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I'm late with today's blog entry cuz I took the day off from work. Yay! And lolled around in bed til 8:00. But I made a lot of progress on Luskie last night -- look!

It looks like Monday's blog entry will be an exciting one . . . Luskie hopefully done and the announcement of my contest!

Yeah, I wanna have a contest like Squib's! Her contest closes today, so run over there and enter before it does.

5.30.2002
Personal Yarns, Questions courtesy of Theresa
"School days, school days, good ole..."

1. Where did you attend school as a child? (the first 6 years or so...) What do you remember about the building and the playground?

Grades 1 - 3, I attended Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. I have only the vaguest memories of this place -- I can picture the classrooms and the cafeteria, but nothing about the outside of the building.

Grades 4 - 6, I attended Eastcote School on the American Air Force Base in Eastcote, in the United Kingdom. It was a typical dreary military base building.

2. Do you remember your first day? your teacher's name? best friends? your favorite activity?

My first day of school I had a doctor's appointment (I was somewhat sickly as a small child). So I was late and my mother had to bring me and I had to walk into the classroom with all the other kids staring at me. I didn't know anyone because we had moved during the summer to a new area. My teacher's name was Miss Novak and she was about . . . oh . . . 9 feet tall and had a voice like a foghorn. I remember my best friend in first grade was a little girl named Krista Knott. A few years ago my mother sent me a newspaper clipping -- Krista died in an auto accident. We had lost touch after elementary school as we went off to different middle schools.

3. What sort of lunch box did you have? What was usually in it?

I didn't have a lunch box -- when I didn't buy lunch in the cafeteria I brought my lunch in a brown bag. There was always some sort of nasty sandwich and I don't remember what else.

4. Describe yourself as an elementary school student.

I stayed terrified my whole first year of school, hated it, had nightmares every night, and dreaded going every day. It got a little better as time went on, but I was an extremely shy child with absolutely no social skills. I was a miserable little critter! Being reasonably intelligent I did get good grades in school and managed to maintain a 4.0 average in grades 4 through 6.

Birth of a Fair Isle
Still on the Second Sleeve

And here it is. I would very much like to get this sweater done this weekend, but in a moment of madness I invited my family over to my place on Saturday for a joint birthday party for my parents. What was I thinking? I'm taking tomorrow off from work to make birthday cakes, etc., so I hope to squeeze a little extra knitting time in then . . . but I don't think I'll be able to quite finish. Oh well.

5.29.2002
Special Report:
Top Ten Tips from the Wendy Johnson School of Letting Everything Else in Your Life Fall by the Wayside so You Can Squeeze in a Bit More Knitting Time.

10. Get your hair cut in a style that requires no blowdrying or styling -- that gives you an extra ten minutes of knitting time.

9. Have permanent eyeliner tattooed on -- there's another couple of minutes.

8. Use paper plates and cups so you don't have to wash dishes. Better still, live on bags of potato chips and pint containers of ice cream.

7. Take public transportation to work so you can knit during your commute.

6. When your clothes get dirty, buy new clothes so you don't have to waste time doing laundry.

5. When you buy new clothes, buy all black so you don't waste time coordinating your wardrobe. And everyone will think you're really cool.

4. Tell people you've adopted a furry decor so you won't have to vacuum pet hair in your home.

3. Get Caller ID so you don't have to waste time answering the phone unless it's Ed McMahon.

2. Encourage your spouse to take up a great new hobby -- winding skeins of yarn into center pull balls.

1. Learn to knit in your sleep!

Birth of a Fair Isle
Still sleeve knittin'

Continuing on with the Luskie sleeve -- here it is.

Because I have no earth-shattering knitting news, spurred on by Bonne Marie's blog entry yesterday that had a thrilling installment of "Tales from the #66," Wendy's Knitting Blog proudly presents . . .

Tales of Transit Terror!

A couple months ago. I get on the Blue Line at Metro Center, Washington DC, heading home. Just as the doors are closing, a guy jumps on the train. He has a large paper shopping bag in one hand.

He sits on the seat by the door and proceeds to remove his shirt. He pulls a shirt out of the shopping bag and puts it on. Then he . . . uh . . . proceeds to remove his pants, standing up to pull them off.

Now, I'm making every effort to avert my eyes, but it's kinda hard to not look, if you know what I mean. Besides, he's jumping around alot while he takes his pants off.

I finally realize that this is because he's using only one hand -- his left arm is held motionless at his side.

Well, he gets a different pair of pants out of the shopping bag and manages to jump into them. Then he pulls a pre-tied necktie out of the bag, puts it on over his head and quite adroitly tightens it.

He's now looking very presentable and exits the train at Pentagon City. The End.

5.28.2002
Birth of a Fair Isle
Second sleeve started

Yesterday I cut open the second armhole steek, picked up stitches and started knitting the second sleeve.  Here it is! It's coming along. I'm really really really looking forward to getting it done!

I ordered some traditional 5-ply guernsey wool in olive green from a company in the UK so look for "Birth of a Gansey" at some point in the future. I haven't decided exactly what to make out of this wool yet, but am leaning towards "Stornoway" from Alice Starmore's "Fisherman Knits."

5.27.2002
Birth of a Fair Isle
One sleeve done!

Happy Memorial Day, bloggers, for those of you who celebrate it!

I finished the first sleeve! Despite a lot of tequila (or perhaps because of it?) I completed the cuff last night. Here's a photo here. And a close up of the sleeve here.

So today I can cut open the other sleeve steek, pick up the armhole stitches, and get started on that second sleeve. Got some other stuff to do today, but I ought to be able to get that done.

Later this week I'll do some "transit tales." Watch this space!!