My Face hurts...

Well it should it's killing every one else.

Anyway I went to the dentist and he aggravated the nerve and it is retaliating. Ouch! So there has not been a lot of knitting progress.
I have been working on Chris's FLAK and have gotten the back down to the armhole.
I thought I had it there twice and decided another 1/2 inch would be better.

I have picked up the fronts and started to work down to where I will join them and it will begin to look like the pullover it is.
I am enjoying working on these patterns because they are already memorized so there are no charts to
carry around for this one.



But not to worry there are still charts! The CIT fronts are almost up to the armholes. Less than 15 rows to go and then it starts getting smaller. In fact every row will get smaller.

Then I have to go back to the back which I abandoned to do the sleeves. And sew it up. Finished by the end of September looks very doable.

The Mystery shawl is over half way through the 3rd clue.

The Mystery stole is a ball of yarn a
bunch of charts and a swatch, but I am taking them with us when we go relative hopping this next week.
Mother wants to visit relatives so we are off to Hamburg, NY, to stay overnight with my aunt (mom's SIL) then to Cuba, NY for the Hamilton Family Reunion (My dads maternal side) then to Norfolk, VA to visit my Brothers and celebrate mom's 83rd birthday. ("No, mom you are not getting a hand knit shawl *this* year, Sorry") Then finally up to Appomatox, VA to see my daughter Megan, and mom's great-grandchildren Mark and Rayne.
Yes they are my grandchildren but she doesn't believe it.

When my hands get tired of Chris's FLAK, and my mind is tired of the CIT, I work a bit on the Mystery Shawl, and if I need something mindless I work on the Shapely Tee. I have a pair of socks on the needles but they are not
mindless since the beads have to be placed.
I should go ahead and finish the beading so I will have something small and mindless to carry in my purse.

I went to the Northern Ky knitting guild meeting yesterday before work, and got to re-connect with a number of people I have not seen lately. I took the Bloom to show and posed for pictures. This sure is a tough little camera.

Then I went to work and worked on Chris's FLAK for a while, ripped it out and need to get the back started again.

My hands a hurting a little today so have been putting everything off.

The 3rd FLAK is under way. I will start the Saddles today.

The pictures on the blog should improve since I am learning to use the camera and have purchased a tripod so the camera will remain steady or steadier.

Since the daughter and her family left I have been trying to catch up on some things I have been working on the CIT sweater at least 2 hours every morning, it takes concentration and I concentrate best in the morning. I have gotten all the patterns straightened out. I don't know why but for some reason I need to knit 2 of the patterns up about 2-2.5 inches and then ravel them back and re-knit that cable alone before I can get it going. After that I seem to be able to keep it going without too much trouble, the same thing happened with both the back and the sleeves on these 2 particular cables. They happen to be my least favorite ones, (cause and
effect?) Oh well I seem to have gotten it going now.

After about 2 I put the CIT away and get out either the FLAK for Chris, (FLAK # 3, but who's counting) or the Mystery shawl 4. I have both the swatches for Chris's FLAK finished now, (I know that the picture shows it on the needles but blogger was down for maintence so I finished the swatch, bound it off and it is currently soaking in the wash water).

This is Bartlett Yarn green heather a very pretty yarn kind of scratchy to work with but

softens up nicely when it is washed. Still not as soft as the Highland wool or even Cascade 220, but Chris picked it out and will be wearing the sweater over a shirt so it will be fine. He announced earlier today that he was going up stairs to put on a shirt and socks. And he would put on a sweater but he didn't have one, the poor mistreated child. So I finished his swatches and showed them to him he approved so I am ready to do the math and the final layout tomorrow once the swatches are both dry. Then I can start the saddles.

I did work a short while on clue 3 of the Mystery
Shawl 4, I have finished 20 of 50 rows, of this clue. I want to get this clue finished before I start the Mystery stole. This rotation of projects works because both CIT and FLAK are tight knits and make my hands hurt after a while, so then I can switch to the lace which is very loose, and puts no strain on my fingers.

After 7-8 at night I need really mindless knitting so I swatched for and cast on a Shapely Tee in Plymouth Sunsette a yarn I really love to work with and wear so, of course, it has been discontinued. I kill yarns I like, (look out Cascade 220). I have the bottom garter
finished, and need to plot out the short rows, tomorrow afternoon so that I can continue, it is too late now at 10:30 for me to try to set up any thing. I have all kind of ways to set up patterns that make them pretty fool proof, and I need that because I can be a really good fool.

The Mystery Shawl is in Helen's Lace in pink (I like red no matter which shade it is).

The other project on the needles is a pair of beaded socks, which I carry in my purse to work on when I am out. I have not been eating out nearly enough lately, these are not going very fast. These were started as one of the SixSox patterns that called for this type of yarn, but
when I was working the lace pattern it became obvious that no one would ever see the lace pattern and it was a pain to do with the beads getting in the way. So I ripped the whole thing out and started again and am doing a plain rib with the beads in a simple alternating pattern.
I am much happier with the way they are working up now.

I am considering washing the skeins of Bartlett Yarn before I knit them since they are so rough and soften up a fair amount when washed. I will think and decide tomorrow once the swatches are dry.

My younger daughter and her children were all home for the 4th of July weekend. Megan got her birthday sweater. Which I do not seen to have a picture of even though I could swear I did. Oh well. Miss Rayne's sweater is a little big but better big than too small. The boys are hamming it up for the camera.





















Then there is the Bloom (from Knitty.com) that I finished yesterday. This has got to be the most boring thing I have knitted lately. But it is finished so that if I want to wear the yellow dress to the wedding on Saturday, I can. I still don't know what I will wear, but I think that the yellow dress will be cooler than anything else I have. Don't know will try it on Friday, and make the decision then.