Oooh- So Excited

...not only to not be working today, but because The Husband, The Daughter and I are going to Cleveland tomorrow.

Why, you might ask?

To see The Son and 99 of his closest fraternity buds sing this here.

AND, we'll be able to see Brother#3 who is the dude in charge of this where it all takes place.

AND, we'll get to spend a bit of time with his lovely and charming wife and his equally lovely and charming daughters.

AND, eat hot dogs and drink beer.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

Or knitting, much.

Take a look at my schedule for the past month.

(Please understand that I cooperated with this-- my employer is not exploiting me, and I am being appropriately compensated.)

That being said, it's still a lot of hours, and it cut significantly into knitting time:

June 16,17,18,19,20,23,24,25,26: 12 hour day shifts
June 28,29: 12 hour night shifts
July 2,3,5: 12 hour day shifts
July 6: 8 hour night shift
July 7,8: 12 hour night shifts.
(and then another 12-hour day shift on Monday, with meetings all day Tuesday)

Now, in the course of 23 days, that's 17 shifts, or a total of 196 hours in 3 weeks and 2 days.

In more recent news, the final markups/edits for the book chapter are finished and will be submitted tomorrow. Just gotta finish the pictures.

Back to work tomorrow for 3 days. You May Be Right, I May Be Crazy-- but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for...

Knitting next week for sure!

It’s Always Something..

And the past couple of weeks have been no exception. Either you’re having deluges, or the calls keep coming from work, or you keep losing your place in your knitting, or you’ve missed an editor’s deadline with no solution in sight.

I’ve missed Late Night for the past couple of weeks because of frantic “Can you Possibly work tonight” calls, and am going to miss Knit’n’Nosh tonight for the same reason. It’s difficult to explain how disappointed I am to miss this weekly “fix”. And I’ve been unable to make it in to The Shop on the weekends for the same reason.

This week’s work total will be 68 hours. I usually work 36. The paycheck will be sweet, to be fair, but holy cow!!! And the extra hours are all nights. I really don’t mind nights, since I get better sleep during the day when I'm doing long strings, and there is that bit of differential. But there is disruption to the rest of life with all this -- day or night. Of course, I could say "no". But I wasn't raised that way.

On the knitting front, I’ve abandoned the Baltic Sea Stole for now. I just couldn’t “feel” the pattern. And with not having enough protracted time to work on it, I kept losing my place—there are pattern stitches on the right and wrong sides, so for someone with my fractured attention span, eternal vigilance is required-- despite hiliters, post-it notes, row counters and such. Plus, the quick color changes in the variegation of the yarn I was using didn’t help—couldn’t see the pattern as well in the knitting.

So I ripped it all out, and started a triple-wide Branching Out. It’s simpler, because the wrong side rows are all purls to give my addled brain a rest. Baltic Sea will be back. But I knit for enjoyment, and when it’s not being fun, it’s time to switch gears.

And somewhere in the middle of all this, I need to make the editors fixes to the book chapter.

And hope not to get a frantic call.

"Noah"

"Who is that?"
"It's The Lord, Noah"
"Right"

A long time ago in a suburb far, far away (actually, about 30 miles west of Chicago), my sibs and I listened to an LP entitled Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow...Right. We listened to his comedy, memorized his routines, and to the dismay of my parents, repeated them over and over again. In those days, comedians were actually funny without using profanity or terribly off-color humor.

One of these wasNoah.

For the full transcript, go here.

It's been raining here.
A LOT.
Right!

A Busy, Happy Time

Well, now…  it’s been awhile.  And it’s been a busy while.

And guess what!  I have some actual pictures to share.

I went to Bermuda on a wonderful anniversary cruise with The Husband. This is us on the ship inport Hamilton. I had lots of favorites about the cruise, but one of the best was sunrise.

The service was amazing. Our cabin steward, Eduardo made sure were kept amused





The only thing that wasn't wonderful about the entire trip-- I REALLY mean the ONLY thing, is that the shuffleboard deck was directly over our stateroom. I sent a letter to Norwegian Cruise Line-- "just sayin'".

Then I worked for a few days, and then was off to Chicagoland for bridal showerage for my sister-in-law-to-be (sorry, no pics).

To support my traveling and yarn habits, I had to work for a few more days—and nights—and then we were off again for wedding festivities.

The rehearsal was a lot of fun.  This is Brother#4 and The Beloved. My job was organize The Cousins (our collective 24 kids) who lined the aisle and each gave a rose to the Cousins-to-Be as they came up the aisle.  So each of the Cousin-to-Be girls had a dozen roses as their bouquets.

In anticipation of the wedding, I rushed to finish the very purple Spring Fling.  Unfortunately, the shape was not the best, and I’m not quite sure why.  I made it in the larger size, and that may have been a problem.  It looks a bit like a shrug/wrap rather than a short-sleeved sweater.  It will work great, and I’ll wear it in that capacity.  However, it’s not The Daughter’s style, and I had the presence of mind to realize that before I even offered it to her.  Didn’t want her to feel she had to wear it, y’know.  I may wash it and put it in the dryer to see if it comes in a bit.  (Note of caution to knitters of purple Cathay.  The stuff runs a bit (a bunch) on the first wash.  Be sure to block by the soaking method or wash separately.  I haven’t noticed it as dramatically on other Cathay colors—but haven’t knit up the black yet.)

Then to the actual wedding.  I have great pictures, and I’ll show them in person to The Irregulars.  The Brothers really clean up well, and everyone looked wonderful and had a super time.  There was dancing and great dinner, and (I understand) a beautiful cake.  (I was called to service to assist someone, and missed seeing the cake, but it tasted great.) and we danced some more, and then The Legal Cousins, Sister #1 and her husband and I shut down the bar adjacent to the hotel.

A VERY early morning after, I picked up brunchies for the group who later gathered at The Parents’ suite for present-opening.

Then to The Spouses-in-Law (The Husband’s brother and his Lovely and Charming Wife) where we had a lovely dinner, caught up on life, and The Son taught The Brother-In-Law how to best load and use his new iPod.  (That’s why we had The Offspring, you know.  They’re most handy to have around.)

We returned home.

It’s been a busy, busy, happy, happy time.
I think I’ll take a nap.

Overheard From The Offspring

...as we embarked on #4 Brother's Wedding Weekend.

The Son: (Cousins) "A&J want to do something tonight with us. There's a bar they like that has $.50 beers. But you're not 21."

The Daughter: (who has 7 months to go)"I'm working on it."

The Son: "Work harder."

Details on an awesome weekend to come, as soon as I get some sleep.

And a Bit More Detail

We're off for #4 brother's wedding. I'm so excited for him and The Beloved. She has 2 great daughters who fit right in with "The Cousins"- the 24, now going on 26 of our collective children. Coming from a big family (I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters), it's been really valuable for my offspring to experience being with lots of family. Just being together is always an event. And having something to celebrate makes it unbelievable.

I did hit Late Night last night for the first time in probably a month. Knitting Knews alert: Spring Fling (yeah- the purple lacy short-sleeved cardi for The Daughter... yeah- the one I started a year ago-) is almost done. I'm in the last throes of the sleeves. I picked it up again when The Daughter decided to wear the lavender dress with the purple flowers to The Wedding. There are a couple of wonky spots in it, but... stuff happens. Gonna look for that galloping horse. Miracles happen-- I was able to pick up a skein of the Debbie Bliss Cathay in the same dye lot! Color me purple and happy!

Katie, who lives in Romania now, graced us with her presence, having flown through nasty weather from Boston. She had a yarn orgy, and when I left The Shop, there was a stack of about 20 skeins on the table, waiting for her credit card to exercise itself. She brought along some of her amazing work, including a darling lace-edged baby sweater in purple Cathay that looked like it could have been Spring Fling's little sister.

Shanti called and it was great to talk with her.

...and with Almost-a-nurse Stephanie, Just-back-from-her-honeymoon Ann, Working-at-being-a-lawyer Maeve, Planning-her-chuppah Cindy, Knitting-an-amazing-silk-sweater Nikki, Managing-it-all Holly, Keeping-the-rest-of-it-all-together Aimee and Launching-out-on-a-new-career Erin... (sorry- I need to wrap this up, and don't have time for all the links)

It was so great to be back with my Irregular friends. What an interesting combination of people. And now so geographically diverse as well. And with the ups and downs, excitements and celebrations, tragedies and joys of our lives, how blessed I am to share it with these special people.

Sometimes you just get lucky.

In 50 Words or Less

(written yesterday, but Blogger.com was sick. very sick)

Past month=busy. 25th Anniversary. Bermuda Cruise. Wonderful. Work. Memorial weekend=Chicagoland. Sister-in-law-to-be shower. Nieces graduated. High School and College. Big Party. Lots more work. Several night shifts. Flying tomorrow. Brother’s wedding Saturday. More Big Parties. Party Hearty. Late night tonight. Bit of knitting. Very Little.

I Have Yarn!

So, as you have all heard me whine, I didn't get to go to MS&W. But did that stop me? NOOoooooo.

I hit the Happy Place and picked up some Cherry Tree Farm yarn that will be used for Wendy's Grape Arbor shawl. And I got some Whisper (it's on sale, y'all) that will be used for the Baltic Sea stole. And I got a bunch of the Debbie Bliss silk in a beautiful silver grey that will turn into a very simple wrap.

I also got replacements for some of my tiny-sized DPNs. Never have enough. And another Addi Turbo. And a set of stitch holders.

And today when I got home, there was a package of Lisa Souza Sock! yarn. Three nifty skeins that I know I won't get to for quite awhile, but there they are.

The Baltic Sea stole and the silver silk are going with me on my cruise to Bermuda. (and maybe a skein of sock yarn, too.) (maybe) (don't want to overdo.)

We're Leaving in The Morning

A whole week off work.
Cruisin'.
I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!
And I'll catch ya when I get back.

Color Me Jealous

...because I've been drooling over everyone's blogs. EVERYONE went to MS&W this past weekend except moi, it seems. EVERYONE got wonderful yarn and got to hang out in beautiful weather, and see those really neat sheep and alpacas.

Well, I got night differential....

Catching Up

No blogs for the past few days, because I just came off 3 night shifts. Having caught a couple hours of ZZZs, I figured I'd blog a bit.

I am a bit preoccupied, because I leave Sunday for a cruise to here. (Figured I'd save the pretty pictures for later. Always loved those CIA factbooks).

The faucet handle arrived Friday, and was easily installed. Somehow, the hot & cold were reversed, but I got that fixed today. We have hot, we have cold, we have water. (Guess I'd better clean the kitchen. No more excuses.)

The parts of the shawl-collar sweater are done, and if I get some energy today, it just might become a totally FO. I had as much as I could take of the never-ending collar, and quit some 14 rows shy of where it was supposed to end. As it was, it took 3 balls of Cashmarino Chunky for the collar alone. That's between $25 and $30 just for the collar.

I couldn't see using a 4th ball.

It looks fine.

We had a lovely Late Night and celebrated The Impending Demise of Spinsterhood for our dear friend Ann.
Anyway,Here's to you, Chica!!!

Since I was working during the "bracketing nights" I was unable, AGAIN, to go to Maryland Sheep & Wook. Such a hassle!!! But my friend Carolina is such a sweetie. I saw her for a bit at Late Night, and she OFFERED to purchase yarn for me. We had a little discussion about my preferences, one of which is that I LOVE surprises. So I can't wait to see what she chose for me. (And make sure I don't forget my checkbook!!!)

Remember that Guardian Angel???

Glad to say S/He is still lookin' out for me. And for others. I was on my way to work on Saturday evening (see a theme here?) driving on Fort Hunt Road--AT the speed limit, I might add-- when a car was suddenly in front of me. Apparently it didn't register to her that there was a stop sign that is intended to prevent people from ending up perpendicular to cross-traffic on a very busy secondary road.

I saw her in front of me. I hit the horn. I hit the brakes. The anti-lock factor kicked in, so I didn't skid. However, when one slams on the brakes, one keeps moving for a bit. I think it was probably about a second and a half.

What goes through one's mind while hurtling toward the driver of a car who is directly in front of you and is looking you in the eyes? Here's my list:
1. Oh no. I'm going to hit her.
2. My air bag will deploy, and I won't be too injured.
3. I'm going to hurt her. A lot.
4. Oh my God. She has kids in the car.

I was blessed to have a 5th thought.

5. How did my car stop 6 inches from broadsiding her?

After a second or so of us both catching our breaths, she proceeded across the road, and pulled over. I really didn't have anything constructive to say to her, so after a Sign of the Cross, I kept driving.

The Son had been driving the car, and took it in for inspection last month. Although it passed, they said the brakes were getting low, so we took it to the dealer to have them fixed.

I'm starting to breathe again

What a Way to Start the Day!

So I wake up and stumble into the kitchen to make coffee, turn on the water, and the faucet handle breaks off in my hand. This is one of the single-handle, has the squirter thing that pulls out. Installing this sink and counter (about 6 or 7 years ago) was somewhat akin to the Landing at Normandy in terms of planning and execution.

The faucet was attached to the sink before the sink was installed on the counter. The garbage disposal is in front of the sink fixin's, and required a plumber to attach the waste drain which looks like a Rube Goldberg concoction.

As I disassembled the faucet, it appeared that it would be possible to just replace the handle, although it would require purchase of the entire faucet set-up. I wouldn't mind that-- we're talking a hundred bucks vice a thousand.

Nice idea, but Wrong. They don't sell this kind any more.

Is it too early to pull out the scotch?

The Saga Continues
Ok-- here we go. I went to Lowe's (which I usually like a lot) and ran into the most unhelpful, sanctimonious jerk in the plumbing section. In spite of him, I bought a faucet. When I got home I discovered that for a variety of reasons it wasn't going to work.

So I went to Home Depot, where I ran into a guy who was SO helpful-- spent a lot of time with me, and we thought we had a solution, but then figured it wasn't going to work. I bought the other faucet anyway, and figured I'd give it a try. $68 is better than a thousand.

Then I did what I should have done in the first place. Called Moen. Maybe they'd still have the part? Well-- not only do they have the part, they have a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. I've rarely taken people up on a lifetime guarantee. Since I preferred to get the part tomorrow rather than next week, the only thing I have to pay for is the overnight mail. $12.

So the water situation in the house is "iffy"-- not sure if I can turn it back on without flooding the kitchen.

Hey-- that means we'll probably have to go out for dinner.

Damn the bad luck!!!

The Never-Ending Collar

My prediction was pretty close to accurate. Not only am I into my THIRD ball of Cashmarino Chunky on the collar of this sweater, but I somehow misplaced my 10-1/2 Addi Turbo, and haven't been able to get to The Shop so I'm using straight needles. The sweater collar is formed with short-row shaping using wrapped stitches, so in order to keep some semblance of saknity, I'm transferring the non-current stitches back to the size 10 circular to reduce weight and sheer number of stitches on the needles. (The collar starts out with over 250 stitches, and you get down to 68 live stitches in the center before it all comes together again by picking up the stitches and their wee wrappies to prepare for cast-off.)

My goal is to get the shawl collar done tonight--TONIGHT, I tell you!!! I've been through NCIS, The Unit, The Dynasty Reunion (interesting, since I never watched Dynasty the first time around), and now to what's left of Leno.

Tom Cruise is on Letterman. There was a time when I would have looked forward to seeing that, but gone are the days.

If it gets really late, I may break out Season One of The Gilmore Girls.

Picture tomorrow.

The Traveller

That's me, this past few days.

I went to Blacksburg to see The Daughter. One of those Mom things-- had this aching to see my child, so drove 4-1/2 hours, did some of her laundry, had dinner with her, went to sleep, got up, had lunch with her and drove back. That was the best part.

The second best part was actually being able to visit the LYS down there-- Mosaic. It's not Knit Happens, but it's a very nice shop with a very respectable yarn line, and since it's 4-1/2 hours away, will serve to provide me with a source of fiber should I need to start something new while I'm down there.

I got back in time to spend a few minutes with Wendy in honor of her book. And then off to Prince William Park to spend the weekend being The Nurse for our local Girl Scout encampment.

I really enjoy camping, but as I "mature," I also really appreciate the opportunity to glean the benefits of the great outdoors without the responsibility for keeping groups of little girls in line. I was a troop leader for the entire time The Daughter was a girl in the program. Now I can go, lead songs, take care of cuts, scrapes and bruises, make sure the coffee's made for everyone in the morning, knit when I'm not otherwise occupied, and leave when I've done everything I need to do. This is the life.

I wanted to post a picture of me reading Wendy Knits in my sleeping bag, which I did, reading by flashlight. But another benefit is that I get to sleep by myself in the dining hall (no chatty little people). I had only a squirrel to join me-- but that's another story.

And he didn't know how to use the camera

Mini Progress Report

...for mini progress. The sweater pieces blocked nicely.

I was able to hit Late Night where Niki, Nikki Carolina, Holly and Aimee were holding down the fort.

I connected the shoulders to the back, and after a false start, spent the ENTIRE TIME picking up stitches around what will be the never-ending collar. Now mind you, having said that, my dearest wish is that it'll be done in no time, and I'll feel like a fool for even having trepidated about it. Ya think?

To paraphrase Wendy's words: Fat chance, cupcake.

It's Launching Day!!!

...For Wendy-From-The-Blog's long-awaited Wendy Knits. I was able to see an advance copy, and I gotta say it's all it's cracked up to be. The models, by the way, are absolutely gorgeous. If you want to know more, go here. (Or get yourself a copy. That's what I'm doing today.)

What else am I doing today? Well, this morning I did this:

The Blogger finally woke up, so I could load the pictures.

Blocking always amazes me (I'm easily amazed). I started out with these tubes of knitting. It was the curliest thing I've seen in the recent past. Then it turns into an amorphous blob of soggy cashmarino, then takes on a bit of character as the water is teased out, and then you can actually see what you've got. (Hey, Ann- the sleeves are both the same length. Hurrah!) The only thing that's more amazing to me is when I get that final end woven in.

I'm one of those people who knits a lot (not as much as SOME people we know) but I'm not that great at finishing. I'll have pieces of things all done and sitting around, but unless it needs to be somewhere, I just don't feel the pressure to do much with it. ADD. Priceless. And expensive.

And what else today??? Continuing the weed-out process in the closet, doing laundry and cleaning the bedroom. AmVets is coming May 1, and I'll have a boatload of stuff for them.

Then, this evening I hope that the sweater will be dry, so that I can pick up stitches for what I know will be the never-ending-collar. Maeve is "not" knitting this right now, since we all know she's studying, and I'm looking forward to her take on the collar. But she's a bit more prolific in the production arena than I, so she may not be viewing it with the same trepidation.

Tomorrow? Doin' my part for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. And if there's a lot of sitting-around-time, working on the never-ending-collar. (Nice attitude, huh? I haven't even started it yet.) Then, depending on the needs of the Justice System, I'll either go to The Shop and be Irregular, or if I'm released from duty early enough, head south to see The Daughter at The Place. If I don't get out early, I'll head down on Thursday, but she has more time available on Wednesday night.

Not much can convince me to miss Late Night, but I haven't seen The Daughter for a long while, and I won't have a chance again until the end of May.

After The Bermuda Cruise!!!

Progress Report

Second sleeve redone. May block tonight, energy permitting. Then to the collar thing.

That is all.

...And I forgot My Camera

...on Wednesday, when Kay and Ann came to Knit Happens to tout their most wonderful book Mason-Dixon Knitting (with a subtitle that I can't possibly recapture without looking at it.)

But some of my Irregular buddies had theirs, so go visit Wendy orMaeve to see pictures. There was quite a nice crowd there. Kristine had her buddy Jacinta from England. We'd heard about her, and were thrilled to be able to finally meet her. (If you see Kristine, ask her how the Jirbil is doing.)

Erin, Ann, Niki, Jasmine, Aimee,of course Holly and Carolina were there-- and my brain is a bit too fried to remember everyone else.

I proceeded with the second sleeve of the bolero sweater, and was thrilled when I reached the end-- In my mind, finishing a second sleeve basically equates to a FO, except for the rather massive job of doing the pick-up collar. And then I noticed. It didn't match the other sleeve. It was about 6 rows off. I knew that I counted this one properly, so I must have goofed on the other one, but this was the one that was closest in my memory, so with Ann's encouragement, I ripped back to the decreases. And it wasn't as painful as it could have been. I'm still not finished with it (again), but maybe tonight. (there's a lot of stuff on the DVR). Now THIS is the reason that I usually knit both sleeves at the same time.

Live and re-Learn.

What a Beautiful Day!

And as it turns out, I was SUPPOSED to be spending it sitting in jury duty. Why, you might ask, am I not there? Because my number wasn't listed on the website when I dutifully checked last evening, as I was directed to do by the official summons I received. This is cut and pasted from the website:
This information was last updated on: 4/10/2006
Groups to Report: 200-202 AND 221-228
Summons Color: Yellow
Date to Report: Tuesday, April 11th
Date to Check Back (after 5:00 p.m.):
Service Status: Completed after Tuesday, April 11th

I was group 220. Do you see group 220 included above? Neither do I.

So I was sitting here, minding my own business, and trying to gather the info to finalize our taxes, when the phone rang.
"Are you aware that you were scheduled for jury duty today?" the voice at the other end said.
"I checked the website, and my group number wasn't listed."
"It was a mistake," she said. "The phone line had the correct information."
"I was supposed to check BOTH?"
"No, but you have to reschedule."

Great. I cleared today so I'd be available, and now I've got another messed-up day. Oh well. I'll look at this as a gift. Maybe it'll rain on my rescheduled day.

It really is beautiful out. See?


I might just take my knitting and sit on the porch.

Another Busy Week

.. and a rather boring blog.

I was summoned to Jury Duty, and my group was not called on Tuesday, for which I was a bit grateful. I did loads and loads of laundry, and made a minor bit of progress on the house.

I went to Norfolk for a speaking engagement on Wednesday and Thursday, and then did a full shift on Friday. Today was taken up by the Girl Scout Annual Meeting. One of my dear friends was given a really terrific award, and it was great. The bonus was that I got over half of the second sleeve completed on the Debbie Bliss Bolero sweater. The end of the tunnel might be in sight.

I am really tuckered out, though. I work 12-hr shifts tomorrow and Monday, and then am in the jury pool again this week. It's going to be another sturdy week for The Nurse.

But we're going to Winchester for Easter. We'll probably take in the Saturday Easter Vigil and big Easter service on Sunday, because The Son will be singing with the choir out there. The Daughter can't get away, and we'll miss her, but it'll be a nice break.