Wendy Knits

When the President declares the area in which one lives a disaster area, it leads some people to irrational acts.

We fortunately now have water with no restrictions, and it’s even been deemed safe for drinking or washing dishes.

I’m very very lucky to have never lost electricity. It seems as though I’m in the minority in Northern Virginia.

Marina

As you can see, I did some work on Marina over the weekend.

I hate doing the sleeves. It’s so awkward having the whole sweater flopping around as you get near the end of a sleeve!

Mouse-a-thon

I’d like to thank the following people, from whom I’ve received mousies:

Tam in Columbus, IN, Martina in Sevelsbig, Germany, Lubna in Chardon, OH, Brooks in Winston-Salem, NC, Corinne in Groton, MA, Pat in Santa Rosa, CA, Judith in Greenville, RI, and Karen in Los Angeles, CA. Thank you all!

And Lucy sends a special thank you to Karen in Los Angeles, as well!

Lucy never once lost her cool during the hurricane. She was just happy to have her mommy home all day for a couple of days.

I bet quite a mess awaits me at work. We had some tight deadlines that of course were missed because of the hurricane. And I’ve got two new employees starting today and I’m not ready for that either.

So I’d best get going. And say good-bye to my diet of Black Russians and peanuts, and return to some semblance of healthy eating.

Happy Monday, all!

Today’s the day that Hurricane Isabel is supposed to hit this area. I hope I’m prepared. I:

1. refilled my prescriptions
2. got cash from the ATM
3. filled Miss Honda with gas
4. bought lots of bottled water (for me and Lucy)
5. bought lots of sodas and seltzer water
6. bought non-perishable food (for me and Lucy)
7. bought vodka and kahlua (I have my priorities straight)
8. located flashlights and battery-run radios
9. filled the bathtub with water.

et cetera.

The federal government is closed today so at least I don’t have to make the decision about whether or not to go to work. The bus and subway system is ceasing service at 11:00am last I heard, so I probably would have stayed home anyway. No transport, no workie.

I’m a little surprised at all this hoopla. But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, eh?

Cute Mouse-a-thon Photos

Look at these cute spokesmodels! Here is Oreo:

And here is Shorty:

These little charmers live with Karen S., who has mailed some mousies. Oreo is demonstrating the nose-down mouse and Shorty has the mousie with ears. I think it was very nice of them to allow Karen to make other mice and send them out for the Mouse-a-thon.

But wait! There’s more!

Melanie in Germany has been collecting German mice for the Mouse-a-thon. And her dog Jerry, has taken very seriously his job of guarding the mice.

Speaking of meeces, I received a bunch from Melinda in Seattle, WA (and Lucy said to say thank you to Toby for the salmon treats — yum!), Kim in Portland, OR, and I got a package from Albuquerque, NM from someone who didn’t put a first name on the package, but the last name is Hardy. Thank you all! Look at the total now!!!

By the way . . .

Did I mention that I ordered the kit to knit Amphora from Virtualyarns last week? (Bats eyelashes innocently.)

Here is a photo of the yarn in the kit. Totally yummy!

Lucy, of course, had to investigate.

I did a bit on Marina last night, but spent a lot of time in hurricane preparation — ran the dishwasher, did laundry, etc. But here’s a close-up of the front neck steek:

Okay guys. If you don’t see a blog entry from me tomorrow morning, it means my power and/or cable connection are down due to the hurricane. Keep your fingers crossed!

I phoned my neighbor across the hall last night to see if she had everything she needs and to let her know I’d be here for the duration. So if things get ugly, there’s safety in numbers! She told me that her little dog is already acting edgy because of the weather. As this moment, Lucy is still as cool as a cucumber.

So think good thoughts and send postive energy for the electricity here. I’d like to be able to work on Marina through the storm, and some good light would help! Lindsey-Brooke said I need a battery-powered Ott Light!

But if I have to knit in the dark, there’s always socks.

I’ll check in from time to time in my comments, electricity and internet connection willing!

I wish some television producer with megabucks would approach me to do a tv show. It could be a new reality show. Just have a cameraman follow me around and film my knitting throughout the day. On the subway, in my office at lunchtime, in the evening watching television. It wouldn’t cost much at all to produce. So they could pay me a huge salary to star in it.

Whaddya think?

Well, actually, the title of my blog entry today does not refer to my desire to be the newest reality television star. Rather, it refers to my new project for commuter knitting: Geane’s Extreme Hedonism!

Kate was gonna do a knit-along for this project starting September 1 and I said I’d be knitting along. Well, the starting date slipped, so I’m starting it now.

I’m using the yarn Geane used, the Furlana possum/merino blend. Actually, Geane very kindly sent me the yarn, so I really am using the yarn she used! The very same. I started it using a US size 2 (3.0mm) 12″ circular needle according to Geane’s recommendation, but switched to dpns, as I find I can knit faster on them on projects with a small diameter.

Last week I ordered the flax seeds and some herbal teas to mix for the filling. The place I ordered from sent me someone else’s order, so I ended up with two bottles of tincture of echinacea. That will not do — the order is getting sorted out and I should have the proper filling before I finish knitting.

So any other Extreme Knitters out there? Jump on the bandwagon! The pattern is free and this will make a great Christmas gift! That’s what mine is destined to become.

But I may have to make another one for me . . .

Socks?

All this should lead you to ask what the heck happened to the socks I was knitting for my dad. I actually finished them — see?

Knitted in Silja sock yarn, color 329 on size 2.75 mm needles. I liked this yarn very much and will remember it for the future when I want to knit socks in something a little heavier than sock yarn.

Q&A

JoJo asked in my comments yesterday:

I’ve been watching Marina’s progress (as I did for your last few projects), as I am stuck in a knitting slump. Since I’ve been reading, I don’t think there’s been a time when you’ve “slumped”. Do you ever get the doldrums, and put down the needles for an extended period of time, and if so, how do you snap out of it?

I’ve not had a knitting slump in years. I’m pretty sure I’ve always had somethng on the needles and progressing for the past 12 – 15 years. How do I avoid a slump? By only knitting designs that I really, really like. Nothing is worse than slogging through a project that doesn’t send me. So if someone were to ask me to knit a specific design for him/her and I didn’t absolutely love it, I’d say no.

Of course, the people who know me well enough to ask such a thing know better than to ask anyway.

Mouse-a-thon Update

Mousies received from Noriko in Vancouver, WA, Julie in Monrovia, CA, Claire in Pittsburgh, PA, and Karen in Snekkersten, Denmark! Thank you all!

International knitters — remember that you can send empty mice if you can’t find catnip where you live. Email me and I’ll hook you up with one of our volunteer mouse stuffers.

Lucy offered to work on Marina last night.

I said “no thank you” and she took it well. I’ve done the front neck steek and have started the front neck shaping. Marina pix tomorrow, God willing and the crick don’t rise.

One More Thing

Betsy Kleger, if you’re reading this, could you email me? I need to say a very big thank you to you and can’t find your email address!