What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.
Fast moving and classy, you get things done with
power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be
deceiving, since what you really value is
quality and efficiency. As you're careening
around those corners in life, finishing a dozen
knitted objects each month, stop and smell the
roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
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Another Restart!

Well, I wasn't paying attention to the decreases on the Baby Surprise Jacket and messed up. So I'm going to restart it and pay more careful attention and count when I'm in doubt about where the decrease should be. It's hard for me to see using garter stitch a slightly textured yarn and in low light. Unfortunately that means I may have to mail the sweater to India instead of sending it with her when her family moves. Also means a picture of actual knitting is delayed.

Does this dog look like he needs training?

or is he enjoying the green grass too much. Maybe after training we will have nice pictures of the dogs sitting together. Most pictures I have are of dog parts, mainly tails. We went to our first dog training class last night without the dogs. The class is put on by our City's Recreation Department. The teacher, Wendy Krehbiel, has a website with lots of information and contact information Here. She had two of her Goldens with her last night. One was only 9 weeks old and of course adorable. He is already learning a lot. The other was a few years old and was also beautiful and well mannered. So I spent some of my time this morning working with Maddie, Sparky and Bentley. The first thing they learn is that the clicker means Good and they get treats when they hear it. Below is a picture of the clicker and treat bag I already had.



Theese are two books Wendy recommends on using the clicker. I am going to really try this method because it is supposed to get results quicker and more relizble. Sounds Great! I'm already doing some of the things she suggests. All three dogs get a sit command before they get food, get to come in the house, etc.... Plus it just seems like a lot of fun!Quick Clicks
Click for Joy

The Scents of Spring

Something smells wonderful in our garden! The suspects! In the middle we have Purple Alyssum. Top Left - Orange tree about to blossom. Top Right - unknown ground cover. Lower Left - White Alyssum and Lower Left - Periwinkle. My apologies if my spelling is incorrect or my plant identification is wrong.

Mowing, weeding and laundry have been the main activities for today. In a little bit I'm going to see if Esther will take a nap and watch a little bit of HGTV while cleaning the family room and kitchen. It's nice to get things done! What is also nice is Esther can be trusted for short periods of time while I do things. She watched Thomas while I was mowing. Than came out while I was raking and sweeping. She even held the dustpan for me and watered the potted plants.

I apologize for my bad mood the last time I posted. Boy, when you think of the problems other people in the world have, it seems kind of petty to whine about a car. I have options for my problem. I just need to be patient (Oh I'm just SOOOO good at that LOL). Plus the shop owner was REALLY nice about the panel and will replace it.

Tonight is "24", one of the few nights we watch TV so I will work on the Baby Surprise. Cindy at Knitting Park had some great tips about blocking the SCA when I get to that point. Thanks Cindy for letting me piggyback off of all your hard work!  

Baby Surprise Jacket and some moaning (sorry!)

I started a Pink Baby Surprise Jacket (Pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman) for India. It seems that the only projects I've successfully completed have been for babies and children. So I put aside the Diamond Patch to work on this. There's a great website Here and a corresponding Yahoo group called Knitbabysurprise working on EZ patterns. Another amazing group of women who knit very fast. They donate a lot of their work to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. I'm going to add a collar or hood and some cuffs to this in white to set it off. Perfect use of garter stitch and just what I need right now, minimal thinking.

I'm letting life stress me out right now. I'm starting to worry about the Music Together Training. I feel like my voice isn't strong enough. My piano and guitar skills need some serious work and rejuvenation. A lot of work ahead, but once I can get in a groove I'm sure I'll be okay.

Warning: More ranting about my car ahead!
My stupid car! It's not completely the car's fault some of the problems stem with the people working on it. Of course even our local bleepin' dealership apparently doesn't have the proper tools to change the oil filter the start of my car's problems 3 months after I got it. The brake lights were out yesterday and fortunately a nice person let me know. I have a lot of problems with the exterior lights. Sometimes the bulb is out; most times it's an intermittent problem that is next to impossible to track down. Then I noticed the middle nice walnut burl panel where my a/c and stereo controls are has a piece broken and glued back in place. I'm sure this happened when the air conditioner was worked on about a month ago. The glue they used is now starting to fail and it looks REALLY BAD and I should check the buttons near the glue to see if they work.

To all of you who have the wonderful cars these VWs should be I'm glad and don't want to be too much of an anti-advertisement for VW. From comments I've received, most people LOVE their VWs and some are repeat buyers. I'm just disappointed I got one with bad karma with seemingly no good resolution to the situation. I can't think of the spice you burn to cleanse your dwelling of past negative energy. Anyway, maybe I should try it. Seriously it can't hurt!

Back to KNITTING! The Diamond Patch Sweater is going to be too big for me, just enough to look sloppy. I may restart or may finish it and give it to my sister in law. After the Baby Surprise I want to get back to the SCA. I don't mind that I won't be able to wear it for months. It may just take me that long to finish it. Than I can do the Diamond Patch for next summer. :-) I think that is how I should knit. Winter sweaters in the summer and summer patterns in the winter.