ring around the rosies

Long Entry Take Two

Arrgh!! I hate it when I lose entries. It was quite long. Tried to save, but no. Then foolishly closed out. Okay, here I go again.

Web Ring

Wow! I'm so pleased that everyone has responded so well to the web ring. I had no idea the positive feedback it would receive. I have learned so much, too, about hosting a web ring and about the technical side of it, especially about how finicky Ringsurf can be sometimes. Adding members has been tricky, and based completely on the whims of this site. Oh hallowed be the name of the Ringsurf. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is on the Internet. Amen.

One unfortunate victim of the capriciousness of Ringsurf has been Shobhana over at My Life in Stitches. We'd love to welcome her, yes we would, but we are not allowed. Perhaps we have sinned, we are not certain. In the meantime, please visit Shobhana and welcome her to the ring. She lives in Texas. Incidentally, she is a knitting celebrity, as she designed the Big Bad Baby Blanket in the Stitch N'Bitch book. She does not deserve such treatment, but oh, she has received it. We are heartily sorry, Shobhana, for these our misdoings. Amen.

But life has not been solely about the webring, no it hasn't. I've been steadily working away on several projects. Please allow me to tell you about them.

Audrey

I bet you thought I had forgotten about her, didn't you? Well, she never strays far from my mind, though my mind cannot necessarily say the same. I have done some work on her, nearly completing the front, or the back, depending on how good or bad it looks when finished. They are the same in the pattern and so it is my choice how I would like to orient her, save upside down or sideways. But we would never do that to poor Audrey. Nosirree. Since I have already finished one front/back panel and both sleeves, I've only the seaming and neck band to complete. All in all, life is good where Audrey is concerned.

Secret Projects

I've also been working on my top-secret projects, finishing one part, one very cute part, I might add, and making great headway on the other larger portion. I'm excited to show it to you one day soon, so stay tuned. Film at eleven.

Huntsville and Arabella

One of the two knitting groups of which I am a member is planning to go on another field trip this week, this time to Huntsville's LYS, Yarn Expressions. However, I just had to go a week early, as I was poised to start several projects and could not with good conscience waste an entire week of vacation knitting, which is, like, the equivalent of six months of during the school year knitting time. I simply needed the yarn, and boy howdy did I get it. The ladies at Yarn Expressions are so very helpful and knowledgeable, steering me to some yarns I would never have looked at in the clearance bin. I was able to substitute some brands and came out much cheaper than I thought I could, but without sacrificing quality. They have a great selection of yarns there, for both serious and beginning knitters, and it's even closer to my house than Montgomery! I'm excited to go back on Thursday and show them the progress I've made with the yarns I just bought!

Here is the yarn for Arabella a tank out of Rowan 35. The color will be more similar in this shot, but as the tank is partially obscured by the handsome male model, we can't have everything, now can we? I may be too optimistic, dare we say deluded, in selecting this garment as it may require me to go braless which I don't ever do. It will work and I will wear it with undergarments. Just you try and stop me.

The tank is knit with fingering weight cotton on needle sizes 1 and 2. For some of you this may sound as much fun as pulling ones nose hairs out one at a time but for me, it sounds like a thrilling challenge. The smaller the needle the better. I just like the way the fabric looks when knit up and how the needles handle. The work is great, but so is the pay off.

Hello. My knitter paid less for me than you might think. This whole sweater will cost only $20.

Give me the finger
As I walked and ran this morning with my dog, a weedeater scared him and he bolted, taking the tip of my right middle finger with him and his leash. I don't think I've broken it, but it's swollen and hurts like the blazes. Blood oozed from under the nail (YUM!) and it throbbed during the rest of my walk. I felt like giving everyone the finger!! Typing, let me tell you, is no walk in the park, as those middle keys suddenly don't seem so important. And there goes all that nosepicking I'd had scheduled for later today! I hope I can find time to rest it today as the R part of RICE seems like the least likely step in my road to recovery.

Heart Rate Monitor

Speaking of running, I need something to help me in my training, as it hasn't been going very well, and there's a 5K I want to run Aug. 21. I've been a bit discouraged with my lack of energy lately, and started taking some very potent vitamins to help me, had my thyroid checked, etc. We'll see about the outcomes of those strategies, but I thought in the meantime, I'd try something else. Last night I stumbled upon an article about using heart rate monitors in training. Sounds interesting. My maximum heart rate, according to the formula, is 150 or so. I thought, hey, that's my problem! I've been overdoing it! I'll just scale it back to 150. Well, they don't call it maximum heart rate for nothing, people. I 'bout lost my OJ half way into my run. I checked my pulse on my pedometer and it gave me a readout of 153, not too far off the mark to cause a cardiac arrest. I think next time I'll try it on an empty stomach.

AC Moore

Some of you may remember my unclean impromptu interview at this new mega-LYS. Well, having heard nothing from the guy, I stopped by the store the other day and talked to the other manager. She basically hired me on the spot and gave me yarn so I could knit some samples for the classes I'll be teaching, though I signed nothing, filled out no paperwork, merely left my name and phone number. But, she gave me yarn, so that has to mean something, right? I'll start mid-August in the evenings with a beginning class, right about the time that my other job starts back, too. Seems showing up dirty for a job interview doesn't have an effect one way or the other. Probably wouldn't make a difference during the classes either. Maybe I've also discovered the solution to keeping the high school students out of my personal space.

Only problem with this is, now I have to knit a scarf and a hat within the next few days when I'd much rather be working on my own stuff. Oh well, it's still knitting!
Rest assured I'll keep you posted!!

Posted by Rachel at July 19, 2004 09:28 AM