Stick A Fork In It, It's Done!

Kristin's blanket is finished.  As expected, I had to be creative with the 5th repeat of the colors.  I kept the color sequence, but not the row pattern.  Kristin said she wanted it bordered in the blue, so I decided to use that as the end.  It took a lot of knitting during football and movies this weekend to get it done, but I made it.  After a steam blocking, it measures about 52 inches square.

I did an applied I-cord as the bind off.  It had been a while since I had done this, so I looked up instructions on the internet for a refresher.  There seems to be two means of attaching the last stitch of the I-cord with the first stitch from the body of the work.  The first said to do a ssk.  The second method said to knit 2-together through the back loops.  I started using the ssk but noticed that a bit of the lighter yarn from the body of the blanket would peak through.  I then tried the k2tbl.  That hid the lighter color nicely  so I continued with that for the remainder of the bind-off.

Here it is in use by its new owner.  I'd say it works.  When she wakes up I'll have to remind her not to wash it in the washer.  It isn't superwash wool.

Next in the knitting queue...Christmas gifts.

Frosty Morning

This isn't the first frosty morning of the season.  We have had a number of days where car windows had to be scraped in the morning.  But this is a big swing from a week ago.  Last Saturday was warm and sunny.  As I mentioned last week, I cleaned my windows.  This picture is proof.  I took this from inside my kitchen while my tea was brewing.  The windows must have been terrible because even my kids have commented.  These are the kids that don't seem to notice a pile of dirty clothes on their own bedroom floor.

Since Thanksgiving is 5 days away, I should be grocery shopping.  I am cooking this year, but I also have to work a lot this week.  At work we are converting our financial systems from one database platform to another.  This weekend is a dress rehearsal.  I have to work 7pm Sunday to 1am Monday.  Then after doing my regular shift on Monday I get to stay until midnight.  I'll then go home for a few hours of sleep and then be back in the office on Tuesday at 6am.  I will need to stay Tuesday during normal business hours.  Once I leave on Tuesday I won't have to be back at work until the Monday after Thanksgiving.  The wonderful project manager for this effort scheduled another dress rehearsal about a week before Christmas.  I just love his timing!!!

So, to survive this week and still be able to cook Thanksgiving dinner, I am assigning jobs to my family.  Kristin came home from college and will be staying until after Thanksgiving.  She's going to be given a grocery list and sent off to the store.  She said she'll help me with the cooking.  Honestly my menu is going to be simple.  The most complicated items are the homemade pumpkin pie and the stuffing.  I would like to make homemade cranberry sauce, but we'll see.  I'm the only one that eats it.  I just love the tartness with my turkey and stuffing.

Kristin's blanket is about big enough to cover her from chin to toe.  She was laying on the sofa last evening while we were watching a movie.  I tossed it on her.  With a little stretch it covered her.  I will continue to knit rows on it until Thanksgiving Day.  At that point I am going to start the I-cord edge, weave in the ends, steam block it and declare victory.  I'm going to suggest to Kristin that if she wants to help make it bigger, she is welcome to pick it up and knit on it.  At this point the row pattern has been broken.  I only had enough yarn to do one round when I should have done 5.  I have enough of the current color to do 8 rounds.  When I pick up each subsequent color, I'll decide how many rounds to do.

I haven't heard a peep about my spinning wheel yet.  Getting worried that my Thanksgiving weekend plans for spinning won't come true, I ordered a pile of yarn to have Christmas gifts to knit over the long weekend.  When I checked yesterday, that yarn hasn't been shipped yet either.  I'm getting totally bummed.  I do have a number of UFOs to work on.  I guess those will be my third string players if the first two fall through.

Sunny Saturday

This is the first weekend in a long time that I don't have to be anywhere.  I got to sleep in this morning and now I'm enjoying my tea.  Today is supposed to be a beautiful day.  I might actually be motivated to clean my windows.  Don't ask when I did them last.  I'd be embarassed to answer.

Our church recently had a Stewardship Fair.  All of the volunteer organizations had tables set up in the school gymnasium to recruit new members.  I joined the Prayer Shawl Ministry.  The group meets in the morning on the first Saturday of each month.  I missed last week's meeting, but I am hopeful I can make it to December's.  Members are not obligated to attend but are encouraged to work on a shawl for at least an hour a month.  I started my first shawl using some old acrylic yarn I had stashed in a cabinet.  Since it is acrylic, it will be machine washable.  Here it is.

It is about 24 inches wide.  I'm crocheting it using a cluster stitch I found in an old stitch dictionary. The lady who leads the group told me that the finished shawl should be a 'wing span' in length.  "Big enough to give a hug" is another way she put it.  I have several skeins of this yarn.  I'll just keep moving along with it until I either get it to be a wing span wide or until I run out of yarn.  I'm hoping it is the former because I'd like to add fringe to jazz it up a little.

Kristin's blanket is moving along.  I'm into the 5th repeat of colors and know I will not be able to finish them in pattern.  I told Kristin that I will work on it until her Thanksgiving break.  However big it is by Thanksgiving, that is what it is going to be.  I'll bind off and she'll get to take it back to college with her. 

I'm hoping to have a new toy by Thanksgiving weekend.  I ordered a Lendrum spinning wheel but it is on back-order.  I was really bummed when the lady from the shop called me to tell me that.  Their website said they had them in stock.  I guess I should have called first.