No Post Today

I have attempted to post twice previously today. I even got up to work on it after I went to bed. I have managed to lose it twice. I shall take this as a sign that I should just give up. Its a shame because the last post included true confessions, high fashion, amazing insight, witty observations and a really funny ultrasound of the lima bean that will be my grandchild. I'll just have to try again later.

A Good (Knitting) Day

Well, I have had an interesting day here. First, my grand plan of actually going to work and doing legal type stuff took a trip down the tubes. My daughter, Meglet, called late Sunday to ask if I intended to pay her outstanding bill at college so that she could start class Monday. Since this will be the last semester ever, I felt that it would be financially prudent to pay for her to finish rather than risk yet another tuition increase next year. When I called the university to ask if I could just pay by my credit card, they informed me that if I had MC, AMEX or Discover, I could pay over the interenet. Naturally, I only own a VISA so my first stop was the student accounts office at the university.

Next I had to do mighty battle with Social Security regarding my brother's disability. Crazy as it seems, the fine folks as SSA have determined that my quadriplegic brother, who is currently recuperating in a nursing home, is not disabled and therefore he owes them about $50,000. The battle continues but after my visit today, they agreed to continue paying him benefits at least for this month while they determine if the fact that he is bed bound and on medication that would knock a horse over makes him unable to maintain gainful employment.

Then I met the brother at his surgeon's office so they could examine their handiwork. The surgeon was pleased and my brother relieved. I was also relieved that I got out of the exam room before the doctor flipped my brother over and bared his sugar butt to my sensitive eyes. There is a reason I didn't go to medical school and it mainly centers around my delicate stomach and my overwhelming desire to not see naked old people. I can't hardly stand to look at myself naked these days and I surely didn't need to see my brother's naked arse.



The lack of accomplishment on the work front did not put a damper on the day. The Code Man announced that he and the girlfriend are going me make me a gramma. I am almost finished with my fair isle cardigans and I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to be struck with any flashes of creativity. I tend to go through short dry periods where I don't have any idea what to knit. Usually I take up spinning or dyeing to fill my time, but I haven't had much desire to work in those areas either. Well, Code Man solved that problem. I can make all the little baby stuff I want now without having to give it away. Yippee. The downside is that I am going to have to have lots of conversations regarding pregnancy, birth, baby names and the merits of breast over bottle. Yecch! Is it completely shallow that I am excited to be a grandmother so I have someone else to knit for?

Works In Progress Eeeeking about Steeking

I am getting dangerously close to completing my two steeked sweaters. I love knitting in the round, but both my brother and Sparky want cardigans. My brother specifically asked for a blue one without much design. He said he wanted to look like Mr. Rogers, not Ginger Rogers. I was quick to point out that even if he were to put on a tutu, no one would mistake him for either person. The wheelchair is a dead giveaway that he isn't much of a dancer and the wild eyes and hair from his pain meds since he has been in the hospital makes him look like he took one too many trips to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

Sparky didn't have a say in his cardigan. I started to make it as a Christmas present, but things came up and I didn't get it done in time. It was also supposed to be a surprise, but I knitted it in front of him while he was running TV. He is oblivious to everything when ESPN or Cops is on TV.

His sweater is made from Galway in a fair isle pattern combination of my own design. The individual motifs came from a book called Traditional Scandinavian Knitting but I think that the color combination looks more like southwestern. I am anxious to get it done and I've decided that if Sparky won't wear it then I will.

I also finished some dyeing projects. The colors on the photo are not as vivid as they are in real life. The orange sock yarn is different hues of sunkist orange ranging from Orange Crush to lemon. I think the yarn will make some excellent sock to wear on particularly gray days. The blue sock yarn is in shades from navy to royal blue. I have been toying with the idea of putting the two yarns together to make some felted clogs but I can't remember if the blue yarn was made with commercial super wash roving or some of my wool stash. I guess I will have to wash some and see if it felts.

Finally, I started some socks right before Christmas using some of my home spun and dyed superwash. I am very pleased that the socks are knitting up with stripes. That was just sheer luck. I don't know who will be the recipient. They are too girly to give to the Code Man and he probably wouldn't wear them anyway. He is a white tube sock sort of kid. The Code Man is my 21 year old son. He cannot stand to have the seam of a sock across his toes. I used to wonder if he would wear sock that I make, but I have come to the conclusion that I would have to make him nothing but white or gray plain vanilla socks. That would bore me to death and I would get second sock syndrome with the first pair. Maybe I will give them to Meglet. She can always use socks.

Tomorrow is Friday, so I am off to Spin City to meet up with my friends for a day of knitting, spinning and eating pizza. I am so proud of my self for posting on my blog two days (ok two and a half days since I didn't start this until after midnight) in a row. The doggles are telling me that they are tired so we better hit the sack. If they looked any more pitiful they would make me cry.

First Post

Ok so this is my first post. I made a resolution that I would start working my way into doing something that I love rather than something that I thought I would like. This is my first step by starting this blog which may eventually turn into a pod cast too. I've been listening to quite a few pod casts and frankly, I know I can be more interesting than some of them. At least I can promise that I won't make you endure 20 minutes of giggling since giggling is not my style.

So Christmas and New Year are over and I will now have to get back to the business of making a living. Blah! I thought I would enjoy being a L. but it seems that it is not all that I thought it would be. Thus, my resolution to take the steps to do something more satisfying.

I spent the holidays working on designs. I finally had the opportunity to give my son's girlfriend the sweater that I made for her. She was amazed that someone made her something. She says the funniest things. After she put it on, she commented that it fit like it was made for her. When I pointed out that I did make it for her, she just giggled. The design is a wandering cable on the fitted waist and a diamond pattern on the bodice. The sleeves are a wandering cable which comes down into a lace bell sleeve. The v-neck lace is the same as the sleeve.

I also made a hat for my office landlord. She saw me loading my bags of wool for my annual pilgrimage to Wooley Knob. I guess she thought I was using all that fiber as insulation in the cellar. During the course of our conversation about knitting, she mentioned that she wanted a knitted hat that was in the J. Crew catalog but didn't want to pay the outrageous price of $55.00. I just about choked and promised her one for Christmas. Below is the finished product. I make it with one skein of chunky 100% wool that I got for $1.00 a skein from my LYS owner. She had picked up a huge lot of wool from a tag sale and gave me a bargain on a chunk of the stash. I was gleeful even though I had to wash every bit of it because is smelled of cellar and there were rumors of the dreaded moth infestation. The hat is single stitch cable on the fold and a bit more complicated cable on the upper part.

Finally, I made my step-son's daughter a lamb whom I christened Lambert. The lamb itself is from unknown origin. I bought him second hand from my LYS. He looks handmade because he has no tags. The sweater and beret are from left over yarn from a man's sweater. I think he looks quite handsome.

The current works in progress are two fair isle sweaters that I designed. Neither progressed much over the holidays. I hope that I can get them done by next week.

Future goal: Learn to write patterns
Weather: Gray and Snowy (Roads look terrible, thus my desire not to go to the office)
Mood: OK

Ta ta for now.

Okay, day one of Barrister Lane Fiber blog. Its late and I am going to bed. I will actually work on this tomorrow when I am in the office and I should be doing legal stuff. G'nite.