insulation board (which was Miss Amy's, and she graciously let me use):
Here is the final pics, washed, blocked, and modeled by the bushes in front of the house:

Here is a close up of the lace detail:

The specs:

Pattern: Candle Flame Shawl from Knit Picks
Yarn: Knit Picks Gossamer
Colorway: Leprechaun
Needles: US 4 circs
Finished size: 16" x 70"
Notes: I worked a Moss Stitch edging, as I hate garter stitch. I worked 15 pattern repeats to get the length needed. You can see all the pics on Ravelry. My profile name is Rosiegypsy.

And I was prompted to finish it so I could wear it to the Loreen McKennitt concert Saturday night. Which, by the way, was beyond fabulous. I have been to few concerts in my day (Kool & the Gang, George Jones, Fall Out Boy, Poison, several Metallica concerts, Limp Bizkit, Lincoln Park, you get the idea), but this was by far the best I have ever been to. The over all atmosphere was relaxed and fun. The band was having a great time just performing. And, we had dinner at the Claddagh Irish Pub. They had some pretty good Guiness beef stew, which was piled on sweet cream mashed potatoes.

So, it's Friday. Is it just me, or has this been the longest week?

Ok, so far this week, we still haven't found the pixies that have been pilfering items. In the mail, I received an old PS1 game that I have been looking for. I won it off of ebay for a penny plus $4.50 shipping. On the shawl, I remeasured and found that I only need 15 repeats, not the 18 I first figured. As of right now, I am half way through repeat 14. Which means that I need to bust a$$ to complete the final repeat and a half, 2" edging, wash and block. But the good news is that we got good seats for the show. Now I just hope everything goes as planned. We still need to decide where we are going to have dinner, and I need to find something to wear that fits my arse. But for now, I'm going to head to the conference room to work on my shawl.

Needed: 1 Pixie bone grinder

I'll explain the title in a minute. But, first. What a wasted weekend! Being that I was on call, I had 3 shipments to watch, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that I had wait for a driver, coming from Philly, to load up 1 skid. Now, I figured that since he loaded in Philly on Friday evening, then he would be in early Saturday morning. Boy, was I wrong. I tried to keep myself busy, knitting as much as I could, but keep my hands free to drop and run at a moments notice. I told them that if he called when he was a half hour outside of Columbus, I could just meet him at the office. I finally got a call around 11 am, just to tell me that the driver would be in around 2. So, I thought I could buckle down and knit my heart out till about 1:30. At 1:15 I got a call that his A/C unit went down, and he was delayed and he would be in around 6 pm. So, the girls and I ran to Wally World with mom. Then, 6 o'clock rolls around, and I get a call from his dispatcher that he was just west of Zanesville, OH. I said, great. I can prep dinner, and leave around 6:30, he'll be there about 7. I was at the office at 6:45. By the time it was all said and done, I didn't get this guy loaded till 8 o'clock, 24 hrs after he loaded in Philly! I was a little angry. We hadn't had dinner yet, Mr. S was waiting for me to get done at the office before coming over, and all that lost knitting time! So, I didn't get the felted bag finished and in the washer until 4 on Sunday. But it looks great! See:

Before felting:


After felting:
I left the pattern book in for size reference. Isn't cute. Here are the specs:

Pattern: Kitchen Sink Bag
Size: Short
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino
Colors: Harvest (multi) & Leaf Green
Needles: 10 1/2 circs
Thoughts: I love this bag, I'll have to make another, for me. This was the first time I used this yarn, and it felts great. I would even use this yarn on a regular pattern.

Ok, on to the Candle Flame Shawl. Yeah, what can I say? I wasn't able to touch it all weekend. I tossed it into my Namaste purse and brought to work on at lunch yesterday. When I picked it up, I was on row 4 of repeat 10, of 18 repeats, 36 rows per repeat. Just a little over whelming. Between what I was able to get done at lunch, and what I was able to work on after pixie hunting in the kitchen (more on that in a minute), all said and done, when I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer, I stopped after row 6 of repeat 11. I am going to try to sneak in a few rows at my desk, as my boss is out on a golf outing today. Then, see how much I can get done at lunch, after running to the bank. So, hopefully, I will have fingers of fury for the next few days, 'cause I so want to wear this to that concert.

Now, for the pixie hunt. I thought I had left the blasted things in the old apartment, when I moved over a year and half ago. Apparently not! In the past month, 1 small frying pan, 1 medium frying pan and one of my Tupperware ice cream scoops (yes, I have 2, but I used to sell Tupperware) have come up missing. Between Miss Amy, Katie, Mr. S and myself, that kitchen has been torn apart more times than I'd like to count. Granted, my pans were about 10 years old and needed replaced, but I wasn't ready to replace them yet. The ice cream scoop wasn't in the best of conditions anymore, but it matched the rest of my hunter green Tupperware. When I finally do find these pixies, they'll be dust! Maybe I'll let the cats have one to play with, it'd serve the little buggers right.

Anywho. For my Harvest Sock Swap update. I have picked out the pattern, bought a few goodies, but I may have to order the yarn I want to use. I'm looking for specific color to go with the whole fall theme.

Ooh! The office manager just went to lunch, now's the time to see if I can sneak a few rows in. Later.

Motivation?

I think I have motivation to knock off 2 projects this weekend. Shall I explain? Why, of course I shall, because unless you decide to find some other blog to read, you're almost a captive audience. Hee hee!

Where to start? Oh yeah! My wonderful man. He loves to do things for me. Say I want to go see a movie (i.e. Resident Evil: Extinction - saw it this past weekend), he does his absolute best to make it happen. I was going on about wanting to go the Witches Ball at the end of the month, so he said we would go. Then, on Tuesday, out the corner of my ear, I hear on the radio that Loreena McKennitt is playing the Palace Theater *only* on Oct. 13th. I happened to mention it to him. And on Wednesday, he tells me that he would love to take me to both, but can only do one, and I had to pick. Mind you, I never said that I wanted to go to the concert (even though I really, really do), I just mentioned it in passing. So, now I have a tough choice. Although, that may be my own fault. See, when I checked Loreena's tour schedule, she will only be in the US this month. So, we may have to order the tickets tonight. And, if that's my choice, then I have to have something to wear. I was thinking that my Candle Flame Shawl would be perfect, but it's just over half way done. If I crack down, I could have it done, washed and blocked in time. However, right now I am working on my Fall Fiber Bag Exchange bag for my pal. So, that being the case, if I really crack down, I can have both done by Monday. I can, really. (I'll just keep telling myself that, and I may actually believe it.) So, in my delusional little brain, once I have my shawl finished, I will have to arrange an outfit around it. Because, as Katie pointed out, this isn't a Fall Out Boy concert, no jeans and t-shirt, because there will be no mosh pit. lol. And, to top it off, I'm on call this weekend for work. As of right now, I have 3 shipments to watch, and I have to come into the office sometime tomorrow (Saturday) to load a truck. So, what do you think? Can I do it?

Is this year over with yet?

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! Last week, I feel down sick again. Face down, sick. I spent the week in bed. I'm just getting back to normal, or as close as I can get, lol. See, I'm starting to get a sense of humor back. Any way, I didn't even feel like sewing all the stuff I had to for our trip to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. I had to make 2 men's peasant shirts, a whole new wenches costume for me (as I've outgrown my old ones), and a whole wenches costume for Annie, consisting of a skirt, blouse and bodice. So, Saturday, as I was starting to feel really crappy and stayed in my pajamas all day, I pulled out the serger and sewing machine, and buckled down. I finally finished, the next morning. But, take a peek at the results below:

From left to right we have: Mr. S, Taylor, me, Katie, Chris, Cassi, Dylan and Annie down front.

Here, we have the girls. Ain't they cute?


And, of course, the mandatory silly pic.


Then, we have Mr. S and me.


Then we have my girls and me. Well, technically, Taylor isn't mine, but she's adopted me as her second mom.

And, speaking of my adopted daughter, she's good a sneaking pics. Can you tell how thrilled I am?


Then, my swashbuckling daughters swung into action. Here's Katie in the Safer Sword arena.


And Annie couldn't be out done.


The gown that Cassi is wearing in the first pic is one that I made about 8 years ago, for the year we sold at the festival. And ya know what? I actually enjoyed sewing, again. I haven't sewed costumes in almost 2 years.

Anyway, as I'm getting better, I'm started to get my knitting mojo back. That, and the fact that my bestest friend in the whole world, Miss PJ, told me last week that she is pregnant! After she gave up hope over 8 years ago of ever having another child. Now, I get to knit baby things! And I hope it's lots of pink things, as she already has a boy, she needs (and wants) a little girl!

Anyway! I need to get some rest, that way I can maybe knit tomorrow!