not a pretty sight

   With three more days of summer vacation remaining, and having finished two hats for KniTibet, I decided to begin another last night. I grabbed a ball of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran -- sort of a deep persimmon color -- and decided to attempt the tubular cast-on as described on Sivia Harding's website. It worked out just fine and even though it was late, I knitted a few more rows in K2P2 ribbing.    After only six rows, I found a break in one of the three plies. Sort of a surprise, but at the time, I was talking on the phone to my sister, and just broke the yarn and kept going. A little more than one row, later, another break in one ply. Now, I start unwinding the ball... there were ten -- 11!! -- breaks in that 50g ball!!    Then I started to panic. I went to the back room and grabbed my bag of wool yarns.... so far, I've only found one more ball with only 3 breaks, an Adrienne Vittadini Vittoria. I don't think it's the yarn. I'm afraid it was a moth. I have 23 more balls of the DB -- I'm almost afraid to look too closely, but I suppose I'll have to do so.    Now, the funny part is that night before last, just before we went to sleep, I ask my husband if he would do the repair on the cedar chest in the back room (I have another one in my bedroom, too) if I got it emptied. My thought was that I would sort through everything in both of them and use whichever one was the better size for my wool yarns. Too little, too late.   On a brighter note, things went fairly well on campus today. The professor I had hoped for will be teaching the Spanish class for which I registered. We got #2Son "advised" and eligible to register for classes. And, even in the dreadful heat, managed to get a few errands run and the groceries bought without melting into the macadam. My sweet father lent me his SVGA monitor, so I am no longer stuck with 640x480 16-color resolution on the spare desktop until my laptop is back from the service center.    But, for now, we've had a terrible thunderstorm tonight and the DSL is out, so I'm writing this in WordPad to post at another time. I'm going to take another ball of yarn and try again with the tubular cast-on. LC

my first item for KniTibet!

   This is Celia's Sidewinder Hat, made with some of the wool my friend, Rissa, dyed the weekend I visted her last month. I added some Red Heart Kiss (Hickory) in the cabled edge. Most of the 'fuzzy' of the Kiss yarn seemed to end up on the purl side of the cable -- which is really rather nice as that will be next to the face and is so very soft.    I had wound the dyed hank into two 70g balls. The completed hat took a bit more than 70g, so I am making the second hat just a bit smaller and hoping I do not run out of the wool.    What I love about Celia's pattern is that it is simple to 'get into your mind' and then not have to refer to the pattern. It is a 12 row repeat and rows 6 and 12 are the key rows -- they are super simple to remember because the row 6 is where you make the cable twist and row 12 is where the pattern repeat ends -- and on each of these rows you are turning your work with 6 and 12 stitches, respectively, remaining on the left-hand needle. LOL! It is more difficult to describe, than to realize the connections within the pattern!    There are 38 more weeks until our approximate departure for Tibet -- my personal goal is to knit at least one item each week. I would be thrilled to have even 40 knitters send me just one item! LC

what did we do before.....

   My dear sweet hubby is always saying, "What did people do before [fill-in-the-blank]!" Usually he fills in that blank with "cell phones," because it irritates him to no end to see people driving and using cell phones. However, today it is my turn to say, "What did we do before VGA/SVGA monitors!!"    Yesterday I had to take my baby to the doctor... that is to say, my Viao laptop to Best Buy to be sent off for repair. The keyboard, which had been acting a little strange last week, putting a 5 behind every 3 I typed, went completely wonkers inputting 5s continuously. I managed one day of grace using an external keyboard, but even that didn't help come Tuesday morning. So, I switched out the hard drive and sadly left her with strangers. While they fix that problem, I also asked them to look at the overheating problem (again) and find out why the rear USB no longer functions.    Getting back to my frustration, I am now working on the backup desktop using an old EGA monitor that will only set at 16 colors and 600x480 resolution!! And, of course, that is only one of a multitude of little problems. Still, I'm trying to be glad that I at least have finally figured out how to connect into our home network. My sons are generous to let me access email and stuff on their computers, but my eyes strain with their super-high resolutions! (I try to warn, but it does no good.)    There is other nice news though. I bought an iPaq yesterday. And a Bluetooth keyboard. Also, I have gotten emails from half-dozen or so people about the KniTibet project. Thanks so much!    On the knitting front, I finally finished the striped top!! Just working on tying off the ends and fixing an error or three. I have to dig out my kitchner diagrams to do the underarm-body join, then it's ready to be blocked. LC

KniTibet

  A little over eight months from now, I should be on my way to T I B E T !   Along with me I hope to take suitcase stuffed with hand-knitted hats, scarves and gloves for the schoolchildren in Lhasa and surrounding villages.

  As I think I mentioned in a previous post, some of the students who traveled to Jamaica with us this summer took school supplies for serveral of the island's social service agencies. I was disappointed that I didn't know they were doing it, because I would have gladly contributed.

  When the Tibet trip was announced and I begain doing online research on Tibet, I decided that a charity knitting project would be a worthwhile effort -- and a side benefit might be building a foundation for a knitting group at the university.   Further information is available on the KniTibet webpage or by emailing me. I have also started a page of links to patterns and sizing information. There are currently no links to patterns for gloves yet. But I will find some for you! You will also find project specifications there soon. For now, here's what you would want to remember: 1. Items should be wool. Wool stays warm when wet. At the very least, please ensure a high wool content if using a blend. 2. Sizing should be for elementary/primary grade children, approximate US sizes 4 to 6 (the Tibetan children tend to be a bit smaller than US). 3. Scarves should have NO fringe; about 5 inches wide and about 4 feet long.   Please help me spread the word about this project by mentioning it to friends and/or posting about it in your blog and snagging the button at the top of my sidebar. Even just one knitted item from every knitter we can reach would be such a blessing! My contact at Tibetan Village Project tells me there are over 4,000 children on their 'waiting list.'   If you need a little more incentive, I plan to have a 'thank-you' gift for about a dozen knitters who contribute to this project -- awarded in categories, e.g., first received, most items contributed, etc.. LC

25th anniversary

of my divorce... I know. I'm weird.     On other topics, I'm wondering if I should be happy or mad with my father for getting me back into our genealogy research. He asked me (I don't even want to think about how long ago) to gather together what I have for him to send to a cousin of mine. A few weeks ago I downloaded a freeware program from Tucows and started happily creating family tree sheets for him. The other day, I suddenly realized there is no print option with the program. Then I found a family tree template for Excel, so I'm using that now. Plus I added a plain spreadsheet page to do the descendants table.    Of course, along the way, my curiosity has been piqued once again about the unanswered questions and conflicting information re: dates, marriages, etc.. So, I spent a whole day (Wednesday, I think) going through my papers/documents, inputting to the worksheets and nosing around the online sites. Most are terribly unwieldy, in my opinion. And where so much info used to be freely accessible, it seems the more information that is online, the more likely it is that you have to have a subscription to some ad-filled website to access it! I did locate about three likely contacts, but one was a dead address, and neither of the other two have replied.   Knit-wise, I'm finally working on the yoke of my striped top. I have a long ride to Jackson tomorrow, so if I can knit instead of knap, I might actually be very close to finishing it by the time I get back home.    Ahora, va eschucar CDs de español. Ciao. LC

woo-hoo!

    Grades were supposed to be available today (08/11), so, of course, I had to check before I went to bed... all A - A - A - A 's ! ! ! !     I am really surprised to have gotten an A in the Arthurian Literature class, though. Really surprised. I must have done really well on the final.     I'm so pleased... can you tell I'm pleased??? LC

21

    In 1984, about ten minutes ago (EDT) I gave birth to twin sons. It has been a long road -- full of fears and fun. Today my boys turned 21. I am very proud to be their mother and I look forward to watching them finish college, pursue their careers, find their true love and build a family.... not too soon on that last one!     We picked up their grandfather and all had lunch together at a local restaurant. One son threatened me with reciprical treatment if I got the staff to recognize their birthday -- I didn't have to worry. Their grandfather took care of that. And stupid me took the camera but left it in the truck! The rest of the day was 'just another day' after a few gifts were distributed. Brownies made later tonight.     No drinking. No partying all night. Less worrying for Mom! LC