^ ^You know you remember that movie! :op

Yep, Lizzie got back on Friday evening and OOH! How I missed her!

It has been very cold here now, so she came home to me just in time!!

But Lizzie was really in need of a long bath
Phew! She stinked!! I actually soaked and spinned her twice!
First with my Eucalan (they have a new look and new scents!) and then with Soak (yeah I have O.CD slightly Haha!) :oD

I let her air dry (you know wet wool really has a very disgusting smell! Haha), and then placed her in my dryer (on fluff mode only!) with a lovely lavender sheet and *sniff* yep she is 100% ready for a full out right "snuggle" session! *check* Done!

But she first wanted me to show off this on her :oD

LOL! Yep dangnabbit! She has her own first place blue ribbon, and as CPurl mentioned her very own crown because she is a beautiful queen in my heart. And that is all that matters! :oD

Thank you to everyone who commented about Lizzie being at the State Fair, and all of your very sweet words!! It really meant a lot to me!

Yep you may know what I am about to say.....;op After finishing my beloved Lizzie in August I contemplated about entering her into the state fair.

Entering into a state fair was never a figment of my imagination until recently. In fact, "when" I actually went to a state fair I would just scheme across the exhibits and definitely didn't think about the knitting section since I was not into knitting back then. Let alone entering into one!!

The ONLY reason why I considered entering was because Ms. Anna had talked so much about submitting her Lizard Ridge in one of her local state fairs (and won a blue ribbon too!), and I kept seeing others mentioning it as well (Spring, Yarn Pirate, etc.). So I figured why not?!? This could be a possibility! Coincidentally, I had just so happened to finish up Lizzie in time to enter her in the exhibits.

So last Saturday I couldn't be in two places at once. I was in Greensboro enjoying a great Yarnsploration Day! :o) And it just so happened I was already 1/2 way near R.aleigh where our North Carolina S.tate F.air had just opened up for the weekend.

Well with the state fair being open for only 9 whole days one of my girlfriends (Hey Allyson!!) was already going up to R.aleigh to take her Girl Scout troop there for a fun visit.

So I had to send my camera with her to take all the juicy pics for me!

I actually had not heard what the results were yet (believe me I tried) and I was dying to find out! My girlfriend went searching high and low for my afghan and had a hard time!

She found a table and thought the purple one with the flowers was mine :op

Can y'all see Lizzie? Ur uh.....No!

There she is!

How are they gonna have her in a corner without a ribbon!!! *hmph* What is that the corner for the "non-ribbon" afghans?!? *pooh* I was disappointed and trying so hard not to be bitter! Haha!

But it was good to lay eyes on her again! It had been a little while since I seen her.

So for the half glass is full moment: Glad I even tried!! AND even happier that I didn't have to drive 2.5 hours one way to enter into the exhibit. That would have been 3 separate trips! I successfully entered in the fair without ever having to set foot in R.aleigh (or I really would have been bitter)! Haha! A major factor that swayed me into entering! :op

I am so glad I had this experience! I became an e.xhibitionist! :oD

I just can't wait until Lizzie is back so I can soak her thoroughly and wrap up in her to keep cozy. It is now finally the season in which the morning and evening air is very cool, you want to just slurp soup, and break out the fuzzy slipper socks. This was the whole reason why I knitted her up in the first place so I can stay warm and snuggle up to her in the comfort of my own home!

But what made me feel a TON better was this pic

The Girl Scouts!! Thanks 'pumpkin' for waving at Ms. Stacey!! :o) Gotta love it!

I have got this story I have been meaning to tell but with coming off my high of Lizzie (well almost), the extended weekend, and the freakin' cute booties I got sidetracked! LOL

This picture made it seem like everything was easy breezy carefree....mmmmh not so much! LOL

Ooh Boy! Let me tell you the back story!! :o)

First off, how about I hate grass! Even more so I hate WET grass!

It had decided not to rain all freakin' summer and the night before I wanted to take my Lizard Ridge pictures it rained!! UGH!

And then it still threatened to rain thru the weekend. Which it promptly did the same night I took the pics, so I was very glad I took them that morning. Because I knew I wanted my pics done and up by Friday the 31st (remember my personal goal was to get done by the end of the month!)

So I dashed out first thing the next morning after my last stitch and started snapping pics! I was pleasantly surprised that there was not an overcast and the sun was actually out! YAH!
It really is so funny how pictures do not reflect what really happened behind the scenes.

Well school had started back here and I knew I would have a mini audience while the kiddies were waiting to be picked up by their bus, along with some of their parents...cool no problem.

As I painstakingly positioned my Lizzie out on the wet disgusting grass...(did I mention how I hate grass?!?) And how I hate wet grass even more!- which CLINGS to everything!! Ugh!

So as the kids left on their school bus, and I was out there starting to "perspire" (not sweat LOL) in the '75 degree before 9AM' morning (*whew*) one of the mothers (lets just call her - Nosey Annoying Woman NAW) hangs back to literally stand and stare at me bended over pulling and inching the afghan to try and make it straight. Here is what happened:

NAW: "What are you doing?"

Me: *blankly stares back at her like - can't you tell!* So I pointedly answered back "Taking pictures"
*what the heck does it look like I am doing!!*

.......as I stood there (briefly) looking at her for more questions....nothing. And I wasn't offering up nothing. I went back to what I was doing.

NAW: "Of what?!?"

Me: *OMG!!! You have got to me kidding me!* I replied back to her very short "Of an afghan" *cringes and hopes she doesn't freakin ask me what is an afghan!*

NAW: "Why out here?"

*mind you it is right in front of where I live!*

Me: "Because it is a beautiful background"
*at this point I cannot believe I am entertaining this nosey annoying woman's questions*

NAW: "Ooh well it is beautiful"

Me: "Thank you" *and thinking if she is going to stand there, she could at least offer to help me straighten this long afghan out!! Gish!*

NAW: "So how did you get all the colors in it?"

Me: "Oh it is the yarn"

NAW: "But how are there so many colors?"

Me: "It.is.the.yarn" *normally I would have given a nice explanation but she had already proven to me she was a freakin' idiot! Ugh!

NAW: "Well how long did it take you to make it?"

Me: "5 months" *all responses are as limited as possible at this point*

NAW: "5 months huh?"

Me: *crickets chirpn' in the air*

NAW: "So...was that like everyday you worked on it?"

Me: "It just depended"

NAW: "Oh well it is nice"

Me: *still snapping pictures* Thanks

NAW: "Alright well take care"

Me: "Bye"

UGH!! Can I just say - I hate stupid people who ask stupid questions!!!
YES! There is such a thing as asking a stupid question!
But truthfully it really wasn't about her asking a bunch of questions, but not asking the right questions.

I may have been a little icy towards her but I just wasn't up with the foolishness that morning!

Normally I would have been "Chatty Cathy" about knitting, what I did to make the afghan, trying to get her to learn how to knit and join a group! (those who know me know this is true) But because she started off with a stupid question (and kept asking more stupid questions) I wasn't feeling it. PLUS it was getting hot outside and I was rushing to take pictures before work because I knew it was going to rain that night by the time I got home.
Leave me alone if you are not going to talk to me like you have a little bit of sense! Shish!

Anyway, she didn't blow my 'Lizzie High' at all!! Over the weekend I went to my favorite LYS and did a little 'show and tell'.
And the owner highlights some of her customers' knitted projects on her store blog. Well Remi featured me on yesterday! Go Check It Out! I am now a mini local knitter celebrity :op Haha!

I have also been meaning to show y'all all of my leftovers from making Lizzie

It really does feel heavenly! I heard it gets even softer after I give it a nice lavendar soak! Yum! :o)

Take Care!

(Click Here for Larger & Better Pic)

~My Journey (Project Details)~

Pattern: Lizard Ridge

Needles: Denise Needles US #8 & #10, Crochet Hook: G

Size: 30 squares - 5 panels, 6 squares per panel (5x6)

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden - 27 balls of various colorways & Cascade 220 #8886 (1 and 1/4 balls for seaming & edging). My goal was to have a "purple" color patchwork theme.

(Click Here for Larger & Better Pic)

Cost: A freakin mini fortune! The pattern originally calls for Noro Kureyon, but I wanted to use Silk Garden since it is softer but it also costs $2 more per ball. Worth it!! Okay here is the bottom line number....this does not include the seaming/edging yarn and Eucalan soak wash - but does include discounted yarn along the way and me using the "extras" from each ball to make 3 miscellaneous squares as fillers instead of buying 30 balls of yarn....therefore this really could have cost me much much more.....okay for real here it is LOL $266.12 (would have been $306.74 w/o the discount yarn). Yes I know the exact penny b/c I have everything organized in an excel worksheet including how I had planned to layout my squares by colorway. Just the accountant in me from my former career!

For: DEFINITELY ME ME ME ME!!! But I do plan to pass it down to my children; children's children; and children's children's children! :oD

Time: March-August 2007. This project reinforced the character trait of being tenacious! :o) Haha! The only reason why I pushed so hard to finish this month is b/c I did not want to see it go into September! LOL Some have finished this project in a month and a half!! *cough*Spring*cough* And some never finish. It just really depends upon your excitement, focus, and motivation! :op And as y'all know I lost my steam several times over the 5 month period. I swear I could have easily shaved off 2 months of this WIP but took breaks, knitted other things, and soooo procrastinated on the seaming and crocheted edging.

What I learned: ~"Define that for me..."~ Well let me first say I always took for granted knowing what the word "afghan" meant. As many "non-knitters" inquired about what I was making I simply replied "an afghan" and some would look at me like I had 3 heads and some would be bold enough to ask "what is an afghan?" *gasp* So while I was doing some light knit reading - the notorious Elizabeth Zimmerman made mention of it in her Knitting Without Tears book and described afghans as "being longer than they are wide (yep that is Lizzie alright!). But I like how Webster dictionary describes it as "a blanket or shawl of colored wool knitted or crocheted in strips or squares". Ironically that is how EZ describes a blanket! Haha! I simply replied back to the clueless ones "It's a blanket" :o) ~Anyway enough of that!~

If it wasn't for the wonderful Piper (who is blogless but you can see her on my fav LYS blog!) that patiently sat down with me and showed me how to do short rows (and it took me a minute to "get it") I could have never been able to do this project since it is KEY!! Haha! Thank you so much Piper!!

After I got my head wrapped around the short rows, about 3 panels later Connie showed me how to knit backwards! And that helped me tremendously not having to twist and turn my work (even though I had that down pat by then LOL) and relieved some of the pain I was experiencing while knitting on Lizzie in my left hand.

Also, I did not know how to crochet at all and was gearing up by learning the basics at a small local crochet group (met some new folks!). Well again, Connie helped me out! She was a sweetheart and willingly showed me how to do the actual crochet edge (in various ways) for the afghan on a Sugar & Cream swatch I knitted up just for the purpose of practicing! So yep, I did the crocheted edge all by myself and I am SO proud!! Yah Me!! :oD Let me tell ya I have those DCs down pat now! And I really got my rhythm going while doing the edge too.
Look at that!! Yah Yah Yah!! I really wish more knitters who did the afghan would have shown close ups of their ruffles. So I just had to get that shot in (read below about the mods).

Let me just say I got a sense of satisfaction that I didn't think I would get from crocheting since I grumbled the whole time learning it (but knew it would be the best way to do the edging = on a very large circumference/faster to crochet) and so glad that I did! I really wish I had learned to crochet first before I started knitting.

Aah lets not forget the joys of seaming! LOL Oh my goodness my back and knees were killing me!! What I learned is that I did better in doing the majority of the seaming and edging during the daytime on the weekend. When there was lots of daylight and I didn't feel rushed because I had more time. :op

Because of all my freakin body aches I have come to learn to cherish the opportunity to actually sit while knitting! Haha! Being on your hands and knees is no joke! And let me just say as I was crocheting Round 2 boy 'oh boy did my legs "heat up"! Yep! This afghan will surely serves it purpose! LOL It was nice to cuddle up against it before it was completely done to get a nice preview of how I will keep warm during the upcoming fall crisp air and cold winter!

I did do one big "no-no" by cutting the weaved ends as I knitted up the panels (there were TONS of them! And I am not mad about that decision b/c it would have easily added another 2 weeks on my progress! LOL). Also, it wasn't until halfway thru my process and general knitting knowledge that I found out you should never cut your weave ends until you have blocked the item Doh!....shish! Hopefully, Lizzie will not unravel! LOL

Modifications: The obvious you may see is that I knitted it up in long panels, rather than separate squares as the pattern indicates. I also wanted to make the afghan wider and added another panel making it 5x6 rather than 4x6. As I already mentioned I substituted the original pattern yarn for the Silk Garden. This yarn line by Noro has much more subdue colors and had lots of purple selection! I sometimes did not switch out on the ends of my balls directed by the pattern, but rather on how I felt or what color I wanted to see. I even sometimes cut certain colors out (mainly too much greens, navy blues, and pinks) that I did not want to dominate my afghan. And the last modification was with the crocheted edging - I used a "G" hook rather than the called for "F" but look back on it now and wish I used an "H" or "I" to make bigger ruffles since I crochet tight b/c I am still a new crocheter. I also did 7DC instead of 6 skipping 3 rather than 2 SC transitioning with a slip stitch rather than a SC for a more defined ruffle. Dang! It really does sound like I knew what I was doing! LOL

Also, some may wonder about if I blocked or did not block. My answer is I actually did a "semi-block". I love the egg carton/alien bumps that naturally happen while you knit the lizard pattern in short-rows! It adds great character, but I knew I wanted to have my edges not curl so much when I got ready to seam since it is all pure stockinette. So after I finished each panel I spread it out next to another one (helped me in deciding how I wanted to arrange them as well), pinned it down and lightly sprayed water on the edges only of the panel. I figured the bumps would naturally fall out over time anyway with bath soaks and use. And actually I thought all of the bumps were all gone on my afghan, but there is still some "hills" there when it is not all stretched out and I like that!! :o) I do wish I had started seaming the panels while I was still knitting them, once I knew what order I wanted them in (probably 3 panels into it b/c I only made one switch around). It would have been less miserable! LOL

As of right now I do not have any plans to add a backing to the afghan. One fellow knitter told me during one of our 'knit & sit' Saturdays at my favorite yarn shop (Charlotte Yarn), "Why would you want to cover up your beautiful knitted (hard) work" (from blogless Jessica), and so I was like "You are right!!". The back of Lizzie is completely garter stitch of course since the front is stockinette - if anyone was curious to know about that (below is a quick pic of the back too).

Verdict: This project was indeed a journey! I loved knitting on Lizzie and the pattern will always be etched in my head! LOL The Noro made it fun to knit with because of the ever-changing colors and to see how it was all going to turn out! And I was truly sad when I made my final BO edge, but felt a huge relief that it was all done! LOL I love the fact that I only had to CO and BO 5 times total!! So I was very glad I knitted it up in panels, because again I detest seaming!! :op Also, if I would do it over again I would have done it as a 5x5 afghan since the 6th square makes it extra long. But so glad I did the 5th panel to give it more width. It was worth the 5 extra balls of Noro for my satisfaction!

I would more than likely not make this again just because I am so over it now! Haha! This is a big project. "IF" (and you can see that is a big one too! Haha) I did I would make a mini-version like a lap throw or baby blanket. Although, I would recommend to those who want to knit a keepsake to go for this project! You can make it any size you want to, for your style and budget.

Thank You!! To everyone that took the time out to read all of my Lizard updates, and every word of encouragement and cheer you provided to me!! Also, to every blogger who worked on Lizard Afghan that unknowingly gave me tips and to that special blogger who answered my e-mails about her F.O. - Spring!.

A HUGE THANK YOU! To Adrienne for literally listening to me whine and complain thru every step of the way of seaming and crocheting Lizzie! LOL She was literally my cheerleader (with the red & purple pom poms literally! :op) during late nights and my IM encourager!! Connie for helping me practice my crocheting edge and being my on-call 911 crochet "lifeline"! Always willingly made herself available to help me!! And I absolutely can't forget my sistah blogger friend Anna! Who was my mini-KAL pal!! When I didn't want to knit on Lizzie anymore she gave me that extra healthy competition to keep going! In fact, she was the one who inspired me to even start on LR and not have it as a "dream". Anna was also great always responding to any inquiry I had and encouraging me at the very end when I needed that one last push!

And how could I not forget to thank God....Big Mama...Pookie and dem!! LOL!!! I am really done!

Of course I must show you one final touch that is the "official stamp" :oD

*Whew* I think I will go treat myself to another french mani now! ;op

This sucks.

Today really should be Sunday! *groan*

This is such a tease!

How can we have a holiday in the middle of the week!

Yesterday should have been Saturday and today should be my Sunday!
Don't get me wrong I am happy about the extra freebie day. :o)

So yesterday during my mid-week Saturday I flipped thru my "just took of my wish list" book.

Weekend Knitting has been on the market for a little while, but I finally picked it up.

See all those yellow tags - just some of the things I have been eyeing :o) Here is a quick peek

Okay so I lied! I have a LR teaser and just couldn't resist. This is what all 4 panels looks like on Lizard Ridge. As you can see I had to change carpet locations to get it all spread out! Right in the middle of my living room floor LOL

My place looks like a knitting factory. There are balls of yarn everywhere, laid out "almost done" knitted items that just need to be seamed, and ancient U.F.Os that have almost been forgotten sitting on needles in many places.

Remember this:

Anyone?
Have I told you all lately how I SO LOVE NORO!!!!! :oD So I just had to have a big heaping of it! YUM!

Okay so you rather see her beautiful skin all stretched out instead?
And of course here is a closer look of the squares:

From bottom to top #224 and #84. I thought I would not like that bright orange/red colorway but LOVE it! Gives it a little bit of a "pop" :o) Since most Silk Garden colors are more subdue.

Here is #249 & #247


And the last two are #88 and #224.

I really loved the browns in #88 when I saw it. Helps balance the other dark colors!

Panel #4 of 5 is completed! This is the home stretch! I purchased my seaming and crochet finishing yarn this weekend at my fav LYS (Charlotte Yarn). It will be in Cascade 220 #8886 Italian Plum - a really pretty deep purple. I took a pic of my yarn cake but I couldn't get the true color to come thru no matter what the lighting was on it! Sigh...oh well. Even the pics on other yarn websites do not show a good depiction of the colorway!

I am really getting anixous about the ending of this project because:
#1. It has been a long process - but I have been enjoying the pleasure in the process :o)
#2. I am not all that comfortable with seaming and I would really hate to muck up all my blood, sweat in tears for the very end!
#3. I barely know how to crochet, and lets not talk about a "decent" crochet so to do the entire edge on such a big circumference is also freakin' me out! for the same reason I stated in the latter part in point #2 (please see above), and
#4. This whole "soak" process I need to do for this precious blanket is right up there on the list as part of the same reasoning again stated in point #2 :op
Special Thanks goes to Anna for calming me down by answering my zillion questions! :op And Spring for all of her finishing advice from her beautiful complete LR!

So wish me well to the finish line!! My next update on Lizard Ridge will be the finished product! Coming soon to a blog near you (late July)!

Lizard in the Friday morning light!
I guess when you wake up it is kinda fuzzy! :op

But I finished panel #3 last night on my Lizard Ridge and it was too late to take pics.

I really thought I would have been done with this 3rd panel sooner. However, my hand started hurting with all that twisting/wrapping/turning that I really just needed to take a break. And then I lost my mojo, then I got to leapin' again on the lizard!

I actually switched out panels and #1 is really #3 :oD So the first panel you see on your left is the one I completed last night.

Here is a closer fuzzier look....Hey! My hand was shaking BUT it is waaaay better than my cell phone cam! :op
Starting from the bottom up Square #1 is in colorway #224. This is by far my most FAV colorway in NORO Silk Garden thus far! Square #2 is actually a MISC square of all the various left over yarn I had from the previous balls.

I had to take these photo shots when it wasn't so hot outside! LOL Below from the bottom to the top Square #3 is in colorway #241 and Square #4 is in colorway #247. I surprisingly really like the turquoise stripe.
I really just need to get used to my camera settings, but I am getting better at it as time goes on!

See! Here is Square #5 (from the bottom) which is another MISC colorway YEAH!!!! And Square #6 is #251
I really didn't expect that much blue to come out of that last colorway but I just went with it! LOL

But again, my favorite view is this one:
AAAh much better view! You better believe you will be seeing this colorway again!! :oD
Well 3 down 2 more panels to go!!

Guess what new toy I have now!!

The Kodak EasyShare C763!
I am not as excited as I thought I would be, but so glad that I have it now!!
Even though it is "easyshare" I am just trying to figure out the settings on actually taking the pictures.
So here are some pics of my WIPs I have been wanting to share with y'all but did not have the camera capabilities :oD I took these in a very dark room early this morning! Glee!

The Lizard Ridge - 2 panels completed laying side-by-side
Thinking about starting the grafting process of the panels once I finish the third one. Speaking of which:

Panel #3 with two squares all done. The second one is my "misc" one of all the yarn I had left over from the other balls. And I still can make about 2 more misc squares, but don't like some of the colors (which is why I cut some of them out).
I still like the fact I only update on Lizard by panels and will continue to do just that. I had to show off my camera! :op I would have done some close-ups but can't figure that out yet without it being very very blurry. I am sure there is a way.

Ms. Marigold is coming along slowly but surely, and I will probably post a pic once I have the neckline on there.

So watch out now! I am going to be FIERCE with my pictures!! :oD

I really do!! LOL :op