Wanted

... More time. Plus money would be good.

I've been knitting just several rows a day, if I get to knit at all. I am dying to spin, but I haven't had a chance to sit in front of my wheel. House is a mess, and I have so much to do before I leave to the Summer Intensive. (Now I have two Summer Intensive buddies -- Shelley from Calgary and Mari from NY! Yeah!)

I am hoping to finish my Heartbeat next week while camping... but before that we have to make a run or two to get more camping gear. We now have a tent though. An 8-people tent for a family of three! Charlie went overboard, and he admits it :-)

The thing fills the entire backyard! Need more campers to stuff into the tent!

I am dragging my feet on making the airline reservations to go to Japan. The price is outrageous. I'm going to have to just do it -- it's not like waiting would make things better.

I couldn't go swimming this morning, and I don't think I can tomorrow either. I have been enjoying the morning swim so much, and I hope I can go back to the routine next week while Mitch takes a swimming lesson. Yes, we'll be "commuting" to the pool from the camp site!

Intensive Approaches

Early June, we chauffeured a couple of pre-schoolers to Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. We had never been there before -- we really don't get that south of Marin too often, although it's just 15 minutes away. I was excited for whole another reason -- this is probably 5 minutes from Point Bonita, where the Golden Gate Fiber Institute Summer Intensive will be held in about five weeks!

A blogger in NYC, who knits professionally for Vogue Knitting, and works as a theatrical stage designer/builder, and I have been visiting each others' blogs, leaving comments for over a year. A couple month ago, I dreamt about visiting NY and thinking whether if I could get together with her, and I mentioned about the dream to her. She replied that she was going to come to SF in the summer and may be we could get together in reality. Then I found out that she was also attending the Intensive! I am now doubly excited -- it's great to have someone I know there, as I know I will have a hard time making a small talk with people I don't know. Needless to say, I am so thrilled about meeting her in person!

We have had a very busy two weeks, besides the school trip; Mitch has graduated from pre-school....

And the next day he turned five (coinciding with World Wide Knit in Public Day, and Harlot's Birthday)!

Now he's back to his old daycare for the summer, at Camp Erin. He is having a blast so far. I've gone swimming two mornings in a row, being reminded how much I love swimming. I plan to go swim as often as I can manage. We've made a plan for camping (we have NO camping gear!), and .... it will be a busy summer!

Things You Never Learn

Liz posted! Whenever other Designated Knitters post, I do a double-take, happy one.

The house is finally dry. This is the midst of the mess we just went through!

We have found the cause of the flood. The hot water intake hose for the washing machine had ruptured while we were gone, and since the laundry room is on the same level as the first floor of the house -- it should be in the garage, which is just six inches away -- about 80% of the first floor was under water.

The cost of cleaning up, drying the carpet, replacing the padding under the carpet, and cleaning the carpet was over $2,000! For a measly $15 hose. And the PG&E bill hasn't come in yet, and it will definitely be monumental.

Lessons learned:

1. Check often and replace the washer hoses. Come on. $15 or $2,000+ ? How much yarn could you have bought with $2,000? (The thought is killing me.)

2. Laundry should be in the garage. Period.

3. Yarn should be stored in the good, sturdy, plastic tubbies with no cracks. This, I was good at. There were no damages to the yarn.

Should probably count our blessings -- this could have happened in the middle of the wet, cold winter, or while we were on vacation!

It's about time someone posted a knitting related photos. Here's how my Heartbeat Sweater is progressing.

I love blue, but this is getting boring, and I'm starting to regret choosing this color.... Lettuce Green would have been prettier.

Despite the fact that the project at work has slowed down, I am not finding any time to knit or spin. I am going to make effort to take time to knit this weekend though -- it's Knit in Public Day! Where are you going to knit?

Perfect Pageboy Hat - NOT

I FINISHED A PROJECT!!!!!

I started with pattern #415 perfect pageboy by lanaknits design hempforknitting.

After frogging the hat no less than 8 times, I gave up! I loved the yarn - double stranded - it was a lovely color combination and amazing fabric, but I just could not get the pattern - left twist, right twist, needless to say I was twisted into a knot!

So, instead of giving up on the whole thing, I decided to make the hat using the parts of the pattern that I loved, the “seed” stitch, which amounts to alternate rows of (k1, p1) for about 12 rows. Then I just knit the rest of the hat, until the hat reached about 5 1/2 ” in total.

I then followed the pattern a bit on the decrease until it was time to break the yarn and pull it tight. Before I knew it I had a lovely little hat - I started a brim to add to the hat as the real pattern suggests, but as I worked on it, it really didn’t feel like a good idea, because I was loving the hat as it was so much, it didn’t need a thing more… I hardly want to part with…

The great news is I finished the project, I love the fabric, I love the color and I love the fact that I didn’t give up just because the pattern didn’t work for me at my level. My plan is to hand the pattern and the yarn to one of my “Designated Knitter” partners in crime and see how it turns out. I plan on knitting this hat by the pattern some day, but for now, I am loving what is now considered a FO! ;-)

Here are my supplies.....

Needle

US 8 / 5.0 mm

Yarn

Hemp for Knitting #209 Hemp Wool

How much?

0.5 skeins = 240.0 yards (219.5m)

Colorway

043

Color family

Yellow

Purchased at

Stitches West in Santa Clara, California

Yarn

Hemp for Knitting Allhemp6

How much?

1 skeins = 165.0 yards (150.9m)

Colorway

010

Color family

White

Purchased at

Stitches West in Santa Clara, California