Spent most of my lunch hour shopping on line today. Bought 2 patterns at One Fine Yarn by Natalie Wilson of InKnitiative 1 is for Dottie a cool kinda retro cardigan and New Century Poncho Pullover a poncho/top which I think I can live in! Then I went to elann.com and picked up some more yarn - I don't have anywhere to put this yarn, but that didn't stop me! I ordered some Peruvian alpaca to go with the fun fur I got such a bargain on. I also bought Filatura Di Crosa Oxford in Albany - this looks soooo pretty!

Here are a few more pix from my vacation:


why DID the buffalo cross the road?


not the best picture, but it is the only one of all of us - at the Lower Falls in Yellowstone

Last one - driving through Grand Teton Nat'l Park

(if you want to see anymore click on the LINK below!)

2nd post in one day! I fixed the weirdness with my blog and corrected all my typo's - someday I will learn to type. Well I am off to finish another square and maybe my ponshawl tonight bye...

I seem to be under a computer black cloud - my computer at home has all these trojon programs on it I have to reformat it, I couldn't open any pdf files on David's yesterday and I tried several times to post here and it just would not work and now I want to add some pix - vacation and knitting stuff and photobucket keeps coming up server not found - bummer!

Had a great weekend tho' - Saturday I went to lunch & shopping with my best friend, Marilyn. Before meeting I stopped at Smiley's to pick out some sample yarns for the poncho she wants - decided on Encore DK in a dark sage, medium sage and pale sage held together - it looked really pretty - Marilyn loved the combo and at $1.99 each I won't blow my whole budget.

I bought some other goodies too, including a perpetual stitch a day calendar and a really funky olive green mock crock bag for fall - to go with all the green things I am knitting like this:

this is my ponshawl when I first started it - I am almost done now I love the way it looks!
This is what it should look like when I am done sewing it together:





This is the edging I did for the stole in Ritratta - it's from Knitting on the Edge

One last picture for today:

My happy family on vacation - If you click on the link below you should be able to see some
more of my vacation pix - if you are so inclined!

Oh and I found yesterday post and got it to print - yeah! I think I my be getting a handle on this blog thing!

Did mucho shopping yesterday, met by best friend Marilyn for lunch and shopping. Went to Smiley's first though because she asked for a poncho for Christmas this year and I wanted to pick out some stuff to show her. I bought 3 skeins of Encore DK in dark sage, medium sage and pale sage - knit up together they give a nice tweedy look - Marilyn loved it and at $1.99 each I won't blow my budget.

I also bought 365 Knitting Stitches a Year - cool little perpetual calendar, found some really pretty stitches in there I want to try. I want to make a few more poncho's and I was thinking of trying out some stitches and creating the 2 long rectangle sewn together type poncho's out of my stash yarn - I have some beautiful blue/green peace fleece in sport wt that I think would look great. Marilyn and I tried on some ponchos yesterday and I really like the way they looked.

My ponshawl (thanks Alison) is almost finished - I sooooo love the way this looks - I hope it looks that good on.

I have the apt to myself today - a rare treat - the NYPD has David working 12 noon to 12 midnight till the convention is over - so I will be spending my evenings home alone - lots of knitting time, but I will miss him.

This is one of those days I wished I had stayed in bed. Our phones are on the fritz, our other office on W 31 St ( yes across the street from MSG) has been blockaded by the police - they are closing the week of the RNC but the St closings started yesterday and customers have been having a hard time coming in to the store. Traffic is so bad, all our deliveries were late and I am still on Mountain time so I am wide awake at 11pm and can't wake up in the morning!

I really wish the republicans had picked some other city to hold there convention in - I don't like them at the best of times and right now I really detest them! I am also annoyed with all the groups from everywhere but New York that are here to protest them - have some pity on the people who live here - go protest in your own city!

Whoo - that felt good, now on to knitting----I worked on my mohair poncho last night - found a few dropped stitches that I had to fix. Took David's sweater to work today so I could knit while commuting - I figure with all the traffic (see above rant) I will have plenty of time to knit on the way home tonight. The express bus is slow at the best of times and this is certainly NOT the best of times!

Found a really nice cable poncho pattern on line today - it is from paton's and can be found at canadianliving.com - just click on the crafts section. I think I am going to use the dark olivey yarn I got from Cottage Craft for this. Someday.

Well I need to get some work done - took a late lunch today, but now it is back to the grindstone.

Spent last night watching the Olympics and knitting a square for my Afghans for Us partner - did the feather and fan stitch in a lovely aqua cotton. I enjoyed working on this little project so much I am thinking of knitting my girlfriends 2 cotton washclothes and wrapping them with some nice soap in baskets for Christmas. I know I would like this, but I wonder if non knitters would like it? I have some nice cotton I picked up cheap at Smiley's - they have lots of colors to choose from, and I found this great site that has 5 pages of patterns called Dishcloth Boutique - I have been using this as my idea source for the afghan squares.

Took my pictures to get developed today - kept forgetting them at home, so they won't be back till Monday - I will post some of the gorgeous sites we saw then.

It has been such a joy not having to be stuck on the LIE everynight on my way to school! Now all I have to do is get my a** in gear and find a sponsor to work for till I take my licensing exam.

I'm back! It was a wonderful vacation, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho were simply gorgeous. The Mountains were an amazing! I think I could happily give up sky scrapers form mountain views any day.

We started at Glacier Nat'l Park, then made our way through Montana to Cut Bank, Great Falls (went to a really great LYS there called Pam's - bought some Montana made yarns) then down to Helena, ( got there too late to go yarn shopping- both stores were already closed and left too early the next morning - neither was opened yet) Bozemen (went to the book store) and then West Yellowstone. Spent 3 days at the Park- saw many many critters (as the boys would say) I have lots of pictures and will post soon. Got to see Old Faithful and the Mud Pots and moose and buffalo and elk. David decided to drive to Jackson Hole since we were close to the South Exit of the park - not realizing JH is over 100 miles away! Took us almost 2 hours to get there - the drive was breathtaking tho' the Grand Tetons were awe inspiring!

When we left Yellowstone, we drove through Idaho and into Boise. I wanted to go to Lisa's Yarn shop but it was closed on Mondays, so I ended up at Knit Wits and bought some lovely Australian Wool, then it was off to the airport and back home.

I didn't do as much knitting as I wanted to on this trip - I was too busy gawking at the views as we were driving. I decided I definitely want to live in a log house with a mountain view!

It is 4:10 am and we are getting ready to head out for the airport! We will be traveling through Yellowstone for the next week, so no posting till I get back.

Finished my squares and am mailing them on the way to the airport. I had the hardest time deciding what projects to take. I finally decided on David's sweater and the Outback mohair shawl I started at the Laundromat on Sunday. I received the King Cole Mohair yesterday to finish the poncho, but since that is knit on #17 needles, I was afraid the airline would say NO. The 2 I am bringing are on bamboo and plastic needles so I am hoping there will be no problems!

Well I went home last night and started working on my poncho thing with the solid green mohair but I didn't like the way it looked. It is a finer wt than the king cole and it just looked lousy, so I ripped it out and ordered another skein from One Fine Yarn (I really like this eseller). I should have it by the time I get back from Vacation. Not much other knitting going on - I am making a square with some other KCM I have left over in the Paris color, lots of magenta, mango, bright blue and yellow in a honeycomb slip stitch pattern with a dark blue wool. Looks really cool. I would like to make a top down sweater using this stitch as the yoke. That will have to go on my ever increasing "To Be Made" list!

Took my practical last night, did ok, would have done better if I had actually studied. Oh well I am now down with school, all I have left is Yoga and 5 hours of clinic. I have signed up for a Hot Stone Massage workshop in Sept, but that is only one day - I think I can handle that.

Last night when I got home from school, David had a surprise for me - he had gone out and bought a Sony Handicam! We have been wanting one forever, so he finally broke down and bought it yesterday to take on vacation with us. We were going to buy it before we went to Paris, but he choked on spending the money then! Best part - it has a memory stick to take digital stills, so "you can take all your woolly pictures" or so he said, as if he had to sell me on it!

I have decided to use the solid green mohair with the green wool and continue the pattern in one piece. I will then attach 1 short side to the opposite long side and make a poncho/shawl thing. This way there would be a point on one side and it would look like a wrap on the other. I can't tell you how soft and comforting this thing feels - I can't wait to wear it.

Got a new buddy for the afghan squares - Hi Debby, I have some more of this mohair in a different color that I think I am going to use for here square with a solid blue wool. Of course I am still diligently knitting away on David's Bday sweater and the baby blanket and the boys afghans.

Here is the baby blanket: I have done 3 more rows since this picture was taken, it is almost finished. I used Jill Vosburg's Diamond Patch pattern for the squares. It knits up really fast and should be done by Oct when the baby is due.

Got my Path paper back last night - got a B! For all the trouble I had getting a patient and getting it done - I am pleased with a B. Tonight is my Med Massage practical, then all my exams are done and Tuesday I leave for vacation Yeah!

Finished my squares for the afghan group, will mail them off tmrw and ask for a new buddy. I also worked on my mohair poncho last night - I ran out of the variegated mohair I was using about 30 stitches from the end of the row, I had some solid dark green mohair that is added to finish the row, since the mohair is alternating with solid (or mostly solid) dark green wool it worked perfectly. I think I am going to make the second rectangle just the green wool, so one side will have the mohair stripes and the other will be solid wool. I just don't want the wool side to be all garter stitch - I will have to swatch and see what I want to do with that.

Another Monday - God I wish I could go home and go back to sleep, I just can't seem to wake up this morning! Maybe because I stayed up last night attaching the trim to my stole. It looks sooo good, I took pictures, but have to wait to develop them before I can post. [I really hope Santa brings that digital camera this year]. The body of the stole is done in S Charles Ritratto in color 71 pumpkin

It is done in a lace rib pattern I got out of The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville, on the bottom I added about an inch of garter in Austerman Caprice a copper/brown color then grafted on a lace edging from Knitting on the Edge. I really looks elegant and the edging helps stretch and flatten the rib pattern. This will be a great wrap for around the Holidays or whenever I want to feel dressed up.

I ran out of mohair for my poncho and am deciding how I want to proceed. I can order another skein from Ram Wools, or I can finish this piece off and knit a second rectangle just out of the woolease and attach them together. I will have to decide when I have some time to think about it.

Tonight I have clinic and tmrw is my last Tuesday night - I have my med massage practical, so I will be studying tonight and tmrw, but after that I will be knitting feverishly!

Went looking for AC Moore on Hempstead Tpke today after school. I usually go to the one in Haupauge, but Hempstead is a lot closer - so off I went. Well not only is it not open yet - it is not even built yet! Ended up in Michael's. They didn't have a lot, but I did find 8 balls of Fun Fur in sandstone for $1 each - what a bargain! I don't know what I will do with them, they are kinda cute tho' they look like tribbles - That's it I can tell David I only bought one, but they started breeding and now we have an apt full!

I need to go finish my squares for the afghan group and I want to work on my mohair poncho, so I am out of here for now!

I am now CPR and First Aid certified and can get my diploma. One more week of school and I will have plenty of time to knit and crochet and do all the fun stuff again!

My written final is finished (did really well!) now all I have is the practical and I am done!

Had waaay too much coffee yesterday, so when I got home about 11pm I was wired and couldn't sleep so I started my square for the yahoo group I joined. 2 people are matched up and they knit or crochet 1 or 2 6" squares for each other, when those are done you let the list know and they match you up with another person and you start again. Then you take all your squares and put them together to make an afghan or wrap or something. I started mine in Plymouth Encore in a raspberry color - I am making chris cross cables, I got the pattern out of Beautiful Knitting Patterns by Gisela Klopper. It is a fun way to try new patterns.

I handed my paper in last night - not my best effort, but at least it is finished and is in on time. Tonight I have my written final for Med Massage - I haven't studied - I just can't get my head wrapped around books - especially when all I want to do is wrap yarn around a needle!



This is the mexicali ole sweater I knit for my nephew - he looks wonderful in it. I think I have this picture thing figured out - yeah!!! More pictures to follow.

My mohair poncho is coming along really great - I love the effect I am getting. I can't wait till it is cool enough to wear.


This is the shawl I finished before the weather got really hot - it's done in Tahki bunny in violet.

Well I guess that is enough pictures for now, don't want to over load the page.

Happy Monday! Well my path paper is finished!!!! (well it is written, I just have to finish typing it today) I will hand it in tonight and the biggest part of my "things to do before I can graduate" list is done.

David and I drove the boys up to Boy Scout camp yesterday in the pouring rain. Of course I had to take a new project with me. I have one ball of King Cole Mohair in Barcelona (I think) it's teal, hunter, raspberry and yellow fuzzy yarn, and 2 balls of Woolease in Pines, which is a teal, dark blue and green mix. I cast on 76 stitches on size 17 needles with the mohair doing 3 rows of K1 *YO K2tog* then changing to the Woolease and doing about 4" of garter stitch then back to the mohair and so on. Gotta tell you, I am really please with the results - the colors set each other off perfectly and it feels incredible!. I am thinking I will keep knitting till I run out of yarn and if it is long enough stitch it up to make a poncho - otherwise it will make a beautiful shawl.

David still has not set up space on our ISP so pictures are not yet available, but are coming soon - I promise.