Putting on my Jessica Fletcher Glasses

At work I often end up doing detective work to try to figure out what happened with a customer's account. My company moved its Admin operations to Calgary 1 1/2 years ago and none of the Admin staff made the move from Vancouver (we were all new hires in Calgary), so we don't have the historical knowledge that we would have had. I often say I need my own detective show as I successfully spelunk the files for the one piece of information needed to make sense of a problem.

Last week, my friend Sheri needed me to help her sort out a particularly gnarled problem. I said "Let me just put on my Jessica Fletcher glasses and I'll take a look." I have no idea where that came from, but it seemed to stick.

So today, to make Sheri laugh, I changed my profile pic on MSN.



Sheri says:
haha that's hilarious
Sheri says:
you are hott
Lori says:
i love the look on her face
Lori says:
i mean: my face
Sheri says:
very what is it inquisitive
Lori says:
haha
Lori says:
the slight "oh, there you are, what IS that thing sticking out of your back? is that a dagger? Well, who put THAT there?" look
Sheri says:
haha yes that's it

Clearly I am veryvery busy and important at my job... ehem.

It's just a movie... It's Just a movie!

Late Breaking* Oscar winning** movie news***: I don't know if you're aware of this, but the original Jaws is a scary scary movie****. I've seen it before but it's been years and years. I'm watching it on TV today and, even though I know what is coming up next and even though I live in a land-locked province, all I can think right now is "I am NEVER EVER going in the water again. Ever."

To distract us from this scary scary movie:



I spun this last week. 2 ply, about a sport weight but I don't know the yardage (forgot to count it). I love my new cameraThe Boy's camera. The shot above would not have been possible with my camera.



I have a new 3 ply that I spun this weekend but The Boy forgot to leave me the charger for my new camera his camera and sadly, he is in Vegas this weekend so I have no charger, therefore no awesome camera, therefore no new shots of the pretty 3 ply yarn. I hope you'll survive the anticipation.

Tonight I plan to watch the Oscars, something I rarely do (I usually just catch bits and pieces throughout the evening). We'll see how long I last before I go nuts. I just turned on the E! red carpet coverage (Jaws is over. WHEW), which I've never watched before, it's kind of interesting in a way. I haven't seen any truly crazy dresses yet but I hope there will be something insane soon!

*Yes, I'm aware it came out in 1975
**Film Editing, Original Score & Sound. Duh dum. Duh dum. Duh dum. (shivers down spine)
***Fine, it's not "news" per se, but I had forgotten and I have nothing else "new" to report
****I don't get scared watching movies very often, but when you're watching a movie you've seen before, that is part of the cultural lexicon, that you KNOW THE ENDING to, that you know what the scary thing is and you STILL cover your eyes, jump up on the couch, say "OH NO OH NO OH NO" as the music (Duh dum. Duh dum. Duh dum) starts... yeah. Scary. Plus: 70's fashions.

Diamond Lattice Stole

Finally



According to my notes on this project on Ravelry, I started in May 2008. The knitting wasn't difficult and I was loving the fabric it was producing, I just kept getting bored/distracted while working on it. I finally decided to just finish already on Sunday and here she is.



Pattern: Based on the Diamond Lattice lace chart from the Drawstring Chemise in the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: My handspun, Seascape. Approximately 550 yards. I used all but about a yard of it. The yarn is about a fingering weight and is so soft and ... sigh. I love it.
Measurement: 18" x 72"



I can use it as a stole for all the super dressy events I attend, but I'll most likely use it more as a scarf.


(I just realized these aren't the most in-focus pictures. I need to figure out the self-timer on my new camera The Boy's camera)



It's light and fluffy and warm and cozy all at once. It's a welcome burst of color in a dreary February in Calgary.

Did I mention I love it?

One more for good measure:


I'm so very glad I finally finished this knit. I wish it hadn't taken me so long. Sigh. Did I mention I love it?

Corduroy Bag

The Boy is away this weekend, so no Valentine's Day outings for me. I don't mind, I'm not much of a Valentine's person anyway. Plus, he left me his digital SLR to play with, so I've been having fun. And, I've been sewing.



A couple of weeks ago The Boy was cleaning out clothes he no longer wears and brought me some items he thought I might want for crafting. Nice to see he's learning... As soon as I saw the pair of wide-wale corduroys I knew they were meant to be a new bag.



I made a simple bag with lining.



I used magnetic snaps, which was a new thing for me.



I had this idea a while ago to use belts for straps on a purse so I figured I would use them on this bag.



I'm fairly happy with it, except I need to figure out if I want to try to secure the bag to the belts in order to stop the scrunching. I stitched through sides with the holes in the belt but the other sides are not secured. Not sure yet if I should try to do something on those sides also.



I may have gone a little picture happy... expect more posts soon. Exciting, huh? I may just "accidentally" "forget" to give the camera back.

Sahara. Finally.

My project notes on Ravelry indicate a start date in May 2008 for this one. That can't be right. Or maybe it is. It was a long time. But, she's finally done and I love her.


Pattern: Sahara by Wendy Bernard (Knit & Tonic).
Yarn: Butterfly Super 10. My scale shows that it was exactly 1 pound, which would make it about 996 yards in total.
Mods: Knit on US 8/5mm needles (pattern calls for US 6); 3/4 length sleeves - changed the frequency of sleeve decreases to accommodate; added length in the body; knit the XS size sleeve due to my larger row gauge.


I love this sweater. It fits perfectly and is very comfortable. I foresee more of these in my future.

Just not right now.

This one was languishing in my WIPs bin for a long time with one complete sleeve and one 1/3 done sleeve. Why would I do that you ask? Well, I had already knit 2 sleeves-- one following the pattern exactly and one when I realized that my row gauge was very different from that specified and it would make for a better fit if I followed the directions for the XS sleeve rather. By the time the 2nd sleeve was done I was no longer feeling the love for the sleeves. So it sat. And sat. Then last weekend I decided to just finish it already. So I picked it up and quickly blew through sleeve #3. And promptly realized I wasn't following the notes I had written for myself and ended up having to frog 40 rounds of sleeve. And so, this one sweater ended up with me knitting almost 4 complete sleeves.

She's lucky she fit so well or she may have become a really pretty colored rag.

(I know, I shouldn't blame the knit item for the problems but who am I going to blame? Myself?? haha)