Monthly Archives: June 2004

Knit Retreat

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I’m calling it my knitting retreat. As of Sunday, I will spend a week in Gainesville, FL with my SIL. I plan to knit, knit, knit. On Monday, I’m visiting the LYS to join in on some charity knitting. On Wednesday, I may show up and the guild meeting. The rest of the time, I will be lounging at her house, knitting and listening to my books on tape.

I hope to get some major progress done on Chamomile and my crochet afghan. I only have 15 more squares to go. The country afghan that you see on hold in my sidebar will be going with me. My original idea when I started that afghan was to make it for charity. Which charity I haven’t decided. I guess it will depend on how it turns out. So that project will be going with me to the LYS. Other than those three, I can’t decide what else to take with me. I could take the yarn and pattern for my simple and sleeveless top. Or the yarn and pattern for my Dolman sweater. Or my wool-ease so I can try my hand at those socks. Or maybe I’ll take all of them and decide while I’m there what to work on. Knowing me, I’ll take all three and not get started on any of them, because I’ll be too busy with the current 3 projects I’m trying to finish. But I would hate to finish one project and not have the stuff start another one.

I’ve already warned my SIL that I’ll probably be bringing a suitcase just for my knitting. LOL! Can you tell I’m looking forward to doing nothing but knitting and reading all week. Ok, so I’ll be doing some other things as well. My SIL said she wants to take me to her Scottish Dance class. That ought to be fun. We might get out and play some disc golf. She also mentioned that a friend of her would like to have a yarn night. Of course I told her I was definitely up for that, but oh, that’s knitting related. :P Hah! Oh well.

I probably won’t be posting much during the week. She has high-speed internet, but I’m not sure if I can hook up my computer to it, so pictures may be on hold till I get home on the 20th. I may jump on and post my progess though. I’m off to prepare for my week-long getaway!

Harry Plus

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I saw Harry Potter on Saturday morning. It was funny, but it wasn’t as dark and creepy as the previews made it out to be. The change in Hogwarts worked for this movie. I will be seeing it again in the theaters at least once, but I left wanting more. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve waited so long for this movie to be released, that it just left me wanting more when it was over or what. Maybe that will ease after I’ve seen it again. I was talking to my SIL and we decided they need to release an extended version of the DVD like they did with LOTR. That way we get much more of the book’s content than what was shown in the theater. I understand that they had a lot of material to pick from and it was probably tough trying to pick out the most important parts to show in the movie. They did a great job, but felt they left out a few important things…for instance the mention that it was James, Sirius, Lupin and Peter that created the Maurader’s Map. I think that would have helped those who haven’t read the books. All in all, I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing it again. Now, if only Book 6 would come out.

In other news, my vacation starts on Sunday and I absolutely cannot wait. I’m definitely looking forward to not having a care in the world except for reading my books and knitting. It will be a relaxing week, I know. I will be spending the week with my SIL. We don’t really have much planned, except I want to go to the LYS (local yarn shop). They have a knit-together for Charity on Monday afternoons. And we may go see Keith Urban in Valdosta on the 19th, but we’re not sure yet. Oh and she is taking me to her Scottish dance class Tuesday night. Other than that, no plans except to hang out and watch movies or maybe Buffy/Angel. She is a big fan and has almost the entire DVD collection of both. Maybe I can get some major progress done on a few of my knitting projects will I’m there. She isn’t planning to take any time off during the week, so I’ll have a lot of free time to just knit away.

Oh and I forgot to mention before now…my sister’s little dog has mange. Fortunately it is a genetic strain, so he can’t spread it to other dogs he is around, but will have to be neutered, which of course, he would have to be anyway, regardless. My sister soaks him in a solution that is supposed to help and keep the itchies down. This dog is so crazy, he doesn’t even notice that he has little bald patches. But I feel bad for the little thing.

Romance Novel

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I’ve gotten back into my short story. Well, I’m developing the plot and it may end up being a novel when I’m all done. I’ve not done the character profiles yet, but my mind has somewhat developed the characters. I just haven’t gotten them down on paper. The storyline itself was originally to be a short story. I felt that was easier to work with than something bigger. But as I keep developing the story, I feel I need to fill in here and there and it’s getting longer and longer. And I haven’t even developed any dialogue yet. I think that will be the hardest part. I’m horrible when it comes to actual dialogue.

So far, I’m really liking this storyline. I think it’s something that won’t lose my interest or liking as quickly as some others I’ve played around with. I’ve got several other short story ideas on paper. They are all interconnected as they revolve around the same family…just different members. This was originally created to be an online soap opera, but I felt it too overwhelming to try to keep it going indefinitely and on a steady timeline of delivery(ie, weekly, biweekly, etc). So I then broke them apart into their own stories…kind of like a series. For me that works better and doesn’t feel so daunting.

Right now I’m focusing on the one story. Maybe as I develop it the characters will “talk to me” and tell me where to go next. For now though, it’s fun developing the story. It still has a long way to go and I need to really develop my characters beyond what I see in my mind, but it’s coming along nicely.

One thing I notice with this writing, is that I will be all into it for a while, then get burned out and put it away for a few months. When I come back, I just pick up and my creative brain cells start churning. Then after a few months, they die again and it’s pushed aside till the next time I get a whim to work on it. Does that happen to anyone else?

Needle Purchase

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I’m looking at some sock patterns I’d like to try, but I don’t have needles that small yet. I know I’m a tight knitter, so it’s pretty likely that I will need a larger needle to get gauge, but I don’t have it either. (The smallest I have in my inventory is US6.) I’m trying to knit more loosely and I’ve also got to consider that I’ve never worked with any of these yarns before, so I may be able to get gauge with the recommended needle size, maybe So should I buy the recommended size plus the next one up to start with? On Chamomile, I’m knitting with needles 2 sizes up from the recommended.

I’m one knitter who hates to overbuy. I don’t have but a few skeins of yarn in my stash that don’t have a project planned for them. I’d rather not spend the money if I’m not sure I’ll use it, so I would hate to buy all those needles just to find the one I need and have the others just sit in the drawer. But I think, maybe I’ll use them eventually for another project. Also, should I get dpn or circular? I’m still undecided if I should attempt to use dpn again or just try my hand at 2 circ knitting. Any recommendations you want to share?

Teaching Mom

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Well, my adventure in teaching mom to knit didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. She had a hard time grasping it. She was able to cast on great. But just couldn’t get the knit stitch. She tried and tried and just wasn’t getting it. So she gave up for now. She said when she has a little more time, when she gets home, she’s going to try again. She was also amazed at how quickly I picked it up. It’s interesting how history repeats itself. She taught her mother to crochet. And there I was trying to teach her to knit. She knew how to do it, but just couldn’t make her hands do what she wanted them to. I even showed her by doing it myself slowly and she watched a little video of someone doing it while explaining how. She also looked at diagrams, so she knew what she was supposed to do. Just couldn’t do it. We tried several different needles to see if they would help, but it didn’t make any difference. Oh well, she was still appreciative that I tried to teach her and said she wouldn’t give up completely just yet.

Besides teaching mom, I finished her dishcloth. I also worked a little on my sister’s scarf and got a good bit done on the second sleeve of Chamomile. I’ve decided I’m not going to start anything new just yet. I want to finish what I’m working on currently. I’ve still got 1/2 of my crochet afghan to do, so I’m going to work on those. Maybe once I got the scarf done and a few more afghan squares out of the way, I’ll start my sleeveless top.