Maximum Surprises!

Last night, I got about 3 hours of sleep--until 5:30am, when I fell asleep for another 3 hours, interrupted every hour on the hour by one or another alarm....

Clock
Cell Phone
Dog
Cat...get the picture?

Anyway, I ended up going to work late, because of the lack of sleep, and after my doctor appointment, I went BACK to the office again, to try to catch up on some work that has been languishing in a queue, waiting for me to return--sadly, no one else does my job, but there you go!

So at 6pm, when I left the office, I thought how cool it would be if my new cellular phone was here.

And when I got home, not only did hubby have dinner in the oven, but

The cell phone was here.
The new hard drive was here.
And some lovely, lovely yarn had arrived.

And, when I called my computer guru, he was actually available! And he was not far away! And he came over to help me install my new drive and take care of some other installations...before I know it, I am

BACK ON THE WEB!!!

YAHOO!

YAY!

I just have a bazillion gigs of software to install, because, sadly, my old drive bit the dust...drew the short straw...died a slow (really slow) and agonizing death. It will have to be sent in to a processing center to obtain the many, many files that I'd saved on it. Some of which I will never be able to replace, unless I get the drive parsed (which is a fancy computer term that means going through the drive and pulling out all the useful information that can be retrieved). Free patterns I've saved over the last 6 months from Annie's Attic, sock patterns from a variety of different sources, files which I was planning to back up, but didn't get around to it for 6 months. I was preparing to do so, when the drive died.

Cry.

It's expensive to parse a drive. Or so I'm told. So I'm going to start saving files to my husband's hard drive--which is significantly bigger AND quite a bit sturdier.

So the plans I HAD to work on my knitting, finishing up 2 dishcloths and working on a shawl with my friend in California (a KAL that we are working on) and beginning a new shawl from the realms of Yahoo Groups MMario Knits, something so beautiful that I simply MUST MAKE IT!

None of it got done--although I did get close to finishing up on ONE of the dishcloths...the one that says "Thank You". I considered giving it to my computer guru, and I may do that yet, but didn't want to not block it, take it's picture and upload to the files section for Monthly Dishcloth. The shawls will have to wait--maybe Thursday.

In the meanwhile, I have a ton of software to install. Thank GOD there was nothing critical on my hard drive that I couldn't replace!

Well, it is 11pm (almost). I need to take a sleeping pill and go to bed. The dog needs to go outdoors for potty, and I have to take my last penicillin. Let me say this about that...this stuff tastes like cow poo. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth that even mouthwash can't kill. I take it with water, because anything acid based makes it worse. But I take it so that I will get better!

And better I will be. G'day!

Another Cloth-A Completed Dr. Appointment

Here's the new cloth. I like it. It's quite pretty, but when I make it again, I will only use one of the motifs--because I think that it's a bit busy.

My doctor gave me 2 different antibiotics, 2 x-rays and a blood test. And I took both antibiotics at suppertime. And shortly AFTER suppertime, I started feeling better! So either the antibiotics worked, or it is a kidney stone and it has moved or passed on.

In the meanwhile, we are watching "Changeling" with Angelina Jolie. What a good movie with such a horrible ending about such a horrible situation! It's definitely a good movie, but so very sad! And for the police? No respect!

The only thing required for anarchy to reign, is for good men to do nothing. I know it's not a direct quote, and the original quote fits so much better. It's close though. Very close.

At the Doctor's and Another Cloth

I am finally getting to see a doctor about this pain in my side. I just hope that he doesn't just send me to the hospital! In the meanwhile, I finished another cloth--this time, the June cloth from Monthly Dishcloth called "Flag".



Pretty huh? The next cloth (June Mid Monrh is done knitting, but needs to be blocked and the ends woven in--so it's not picture ready just yet--soon, grasshopper!

Next the July cloth, which sounds interesting--Beach umbrella. This one will be red or maybe blue--i haven't really decided yet. I'm still waiting to get in to the doctor. I hope I get in soon.

May Mid-Month Dishcloth

I decided to catch up on my Monthly Dishcloth yahoo group. Here's the May Mid-Month cloth.



I hope you like it. This was actually done--I just forgot to take the picture. But I like this one better. The pain in my side is still quite evident. There is no fever, so I don't feel the need to go to the hospital, although I will see the doctor on Monday. If the pain accentuates, I may decide to go to emergency, but I'm hoping to forego that avenue.

Finally!

The long awaited pic of my Snowflake Shawl.



Enjoy!

Testing Bolt

I'm testing a new browser for the Blackberry. It' s not as intuitive as the web browser that comes with the Blackberry, but posting is a little easier--using the native text program. However, when I tried to upload a pic from my Blackberry, it didn't show the text box where I type the location or the browse box--it allows to type in the url for the pic, but as I mentioned, Flickr isn't cooperating. So I'm still stuck. Addendum--I went to Flickr with Bolt and was able to get the url and html for a pic--the native browser doesn't give the icons that Bolt provides--see?



Yay!

The Plan

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join the two unfinished ends of the scarf. You would best accomplish this by using a kitchner stitch--with needle and thread, to graft the ends together to provide a seamless seaming invisible even to the practiced eye!

First, now that the individual pieces are blocked, you should place the live stitches on straight needles. You could also use a long circular, putting one side of the needle through one half of the scarf and the other end through the other half of the scarf so that both ends of the needle have a piece of the scarf where each is right side facing you, then fold the cable in half so that wrong sides are facing each other. If you decide to use straight needles, just hold both needles so that wrong sides are facing each other and both needle tips are pointing to your right. This of course is dependent on the idea that you are right-handed. Hold one needle in back and the other in front.

The biggest thing to remember is to do this work loosely--you can snug things up later!

With a standard sewing needle threaded with a length of yarn, and using the sewing needle as if it were a knitting needle, begin by purling into the first stitch on the needle closest to you, and pull the yarn through so you have a tail long enough that you can use it to weave in the end later. Continue by knitting into the first stitch on the back needle, then knit into the first stitch on the front needle. Drop the first stitch off the front needle. Now purl into the next stitch on the front needle, and then purl in the back needle stitch and drop it off the needle. Knit into the next stitch on the back needle. Knit into the stitch on the front needle, drop it, purl into the next stitch. Purl into the stitch on the back needle, drop it, knit into the next stitch.

Notice that as you are working the stitches you only drop the stitches when you are working the same stitch pattern--knit for the front, purl for the back!

Continue in this zig-zag pattern until all stitches have been worked off the needles. Set the sewing needle down and allow the grafting yarn to hang free. Lay the work on the ironing board and, beginning at the center and working outward, snug up the loose grafting stitches so that they resemble your knitting. Weave in your ends.

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