Brief update

Yes, I know I've been neglectful of my blog. I've been busy! Mystery Stole 3 is very slowly coming along, as is the UT blanket. Also, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out on Saturday, and I decided I needed to reread the others before then. I've just started Goblet of Fire, so I have lots of reading to do before Saturday.



In other news, we purchased a new vacuum cleaner. We got the one I wanted. I saw it in Consumer Reports as the best value in the canister vacuums. Sears had it on sale, which made it even more appealing. I had procrastinated getting a new one since the old still sort of worked. However, sort of is not good enough when there is a whole house to be cleaned. Hopefully this is the last largish household purchase for some time. We had to get a new lawnmower earlier this year since the old one gave up the ghost. I guess when your appliances are 15 - 20 years old, they do need to be replaced. We're not sure how old the vacuum is, but it's at least 16-17 years, and the lawnmower was 15. Like I said, hopefully this is the last one for some time. After all, I have kitties in the same age range, and they take up some cash too.



Anyway, I'll post pictures of the knitting a bit later today. I REALLY need to clean house some now that I've got the proper tools. (Well, I have to check the Swiffer pad/solution inventory to make sure I've got all the proper tools.) I do have a few places that need hands & knees scrubbing, like in front of the kitchen sink, but Swiffer works great everywhere else.

Play The Ecstasy of Gold in your mind as I ponder the agony of lace. I am on a quest to find 2 stitches.

(Re: The Ecstasy of Gold - here's the Mellatica version if you prefer)

Last night I embarked onto clue 2. I had nearly completed row 101 when I noticed I was 2 stitches short. I tinked halfway back since it looked like the center was correct and reknit the row. Still 2 stitches short. I tinked the whole row and counted stitches. 2 short. I went and pulled out clue 1. I thought I had completed it, but row 99 was not marked off. I started to knit row 99 and realized that I had already knitted it. Hmm. What in the world have I done? I tinked what I had just done, tinked back to the wrong side of row 95. Still 2 short. I spent some time comparing my lace to the chart. I can't see where I've gone amiss. All my yarnovers look like the chart. My last known to be correct lifeline is on row 77. Augh!!!! I hate to think I'll have to undo that much knitting. However, I may just have to in order to get back on track. At some point when I was knitting on Thursday night, I quit counting the stitches on the completed rows since it seemed I was getting to the end and having the correct amount of stitches to finish. Obviously, I got cocky. Perhaps I'll be able to get some work done on it tonight, but I won't plan on it. My knitting and tinking were very interrupted last night by both Keith and one of the kitties. I may just work on Keith's sock since I've barely touched it since cast on, but most probably the UT baby blanket.

BTW, The Agony of Lace is the title for today's post, but Blogger won't let me near the title line today.

A longer post tomorrow.

Clue 1 Finished!

As you can see, I finished MS3's clue 1 last night around 11:30 p.m. I wanted to get it finished before clue 2 was released this morning. Yes, I've already gotten clue 2, taped my charts together and looked longingly at it before putting it away. Yes, I wish I could stay home and knit, but instead I'll be at work, probably knitting on a hat before the day's over.

The latest knit bag accessory

A little something to keep that yarn good and tangled, not to mention it helps a lot when spit splicing wool!

Here's the updated picture of the UT blanket.

As for the Mystery Stole 3, all I can say is thank goodness for lifelines. Since I haven't done any lace before, I read all info on lifelines voraciously. I had put a lifeline in and remembered for the first time to mark it on my chart so I would know what row it was on. I knit for a couple of more rows, then saw a nickle sized hole in the lace! I had dropped a stitch in one of the areas with yarnovers, and I knew I had to rip. Luckily, the lifeline was on line 65, and I dropped the stitch on line 69. Not too much to rip. At that point I put the stole away (it was 11:00 p.m.). I'm looking for a good place to take a picture of it - someplace where the lovely pale grey will show up.

In the wildlife update, the hummingbird was back this morning, looking for nectar. Since my usually lush butterfly bushes are barely growing this year, I've decided that I probably should get a hummingbird feeder. I'm a sucker for wildlife, as you may have guessed from reading this. Heck, I put in extra parsley last year for the tiger swallowtails to use for their caterpillars. I need a new regular birdfeeder anyway as the one I have is about to fall apart. I won't get one with any wooden parts again. The squirrels gnaw through the wood. I'm not one of those who gets all bent out of shape about the squirrels raiding the feeder, but I don't like finding the feeding gnawed into bits from my beautiful, fat, well fed, but greedy squirrels. Besides, in her youth Brownie killed squirrels (and chipmunks and rabbits) with amazing regularity, and I think she likes to occasionally watch them in her old age.

I'll probably wait until I finish clue 1 to post the stole picture, so look for it in the next few days. And while I'm thinking about it, I switched to Addi Lace Needles. They are amazing! They are so wonderful with the Zephyr and doing the yarnovers.

One more thing. Go out and buy some of Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream. It is very yummy - a vanilla ice cream with chocolate coated waffle cone bits and fudge. He's donating his proceeds to charity. Read about it here.

Wildlife update

I was just sitting outside, drinking my first cup of coffee, when I noticed a bit of movement to my left. Now here in Georgia, that bit of movement is usually some sort of stinging insect, but this time it was a hummingbird. I see them occasionally at the butterfly bushes, which is what this one was checking out. They are so amazing to watch. You could almost see it thinking as it hovered there, looking at the coneflowers and butterfly bushes. Nope, no food here this morning. It zipped off. Between the late freeze and the drought, not much besides the coneflowers are blooming here. The coneflowers have gone quite crazy, but the rest are mostly dormant. I've thought about putting out a hummingbird feeder, but since I know they are a lot of work with the at least weekly cleanings and such, I haven't. I do wonder how they are doing in the drought. I have seen rabbits in my yard drinking the water I leave out if I get up early enough. Perhaps an Internet search on hummingbirds and a trip to Petsmart are in my future.

Mystery Stole 3's first clue was released yesterday at 7:00 a.m. I printed it while in the shower, looked at it briefly, then went to work. I started it last night around 8:00ish, and was able to complete about 23 rows. I had to tink (unknit) a couple of rows because I would get to the end and be a stitch short. I've not knit lace enough to just look and say, Oh, that yarnover is missing. I'm sure I'll be that good by the end of it. It's much easier to do than I imagined, and it looks pretty good. I really do like my beads. Tomorrow is Sunday which means I'll have time to take pictures and post them.

Needles are finally here.

Sometimes you just have to wonder about the Postal Service. Quite frankly, I've had few complaints about them over the years. However, I am one of those people who will track her purchases several times a day because I am impatient. My Knitpicks order left Ohio on 6/21. From there it came to Atlanta on 6/22. On 6/23 it was in Charlotte (WTF!?). Today, 6/28, the package finally arrives. I really don't understand why it needed to take the trip to South Carolina. Anyway, I hope my needles had a good time while they toured the southeast. I know I've always enjoyed touring the southeast. I'm ready for the Mystery Stole 3 to start (which must be why I hear Magical Mystery Tour cueing up in my head)

Apologies for the short post, but I really need to get more than 2 pattern repeats done on the UT blankie. I want to get finished with it in order to start the stole & Jesse's Flames.

And one final thing! I am so excited to find that Whole Foods now carries Ben & Jerry's Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream. I had a hair appointment tonight after work, so I couldn't buy any. Tomorrow I'm taking the cooler with me so my ice cream won't melt on the way home.

Check this out

I heard about this site while listening to 99X on the way to work this morning. http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl
It was too funny. Some of the cats really do look like Hitler with big ears.

Only 2 more days until the Mystery Shawl 3 posts the first clue. I swatched last night and will post as soon as I block it. I hope I'm not repeating myself. I've seen a couple of people I know posting on the list. I'll have to work on the UT blanket tonight to get enough done to take the weekend for lace knitting.