Monday, March 21, 2011

It's a good day

I'm weaving in ends and working on the duplicate stitching on Whistler. Working on my lunch breaks I might be done by the end of the week. At 60 plus it's not like I can wear it any how.

The bulbs are opening up like crazy. The usual early birds in the front and south side yard have been blooming since Friday, but the bulbs on the mound in the back started opening up in mass today. I noticed that the lilac leaves are unfurling as well as the gooseberry canes and roses. I planted three rows of garlic tonight so we'll see how that does. The witch hazel has been blooming for a while now, but it makes the whole backyard smell so good.

It was a good day at work. I'm getting more familiar/comfortable with the computer system and managed to input some rather large orders. I sold some sizable orders too and made one contractor so happy that 1. he told me how grateful he was and 2. he stood in line to tell my boss how happy he was. And he told me he'd be back tomorrow. Then as I was getting ready to wrap up for the day another customer came in with questions about deck design and construction. They were hoping for brochures but were happy enough with what I could show them that they said they would come back later in the week when I had more time so that I could put it together for them. A three level deck with a paver patio will be a really nice size project to sell.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I want, I want

More Dale of Norway sweaters.  Yes it's the first day of spring, and I sat down this afternoon and plotted and planned and almost ordered yarn for these
Lake Louise
Notre Dame
Whiteface Mountain - I want his sweater
Mt. Rose
   I want this sweater in these colors. 
            
Aubergine

Northern Green












I also spent some time surfing and found additional DON pattern books to add to my collection. I'm sure there will be more added to the list when they arrive.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

ooh ooh ooh

Sounds vaguely pornographic ehh?

Finally after hearing that it was on the way for more than 10 years it's going to be released. What? The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt.  The ultimate knitting bible for hand knitters especially.  Copies of the original have sold for hundreds of dollars in all of the time I've known about the book.  Amazon has it listed for pre-ordering and the the publisher says that it will be released on November 1.  Why yes I have ordered my copy, thanks for asking.  Now go order yours.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Whistler to date

A short post of my progress.
 

The front, back and one sleeve are complete and joined together. The front and back have been steamed because it makes seaming easier.

Monday, March 7, 2011

It's Been a Long Time

This morning I got up and went back to work full time for the first time since mid July.   And for the first time in more than two years it is at a job that doesn't require brute force and a strong back.  I'm happy to have a full time steady job, where I can use my brains rather than my muscles to do the work.  I spent the day doing online learning sessions and the list of classes they have given me to complete over the next few months is long.  I'm earning a paycheck again and that's a good thing.

On Heather's 11 minute project, I worked on rehanging stitches when they decided to fall off while I was knitting jacquard on my machine.  Got that done, started knitting and realized about 5 rows later that there was something else seriously wrong.  The pattern was not symmetrical and it should have been.  A quick look at the pattern showed the problem and it was fairly easily resolved.  Now I need to rip out 18 rows of jacquard knitting.  Sigh...   This work thing is going to seriously cut into my fiber addiction.  hahaha

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Not a bad day

My sister woke me this morning, after a late night trying to finish something.  We had a large series of thunderstorms on Sunday night.  She had asked me to check her house for damage as she is on vacation.  I had sent her pictures of the high water in her gardens.  This mornings call was to ask me to go over and use a sump pump to get the worst of it out of the way.so her perennials didn't drown.  I took advantage of the down time to work on picking up the borders of my Stonington Shawl.  It took over three hours to get the worst of it out of the beds.

When I got home I managed to get the back of my \Whistler sweater finished and off of the machine.  I need to do some duplicate stitching to finish it off. 

I got a call from the HR manager at Home Depot, asking me when I was available to come in for orientation.  This has been the fourth winter that I spent at home and I am so happy to have the opportunity to work full time again.

All and all this has been a good day.