Another Day, Another Sweater

Cleaning---Swiffer story

Anyone with pets and hard surface floors knows about the Swiffer.  They are truly wonderful additions to the cleaning supply aisle at the local Kroger/Meijer/Walmart/Walgreens/CVS.  I love my Swiffer.
Nine years ago...in a previous life (way before knitting), I met a very nice lady (at a cocktail party) in Atlanta who was very proud of some project her son was working on in Cincinnati.  Since I am originally from Cincinnati, we got to talking, and she described this thing as a disposable non-woven fabric thingee on a stick.  She told me her son was revolutionizing the dust mop market.  So what's a girl to do but drink more vodka....perhaps skipping the ice this time, and nod and smile and agree whole-heartedly that this lovely lady's son was changing the world, one dust cloth at a time.

Little did I know that she wasn't kidding.  About 2 years later, my father retired and after 6 months of driving my mother insane....took over the basic house cleaning.  Two weeks after that, my sister and I both were the recipients of complete Swiffer kits.  I received mine in Atlanta, she was in Greenville, SC at the time.  I will never forget that phone call....we both thought our father had gone off the deep end.   Imagine my face, opening this lovely box from Mom & Dad...usually something fun....a cookbook, some great kitchen gadget, or something cute from TJ Maxx that Mom couldn't resist.....NO, it was a cleaning tool....lovely.
Ok...so now for the knitting content.....here is something everyone should see:

This is definitely one for the books.  All of my P&G friends are probably wishing I hadn't mentioned this....I'm sure my Dad the stockholder wishes that I would refrain from mentioning this re-usable pad...but I just couldn't resist.  I really see this working as the wet Swiffer pad....but not so much as the dry cat hair lifting dynamo that I truly love...the knitter seems to think it would attract cat hair...just like any handknit.  My frugal family would probably just have the vacuum cleaner nearby...and suck the hair off the pad.  So one has to ask....why didn't we just vacuum the room to begin with?

Giant Flowers

So I have been knitting and knitting and knitting, and watering the flowers every 12 hours because it's so very hot.
Here is a pre felted flower shot:

Double stranded Kureyon with a little bit of Artyarns Portrait mohair for a little texture in the outer petals, size 11 needles, Noni pattern for Camelia for the Majolica vase bag
The only problem is that the pattern is written for Cascade 220, and I obviously didn't use Cascade 220.
Those of you visiting the shop have seen the GIANT Flower, and many have offered suggestions on what to do with the giant flower.  Thank you, one and all.

The bag however is lovely...here is a pre felt photo:

I will have to run over there and take a picture of the bag and the still gigantic flower post- felting.

Yippee, I can crochet

Ok, so now I can crochet....now what?  Well for starters, I will be sitting in the front row of Lily Chin's class on Saturday...tips and tricks to improve my crochet....we shall see.  Maybe the fastest crocheter in the world will help me feel the love of crochet.  At least I don't hate crochet anymore...that's something.
Annie really helped me alot in the 30 second chicken wing lesson....I managed to get my hands on some susan bates hooks, and they really seem to help.  I was having a terrible time with the other hooks.

I will come back from Indianapolis full of ideas and ready to knit knit knit, so keep your eyes pealed (peeled?) for knitting excitement.

I have most recently been working on my cocoon shrug, Christina and I both picked up our armhole stitches on some waste yarn and tried them on.  Hers fits perfectly.....and mine....well mine is going to need some blocking....I will probably just wait to see what the superwash garter stitch does...my guess is that it will stretch beyond any blocking I could hope to do.  It's the Lorna's Laces shepherd worsted....and it's going to streeeeetch.

In addition...I am working out a pattern for a denim bag, diligently working on my malabrigo rug, the 7 swatches I had to knit for homework, and planning my next projects...probably the two bags of cotton glace will be forced into something fun for L'Annabel or maybe a short sleeve something for me.

Yikes, I had better get to packing.