We had some snow last night and spinning guild was canceled.  Hopefully they will still have the holiday party at next month’s meeting.

Ricki hosted our little knitting group today.  It is wonderful having friends who knit!  I am in the final phase of the poncho and was facing the knitters’ classic dilemma — do I have enough yarn to do one more row and still be able to bind off? — it really is a bit of a gamble.  So with Ricki and Peggy’s assurances I went ahead with one more row and it is looking like they were right.  I will finish the binding off this evening and will post some picture tomorrow.

My fellow snow-lovin-blogger is in Texas at the moment — I wonder if she will be back by this weekend?  the weather forecaster are saying we could get walloped this weekend!

The Reformer has generated a few comments!  I spent a half hour of my morning reforming! 

So, after many wonderful suggestions on what to name The Reformer, I have settled on Helga, thanks to Julia and sorry Luanne who felt that Bertha could kick Helga’s arse.  (I just need Helga to work on my arse for a bit!) Now that I have mentioned the fair and lovely Luanne, I would like to announce that she will be taking some knitting lessons in the not too distant future!

Back to The Reformer ….. my cousin has requested some pictures of Helga in action.  Sorry to disappoint, but that isn’t going to happen.  Far too much coordination is involved – and if I ask the Boar to do it, he will take a full body shot – which also isn’t going to happen!!  :)

I worked on the poncho last night.  I did what I always do, assumed the mistake was mine and went about re knitting that row per the instructions.  ergh!  What a surprise to discover that the same damn thing happened!  So I ripped again.  (reminder: this is all at the bottom of the poncho and it is a mother-lode of stitches involved).  So I was forced to do some mathematics, consult my Knitter’s Handbook and rely on my own experience – and it is all working out.  A few more rows and I will be done! 

Spinning Guild is meeting tonight – it is the holiday party!  Rather than add another party to the December crunch, the spinning group celebrates in honor of St. Distaff’s, or Roc Day.  We will be doing a grab bag … instead of the usual little gifts, each person will put in two ounces of their own spinning! …. which reminds me, I better go and wrap mine!

Look what arrived yesterday afternoon!  It’s the pilates machine that MiL ordered for us!  In digging up that link, I just realized that it’s called The Reformer — geez, that’s a bit intimidating, no?  A bit cell block matron, femme warden.  (note to self: think of an appropriate name for her)  Oh well, I could use a little reformation.  I did 30 minutes of reforming this morning ….

It is 9° here today – and that is without the wind chill factored into the equation!  brrrr — there is plenty of blustering going on out there too – I can hear the wind pushing trash cans up and down the street.

Lucky me I get to stay home and work on that poncho.  I did indeed end up ripping back two rows.  Here is the strange thing:  it is a typical poncho pattern, calling for an increase row followed by a knit row.  There are four increases – in pairs of two around a center front line as well as a center back line.  I set a stitch marker at the beginning of the round so I would know if I was to increase or not.  When I frogged back, I did it a few stitches at a time, so I know that the stitch marker stayed in place.  But now when I need to increase on one side, I need to knit straight on the other — how did that happen?  I realize that this is a pretty lame and confusing explanation of my problem, but if you followed that and have any insights, please share.  Because the increases are so easy to see, this isn’t going to stop me from finishing, it is just bugging me in that way that unsolved puzzles do ….

Confession:  I am a neat-nic, a tidy freak, a tad compulsive ….. those glass-half-empty types would say compulsive.  I am especially this way about my house and I am especially this way about my kitchen!

simple algebra:  1 neurotic purlingswine + 1 kitchen turned upside down = X

I have been non-stop working on this project since Friday.  Up and at it by 7 am and cleaning brushes etc at 7 pm.  I am happy to report that it is finished and it looks terrific! My back is sore, my hands are swollen but my kitchen is clean, organized and yellow!!

Without further ado, I present the kitchen (warning: lots of photos since I know we all like to see each other’s houses!)