Oh yeah, I fell.

I fell hard. For my spindle that is. I love it. I find myself wondering how much time and attention I can pay it when I get home from work. I starting spinning up the stuff that Tamara brought me (Ashland Bay you said?). This is how far I've gotten:


I also took some time today and put the natural yarn I spun up into a pot and kool aid dyed it. It's 2 packets of Strawberry lemonade. I love the way it turned out.


I haven't given up the knitting totally. I finished the second Baudelaire sock last night, and cast on for the other rpm sock this morning. My finished Baudelaire socks:


On to the blog stalking assignment for this week. I believe this week is art. Well, we're not big on the art in this house. We've got Starry Night hanging in the living room, and some crayon scribblings on random pieces of paper on the fridge. The most original art that we have in the house, however, happens to be 2 framed pen drawings. They were all done by hand with black pen and the occasional bit of red. They were done by a friend of ours (who also designed my last tattoo for me), who has since passed away. We've got to find the right place for them, and we will when we have a house, but until then, they are put away. I took them out just for photos.

A little of this, a little of that

First up, the blog stalking photos for the week. Inside your freezer. Despite the COOK part of cooknknit, I haven't done much cooking. Thus, there's not much in the freezer.


Because there's not much to eat in my fridge, and I did feel bad about the lack of cooking going on in my house, I made dinner last night. Dumplings from scratch. Not one left over. :)


Onto the knitting. Last Sunday, I went to visit with an old friend. We met at the park so the kids could run thru the sprinklers. Of course, knitting had to come too. The sock is rpm, and it was finished shortly after the trip to the park. Click for the finished sock.


Unfortunately, I was afraid that the security at Giants Stadium wouldn't allow me in with metal needles, so I left the second sock at home on Wed., in favor for bamboo dpns and started Baudelaire. The first sock was finished yesterday, during a McDonald's play date with Bean. Click for the finished sock.


Who did I see at Giants Stadium? Why, Bon Jovi of course! I'm a big fan. Pics of Bon Jovi himself on the big screen and of my man Richie Sambora.



Stuff in the mail. I did a trade with Trek and received a wonderful sock bag in return. Ever since I got it, I've used it every day.


I also did another trade on the Knittyboard, and I received a spindle and some roving.


You may remember, that I had purchased a spindle before. I didn't do so well with it, so I traded it away. Since then, I have made friends with Valerie and tried her wheels, and Bean has taken up spinning on a spindle and I felt the need to try again. My first attempt at spinning the roving that came with the spindle....I spun the singles and then plied, and then washed it to set the twist. I'm quite proud of my first attempt (click for a closer view).


Bean knew I got the spindle, so she brought me some stuff to spin, and shared some of her silk hankies.

And because I was so thrilled with my new spindle, I decided to get another one, top whorl and try that out, and some more fiber. Aren't the colors fantastic?



Now I'm off to go play with my new spindles.

Under the bed

First, the knitting. The tea shawl and I have not parted ways for about 2 weeks. Til today. It seems that the diamond madeira pattern and I do not get along. I got past the spot where I kept screwing up. I kept chugging along and I got past the halfway mark. I celebrated and kept going. I should have shut my trap. I have to rip back about 8 rows. No life line. 574 stitches and 8 rows equals a huge headache. So it's banished for the next few days....or weeks.

Because I not able to be committed to any of my current projects, I started a new one. I started .rpm in the Apple Laine that I received fairly recently. The pattern is written for 2 circs, and I don't usually like to do 2 circs, but I thought I'd give it a go this time. I'm not that far into it, but I'm loving the easyness of the pattern, and the yarn is wonderful to work with.



Now, to the pics of under the bed. I'm embarrassed to say that I am not the best housekeeper. I honestly have not looked under my bed since I don't know when. Therefore, you get just a peek at what has been shoved under there.

The bed, unmade, as hubby left it when he left for work (oh who am I kidding...it's not made unless company is coming by...)...click to see the peek of under the bed:


I pulled just a few things out. As you can see by the layer of dust on the dayplanner from the late 90's (shhhh), I don't go under there often. I found a cookie tin with Betty Crocker points (if you need any, let me know and I'll send them all to you for free), some preemie size onesies that were too big for Danny when he was born, the backscratcher that I can never find and some things for show and tell.

First, a hatbox that used to contain all the letters that an ex wrote me. It now contains a mish mosh of needlepoint/cross stitch stuff (click for a different view).


Next, a fairly dusty, yet empty, blue velvet box that came to me from India.

The blue box used to hold a gorgeous paper mache box, that had been lacquered. It now holds some of my jewelry (clicky click click)


Last, I found a shoebox of pictures. It also contains a diary that I wrote in sporadically from 1989-1991. You don't get excerpts from the diary, but you get 2 pictures:

I was adorable, wasn't I? Now, the next one, focus not on how skinny I was, nor the fact that I look filthy (it was summer camp dammit!). Focus on how DAMN big my glasses were!! Who in their right mind decided that was a good look?!? That's Aug. 1988, by the way. I was 13 and headed to high school the next month.


You may begin the laughing now.

Shoes, the letter L and oh yeah, knitting

So, Zib asked us to shoot shoes. My shoe collection is quite boring. I own lots of black shoes. So I took photos of some of my favs.


Mary Janes that have seen better days, but are quite comfy.


These are the highest heeled shoes I own. Surprisingly, they are quite comfy...when I actually wear them.


The only color in my shoe collection. I used to have a pair similar to these in a great blue color.


My "ass kickin'" boots. I love these boots to death, as you can probably see. I think this winter they may have to go to boot heaven.



These days, all I put on my feet are the sandals and the sneakers. I almost hate to start another job because I'll be forced to wear "real" shoes again.

The letter L. L is for lipstick. I don't usually wear makeup, and I only own a few lipsticks. Surprisingly, for someone who doesn't wear makeup, I have expensive taste.


Oh yes. This is a knitting blog. I've been working on the tea shawl, pretty much nonstop. I'm getting good at counting to 14. It looks like all the other pics I've posted, so today you get a photo of the Dream Swatch and a tease of the SP project.

Commitment issues

Startitis has struck me big time, and I'm having problems with finishing. Though I did finish the Over the Knee stockings on Monday. Let's take a look at the list:

Tea Shawl: I am almost up to the Diamon Madeira pattern, where I was the last time around before frogging the entire shawl.

Secret Pal knitting: I have just a few inches left to go on this project.

Mittens: One down, and only 20 rows into the corrugated ribbing of the second. Seriously, what made me think that knitting wool on size 1's in the summer was a good idea?

Spiral Rib Socks: They are sitting patiently on my bookshelf waiting for me to cast on for the second sock.

Cozy: I still need to frog back to the second ball join. This lays in the basket taunting me.

Dream Swatch: And because I didn't have enough projects to work on, I wound up some of the silk that Wendy sent me and started the Dream Swatch by the other Wendy. I am only a few inches into it.

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. I'm now going to see what else I can cast on for to add to my list.