Finished OBJECT....finally!

The Silver Belle Jacket by Debbie Bliss is finito!

Yippee.....I was so worried that this would end up in the UFO heap...but success, I stuck with it and got it done.

I made several modifications to the pattern, that included a longer peplum - 4 extra repeats of the pattern, the yoke in front was made 3/4 of an inch longer and the sleeves were decreased at a slower rate, because I felt they were too wide.

The collar took forever, or at least it felt like it did. I think it helped that a fellow raveler was asking me questions along the way and we sort of finished our Silver Belle's together. I used 4 antiques black glass buttons from my stash, which I really like the look of with the yarn selected. Originally the pattern designated two.

I am really happy with the finished Belle. I can't wait to wear her come fall. The sewing up took almost two full days. It required a lot of careful stitching to match the patterns up from side to side. I realized in the process it is fun to make some projects with cables...I had not done any for awhile.

I think the most helpful thing was finding the excel spreadsheet, that kept the panel patterns organized. I made my own for the sleeves and it made the knitting much easier and checked off each row as it was completed. The project had lots of twists and turns, but, I held it together and it is finished!!!!

Beluga, the puppy helped with the Belle, by being so kind, as to steal the yarn I was using to sew up the Belle. I was intently focused on sewing keeping everything lined up, I did not see her make off with the skein of yarn.

I looked up to get more yarn...and could not find it.... Then it hit me.......BELLLLLLLLLUGA, where are you? Here is how I found her.

I think she is in her adolescence at 5 1/2 months old. She is fairly well house trained at this time...but, she is still having a hard time with the word, "NO". She has been incredibly rebellious all this week. But, she is so very cute, it is hard to get too exasperated with her antics for too long...and besides, she gives very sweet puppy kisses.

My next project is this UFO, I found, started in the Spring of 2004, a Cables and Lace Cardigan

from Vogue Knitting Magazine and I have started to rework it. It took a bit to figure out why I stopped, but after a few frogs....I got down to creating a knitting chart from the written directions...

Yes, me the person who hates to use charts. I think it is the Belle's fault.

I have been working with charts for the better part of this month...and found that it simplified the pattern. It will also help in reversing the pattern for the right front side. It took me several hours, but it has helped it go faster. My goal is at least 24 rows per day. If anyone is interested in the chart, for the small size fronts, please leave a comment with your email address and I will forward you a copy.

The back was already completed. The right side had to be frogged, it got a stain on it, and it would not come out with washing, so I frogged back to the stain and removed it. It is drying out.

I started with the left front fresh, in an attempt to figure out why I stopped this project in the middle of the right front and never finished it. I think the stitch count was wrong for the fronts size small should be 59 stitches instead of the 58 listed.

I am exhausted, it was a very long day...and I still need to finish 6 more rows on my left side, before bedtime.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday....filled with a few moments for fiberings.....

Smiles to you,

DC

Nearly Had a Total and Complete Techno MELTDOWN.....

but....Mr. P called and all this techie stuff was soon forgotten...hope he is looking as good as his voice.....he could be THE ONE! In any case, it is just fun to think he might be.

So last nite at about 5pm I tried to install a chitka premium ad to my blog...I had been putting it off all week, and should have kept putting it off, because it sent my blog in to technical failure, I had two blog titles, no center header, all my font colors disappeared....and luckily or NOT, the verbage remained....

I spent most of the evening trying to figure out what happened. I am dreadful at HTML, who invented that language. Isn't it enough that I have mastered french, a fundamental understanding of spanish and am often very articulate in english?

In any case, after some more attempts this morning....I opted for a new template, new font colors and font. Forgive the color sense, I was limited in my choices by Google. At this point, I am overwhelmed with the technical aspects and decided this is the way it will stay for the moment. If you can't read it as well as the old one, please leave me comments....and I will figure out something...or find someone that CAN figure it out.

The store has been permanently frogged. I made up my mind, I do not want what is going on up at the marketplace in my life. Life is too short, to put yourself in a situation that you know going in, has significant problems. I am a bit depressed by the loss of this opportunity, but am hoping that I find another business project to pique my interests. Otherwise, it is back to work in the financial field...YUCK!

I found a handpaint yarn company for sale, but the asking price is way over reality. I am hoping that the owner will listen to reason...it is a possibility. I find myself contemplating my dreams these past few days. What is it I would like the second half of my life to be? What would you like yours to be? If you don't know you will never get there.

UFO boyfriend is still making feeble attempts for contact. I am bouncing his emails. It does not seem to be helping. In his defense, I had a terrible dream about him, having a car accident in the white alfetta, blood was everywhere. After thinking long and hard, I decided to tell him about it via email. He of course, issued a sardonic response. After the weekend, I got an email, YOU WERE RIGHT! He took his white alfetta in and all 4 wheels were extremely, loose. Of course, there was no, THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE! Just more obnoxious emails, he is shooting for negative attention. Why do people do that? You get more bees with honey....

Still trying to decide if I will go to the Italian Car Show on Sunday in Headhouse Square. I have been to it for the last three years. UFO is sure to be there with one of his cars, hence my concern. It is best to avoid, old hangouts that you went to with your ex-significant other....it just serves to make you nostalgic for the past which, is NOT WHERE your future lies. Various experts advise

The Silver Belle Jacket is humming along, near to completion. I am adding more rows to the peplum as I expected would be my desire. Originally I had contemplated 2- 4 row repeats, but have settled on 4 repeats. Both sleeves are finished and pinned together. I like how my sleeves turned out, they are the perfect length. I extended the yoke from 7" to 7 3/4" to accomodate my bustline and it worked well.

So all that remains is the cable columns that the yoke attaches to and knitting the collar and sewing it up. I will feel so much better when it is done and am sure it does not land in the UFO heap. With any luck, the knitting will be finished by the end of this weekend :-)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend....

Smiles to you,
DC

Stitch N' Bitch Bucks County.....

happened last evening....and there were actually three of us that showed up....Four if you count the EX-HUBBIE, who showed up without his KNITTING AGAIN!

We were happily knitting away....and discussing Karen's impending nuptials...when I happened to mention my stepson's wedding planning....and, how he called to inform us that our 1/4th share of his big event was $14,000 and we never agreed to pay for anything....or knew the planning had begun...LOL! I had just mentioned that ultimately our share was weedled down to $7,000 sometime after my EX, exclaimed.....HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND???? FOR WHAT???? I just gave you a $10k graduation gift and a very generous engagement gift and I have your school loans to payoff...

Seems stepson and his fiance, decided to go shopping with everyone's money and just assumed we would gladly pay the bill. We were laughing about it......When the EX showed up out of no where and corroborated my story. My question is, did I subconsciously will him to show up? Is that possible? If so, why didn't my soulmate show up with him?

It was about then that Karen and Jane decided to part, I wish I had. I ended up having two MERLOTS at the grotto with him.......which, helped me immensely. I had a third one when I arrived home. The silver belle right yoke never got finished. I am still working on it.

I had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and an extra helping of whipped cream in my coffee this morning...I needed it.

The EX inquired about the well-being of UFO Boyfriend,he had bumped into someone UFO had worked with who had been fired and wondered if UFO was okay and still had his JOB....LOL!

I said, "perhaps you can start stalking him....you two have lots in common."

The highlight of the evening, was when I said to the EX-HUBBIE, you never hear what I say....after, he asked me the same question 3 times. He said, yes, I heard everything you said. I did. That is when I said, "so why do you keep asking me the same question over and over? My answer has not changed".....LOL!!! He did not have an answer for that.

He told me he is doing well and does not need to take his meds anymore. I said, how do you know....he said, because I decided this. I said, you are a narcissist...diagnosed, forgive me, you are not the one to decide this alone....hopeless! He also insisted he is no longer obsessive compulsive. I said, well why can't you sit still, why do you have to constantly be moving, that is an anxiety trait. He insisted he just likes to move constantly....he never stopped moving or making noise for the entire 14 years we lived together. My house is so quiet now that he is no longer here. I am broke but, I have silence.

He did inform me that he is doing well financially and making beaucoup bucks again...without any thought to how he devastated my life. Mental illness is devoid of logic or reason. It is best to just listen, nod your head...and hope the discussion is over soon. The two merlots helped me immensely with this.....

He may now be willing to pay me back the $750 he owes me. I hope so.....but, not counting on it!!!!

I got most of my chores done today, which included bill paying, biz phone calls....and tomorrow, I am joining the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce. I hear that this is very helpful to new businesses and comes with lots of support which, I will need. I never ran a retail enterprise of my own and am starting to get nervous about it. Some stores have opened...last FRIDAY.

My shop is still under construction, still hoping now to open before JUNE sometime. There is just so much to do....but, much of which, I need to have the construction out of the way first, to get done. I need visuals.

I love the new lingerie store, PRIVE....go check it out. I bought four great pieces there: A matching leather thong, skirt and bustier with red satin ribbons that lace it all up. And another bustier with black and fuschia stitching and fuschia satin ribbons. I love fabulous lingerie, it is a weakness of mine and nice lingerie is hard to find.

The oxygen bar is now open. I tried it out, it was great. The owner also has a very funky clothing store next to it. It has some great tops in it. What I liked most was a line of jewelry that she is carrying....where you put aromatherapy fragrances into the necklace or belly button rings...very different and a product I had never seen before.

The woman next to my store, also has jewelry. She is doing more beading...but had some cool repousse cuffs. She also has lots of hot sauces.

It turned out to be a beautiful spring day today, so I am going to fire up the grill and make some dinner for myself and the two dogbears and work on the Silver Belle right YOKE. I have memorized the pattern which, makes the knitting go fast. I am so curious how the finished sweater will turn out. The construction is unique.

Wishing you all a wonderful spring evening,
smiles to you,
DC

Chasing the Blues away.....

....and the Virtues of a PB&J....otherwise known as the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich....can cure the blues in my humble opinion, unless of course your blues are related to weight gain! When was the last time you had one? If you are like me it has been awhile. Not sure what possessed me, but, I am glad it did!

How do you like yours?

Of key importance is deciding whether you want chunky or smoooooooth? Natural or lots of corn syrup? I prefer natural smooth. My favorite brand is "crazy richard's" which, I always call crazy dave's not sure why...You can pour off some of the fat and reduce those calories.

I like smooth...I think life generally has far too many ruts...and bumps, so I prefer to leave them out of my peanut butter.

Then there is the jelly/jam selection....a crucial component to a good sandwich...

There is the old standby, grape....but let's face it, grape jelly does not taste as good, when you can not buy it in those fantabulous flintstones glasses....am I right? The smurfs never did it for me.....
My favorites are apricot, black raspberry or strawberry. Homemade is best. What are
yours?

Remember to cut the crusts off........it is a little extra effort, but....it has amazing benefits. Eat one side with crust and one without........and you will see what I mean. and of course, Wonder bread makes the best PB&J's.....plus the wrapper is just sooooooooo cheerful!

My mom used to tell me crust made your hair curlier....so if, you want curls eat your PB & J with crust.

When you are done smacking your lips......I guarantee that you will be smiling... and what's a few extra calories, when the endorphins are charged up for a great day...

This weekend, a friend took me up to NYC to see the John Dillinger band, of "Hang on Sloopy" fame. He wrote those lyrics at the age of 16. They were together for the first time in 32 years....and I had a blast. It was at BB Kings place right near Times Square. Good food, good music and lots of smiles. That is Ken Arenson below...and John Dillinger is in the center in the photo to the right.

I had not been in NYC for awhile, and it was very cool to be amongst the hustle and bustle on a friday nite.

Saturday, I went to an Art Gallery benefit in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia...to benefit AIDS care. Saw some interesting art, including a sculpture made entirely out of dildoes...too funny.

Bicycles with toilets attached. There was only one handmade piece of clothing, which was a knitted tank top with fabric inserts.

Sunday, I spent the morning vaccuming up blossoms that covered my deck from the trees.

Spring is going so fast. My lilacs and irises are already blooming and that usually does not happen this early. Here is the view from my blogging window.

On a knitting related note, I began the Silver Belle Jacket by Debbie Bliss from the Vogue 25th Anniversary Mag on April 11th....in violation of only two new projects going at once, 376 stitches for the peplum…yipes!

....and as I am working on row 1, I am thinking this is smelling like a UFO… before the first row of the peplum is done. ;-) I hate chart knitting, for anything but, lace!

After getting through the first row, I started the second, which is when I realized the first row was wrong…because I had read the chart right to left which is the standard way to read a KNITTING CHART!!!

I had to find the magazine and study the photo…to figure out where I went wrong. frogging 376 stitches sucks and took the better part of the morning…but there was no way I was going to cast on those 376 stitches again!

The first important thing to note in this pattern is some bimbo, decided to start the first chart row from left to right….I envision this took an entire board room and think tank to screw this up…Why do people create standards to follow.....and then ignore them?

(Exerpt on reading knitting charts from the book, "knitting for dummies"!!! “You will follow the chart bottom to top and right to left. The second row will then be read from the left to the right. “) It would have been nice to have left us a NOTE….stating in clear english….start these charts left to right!!!!

The next complaint is the charts are too tiny…so I went back to the original pattern and blew up the charts….if anyone wants a copy of these large charts, just email me…and they are yours.

Now that this is straightened out, I am contentedly working across row 2….once the pattern is established it will be easy to remember, but, screwing up the first pattern repeat…is a fast road to the UFO heap!

Found a lot of good info on the silver belle here which included someone’s pattern row table for the peplum(sorry, I forgot where I found this)…to use in each section. This was the biggest help.

So merrily knitting along on the peplum and contemplating as I knit all the modifications others made that I found on ravelry, longer peplums, more buttons, different collars, sleeve edgings…etc. Ravelry is an amazing site, once you get used to navigating its offerings.

4/22/08 - finished the peplum, but, I am going to put it all on stitch holders, in case I want to make it longer. It took almost five skeins. Very happy with the way it looks…..and the yarn I selected is very soft and comforting to knit. It has been a long time since I have done an aran project and I have forgotten how much I enjoy them.

4/24 started the sleeves…I am only increasing stitches every 16 rows instead of 8…and did 2 rows of moss stitch before beginning the sleeve chart. I prepared a sleeve pattern row table like the one I found for the peplum…it helps immensely.

If you want this file, just email me or post to the comments here. The directions leave a lot to be desired even for someone that has been knitting as long as I have. I have to wonder about some of the technical editors around...or editors...

There is an error in the sleeve chart, for the bobble pattern. It says k3 together, and it should

state P3 together.

Here is beluga modeling the sleeve. She is 13 weeks old today and thriving. Her and Koko have become fast friends. It is a lot of work training a puppy, but I am so glad I decided to do this. Koko has come out of her depression and is enjoying mothering this young pup.

Beluga's latest enjoyment is biting the white dandelion globes. It makes me smile everytime,I think about her face when she gets a mouthful of air and seeds.

Wishing you all a wonderful spring day....enjoy!

Smiles to you,

DC