What I did this weekend and Thank God for 2 day work weeks!

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Latest Knitting Project.

So, I'm knitting a shrug. And it's big.

Real big.

So big I couldn't put the whole thing in a picture unless I pulled up the sleeves.

Did I mention it was big. And heavy. And hot? Oh, I also effed up one of the sleeve cuffs. You start out with size 11 needles, knit the ribbing for 7" then switch to bigger needles. When I started the ribbing for the second sleeve, I was so excited I forgot to switch needles. Oh well. It's only for me to wear at work. It's so big and bulky I don't think I could wear it under a jacket! When I started it, we were having a cool snap that's now turned into a hot snap. I had hoped to have it finished by now. I'm almost finished because I am running out of yarn. This part of the shrug is really getting me bored. I can't wait till it's done and I can wear it at work where it's freezing.

Anyway, as soon as I am finished, I'll post a photo. I am going through one of my 'I hate my job' phases again so I am not very happy. It's happening more and more frequently. I really need to figure out what to do. I can't handle all of this stress. It's begining to wear on me. I am afraid that one of these days I'm going to crack and something bad is going to happen.

As my friend Deborah says, "BREATHE! JUST BREATHE".

The Black Sheep Knitters

I joined the Long Island Knitting Guild about three years ago. We meet the second Thursday of the month at the Westbury Library. As I was leaving my first meeting, not exactly sure if I was going to come back, there were two or three women walking in front of me. As we stepped outside, I heard one turn to the others and say, 'Hey, wanna see the yarn shop I have in the trunk of my car?' I knew then that I would be back. I was a bit shy at first, but as I came back month after month, I began to come out of my shell. We are a large group, and I began to drift towards a particular group of three or four women. I had to laugh at myself because just recently as we were sitting around at the end of a presentation, I yelled across the room to a woman to hold up her knitting because I wanted to see what she was doing. I would never have done that when I first joined. I've gotten a lot more comfortable and I just love it. Through this group, I have met a new group of great women. This group gets together about every other Monday at the Starbuck's in Barnes and Noble in the Glen Cove Shopping Center. This group started out small but is growing rather rapidly. From what I heard tonight, they started out with about four people and suddenly it's more than doubled. We take up lots of space, we are loud, we help each other, we laugh, we trade stories and we have a great time. More and more people stop to ogle at us (this week it seemed lots of men were fascinated with the goings on) and a few stop to talk and ask questions. Sometimes we suck a poor unsuspecting passerby into our conversation. It's all in good fun and really a blast. All of these women are at different levels of knitting expertise. We have the sock experts, felting experts, sweater experts, we have a wonderful spinner who knits beautifully, we have people who are learning how to knit socks and use double pointed needles for the first time and some who are giving lace knitting a try. We also have someone who knows umpteen ways to cast on and is a Master Knitter.

Karen, Debbie and PJ came up with the name 'The Black Sheep Knitters'. I rather like it and I hope it sticks.

Here is everyone holding up their various projects.

There is a sweater and socks and I think another sweater,

here is Donna with her two toe up socks on one circular needle and those are Karen's first pair of socks on double pointed needles, (thanks Karen for the Teen Vogue with the Harry Potter Trio!!)

socks, socks and more socks, a baby blanket and a pretty lacy scarf.

You can't see me since I am behind the camera, but I am making one of these; in this color;

I consider myself very lucky to have met these wonderfully talented, interesting, funny, fascinating and kind women. I hope to learn lots from them...and I don't mean just knitting!

OH, there was a celebrity sighting tonight. Apparently the actor who portrayed 'Vito' on the Sopranos was scared away by Debbie. She happened to be sitting facing the magazine racks, saw him and said, 'I know you!' She actually thought he was someone else and it wasn't until he turned around and walked away that she realized who he was. I did some recognisance and found him in another area of the magazine racks...about four racks away from us! Debbie did venture to see if she could find him and she did, but decided to leave him be. It was exciting enough just to see him.