Meetings and Knitting

I had a meeting this morning and I arrived a few minutes early there being no traffic. I got settled and pulled out my SFS sock project out of it's camo bag and set to work. More people arrived and a women sat next to me and pulled out her knitting and got to work on a shrug. Across the table I could see another attendee pull out her project. A few people came over and asked about my project and were interested to learn about SFS.

I knit throughout the meeting but still took notes and answered questions. I left with 9 inches of sock and a feeling of accomplishment from the knitting and knowledge gained from the meeting.

I haven't heard of any specific knitting etiquette for meetings. I know I only work on small projects, with quiet needles that don't click and clack away. It gets put down or put away if anyone asks. So far I've never had an issue with this. I think people expect it of me now and like to see what the finished project will become. Meetings and knitting just go together.

SFS

I watched the movie "the Hurt Locker" over the weekend and it made me think of all of those soldiers over there that needed to know, that we here, back in the states, still care and think of them. So yesterday I cast on for a pair of olive drab socks in Regia Stretch yarn. It's the favorite yarn for Socks for Soldiers and I'm knitting a men's pair. It doesn't hurt that I had an appointment to go to today and a meeting on Friday in which to get some knitting done. I've almost knit 4 inches on size 00 needles. It's soothing knitting a sock. It's just round and round for about another 8 inches so I don't have to keep track of rows or a pattern. Take anywhere knitting.

Patience and Pets

I didn't have to go into work today until 1 pm so I thought I'd sit at my work desk, watch some daytime tv (regis, the view, martha) and assemble some projects, thus getting them out of my to be done basket and up on the shelf finished. I had already cleaned the house and did the laundry the day before so there was not excuse.

I hadn't counted on my 'helpers' though. Magpie my black furry cat came up and laid down right in the middle of my worktable within minutes of me getting set up to work. She purred and purred and looked cute and begged for a cuddle which I gladly gave her. She just rolled around, getting fur over every thing. After a while I picked her up, gave her a final cuddle and put her down on the floor.

Next up was Sailor the male cat. He got his pet and went away to get ready for his nap time. I had pulled out yarn to make some socks and was printing out a copy of the pattern when out of the blue the little cat, Sadie, flew up and attacked the printer. I had to physically pull her off the printer and she watched the remaining pages spit out from the back of my office chair, mesmerized by the whole endeavor.

At this point I thought I'll just go downstairs with my basket of stuff and watch tv in a comfy chair before going to work. My knitting, drink and other accessories went into the basket and down the stairs. The entire gang of cats followed me down. I put the basket down and immediately Magpie was climbing into it getting settled for her nap. I just gave in and took everything out of the basket (she adjusting herself nicely) and finally got to knitting.

Final count, Sailor in his favorite chair, Sadie in her favorite chair, Magpie in the basket and little Fern in her kitty carrier, all napping and content. Me I got about an inch worth of my newly cast on sock done as well as my gauge swatch so all in all it was a productive morning. I do love the entire little gang.

Preparations

I spent last night making stands for the circus mice set. They are very nice foam core rounds with large red stars on them. We thought this was most appropriate for the circus and made the ringmaster mouse look very happy and dashing.

Then I went into the attic and found the box of Tinker Toys. With that I made a trapeeze for the acrobatic mice. It looks like something a mouse would have made. Now I have to figure out how to attach the mice so they swing together (their paws are a little short) and stay on the trapeeze bar. A little hidden wire and they'll be set.

I have some wooden embroidery hoops to use for the circus rings, a lion from the Noah's ark set will be in the ring with ? some mice. I've printed out a circus background so they'll look nice in the display case.

After the circus set is sorted out, it's on to the medieval mice. They need a castle set. I'm thinking of the Harry Potter Lego sets for this display. A few balconies and maybe a throne will do . This set will need stands with stone paths on them so they'll blend in.

The Dickensian set is after them. I've printed out wooden flooring for their stands so they can look like they are in a mansion decorating a Christmas tree.

I've got a lot to prep in the next 3 weeks, and I haven't even finished assembling Bob the Builder or the dachshund. This month is going by faster than ever but I'm looking forward to getting all of the toys together and putting them in the display cases. Even I am amazed at how many there are in total.

New Discoveries

Tuesday I had to go to the dentist office and have some work done on my teeth. Afterwards I could only eat soft food and was told not to do anything strenuous. I had a lot of yarn laying around in baskets that needed to be put away so instead of knitting I organized my knitting.

In the process I discovered I had a lot of yarn. I keep giving away boxes of it but I still have a lot. I have enough yarn to knit 3 or 4 pairs of socks, unending shawls and scarfs and numerous sheep, Alan dart patterns and loads of knitted toys and animals. I have numerous projects set aside with the pattern and yarn ready to go and somewhere along the line I've misplaced some of my needles but I think they are just in with those UFOs in the other closet.

In the end all of the yarn went into large tubs grouped together by

cottons
sock yarns
fuzzy and decorative yarns
dk weights
heavy and bulky weights

It's amazing to me that I have an entire tub just for sock yarn. Lot's of it is the leftover remnants of socks previously knitted but I still can't get rid of it. It might turn into baby socks.

Now all of the tubs are in the utility room, ready but out of sight. The current projects are in the picnic basket hanging out in my bedroom closet, close at hand and at the ready.

Timmy the sheep

Today was Sunday and after cleaning the house yesterday I cleared my desk for an assembly party in the work room. Timmy the sheep went together wonderfully. I also finished another party mouse and a Christmas tree. Lots of accessories for the party mice still need to be knitted before they are complete.

At the same time I'm knitting on an eight hour baby blanket. I figure if I can do 18 rows (one repeat of the pattern) than the blanket will be done in a week. The Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn feels nice and soft and knitting with 2 strands held together on size 13's also help in the speediness.

So many projects I want to knit on but one does have to balance them all out.

Artists show

I just learned last week that I'm going to be the featured artist for the summer at my local library. It's going to be all of my knitted mice, sheep and assorted characters in 3 large cases. I've been given lots of advice on how to display them (backrounds, flooring etc) so I'll have to get cracking on it.

I have a few more bags of animal body parts that need assembling so they can be in the show too.