Almost an FO

It's almost nearly pretty-darn-close to being FINISHED! Lady Eleanor, that is. I dunked her multicolored ass in a Eucalan bath yesterday and laid her out on BB's bed to dry. She blocked to one inch shorter than the pattern called for. The lucky recipient is about half my size, so I'm sure it will be plenty long enough for her.

Shane even complimented me on it this evening. Must be purty for the man to notice.

Anyway, I still have to do the crochet edging and fringe. I'll post pics when all that's done.

In the meantime, I managed to catch the Evil One in a spot of sun on the floor in the kitchen.


we seriously have the ugliest vinyl ever

She loves the sun. And she's so pretty when she's sitting in the sunshine.

Then she turned on me.



See? Evil.

The inside of my most important appendage

Blogstalking mission #2: Show us your guts baby! Your purse guts, that is.

I love this assignment. Not so much because I wish anyone to see what I carry around all the time, but I love seeing what other people have in their purses. I'm nosy that way. On just about every first date I've been on, if the date is going well, I ask the boy if I can look through his wallet. Women don't usually take too kindly to my curiosity, but most guys don't have a problem with it.

So, here's my purse.



It's a Chaps purse from Kohl's. It's much smaller than what I usually carry, which was the main deciding factor for this one. Prior to purchasing this purse I had carried a gargantuan Seatbelt Bag for a year. My right shoulder needed the break.

Open up my little companion and this is what you'll see.



It is so much messier in there than I usually let it get. I hate a messy purse. If I have to dig for anything, I just lose my patience.



What is all that crap?
* wallet
* checkbook
* phone
* lipstick and matching lip gloss (neither of which I wear - they were purchased for my wedding a year and a half ago; not sure why I carry them around)
* 3 types of lip balm - one in a jar, one in a twist-up tube, and one in a squeezy tube
* 2 pens (one of which is the signature pen of people in my job at my company - purple Pilot - all of the MEs have to use them)
* misc. coupons and receipts
* misc. loyalty cards that don't fit in my wallet from area restaurants and retailers
* Anacin packets from my business trip to Atlanta in July
* envelope containing coupons that I clip but then forget to use because they are hidden away in the envelope
* eye drops (though I haven't warn my contacts in months)
* little keys on safety pin that go to a tiny pad lock for a suitcase, back when you were still allowed to lock your suitcases
* flash drive
* stamps
* gas-x
* car insurance cards that I can never remember to put in my wallet
* pay stub
* 2 gum wrappers
* a Runza receipt that has the name of a song on the back of it. I heard the song on the satellite radio in the car, on the 80s channel, that I hadn't heard in ages and wanted to remember it. (in case you're wondering: Giant, "I'll See You in My Dreams" - yeah, I'm a hopeless 80s addict)
* empty brown envelope
* comb
* zippered pouch containing a nail file, antibacterial wipe, hand cream, and a mirror compact
* pill box

Now, about that pill box.


i wonder if lisa remembers this?

When I was in 7th grade, a kid in my English class brought a bag of plastic ants to school at Halloween. I took one of them, named it Delores, and put it in the little metal Anacin pill box I had at the time. About 7 years ago, my grandma gave me this Tupperware pill box, and I transferred little Delores to it. I guess that means I've been carrying that plastic ant for 20 years.

Wow. Crazy much?

Buffalo dishcloth

Anyone want to make your very own Buffalo dishcloth?



Here's a picture of the chart.



The shaded boxes are purled on the right side and knitted on the wrong side. Blank boxes are the opposite: knitted on the right side and purled on the wrong side.

I worked the border in seed stitch. If you'd like the Excel file for the chart, just email me (bmlindeen at gmail dot com) and I'll send it to you. The picture is a little hard to read.

Ball band dishcloths

It's been a week since I finished the Ball Band Dishcloths, but this is the first chance I've had to post about them.



Pattern: Ball Band Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting (also available on the back of the Peaches 'n Cream ball band).
Yarn: Peaches 'n Cream, 4 balls, in 4 different colors, the names of which I cannot remember.
Needles: 24" circular size US 8
Started: 9/4/07
Finished: 9/15/07
Modifications: None. I don't think. After I had the pattern memorized, I didn't go back to it to see how many pattern repeats I was supposed to do, so I'm not sure if I have the length the same as suggested in the pattern. I did 7 repeats in each one and was able to get 4 cloths out of 4 balls, with enough leftover for maybe one more.
Notes: This is a pattern that haunted me. I've had the Mason-Dixon Knitting book for over a year, but I have never thought much about the dishcloth pattern, as I don't use dishcloths, and I'm not really partial to knitting with cotton. Then one day I was looking through the book for the baby kimono pattern, and I saw the dishcloth pattern again. For the next couple of weeks I could not get the stupid thing out of my head. I think I may have even dreamed about it. So, I did what I do whenever this sort of thing happens - I bought some yarn and got it out of my system. Good thing mom's birthday was coming up. Gave them to her last weekend. She seemed to like them. We'll see if she actually uses them.

Wednesday night WiPs

I ended up a bit busier at work today than I expected so I didn't get to post anything about my current projects earlier. What is up with the job getting in the way of my blogging?!?

Quick and dirty... (where exactly does that phrase come from?)

Lady E.: I have just finished tier 30. Only 5 more to go and then the ending tier of triangles.



Jaywalkers: I am getting ready to start increasing for the gusset on the first sock.


holy hell my coffee table is horrid mess!

They're not turning out as big as I thought they would be. I'm going to make them a bit shorter than usual just in case, to compensate for them being a bit loose in the foot.

I haven't done anything more on the log cabin baby blanket, so no picture.

I did want to bring you this from Abbey.



She's claiming my laptop by rubbing her face on it. What you don't see is that she is standing on my outstretched legs; on the shinbones of each leg, to be exact. Her front paws are planted on my left leg and her back paws on my right leg. Her 6.5 pounds of weight are being driven into my bones by her pointy little feet. While I'm glad that she doesn't weigh more, it still hurt like hell. As soon as I put the camera down, I was a-cussin' and kitty went a-flyin'.

Just who the hell are YOU?

I have joined the reinvigorated version of Knittyboard Blogstalking. I've never been part of a webring before, so this should be fun.

First assignment is to tell y'all a little about me.

This is me.



This is where you will find me most of the time when I am home. I'm either on the laptop, or knitting, in that chair, wearing those pants, watching tv. Couldn't you just pass out from the excitement?

This is my child.



Abbey. She is a bad kitty. Very sloppy with her food, which she likes to spill and spit all over the floor. And she is sloppy with her hair, which covers every inch of our house. She is mean. She often bites. She is a tiny ball of fur-covered evil. But we love her probably more than ourselves. She definitely does NOT deserve it.

This is the best thing that ever happened to me.



Shane. My husband of a little over a year. God has graced me with this amazing man to share my life with, and I'm not sure that I really deserve him. He moved into this house 4 days after our first date, and I've been telling him since then that I am crazy. I warned him to git while the gittin' was good, but he stuck around. Sucker!

When Shane entered my life, he brought this with him.



Brady, my 8 yo step-son. He stays with us every other weekend. Being a step-mom when you have no other kids of your own is interesting. Frustrating, but interesting. Thankfully, Brady is a really good kid, and we get along great most of the time.

This is my office.



I need to put some stuff on my walls, seeing as I have actual walls instead of just cube dividers. I have a window too. I love my job. Not only do I get to do the thing that I've always wanted to do (editing), but I get to work with so many people that I love. It's great. Oh, and see that little blue thing to the left of the fan? That's my iPod and I absolutely could not survive without it. I wish there was a way to implant it like a pacemaker.

And finally, these are my shoes.



At least, these are the ones that are visible from the closet door. The racks extend much further to the left and right and are full. Now, ignore for the moment the fact that I obviously have some sort of shoe fetish. The point of showing you this is so that you can see what is of utmost importance in my day-to-day: comfort. In this picture, there are 8 pairs of Birkenstocks (some sandals, some clogs, and even a pair of loafers), 2 pairs of Danskos, and even a pair of Doc Martens. What you won't see are any heels. Why? I refuse to wear them. I have a couple of pairs that I only wear on special occasions, but for all of the other 364 days of the year, I refuse. I have to be comfortable, or I'm just not happy. And an unhappy Beverly is bad for all.

I saw the Harlot. And she saw me!

Wendy and I drove to Wichita yesterday to see the Yarn Harlot at Wichita East High School. So exciting! The drive was much shorter than the last time I went to Wichita, when I was in high school. The speed limit is now 70, so maybe that has something to do with it.

We were there early enough to get a good spot in line. The women in front of us were sitting on the floor, knitting, so of course we did the same. I definitely wasn't going to get any weird looks knitting in public in this crowd. I pulled out my Jaywalker sock and Wendy worked on her scarf. The line behind us got longer and longer. Eventually, the line started moving forward, but not before a group of about 5 women behind us cut in front of us, I think because we were still sitting when the line started moving, and they were standing. I was a bit irked at their rudeness, but such is life--there are rude people everywhere.

We managed to get up to the 3rd row of seats. It was a great vantage point to see the Harlot on the stage.


this photo way sucks because it was really dark in the auditorium

And of course, she was brilliant. If she ever comes to a town near you, I highly recommend attending one of her talks.

Now, for the best part. Go here. Now, scroll down to the section about Wichita. Sixth photo down. See it? Yep, that's yours truly! And that's the mystery washcloth (or dishcloth, whatever) I finished last month! I decided to make the Harlot a dishcloth as soon as I heard she was coming here, since she collects state-themed dishcloths. I know. I'm a dork. I felt a little weird giving it to her, as it's kind of a stalker sort of thing to do, but she was totally cool.

Anyway, it was awesome. She's writing a new book and I hope she comes here again on her next tour.

My first yarn pr0n friday!

I haven't ever posted any yarn pictures on Friday because, frankly, I haven't had anything worth photographing. Well, that, and I'm a pretty bad photographer. And today is no different. (I'm really trying to work on the bad pictures thing.)

While at the alpaca market in Estes, I decided to buy some yarn. With 15-odd vendors, the challenge was going to be narrowing down the choices to something that wouldn't break the bank. I spied some Misti Alpaca laceweight in a lovely shade of true red that I was going to get if I couldn't find anything else I liked. I have this thing about going to this sort of event: there are plenty of small alpaca farms represented who spin, dye, and sell their yarn. I like to patronize these businesses as opposed to buying yarn from a vendor that sells yarn that I could find at my LYS. As we walked around, I saw a number of handpainted yarns that were lovely, but nothing that really struck me. When we got to the booth for Switzer Land Farms, I saw that they are offering more handpainted yarn this year than in past years. Some really nice skeins of a reddish colorway were calling to me. But since I had bought a couple of skeins of a red/tan blend from this farm last year, I pressed on hoping I would find some different colors elsewhere.

Then I saw this hanging from a display.



It's 200 yds of worsted weight. I couldn't keep my hands off it. I stood there stroking it and this other one for a while.


is my couch really that hairy?

So long, in fact, that Wendy pointed out to me that it was a bit embarrassing the way I was fondling the yarn. "Buy it already!" she said. I complied. I mean, I wouldn't want to go against the command of big sis, right?

Both yarns are from Xanadu Farm Alpacas in Platteville, Colorado. I love the loose spin on the yarn (not that I know what the hell I'm talking about, as I do not spin myself - I just know that I like that you can see the individual plies so well).

The dyeing was done by Pax Knits. The interesting thing about this yarn is that the woman who does the dyeing only has 6 color choices: red, blue, purple, green, yellow, and black. I bought red and blue. Now, this is definitely blue.



But this? This is most definitely NOT red.



I can see where she used red dye of some sort. There are a few small blobs of dye that are bit more on the red side. Both yarns are semi-solid, so there are light and dark values of the colors within each skein.


yes. yes, my couch is that hairy. damn cat.

Oh, I'm not complaining. One of the reasons I had to have the yarn was how bright the pink is. I was instantly drawn to it. I just think it's funny that the dyer calls it "red."



Now, what the hell am I going to make with these?

Whatcha workin' on?

I didn’t post about my works in progress last Wednesday, so I have some making up to do.

First up are some Ball Band Dishcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting (though, when I read that the pattern is actually from the Peaches ‘n Cream ball band [so that’s where the name of the pattern came from – big duh!] I just used the pattern as written on the bands from the yarn I bought from Wally World). I’m not really a dishcloth kinda gal, but, I thought my mom might like a few. She’s the only one I know who still uses dishcloths. I picked these 4 colors; I think she’s really going to like them.



The trick will be to get her to actually use them. I predict that she won’t.



They’ll sit in a drawer. I also predict that when my grandma sees them, she’ll want some too, though I can’t see her using them either.

I am just about finished with the third one. My plan is to give her 4 of them. Her birthday is Saturday, so that gives me 4 days to finish them. Not usually a problem for something so small and simple, but the cotton just kills my hands, so it takes me longer to knit with it.

Next on the list is a pair of Jaywalkers.


(please ignore the cat hair blob on the floor)

That’s the first sock. Looks big, doesn’t it. I am soooo not feeling the love for these socks. I have had the hardest time with them. I started them in the car on the way to Colorado, on size 1s, cuff-down, with a 92 stitch cast-on. Too big. So, I ripped, and changed the needle size to 0s, same number of stitches cast-on. Still too big. I ripped again, went back to the size 1s, and went down one size to the 84 stitch cast-on.

All was good in sock land. After getting through the cuff, I tried it on. Fit seemed pretty good. Completed a few rounds of the pattern and tried it on again. Still good. Plugged along. Then the next day I happened to see a close up picture of someone’s Jaywalker sock – you know the one on the login page for Ravelry? I was checking up on where I am in the list of gabillion people waiting for an invite. That’s when I realized that I had completely screwed up the double decreases. I had thought they looked wonky, but sometimes knitting does, so I didn’t worry about it.

More ripping. And the cussing commenced. I really hate working cuff-down, so I decided my fourth attempt would be toe-up. It appears I have figured out the decreases and the pattern itself is looking more normal. Only problem now is that it seems awfully large. I keep trying it on; keep hoping my already fat feet will fill the sock better. Nope. I’m getting 9 sts/inch, which would usually mean a 76-80 stitch sock for me. 84 is a lot of stitches. But, I have read a dozen times how non-stretchy the pattern is, so I chose the larger of the 2 sizes offered in the original pattern. I guess I’ll find out when I get past the heel turn and onto the leg if they’re really too big. Gawd, I hope not. I don’t think I can face ripping them again.

The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Fun 6-ply. Not loving the yarn AT ALL. It’s horribly scratch. I really hope that it softens with washing.

The final new project on the needles is a Log Cabin Blanket, also from our friends at Mason-Dixon Knitting.



It’s going to be a baby blanket for my upcoming [impending? future? soon-to-be?] niece. Yes, I know, the colors aren’t very baby-like. They’re earth tones. I didn’t mean to do this, but they match my living room décor pretty well. I wanted not-so-typical baby colors, as I hate pastels, and so does the mommy. What I really wanted were purples and greens, but I couldn’t find anything I liked at the Yarn Barn when I went shopping before we went to Colorado. Though the colors are a little drab, I like the way it’s turning out.

Speaking of log cabin knitting… the Celtic Knot Afghan is about to be no more. I hate it. I have not worked on it in many weeks, so it’s time to ax the poor thing. Instead, I am going to pick a color that coordinates well with the teal heather that I bought for it and make something like this. I don’t want to pay for the pattern, so I’m going to do the math myself. Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone.

Lady E. is still on the needles and still hasn’t been worked on in a while. I’ll get back to it once I have the dishcloths done.

Vacation, part 2

Since it rained all day on Monday, we weren't able to get out to do any hiking until Tuesday. That morning, after breakfast, we drove to Bear Lake, which is just a few miles inside the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Who would have thought that it would be so busy in the middle of the week? There were so many people there that we weren't sure we'd be able to get a parking spot. We lucked out though and were able to walk around the lake. The path is less than 2 miles, most of it flat (which is just right for my very out of shape lazy ass). The weather was lovely. I managed to take quite a few good pictures as we made our way around the lake.





A nice woman even took our picture at the entrance to the trail, though she needn't have offered since Wendy or Pete could have taken one. It was nice of her anyway.



Shane had a good time taking pictures with his camera phone.



He had the good idea of taking a picture to use as the wallpaper on his phone. I may use one of my pictures for the same thing.

There was obligatory photo of Wendy with her head on my shoulder. Seems that everywhere we've traveled together, there is a picture similar to this one to remember the occasion.


Think we have enough water?

We climbed a few rocks too, which my overly-large body is not very good at (nearly fell on my face a couple of times).



So, that was the trip to Bear Lake. The next couple of days were filled with shopping, both in downtown Estes and in the outlet mall in Loveland. I bought a onyx, mother of pearl, and marcasite ring to wear on my right hand, as well as some goodies at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Harry & David. Yeah, just what I need - more chocolate and snacks. Shane got himself several short-sleeved polo shirts for work, from the Nike outlet and the Tommy Hilfiger outlet (he's so hip). I think it's the first time I've ever seen him buy something for himself. Makes me feel less guilty for my yarn purchases.

Oh, speaking of yarn... I made sure we were back in Estes on Thursday (our last day there) early enough so that I could visit the local yarn shop before they closed. No one wanted to go with me, so I went by myself and had a lovely time. I'll post more about it and my purchases later.

We made the 11 hour drive all the way home on Friday, and I've been in a lazy haze since then. Overall, a great time was had by all. I really hated leaving. Seems like I leave a little bit of myself behind every time we leave the mountains. My heart is definitely there. Now, if only I could win the lottery and buy some land there....

Back to work tomorrow. Ugh.

Ah, vacation

We left Lawrence at 10am Friday morning. That had us at Junction City in enough time to eat lunch at Cracker Barrel (a bit of a tradition – we always stop and eat there on our way out to Colorado). We arrived in Limon, CO at about 5:30. We stayed in a pretty nice hotel; one of a chain that I wasn’t expecting to be so nice. After settling in a bit, we ate dinner at a place called Oscar’s Bar and Grill. The food was okay, nothing that notable, but the cool thing was that all of the dishes were named after movies. Get it? Oscars. Movies. Hee hee.

After breakfast the next morning we hit the road again, arriving at Riverwood condos around 3pm. I can’t believe how nice this place is.

This was taken from the back door looking in.



Here is our bedroom – it has a door to the back porch, a fireplace, and Jacuzzi tub. Woohoo!



Here’s the view from the back porch. The Fall River is about 5 feet past the trees behind the picnic table, and down a little incline.



Here’s the back of the condo. It just occurs to me that I haven’t taken a picture of the front. Oh, well, it’s the back that’s really cool.



Wendy and Pete stayed at the Stanley Hotel on Saturday night. After watching that show Ghost Hunters, and one of the episodes filmed in the Stanley, Pete had this idea to stay in the same room that Stephen King stayed in while he wrote part of The Shining. It was his Christmas gift to Wendy. I think they were hoping to have a ghostly encounter. Uh, yeah.

The view from the front porch is amazing.



Anyway, we ate dinner with them in the restaurant that’s in the Stanley, which was excellent. They took us up to the room so we could take a look around. It’s definitely an old building, but the owners have done a pretty good job of updating it.

Sunday, Wendy and I went to the Estes Park Alpaca Market. This is the third year that we’ve been. There are a few vendors selling yarn, fiber, and garments, and some alpacas in pens.



Awww…. Aren’t they cute? I wanted to take one home. After looking around for a little while, I finally decided on some yarn. I’ll post pictures later. Wendy bought some yarn too, from a woman I’ve bought yarn from in the past. I was shocked that she actually bought herself something. She never does that. I hope she can find a pattern to make with it. It’s a lovely camel colored worsted weight 100% alpaca.

After the alpaca market we walked downtown to an arts and crafts festival. I bought soap there last year and wanted to get some this year too. Took us a while to find a vendor selling homemade soap, but when we did, I bought 4 bars and a cake of hand lotion.

Monday, it rained, so we stayed in and napped. Today we did some hiking, but this post is already too long so I'll post those pictures later.