Where is Thumbkin?

There it is!






All the ends woven in and looking SAH-Weet!

"Please block me!"

Casting on for Mitt #2. I'm using the trick for getting rid of the "icky dots", seems to be working so far.

It fits!

Whew! The mitten fits, with only a little space at the top of it. I am more than satisfied. If, after wearing in proper mitten weather, I decide that it just isn't as warm as I want it to be, I'll knit a cashmere lining for it. That should do the trick! In fact, I might just do that anyway..... for grins and giggles.

The thumb was an interesting knit. Very fiddly, but fun. Picking up the stitches for it took some concentration; thanks to the hints/how-to's from the "I Make Mittens" group on Ravelry, I was able to suss out the whys and wherefores of knitting a thumb. Ravelry is the best. I was unable to follow the whole pattern ( I have stubby thumbs), or it would have been too long, but I think I did a fine job altering it to fit.

I still do have the task of weaving in the ends before it's completely 100% done, but that won't take long.

Mitts continued

I'm a bit worried that they might turn out to be too long. Won't know for sure, until it's done.

Sunday's results, so far

Went to see The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian today - way cool! With that in mind, here are the fruits of my labor on the White Witch Mitts, inspired by the first movie:

And now for the question: why am I getting this "jog" at the seam, and how to fix it?

Mitts cast on

My Telemark yarn from KnitPicks came today, and I wasted no time in casting on for the White Witch Mitts. The corregated ribbing is fiddly, but looks very nice. I'm almost to the point where I can begin the actual pattern. Yayness!

This is my very first pair of mittens, should be great fun.

Waiting in Queue

The White Witch Mitts, Celtic Tote Bag, and Brea Bag are now in my Ravelry queue, and I even went as far as ordering the yarn for the mitts (it's on the way!). I wanted to order the yarn for the Brea Bag, but it will have to wait.

Got about another inch or so done on the Cobblestone Pullover, but I'm waiting to take any pics until I'm at the armhole; that will be my reward for making it that far. ;)

Wings of a Dream is fast approaching the finale of Wing #1.

Happy Father's Day!

To my Ole Bes' Friend from Daddy's Little Dolly! ((hugs))

Cue rain

And again, we have rain. While it's very nice not to have to water the garden (which I hardly do anyway, excepting the hibiscus on the back deck), the yard is growing in leaps and bounds. This makes Hubby sigh in vexation.

Bus Rider

It now costs over $60 to fill my van with gas, and it's taking too much of a bite out of the budget. So........ I did it! I took the bus to work today.

There's a park and ride about two miles from my house. It's the express route from Broken Arrow to downtown Tulsa, about a 30 minute ride. I talked with my seat mate and found out from her all the ins and outs of how to ride the bus, where to get the express tickets so I don't have to use cash when boarding, the best stop to use to get me closest to work,.... just about everything. Karen is her name, and she was very nice.

The bus is a 40 seater, and all but two were taken. Karen said she has been riding for almost a year now, and she's seen the ridership go up steadily. I can believe it. There will be more and more folks who feel the pinch of high gas prices turning to public transportation.

This will be a huge savings to the budget, which in turn can go towards the debt snowball, paying it down faster.

Soaring

My daughter's Wings of a Dream stole is coming along - not too far off from finishing the first wing.

Alas, no progress has been made on either my stole, Twinings, or my son's sweater, Cobblestone Pullover. But it's no worry about my son's, as he won't be able to wear it now in the Oklahoma summer heat. As long as it's finished by mid-October, all should be good.

The mystery little flowers in my front garden have popped open. I haven't a clue what kind of plant it is; all I know is that it comes back year after year, getting a bit bigger each time, and it's very forgiving of the Oklahoma heat. I do need to thin out a few of the cannas that are encroaching on it.

I love the way the bloom is shaped like a star before it actually opens.

Not chosen

The case was a child pornography one, and I'm very glad I wasn't chosen. Nothing more on it needs to be said. This Friday, after 5 pm, I'll call the juror reporting line again to see if I am required to come in next week.

I get to go back to work tomorrow, and yes I'm happy. I really like my job and I love my co-workers. Life will resume as normal.

Beauty and Duty

Stage two of the canna bloom I've been watching:



Fully opened:

Isn't it a Beauty???

And now for the Duty. For the last 45 years, which is all my life, I've never been called for jury duty. It's caught up with me. But not just any jury duty, oh no. This is for the United States District Court Northern District of Oklahoma. It's for two months, "on call", beginning today. Every preceeding Friday, I have to call in, or logon to their website, enter my juror number, and report when and if the machine tells me to.

It told me to. I have to report tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. and please bring a picture ID. I am theirs for two months, tied to their reporting machine for June and July. Even though I've been called for tomorrow, I might not get chosen, but I'm still theirs to call again and again, until the end of July. I'm a jury prisoner.

Good thing I hadn't planned on actually going anywhere or trying to overly enjoy myself this summer! Grrrr. At least my job won't make me take vacation time to do this civic duty, they allow for jury duty.

Oh, and the most frightening aspect of this: I'm going to be a dispenser of justice!!! Me! Muahahahahahaha!