Not so Bad

I decided that I couldn't wait for yarn to come in the mail, so I went to my LYS and purchased four balls of pace by universal yarns to start my flower basket shawl. It is a sock yarn, so nothing too fancy, but it is working out much better then the lace wight was for me. I have finished two repeats.

The yarn is a dark brown, which I like for now. I may decide to over dye it later, if I can. We'll see.

He who shall not be named was is town this weekend. His plane landed in St. Louis Friday night at 8:45 pm, and he called to see if I wanted to have dinner with his parents and him that night. It went well. I brought Purl over to his parents on Saturday so she could play with their Swiss Mountain Dog, Jackie. They are close to the same size, and only a month apart in age, so they are a lot of fun to watch together. His mom is a spinner, so she made me yarn for Christmas. It is beautiful.

This picture really does not do the yarn justice. There is 400 yards of the dark brown and 200 yards of the peach. It is 50% alpaca, 25% merino, and 25% angora. I can't wait to knit with this stuff.

His parents had a party last night for a friend that is leaving for Officer Training School next week, so I went to that last night. It was odd, because I kept getting asked when we were going to get married. It wasn't really the time or place to say we weren't together anymore. His plane back to Oakland left St. Louis at 6:45 this morning. He has a gig tonight in San Francisco. I am glad I saw him. I am ok with how things ended up finally. More importantly, I am ok.

Today I have watched 8 episodes of the Dog Whisperer. Poor Purl doesn't stand a chance.

Meow

I went and saw Cats last night with my parents at the Fabulous Fox here in St. Louis. The show was great, and we had wonderful seats. My parents came up early and took Purl for a walk while I was at work so we could leave for dinner as soon as I got home. We went and ate at the Grappa Grill, which is one of my favorite places to eat. If you live in the St. Charles area I highly recommend eating there.
As for the Ethereal Fichu? It is seriously kicking my behind. I had to start over, again. And rip, again. I think I need to try a lace pattern with non-lace weight yarn to start out with. I have the Flower Basket Shawl pattern, and I'm thinking about ordering Gloss from Knit Picks. I ordered some for socks, and I love the way the yarn feels and looks. It is a fingering weight, and is merino wool and silk. It also has an excellent price, so I won't feel too guilty about breaking my yarn diet if I order some.

FO's and Christmas!

As promised, here is a picture of the finished sock. I still need to weave in the end, but I still consider this finished.






Same sock, different view. This one lets you see the stitch pattern a little bit better.

I got almost through chart A on the shawl, then I missed a stitch. So I frogged. And the yarn got into a knot. And the dog that never gets into bags, decided to get into the yarn bag. She got the Fino. She tried to blame the tangled mess on the kitty, but the yarn had a little too much drool on it to be the cats fault. She also ate my Christmas cookies, so if anyone wants a large rotti/st. bernard puppy, I might know of one you can have.

I bought my SIL some wine glasses from the Foundry, designed by Ware with a Flare. She's not a big drinker, so I got glasses with big bowels. That way she can drink other stuff in them.

These are from my co-workers. God-bless them. Deb from Needle and Distaff is going on a cruise this January, so I got her some Trekking sock yarn. It's their soy/wool blend - I can't remember the name and I can't find it online. Sorry.
This is the best present by far. Here is Drew (the dog I drove to Sullivan) in my parents house. They were dog sitting for my brother's family. She is looking longingly at my father. She has really taken to him and my brother, and is great with the kids.

And just in case any one was worried about Purl, here is her Christmas present. This,

turned into this.

Purl missed her cat while we were in Rolla.

But Pretty didn't really miss her!

Christmas Knits

So that whole Christmas sock thing? It's out the window. If I could figure out the provincial cast-on, I might still be working on them, but for now, no Christmas sock. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished them anyway, since today is Christmas. Instead, I decided to start Ethereal Fichu. So far I have started this 4 times, and since on row 24 I have an extra stitch, I guess I'll be starting again. I am using Alpaca with a Twist's Fino, which is probably the only reason I am willing to start this a 5th time.
I spent Christmas with my parents this weekend. Poor Purl took 8 walks in 3 days. Now that we are back home she is sound asleep on my bed, pretty much unwilling to move. My parents had all of the nieces and nephews Saturday and Sunday - there are 4 total. My brother and sister-in-law work weekends, so my parents and hers usually split the kids to help out. The oldest nephew (3) had a children's choir concert in church on Sunday, so my parents got all 4. I need a vacation from this vacation! Luckily, my parents had wine, so I survived. Plus, I got books! About Knitting! Socks! Santa brought Sensational Knitted Socks, Knitting on the Road, and Knitting Vintage Socks! I am very excited about this. I also got season one of The Dog Whisperer. This will hopefully teach me some useful information for Purl.
I hope everyone's Christmas was as good as mine.

Bordom and Coffee

I am bored silly. Everyone got to leave work early today, except me. In return, I'll get to leave early next Friday while they all have to stay.So it works out in the end. After work I have to go pick up a Christmas present for my brother - he is getting his family a dog. I'm going to meet him in Sullivan, MO to make the exchange - I don't want to force another dog to ride in the car with Purl. She's still too obnoxious when it comes to other animals. She doesn't realize that she weighs 80lbs and other animals don't want to play with her.
I went to stitch and bitch last night at The Crooked Tree. It was my first time back since He Who Shall Not Be Named left. Most of the members don't know about what's going on. He and I used to go to the tree on the weekends, since they are opened late and have wireless internet. I'm glad I got there early, because we were friends with several of the barista's, which is honestly part of the reason I haven't been in a while. As it was, it has been almost a month and I still started to tear up. Luckily, I think they understand why I haven't been around.
I finished my first Anastasia sock. I'm worried that the bind off is a little loose, but we'll see. It's my first ever toe-up sock. For the most part, I like toe-up, and think it may become my preferred way of knitting socks. I'm not crazy about provisional cast ons, mainly because can't tell which loop to knit into! I'm sure this something that will get better with practice. So, have I started the second sock yet? Nope!I decided that I want to knit Christmas socks with some left over Lorna's Lace that I have (it's the 22nd. Sure, I'll get those done in time for Christmas. Next Year!).
I'll post pitures after Christmas. I promise.

Purl and I go to the park!

Warning: This is a picture heavy post!

Purl and I went to Laumeier Sculpture Park today. Ms. Needle and Distaff was supposed to join us, but unfortunately, she was not feeling well. If you are in the St. Louis area I highly recommend that you go there. It is a beautiful place that believes in combing art, nature, and people. Plus, you can bring your dog! It is the only American Association of Museums member where dogs are welcome. Here, we are on our way to the park. Clearly, Purl is very excited.

I really loved this piece. Unfortunatly, I can't find the name or artist online. (Since I failed to write the names down, I used this site to find the information).

One of the great thing that the park has is braille descriptions of several of their sculptures. They also have scale models of the pieces. Here Purl is inspecting the description of one of the pieces.

Here is the full size sculpture. It is Laumier Project 1981 by Jackie Ferrara.Here, Purl is inspecting the work. It is part of an untitled piece by Ursula von Rydingsvard.

This is one of my favorite pieces, called Triangular Bridge Over Water, by Dan Graham. When I was here last year this piece had been damaged during a storm. A branch fell and broke one of the panes of glass. I am really pleased that it has been repaired.I actually know the name of this piece! It is Ball? Ball! Wall? Wall! by Donald Lipski. It is another one of my favorites. Both of these have been here at the park for as long as I can remember. So has this one, titled The Way 1972-80, by Alexandar Liberman. It always makes me thing of a swing set.

And just to prove that I do knit, here is a picture of my sock with Sugabus by Robert Chambers.

It is a sugar molecule. The name is a mix of sugar and Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the underworld.

I grew up taking day trips from Rolla to come here to hike and look at the art work. Several works were featured in the text books I used for my art history courses in school. Laumier has pieces done by internationally known artists. Yet many people in St. Louis don't know anything about the park. He who shall not be named grew up in the town neighboring the park, yet he had never been there until I took him.

Bad Day

Today is a Bad Day. Granted, right now, that's not that odd. It started out ok. I volunteer most Saturdays at the Foundry Art Centre here in St. Charles. It went alright, until a man walked in and started yelling about an upside down Christmas tree used as decoration was against God. He was cussing during his tirade about how horrible we were. I found this ironic, because there were kids in the building, and WE were the horrible ones. I pointed out to the rest of the staff that if hadn't been the Christmas tree he probably would have yelled about the art work being inappropriate. I also took Purl to meet Santa at Pet Smart. I will try to post the picture. Afterward, we went for a very long walk in an attempt to get rid of some of her energy. This attempt failed.

In knitting news (finally) I spent most of the day tinking back my anastasia sock. After not working on it for so long I completely messed up the pattern. My eyelets stopped swirling and started zig-zagging. And yes, I know it would have been faster to frog the many rows I tinked, but I don't think I'm brave enough to try and pick up yarn-overs and knit 2 together's.

For the most part, I'm doing ok. I haven't broken down in public (with the exception of Thursday, which involved beer and friends, so it doesn't count), and I haven't felt overly sad since last week. That's the problem. I think I was too exhausted and numb from studying to really feel anything. And now, I don't have school to distract me. So today is a Bad Day. I think I'm going to drink a little bit, and maybe take Purl for another walk. That usually helps distract me. In the mean time, here's a picture. I have had Purl for a year and half, and this Wednesday was the first time my cat has willingly stayed when Purl tries to join her on the bed (ignore the laundry on the bed, I hadn't gotten around to putting it away yet).

Nothing Witty

First, I love this website. Go check it out.
I finished this quarter successfully, which is nice. I was worried for a bit - my marketing class was rough. We don't have our grades back yet, but I think I did alright.
I am finally starting to feel like a person again. I even found myself thinking about knitting tonight, and wanting to do something with my hands.
I guess I'm still drained from studying. I keep thinking of things I want to post about, than I sit in front of the computer and nothing comes out.

Done

I survived my final!

Wine + Socks = No Homework.

I have finals on Monday. This quarter has not been great, what with He Who Shall Not Be Named leaving and all. I havn't really looked at my text book since our last test, which was around the time he told me he was moving. We've covered six chapters since then. I think I'm going to be in trouble. I also have to prepare a marketing plan to present to the class. I might need to buy LOTS of coffee.
In the middle of studing last night I decided I needed a break, so I called a friend Deb to see if she wanted to go out. We ended up buying a couple bottles of wine and some ice cream. (Poor girl got MAULED by Purl - in a friendly way, but still). Needless to say, I really didn't get much studying done. But I had fun, and feel a little bit better. It helps to know that my not having the energy to knit right now is fairly normal.

I am working on a sock right now. The pattern is called Anastasia by pepperknit. I am using Lorna's Laces shepard sock in Baltic Sea. These are my first attempt at toe-ups, and so far I love them. The pattern is super simple and easy to memorize. I'm hoping that after this week I'll feel more like knitting again, since I'll be done with school for a bit. My plan is to knit until I run out of yarn. I need to look around to try and figure out how high up I can knit until I need to start the cuff. I'm guessing I can go pretty high, since the last time I used Lorna's Lace I got a sock and a half out of one skein (I guess I could always measure the leg on the other pair and multiply, but that would be too simple).

I better stop procrastenating now, since, you know, I have four more chapters of strategic marketing to read.

Baby, your mine.

I had Purl spayed when she was almost a year old. I had meant to do it sooner, but the day I made the first appointment to have it done, she went into heat. The vet said she had systs on her overies, which caused her to go into a false pregnacy. She had a stuffed duck for her baby, and she took it with her everywhere. If either I or the other touched her "baby" she would start crying frantically. It was heartbreaking to watch. Things were made worse by the fact that she caught broncitis at the vets, so the duck's fibers were making her cough. We eventually had to hide the duck until she got over the broncitis, and eventually it stopped being her baby and became a toy.

Today at Pet Smart I bought her a little honking moose. I think I made a mistake.

Introductions

Hi. I am a knitter. Only recently, I don't feel so much like knitting. I have a major case of the blues.
It is my intention to talk about knitting and such here, but also to talk about other things, since this is a journal of sorts, and there are things that I need to say.
PG stands for my dog - Purl. She is a Rotti/St. Bernard mix, and is (in my opinion) the most
beautiful dog in the world. She is a petite 80lbs, and is still very much a puppy, so is VERY hyper. I call her PurlGirl, which somehow got shortened to PG13 (I'm not sure where the 13 came from, but it has stuck).
I'm in the middle of adjusting from a WE to an I. My SO of 4 years decided sometime last month that he was moving to San Fransisco without me. He also decided that he didn't want to try the long distance thing for the six months I have left on my masters. I knew he wanted to leave St. Louis, but we had always talked about leaving when I finish school. Appearantly, things change.
I am working on my Masters in Art Leadership and Development, which is geared toward art non-profits. I have finals next week, than two more quarters to go. Plus a thesis. I'm hoping that by writing here, I will get used to writing a bit eac day. That way, when the time comes, it won't be such a struggle for me.
I promise to put up pictures of my knitting. I know a knitting blog without knitting is no good.

(Sorry, this was added much later. I'm trying to hide my banner so I can attempt to put it on the blog).