Increases are DONE!

I have a baby blanket that's been languishing for, oh, a long time now. It's a simple, diagonal, garter stitch thing, in Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille in Painted Iris (and oh, how I love it, it's soooo pretty!). Garter stitch is about all I am capable of right now, just remembering to do the YO at the beginning of the row is almost more than I can handle right now. But, in our new house (!!), the boys' bedroom/playroom is upstairs. We put the love seat in there too (this room is HUGE), so I can hang out in there and supervise, since most playing turns to tears right now. So, I'm getting some knitting done (instead of random internet surfing). I finished the increases on the blanket today! I've got plenty of time to finish this, but I'd really like it off needles soon, so I can move on to something else. I've got a couple of second socks to finish. Well, to start and THEN finish, but who's counting. Oh yeah, I am. Plus some other things that I can't even remember right now. Scarf. Hat for BIL for his ginormous head. Other stuff too, maybe.

Can you tell that I am feeling a bit strung out from this whole move thing? We had 1 weekend to get settled and then life kicked back in, so I'm sort of reeling a bit.

I am wearing my felted clogs every single day because it's damn cold in this new house, and because I am wearing hand knit socks often (my sock collection is pathetic, I tell you) and I read somewhere that socks wear out because you wear them without shoes or slippers and I want to prevent that because the clogs are cheaper and quicker to knit, so I figure wear out the clogs to protect the socks, right? I think the next pair I do, I'll do in a neutral grey entirely. The purple are awesome, and I do wear a ton of purple but not everything is, like my pj's, so they sort of clash. It does seem a tad odd to me that a woman who lives in jeans and casual clothes, and wears absolutely no makeup, actually cares about whether her slippers match her pajamas, but there you have it. I care.

Still here...sorta.

We survived the move. All my various craft things are now gathered in one place (the ENORMOUS closet in the office), which is not as horrifying as one might think. It all fits. I had ONE day so far where I've done some knitting, and I eve completed something! Okay, it was just a garter stitch washcloth, and I haven't managed to cut off the yarn so it's still on the needle with one stitch, but HEY. It's something. No, I can't take a picture. That would require knowing where the camera is (I might be able to lay hands on it), knowing where the cords to connect said camera to the computer are (again, I think I do, but really, who can be sure), and most importantly, it would be having MY computer set up which it isn't. My personal hardware slave (aka DH) claims that MY computer will be plugged directly into the something-or-other and will therefore not be a SLOW as this molasses wireless connection I currently have going on. Besides, the washcloth just isn't that interesting.

The euphoria of having accomplished this move is wearing off, and leaving in its wake a feeling that is quite familiar for someone who has moved 14 times in the last 16 years (including two moves to CA, one move to WI, and 3 moves to Boston). I can't quite articulate the feeling, but it's that sort of "oh yeah, reality" thing. We didn't move THAT far, so we'll still see our friends, sometimes, but really. It's hard enough to see people when you live 10 minutes from them. When you live 45 minutes (without traffic), it gets much harder. We need to establish a life here, friends here, a community here, and I *know* that we will. But it just takes time. This is a crappy time of year to meet people anyway, it's too cold to be hanging outside. My kids are incredibly needy right now, I'm realizing that I'm going to be seeing less of my husband, what with the whole commute thing, and we're buried in boxes of crap. Oh, and we still own the condo. So, yeah, I had a meltdown yesterday, but I think I'm back on track. The house is awesome, so much less stressful than the condo, I'm in RUTHLESS GET RID OF STUFF mode, which always feel good (except for yarn, of course, I mean, come on), so there's good stuff too.

And I'm going to end this entry because this stupid computer is so slow, it can't keep up with my typing and it's making me insane.

And I'm thinking about crocheting a blanket. What do you think?

Absolutely No Knitting Content

None.

Instead, I am deep in packing up the condo. We're surrounded by a sea of boxes, not to mention anxious cats and anxious kids. Good times!

I boxed up most of my yarn (and rediscovered some AWESOME stash! Socks, socks, I must knit socks!). My current projects bin is taped up and will be moved. I have two smaller bins (one for tools and one for some purpose that I can't remember but now also has yarn in it) to get loaded up. I've got my sewing things to pack up (well, many things to pack up).

So yeah, no knitting. I'm a bit too tired and stressed and sadly, I think the knitting content may be sort of slim here for a while.

But, the move will get done, the new house is AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL, and life is great, even if I'm feeling stressed!

Finishing off 2007 with a bang!

I managed to complete all my knitting in time for our holiday in Western MA! And, except for SIL's booga bag (which was a hit, and coincidentally, is the same colorway as the bag features in the pattern), I even have pictures!

So, first, the mini-fetchings. All were done in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, all using Knitty's Fetching pattern. For the red pair (for the youngest recipient), I did 16 instead of 18 rounds on the palm. I used the Magic Loop technique, and I used Addi Turbos, 40" in size....I can't remember, I think it was size 3 (which I think is 3.5 mm, but I'm not sure, and I'm too lazy to go look, sorry). I was down to the wire on these, and regretted breaking my "no knitting after 9:30 pm" rule, with the last thumb on the black ones. I've never really figured out how to successfully pick up the thumb stitches, and I always have little holes. Well, on the last black thumb I also ended up dropping stitches here and there (it's REALLY hard to see what you're doing when the yarn is so dark!) and it was sort of a disaster. BUT, the black did hide most of the errors, I got them all fixed (one way or another), and the recipient (a 7 year old boy) was *thrilled* with them. All three kids loved them, and slept in them every night! :) I was fully prepared for the kids not to be too excited so it was an added bonus that they were such a hit.

This hat is the Irish Hiking hat pattern that I can't find again (my google-fu seems to be lacking today), but it was a nice pattern, and an easy knit. I accidentally knit it on size 9s instead of 8s, and dropped one of the cable repeats because it seemed SO huge. I made it deeper than she called for as well, because, well, I like hats deeper. It ended up fitting my husband (who has a huge head) quite well, but was too small for the recipient (my BIL, who has HUGE head apparently), so my husband is keeping it and I'll do another one for BIL. I think I'll drop the needle size and add back an extra cable repeat and add at least another inch, maybe two. It looks sort of weird but it does fit well.


Here's the fetching inspired-inspired hat, which I am loving. It's not quite as wind-proof as my fleece hat, but it's quite warm for most weather and I love it. (Not the best picture of me...)

And, I finished the monkey socks! I love them so much!!! I am really happy with how they came out. I started these in August and I've been working on them on and off, and it's so great to have another pair of socks done! I have been loving all the handmade socks I've done so far, and wearing them a ton (pretty much all my other socks are old and sad, and slowly getting thrown away due to holes) so I really need them! YAY! I promised SIL a pair of handknit socks too, so I'll have to figure out some good yarn for her. She really liked these but I just couldn't waite find it in my heart to give them to her. I am a bad person, I suppose.

I also managed to get two cable repeats done on my Double Braided Cable scarf, and I think I'll do two more, probably, since the recipient (who doesn't know he's getting this!) seems to like shorter scarves. I am a bit unsure how to block this, as it's superwash wool. Is that an issue? It needs some blocking because even with the garter stitch edge, it's still rolling a bit. It's quite pretty though, and I'll have enough left over to do some hats or something.

So, I'm feeling pretty good and inspired at the moment. :)