A Really Good Story

So much to share, so little bandwidth! First off, mad props to my supercool secret pal for spoiling me so much this go-round. Look at the last installment:

Shaken, not stirred.

Some totally awesome FibraNutura Flax linen yarn with a knitted bracelet and FINALLYFINALLYFINALLY some pretty stitch markers! I’ve been longing for pretty markers for ages — I use those ugly pink/blue ones — and my wishes came true. Thanks HushHush! Now here’s the evidence of my total dorkiness: I forgot to bring the letter that told me her blog and (gulp) name. Yes, I’m a dufus. I’ll add her blog tomorrow — sorry, pal!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting content for a funny story:

After deadline, we sailed off for a short vacation at China Camp, a nearby state park. Our friend Big Aaron (as opposed to Little Aaron) ‘buddyboated’ with us on his Valiant 32 and joined us ashore for a nice hike along the trails. We stopped for lunch and, by the time we started back, my feet were killing me so I suggested walking along the road, instead of the extra-long trail.

So we’re bopping along when Aaron says “What’s that?” He was pointing at something off the side of the road, down the embankment. He jumped down and when he came back up he was holding a 43″ flat screen TV! It was all bubblewrapped and still had the Open Box stickers from Best Buy all over it. Not to mention the $3,700 price tag! The remote and all the wiring was taped to the back so, minus the manual, this thing was basically complete! We couldn’t believe it! Rob said “Only my friend Aaron would find a flat screen on the side of the road” and it’s true.

There wasn’t much discussion on what to do: we just started lugging it back. Problem was that we were at least a mile from our dinghy — plus the guys were worried the ‘pick up guy’ was going to drive by and spot us carrying his goods. So the plan was to find a way down to the water, then Rob would fetch the dinghy to come pick us (and the ‘goods’) up. We finally came up to a pull out with a couple parking spots and a couple paths down to the water. Aaron hid behind a dumpster while we scoped it out. I swear, I felt all stealthy and spy-like (maybe “criminal-like” would be more accurate!).

We found a clear path and went back to the dumpster only to find Aaron laughing hysterically. Seems that while we were on our reconnaissance mission, he tore into the bubble wrap to find a piece of fiber board with three blocks of concrete glued to it! Our best guess is that it was a decoy to set up a thieving Best Buy employee. Once he snagged it, he obviously took off in his car before investigating further. Instead of dumping it in a dumpster, he chucked it out the car window. We came along, thought we hit paydirt (I mean, really, who finds a $4k TV on the side of the road?) and toted that bastard a mile before discovering its secrets! I’m counting my major neck and back problems this week as karmic payback for being such a naughty girl. But what a great story!

Interestingly, I didn’t do a stitch of knitting while we were on our little cruise. Too busy reading and laying about. But I have managed to finish Cherie Amour.

Remember that I switched between to skeins of yarn so I wouldn’t get any pooling, which I’m not fond of. I also picked up the armhole sts and knit each sleeve from the top down. About 2/3 of the way down, I increased 2 sts and again about 1 inch from the bind off for a slightly belled sleeve.

I have yet to block it but I like how it’s turned out. Now I just need to get a top to go under it.

I’ve also managed to finish my SIL’s Christmas trivet. They’re building a cabin in Bend, Oregon, which will have an ‘earthy’ motif when done. This was done with Patons and I have enough yarn leftover to do at least one more ‘placemat’ — I had so many issues with this pattern (found in Felt It!) so much that I think this is all I can do!

You see, I’m no colorwork pro so I didn’t automatically know to make three balls of each color before starting, which the pattern writer assumed you knew. I ended up breaking the yarn at every color change for a couple inches — what a pain to weave in all those suckers! But I finally figured it out and started doing it correctly thereafter. Only made one noticeable mistake, which I hope won’t be noticeable at all once it’s felted.

Next up is a pair of Fetching for mom for Xmas. I’m also thinking of Dashing for dad. In between, I’m working on the bottom ruffle for my sexy Vogue sweater — hope to be done for Xmas but man, that’s a lot of stockinette!