Knitters are the best!

Knitters really know what to give as gifts don't they! At least to other knitters.

Wednesday was the night I got to celebrate my birthday with my knitting friends. What better way to celebrate than to sit and knit and eat! Boy did we eat! And yes there was more cake.

Thank you so much to Connie, Meghan, Lisa and Angela! They gave me such lovely gifts.

It is a little hard to see in the picture so here is the run down. Some beautiful Louet Gems in the Willow colour and a two sock patterns one of which was this pattern that I almost bought for myself a few times.

There is also a swift so I don't have to prop my knees on the table and hold my arm straight up in the air when winding yarn anymore!!! Yahhoooo. A swift has been on my list for a while now!

And what has turned into my new carry along book. The Knitspiration Journal. I have been thinking about trying my hand at some designing for a while now but there are so many beautiful patterns out there that I want to make why would I spend all that time planning it myself. Well.....because as it turns out that can be frustrating and fun as well! I am working on my own sock design and this journal has the graph paper and lined paper for me to keep my ideas straight. I am very proud I must say.

Again great knitters, enablers and even better friends. Thanks again ladies!

Determination

There is something about me....I hem and haw until I get really set on something and then my determined side sets in. Is this the typical female determination.

Aaron and I had a talk about that today after Electronics guy made me mad again. He sent us the proposal for our upgrades. The email was sent to my account and addressed to Aaron. ONLY Aaron. ( I may not have noticed if I hadn't already had a little rant about it) I (ME) phoned him back and asked him to change a few things and then send the proposal again. This time when he sent it he addressed it to both of us.

Aaron and I started talking about how when a woman is mistreated as a consumer she is more than prepared to boycott whatever company/store is in question. For example, I knew I would not buy my wedding dress at the store where they were rude to me and the other customers. We will not buy from people who rub us the wrong way. Guys I know don't seem to be like that.

Anyway speaking of determined....Here is Thermal!

Let me eat CAKE!

And boy have I ever! Friday was my birthday and I have had cake everyday since Thursday. Yummmmm.

I turned the big 2-6 *gasp* Most of my friends say I'm still the baby. I'm ok with that. If anything I look forward to getting older (a little older) because there are some times when I still don't feel like I am taken seriously. In my job at times and also as a consumer. Is that my age or because I'm a woman?

Aaron and I went to the electronics place for our house to talk about wiring options and upgrades and I noticed that the salesman would look at Aaron at certain times when talking about hooking things up. I have my home theatre set up in my house now. I did that all by little female self!!! Aaron asks me computer questions sometimes. I do all the hooking up for my parents of audio and video equipment and this guy seemed to make the assumption that it would be "the man" in our relationship that would handle it. There is a good chance that we would do it together but if Aaron is working crazy hours I'm not going to wait for him. I will do what I can myself. And trust me Electronics Guy I am capable and I do understand what you are talking about!

Sorry I'm done now. I was just a little annoyed.

I am another year older and one other thing is growing too. Thermal! I finally think we are getting somewhere here.

I want to make sure that it is the right length without stretching at all. Each time I measure it seems to vary a little. I always seem to find that sweaters end up being too short for me. Or at least shorter than I like. The picture shows this sweater as a length I like so I want to make sure it is when it is on me!

For my birthday my parents gave Aaron and I sunscreen and beach stuff for our honeymoon. Including a beach bag that I couldn't help thinking would hold quite a bit of yarn. Aaron also bought me a new purse. At first I have to admit I looked at it and thought, "you thought of me when you saw this?" It is a little flashier than I usually carry but...I do like it a lot.

It helps that inside is lined in PINK! And it is big enough for me to put Thermal in to take on the road. So just think of the possibilities here.

Thermal and a sock actually so I'm all set for the drive to Barrie today for my cousin's wedding shower. And the cottage traffic of the drive back!

Done and Done!

I have finished my work-work-work all ready to hand in to my boss tomorrow and I have finished the Retro Redux Shrug. Please forgive the lighting. It is an evening shot and the batteries are just hanging on.

So two things done....do I get to start something new?

I will try to be strong. But that Louet is still sitting here waiting for me.

Who needs sleep?

I am procrastinating the work that needs to be done because I can't keep my mind off of my knitting.

Here is the Retro Redux Shrug so far. I just have to decrease the needle sizes now and then the seaming and the ribbing. I would like to finish this so I can maybe wear it this weekend.

But wait.....what is that in the background you ask? Well it is this...

10 skeins of Louet Gems in Cherry Red. It is reading and waiting for this.....

I am also attempting to design my own sock. I have an idea and have been attempting to write the pattern. I was curious ...anyone out there that writes their own patterns. What programs do you use to write charts and how do you make patterns into a pdf file.

Any suggestions and helpful tips please leave me a comment or email me at knittingnonsense(at)yahoo(dot)ca

Yarn Crawlin'

What a fun day at the York Region Yarn Crawl. I was sad that I missed a lot of it because I was up meeting the musicians for the wedding. It was worth it because I hired them. Check one more thing from the list.

Speaking of lists...My WIP list has one less item because I finished the Bonsai tunic.

Date Started : May 29 2007.

Date Finished: June 10 2007.

Yarn : Bio Bamboo

Needles: 3mm and 4mm addi turbos

Keep in mind that I have not blocked it yet.

Now here is the problem...Yes there is one less UFO on my list but....for every FO it seems I need to cast on another.

So on the yarn crawl I bought some Blue Sky Cotton in Azul and I am making the Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style.

I am loving the shrug right now. I don't know what it is but I want every one I see and in every colour. When I first started seeing the shrugs I thought they were silly but the more I see them and now that summer is here and I want just that little something for my arm...they make perfect sense.

So there is lots of knitting going on but I will have to slow it down because I have a lot of work for school to do now.

Oh and just before I get to that work here is a pic of the house progress. I have shingles and windows! Yippee!

Well this weekend didn't lend itself to much knitting. I was planning on another night at the drive in with Thermal. That got cancelled in order to help Aaron's mother do some painting. She is selling her house and we had a showing late on Sunday so we painted until about midnight Saturday night and then finished up and cleaned up Sunday.

I did manage to finish this on Friday night. It is the back of the Bonsai Tunic.

I know that this picture doesn't look that different from one in the last post so you will have to take my word for it that it is the front.

Tonight West Side Story (1961) is on T.V. I remember really liking this movie. I haven't seen it in ages and I don't remember all of it. There is one thing I do remember and I can never get over and I have heard it mentioned before. That is that these two tough guy gangs dance around with such wonderful choreography.

I'm settling down with Bonsai tonight. I don't know if I'm going to watch west side story yet but....we will see.