Is It Time to go Home?

Finally got photos of my sweater. I'm very pleased with this; I used the same colors as the pattern, but reversed them so that the main color is the darker color. Absolutely easy to knit, including the two-colored patterns at the bottom, cuffs and neck.

















My first mitten ever! It was a challenge like all things done the first time. Now that the first one is complete, the second mitten is a real breeze!

When knitting and pulling the yarns along, I did pull a little too tightly. I'm attempting to make the knitting looser on the second mitten, but not sure if I'm accomplishing that! Anyway, I did block this mitten a bit, and it fits, so that's all that matters.

Palm side of mitten. Go me! This is something I thought would be very difficult to accomplish, but after working slowly through it and reading the instructions at least 10 times, it's not so difficult as I had imagined. It's become so easy that I've offered to make my daughter a pair of black and white mittens to go with her new black pea coat that she got for Christmas. What a glutton for punishment I am. I'm going to use a thicker yarn (Wool of the Andes) and a bigger needle (size US 4) since her hands are bigger than mine. I'd rather have them a bit big than she can't get her hands into the mittens at all.

Next on my list (not knitting) is to find some new exercises. I'm doing well with the running and the strength training, but I need to do something totally different to rev up my metabolism. I'm looking into swimming, either here in D.C. or maybe getting Dave to go with me on Saturday mornings. He could use the exercise, as well. I've fallen off the wagon with WW point counting, so that's another thing I have to attend to. If Sara can make her meals, freeze them, eat proportionately, so can I. I might not make meals in advance, but I can plan menus every week.

Thursday, But It Should Be Friday

I've made it this far; my left-hand mitten is moving along; and I have one more day to trudge off to work. That pretty much sums up the day. After purchasing wool for Sara's mittens, I now realize I should have bought two skeins of each instead of one. Not a problem, I can always order more! I'm anxious to start her mittens, and I'm anxious to start the dragon scarf I want to make.

Last week I bought some fabric to make a skirt to go with the plaid jacket I just finished. The skirt is nice and has a border at the bottom of it. I have enough of the plaid material leftover so I use that as the border and the jacket and skirt will tie in together! Brilliant, eh? Too many projects and not enough time.

Since I'm going out to lunch today, I did go to the gym this morning, abbreviated as it was, but I am glad I went.

Once again, the weather for the weekend isn't looking too wonderful for riding. Cathy is judging on Sunday and she wants to re-schedule for Saturday. Saturday has a 40% chance of snow showers with a high in the 30s. Sunday is going to be sunny, but very, very cold. 52 days to spring and it can't come soon enough.

Doing a horse show at the end of March. I've forgotten Training Levels 1 and 2; better get out my Whinny Widgets and refresh my memory.

It's Tuesday and the Left-Handed Mitten is Started

After cursing and ripping out the right-handed mitten, my attempts at the left-handed mitten weren't going too well. Sunday night I cast on and ripped out three times before everything decided to cooperate with me. And, now that I vaguely know what I'm doing, the left-handed mitten doesn't look as tight, but time will tell when I get into the body of the dog picture. Oh, well, that is life, and no one can complain, but me.

DH took pictures of my right-handed mitten, but hasn't gotten them off the camera, yet. He also took pictures of the gray Alice Starmore sweater I completed. Once I get them, I can post them here, on Ravelry and on Facebook. My friends on Facebook don't really care about the knitting, but it is what I want to do.

Work has been hectic this afternoon; working on power point presentations for Thursday afternoon. Boss says he wants things done one way, paralegal tells me it's wrong. I go with the boss.

Tonight is Idol night and pizza night. If I'm still awake, I'll work on the left-handed mitten. I have to get it done now because I told Sara I would make her a black and white pair to go with her new coat. Stupid me! What was I thinking? Sometimes I wonder why I promise people things like this.

Gym work was 10 minutes on elliptical and about 25 more minutes doing core, weights, etc. Not many calories burned, but my muscles certainly feel the "burn". Ha! Have to keep at it. I read some information that as a person gets older, she accumulates more fat than muscle; therefore, motabilism gets slower and it's harder to burn calories than when younger. Ack! How horrible.

It's Friday, and Not Time To Go Home

Here I am, at work, again. Another week down the drain. The good news is I have accomplished quite a bit on my projects. My right-hand mitten is almost finished. It was a real learning experience, and I'm hoping the left-hand mitten will go more smoothly. I'm hoping I've figured out the tension when bringing the second color along and not pull so tightly. Fortunately, wool will stretch, and when I block the mitten, it will become the size it want it to be - at least I'm hoping it will.

If the weather isn't too bad, I'm going to Georgetown to the fabric store to get buttons for the jacket I made. I had all intentions of bringing it with me or at least a swatch of the fabric, but I forgot both. I'll have to wing it; if all else fails, I'll have lunch out.

Saturday right now doesn't have any earth shattering events. Sunday is a riding lesson, then I'm getting a massage. It will be interesting. I've never gone anywhere to have a massage. I'm just feeling sorry for the poor person who has to see me!

Need to take pics of my grey sweater, which is finished and has been worn several times already.

That's it for now. Just have to slug through the day.

Back to Work; Last Holiday Until Memorial Day

Since Sunday was a rain-out, I went yesterday for a riding lesson. The weather was great, the sun was out, but the ground was a big muddy bog. I'm glad the temps got warmer, but I'll be happy once the ground has dried out!

My riding boots were just covered in mud; fortunately, I brought sneakers, but the dilemma was walking from the tack room to my car. There was nothing but a sea of mud that I had to navigate. Donna to the rescue! There were plastic shopping bags in the tack room. First, we put my riding boots in bags and took them off. Secondly, after I put on my sneakers I covered the sneakers with two more plastic bags. The effect is very dramatic especially since the bags don't even match. I think everyone who rides should invest in this new fashion. And I do believe the socks just set off the entire look.

Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet at work; I'm still putting together my training documents, and the next step is to tab it all so it looks professional, well as professional as it can be! One of the senior partners turned 88, so we had cake as a celebration. Always food for celebrating...... I did not eat any cake, so a pat on my back.

Getting closer to quitting time. Another AI on tonight; what a treat; two times in a week. I must get a life.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Got up looking forward to my riding lesson, put on all my riding clothes and the many layers I would need, took the dog outside, and lo and behold! it's raining! It was such a nice day yesterday, and wham! rain on my riding lesson? That put a damper on the day, but I will have a make-up lesson tomorrow. I don't have to go to work, and I'm bringing in the horses and feeding them, so might as well get a lesson in, too, since I'll be there. Whew!

Didn't do a lot yesterday, but tinkering around on my mitten, the Santa counted-cross stitch. I made spaghetti sauce and chocolate chip cookies. Then, lounged around some more, had a few glasses of wine, had dinner, and that was the end of the day. We put in "The Red Violin" to watch, but I could not keep my eyes open, until it was over! The movie was sub-titled, so I couldn't even listen to it.

Today is a trip to COSTCO once DH wakes up, and that could be who knows when.

Many projects to work on. My choices: sew wool jacket, counted cross stitch, mitten, start new dragon scarf, pick up cable sweater that I've been working on for at least 2 years. Don't know why, but I can't get more than a few rows knitted before giving up. All I have to do is finish the sleeves, which I'm knitting at the same time, and do the collar and sew it all up. It's not that much, but one day it will be finished. I can't frog it, it's too far along to frog.

It's Saturday Morning and Still Dark Outside

As I had estimated at the beginning of the week, the scarf I HAD to have is finished. Well, I deemed it finished yesterday morning on the train into work. It's being blocked and will take a few days to dry. Not bad, not bad.

Meanwhile, I pulled out the mitten I was working on. I knitted on the train home, and because of the intricacies (Is this the right word?) of the design and using 5 (FIVE) double pointed needles, I was only able to get two rounds finished on the ride home. Still, not bad, and I haven't gotten lost on the chart, either. Even with enlarging the chart, it is still difficult to read, and I have to have complete concentration while knitting it. As with the counted cross stitch Santa, it and its mate should be finished by next winter if I don't get sidetracked (which I never do) and find some other project that I just HAVE to make. Can't say that I'm sitting around and doing nothing.

More knitting - I bought yarn to make a scarf that has a dragon on it; very intricate (again), but this time I only have to use 2 needles and go back and forth and not round and round.