You know the one...

First off, I just want to clear up that I meant NO disrespect for any of my LYS's Pick Up Sticks in Bradford, Unwind in Newmarket and the occasional stop at Serenity Knits in Aurora...I'm so lucky to have so many yarn shops so close; it just makes me giddy! I was a bit concerned all night that by advertising someplace else that I'd be 'dissing' them; NO. Actually I've never been to that store (the one with the cool billboard) and I just thought the picture of yarn was neat (on the cool billboard) and what a lovely, cheerful and unique kind of picture to post (of the cool billboard) on my blog. So, you guys at Pick Up Sticks, Unwind and Serenity Knits are still my 'peeps', but dudes.....
you need A COOL BILLBOARD!!!!

Alrighty then, that gets that worry out of the way. Now, I'm wondering if I'm loosing my mind.

I woke up screaming, well, yelling. Yup, woke myself up from a dead sleep and I know it was a dead sleep because of the nightmare that I was having. You know the one where you're walking in a dimly lit parking lot off a side street and can't find your vehicle, and then you remember that your husband left in it and that you have no vehicle, and then you go up to another vehicle where you sort of know the two women in it, but don't want to bother them and so you don't ask for a ride.

Are you with me so far?

Next you decide that you should probably get to the main street where the lighting is better and you're rattling something in your hands (can't remember now what it was, I could've told you this morning....isn't it funny how quickly you forget such vivid details of a dream?) and then you here a voice coming from one of the dark corners of the parking lot, and he says "and that'll be for me, and then I'll have some of that..." and you can't move fast enough to get to the street and you realize that screaming isn't going to do anything to scare him away...and so you quickly turn, get a glimpse of his round, sneering face (I actually do remember the face pretty well) with the evil glint in his eyes and you reach deep within your soul for the strength and fortitude to......
Growl and snarl like a crazy animal to scare him enough that you have time to get away; except what happens is....
you wake up making that guttural noice and because it's still early morning wonder how many people in the house heard this strange noice coming from your bedroom?

You know that one?

Later on in the day I spent an enjoyable few hours playing in my stash (see stash photo #1 in earlier post; that's where most of my efforts were directed today) and organizing patterns in my filing cabinet. I had a very enjoyable time even if the wonderful Library Filing Cabinet doesn't hold letter size file folders. Surely 'retro' file folders won't be too hard to find. And just because the 8"x11" size of most of my patterns doesn't easily store into the Library Files of yesteryear doesn't mean that I will forever live with piles of patterns everywhere. NO!!
There will be order to my patterns, THERE WILL, I SAY, THERE WILL!!!!

Feelin' the drama today?!

I also had myself a little lay down (on the recently pattern cleared bed in my studio) but was again disturbed from my rest (for an evening out with the Red Hot Mamas) by 1) the daily afternoon phone call from Lord knows who; trying to sell Lord knows what and 2) a vision of the bad guy (of this mornings adventure) walking toward me; only this time it was only his legs wearing jeans that I saw. I mean, the rest of him was there, but it was all in shadowy darkness and he was in the house this time...

ewww (shiver) yuck...

Yea, so, I didn't knit. Meant to. Didn't.
Felt pretty good all day...until the demon visions... Anybody have some interpretations?
The rain has begun and will likely be here most of the weekend; maybe then I'll knit! (don't know how much I'll want to try to sleep...)

Now That's What I'm Talkin' About

So I'm driving up to Cookstown on a beautiful spring morning and what do I see?

Just the best Billboard in the World!!

Now, I was running a little behind and couldn't really stop right then, but I thought about it, and thought about it, for the rest of the drive, during the appointment that I went to, and while shopping at the nearby Outlet Mall (the dog ate some shoes; they--and then some--have now been replaced).

So, on the way home I stopped (on the other side of the road) and ran out to take a pic. I had a sock with me, but didn't pull it all together; maybe next time.

Look at that Billboard...

Here, really look...

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about! In Your Face Knitting Advertising!! LOVE IT!!!

I "heart" Ravelry!!

I did take the time to look over there to see if anyone else had had "issues" with the Blue Sky Eyelet Cardigan pattern and although it certainly didn't go as quickly or smoothly as it could have (my bad) ...
{sing it with me}
I found the answer; it wasn't me; there's an error in the pattern; they've printed an errata
I should have looked at the publishers website first, but honestly I wouldn't have thought to look for that as I've always depended on other knitters....which is exactly how I found it this time...
OTHER KNITTERS!!!

I LOVE KNITTERS AND I LOVE RAVELRY!!!

Now, because I also love my family, I will go make dinner. :o)

Does anyone know....

Where I can find the next 'Yarnaholics' meeting?

The Yarn Harlot posted a little something about her stash the other day. I've talked about my stash and a few, 'near and dear' to me people have actually seen the stash, but generally it's one of those guilty pleasures that I hide in my basement/studio.
I enjoy playing with it, admire it, laugh with it (anybody else?), but at times am earth shatteringly overwhelmed by it. There is more there than I could ever possibly work with in one life time.

I'm not done yet either. There's more stash stored throughout (cough-the house-cough) and I see no (very little) reason to stop my stash enhancement. There will always be new and improved, innovative and never to be seen again yarn that needs a loving home. I also, however, am a little more discerning in my yarn purchases----yes, I am!!!! I think very carefully before purchasing a significant amount of yarn. Sock yarn? One skein? Not so much, but still a little! I mean, we have to do our part to keep the economy strong don't we? I too, want to start everything as soon as I get home (if not before), but then the afterglow of S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement Excursion---please people, keep with the program; it's a wool blog!) is abruptly interrupted by the reality that is home, and my new little friend, the latest treasure, must be set aside with the other beauties that have found their way to me.

So there you have it (or part of it anyway). My Stash.

Someday, it might be more organized.

Someday, it might be all knitted up!

Someday, somebody may inherit it; or worse...someday, my husband may throw it all out! That won't happen while I'm still here though, but I'll haunt him if he tries it...HAUNT HIM!!!!

You just don't mess with some one's stash; Yarnaholic or not, you don't mess with it; it's a rule!!

[N.B. did you know that when you do a spell check for Yarnaholic that there is "no suggestion"?! Talk about 'inexplicable'!]

A little bit of everything

O.K. an incredibly busy couple of weeks down and this week looking (dare I say it) relatively quiet before the on slot of next week!
Aww spring!

Daffodils...

Tulips...

this shot taken for inspiration in the Tulip Time Quest For A Cure Quilt Block Challenge...so many ideas; so little time!!!

Dance recitals and all the other 'end of year' activities and birthdays, that are absolutely extra special important and will never happen again; a must or life as we know it may cease to exist!

Or we can knit? Anybody?

So...here's one of my dilemmas.

The pattern doesn't line up at the shoulder. Well, it's obvious to me. It's also a fair amount of work to fix it and I'm not sure I know where the problem is and I now remember that I was going to check on Ravelry to see if anyone else has had a similar problem (maybe later). There's also some karma associated with this cardi; one evening last spring (I believe) my husband and I 'exchanged words' and I found comfort in my studio and set to knit this wonderfully soft sweater. The needles flew and I knit my way through one ball in one sitting; with no obvious errors--yea me---until I attached it to the front---boo me. Where's the screw up? The back, with the frenzied, 'I'll knit this and that'll show you' type knitting or the, 'isn't this lovely and soft and it will feel so good to wear this' kind of knitting? And what to do next? (the put it away and deal with it later step has been given the respect it deserves over the last year) I have considered the 'Please, who's gonna notice?' option. The back, really does look centred, and the front is smaller and therefore easier to do over and the brain storm that I'm having right now is to do the other front to see if it was me or the pattern? And if it's the pattern; then what? Live with a mismatched shoulder? Rip out two fronts? A back? Oooohhhhh, the stress?! Any words of advice? What would you do?

An update for my knitters...I ripped out the sock and started over on bigger needles.

My first toe up sock and I am loving the whole cast on for toe up! Judy's Magic Cast-on for toe-up socks (found at knitty.com) I was about half way on the first sock, but decided, a) I wasn't feeling confident about the sizing for the recipient and b) I was missing my Addis!! The smooth join just cannot be beat when sliding stitches so often!!! Today promises quite a bit of knitting time; so hopefully I'll at least get back to where I was; soon!

Some randomness here.

Cotton Picker!---need something new to see on your blog!

Mom!---You're tough! Come on Mom, You can do it; Give a little wiggle to it! GOOOO MOM! (mom needs some positive energy today people---send the love!)

The Harlot has a 'stashers' dream post and I hope to follow up on that topic soon! (I have photos!)

Crazy Aunt Purl has the cutest pictures on her post too...go see!

Chris---the wheel is plastic! (I've been meaning to write that one for weeks now!) I was also thinking of you this past week as I snuck into the Anitque Market and found this treasure! :o)

It's a little rough around the edges (and really, who isn't?), but it's on Oak filing cabinet and the plate on it says: Library Bureau of Canada Ltd. The drawers work fine; there's been some water damage to the base of it, but I think that it is perfect next to my Grandmother's Library desk where I post and research and dream! My husband (not a fan of Antiques) says, "what are you going to put in it?"

Patterns of course! Lots and lots of patterns, and then everything will be better!

Yea, right!

Have a good day everybody;I'm off to the city...try to stay dry!

Me Too!

I've been harassing Connie over at Pick Up Sticks about her absence on the blog front and she nicely posted a reply! Glad to see you're o.k. Connie. Just remember to breathe and know that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. (There are a couple of footnotes I've heard to follow that one..."Don't you wish he didn't think that you could handle so much?" and my aunt, who's been facing a few trials of late, says, "God, I think we should have a talk!")
Your grandma sounds like a neat lady and yes, we've been lucky to have our grandparents for so long and to have a close relationship like that will bring you comfort for years to come. (By the way, I wasn't able to post a comment on your blog; so.....consider this a comment.)

So while I've been bugging Connie, my knitting buddies have given a few gentle reminders. :o)
Same old; been busy, and it all catches up sometimes! I didn't make it out to the Yarn Crawl this year!!!!!! Horror of Horrors!!!! As you can see from Connie's post the day was a perfectly fabulous day for a tour, but it was also a perfectly wonderful day to stay close to home and have the family work on a spring clean up to better appreciate such beauties as these:

Yes, I'm still knitting.

HAHAHAHAHA (silly question!)

I've completed the socks that I was working on for Inexplicable Knitting Behaviour Day, but haven't presented them yet; so the picture will have to wait. (teaser)

I'm working on another pair that I started 2 years ago. Yea, I know. Anyway, I'm enjoying it with this attempt and hopefully will complete sock #2 as well!

I signed up for SOS '08 at the last minute! I'm not about getting as many socks done as possible (PLEASE!! Have you been reading this blog?), but I am looking forward to posting some sock on vacation pics! I'm planning for my first vacation shot to take place on June 26th, when school is let out and I am on my way to Camp Stitches! That's the way to start a summer vacation!

'The Creative Plan' is still on my mind, but opportunities keep presenting themselves that alter/add to, the 'plan'. Keeping with the 'creative' thread however, I've entered a letter writing contest. I'm working on some sock designs to enter in a contest. Once again, I hope to submit some quilt squares in the Northcott Quest for the Cure Quilt Block Challenge. Two years ago, I 'over indulged' in the whole fabric line of the year while hoping to send in some blocks and have some left over for myself (over indulged = couldn't make up my mind; so I bought one of each!); well, life took a different direction after that and maybe this is the year that it'll happen. It just wasn't meant to be then; that's all. This time, I purchased the charm pack and have worked out some designs using them and will go purchase only more of the fabrics that I actually intend to use!
(Note to EVERYONE: I intend to use everything I own; it just doesn't always work out that way)

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans"

Today's plans include:
Training Chloe for the new invisible fence. X2
Laundry.
Going to school to see some Track and Field events.
Lunch date to bring closure to this years Fashion Show event.
Check out the Antique store near the restaurant we're having lunch at. :o)
Kids to UCM after school to get a 'cool' shirt to wear to the dance tonight and some gift cards for birthday gifts.
Dinner. sigh
Stay up to be able to pick kids up from dance tonight (10 pm)...so between Antique Mall and Kids to Mall, I'll need a nap.

Things I had hoped to also have in that plan:
Dress shop.
Yarn shop.
Knitting time.
Reading time.
Purusing Ravelry time.
And, __________________ (that's just one big BLANK time!)

Tomorrow may actually be a somewhat quieter day (here's hoping!)

So...been busy? Me too!