Stinky loves lace

Every time this Goddess Mystery Shawl KAL is out -( which has been a really long time) Stinky wants to sleep on it. As it gets bigger there is more space for him to get comfortable.Trying to take this picture was a challenge because he immediately pounced right into the middle and wanted to stay there. After this post I must remember to get that old afghan ( removed for wedding cleaning)that I had on his chair so maybe he will go there instead. Those nails can be hazardous to lace.
Now with this Goddess Mystery circular shawl the knitted- on edging was very advanced and overwhelming with provisional cast on and using another needle but with Ravelry forum and yahoo group I figured it out..sort of! After being about one third done I realized the second rows are supposed to be all purls . Reading the chart showed knits but the written directions must have said purl. DUH!!!!I am not one of those knitters that has the patience to pull days worth of work out when very ready to be done with this shawl. The garter border will work- right?.

With blocking this should look 100% better and maybe the incorrect border won't be even noticed. Just one more week of finishing up the border which takes forever even though pattern is memorized by now.

wedding wind down- sigh!

matching just married shirts...from me....

Bride , groom , pug and all their stuff left just now. What a whirlwind of excitement this week! Now back to knitting and getting my knitting supplies and projects organized. Everything is hidden in closets and who knows where?

wedding dress story

More wedding photos-( sorry they won't rotate for some reason)

The wedding dress was really- really too expensive like 3,800!!I know - crazy! The week before my daughter took it to a dry cleaner in Middletown Ny to get steamed because after getting altered it needed it.. It came back full of wet looking spots. The cleaners admitted they did something wrong..she was really upset bu tgot over it...

more wedding shots

Here is where the ceremony took place.What a cool place to get married withlots of entertainment ... People in their kayaks and rafts watched..A couple of guys were swimming with nothing on..cars honked as they went over the bridge..
Here is Liz wearing the Forest Canopy shawl I made her. Thankfully -It was such a nice day she did not need to wear it.She was so thoughtful to include it in the pictures.

wedding -WONDERFUL!

yeah the wedding of my beautiful daughter took place yesterday and everything went smoothly.. food , friends , family and weather made it perfect.. My daughter had everything organized and the tents and setting looked fantastic..16 young adults ended up staying over here last night.. they danced partied way into the night..

5 more days till wedding-yikes

Weather reports for Sat look good. Last few days have been really damp and cold here. Hope for the wedding it is warmer and no rain. Today the tent people came to set up and it was pouring rain. Good thing is they don't leak!

My daughter is home now and doing last minute arrangements.. Today was final visit with caterer and a stop at bakery. Tomorrow we will set up tables and chairs that were dropped off with tent. Linens and dance floor will come Thursday. Port a pottie comes Friday..check , check , check off our lists...
Knitting is still the Goddess Mystery Shawl. I am on the final Clue 5 which is a knitted on border which will take forever! 1/12 done and will be lucky if I can finish it in 12 days ..I am ready to be done with this ....

collective twist

check this out http://twistcollective.com/

weekend excitement

practice run for wedding day hair...at Apple Day Spa in Honesdale, PA


The bridge on Sat right before hail storm. Those cliffs in background are our property and house is hidden. I had to chase some stupid kids off them as they were jumping into the water which is very shallow and has dangerous rocks protruding....
Deck covered with hail!
they were marble- sized!



Another exciting weekend getting final chores accomplished for upcoming wedding. I sat and knit while Liz had her practice hair done for for wedding . She looked beautiful and now she is relieved . This is t\not where she lives so it is a new beautician.Thinking back on my wedding none of these things took place and things were much simpler because of it.


Saturday we had such an amazing hail storm here come from out of the blue. Marble sized pellets were pounding down and bouncing all over.

SO -What's up with knitting??
Sunday my friend Nora and I took a class at 4Corners LYS in Narrowsburg, Ny. We met some new knitting friends that connected thru Ravelry and started an adorable pink knitted bead bracelet. With chatting so much not much knitting was accomplished but that didn't matter one bit.
Maybe it will get done today. Last night I was snailing along on Goddess Mystery Shawl. Not much progress on that with my daughter being here to hang out. I can knit anytime but when your kids get older your time alone with them gets limited and even more precious.

wedding FAVORS /sick Stinky

These pralines from http://www.leahspralines.com/ New Orleans are the wedding favors.

The label will be personalized and they will be larger. New Orleans and pralines are special to us.We owned a time share there and shared wonderful family memories .One of our wildest New Years with the kids was celebrated in the French Quarter. The last time we were all there was a week before Katrina.

Poor Stinky got his shots Wednesday and has been sick ever since. I am waiting for the vet to call me back. Poor guy is in hiding , not eating and cries in pain when I pick him up. After I called this am he did come out and used the litter box and was looking out the window for a bit at the birds ( his normal activity) .So while I am waiting for them to call back he seems to have improved. I hate the thought if having to put in in his carrier and drive all that ways to further traumatize him. Tomorrow they are closed probably but will ask if I can wait now. DH said I shouldn't have taken him in for shots if he is an indoor cat but he does sneak out once in a while.

We took 3 pets in on Wed for a tune of $576 ! They want to clean 2 of the pugs teeth for over $ 500 each- not now .They make you feel guilty if you don't but that is an awful lot of $$$.

Molly needs to go on a diet (beside teeth cleaned ). I KNOW already.we both have to stop snacking. She ( and I ) are too fat and it is not healthy so when SHE barks and begs I will ignore her.

lace break- felted purse

A vacation was needed from lace work .

It was a nice break making an easy felted purse with bulky yarn that was part of a Sunday knitting class at 4 Corners Yarn Store in Narrowsburg, Ny. Anything is easy now after this summer's challenging lace marathon.

The colors ended up a little wild. My original plan was to make a conservative plain purse with the tweed black yarn but yesterday the idea came to make it longer so needed more yarn so added color from stash.

Now all rested up a d something actaully got finished so ready to get back to lace .

Hey, teach!

This new pattern posted in Knitty caught my eye. The name and style are adorable. No way can it can be started now but will put it in my queue......http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/PATTheyteach.html

dogs in wedding- hilarious

Carmella -the bride..
Buddy's outfit modeled by Carmela (adustable velcro will make it fit chubby Buddy)

My daughter is having her pug and Buddy in the wedding party , AUGUST 16TH. My step- grandchildren will walk them in the procession to the ceremony.

She is getting marrried right here on the river with no church so ideal for the dogs. My mother is somewhat shocked about the whole idea of having dogs in a ceremony with no priest . I love it!

lace present and future projects

These rubber holders have prevented lost stitches . They were only 25 cents at LYS. What a lace saver!
This came in mail this week to be used for Secret Stole 3 starting August 15th..Sarah's Yarns arrived only 3 days after order! This store is one of my favorites along with Knit Picks. The theme of this stole is pale colors so this is a pretty pale pink called Lady Slipper .. The beads match perfectly but might not show up. After I do a swatch we will see.. it may need some contrasting silver ones from stash.. but ..................

No time to start this until Goddess Mystery is done..

Clue 4 is taking forever and very challenging. 2 rows take one hour! Counting after each section makes it go slower but is much safer that way avoiding major mistakes.

crappy picture ----very hard to take pictures of circular shawls.

I was wondering how you wear a circular shawl? do you fold one end?

My goal is to get this done before August 15th but not sure if it will be feasible with wedding cleaning and details but will strive for it anyways.

The last clue seems complicated with making the border using dpn's or something .I will have to research this in all the past emails in group or over at Raverly

bridal shower

I am so proud of my kid

My best sister( who introduced me to knitting) ,daughter and mother= all the special women in my life.
Liz .....

Forest Canopy Shawl

Sat. was my daughter's family bridal shower. Family, friends and delicious Italian food made it a very special time. Yikes- only 3 more weeks and she gets married..

Secret of the Stole 3

I signed up for this...Secret Of the Stole. It starts August 15th...Hopefully godess mystery will be done by then. I am starting clue 4 out of 5 - but long long clues now. This theme is pale colors so I ordered pale pink yarn and beads from Sarah's yarns and my favorite bead place on ebay.http://myworld.ebay.com/jacksmommy2003/

wedding chores.... knitting cruise

The wedding will be one month from now. I am pooped from cleaning all day. Seems all I am doing is cleaning and gardening and then doing it all over again. This has been my only exercise. My house will be in great shape for this wedding probably will never ever be so good again. Nothing like a wedding at your house to get you motivated and cleaning. Last time our windows were cleaned were two years ago for my son's wedding. Who knows if they will ever all get cleaned again?

Still working on Goddess Knit Anniversary shawl Clue 3. Clue 5 is the last clue and looks really scary as you are doing an edging with live stitches some how. Still not sure if I will stop after this clue is done and go back to Slow Bee 1 .

The Slow Bee must done by October so I can take it on my Knitting Cruise . My final payment for that was mailed today. The 5 day Norwegian Cruise to New England and Canada is sponsored by the Embraceable Ewe Yarn Shop located in Hamburg, Ny. Erin runs the summer knitting camp in Bradford , Pa. I skipped camp this summer because of the wedding, My sister still went and loved it . Next year I will be there!
























hamburg , Ny.

Lace knitting is addictive but these shawls take forever to finish and therefore not much else is accomplished for months . I signed up for Secret Stole group but will wait till one of these ufo 's are done.

pooped from the party

Goddess Anniversary Mystery -circular shawl makes it hard to take photos without falling off needles

* need to put longer cable on Harmonys before last row which is an increase row.

setting up the deck before party ..we ended up with 40 people!

two of my knitting friends ( both seated)
My daughter setting up the drinks.

After all the work with the party combined with this humid weather- I have no energy this week. I have to force myself to water the plants , make the beds and the rest.. so last few days not to much has been accomplished besides the everyday stuff. Knitting has been working on Goddess Mystery Anniversary Shawl but that is starting to become slightly overwhleming and I can only do it if I can concentrate ..so after each row is done breaks are taken doing something else.

The last two clues are huge! I am only on clue 3 row 16 but will plug along on that this am.DH left for golf so I am staying in my PJ's and just knitting. I really want to return to Slow Bee Mystery 1 which was put down after clue 3..
I am debating whether to get back to Slow Bee after this Goddess clue is done .. This goes against my personality which eats one food at a time on my plate so feel like I should be doing one project at a time let along with all the other ufo's!



I did get this done yesterday. These were worn around the house most of the day to break so they wont give me blisters on day of the wedding.. yeah ...The socks wont be worn then!!

happy 4th of July

Not too much knitting will get done this weekend. Our 4th celebration will be tomorrow the 5th. Our house is the ideal spot for viewing the fireworks as they are put off directly across the river from our deck. Now it is an annual tradition to have a big party .Every year it gets bigger and bigger and is a blast! But- now must get busy cooking, cleaning and setting up. I did all the shopping..and spent mucho $$$$

My daughter is coming from Albany and will help me like she always does. Oh I love this kid! There is an appointment with the caterer for the wedding today a..The numbers are a possible 146 for the wedding but many people have not RSVP 'ed but they still have time

happy happy happy

hard to get a photo of how pretty it is

Usually when I knit something there are mistakes always that torment or what is not right about it.Very few projects make me feel proud to be a knitter. Mostly they make me realize how improvement is needed. But this new Forest Canopy is a milestone My confidence has gone up a notch and some knitting skills have clicked with this. After blocking it yesterday I was waltzing around the house with it just so happy with the results! It is the prettiest project ever .What a happy feeling!

2nd Forest Canopy

Blocking does wonders....
finally... one project done


I am addicted..to lace..At 2 am this lovely shawl was finished after a marathon day of knitting. Dh does not get it.. Even with only 5 hours of sleep my thoughts were on blocking this right away this am. Can you believe only one skein fo Knit Picks Gloss was needed for this?. This yarn was lovely to knit with and very reasonably priced!



I was not sure where to place beads so I only added them on the border. 2ndtime around the pattern is making more sense and reading the knitting skills are improving.



Now must return to SLow Bee and Goodess Mystery Kals