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?

Warmer days ahead

Finally, it has warmed up! We didn't freeze our behinds off at the game last night. But, the girls lost, again. The score was 20 to 7. And I got my camera back from Mr. S, so I have pics. I'll start off with the pics I took at Thursdays game.

First up, we have Katie just before the game started:


Katie warming up for next at bat:



The team sitting on the bench (note that all the parents are sitting under blankets):

Katie and her BFF, Taylor:


And I have to have a pic of Annie. This one was from Sunday, and she is wearing the dress that her Aunt PJ made her:

Katie on first base at last nights game:


Katie, making a catch at first base that resulted in an out for the other team.


Katie covering first base:


And this is just because I found it in the folder. It's "evil Vinny". Notice the red gift bow on his head. (and don't worry, he's really not evil, he was yawning, hee hee)

Well, I took some knitting with me to the game last night. And I think that was a good thing, with all the bad calls and such. I took my Candle Flame Shawl with me, but haven't taken any pics. I just reached the half way point. I figured that I have to finish it some time, and if I actually work on it, it'll get done. I just finished the 9th repeat of the 18 that I have to do for the correct length. So, the way I figure it, if I do at least a repeat a day (mind you, each repeat is 36 rows), I should get it finished within the next week and a half. But, this weekend is a 3 day weekend, and I should have plenty of time to knit, since I can't go on the hiking trip I wanted to do. Especially after the gas prices here went from $3.15 yesterday to $3.49 today, and that's the cheap grade. I don't know about anyone else, but I am tired of all the oil and gas companies getting rich off of my meager pay check. Sorry. Started ranting there. But, I'll take a pic of my Candle Flame Shawl tonight and post it tomorrow.

Oh, speaking of tomorrow. (The sun'll come out, tomorrow. Betcha bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun! - Sorry, that just popped out) Annie graduates from kindergarten tomorrow. So, I have taken the day off to help mom get a few things done and attend the graduation. Also, it's more knitting time.

Don't forget, sign ups for the Summer Sock Party are open and everyone is welcome. Just drop me an e-mail or leave a comment.