Margaret Atwood was in my dream

I have to start with the fact that I don't read Margaret Atwood. Not my style of writing. I dreamt that I was at a bookstore where Margaret Atwood was signing books. I was the only customer anywhere near her. There were only 3 choices left. One was a large hardcover with a paper cover, the second was a paperback the same size as the hardcover and then a plastic box the same size as the other 2. I assume it contained audio tapes. I had a bit of trouble deciding which of them to choose and finally went up to Ms Atwood.

I don't actually remember having a book for her to sign but I mentioned that I am living in Finland. (In real life I know that she has been to Finland.) We sit down on some armchairs that are nearby and who should walk up to us but Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of Yarn Harlot. Ms Atwood doesn't seem to know who she is but just as I am about to say that I've read her blog, I wake up! Strange dream again!


I started to work on this little thing. I'm not sure if it will turn out as I want it to, so I won't say what it is.

Week 13, 2006 Goals

Goal Clarifications
D's Miniature Sweater: Knit one sleeve
Reclaiming Bedroom: Next step: Sort through desk cupboard
UFO: Weave in right side yarns
Job Preperation:
- Find 1 week's worth of clothes
- Make up week's menu

Week 12, 2006 Goals
Goals Done

Well the weekend is over and A has left to take S to the train. I think that the weekend went well, foodwize and otherwize. She seemed nice. Polite and she even spoke English with me!

Barbie Has Clothes

After being clothesless for many years Barbie doesn't have to lie around naked. If anyone feels that it isn't a good idea to wear knitting with crocheting, that is their problem. I liked Carolyn Crompton's skirt and Lynne Sears' shell stitch tank top (mine is a bit different) and I'm not sure that I'd ever make anymore Barbie clothes (for my Barbie anyway), so I wanted to make what I like. (Barbie didn't have any say.)

Yes, We Have No Working Vacuum Cleaner

Sigh. Sigh and sigh again. After moving everything off of A's floor so that I could wash the floor after vacuuming it (which meant I actually had to vacuum under the furniture these things were hiding under, the vacuum cleaner stopped working. Great, I thought. The electricity is off again. It was off last night, just long enough for A to light candles. But then I smelt a burning smell and realized that the vacuum cleaner was the cause of the lack of electricity. So I finish by hand and knees (our brush has a short handle) and washed his bedroom floor. I am now taking a well deserved procrastination break.

Duh

I went to my (only) LYS yesterday to buy smaller sock needles. They only had 4 mm, which I already have, or 2 point something which I thought were too small because there is no way that I'm going to cast on 1000 stitches for a pair of socks. I had been thinking of 3.5 but not being able to get them, I decided to continue with the size 4.

So I go home and

I see these needles (not that I have never seen them before, afterall I put them there), which were not as large as 4 mm and so not of any use to me, and thought I would measure them and put them away. As you may already have guessed, they are 3.5 mm. Of course I don't have that size, now do I? They look so much smaller than the 4 mm that I would never have guessed that they are only ½ cm smaller. Sigh. Now all I have to do is figure out how many stitches I need to cast on. Somewhere between the 64 I have now and 100, I suppose.

Today. in preperation for A's weekend guest, I replaced the Christmas kitchen curtains with more spring-like ones, tried to repair a Christmas wreath that has been lying on the table since I took it down which can now be put away because I don't really know what to do with it, so it can wait until next December (or one sometime in the future), neatly put my desk papers into some desk trays that have been in another room (see 'reclaiming bedroom') for some years, washed the inside of A's bedroom window and the kitchen window (because hopefully A's guest won't look too closely at the other windows and it won't be sunny) and glued down some wallpaper edges with paper glue. I should make a list of what else needs to be done and do them!

Qu'est-ce qu'est dans le sac?

(I know that my French is horrible!)

I borrowed one of A's knapsacks yesterday. After I returned home I emptied my stuff out of it and what did I see when I was checking that nothing was left behind in the knapsack? (See 'Little Metal Rings' post)



I think that I have decided to buy smaller needles to make socks with. That will mean I will have to cast on many more stitches and therefore need to KNIT many more stitches, but it would make the sock less faster to knit easier to knit, um, porous, er, thin. And as I have already committed myself to knitting 4 more pairs of socks, maybe it would be better.

Week 12, 2006 Goals

Week 12, 2006 Goals (Clarification)
D's Miniature Sweater: Knit back
Reclaiming Bedroom: Step 5: Repair or clean 5 more items on floor
Keep bed empty
Preparing for Guest:
           Repair wreath and put it away
           Make menu and check that she isn't allergic to anything on it

Week 11, 2006 Goals
Goals Done

Poor old naked Barbie has been lying in a box (with a naked Ken, I might add) for many years. I have always wanted to make clothes for them. That is why I bought them but I have never got around to it.


As Barbie has been out and about these past few weeks being the model for D's miniature sweater, I thought that she might want some clothes on when she finally models the finished miniature sweater and so I looked for a skirt pattern. I found this fan pleated Barbie skirt at about.com and have been knitting that instead of doing anyelse that I was suppose to. I like the design and might make a scarf with it if I every get around to it.

Little Metal Rings

A is making a chain maille vest and I am finding rings everywhere.
Yesterday when I was sitting on this chair, and not even moving, I could hear them falling to the floor. I was just gathering A's dirty laundry to wash it, when I found a sock with a ring on it. Suddenly I had a flash back, only a few years ago mind you, but I thought it was over. Legos! It wasn't that long ago when I was finding them everywhere (and under my feet). Boys and their toys.

I have been using small needles to knit the miniature sweater. I knit tightly so it isn't always easy to get the needle into the stitch. Yesterday, as I have always done, I used my left index finger to push the point of the right hand needle and it went into my skin.Ouch. So that now that I have a hole in my finger (OK, a small cut), I can't use that method and I am finding it hard to knit. It is also slowing me down a lot.

Got Wool for H's Socks

I met M for lunch today and gave her her socks. I wanted her to try them on so that we could see if they fit with the new toe style. (I was left with 70 cm when I redid the first toe.) They fit fine. In exchange she gave me yarn for her husband's socks. He wants knee-highs. Fortunately he wants them ribbed all the way down to the heel, so that shouldn't be too difficult. I think I'm going to finish D's miniature sweater before I start the socks.

Week 11, 2006 Goals

Week 11, 2006 Goals (Clarification)
D's Miniature Sweater: decide what kind of neck to do and knit it
Reclaiming Bedroom: Step 4: Repair or clean 5 more items on floor
Preparing for guest:
            Sew a cover for A’s chair seat
            Wash cloth for cushion covers
            Get rid of magazines in hall
            Tidy computer table

Week 10, 2006 Goals
Goals Done

A’s computer isn’t working, so I’m at the library doing this. It feels strange being back at the library to be on the internet.

We’ll be having a weekend guest in two weeks. What to do with a 16 year old girl (who is a complete stranger to me) in this little place? She first suggested one night but now she’ll be two nights because she’ll get a lift. I suppose her mother also wants to check out where she’ll be staying. At least her mother met A last summer when they went to the amusement park together.

Not Much Done

I had to change this week's UFO goal a bit because I realized (duh) that it would be easier to weave in the ends before hemming the top edge. It doesn't matter what order I do it, the goal is to get it finished.


As I am determined to get my UFOs done, I am also going to work on something that isn't really my UFO, but as I did buy the finished crochet squares many, many years ago, my part is to join them together. I'm only aiming to get it finished by next Christmas as they are Christmas colors. I don't want to sew them together because I was hoping to make the throw a bit bigger because there aren't many squares. The only thing I came up with was anchoring them together as is shown at about.com.

I finally got around to asking my ex m-i-l if she had any wool that I could have to crochet them together. When A and I visited there last time, K gave me a bag of yarn. Many years ago she had taken two skeins and wound them together into a ball. Now we had to separate them so that I could use them to join the squares with. We needed A's help as they would start twisting together and were difficult to separate. How many teenage boys get to help their mother and grandmother with balls of yarn?

I wasn't able to start D's miniature sweater because I couldn't find the needles for it. After looking here and there more than once, and wondering where on earth I could have put them (along with my memory!), I found them under the sofa. I will have to make the sweater wider than the one I made for myself because mine won't fit a Barbie.

Week 10, 2006 Goals

Week 10, 2006 Goals (Clarification)
D's Miniature Sweater: front side
Reclaiming Bedroom: Step 3: Handle (repair, clean, etc.) 5 items on floor
UFO: Knot upper edge and weave in ends on back

Week 9, 2006 Goals
Goals Done

M's Socks Are Finished

Or at least I think they are. I knit a different toe for sock #2 because I didn't like the ladder look of #1. I redid the toe of sock # 1 and was left with 70 cm of yarn. Now I don't know if the socks are long enough or not! I suppose I will just finish them off and hope for the best. I can always undo them if they are too short.

I should try to knit faster. So many knitter blogs have pictures of many, many projects that the bloggers have already done in 2006. Why am I so slow?

My (Knitting) Olympic Medal

I've never earned a medal before, so here's my first one.