Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Swallowtail Shawl!

What looks like an old mopping rag? My version of the Swallowtail Shawl in Knit Picks colorway "Oregon Coast"! (What's up with that color? What's up with me choosing this color in the first place?)
Prime knitting time is in the evenings and last night was more tinking than knitting going on, and a lot of cursing as well. How can two shawls be so very different to knit? I'm quite sure this one's an easy one too, but for some reason, I really don't know, it is giving me a hard time. I know the yarn overs are out to get me (and have for some time now), but still, I'm on to them and on guard here! If there's one stitch to many, no problem, knit it together. If I'm one stitch short, no problem, make one! Next row - nothing's where's supposed to be and suddenly everything looks the same! So, I declare defeat and tink back. In the back of my mind there's a word floating around, no not that one, it's "life line"! I've heard of it, seen it, but never used it or even know how to do it, but somehow I think I should make myself familiar with it.

How can I knit 12 repeats of this chart and everything falls into place and it's smooth knitting, but by the 13th (Aha!) repeat I'm like a person with sausages for fingers and no thumbs? AND I'M NOT EVEN AT THE HARD PART YET! Still four more rows to go before I can start with the Lily of the Valley chart one.
I'm sure it's not me, it's the distractions around me. It's Sam and Biko, it's Hannah and David, and the sun and the moon ...... but not me!

So far, not much pleasure in knitting this one, but once again, I'm like a dog with a bone, just can't give it up! I'll keep you posted.




My mom's a nice person. She likes to shop and she loves to rummage through hobby & crafts markets and flea market as well. She bought and sent me this pair of socks. They are hand knit of course. Maybe a year ago, she would not even have looked twice at hand knit items, she's all about cross stitched table cloths and so on, but since I've started knitting (again), and she gets to see some pictures of it here on the blog or, gets actually to feel some socks on her feet (which I made), since all this happened, she looks at hand knits differently. She also buys me lots of yarn, special deals of course, because she's an expert shopper. And I am not one to say NO to a pair of hand knit socks, never! You just can't have enough of them, and don't they fit my feet nicely??? - and yes, this is my very photogenic pumpkin in the background. It's still with us. My kids tell me everyday, that one day soon there will be a "poof" and all the moldy innards of this pumpkin will explode into my living room. I say not, it will dry out and sit there forever! (by the way, this is not a cup of coffee! I'm a tea totaller(?) !)



And of course there is something to learn about my dogs:

Biko smart, Sam dumb?


That's how Biko uses a pillow to sleep on the couch. Smart!


This is how Sam uses a box of wool as a pillow, to sleep on the couch, ahem ..... or he's just very comfortable about all the knitting going on in this house!


Besides, we both got a scare last night, or maybe it was just I that got scared, he didn't know what the hell was going on, with me running home after our last short walk, yelling like a banshee for my son. This is what happened:


Sam's finally allowed to go for walks. We do short walks, rather than long walks, but several. I monitor him, to see how he's doing on these walks, so I can judge how far we go. He's still limping, but it gets better every day. Anyway, it was almost dark and we were walking along the neighborhood sidewalk, thinking happy thoughts, him and me; it's stop and go, there's a lot to sniff at (many dogs here), there's pee, stop and go, you get it. At one of these stop's at first I'm off thinking said happy thoughts, mostly about knitting (nay), when I noticed that Sam's not sniffing nor peeing, but chewing and swallowing. Alarm bells ringing! I jank him away, see a heap of a white powder like substance and some clumps of that stuff all over the sidewalk. I grab what I can with my gloved hand, jank (sorry Sam) Sam around and hot foot it home as fast as we both could. Doors fly open, I yell for David, to come and see, I just couldn't bring myself to have a closer look, Sam's panting beside me. I stick the stuff under David's nose, he says, huh? I say, smell it, what is it? (O.K. I yelled it, total panic). David sticks his nose to the stuff and looks at me, wondering if I've gone totally mad now. Tell me what it is, I said.
Why - it's feta cheese, of course! Huh?
What the hell is feta cheese doing on my side walk??? - And Sam's panting, came from the running, I guess. Poor guy.
All's well. ;o)

13 comments:

Pat said...

Well I just started Swallowtail this morning (one repeat in) and THEN I read your post! Now that I started, I'm not stopping. I can usually "see" lace as I go so pick up missed YOs on the next round (or drop extra YOs)....anyway - we'll see how it goes - I LOVE the Baby Silk that I'm using.I'm sorry you don't like the "Oregon Coast" - I really liked the soft muted color and it DOES go with everything if you ever end up wearing the shawl!

Anonymous said...

the Shawl is totally gorgeous. I have one more set on the main pattern before I get to the dreaded NUBBS but I'm not worried. Really, I'm not. Your Sam/Biko photos are great! and I'm so glad to hear Sam is a Greek lover. What's next, Baklava?

Anonymous said...

You dog is quite the laid back one! I am not sure about blogger... It can be problematic can't it!

Larry said...

Really, Monika, that is a very amusing post. I quite enjoyed myself. Isn't it amazing how something so simple as knitting can get to fouled up? A life line may be a good idea but I'm too stubborn to use it, yet.

Sue J. said...

Your Swallowtail will be just gorgeous. Just wait until you get to the nupps. I had to fiddle with those for awhile to get them to look right. So glad Sam didn't ingest anything worse that cheese. I know what it's like to panic about your pet. I've done it on more than one occassion. Thank goodness we have a very understanding vet. Your mom sounds like a dream.

Anonymous said...

Oh, dear, that is so funny about the feta cheese! And I love the picture of Sam using yarn as a pillow.

Also, your Shetland Triangle Shawl is gorgeous! I love the color, it looks like something a fairy would wear.

hakucho said...

Your shawl will be gorgeous if I know you...don't despair and don't give up :)
The socks your Mom got you are beautiful!

Glad that it was only cheese...When I started reading I got nervous! When my grandfather was walking our dog once when I was a kid (the dog) stepped on some glass that Papa didn't see and cut an artery...you can imagine the trauma. I still think of it now and then and shudder...but Patch survived...lost quite a bit of blood but was fine afterall.

good luck knitting your shawl :)

Anonymous said...

OMG...felt your panic then had a good laughed!

Anonymous said...

I really like that sock yarn!

Your dogs are so cute (as usual). I know the feeling you had when Sam ate something 'foreign'. My Max is famous for eating stuff (the items of 'honor' include a tube of Krazy Glue and motor oil). I've stuck my hands down his throat more than once!

Punkin said...

For some reason you really hit my funny bone today. First mop comment. then the picture had me laughing out loud. Then you had me wondering what the white stuff was (I could imagine terrible things) - feta cheese! Oh, and I am in your corner about the pumpkin.

Debi said...

Ok what was feta cheese doing on your sidewalk? :) I'm glad it was a false alarm anyway!

Lifeline instructions: get some laceweight cotton or even unwaxed dental floss and thread it thru a tapestry needle. On your last "perfect" row (or after each repeat) thread the floss thru each stitch on the needle, being careful NOT to thread it thru any markers you may be using. I'm like most laceknitters, too stubborn to use a lifeline but I have lived to regret that on more than one occasion! I did use a lifeline on the Shaped Triangle in made in black laceweight linen and boy was I glad I did.

I agree with your kids, one day you're gonna be scraping pumpkin goop off the ceiling! hehehe....

Kris B said...

Oh, the shawl is going to be so nice when you finish it.

Glad to hear it was just feta cheese, ewww. Our golden retriever likes to put everything in his mouth. We've had to have two surgeries for him to remove things from his intestines that he swallowed and they got stuck. So now I totally go nuts trying to keep things out of his mouth. I really dislike how people will discard their trash on the side of the road.

Martina said...

Feta Cheese? My that is atad wierd....
Please take pictures if the pumpkin expldes!