Why yes, actually, I have been working out!

Not really - I just put that in there because I have managed to break two of my DPN's in the past few weeks! It made me feel like of Mice and Men when Lenny squeezes the mouse to hard and kills it...(Did I get the name right?)

I have 3 socks on the needles - two of which I broke the needles to and one I started on my trip this past week to Nebraska. I am using some Cashmerino I picked up in Newport, RI last year. They are going to be mine...all mine - just to wear around the house and make my feet happy. I have completely screwed up the pattern on this as the holes are not in the order they are suppose to be in. My flight was grounded in Chicago and I was knitting while watching people at the airport at 11:00 at night and realized...yeah - I'm not doing it right...oh well. I'm NOT tearing it out...I'll just get over it!!



Patricia and I headed out to Dee's Nimble Needles and Yarn in Walpole, MA. Our LYS is on some crazy summer hours and is NEVER open and the selection of yarn there doesn't really excite me. So we ended up staying for quite a while at Dee's and met a sleuth of wonderful knitters! Designers and such that have their patterns published - so I volunteered to test out any patterns for the sake of yarn! I love this yarn store and Patricia and I will definitely head back next Friday, just to sit and knit with these wonderful ladies! I bought more DPN's to replace the needles I managed to break and ended up with a huge stash of yarn. At the end, I had to re-evaluate and put some stuff back. I bought yarn to start on Wendy's baby blanket. I'm going to use a pattern from Jennifer's baby book she let me borrow. It just so happened that Dee just got a new shipment (still in the box) of Claudia's Hand Painted Yarn - MY FAVORITE - and I was able to rummage through all the new colors...while trying to contain the drool. I managed to narrow it down to two skeins and left without breaking the bank!

Today Brad and I headed out to Boston to get some information on sailing. We were waiting for a ride out on a sail boat to see if we would really want to invest our money in classes...but ended up getting impatient and left. We are going to head to Newport next weekend to check out sailing classes there as they are much cheaper! On the way back home we spotted a pretty cool ship and stopped in to check it out. Turns out - It's the USS Constitution! Who knew? They give free tours aboard the still commissioned ship. The guided tour was awesome and well worth the wait! We will plan on going out to Castle Island in South Boston soon based on this tour!

So, I leave you with a picture of the lovely USS Constitution on a cloudy day in Boston!

A Blue Knitter

I had the pleasure of going back to St. Louis this past week. I am now at a point that I love going there for a couple of reasons, the casino is very close and it is cheap entertainment for me (poker room has $3/$6 limit tables and I can usually stay for about 6 hours with only $40!) and the new training supervisor at the site that I visit is totally awesome! We get along very well and I think that if I lived in St. Louis - we'd be great friends! So, while all the other St. Louis visitors that have to go to the site moan and groan, I'm usually the first to volunteer!

During my trip, I got back to knitting my sock. Since I broke the needle on the sock I was working on (Claudia's Hand Painted Yarn - my favorite) AND since I haven't had time to go to the LYS to pick up some new needles, I cast on some self striping yarn onto my size 2 needles.

Now - this yarn...I don't even know who makes this yarn...it is good yarn to work with...but the color, I cannot stand. That's the problem with me and buying self striping yarn...I think it's a good idea while it's in a ball, but when the colors and pattern start to emerge, I hate it. I started this sock out in a simple stockinette - I bought it in Knoxville to kill time while I was waiting on my nephew - hated the stockinette and tore it out. I was thumbing through my sock bible - Sensational Knitted Socks and found a Chevron pattern that I thought I'd try. It's bearable and I got all the way to the heel during my trip.



This pattern calls for a forethought heel and I need to sit and decipher what the directions are first before attempting. I've never done an afterthought heel, so this should be fun.

I am also in the need of some baby blanket patterns. I thought last year was the year of the baby boom for our friends, but it turns out...this year is. I have 3 friends, pregnant and in need of a blanket. Okay - maybe not in need of a blanket, but I think hand knit blankets are the best gifts for a first child. Especially a really soft one...

One girlfriend is due in two weeks - I think I'll be using The 8 Hour Baby Blanket by Plymouth Yarns, however her son's room is decked out in Buffalo Bills colors (red, white and blue) and I would love to be able to do something with those colors...

My other two girlfriends I still have time to kill...but I'll be making my way to the LYS for a buying frenzy of yarn and patterns for these gifts. I'm soliciting baby blanket suggestions and somewhat reasonable yarn suggestions (remember...I have 3 to do!) if anyone out there has any...

AND....

With all that has been going on...

I have been feeling extremely blue for the past few weeks. We have been slammed for the past four weeks straight with things to do that I don't know if I'm hitting exhaustion, depression, or what is going on. I've just been feeling a little empty for the past few weeks. I talked to my husband about it last night and he said that he has been feeling the same way. We have been so, so busy the past month that we haven't really had any us time...let alone...me time and I hope that is what it is...we are done with the plans and don't plan to make any more plans....for a while. But work has also been weighing heavily on my mind and I am not happy there. I am usually the one that loves my job, but for the past few months, I have been indifferent about my situation at work...could this be it? Who knows, but hopefully it will pass. This ist he last weekend of plans...we were going to go to Six Flags with a group of friends, however, that would have been the straw that broke this camel's back! We decided to postpone the trip to a time when school would be back in session and we would opt to go during the week! So, instead of the Six Flags adventure, we are heading to CT to visit a friend and have some dinner and just relax with good company. The crappy part is that it is 2 hours from us...but maybe this is what we need to turn our blue into whew and turn back into our normal selves. That's my venting for today...

I leave you with sunset at Martha's Vineyard from last weekend...

Lazy Knitter

I haven't been blogging lately on this page as I haven't been knitting! We've had so much going on the past 4 weeks, that I have really saved the knitting for traveling. I have been in the office for the past 2 weeks so there hasn't been much knitting going on.

I have been working on another pair of socks for Rhonda - I swear she thinks I never sent her the first pair...and I managed to finish one on my last trip. I cast on the second pair, but last weekend when we were camping, I pulled it out to work on it a bit and ONE OF MY NEEDLES BROKE...gasp. I'm very sad. The other pair of socks I have on needles I tore out as I didn't really like the plain stockinette on the self striping yarn (and the pattern I was using called for all 5 needles when I got to the heel...I lost one, so I only have 4)....I took this unraveled sock with me to Boston on the 4th to work on it a bit while on the T - and got through the first couple of rows and realized it wasn't a k1p1 pattern...so I'll end up tearing that one out again...

I need to buy some yarn to make Wendy a baby blanket to match her Buffalo Bills themed room for her baby Nicholas due in a few weeks. Greg is a huge Bills fan...for their baby shower...their uber rich friends got Nicholas an autographed helmet by Doug Flutie...these guys know Flutie personally so Greg has his whole nursery in Bills stuff. They even special ordered a handmade baby crib blanket set...so I told them I would give them a baby blanket to match! Patricia and I took a trip to our LYS and she's closed for the week out on vacation...damn it! I also bought Wendy a sitting fee to a great photographer in Queensbury, NY so she can either go and have some beautiful belly picture before Nicholas arrives, or their first family pictures. They have been trying for so long and have had miscarriages after miscarriages - so this baby truly is a special baby!

Other than that...I've been a lazy knitter. I've mainly been blogging on my other site as we've had so much going on...In laws visiting, brothers visiting, camping in New Hampshire and soon Six Flags...I'll be traveling this upcoming week to St. Louis - so I'll be knitting a little on the plane. I love St. Louis because the casino is so close and I love their poker room! I typically can leave there break even after hours of poker - which beats sitting in my hotel room...and I've been getting the poker itch lately - so this trip comes just in time!!