Wow. I gotta get out of Ravelry more often

Ravelry is a complete time-sucker, and I've ignored this blog because of it. Not that anyone ever READS this blog because, you know, I've been ignoring it (grin). I'm gonna try to change that.

I've started and finished several items not on the progress meters at the left. I will try to update those in the next couple of days.

Not much progress on the remodel; we have applied for financing and run into some snags. Apparently, one of the previous mortgage companies filed a lien against the house when the loan was sold on the aftermarket, and never cleared it. That mortgage companies is now out of business. I'm sure these sorts of things happen all the time, but they are frustrating when they are happening to YOU.

Projects - Stained Glass Felted Bag. This is an amazing pattern which you can see and purchase here. I'm very pleased with the way this one turned out:

There are more pix if you want to see them, but I like this one the best.

Currently, there are two main projects. One is another felted bag, the Noni Green Earth Grocery Bag:


The other is the Flower Basket Shawl, from Interweave Knits, done in Kauni. This was in TimeOut for a while, but I'm not sure why, most likely set aside for Christmas crazies. I've got 6 or 7 repeats done, quite a bit more than what shows here.

While it is my intent to make it larger than pattern calls for, it won't happen any sooner with stuff like this to deal with:



The one on the left, I gave up and frogged back to lifeline. This particular repeat was done 4 times, I think, before I got it right. The jury is still out on the reddish one at the right. I've redone it and frogged that already once this evening, and will try again before bed. It SHOULD work, but maybe trying to fix lace on a city bus isn't the best way to go.

Hopefully, this will get the new habit started. People who blog daily, or 3 x week, wow. I have a lot of admiration for you. I just can't be clever on command.

A weak attempt to play catchup..

So, it's been 3 months since I last posted. Why does it sound like there should be a priest behind a screen as I say that? I think I will try for a very brief recap.

Only made a few gifts for Christmas, one for a sister, who has to walk long distances to work.



I made several items for the raffle at work, and started many more.

Since the first of the year, I've done a lovely scarf out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (yummy), not sure who that will be for.
Mom finished L's socks, that I started MONTHS ago, got 1.5 socks done and couldn't stand them anymore. She did the 2nd foot and toe in, like, 20 minutes. OK, 1.5 days, but still. They were in my Guilt Corner for months, and now they're done and he even wears them! What a concept!



and E is now lobbying for HERS, which I really should do - they are sportweight so won't take long at all. Except that she is no longer the LimeGreenGirl. Oh well. After that, I think I'm giving up on socks.

Work has been crazy, but I've finally offloaded most of the travel arrangements to someone else. She is very sharp and she is catching on great. I did it for 6 years, but I'm a glutton for punishment.

In non-knitting news, the big news is a new member added to the family about 6 weeks ago.
Her previous mommy simply could not manage her allergy symptoms any more. It's going better than anyone had hoped, especially with our original cat, Joey, thinking he was king of the hill and weighing roughly triple what she does. They have their moments but generally, there is a peaceful coexistence:

In her honor and to thank the friend who selflessly gave her up, I did this, which still needs felting. Her BD is next week, so it will be a nice little present from New Mommy to Old Mommy.

Mom's house, sold to a contractor in May, went back on the market in December, for $449K
We got to take the full tour and it was AMAZING, the changes. You can see the full show here:

We are now planning a huge remodel / addition to OUR house, which will effectively double the space. We own this house, a fixer-upper, free and clear so financing should not be a problem. We are getting contractor's and sub's bids for the work, and drawings are at 95%. By Christmas this year, we will either be closer than ever, or as my boss says, "one of you will be at the bottom of the lake and the other in handcuffs. I just don't know which will be which."

Ravelry is where most of my online time has gone to, and of course, if you have Ravelry, you pretty much need Flickr. I will put links to the side, hopefully, when I finish here.

Summer Reruns

I've just re-upped at The Big List so I'm reposting this project from last summer. The blog that it WAS on doesn't exist anymore.

This is the diagram for the baby blanket. It's just 45-stitch mitered squares, started in the center and worked out, all in garter stitch. The diagram was actually put together in PC Stitch a cross-stitch program. I had great plans to finish this in 2-3 months but I got "garter fatigue" and I didn't atually finish it until recipient was about 6 months old. But once it was done, I loved it and hated to part with it.

In other news, I broke down and bought the BIG ipod, 80GB. I can now back up my laptop and still have tons of music and photos on it, too. In fact, it took a while to figure out the photo thing, but now I have 4000+ photos on it, which is about 3900 too many (grin).

Oh, and I got into the newest LYS, http://www.twistedpdx.com , and it was so good that I bought SOCK yarn. I don't even knit socks. Well, not much. We shall see. 2 huge skeins of blue Trekking XXL. Wish me luck.