She's Here!

Isn't she the cutest baby ever! My first grandchild. Oh, the wonders of e-mail and digital cameras. Even though she's across the country I have a picture already. She was born at 11:47 Eastern time today.

I can't really believe it yet. I've been knitting like mad for this day and I'm still knitting more but wow, here she is!! And in just a week I'll get to see her when I get to go out and "help" them. Any one who is already a Grandma will know that it's a privilege to do anything I can for my daughter, son-and-law and new baby. They named her Abigail and she weighs 5lb. 11oz. She is 19 inches long. That means newborn stuff will fit her longer.

I finished the Tulip Baby Cardigan today and I'm starting another baby sweater right away. I wouldn't want her to be cold right?








The Tulip sweater was just a joy to knit. I did get that slow start because of knit night. (Couldn't be my own fault that I started it on needles 2 sizes too big could it) When I got going on it I just couldn't stop because I had to see what the next color would look like. I have enough yarn so that with moving the colors around I could make a couple more. The Bunny Hop yarn is so soft and nice to work with. I hope it will take washing well - I haven't been able to find info on its durability. If you look at my Ravelry project page for it I figured out how much yarn I used of each color. So if Kelly wanted to make up kits - hint, hint. BTW I got gauge exactly when I used the right size needles. The pattern was very well written and I followed it exactly except I picked up 4 stitches around the corners because I thought the picture on the pattern looked kind of scrunchy on the corners. I've never done attached i-cord and with these instructions it was a breeze. It looks so cool as the edging-I'm going to be using it all the time now that I know how.

The Fibonacci Scarf

I have a sock knitting machine. Items that would take me hours and hours to knit at my slow hand knitting speed take mere hours on the circular sock machine (CSM). So it was a few days before Christmas and I of course had more knitting to do than time. So instead of the partially knit hand knit scarf that I was knitting for my son-in-law I decided to knit a scarf on the CSM. What the CSM does really well is knit tubes – plain boring tubes. What could I do to jazz up that long scarf tube? My son-in- law is an engineer and so I thought that I would do a stripe pattern in the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. I’ve read about sweaters knit with this sequence (see the blog knitorious for instance and look at her 2006 projects) but didn’t know what it was. But luckily for me (for many reasons) I’m married to a mathematician and I was able to ask him to explain it to me. Being a great teacher he didn’t just tell me the sequence but told me the formula to figure it out myself (teach someone to fish and he’ll never go hungry). Why am I telling you all this? Nature loves the Fibonacci sequence and it produces the golden ratio. So it’s something to think about when designing. Here’s how to figure it out yourself. Add the two previous numbers. That’s it. So It’s 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 etc. Thus was born the Fibonacci scarf. I made it in Packer colors because my son in law is a Packer fan. When my daughter called to tell me that they got the package I asked if Eric liked the scarf and she said yes. But he had to look up what the Fibonacci sequence was.

Hee, hee. Got you Eric!

By the way I do know how to knit socks on my machine. Socks are just tubes with heels and toes added. I’ll show you some other day.

We're a close knit group

I knit and sometimes tat at the open knitting times at Double Ewe knitting shop. (Thanks Kelly for mentioning my blog on your blog!) Last night was Tuesday knitting night on Wednesday. I mentioned to my relatives on Christmas that I was going to go to my Tuesday night knitting group on Wednesday because the group couldn't imagine missing knitting night for two times due to the holidays. Kelly graciously agreed that we could meet on the Wednesdays after Christmas and New Year's Day. Anyway my relatives couldn't understand why it was so important to meet with my knitting peeps but my dear husband got it right when he said "they're a close knit group" You can groan now.

I was there last night and started the Tulip baby cardigan for the second time. Knitting at Double Ewe is a blast but sometimes it's not conducive to actually knitting. We laugh and chat and sometimes eat and knit and fix problems and ask questions and shop... The first time I started the Tulip cardigan I started it at knitting night and I got quite a bit done. It did worry me that the knitting looked a little loose - I even mentioned it to Kelly and we both looked at it and decided that it would be OK. BTW, why do a gauge swatch - just live dangerously! Got home, went to bed, looked at it the next morning and decided that I couldn't live with how loosely I was knitting. I gave up and decided I would have to do a gauge swatch and it was then that I figured out I was knitting with needles two sizes too big. 9 instead of 7. Big difference. But I sure have fun at knitting night and Friday afternoon too. Just remember to never start a project at open knitting - you'll be having too much fun. Oh, and as far as I can tell, the second start of Tulip is OK. Holding my breath that I don't find something else wrong.


This is how much knitting I got done last night. I'm going to spend the rest of the day knitting this sweater. My first grandchild will be born any day now and I have so many other little baby things to knit for her - have to get knitting. Babies grow fast.

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas everyone!

Do you think I can get 10 placemats done by Christmas?

That's the question I asked Lowell last night. They were not even started. One evening and a day before Christmas. I always get these delusions about how much I can accomplish in the time I have. I did look for and find fabric and wash it last night. But this morning the reality became clear. We've both been working steadily to get ready for the first of our Christmas celebrations tonight (Christmas Eve) and the possibility of making placemats - let alone 10 of them is very remote.

But I did get the wool soaker finished,
I made 2 Korknisse,
puff corn caramel corn, and fudge. This morning I got up early and put the chicken wings in the slow cooker, and finished the scarf for Eric. The scarf was made on my circular sock machine. Even though the bulk of it is machine made there is a lot hand work to do. I had never made a scarf on the CSM before and I was surprised at how long it took. It turned out great I think. Packer colors and the stripes in the Fibonacci sequence, for an engineer who likes the Packers.


Appropriate no?

I spent a lot of time getting the scarf finished and the package ready to send. Then I assigned Lowell to take it to the post office. He got there at 2:00 and the post office closed at 12:00 on Christmas Eve. Yes I knew that it wouldn't get there by Christmas but at least it would have been in the mail before Christmas. I could have made placemats!

First Day of Retirement

Who would have thought that I'd be feeling blue on the first day of retirement. I guess it's because it wasn't entirely my choice to retire. After more that 17 years of being a manager in food service and several more as just a worker bee my knees have said enough already. So I've started a new phase of my life. Actually I'm sure that I won't be bored. If there is a craft that I haven't heard of I'm sure that I would like to try it. Mostly right now I knit and tat with some china painting and paper crafting thrown in. Oh, and did I mention quilting and sewing and.....

So this blog will be a journal of my retired life I suppose. I've been thinking of starting one for a long time. I read a lot of blogs and like to write. Seems like a great forum for my creativity.

On the first day of retirement I:
Finished decorating for Christmas
Went to a George Winston Concert
Knit on the soaker that I'm making for my future granddaughter
Did some decluttering of living room
Cleaned up my "nest"
And some other necessary personal tasks

I've decided that in order to keep focused and not just fritter my time away I need to be accountable about what I do with my time. I'm a list maker and have sporadically kept a notebook with daily lists of what I want to accomplish every day. It gives me great satisfaction to cross off items. So I hope to keep this notebook of daily lists regularly. I'll let you know what I accomplish!