Start and Finish

I took the weekend to START the Penny Straker Galway Cardigan.







I did say FINISH, and I mean that I finished this shawl about a week ago; it's been blocked; and here it is:

This is a close-up, sorta, of the beads that I used in this shawl.






This is a full view of the completed shawl.

Vogue Knitting Live!

Which is better than Vogue Knitting Dead.

Betty and I went to NYC last weekend to the first Vogue Knitting Live! conference, I guess you could call it. We went up on the Bolt Bus, and I was the first one to reserve a seat, so I got the dollar seat on the trip up. The trip back I had to pay the full price of $15. That's adds up to less than the total of tolls on the road to NYC. We stayed at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas, where the conference was held. Lots of Knitters, lots of Yarn, lots of temptations.

Friday night we went to the market place, and I vowed i was going to look only. You believe that one, right? Anyway, we saw some nice stuff, but I was not tempted UNTIL we came to the Irish yarn booth! The woman was selling yarn, along with patterns for fisherman's knit sweaters. I already have a pattern, and another woman was in the same boat as I. She asked the Vendor how much she would charge for just the yarn. After many calculations, hems and haws, the Vendor said, $90 for 1,000 grams of yarn! That is enough yarn to make a full-sized sweater and a long one at that. So, in order to get this bargain, I bought the yarn straight away. I didn't want this Vendor to think about it too long and then change her mind. What a steal! I mean it.

We walked around, saw a lot of interesting yarns: bison, yak, and some Hawaiian fibers.

Saturday we went to the gym in the a.m. Can you believe it? We actually did some exercising. Fat good it did with all the food we ate, but still we made the effort. We get an "A"for that.

Attended a seminar on Norwegian knitting, which was the most horrible seminar/lecture I've been to. The speaker was not prepared, she rambled on and on about designers she assumed we knew. Not impressed one bit!

Sunday we attended at "steeking" class. Steeking is the process of cutting up the middle of a perfectly good sweater that has been knit in the round. Knitting in the round makes the sweater much smoother, no side seams, and any pattern in the sweater will look much cleaner. We learned how to crochet up the middle of the sweater on two rows, then purposefully take scissors and cut. It is scary at first, but it works! Unfortunately, the sweater I'm making now is not knit in the round, so no steeking for me on this one.

Went to work on Monday, took Tuesday off for my hepatitis booster shot for our trip to South Africa. We had snow starting Monday night, the travel nurse called and told us the office was closed, so I took the day off for nothing, well not nothing, I did get some things accomplished yesterday.

So, it starts to snow last night and snows, and it is very wet and heavy snow. Apparently, my office is open today, but the MARC trains are not running. Gee, what a surprise. I can't go to work even if I really had to or wanted to.

Christmas and New Year

Sara came over on Christmas Eve, and we opened presents and had a nice "Shrimp Elegante" dinner. Of course, Sara made out like a bandit, and I have become an "electronified" person. I got a new sensor for running to go with my iPod and a Kindle. At first I couldn't make up my mind if I really wanted a Kindle, but now that I have it, it is really quite convenient. I must get a cover for it so I don't scratch the screen.

Fortunately, I left work early on Thursday(12/30) so I went to the grocery store on the way home instead of having to go on Friday morning and then make everything. Friday morning I made the cake and custard for the trifle, made the ever famous green bean casserole, and started to set the table for dinner. Sara and Nick were coming over for dinner.

I had a make-up riding lesson on Friday afternoon; the weather started out not too nice, but it did warm up for the amount of time I was riding. We rode in the field, which has a slight incline/decline, depending on the way we are going. Bella has a bit of a problem now cantering downhill, so she does break once in awhile. After the lesson I went back home and did a few more things for dinner. Unfortunately, my Yorkshire puddings did not rise; I think it's because I didn't let the oil in the pan get hot enough. They did taste good, but not the same as if they had risen properly.

Saturday we were supposed to go to a New Year's Day party, but Dave wasn't feeling well with a sore throat, etc. I would have gone by myself, but I didn't know that many people except for the host and hostess, so I opted to stay home, too. I did take Romeo out for a long walk, he and I chased a stick, then we came back. That was about the extent of my doing anything constructive Saturday.

Sunday morning was my regular riding lesson, so Sara and I took off in the rain. Yes, rain. Again, the weather was half-way decent for our lesson, but still damp. After I dropped Sara off at her house, I went to the grocery store (which I should have done the day before, but.....), put the stuff away, made chili for dinner. I had gotten a small piece of salmon out, but by the end of the day, I was too lazy to make it. We'll have it tonight.

Things I accomplished yesterday: went to the grocery store and got some decent food, made chili, sewed in the yarn ends of my sweater (now I can block it), made some leeway on the shawl I'm knitting. Not a huge amount of things, but better than Saturday.

Today: Back at work; will go to the gym or run outside; not sure which, yet. All depends on two things: weather and how much "gym fever" I have! I did bring warm running clothes, so I may take the plunge. At least the sun is out today.

So......

Finally did some Christmas shopping (online, of course!). The good news is everything has arrived; the bad news is I have to wrap it all up. Oh, well. Much of it is already done.

Sara and I had a riding lesson on Sunday; the temp was a high of 32! so it was only 27 when we went riding. The secret to riding in this weather? Layers, layers and more layers - long johns, riding pants, 2 pairs of socks; long john top, Under Armour, and a nice warm sweater, topped off with a windbreaker jacket; Earmuffs and nice and warm winter riding gloves set off the ensemble. Bella and Smash were not happy to see us coming towards them with halters and lead ropes. As a matter of fact, they took off to the farthest corner of the field as fast as they could find. Sheesh! Bella stared me down, but it did no good. I still took her away. The wind took pity upon us and went somewhere else for the day.

After the lesson I worked on my black and red jacket for some time; got bored with it, and finally did some gift wrapping. Amazingly, by that time it was 5:00. How time flies.

Dave came to my office last week and a woman who does jewelry came for a really mini-craft fair. Dave brought pictures, calendars and some note cards to sell. Peggy had her usual inventory of jewelry. I don't know how well Peggy did, but Dave sold about 6 of his pictures and many calendars and boxes of notecards. The next day several people came by and ordered more pictures from Dave.

Knitting continues on the grey, light pink and dark pink sweater. Fortunately, it's an easy pattern and will be done soon. But, then I have to block it before I can sew it together. Made that mistake before and the sweater was not quite the right size. Grrr! Blocking takes away the urgency of putting the sweater together, but I don't want to make that mistake again.

Finished Cathy's mittens and gave them to her on Sunday. She really liked them. At first she didn't see that I had knit "Rizzo" into each mitten. Then, she got really excited! Glad she likes them.

Top side of Mitten with "Rizzo".

Palm side of Mitten.

Update

It's December, and of course, I haven't done anything about Christmas - decorating, presents, planning the Christmas meal - nothing.

I had plenty of decorations, but here's the story: I donated one garland, one sleigh, two wreaths I made to the office to make it festive. Secondly, I sent some decorations over to Sara's house last year when she moved in, and hmmm, it seems they are still at her house. I'm sure they will all blend in with her purple tree! Don't blame me, I'm not the one who suggested she get a purple tree, which reminds me of:

I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one
But I can tell you any how
I would rather see than be one.

I learned that so long ago, I don't even remember when I did learn it, but as the brain does strange things, I haven't forgotten it at all.

Or:

This I learned in 8th grade at Frederick Junior High School (way before Middle Schools). It was next to Frederick High School, which I think are both gone because the last time I was in Frederick, I saw a sign that said, "Frederick High School", which is not the one I remember. Of course, that was only about 40 years or so ago.

The Goops

The Goops they lick their fingers,
The Goops they lick their knives,
They spill their broth on the tablecloth
They lead disgusting lives.

The Goops they talk while eating
And loud and fast they chew
And that is why I am glad I'm not a Goop,
Are you?

Okay, so I digressed a bit here.

Now I know what I'm doing on Friday or Saturday. Going to Michael's and re-stock on ornaments, glue sticks, etc. so I can make myself some new decorations for the house. We need a tree, too, but not a purple one.

So, the weather is slowly getting colder. Sara and I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving Day; it was a miserable weather day to boot. When I got up, it wasn't raining, when I left, it was raining, called Sara, she said it was not raining. But, it did start to rain, again. We got to Towson, it wasn't raining, then it started to rain, then the race began, and it really started to rain. We were drenched through all layers of clothing, and the temp was only 34-35, so we were wet and cold. What a way to start the day. All in all, the day went well after that. In-laws came over, my friend, Betty, came over (with lots of wine!), we ate, and then everyone went home. Good! I was exhausted from the race, cooking dinner and cleaning up. I fell asleep as soon as everyone left.

Horse Show Weekend Update

Let's start with some pictures.







Sara and Smash at the halt.





















Sallie and Moonie in their Intro A test.





















Bella and I at the halt.














Bella giving Smash some advice on the Intro A test.

Bella and I performing the Intro A test.

Sara, Sallie and I signed up for the third in the series of the Loch Moy Short Course event. To recap: I did the first one by myself and placed fifth; Sara and Sallie came with me too the second series: I came in fourth; Sallie got second; and poor Sara was eliminated during the cross country course. We found out later that Satchmo had a hurt back and was not feeling well at all. We all did the third in the series, but I was the only one who did all three. I was very lucky and placed first in my division. Sara rode another horse, Smash, and came in second in her division. Sallie had a good dressage test, but did not make it through the cross country course.

As excited as I was about placing first yesterday, I got an email from Loch Moy Farm saying I placed third overall for the series. What? Get out of town! Never did I think this would be me winning something like that.

MARC Train Update

SooOOoo, here we go, again.

Monday night: Get on the train; at some point before departure we are told the train set is one car short because the usual train set is broken down in Baltimore with no time in sight when it will be fixed. OK, we can deal with that; the train was very crowded.

Next announcement (which I knew was coming): The train is here; however, the crew for this train is going to be late because of the broken down train in Baltimore; they are at New Carrollton and will be here within 5-7 minutes. We have a golf cart at the track where they will arrvive, and it will bring them to track 7. We wait and wait and wait. Finally, at 6:16 (remember, this is a 5:51 p.m. departure) we leave Union Station. By the time I get to Dorsey it is 6:55, 25 minutes late.

Tuesday night: Get on the train; we have a full train set with 5 cars. We depart Union Station, go at a reasonable speed(we did slow down a few times, but what else is new?) to all the stops EXCEPT Dorsey. After Savage the train does a 5 MPH trek to Dorsey. No announcement why we are so slow, but we all have ideas:

1. Switch Problem
2. Signal Problem
3. Track Work
4. Freight Train in Front of Us.

We trudged along from Savage to Dorsey for 25 minutes! It should take only about 10 minutes to get to Dorsey. Again, 6:55 p.m. by the time we get to Dorsey, then there is the drive home. By the time I get home, change, eat dinner, it is almost 8:00 p.m. What a way to spend another short evening before I have to get up and go again.

The reason for the slowness? TWO FREIGHT TRAINS, NOT JUST ONE!

Oh, wait! Yesterday the train was 7 minutes early in the a.m. to Union Station, then the train home was 25 minutes late - Subtract the 7 from 25, which gives me a net time of 18 mintues on the train! It works mathematically, right? However, I think being delayed far more outweighs the times of being early. I think I'm still in the hole here regarding time on the train.

Oh, yes, I will continue to ride MARC. I am a captive audience because I know I will never drive into D.C. every day and battle the traffic on the highway and the traffic in D.C., which can become a parking lot at a moment's notice.

Good thing I can read, knit, listen to music or nap. However, sitting on the train for over an hour can be cumbersome and tiring. Many times I think I should just stay on the train because it's not that long before I have to get back on it. :)