Stealth Dandy

This lovely piece was finished a little while ago but I was lazy and did not soak and block it until a few days ago...here she is, the Stealth Dandy made from Patons Stretch Socks in colorway Mineral.  I used two full skeins.  I would never use the yarn for socks myself but since I received it in a swap and I am stash busting it was perfect to whip this up.

Monday

Well, it seems that the weekend is NEVER long enough.  Even with housework completed before Friday it seems as if there was way too much on our plates.  The pool has been returned to the correct chemical balance and all is well with the swimming universe!  Good news for those like me that love a good swim when they get home in the evening or one to start the morning before heading to the gym.

The visit to the hairdresser was also fruitful.  The color issues I was having have been resolved, at least for the moment, and I am once again past a large part of the painful process that one encounters while growing out very short layers.  The hair tends to be a little disrespectful the first two or three days after a visit, so I'll try to get some pictures later this week when it begins to behave.

I did manage to get the Clementine finished Friday.  She is quite lovely and is being blocked as I type this so that she will be ready for a photo shoot Tuesday.  It is actually quite a wonderful pattern and one you get to row 63 on Chart B the rest is a four row repeat that is so mindless it is actually soothing to the nerves.  I decided on a three-needle bind off as I was not fond of the mental image that a Kitchener bind off would create.  I can see more of these in the future!

I also managed to get the Dandy I made from the Patons Stretch Sock soaked and blocked.  It too will get a photo shoot Tuesday.  This way we can compare the sock yarn version to the dk version that I already posted about.  I am always amazed at exactly how much yarn is in a skein of sock yarn once you start knitting lace.  I will post more about it when I share the pictures.

I also have now sewn the sleeves into the Red Robin, so all that remains is to purchase three buttons and attach them and it can be moved to finished status.  It was the third project that I had listed in the Finish-A-Long. I was happy to see it get finished and off the needles.  All that remains from the UFO pile are two afghans.  One I will be sorting out and getting ready to tackle as soon as the weather here will cease and desist with the excessive heat warnings.  There is NOTHING worse than having a lap full of yarns in the Texas heat and humidity.  Except maybe not having AC at all.  So be prepared for posts later in October or November about the last two remaining UFO's.  There is one hibernating item (Fifi) but it needs to be frogged and re-started, as I have lost too much weight since I started it to finish the current size and that is a good thing.  Really!

I needed mindless knitting on Saturday so I started a wash cloth for Zoe.  I had a pattern for a rubber duckie in my queue so I grabbed some Sugar'n Cream that was in my stash and cast on.  I had a skein of bright yellow that I had purchased specially for this one.  She is with Stephanie in Florida visiting her grandpa so it will be ready for her when she gets back home to Texas.

I have cast on Red Hot and Green Gable.  I have Calmer in a beautiful pale blue (SH 487 - Refresh) for the Red Hot and Brown Sheep Company, Inc. Cotton Fleece in the Caribbean Sea colorway (CW-520)for the Green Gable.  I have also started the Multnomah with some handspun that I received in the All Things Local swap.  So it seems that I have now added three WIP's to replace the three UFO's that I just finished.  I am excited because they are all different but should be quick knits.  Or at least that what my brain said after reading the patterns for the first time.  I will be working on the Red Hot first, as it is for a KAL that ends at the end of the Third Quarter.  Green Gable will not be too far behind, as I want to be able to get some wear out of it while it is still warm this year.

We have also been cheering LOUDLY for the Pearland Little League.  After play ended last night they are the only US team that is 2 and 0!  They hit solidly and got on the board with scores early and never let up.  They play again at 7:00 PM CST on Tuesday.  I will be looking for tee shirts today to support them!  Texas has sent an amazing number of teams to the LLWS since it was started in 1947 and the Bellaire team of 2000 was the closest that a team from our metro area has made it since the two Houston teams won in 1950 and 1966.  You can bet that all of Pearland is cheering and doing what we can to see these boys all the way to the finish line.  I would love to see them sweep the whole event.

Okay...enough for the moment...Have a great Monday and cheer for Pearland!

Monday

Well, we lived through yet another weekend only to end up at Monday all over again.  Hopefully if you are in a heat advisory you are staying in the AC and getting enough fluids.  I can tell you that the pool water temperature this morning at 4:30 AM was 86 degrees and the air temperature was 87 degrees, at least according to the equipment that monitors our pool.  The heat has depleted the chlorine levels so we had to add another fifty pound bag of salt this morning before we left for the day.

So, Thursday SF came home and was as pale as a ghost.  It seems that some one kind enough to pass on a little bug that was going around her office.  She had thrown up around 4:30 in the afternoon and slept all the way home on the van pool.  When she got home, I sent her straight to bed.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $100 dollars.  And do not pass it on to me please and thank you.  I took a bottle of water into her and put it on her night stand.  She slept from 6:30 PM that night until 8:00 AM the next morning.  The only reason she woke up is because I needed to see if she was going to go to the dentist.  A resounding no.  I called them and rescheduled her appointment and left for the day.  I got back around 4:30 PM and she was still asleep.  She had not even been aware that the day had gone and that I had been out of the house.  She got up and I got her some 7-Up.  She ate some scrambled eggs and a piece of toast but complained that her head hurt so bad that it was making her sick.  Back to bed.  She slept the remainder of Friday and did not get up until around 9:45 AM on Saturday.  Her color was back and her appetite was as well.  I made her stay in the AC and she was happy to do so.  We did venture out long enough to go to the movies but that was all.  Sunday was also a low key day with me keeping her in the AC and hydrated.  It seems she is over it all now and I did not catch it but it was not an ideal weekend.

Yes, we did go to a movie.  Movies are one of our favorite past-times.  We were also going to celebrate out second anniversary of our first official date.  On 08/08/08 we went to a movie as our first official date.  That seems so distant now but still fun to remember.  We decided to go and see "The Kids Are Alright".  We had seen the reviews on TV and read about it and so we agreed it was worth seeing.  Funny how life often seems to resonate art.  There were pieces of this film that hit a little too close to home and had me sniffling a few times.  There were other times when it was hard not to choke on the popcorn from laughing.  All in all it was a good movie but I could have waiting and gotten it on Netflix I think.  As we were leaving SF reminded me that the movie we saw on our first date provided me with the same range of emotions.  We laughed and I asked her if she was okay having such an emotional woman in her life.  She called me a little idiot and I knew we were ok.  Just to set the record straight, little idiot is a term of endearment when it comes from her.

I have been knitting up a storm as of late.  My dear friend Joe posted about a secret project and when I commented he was worried about the outcome.  Curious as I am, I ran to the stash and grabbed some sock yarn, cast on and knitting away.  A flurry of emails drifted between us and then I realized that I was comparing apples to oranges.  So, I ran back to the stash and found two skeins of JustSoya from a swap and cast on again.  It took about 15 hours and I had the second one completed.  Note that Sassy decided to supervise.  I think she thought that if she sat on the pattern and my notepad that I would stop and pet her.  No dice.  Proof below:

I will tell you that the JustSoya looks wonderful and feels divine but was a pain to work with.  It tended to be a bit too splitty for me, especially with the lace application (ssk/k2tog/s2kp2o).  I like the fact that it is machine washable but would not purchase it myself.  This was a true DK weight yarn, so I was able to do the pre-blocking measurements and after-blocking measurements and report back to Joe so he would have more insight into his own.  The Handy Dandy will be gifted to my neighbor Jeannie.  She saw me taking pictures of it and fell in love with the color.  She and her husband Pat have decided that it is time for him to retire and they will be moving to outside Knoxville as soon as they can get their house here sold.  We will miss them immensely but we have been planning to retire near Knoxville ourselves so we will see them again.  Plus we can always go visit!

I have also been working on my Clementine.  I have one whole half completed and am about one quarter of the way on the second half.  After looking at other projects on Ravelry I think that I will do a three needle bind off in place of the Kitchener that is called for.  Pictures below:

I am also working on the Red Robin for the Finish-A-Long.  I am not sure if I will get the pants done but I will get the shirt finished easily.  I'll post pictures of it before the 13th, as that is the deadline for the contest.

Okay, off to find a recipe for Mahi Mahi.....