The Endless Afghan - The Twelfth Square

Kenny starts 6th grade tomorrow. This past week has been spent doing "Mommy" things after putting a full day at work ----- taking Kenny shopping for new school clothes, new shoes, school supplies and a new backpack. I have also been informed by my young man that he is "too old" for the kids dressing room so I was relegated to sitting outside the "adult" dressing room and waiting for him to come out show me his choices.

This left me very little time for blogging but a great deal of extra time for knitting.As a result, I finished the twelfth square of the Endless Afghan and have most of the thirteen square completed as well. Hopefully,things will return to normal around here next week.

Sweater Progress

Working for a living certainly gets in the way of my knitting. Particularly since the Fresno County Courthouse does not allow knitting needles to be brought inside the building and I had 10 hearings scheduled this past week.
Needless to say, the right sleeve on the Elsebeth Lavold sweater has been rather slow going.
But once I finish it, I only have the right front to knit. Then I can block all the pieces and start to assemble them for the front button and button hole bands. Hopefully, I will finish it in time to wear up to Washington at the end of next month. Wish me luck!

What is this??????

Kenny wants me to knit him a hooded sweatshirt for the upcoming school year. He has requested "a cool sweater with a dragon or wolf on it". I got out my graph paper and started to sketch out a pattern. I then turned to the internet for some inspiration.But when I came across this on the net, all I could think of was "Why?????"

Why would anyone want to wear a sweater that looks like roadkill?

The Endless Afghan - The Eleventh Square

Problem: Justin and his two best friends want to attend a 12 hour long rock concert in San Jose, California. Mom is very uncomfortable with the idea of three 18 year old boys driving 125 miles from home over a road nick-named "Blood Alley".
Solution: Offer to drive them to the concert, then hide out at a hotel for a day of uninterrupted knitting.

Reward: The boys had a great time and were very happy NOT to be driving back to Fresno at midnight. I was very happy because all that time alone allowed me to finish the 11th square on the "Endless Afghan".

This pattern is from The Great American Afghan and features a oak leaf and acorn design. I have oak trees at both my homes in California and in Washington so I thought this square was wonderful representation of my ties to both states.

Is it just me?

I enjoy visiting fiber arts blogs to see what other like minded wool addicts are up too. Sometimes I find a link to a new project (such as the Mystery Stole 3), a tip on a technique I would like to try, or inspirational photographs of WIP's. When I visit, I try to leave a comment to let the blogger know that I stopped by their site.
If you visit a lot of blogs and leave comments, then odds are you have come across a "robot trap". The trap is a bunch of letters and/or numbers that have been stretched and pulled until they resemble a drunken chorus line melting into a lamp post. Right below these distorted runes is a little box. The commenter is asked to type the letters/numbers into the box "as they appear above". The reason? It supposedly it prevents "robots" from leaving spam comments.

When first ran across these little gems, the grouping seldom exceeded 5 letters. Lately however, these sequences are getting much longer. Sequences like "Jfjur" or "yerhn" have now morphed into "gjrnfbbdjfklmblj" or "okgjvjjiivwwvmmnxvvwv". Trying to decipher these encryptions often requires perseverance, luck, and a good, stiff drink.

Not much better is the dreaded "grey box". This trap consists of a rectangle infused with what appears to be swirling sticks and stones in deep, grey, foggy mist. Interspersed within the greyness are six random letters/numbers that appear to be jumping rope out of sequence. They are about this tall, which makes them difficult to see without the use of an scanning electron microscope.

Don't get me wrong. I am all for keeping spam out of the comments. I just sometimes wish there was a simpler method.

We have a Record!

Kenny, being the 11 year old boy that he is, seems to have a fascination is all things slimy, creepy, crawly and gross. However, even he seemed repulsed by the 6 inch (15 cm) long Banana Slugs that seem to favor our deck when the days are warm in Washington.

That is, until this fellow slimed his way into Kenny's heart.

My knitter's gauge was too short at six inches so I grabbed the tape measure instead. Eight inches (20.3 centimeters)!

It appears size does matter.

Pacific Northwest Fiber Bloggers

During my visit to Washington I had the pleasure of several encounters with members of the web ring known as "The Pacific Northwest Fiber Bloggers".

My first surprise came when I was reading blogs of the various members and decided to enter a "Blogiversary" contest sponsored by Lynn at wrapandturn.blogspot.com. The prize was two skeins of Knit Picks sock yarn in the color scheme "Flower Power". Imagine my surprise when I was notified that I had won. I was even more pleasantly surprised when the prize package arrived promptly and had a few more goodies enclosed. I also received some fun stationary and some special jeweled stitch markers. Lynn also sent a thoughtful, handwritten note. Everything is wonderful, Lynn. Thank you again!

Next I ran into Sachi from the blog "A Day in the Life of Sachi" at the Allyn Knit Shop when I was purchasing the yarn for the sweater. Sachi has just opened her web business and showed me several samples of the gorgeous stitch markers she makes. I couldn't resist and bought these for myself. They are beautiful.

Finally, on Saturday, July 14th, I traveled to Shoreline, Washington, to the Village Knit and Tea Shop. There I met Deb from Knotty Kitty Knits and Danielle from The Knitting Niche. But I was also surprised to find Ginger from http://www.sewcrafty.org/blog/ and several other wonderful ladies. I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and talking to them all. A truly nice group of people. After knitting and sipping tea, Deb and I went to dinner on the waterfront. Deb is a very sweet lady and I hope to see more of her in the future.

I must say that the bloggers and knitters that I have met in the Pacific Northwest have been an exceptional group of people. Without fail, I have been welcomed and made to feel as one of the group. It is a good feeling to be part of this wonderful community.

Fringe Benefits

One of the things I love about vacation is my "to be continued basket". This consists of a large lined wicker basket that holds works in progress that for whatever reason I have put on hold. Maybe a seam is not coming together properly. Or the project has been infested with a knitting gremlin. Or I am just plain tired of it. Rather than continue to fight it, I will put the project in the basket to await my next visit to Washington State. When I return two to three months later, the project is ready and waiting to be picked up and worked on again. And, wonder of wonders, it is fun again. Last Christmas, my wonderful staff gave me a kit for a Feather and Fan lap blanket. The colors are pastel green and pinks. It is knit on 10 mm (US 15) needles which created a light, airy feel. I carried the project to Washington with me in March and knitted the first 40 or 50 rows without incident. But then, the gremlin struck! I had just completed a row and the stitch count was off by two. I de-knit the row and started again. Again it was off. Once again, I de-knit and re-knit the row and the stitch count ended correctly. But, five rows later, the stitch count was off again. And again 10 rows later. It was time for the afghan to head for the "to be continued basket".Fast forward to July. I went through the basket and rediscovered the afghan. I only needed to knit 45 more rows and make the fringe. The perfect project for sitting on the front porch on a chilly rainy evening!So, in between waiting for all the telephone calls from Justin reporting the ongoing saga of our burglaries, I finished the knitting, cut and attached the fringe, and blocked it. I rather like the finished result.