OMG!

Oh my god, it's been over a month since I last posted. Things have been happening, just forgot to blog about it.

Here's a small recap sans pictures as I haven't any.

I went to Stitches Midwest in Schaumberg, IL at the beginning of September. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a HUGE Knitting/crochet/fiber convention. Lots and Lots of vendors and demos. They have classes too, but I didn't take any. This was my first trip to Stitches. I had only gone to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, MI before. Which seems like small potatoes compared to Stitches MW. Wow, there were 8 rows of vendors! I forgot my camera, but was told that's OK, since they don't allow photos to be taken at the show anyway. One less thing to cart around. I went with a plan. I thought that would be smart, since I didn't want to overspend by buying everything that I saw that I LOVED. Well.... my plan wasn't defined enough apparently. I thought I would get 1 or 2 skeins of sock yarn and then the yarn to knit a sweater. I had 2 different sweater patterns with me that I wanted to make. I wasn't sure what to expect from Stitches, so I thought whichever one I found the yarn for first would be the one I would start knitting the next week. As I said earlier Well...... I did find my 2 skeins of sock yarn. One in a yummy fall orange color, which is not normally my color but was just fabulous. And the other is variegated fall colors. Then I found the yarn for my Mirage Sweater (here's a link to someone's version), but Miss Babs didn't have enough of the yarn in the color I wanted (Kiwi), so I order it. Well, that I think might have been when I made my mistake. Oh, not buying the yarn, I'm anxious to receive it. But the thought that I wouldn't have anything really good to show for my trip. You know!?! Well, except for the 2 skeins of sock yarn. Whoopie! More sock yarn. Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to start my sweater any time soon, like I planned. I didn't realize it at the time that these thoughts were bouncing around in my head when I stumbled across the "WEBS" booth. I found this awesome blue yarn by Sheep Shop Yarn that would be perfect for my Susie Hoodie Sweater Jacket. So I splurged and got it. I started the sweater that week too.

I've got about 6-8 inches of the bottom done. I had to rip it out and start over once. I was supposed to start the bottom edging with a size smaller needles then what I used to knit the rest of the jacket. My cables were not showing very well either, and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I commented to a couple of people about it and they said give it time, cables kind of have to develop a little in order for you to see them well. I was getting very frustrated and agonizing over what I was doing wrong. I tried drawing out what the row would look like and still couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, because it matched what I had on the needle. That's when I realized that I was having a major "blond moment". Because the even numbers for the cables was printed on the left side of the chart, I was reading them from left to right instead of right to left. DUH!! (FYI, You are always suppose to read the charts from right to left) I've decided not to rip them out though, as that would mean I'd have to start over again. The messed up part lines up with the garter stitch edging, so it just looks like part of the bottom edging. Once I started doing the cables correctly they really popped out. I'm about 4 rows from the 1st waist decrease. I'm not planning on actually decreasing though, just knitting that row normally. The waist needs to be a little bigger for me as I don't have much of a waist.

Then, last week I went on a quilting Shop Hop with my friend Patsy and 2 of her friends Judy and Joyce. For the shop hop, you bought a 'passport' at the first shop and then got it stamped at all of the quilting shops that were participating in the S-H. You turned the passport in to the last shop and your name is entered into a drawing for a really great prize. I found a nice pattern from Benartex for $1 and then at the next store I found the fabric to go with the pattern. I'm planning to work on it this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend. Tomorrow is the start of the River Bend Quilt Guild's Fall Retreat. I can't wait to get there. Although packing up all my sewing to stuff to get there will be a pain. But it's always worth it. I'm planning to work on Dawson's quilt (MUST GET DONE!), My Mom's quilt (which is another must get done) and then the new quilt for myself. I'm taking a few other small things in case I get bored with the new quilt. Like my Temple Guardians Quilt. I finished the last applique cat a couple weeks ago and can now start putting it together. I didn't realize it, but it took me 2 years to applique 9 cat blocks. Well, I wasn't working on them the whole time. I worked a little, then set them aside, then picked them back up; repeat. I'm not really into applique, but I really like these blocks. But I can't start on it until I get Dawson's quilt done! Which just needs to be quilted and the binding put on. I should be able to get that done on Thursday night.

Oh, and lest I forget, I got the news this week that I am back to full time. I have been working only 30 hours per week since January, because business has been slow. Either things are picking up a bit or it's the 'end of year must spend budgeted money before we lose it' rush. Either way, I'm good with it.