What's in a name ??!!

well, everything ..... when your name is different, or strange, or unusual. I'm not sure what category mine falls under, but I usually have to repeat my name a second time when asked for it. as a child, I cant say that I really liked having a not so common name. everyone else was able to get something with their name printed on it .... but I never could (technology being was it was 100 years or so ago). I was named after my Mother's Brother (Dell), so from that point of view, I've like my name ... and to be honest, I've always probably enjoyed being a wee bit different from main crowd.


ok ... so I'm on Ravelry, and as work this morning has be SO busy and fascinating (NOT) .... I decided to go lurking around the profiles of strangers. I did a People search looking for "Della" .... and here is what I found (I'm not sure if I should be offended or proud ??!!)


members: 4 (including me)
dogs : 3
cats: 2
COW: 1 (ok, first of all WHO has a pet cow ??!! and where did you think of calling it Della ??!!)
pattern: 1 (this is the coolest thing ... I've e-mailed the person designing the shawl, as I'd love to see it when she's done)

14 minute slippers .... LOL, who are they kidding !!!

ok, so last night I decided to head downstairs and re-set up my knitting machine, even if it's only in a temporary location for now. I went thru some of the patterns that I had queued on Ravelry, and decided on the "14 minute" lined slippers .... they seemed easy enough. plus, I thought they would be great for Soldier Boy #3.

well, 90 minutes later, I head back upstairs ...... now, I did use some of that time to set get everything and re-set things up, find wool, try to remember how to cast on, etc. things were going pretty well ... the slippers are lined so I was even able to change colours so that the inside would be a different colour from the outside. THAT was part of my downfall .... when doing the lining section you tighten up the tension a wee bit, and I used yarn from a cone that I had never used before, missed stitches, and had to re-pick them up, and I had a couple of jams. Pat had warned me to to start of with a dark colour of wool, and now I know why ..... they are brutal to work with when you have to correct dropped stitches because you cant see what the heck you are doing. I ended up wtih a couple of jams, and the slipper didnt seeme to be "hanging" right, but I didn't know, and thought maybe it was the short-row heels & toes that were causing it to "bunch" ...... well, apparently not, which I realized when I cast off.

SOMEHOW, I managed to catch some stitches in the "claws" that separate the latch hooks (sorry I dont know the technical names). not sure what I did, or how I did it, but I suspect this was the cause of my lining problems. all that aside it's a very easy pattern and (holes in the lining aside) the slipper turned out really well ..... except for one SMALL problem.



ok kiddies, gather around, we're going to learn about READING INSTRUCTIONS and the importance of GAUGE. what I failed to notice was that the pattern was for a BULKY machine, and used worsed weight yarn ........ I have a Singer 700 (which is a finer gauge machine) and used fingering weight (Pat recommended that this was the best weight to use for my machine). so needless to say, although the slipper looks very cute, and I cast on for the x-large size for a man's slipper ..... it would only fit a small child !!!

fortunately, I had a sense of humour, and although exhausted from my knitting attempt, I got a good chuckle out of my finished project !!!