Boy did I goof!

Remember the Vortex shawl that was coming along? Something kept nagging at me that there were too many increases and not enough decreases. Today while casting on the shawl for a friend I found my error. I had misread the second line of the pattern where there is a decrease stuck in . So here is the Vortex shawl now.

I have cast on again and decided to go up to a 5.5 mm needle for a bit more drape. It should go faster this time since I ended up with about twice as many stitches as I should have had for the length. No wonder I was panicking about running out of yarn! I was at 800 stitches and about 32 inches across and 3/4 done my 960 yards of Kauni.

This just seems to have been a week of do overs. Everything I try to knit I end up pulling out for one reason or another. Just one of those weeks where nothing seems to go right. And now I am going to vent ...

I have been having some problems with my pharmacy and changed to a new one about mid August. My doctor has me on birth control for hormone regulation and I noticed my pills from my old pharmacy were a different colour this month, but chalked it up to the company changing the colour. Well I have had migraine after migraine and it dawned on me today that maybe the old pharmacy had sent me the wrong pills. After a long day of calls they finally admitted that yes, they had made the mistake and were sorry. Oh, and would a $25 gift certificate be acceptable for my pain and suffering for the month? I just wanted to choke and I am going to look into what I can do legally. All I can say is that I am glad I have a new pharmacist now. So please, if you feel uncomfortable with the service that your pharmacist gives you, please find a new one. This episode could have very easily had more disastrous consequences.

The newest additions to the family

I am a big cat lover as well as a dog lover. Pudge is my 9 year old Burmese, adopted from a bad family when he was a kitten. He survived distemper and almost died from an intestinal tract infection. He is the boss and everyone knows it.

Sasha is another rescue, the queen of the house. She is a bit stand offish and only lets you pet her when she wants. Then a month ago I adopted Jinx and Jasper, two delightful brothers. I wasn't sure how the other cats would take to them, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is Pudge and Jasper.

Sasha playing with Jinx while Pudge looks on

 Pudge and Jinx

The Vortex Shawl is coming along

At over 600 stitches, it is taking over half an hour to complete a round but boy is it worth it. I have yarn to do another shawl like this when I am done. The pattern is so easy and so beautiful.

Peaches & Creme is coming to Canada!

Yep, you read right. I am in the process of having a web site designed and hope to have it launched in about a month. I will be carrying all of the Elmore Pisgah yarns. For those of you who have tried Peaches & Creme, there is no comparison to the Canadian equivalents. The colours are awesome, prices are good, and service is great.

This is a fledgling company and I am starting with little money. I really would appreciate everyone's support and patience while I build this company up. I am really excited about having this yarn in Canada and I hope everyone else is too.

Stay tuned for the launch of the web site!

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

I have been mesmerized working on the Vortex shawl in Kauni. The colour changes are amazing and the pattern is easy but elegant. I am up to over 360 stitches right now and still going strong.

I have been an English knitter for over 40 years. I was self taught and didn't know there was another way to knit until I joined several groups on the internet. Continental knitting was mentioned and it intrigued me, but I found I couldn't get tension and gave up in frustration.

Yesterday I browsed YouTube for some videos and found an excellent one that showed how to tension yarn in the left hand. And I was off. I am in love with this technique and will likely switch over to it. I am only using it on the Vortex shawl right now, but I am happy with my tension.

Waiting in the wings, temporarily on hold is the Irish Diamond shawl by Cheryl Oberle from Folk Shawls. Make a note that there is lots of errata for this book, a bit of a disappointment when there are so many mistakes given the cost of the book. This is the replacement shawl for the two I lost and I am in love with the angora blend from Colourmart. It blooms wonderfully and this is going to be my favourite comfort shawl.

I am finding that lace is my comfort knitting right now. I have been going through my rather bad stash trying to make some tops for myself, only to find out that my son took out parts of yarn. I always bought with lots of extra and I am finding for each lot that I am missing 5-10 balls. This wouldn't be so bad if I was tiny like I used to be, but medication has put weight on me and now I just don't have enough. Another wave of grief and mourning has been overwhelming me each time I find something I like, only to realize there isn't enough anymore. I am almost to the point where I just want to throw everything out and start over again so I can avoid the hurt and disappointment each search brings.

The glory of lace

I just realized that I have forgotten to post finished pictures of Alita. Well here she is in all her glory! The edging turned out more ruffled than I would like, but she sure is a beauty.

Alita, size 10 thread, size 1 US needles

  

   

It has been a while

I don't know where the time went. Things have been chaotic and there has been a lot of self discovery over the past few months.

I started on a new medication for my sleep in May. While it hasn't "fixed" the problem, I am definitely doing better and Dakota isn't alerting as much. The poor thing went through withdrawal, going from alerting almost constantly to alerting a few times maybe every five days. I had to do some retraining because he just didn't know what to do with himself and he is doing better now.

I have been doing a lot of healing as well. It has been two years since I left my abusive son who took advantage of my disability. He took a lot of things from me, some of which can never be replaced. I got 10 hand knit socks, each missing its mate. He took my two favourite shawls - the Irish Diamond shawl which I love dearly. I lost about $500 worth of fibre, knitting machines and the list goes on.

I have spent much of the past two years trying to replace my socks, since I only wear hand knit. I finally tackled trying them on the knitting machine and am quite pleased with the results. I will post pictures another day. These definitely are a labour of love, but they work and are quicker than I can knit :)

Now that socks are taken care of I decided it was time to replace my shawl. I have some angora/merino/nylon blend that I got from Colourmart and have started another Irish Diamond shawl. I also have yarn for two more shawls from some Kauni and I can't wait to get started on those. I love wrapping myself in a shawl, especially when my pain is bad or I am so tired that I am freezing. It is like giving myself a hug, and nothing beats it on those bad days.

The hurt of what my son did runs deep. He doesn't talk to me and that I can handle, but it is what he did after I left that has left its mark. I know that hurt will never go away, but I have finally taken the first step to healing and I am proud of myself for that.