Sylvia & Kathy Do Mequon

I finally got the chance to return Sylvia's yellow scarf and give her the new Branching out last night at Friday dinner. We went to the Chancery in Mequon. It's a local restaurant chain that serves bar food. This particular one is in a strip mall in one of the northshore suburbs. It seems to have a fishing decor. I know I shouldn't complain about the decor when I was literally the worst-dressed patron there. But gosh, why does old tackle go to restaurants to die? Actually, there was a birch bark basket hanging on the wall among the fishing rods and junk. Lynne asked me why I thought it was there. I said it was because it's an Artifact. However, on further reflection, why was there a Native American basket among the rusty bass and framed newspaper clippings?

Well, I return to the knitting. As soon as I gave Sylvia the scarves she gave the yellow one to me. I don't believe that she was ever really upset about how I hijacked it from her. I did a lot of worrying for nothing. She was thrilled with the Branching Out. Dutiful blogger that I am trying to be, I whipped out the camera and had it ready when she opened the package. It was a silver gift bag and I used the yellow scarf for pretend tissue paper. (A good blogger would have gotten a pic of that.)
So here's Tante Sylvia enjoying her new scarf.

Sylvia and I modeling both scarves. Please to excuse the quality of this picture. Believe it or not, it is the one of these in which I look the least like a big doofus. Sometimes I'm surprised people will be seen with me!

One last one. You've got to admit that that girl is photogenic. What a wonderful reaction to get for ones knitting!

Fabulous Prizes!

Criosa, from the Knitty Coffeeshop had a little contest (scroll down) on her blog to provide a caption for a kitty picture. I was one of 5 lucky winners and I even got to pick my prize, which you see above and even included some unique, Criosa-made stitch markers. There are some great sweaters in this book by Louisa Harding and Kim Hargreaves. They all go from little to size 10, which is hard to find. Thank you, Criosa.

Criosa is in or near Minneapolis. I'm going to try to hook her up with Jenny Z. for possible stitching and bitching. There are so many yarn shops in Minneapolis, plus my Uncle Al. I am jealous.

Wrapping Presents

Have you seen the scissors? I could swear I just had them a second ago!

Presents in Progress

I had to pop into Ruhama's the other day just to get the yarn on the left. It's Brown Sheep Company's Lamb's Pride Worsted, one of my all-time favorites. The color is called fuchsia, though I'd call it magenta. I'm making a pair of somethings to go with the long something that I knit Mrs. Somebody at work last year. It's becoming a set. I would've made a hat, but she's got this lush hair and doesn't wear hats. I thought about a headband, even a pretty one with cables or paisleys that would match the long something from last year. But you can't count on a person who won't wear a hat to wear a headband. Then I thought about mittens, but many are the folk, including me, who don't like to wear mittens. So somethings it is. I've got 4 somethings complete on one and 3.5 on the other. I used purl stitches to put an M on the left one and an H on the right. No reason. I'll wait til they're done to try and get a picture.

So I'm leaving Ruhama's, proud that I didn't stash enhance the Mission Falls wool at $45.00 a bag. I glance to the left at the over-priced Koigu and had to do a double take. It wasn't Koigu anymore. It was Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn from Wales about which I've been reading! Oh-my-effin-GOD! I kind of liked it. Hoo boy. I managed to escape with only 3 colors. It was $21.00 per skein, but I would've paid more because it's not going to last. It was tres difficil to choose. There is one shade that I keep thinking about. That is probably one that I need to go back and buy. I bought 1 skein for a certain other person. The red and purple will be socks for me one day. Lookee, lookee.

If I am diligent I will be able to finish the fuchsia somethings tonight and then can concentrate on Niko's Manly Sweater. I'm on the raglan part and have started the vee for the v-neck, but I think I need to go back and make a less steep decrease. I've been decreasing one on each side every other row. I think a decrease of one every other row will lead to a 45 degree angle. Combining the two will make a 90 degree angle. That is what I call too wide. Here's a pic of work in progress.

It's my Happy Birthday

This came in the mail today. It's from Janie and Irv. A knitting birthday card. Well done! The sad thing is, I think Mary here might look better in a halter top than I would. I've gotten lots of other nice wishes and wonderful presents as well. Thank you, everybody.

Sylvia's Scarves

Meet Sylvia, aka Aunt Sylvia of Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Seymour fame. Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Seymour and their daughter Nancy along with (Grandma) Lil and her grown kids & grandkids have been going out to dinner on Friday nights for many, many, many, many years. Being the niece of one of Lil's daughters and the best friend of another, I often tag along. The week before Thanksgiving as we were getting up to leave, I notice Aunt Sylvia's lovely yellow scarf. Aunt Sylvia has wonderful taste and always looks great. But I particularly liked the yellow polka-dot scarf and realize that it would even fit me. So, in a firm, right now sort of voice, I say to Sylvia, "Gimme that scarf." Sylvia says, "What?" So I repeated myself. Naturally, she takes off the scarf and hands it over. You know, sometimes people don't mind giving you stuff if you want it. In fact I know people (Grandma Lil) who will give you things just because you admire the things. Nancy, Sylvia's daughter, says, "You took my Mumma's scarf," in an incredulous and sad voice. My argument is that she gave it to me. She is a grown woman who doesn't have to give anybody anything she doesn't want to give. In the mean time, I will knit her a nice soft scarf of some sort that she can tuck into her coat. When I saw Nancy again on Thanksgiving weekend she told me her mother's heart was broken over the scarf. I hope that's not true, but it finally did occur to me that Aunt Sylvia may have thought I was teasing or playing when I told her to give me the scarf and that she expected it back. I can totally believe that. I am a kind of joker. So tonight at dinner I will give her a wrapped package which will contain her original yellow scarf, plus this blue mohair branching out scarf.

The facts of the Matter:
Patttern: Branching Out by by Susan Pierce Lawrence from Knitty.com
Yarn: Katia Ingenua. One Ball
Needles: US 9
20 pattern repeats, 10 rows each. A wonderful pattern.

Hands across the Yarn

Here are photos from yesterday's knitting club. Not everybody is pictured here. 2 of the hands in the last photo belong to a boy, but otherwise the boys' pictures didn't turn out or they did not want their pictures taken or they wanted their faces in. Those are wonderful faces full of all kinds of things, but I won't put them on the Internet. Sorry, Fellas.

First is Sarah in the pink.










Here's Lindsey.











This is Amanda.









I think this is Rebecca.











Brehley











Jenna















Hannah











Jordyn losing a stitch and . . .














Teamwork!!!

The New Recruit

Knitter: Emma MM-G
Age: 7
Grade: 2
Current Project: Sample
Needles: Handmade straights
Yarn: Online #117 City







Yay, Emma!!!

I'm so proud of you!