I've started something new!!
Sorry, I still don't have pictures, but I'm getting there. My dinosaur of a Sony Mavica is charging up and I'm digging in my house for 3.5" floppy discs. Do you all still remember what those are? You feed them to the camera and then to the computer. Anyway. Thanks to Keri and her generousity I got a new project on the needles. She surprised me for christmas with a set of new needles, the interchangable options needles from Knit Picks, also the pattern for the Rona Lace Shawl and, to get me started, the yarn to go with it. Not the horizon, like on the website, but a very nice Shadow vineyard. You have to go to the website to see the color. It's a really deep, rich grapety purple. I had to start on the pattern yesterday. It was just itching too much to leave it laying there for another day. The only other thing I've done with a written out pattern before was Pooh and he was crochet. Now it's off to the knitting. I remember always admiring the lacy doilies I found around the house that my grandma knitted and I was always wondering how she did it. Well, I guess now it's up to me to give it a try. To let you know about the progress, I'm on round 14 so far and (gasp) there are 153 (!) rounds in all. And remember, with almost every row there are more stitches to add. What was I thinking? I don't know, but it's nice to knit a project together. I guess that's our own little personal knitalong between Keri and me. I only found one more blog, that was working on that pattern so far. Anybody interested?I'll keep you posted and hopefully next time with pictures. Labels: Rona Lace Shawl
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my loyal readers. Thanks for stopping by and sharing my journey through the world of knitting with all it's experiences. I made a lot of new friends this way and wanted to say thanks for all your support and your nice comments. If I don't blog anymore this year, I'll see you all next year.xoxoxo :o) Angelika
Broken DigiCam sucks!
Please be patient with me. The main reason why I haven't been blogging in a couple of days is, that I don't have a working or charged digital camera to show off what I've been working on. I hate to tell you that my diamond scarf is done and boxed up already and I have no picture to proof it and to keep for my records. I used up all the yarn I had left. I started out with five balls (50g each) and used one ball for the cabled gloves. The rest went into the scarf and after blocking and not counting the frindge it measured about 110 inches! I guess to make up for the holes you could wrap yourself in it like a mummy. Both, the scarf and the gloves are going to Germany as a Christmas gift. I've also been working a little on my kimono shawl and finished the second ball of yarn. For some reason the yarn keeps breaking. Either I'm too rough on it or is just the fact that it is recycled. I don't think I will get the shawl done this year (boy that sounds bad), but at least I'm working on it. Today I went to a book store and checked out the Victorian Lace Today everybody is talking about. I have to admit I was impressed with the patterns offered in the book. I might invest in it, but not from the book store. Why should I pay full price there, plus tax, if I can get it for at least 30 % off on the internet? I also submitted my pictures of Eunny's Print O' The Wave Stole to her blog and she posted them. It's interesting to see how many people copy her projects and the way they turn out. My friend Keri and I worked on our stoles together. Hers is posted too. Let's hope Santa sets me up with a new or maybe even used (right now anything will do) camera, so I can record and post my work. Thanks for checking in.
Second cables done
I hate to tell you that my digicam is acting up right now, so there is no evidence shot of my newly finished cabled fingerless gloves. (Sorry, I'm watching CSI and it's rubbing off on me) They look a little like a cheese head, since the rib pattern is pulling the glove together, but the fingers are regular stockinette stitch, which makes them spread a little. They look so good, that I am almost tempted to keep them and send of the grey ones I finished a while ago. But I guess I can't do that, since I'm working on the matching scarf. Since the last picture it grew to about 45 inches by now and I've worked 16 pattern repeats. I've only used a good pack and a half of the yarn and I was planning on using up the remaining four, since I only needed one for the gloves. I am planning on adding a fringe to the scarf, which will probably eat up a little more yarn. Wow, that almost seems like I'm trying to get rid of it, doesn't it? Hey, I'm working on making my stash a little smaller and turning it into something useful. I hope to add the pictures later. :)
Almost finished
I just wanted to post my update on the pair of cabled gloves I'm working on. I'm proud to say that I'm ready to knit the fingers on the second glove, which should mean I get them finished by today. Then I can concentrate on working on the matching scarf, so I can get both of them in the mail an flying across the ocean. My kimono shawl is taking a winter break in the meantime. Sorry about that, but christmas presents have priority. I also ran into another dilemma. I can't find my address book! My husband is already ragging on me for not sending any christmas cards again and he is wondering how I keep my friends if they can't even keep track of us without getting a card for christmas to update our address. To be honest, last year either I called or I sent out a christmas greeting on the internet. Hey, it's the new way of keeping track of each other and I don't even have the actual addresses of some of my friends, but I still have their email addresses. Does that count? At least they don't change as much as our addresses, being in the military and all. The other thing going on right now is, that both of my boys are at home again today. Our family has been hit by the stomach flu since last weekend and one of the boys has always been home this week. Today they switched, but I ended up picking up the little one from the school nurse again. His teacher kinda suggested to make sure he feels better before he gets back to school with only four more school days left this year and all. I guess that was her way of telling me just to leave him at home for the rest of the time. I guess that means no work for me this week and also that I can't do any christmas shopping either. How am I going to buy something for them, if they are with me at the store? I'm running really late this year anyway. This is the part I really do NOT enjoy about christmas - the shopping. If it was up to me we would just get the presents after the holidays, after everybody is done returning their unwanted items and all. I'm not much for the whole herd principal and doing everything the same way, just because the others are doing it. I'm just going to be one of those last minute shoppers, this time out of necessity. That's all for my entry right now and I hope they do feel better soon, because I miss my quiet time in the mornings and they will be out of school for a while soon enough.
Quick update
I just wanted to update you guys what was going on here real quick. 
First the knitting related things. I (almost) finished the first of my cable gloves. Yes, it's going to be gloves again. That's why they are ALMOST finished. I had to check back with the receipiant about what preferences she has and now we know and I can work on them again. In the meantime I started on the matching scarf with a diamond lace pattern, that is very easy to remember and I've done one of those before with thicker yarn and only 2 instead of 3 repeats of the pattern across. 
The other cool thing about yesterday was, that I got my christmas tree. I want a real one and have only seen one place here in town where they sold them. So I went there and backed up quickly when I saw the prices. I needed something a little bit taller than me (I'm 5'9") and I was planning on putting some presents under it with some of the money I had left, but that wouldn't have been possible unless I was going for a Charley Brown tree. I came back home all disappointed. I gave it another try later in the afternoon and my helpful neighbors pointed me in the direction of a christmas tree farm. After so many turns and side roads and a final sign "Don't give up, you're almost there" I found the place. I thought I was going to pick one and get on my way, but that was not the case. I was handed a pair of gloves and a saw!!! Imagine my surpise? I never did this before but the woman I am, I saw not much of a problem in that. The hardest part was to find the perfect tree for us. It was almost harder than choosing a husband. After walking up and down the field for an hour, trying to remember where the heck the other nice tree just disappeared to that I had my eye on, I finally made my desition and - TIMBER - I cut my first tree, all by myself. I wish I had my family with me (and my camera for that matter), but they were at home with a stomach flu. I was so excited about my tree and my Jeep smelled so wonderful on the way home that I turned my radio to any station that played christmas tunes. Hmm, the holidays. Now I'm finally getting in the mood and after I put on all the lights (only 300 whites) the kids helped hanging the ornaments. I also put up the mistle toe they gave me for free. Sweet. Now I still have to tackle the outside lights sometime this week and we'll be somewhat set. Wait, I think I forgot the presents. Darned, I knew there was something I forgot!! Gotta go run and get some of those too, I guess. I know this was not knitting related, but it was fun to share with you.
Thank you
Here we go again. I have to apologize, but I just wrote a whole section and ended up losing it. I don't know who's fault it was, so I blame blogger for it. Anyway, I just wanted to thank all of you for the encouraging words about my shawl dilemma. I guess I was just getting frustrated about the non existent progress. I like feeling of accomplishment once in a while and that project just made me miss that feeling. So anyway, I guess I'll have some projects to slip in between, so it will be more fun to get back to the shawl. First of all I have to finish a couple more mini socks for the neighborhood (45 min. each max), a lady from Canada wants me to make two Christmas stockings for her in time for Christmas (daaahhh) and I also want to make a scarf and mitten set for my former co-worker in Germany (I hope she doesn't read my blog that often). I guess that should keep me busy and satisfied for a while to give me a boost on my shawl again. I'm also waiting for some sample yarn from Catherine (Mama Llama) which wanted me to knit some swatches for her. That should be fun too. I'll keep you posted on my progresses and FO. Yey, the knitting spirit is back. Let's do it and get those needles clicking.
Kimono Progress
I have to apologize to my fellow bloggers for slacking like this. I came across my own blog and realized that it has been a while (over a week?) since I posted. There really hasn't been much going on in my knitting world. I had to take it slow on the kimono shawl. Well, I didn't really want to and I guess I really didn't, but it sure felt like it. It's dragging and I have to put a row marker on the side every day I work on it to let myself know that I AM making progress, slowly, but surely. I'm about to finish the 12th repeat of 25. I lost track on when cast on, but I hope to finish it before the end of this year.
I also was asked to make some more mini stockings. My neighbor's daughter took the one I made for her to school and now all her friends and even her teacher want some. So guess what I was doing last night and this morning since 4.30 am? Yes, I was making little ropes to use as hangers and two more socks. No, I wasn't all excited about making little socks, I just couldn't sleep with the heater kicking in all the time and the vent hitting me with cool air before the heat actually came out. I'm thinking of moving my bed away from the vent or just closing it. It was actually to the freezing point here last night and I bet a lot of people have to scrape their windshields free of frost this morning. I'm glad my car is in the garage and hopefully it'll warm up before I have to take it out. Unfortunately I have to walk the dog when I take the boys out to the bus in less than an hour and I'll get to use my nice cabled gloves.
