$300 Would Buy A Lot of Yarn

Fred and I are most definitely not techno junkies. You won't find us standing in line, credit card in hand, waiting to buy the latest techno widget. More likely, you'd find us at home, clinging fiercely to our outdated techno equipment.

We own no I Phones, nor I Pods. No Wiis, nor DS games. Katie, our 17 year old niece, has a new cell phone that provides her with the nutritional information of all the menu items of her favourite restaurants. Our cell phone sends and receives calls. That's it! While Katie's phone is never far from her hand, ours is never out of the dresser drawer until we take a road trip.

But, we do own two TVs. Our 'main' TV is downstairs in the knitting rec room. By our standards, it is large - 27 inches - and new - five years old. Upstairs though, in the living room, where we watch the evening news and occasionally turn on the weather channel, we watch a 21 year old, 13 inch, TV. (You know your TV is old when it's thickness is greater than it's screen size.)

So, lately, I have been campaigning for a less embarrassing TV. At our house, campaigns of a financial nature, such as laying out money for a new TV, can last longer than an American presidential campaign. But when a recent Sears flyer advertised a 32 inch TV for $349, the vote was cast.

At that price I expected them to sell out quickly, so I set the alarm and placed my order by phone, at 6:15 am on day one of the sale. Delivery would be October 18th, I was told.

October 11th, Sears called. "Due to unprecedented customer demand, and despite their best efforts to satisfy that customer demand... " - the rep was reading a script with a bottom line of 'no TV for Brenda.' What the heck time did the rest of Canada place its orders? For the inconvenience I experienced, Sears was to give me a $25 credit. But Dang!! No cheap TV.

So, this past week, Friday, October 17th to be exact, Fred and I went shopping and purchased a new TV. Cost? $300 more than the unavailable Sears cheapie. Do you know how much yarn that $300 would have bought? Makes me ill to think about it.

By 5pm on the 17th, the TV was hooked up, the box that it had come in was broken down and in the recycle bin and we sat watching our new marvel. So big. Great sound. Wonderful colour definition. Then, the phone rang. It was a Sears recording. Our TV was in! Dang. I bet I won't even get the $25 credit now either.

A FO and Almost a FO

Diagonal Rib is almost done!!! Here are both fronts on the blocking board.

And what is that in between, you ask?

A Sharon's look-alike scarf.

Remember hers with Silk yarn and sequins?

I thought her yarn looked like mine, until I read my label to discover mine is Polyester. But my sequins are just as shiny.

What a quick knit! The night of the long hike -when I was too tired to do any thinking knitting - I knit this in about one hour. The yarn was one of my B.C. purchases. There were only 67 metres on the ball and I knew that. But at $12.99 a ball - for Polyester!!! - I bought only one ball. "It will make something" I thought.

And here is what it made. A cute little scarf. More a necklace than a scarf. But colourful, bright and shiny. I like it. It was simple to make, Cast on 20 stitches. **Knit 6 - 8 rows of garter stitch, then two rows of YO, k2tog. Repeat from ** until (in my case I ran out of yarn) scarf is as long as you like.

And as we speak, the shoulders of Diagonal have been sewn together. A couple more seams, then the button/buttonhole bands and I'll be wearing that Diagonal for crisp fall days.

Yea!! A FO.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group And Survivor

Today, I want to show you what the knitters at knit group didn't knit.

I had been thinking lately, that I should give away my hand-knit sweaters. A closet full of sweaters was stifling my creativity. It was becoming difficult to justify knitting yet another sweater.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the 'give-away' to Sandy who happened to be sitting beside me, at knit group. " Don't do it, don't do it, you'll be sorry," she said. Sandy's a wise woman, so I gave it further thought. In the end, I decided to give away some sweaters.

As knitters, I knew the ladies at knit group would cherish the sweaters, and know how to care for them. I hoped they would want some of them. Those they didn't want, I would take to the local outreach.

But there were no leftovers. Look.

Pat took the striped cardigan. This was my first-ever, self-designed sweater. Made with Manitoulin Wooly Harvest wool and designed using a variation of the Fibonacci striping sequence. I can remember sitting under the apple tree in the back yard of our London home, knitting gauge swatches for that sweater. Yes, plural. Swatches!

Milrea loved the cabled cardigan. She couldn't believe there was a sweater with sleeves the right length to accommodate her long arms. She was thrilled. She said " You have made me very happy, Brenda." Gosh. That made me happy.

Doreen took the little summer top.
This was also self-designed. Knit side-to-side and made with Mission Falls Cotton. I had seen a picture in a magazine of a similar top and thought " I can do that." But let me tell you. It took every bit of mathematical knowledge I had to get those stripes right. A lot of stolen work time went into the math behind those stripes.

Sharon took the Sally Melville funnel neck top. From Sally's book, The Purl Stitch. Or was it The Knit Stitch? Can't remember. Sharon is wearing her lovely Fleece Artist Triangle scarf and the 'Sally' top is sitting in front of her.

Doreen - the other Doreen - took a shrug and a vest. Sorry Doreen, I forgot to take your picture. Doreen's daughter, in England, is getting the shrug.

I am so glad that they all went to knitters I know. Wear them in good health, ladies.