Friday, March 14, 2014

Friday Mishmash

Wow, this was the most popular review/giveaway I've ever done - y'all were cracking me up with your most-hated exercise (and I agree with so many of you...I guess that means I have way more than one on my bad list).  Thanks for playing along!  The winner of the Baladea DVD set is:

KER!!! 
(oh and Ker, you do not want to know what a burpee is, trust me)

Congratulations!  Please email me (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com) with your info and I'll send it on to my contact at Baladea.  If I don't hear from you within a week I'll have to draw another winner.

But wait, there's more!  The folks at Baladea were so impressed by how many of you entered the giveaway that they're offering a 10% discount to my readers - click here to order and use the discount code FIT10, which is good until the end of this month (again, this is a referral link and I'll receive a small amount if you use it). 

********************

I stayed up late Tuesday evening (knitting, watching Jimmy Kimmel in Austin), and woke up bleary-eyed on Wednesday morning...only, I really was bleary-eyed.  Couldn't focus, couldn't see very well for a few minutes.  After a cup of coffee I was back to normal.  Later on when I went to get dressed, I reached for my contacts case to put them on - and discovered that I'd never taken them out the night before.  Ahhh.  That would explain the blurry vision.  First time I've accidentally slept in my contacts since I've had them.  Hopefully I won't do that again anytime soon.

********************

A common thing among knitters is to do a knit along - sometimes it can be a mystery, like the shawl I made last year with my knitting guild, or sometimes it's just some knitters who all start on a specific project at the same time.  It's a fun, social way to knit something.  About a month ago, Amy and I were at the yarn store in Navasota where we both fell in love with a scarf.  I haven't knitted a scarf in a long time - they are a lot of tedious work - but after feeling the softness of the mohair yarn, and seeing the beautiful way the colors changed made it easy for us to talk ourselves into buying the kit, with the promise that we'd knit it together.  That day finally came on Tuesday.  Amy was off work this week for spring break, so after we ran in the morning, we met up at a local coffee shop and cast on.

First impression?  Mohair is fuzzy.  And sticky.  And so lightweight that the ceiling fan kept blowing away the yarn as we tried to knit it. 

Second impression?  Between the green color and the fuzziness, I thought my piece looked like grass.  Amy was working in lavender colors, and she said if mine was grass, then hers was Easter grass...LOL.

Third impression?  It became obvious after a few rows that I needed to go up a size in needles - this was supposed to look light and airy, and my tight knitting on size 7 needles was not achieving that look.

Fourth impression?  You pretty much have to commit to whatever you're knitting with mohair.  After I managed to unravel about half of what I'd knitted (luckily I didn't get very far before stopping), I had to cut the yarn - it was stuck and tangled onto itself.  I restarted the project on size 8 needles and boy am I happy I did - it looks great now:
Still looks like grass, though...

My other incident with this project was that the cable on my Chiaogoo circular needles broke!  This is the third pair that I've had this happen, and I have to tell you, there's nothing more heart-stopping for a knitter than to look down and see live stitches OFF THE NEEDLE/CABLE.  I managed to get all the stitches onto another set of needles, but had one spot that looked wonky...luckily, I was meeting Cary to run with the next morning, so I brought the scarf along and she figured out the problem and fixed it for me.  Whew!

********************

Finally, this:
Paco, about as close as he could get to my face while lying in bed with me one morning.  My dog.  He's a keeper.

Have a great weekend!

13 comments:

  1. Well, boo on not winning that giveaway!

    None of that knitting stuff makes any sense to me but the scarf looks pretty in the photo even if it is like grass.

    Paco is a hot mess - and a keeper!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear your boo...there were so many entries! Maybe the winner won't show up and I'll have to redraw?

      Delete
  2. Yep, Helen was banking on winning that giveaway! Love all the comments!

    I love Paco. I contacted the agency where we adopted our old dog Ed - we paid $50 for him back in 2001 - now their fee? $300! Might be a while before we get another dog at that price!

    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd contact another agency...surely there's one out there who is interested in, you know, actually getting the dogs adopted?

      Delete
  3. Paco rockos! I love close encounters of the canine kind! And I HATE HATE HATE knitting with mohair. Did I mention I don't like it? But your swatch looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, I'm impressed that you've never slept with your contacts in before! I don't wear them but Bob does, and I think he sleeps with his in like 50% of the time!

    That scarf looks pretty thus far, I like the colors! Scarves are the only thing I've ever successfully knit, probably because of the repetitive nature of them.

    Awwww, Paco :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. PACO!!!! :)))

    Oh, I'd forgotten about knitting with mohair! But that scarf is going to be so pretty, it will be worth it. How fun that you and Amy are doing the same thing but in different color ways.

    Yeah, I was hoping to win that giveaway too! What say if the person doesn't contact you in the next 5 minutes, you just put my name and Helen's name in a basket and choose one of us. I don't think anyone would mind, do you ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. It cracks me up that I have no idea what you are talking about with the knitting, but I find myself nodding like "go on" while reading LOL!

    Very pretty scarf. I like the color, actually.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OMG, that picture of Paco is so dang cute, and I can NOT have a dog, it's like seeing a luscious slice of chocolate cake with MyFitnessPal saying I have 15 calories left for the day. What an adorable dog. Sigh. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Man I could already see myself working out with those dvds!! Bummer!! But congrats to Ker! :)

    I really need to start knitting again - you make it sound like so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Let's see...I can't talk about knitting. Don't want to talk about burpees. That leaves...Paco! If he should ever not be a keeper, I know where he'd have a good home. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your knitting looks so perfect! I admire you for sticking with the yarn and ripping it out and starting over. I'm not quite that patient when it comes to yarn. Give me a scrapbook and some embellishments and I can spend hours mulling over a page layout. Can't wait to see the finished product! Have you heard about arm and finger knitting? I saw a cowl scarf that was knit on arms and it was pretty interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. He is definitely such a keeper! I love Paco!

    Back in the days when I knitted I loved to work with mohair because the results you get with it are beautiful and so soft. But yes, you had to watch what you were doing all the time. Look forward to both your results.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now moderated to prevent spammers from leaving, well, spam - but rest assured that as soon as I read a real comment, I will publish it. So please, comment away, even though the blog is officially closed. Thanks!