whew end of day on friday and ready to go home.
i forgot to mention that i sent an email to my work's CLASSIFIED ads last week seeking other interested knitters at the workplace to start an after-work knitting group. i got some good responses and enough (about a dozen) interested that i am going to hold a first meeting next week! i am excited... we can meet in our company's huge cafeteria which is open 24/7 and the kitchen is open til 9 pm so folks can get whatever they want to munch on.

i had tried to start a group in park slope a couple of years ago and it didnt work out. so i am glad that this may - it seems as if there are a lot of newbies but thats fine - i would like to spend some time doing charity knitting and others are interested too. we'll see how it goes.

finished the cowl on wednesday night - after hair appt and getting home at an unbelievably early hour for me - 630 pm! then after that i worked on that best baby sweater and didnt like it so frogged it and then gave up for the night - thursday i had some stomach something (probably food poisoning) so after sleeping most of the morning - while recupping on the sofa, started a little aran cardigan i had designed for my nephew but in wool for the colleague's baby - but the red wool i had is too bulky and i needed something red as its a heart design - so frogged that after an hour of work - it was way too big for a new baby- and then got out the Falick/Nichols baby book and fllipping thru - found the baby aran sweater - funny how i hadnt remembered seeing it before... anyway its perfect and i have some patons wool that is a decent weight for it - am doing it in the round - its basically ft and bk with open shoulders with buttons. cast on and got about 5 inches done while watching FARMERS DAUGHTER (a fav) and a spencer tracy film - THE LAST HURRAH which i had never seen - very interesting John Ford film about tracy as an irish mayor who loses his last reelection and - good acting and dialogue and of course great depth of casting. a good evening.

still waiting for my package from schoolhouse press with the new Sally Melville book - sigh i had hoped it would come today - but i will have to make do this weekend with out it... anticipation especially to see and read about the Einstein coat everyone is talking about on the knit lists.

ok im off home now - to watch britcoms and knit and take out some of the newspapers in the five foot high stack... yikes.
e

argh
i had a nice long post written out and then got a phone call so finished it and when i went to post and publish - ti was gone!!!! ugh

so a shorter version herewith
work on the cowl progressed last night - while watching the fantasy but fun show Gilmore Girls (luke the diner guy has some serious competition!) and then reality doses with the prez. thank goodness the camera pool showed the dems sitting thru many of the reps standing ovations. where is the money going to come from for all of those programs and the tax refunds? can you say deficit spending? yikes.

finished one ball and started another and got half way thru - cowl is reaching almost the ending length - and then need to decide what to do for the edge to make it the top (since the lace has a definite top to the pattern). have a hair appt (first in a year) today and needed to bring something not as bulky so am starting an EZ best baby sweater for a colleague's new baby boy (jan 1). from my stash (!) in Classic Elite inca alpaca , a pretty dark blue heather. need to choose a more manly pattern than the lacey ones i normally use but the beginning is the yoke in garter so i can find a pattern tonight.

its been snowing off and on all day since i was walking to the subway - as a southern gal i still marvel and delight at snow falling - hopefully with the cold spells of the last few weeks, the ground is solidly frozen and it will stay on for awhile - would love to walk around prospect park and get shots.

ok off to do some work before i have to leave -
e

long time no post

well... since may i have knitted but obviously not posted.

gosh - where did the year go... summer was hot and long - to be honest i dont remember what i was doing that i couldnt post but i know i worked a lot and stayed in the ac a lot during one of the hottest summers in nyc...

i was working on many little sweaters for my new nephew - and struggling with the powers that be at my "job" to convert from part time to full time - THAT did finally happen at the end of september and i started working four days- friday-monday with sat and sun 12 hour days. then the first week of october two day guys were fired and i started working seven days and did that thru christmas (with only three days off - how crazy was i ? dont ask) and then i applied for one of the day spots and got it and started that last week - however i am training the temp consultant who is replacing me - so worked last weekend and will for at least two more... however not long hours. slept in for the first time in years on sunday morning and went in mid afternoon.

boy am i looking forward to having weekends off along with the rest of the world... its been eight long years on the weekends... the reasons why i took it involved pursuit of a music career which didnt work out. (NOT more about that as it is too depressing)

anyway - back to the present. while i was working nonstop from oct thru dec, the closest i got to knitting was carrying a project back and forth in the cab to the office and home at night - however i did start a shawl of my own design out of classic elite inca alpaca using cat's paw pattern (one of the old shetland patterns from one of the Barbara Walker books probably book one, will have to look it up..) anyway it was a simple pattern with garter stitch edge and increases every other row... i have no idea how many skeins i used, i just keep knitting and knitting - its very big - probably five feet from the tip of the triangle to the center of the top. i pushed to finish it two weeks ago - i took three days off !!!! and slept and knit and that was it... well, by the third day, i couldnt stand it and actually cleaned some of the apt and put away some things (however, the five foot high stack of newspapers is still there... later). anyway, i finished it just in time for the artic freeze which hit nyc last week - boy was i glad to have it. incredibly warm and very light!

but the artic freeze out continues, so sunday i cast on for a cowl in the same yarn and the same pattern to match - just a tube to fit over my head to keep it warm (since i hate hat hair) almost finished with this - just a few more inches - knit a lot during my first pedicure in about a year last night... and then while watching two british mysteries last night (yeah) - midsomer murders and waking the dead (love that trevor eve!)

well thats it for now... back to work. hopefully i will be posting more frequently - inspired by wendy and others whom i visit daily.
e

sigh

well i had a crisis at work that started sunday morning and lasted thru last night... it was a long stretch... so no knitting since friday. will make up for it soon as i plan an evening in front of the tv watching among others the season finale for judging amy, a fav show. and then a bbc presentation of ice house with some great acting. that should give me a lot of knitting time! and some relaxation too!

did get the new knitters - seems smaller and again i dont see much that i am interested in making - probably cause i looked at during the four day marathon called work this weekend- will give it another shot tonight.

well, i decided to make a little cap to go with the first baby sweater - so i tried a few patterns and then went back to the one i used for one of the wool sweaters for my nephew - its a debbie bliss pattern from her quick baby knits book. pretty simple and i am doing it in the sweater pattern - double moss - and got about 5 inches done watching the season finales of will and grace and er... neither too exciting imho.

ok so now i am going to go play with my web pages..

last nights progress

progress on the second cousin's baby sweater - fronts divided for left and right and all of back done (on holder to wait for joining with fronts). lucky me ran out of yarn at the end of the back - got so much done watching yanks - really old (20y) but full of interesting actors - eichorn, gere (boy is he young here), redgrave looking radiant, and devane (not quite up to the rest). set in small english village during the push right before the second front (ie normandie invasion). good local color and beautiful settings - filmed entirely in yorkshire.

so today i am going to sew all those buttons and seams and do laundry and errands- a housekeeping day. off i go.

wednesday update

ok so i finished the first sweater for the new little cousins - last night - while watching gilmore girls, the guardian and judging amy - all great shows! - sewed the first sleeve in and then knitted the second sleeve and sewed it in and then did the sc edging and decided to make buttons. its pretty cute if i may say so myself. (ok i AM getting a camera sooon and can put photos). the double moss stitch gives it some nice texture and the mutli colored yarn makes nice waves of color.

so today i cast on for the second sweater - tried to figure out another stitch to use but after perusing the volume one of walker's treasury realized that i only really wanted to do some lace or cable patterns and hate doing those unless in the round... so since i didnt want to experiment with steeking on this little cotton baby sweater - i am back to making the same one above BUT with a few changes - am not doing the buttonholes as i go - will do a seed stitch band all around the sweater when finished and add the buttonholes then - this way i just concentrate on getting the body done - should get some done tonight - if i can stop revising my blog templates and/or teaching myself html - by redoing my webpages.

also found some buttons i have to use for the aran cardiagan (the red one) and really am going to finish those sweaters tomorrow so i can mail them to the mom before he outgrows them all! the last photo is scary he is getting so big!

was going to do some garden work today, but really bad allergies hit in the late afternoon - someone is doing work on a brownstone across the street - i couldnt tell what they are doing but it sure is creating a lot of dust and debris and with the weather being cool i had my windows open and now am paying in spades . yuck. oh well, knitting double moss doesnt require to omuch concentration (just counting to two) and the body is a fairly large piece of work to do..

moving on

ok, i still need to get buttons for the red aran cardigan - work was such sat that i didnt get out of my office much less the building all day - so no visits to the good notions store on west 57th...

but last wed i started on a little sweater from the baby book that's my latest fav... this one is for the first of two cousins born in the last two weeks - a little girl, sara kate, born to my cousin molly. i am using some of the sugar babies lily yarn i got on ebay (i love ebay for cotton yarn) its called baby dreams or something like that - its a multicolored yarn in pastels and white - i havent knitted anything this light in awhile and keep washing my hands to keep it from getting grimy - of course there was a wee bit of adjustment to the tension and weight of this year which i have never used. i took the basic garter sweater pattern from the baby book (see above) and adapted it - adding a seed stitch band with button holes (although i keep forgetting to do and then ripping back) and used moss stitch as the body - its a little more fancy (i get bored with garter stitch). i finished the body by thursday night and seamed the shoulders together - and started the sleeves. one is done and i am working on the second one. its a fast little sweater. and thats good since it would be good to get them done and to the mothers this month.

and then i need to finish those other baby sweaters for my nephew.... and get them in the mail..... he is getting so big already...oh well, its a long night here at the office ...

well, i did work on the sleeves of the aran cardigan - took a deep breath and cut off about two inches (they were really too long for this size) and then added about one inch of seed stitch border. looks a lot better now. more in proportion to the body. also finally figured out the way to sew the seams so they look invisible - about time - have to credit that new baby book which i am glad i bought. not only good basic and elegant baby patterns but some really well thought out and clearly presented techniques - even for some i already know, i find more info and tips in their descriptions. i love the tone of the writing too. it seems like a fun book to have put together. anyway, so i have that done - now to buy buttons (or see if i have any in the button tin) and then to sew....

i will have to get into some kind of zen mood today to get the sewings and finishings done (including something for another important person (shh)) but since i have these new cds from a great british folk singer, kate rusby, i have an excuse to sit and sew and finish.

confession - i spent most of yesterday and night working on updating my website - its really rudimentary now but a beginning. i started sunday and now its become very fascinating... onward to pick out a webeditor. (now that's serious, yikes).

just checking out the "blog this" posting process... no knitting progress sat and sun (well, working 28 hours in two days will do that) but i did xerox, uhm, copy patterns from my latest knit book - the new baby book from nichols and malcolm... some neat quick and elegant looking baby items and with two MORE baby cousins (one last week, one due this week) thats two more sweaters..

ok the goal for the next two days is to FINISH all those sweaters for the nephew and get them in the mail....need to sit and sew seams and buttons... also need to buy a new camera (digital?) to take photos of them and the garden - which has gone into OVERDRIVE in the last two weeks due to the warm snap and then spring and ... well, lets just say there are lots of buds popping out... need to feed them roses (tomorrow) and add compost ... well, thats for the garden page.