A Little Snow

Thursday night and Friday morning we got a foot of snow. It slowed things down a little. I was supposed to go to a class on Video Podcasting Friday morning outside the city but I couldn't get there. I hope they have the class again, this time hopefully in better weather. I did have a ride into work so I did have a productive day even though I thought about taking a snow day. I guess you don't get over wanting snow days just because you're out of school.

Moving along

Busy working, busy knitting. Here are pics of the hat so far.

Catching up

I had a very busy weekend. I saw the movie Amelia about Amelia Earhart. It was a good movie (but we all know how it ends) and also saw the Chipmunk movie. It was pretty funny. I remember watching the tv show when I was growing up. On the hat front, I'm about half done with the hat. I'm still working on getting even tension. I'll do more tonight while watching the women's skating on the Olympics. I checked out the craft stores this weekend to see what new stuff they have in. One thing that bugs me about certain stores is that they rearrange the store every couple of months. So if you want to quickly run in and out for a special yarn for example, you enter the store and go down the first aisle and turn right expecting to see the knitting section and you see.....beads. The yarn is now at the other end of the store. I understand why they do it, they want people to see the other things they have and maybe buy more, but it drives me crazy when I'm in a hurry.

Uneven Stitches

Here are close-ups of my uneven stitches.

Thursday and Payday

Today is payday or as I like to call it, "Pay everyone else day" because when you get through paying all the bills you don't have any left for yourself. My cat seriously needs to get a job. Her food, litter and treats sometimes cost more than my food!
On the knitting front, I'm struggling with keeping the yarns stranded when working with 2 colors. I have to make my stitches so loose that they seem sloppy to me. I hope with practice it will get better. Pictures soon.

Terrarium Pics

As promised, pics of my terrarium.

Worked on the K.O. project last night while watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and then the skating on the Olympics. Why do four day work weeks always seem longer than five day ones?

Staff Training Day

Yesterday was President's Day. It was also Staff Day at work. I learned the latest news, saw some people I haven't seen in a while and took a class. I took the horticulture class and made a terrarium. It was fun. We also had a scavenger hunt and my team came in second. I won a Barnes and Noble gift certificate. I love to get new books. I wish that it was on a Friday though because after all that running around and going up and down all those stairs, I could use today off to rest. I was so tired when I got home I only knit 2 rows on my hat. So not much progress to report there. But altogether a great day. Pics of the terrarium tomorrow.

K.O. Day 3

Short post today. The progress of my project  as of yesterday, 3 inches of ribbing done and ready to start the color work. I've never worked from a chart before. Wish me luck.

Valentine's Day Sunday

Sunday is laundry and cleaning day. This shows how I feel about cleaning and Rags feels about the vacuum:

It's Valentine's Day too and I read a great post about it yesterday from Laurie on her Crazy Aunt Purl blog:
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2010/02/weekend.php She says it better than I could.. And YAY for the sales on chocolate tomorrow.

Lazy Saturday and Day 1 of the Knitting Olympics

I'm posting late today because Saturday mornings are for decompressing from the week, just sitting back, drinking cinnamon coffee and eating something sweet. Today it was a lemon bar. If anyone has an easy recipe for lemon bars I'd love to have it.
I cast on for the hat during the opening ceremonies but it was tough with the time difference. It was 9 pm here and by that time I'm usually ready to fall asleep, not count stitches.
There were 2 small glitches so far: I couldn't get one of the colors I needed so I had to substitute a color called chestnut for the one the pattern calls for which is chocolate. I hope it's close enough. Then I had to switch needles. I cast on a #6 Boye interchangeable needle but found out the cord is 24 inches not 16 and was too big. I have a Knitpicks set but it doesn't have a cord that small either. So I have to use my old Denise set. It's annoying because I hate to knit with plastic needles because they drag. I much prefer metal ones. But I'll just have to deal with it. I used a cable cast on. The long-tail cast on is faster but I usually cast on too tightly with it. I don't have to start the fair-isle part yet. First I have to do ribbing for 3 inches.
Here's the start of it:

The Knitting Olympics

I've decided to join the Knitting Olympics. Basically, you knit something challenging for you. You cast on during the opening ceremonies of the real Olympics and you have to finish it within 17 days by the time the torch is put out. The full rules are here on the Yarn Harlot's site: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2010/02/10/the_2010_knitting_olympics.html
I've decided to try this pattern from Knitpicks: http://www.knitpicks.com/cfpatterns/pattern_display.cfm?ID=50777220
Learn to Fair-Isle Hat and Mittens set. I've never done fair-isle before so it should be challenging.
I'll post pictures of my progress.

Let It Snow

The weather this year hasn't been too bad. Usually the city has an accumulation of about 90 inches a year. This year it's snowed some but no big storm, only a few inches here and there.

While the rest of the Northeast has had major snowfalls. You can read about them here: Round Two: Second Major Snowstorm Buries Northeast : Discovery News 
I'm okay with a few inches but what I don't like are ice and heavy winds. It's no fun waiting for a bus and getting your face pelted by snow.
My favorite time to get snow is on a Friday night when I don't have to go back out until Monday. Then I can snuggle up on the couch wrapped up in my down comforter with a cup of coffee, the cat and a pile of books next to me. Is it Friday yet?

The Neverending Blanket

Last year I (stupidly) agreed to make a blanket for someone. I call it the Neverending Blanket (NEB).
She wanted Acrylic for ease of care, which I understand even though I'm a bit of a yarn snob and prefer wool.
The major problems are the colors, really bright red, blue, yellow, green etc. After this I'll probably only want to knit with pastel colors.
It's also pooling some but I'm leaving it that way. You know what they say 'One time is a mistake, two or more times is a 'design feature'.
She wanted Stockinette Stitch, and it has 375 stitches across so I have miles and miles of knitting and purling to do.
On the plus side, since I've had so much practice, I've learned to knit more smoothly and hopefully faster. I knit continental style (yarn held in the left hand) and it's supposed to be the fastest. I'm usually a slow knitter and only do about a half inch at a time.
It's getting pretty heavy. I've done about 54 inches and have about 31 more to go. At this rate she'll probably get it next year.
Updates to follow.
Close-ups of the NEB

Cat-alog of my interests

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
About my many interests; my parents used to use an expression 'Jack of All Trades, Master of None' to describe someone with a lot of interests. I personally don't believe it's necessarily a bad thing. I think that you should try a lot of things to see what you like and what you're good at. As a child I tried latch-hooking, cross-stitch and embroidery, chocolate making and candlemaking. Now I knit, loom knit, crochet and do hairpin lace. I'm sure there will be other things in the future.
A couple of my recent projects:
Loom knit hat and crochet scarf

Introduction and Cute Cat Pictures

Hi, my name is Margaret and I live in the Northeastern United States.

And this is Ragamuffin aka Rags.

She'll be making regular appearances because on the days when I can't think of anything interesting to say, I'll probably show cute cat pictures. Maybe she'll even be a guest blogger now and then.