You may say that I'm a dreamer...

and in this particular dream, I probably am the only one.

I am seeing an old friend next weekend, who's visiting from CA to show off her new baby. I just got it into my head to knit something. I also have a baby shower on Sunday and was toying with the idea of whipping out a little hat or something.

I am also the full-time caretaker for three small children, including one who insists on being strapped onto my body 90% of the time and when she's not on me, she's well, nursing.

Do I have time to do this? No. No, I don't. But I BY GOD am going to give it a try!!

Still here!

I'm still alive, just swamped by summer fun! The boys have been doing swim lessons at our local beach (less than a 1/2 mile from our house) and loving it! Well, DS2 took some bribing positive reinforcement to get into the water but once he was in, he did great! It definitely takes a lot of time though. It's good to get out of the house. I'm a better parent when I'm not at home. I worry a bit about having DD out in the hot morning so much, but I think she's fine. We've also been spending time with family, and yesterday we went blueberry picking! Today I need to bake something (after DH goes to the store for flour).

Knitting...ah yes, knitting. I'm still plugging away on BYOB. I'm in the openwork section, and it's going fine. I've managed not to screw it up (yet). My green stripy sock is languishing, which is terrible, because I'm only about 10 rounds away from turning the heel, and then it's just KNITTING. Oh well, I'm not wearing socks much right now, so maybe I'll be more motivated in the Fall.

I'm hoping to go to knitting at the library next Tuesday, but I'm getting my HAIR CUT (YAY!!!!) at 6:30, so I need to figure out the logistics of it. Maybe I can pump and DH can give DD a bottle, how cool would that be??

And, just because I can't resist, here's my baby!!

Oh my god, it's been a MONTH.

I can't believe I've let so much time go by since updating! Sorry!!

I think it's because I actually have some pictures I want to post, but I haven't gotten them off the camera yet. So, this will be a quick update on the knitting (and life too) and I'll try and get pictures up soon, because really, a knitting blog without pictures is actually sort of boring. And, I've actually been doing a lot of knitting!

I finished something! I did a baby hat and socks for my son's nursery school silent auction fund raiser thing. They came out, IMO, so adorably that I had to squeal just a teeny, tiny bit.

I am closing in on the home stretch of a baby sweater too. This one was kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of project. I had about 1 1/3 skeins of Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale. In looking at the color card, I'm guessing I'm using 9490, which is a pink/aqua/blue-lavender/white multi. I was enamored of this yarn, but now that I've knit a whole sweater with it, I'm sort of over that. It's a bit splitty and rough. I did a top-down, raglan cardigan (this pattern, to be specific). In my usual way, I didn't swatch, and for some reason decided to knit the whole thing on 6s instead of 8s (to make it closer to newborn size? That might have been my rationale). It's pretty small! I was also fairly sure that I wasn't going to have enough yarn, but I just did it anyway. Yay me! I ended up having enough yarn for the body and sleeves. I was at Spark alone on Saturday (totally random moment to myself), and found some Tahki Cotton Classic in three different colors that I thought might work for a contrasting trim. I am not usually the most visual of people, so I was SHOCKED when ALL THREE coordinated beautifully! I picked out two teal/aquas (one lighter, one darker) and a blue-lavender that I thought might work. IT TOTALLY DID! I chose that one, as I'm less of an aqua fan, personally. So, I've done the bottom band, the cuffs, and the neck band so far, and it's quite cute. It's only going to fit this baby for about 30 seconds, but that's okay, I'm having fun. I still have the button band to pick up and knit, and I've got to find good buttons. I foresee a trip to Windsor Button in my near future, once I get the bands done.

Some thoughts. You might note that the Fantasy Naturale and the Cotton Classic are totally different weights. I also noted that, and just chose not to drop down the recommended 2 needle sizes, and I think it works. I don't really like knitting sweaters all that much. I think I prefer knitting things where the whole size pressure isn't so great. I can't imagine making a sweater for myself. Given that I swore I wouldn't do lace, and here I am planning to do a lace shawl, I'm not sure how much weight to give that statement, so take it for what it's worth. I also really really hate picking up stitches. In part this is because I don't *really* know how to do it, and I tend not to like things that make me feel, you know, incompetent. The knitting help video did help in this process. My next baby sweater is definitely going to have an integrated button band, like this one.

In other knitting news...well, I'm just plugging away on the blanket too. I really want to get a lot of stuff done soone, so I can get back to SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS. I've had to throw out three pairs of (machine made) socks recently, so I'm really getting low. I think I need to just do some basic stockinette socks, so I will have something to wear.

In non-knitting news, the new house is awesome (and feeling more like HOME and less like "the new house"), though I have no idea how I'm going to keep it clean. Our condo is on the market (*crosses fingers*). Commuting to Cambridge is a pain, but it's nice to have a chance to keep in touch with people. I have a feeling that once we're not going in for DS1's preschool anymore, we really won't be going in much. Pregnancy is progressing. I popped a couple of weeks ago, and all of a sudden I'm really looking pregnant. I also started seeing a chiropractor a couple of weeks ago, so I'm no longer in agony, limping all over the place. That's a good thing. I still need to find a dentist, a local pediatrician, a vet, etc., but at least my back doesn't hurt anymore.

Okay, I'm off to take a bath and go to bed. No knitting for me tonight.

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.

I am so smart (not).

I have a lot of knitting to do in the next week and a half. A LOT. Well, a lot for me, because my available knitting time is really small. Perhaps if I had full-time childcare and no job (and, you know, some random, seriously lucrative source of income to pay for said childcare), I could get it all done easily and perhaps toss of some more socks for myself as well. But that, sadly, is not my life situation so my knitting time is mostly limited to the evenings, and it turns out that by the time evening rolls around, I Am Fried. Today was a particularly busy day, as it involved not only some Christmas shopping (I relented after I asked my husband to go purchase his gift from me and agreed to do it myself as well as get the present for his dad), but about 200 phone calls between my real estate person, my mortgage person, and my lawyer to work through a last-minute hitch in our house-buying experience. IT WAS SO FUN. Then I had to go to my husband's office to print out a revised P&S, get him to initial some stuff, initial some stuff myself and fax it to our mortgage lady (who does rock my world). So instead of having a fun afternoon hanging out with the boys at home, I was doing all that. It's sort of good that I don't actually have paid employment, because in my grown-up life, I'm a psychotherapist and not really available to wrangle a million phone calls.

So, yeah, what's left? About 10 more rounds of Fetching 2 of 6 (sounds so Star Trekian) plus the thumb, the rest of the Fetchings (4 total), 32 rounds on the Booga bag plus 6 feet of i-cord and felting, and a cable-knit hat for my BIL because apparently I am NOT CABLING ENOUGH.
I am doing my BIL's hat out of some sort of craft-store yarn (Patons worsted weight wool). I actually do like this yarn. It feels pretty soft, they had the color I wanted (a charcoal grey), it doesn't break the bank, it is actually 100% merino wool, and I was AT Michael's and didn't have to go make a special trip anywhere to get Fancy Nice yarn. He won't care at all. Do I sound defensive about using craft store yarn? :)

What else. The Frog has a nice heartbeat. It looks like our house deal is going to go through. Perhaps our condo will even sell. It's all good. It's all going to be okay. *deeeep breath* Tonight, I think I'm going to climb into bed and read and do Sudoku and go to sleep early.

Long time, no blog.

Whoops! How did almost 2 weeks go by? Well, we've been gone for a week, off to see my folks for Thanksgiving, then to DH's folks' house for one night so we could (a) see the cousins and (b) go to DH's 20th high school reunion. Which was actually not bad. I'm pretty social, so an evening spent chatting with people I don't know isn't anathema to me, and the best part is the dishing we do on the way home.

Pardon me if this post seems choppy. I have what we call in my field "clinically significant attentional issues" and, out my office window, I can see over to the next street and there is an ambulance parked with flashing lights and it's very distracting. Let's hope everyone's okay over there.

But, this leads to one of two announcements (you know, for all three of my readers, most of whom already know this but whatever, I have no real knitting content and this is why). The first is that it looks like Knitting With A Purpose is moving to the 'burbs!! I'd call it the country, but the town does have a commuter rail station, so how country is it, really? We are moving towards P&S on our very first HOUSE. We currently own a condo, so buying isn't new (but still Big and Scary), but a HOUSE is different. It's new construction in a great neighborhood in a nice town with good schools. The logistics for the spring are going to be a tad complicated, but all in all, it's a fantastic thing. And, since it's not done, we get some say in countertops and faucets and whatnot. Since I am not detail oriented, that's DH's department. I'm really not...I honestly didn't notice the 10 foot tall bright teal septic pipe sticking out of the middle of the lawn. Even after our Realtor commented on it. :) So DH will do the picking out of things. I get to do things like figure out the school situation for next year and make sure we can actually afford this.

The second announcement is really the impetus for the move. The move and house stuff is something we've been wanting to do for quite some time now (and we have been looking for a while) but the clock is now ticking because the odds look pretty good that Baby #3 is going to arrive sometime in May or June! Yes, we are crazy, thanks for commenting. ;-) I feel many things, but mainly right now, I feel grateful for what seems to be a healthy fetus, and just so thankful, and so so blessed. Not to mention freaked out and stressed about it all but hey. Stress is what gets me out of bed in the morning! I really really wanted to do a clever announcement like knitting some baby booties and saying "Hey look what I made!" but dude, I am tired.

So, you might ask, in the midst of all this, what's up with the knitting? Here's the state of the KWAP.

1. Monkey #2: Heel is turned, 3 lace repeats left to do on the foot and the toe and it's done. I do have to learn how to properly pick up stitches for the gusset because I'm not thrilled with how I did it. But whatever, it's still functional and so pretty!

2. Cable scarf: Not much progress made. I didn't take it with me.

3. I knit my SIL a pair of red Fetchings which it turns out, not only does SHE love, but her three kids love too, so she asked if I'd knit them each a pair for Christmas. Of course! So I've now got bright pink for Niece (the same shade I knit for my friend, I think), black for Nephew 1 and the same red as his mom for Nephew 2. I am planning to knit the big kids' gloves on smaller needles, and I might take out one cable repeat for the littlest guy. I also just happened to be carrying my Booga Bag, and SIL fell in love with it, so she picked out some Noro Kureyon and she'll be getting one of her own. The color she picked is actually the one that the sample on the pattern is done in, so that's close to what it should look like. When I'm going to get these done, who knows?

4. What else. Nothing, no progress on anything. I need to knit myself a hat. I have some more Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in the same purple that I did my Fetchings in, so I should swatch that up (*gasp* I know, but I'm tired of making hats that don't fit me) and do something with it.

5. I passed along the Flat Top Hat to my mom, so hopefully she'll wear it and enjoy more than I would. I have enough of the ArtYarns Supermerino left from the Purple Poncho of Doom that I can do another one, should I be so inclined. I'm not sure. That yarn might be better served somewhere else, I don't know.

6. My friend received and LOVED the uterus. *phew* It wasn't, perhaps, in the BEST of taste, but it was meant to cheer her up, which it appears to have done, which makes me so happy.

So, all in all, many things to be thankful for.

Where is the time going??

How can it be November already?? And over a week since I last posted?

Well, part of that is that I've not been doing much. It's weird. I'm focused on Monkey #2 right now. I adore the yarn (KPPPM)1, I adore the needles (Addi Turbos2, even though they're not really pointy enough for lace, I still love 'em), I adore the pattern. I love how the colors of the yarn work with the lace, I think they're gorgeous! So, what's the issue? I'm just pretty darn tired at the moment, so I don't really have the energy or focus to do more than 1-2 lace repeats at a time. I did two tonight...that's 22 rows, people. 1408 stitches. It's not a lot really. But I'm tired. I am at a natural stopping point, I did finish the lace repeats for the leg tonight. Turn the heel sometime this weekend and plug on down the foot! I might even get it done before Thanksgiving! How nice would that be?

So, Blue Moon Fiber Arts has opened up their Rockin' Sock Club registration for 2008. I've been saving my pennies, I could actually afford to do it out of my ME money. I even printed the registration form...but I think I've decided not to do it next year. I just don't think 2007 is going to be the year for me to have lots of time to knit. I have a bunch of BIG things in fight right now (more on that later), and I think it's going to be a busy year. Plus, I do have about 10 pairs worth of sock yarn to knit already, not to mention some other things. I think I will comfort my disappointment by ordering a couple of skeins to have in my stash...I think I'm going to go with mediumweight, as someone mentioned to me that that's closer in weight to KPPPM. AND, many of the patterns in New Pathways for Sock Knitters use it. So, you know, it's not a luxery, it's a NEED. RIGHT?? Right. So now the burning issue is, which colorways???

1 Anyone know the different between KPPPM and KPPM?
2 I have to admit that I've been thoroughly converted to KnitPicks Fixed Circs in 32" length for Magic Looping socks.

And we're back on!!

I wonder if there's anyway for me to share pictures here from Flickr. Anyone know? I just loaded a few pictures of WIPs up to put in Ravelry and I am not sure I have the energy to redo it here. I got the heel turned on the Falling Leaves sock today. I am not loving the TOFUtsies yarn, it's sort of annoying to work with. I got another cable repeat done on the scarf. That's about it, but I'm feeling reconnected and excited about my knitting, so it's all good. Anyway, if you want to see any of it, go here (but come back and tell me what you think!).

One annoyance...I went apple picking and wore the Purple Poncho of Doom, and it's just too damn big. It slides off my shoulders in a most irritating way. Too bad because it's awfully pretty. Now I need a good poncho pattern of something that WON'T fall off of me. (Yeah, I know, I'm a tad behind the fashion times here.)

Triple Argh.

I am feeling extremely frustrated, not just with knitting, though that's high on my list. Nothing BIG is wrong, just lots of little things going on. I just frogged the feather and fan sock I was doing. I hadn't gotten too far, but I accidentally pulled my needle out, dropped a ton of stitches and just couldn't recover. Recovery from these kinds of incidents is not something I'm great at and why I'd rank myself much more as an early-intermediate knitter. I was knitting the sock on 2.0 mm needles, and I don't love them. Also, the sock was going to be too small, I think, so I need to go up a size. I have to order some 2.25s from KnitPicks, because the HiyaHiya 2.25s I have are too annoying for Magic Loop. So that's one project down.

Then, I was working on the Boho Feather and Fan scarf last night and somehow put a HUGE pull in the back. This yarn is pretty but I am coming to hate it. It's so slippery that it pulls easily which makes me worry about whatever you make with it being too fragile to wear. I wasn't havin a good night last night anyway, and I almost pulled the whole thing out. I think I'm just going to snip it and knot it and live with the knot in the back, but still, it's frustrating. This yarn and I just Do Not Get Along.

In non-knitting life...we're going away for the weekend AGAIN, which I don't want to do. Well, I do want to see my SIL and I want the boys to be with their cousins, but I am tired of going away. We've been gone a lot this summer, and it's just tiring (and expensive).

Our lovely cat is sick and she doesn't like her new food so I'm worried she's losing even more weight. Which could be the food or it could be cancer. No way to know without putting her through expensive painful procedures, which we're not going to do. "Not knowing" is really hard for me.

I just feel sad and weepy today and knitting isn't helping, which is not usual.

Argh.

I just ripped out the Zokni sock. It's a bit of a complicated pattern and I made a few mistakes. One thing was livable, but I had to pull some stuff out (I made the mistake of trying to knit while my older son is awake, and while he's an utter love most of the time, he also is extremely chatty). I just can't knit complicated stuff while the kids are awake. Maybe I'll finally learn that lesson?? I am going to start it over because DARN IT, they're pretty. I'm not sure when, maybe tonight. DH is going to be home late again, so we'll see if it works.

And I had a couple of thoughts about knitting needles. When I got my assortment of KnitPicks yarns, I also bought a bunch of needles for knitting socks. Oh man, I *love* them! I love the Options set, so I'm not sure why I thought I wouldn't love these. I like them SO MUCH BETTER than the HiyaHiyas that I'm going to have to order the size that I have in the Hiyas. Those are fine for plain stuff, though the join of the needle and cable leaves a bit to be desired. But the KnitPicks are just wonderful - even better than my beloved Addi Turbos! Pointier, so better for lace. And the 32" size is perfect for magic looping socks. I'm not sure I'd do TWO socks at once, but I don't really like to do that anyway.

Psychologist, diagnosis thyself!

I think I have a combination of knitting-focused OCD and ADD. The OCD part is that I am obsessed, OBSESSED with planning projects right now (err, in retrospect, that may not be all that atypical, as a brief read of this blog will show), and the ADD part is how many different projects I have in flight. I don't mind having a few, but it's starting to get a little out of hand. Let's look, shall we?

Currently on Needles:

1. Jaywalkers (to be ripped out, and started with a different sock yarn, probably a self-striping as opposed to varieagated)
2. Monkey socks: in a KPPPM, this is gorgeous and I LOVE IT! I turned heel #1 last night, and I'm on a rampage to finish this and get #2 going. This yarn and this pattern are really pretty. This is my Santa Monica/Dartmouth memorial sock. I bought this yarn while out there for my wonderful friend P's wedding, and I knit a bunch of it at my Dartmouth reunion this past weekend (where I met P! And I'd say most of my good memories of college involve her.)
3. A pinwheel discloth.
4. A diagonal knit baby blanket (essentially, this pattern, but bigger). This is completely gorgeous, but it's really more of a girl blanket, and it turns out the person I intended it for is having a boy. Turns out also that her shower is in a few weeks, and I'd love to have something handknit for her.
   
5. Fuschia Fetchings for my wonderful friend K. (I had to stall on those until I saw her this past weekend because she has petite hands and I don't want them to be too long.) Have I mentioned how much I adore Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Aran? It's lovely.
   
6. NICU hat - finishing up the leaves for an apple hat.
   

Okay, it's not quite as out of control as I thought, but still.

Projects being planned in my head:
Baby sweater and hat for the above mentioned friend. I think I'm going to do a simple cardi in this yarn in the Fruit Salad color, with these buttons. I think it will not be ready for the shower.
Scarf for a college friend (by request). Probably just in some nice, worsted yarn - blue, I think.
Queen of Cups socks, so I can use my new HiyaHiya needles, to try them out for lace. I've got a lovely Lorna's Laces (in Somerset) set aside for this. (Note, why is it that US 1 means different things to different companies? 2.5mm is not the same as 2.25 mm!)
I need to do something with this yarn in the Monet's Garden color. All of a sudden I really really want to knit a shrug! (Could you do this with the Artyarns yarn, do you think?)

This doesn't even take into account all the yarn I have as well!

FO and some planning...

I finished some things AND managed to take pictures, so let's see what they look like!
Okay, so the picture isn't too great, but you can get a sense of the stitch pattern at least. This is the Bee Stitch cloth. I tried this cloth earlier in the Crystal Palace cotton chenille, and it didn't work at all (who knows why!), but it was great in this yarn (Sugar'n'Cream). It's a super easy pattern, and I love the texture that the stitch creates! It shows of the variegated yarn wonderfully too!

The rest of the FOs are NICU hats. First, the Lemon hat. Quite cute! I'm trying to make my hats a little longer because I think I make them too short. I also did the Raspberry hat. I think it's adorable, though the texture stitch was a bit of a pain in the ass. Both of these are done with Magic Loop, in Tahki Cotton Classic, size 4 needles. The next hat is the Raspberry hat. Also adorable, but the texture stitch was a bit of a pain in the ass. The last picture is two hats: one I knit a while ago, next to another hat that was supposed to be a gift for a friend but I never got my act together to send it so I've got to do something else for them. It's the same yarn, Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, but just different number of stitches. I sort of like the patchy one, it makes me think of easter egg camo!
I also have one more big project that I finished, and it's really pretty, but it's a gift, so I need to send it off (this one I really do have to send off) before I can post the pictures. It's one of the bigger things I've done, and while it was a simple knit, it's really pretty and I'm happy with how it turned out !

On to the next projects! I just pulled out a baby blanket that I'm doing, also out of Crystal Palace Cotton chenille, but in the Painted Iris colorway. Oh. My. God. This is so beautiful! But, the person it was originally intended for is having a boy, so I may have to finish it and keep it for the next girl baby that comes along. I have enough of the yarn to do some washcloths for myself, so I'll be able to keep some of the beauty for myself! Perhaps I'll do one for this friend in the Baby Blue or the Seascape colorway (or maybe the fruit salad, that would be fun!). I love this yarn for baby blankets! Given my issues with color consistency in the Lion Suede, I'm not sure about doing more big projects with it. Which is a bummer because it's perfect for baby blankets! At least for northern babies! It's so soft and warm! Anyway, enough about baby blankets.

So, that leaves on the needles...Jaywalkers. *sigh* I am afraid that they're going to be too small and I'm just stalled on them! I really *want* to be knitting socks...I just don't love the tiny needles! I somehow managed to bring home a skein of Tofutsies, and I'm actually *gasp* trying to swatch it up! I am going to do a non-short-row-toe up, heel flap and gusset heel, with this. I think I need a scale to make sure I don't do one sock too long! I am also planning on getting some of these, so I can do lace socks more easily...What do you think, go ahead and order 1, 2 and 3s? Or just get the 1s and assume that I won't need the bigger ones? That'd certainly be cheaper! But it's almost a new month and a new allowance!

I just need to finish the leaves for one of the other NICU hats I've done (an apple, so cute!), and then I'll take them over and drop them off (or send them in). It's funny, I don't remember being excited to knit last summer, but I'm going strong this summer!!

Where did it go?

I had a post half-written but it apparently got eaten during the whole kerfuffle of jury duty, which is DONE! No one seemed happy, everyone got spanked (metaphorically), so I guess we did a good job. All jury members took it very seriously, which was cool. So, that's my second trial as a juror. So inconvenient, but I am glad I got to do it.

I scrapped the sock. I made yet ANOTHER error and couldn't live with it. I guess that answers my questions...THREE major issues is one too many.

I started another NICU hat in consolation and I'm gonna need some help on another project because I can't decide how to end it. The yarn is bumming me out. Ah well.

I think I may need to learn to spin and dye my own yarn. Or do you dye first then spin?

Musings on Perfection and Perfectionism

aka How Imperfect is TOO Imperfect?

I've mentioned this before. I am a recovering perfectionist. You wouldn't totally know it from my life, but I used to be obsessed with being perfect and loathed myself for all my failures, real and perceived. Lots of therapy and love later, and I don't feel that way most of the time. It gets stirred up, and it's sort of a knee-jerk reaction to many things that I can move past quickly, but it's there.

I see it with my knitting. I want to be *good* at this. I am pretty good, but I'd put myself very much in the early-intermediate level of knitting (err, if there were such a thing as quantified levels of knitterness, which I don't think there actually are). I'm not a beginner, I can tackle more challenging projects, but I'm not very good at some of the things that I think I should be, in order to feel truly proficient at this craft. More to learn, right?

So, I'm doing my first sock on DPKs, and while I'm not finding it as hard as I thought I would, I'm not doing it...well, perfectly. I've got two issues. I've got some laddering going on (to be honest, I had a little of that with the Cascade socks, which were done Magic Loop, but with ML you only have two inter-needle connections to worry about, not the four I have on these needles), and I had a small-child-induced-disaster, in which one of the needles got pulled out of the stitches. I managed to salvage it somewhat, though there's an obvious spot of kerfuffle where I didn't do a good job of picking up the dropped stitches (note to self, go buy some teeny tiny crochet hooks to assist you in these dropped-sock-stitch emergencies).

I'm not hugely bummed about that spot ("See that? That was when you pulled the needle out of mommy's knitting and she freaked out and threatened to put you in time out until you were twenty, do you remember?"), but the laddering is annoying. Not, at this point, annoying enough to pull it out and redo it, mind you, but it's there, and I'll notice it. I'm trying to treat it like a learning experience. This is my first time doing this kind of project, and I want to become proficient, but NO ONE is immediately proficient while learning a new skill, it takes time. I'm only doing this for the joy it brings me, so if it's not joyful, why do it?

Perfection isn't attainable, at least not by me. But at what point do I say this is really not good enough, and frog it and start over?

In Process

As in...that's all I got. I am doing knitting. I got summoned to Jury Duty on Tuesday and thought I'd have a lovely hanging out all day to knit. I did 4 rows on the Jaywalkers (and messed 'em up, ah well), and then got called to a court room...and got empaneled on a jury! Again! This happened to me less than 4 years ago too. So, on breaks and lunch, I'm knitting. I started a different project: Wendy's Toe Up Sock. I'm using some sort of sock yarn, no ball band, I've had it for ages, I think it's Plymouth Socotta in colorway 6674 (it's the stuff in the bag, you can't tell form this picture, but it's really pretty). I started it on my Crystal Palace 35" size 1 circs, and quickly recalled how much I hate using these for Magic Loop, so I switched to Clover DPKs, size 1s (I think mine are 7", they're the longer ones). My gauge was waaaaay off (swatch? what swatch? lalalala I can't hear you!). So I switched over to my Clover size 2s, which are the shorter 5" ones. I still didn't swatch, but this looks way more reasonable. I did want to switch back to my size 1 Addi Turbos, but turns out that Clover's size 1 is 2.75 mm and Addi's is 3.0 mm. Ah well. I haven't done socks on DPKs yet and I'm not loathing it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. I sorta like it, actually! I thought this might turn from jury duty sock to my ER sock as I managed to do something nasty to my foot and thought I might need an x-ray. I don't think I'm really THAT clutzy, it's more that I'm too distracted to be allowed out in the world.

Doing toe-up socks with this yarn is not recommended for someone who's going to freak out at the fact that the top half of your toe is going to be different from the bottom half, and the whole thing is going to be different from the rest of the sock. I thought I would so be that person, turns out I'm not. I think it's cute. I don't love the double-wrapped short-row toe. I wonder what would happen if you didn't do the wrapping? Anyone know? Is there a different kind of toe one could do on a toe-up sock? I'll have to exercise my google-fu and see what I can find.

Am I reading this one right? Ahh, Knitty never lets me down! I am going to have to learn that Figure 8 toe! I've done it (badly) a few times. This one sounds interesting too! I found some crochet patterns too, which I'll have to try at some point, you know, when I have all that free time.

In other things...I've got Jaywalkers going, but they seem to need more from me than I have to give right now. I've got two gifts on needles, once they are given, I'll talk more about them. *scrunches up face, thinking* Uh, I think that's it. Okay, off to knit some more of my easy sock!

Say what?

Okay, I can totally understand that different dye lots may be different, maybe even radically different. But...I expect a dye job to be consistent WITHIN the skein, right? Am I crazy here? I am starting a Project for a friend (can't talk too much about it, not sure if she reads this blog or not!), and there is a point where the color of the yarn shifts. It's subtle, but there. It gets lighter.

It's not a particularly high end yarn, it's Lion Suede, one of the variegated colorways. It's gorgeous, and I love the colors (I actually really like the yarn), but this is...annoying. I don't think it's quite annoying enough to actually stop the project, and as I move along, I think it's shifting back, but come on, people! I know this is going to bug me, but I have no idea what to do about it..."use a much nicer yarn" isn't really in the budget right now, and this yarn is exactly what I have in mind for this project. Hmmph.

In other news, I finally made it to Mind's Eye Yarns (a) when it was open and (b) without kids so I could go in! I don't quite understand why I've never gone (may have something to do with (b) part of my visit today). The woman who owns it is SO nice!! A skein of her sock yarn somehow managed to make its way home with me. *innocent look* It's in my favorite green and purple combo, it HAD to be done! I can't remember if I wrote this or not already, but I think I need to have more than one pair of socks going at a time: one pattern, one plain. By the time my knitting time rolls around in the evening, I'm often not good for much beyond stockinette.

FO: Peapod Hat

I finished this hat just in time (the first picture is a better representation of the color, but you can't see the top detail, hence the second picture, where the color is really off) - the birthday party for the boy is tomorrow! We got him a present for him (beach toys!), so this is really more for his mom. I am really pleased with how this turned out!! I don't take pride in design usually, as, well, I'm not typically the designer! I tend to knit from patterns. I'm a concrete thinker and I'm good at following directions. I know it's just a simple roll-brimmed hat, but like the pumpkin hat, it's really exciting for me when I have a vision in my head of how I want something to look, and the FO actually LOOKS like it! :)

Yarn: GGH Samoa in 94 (Dark Green) and 116 (Mint).
Needles: Knit Pick Options in size 5, 40" cord for Magic Loop
Pattern: My own!
New Skills: Probably the peas and leaf. I looked at a bunch of patterns and sort of made it up as I went along. I don't usually do this (and when I do, it doesn't really work out so well for me most of the time), so I'm happy with it.

I did a gague swatch for this, because I did actually want it to fit the kid. The hat fits tightly on my 2 year-old's head, so I am pretty sure it'll fit a 1 year old. I'm *loving* the Samoa. The yarn is so lush, and just feels wonderful - almost a suede-y feel to it. I love the colors too. Now I just have to find a place to order it from since I've never seen it around here! I bought this yarn of the recommendation of the lovely lady at Wildefiber in Santa Monica, and I'm hooked, HOOKED, I tell you! Unfortunately, I'm also broke, so no more yarn for some time.

Yay for getting something done! I've got another NICU hat almost done, I just need to add leaves to that. I also learned to crochet granny squares today, that was fun! I need to figure out how to incorporate crochet into my crafting life. Oh, and I started another baby blanket from Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille in Painted Iris, and it's just gorgeous! Almost makes me want to have another baby! ;) It's a simple eyelet border diagonal knit, so simple I could actually watch a movie while knitting it. I love this yarn so much.

Bad Blogger!

I can't believe a week has gone by since I updated! Not, of course, that I have much of anything exciting to blog about. I had an interesting dream about knitting socks last night. I think maybe I should stop taking my Omega 3s right before bed, huh. So, basically, I'm working away on Jaywalker 1, and a NICU hat. I am loving this GGH yarn. I have to do the finishing touches on the peapod hat, and once I do that, I'll post pictures because it's pretty seriously cute. I've got a date with my knitting friend tonight (!!), which we've been postponing for months, literally, so I'm excited about that. We've had a couple of days of gorgeous weather, so I've been outdoors a LOT with the boys, so I've been pretty wiped in the evenings.

Blah blah blah. Like I said, nothing too exciting to talk about. I think I need to start the Magic Waves shawl to get that going.

Oh and I'm learning to crochet too!

Getting Back My Knitting Mojo

We went away this weekend WITHOUT kids - the longest we've been away from them. Our trip involved a lot of sitting in airports, so I got some good knitting done. I got about 2 inches of my first Jaywalker done. I'm doing it in the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn, in Purple Club. I'm not sure I'm loving the pattern as it comes out, but I'm definitely enjoying knitting it! I haven't done a top-down sock in a while, so hopefully the heel flap won't be too confusing. I am doing the leg in Magic Loop, but I may switch to DPKs for the heel, since that is how the pattern is written.

I also got almost all of my second Fetching done. I just have the bind-off and thumb to do, but I'm not quite sure I have enough left of the skein (not sure why I have less this time than the last, oh well). I do have more, so no worries. I'm planning on doing Knitty's Coronet in the same yarn, I think it'll be cute. Yeah, I know, the cables aren't the same, but I'm strangely okay with that! It's odd, as I'm typically a matchy-matchy sort of person.

I made it to Wildfiber in Santa Monica (a mile from our hotel) while we were in So Cal. I really wanted to see some Socks That Rock in person, but they were out. Ah well, I'm just going to have to order some next month (when I have money again). so many questions - what weight? What color? I did got some wool wash that I've been needing (I have a couple of pairs of non-machine-wash, handmade wool socks to do so I can wear them again!). I think I may have to designate one night a week for sock washing! I am feeling very inspired to keep moving on socks.

I also bought some GGH Samoa for a hat as well. I got that started. It's a hat of my own design, in light and dark green. I got some red to do an apple hat as well. I like the yarn so far, it's really nice to work with! It's machine washable, so this would be an option for baby clothes as well. I'm going to make something for my own kids with it, and try drying it to see how well it machine dries.

So, some funny moments on my trip. This was for the wedding of a dear friend from college, and I saw many friends - some that I've stayed close to, others that I hadn't seen in more than 15 years. For these folks, the news that I've become an avid knitter was a tad...surprising. The initial response was not unsupportive, but more baffled (I think they thought I was joking at first when I said I needed to go to a yarn store before the wedding on Saturday). Once they realized that (a) I was serious and (b) this is a past-time that brings me tremendous joy, they were accepting (not that it actually matters much, as I do this because I love it!). One friend (D) asked me what I knit. I told him the various things I've done. Then he said "What are you going to make for me?" I said "What do you need?" He suggested a scarf, since he lives in DC. [Note: I am thinking something like this for him, because it's pretty, or this.] I may actually do it, but it was a funny moment of "You just don't get what you're asking, do you?" I mean, for what other thing would someone request as a joke a handmade item, the materials for which are not necessarily inexpensive, and which requires a significant investment of time from someone?

I think I'm going to go finish that Fetching so I can wear it tomorrow, the weather seems like it'd be perfect (low 40s and rainy!).

Happy Easter, for those who celebrate!

Even though I'm no longer a practicing Christian, I still like the Easter season. I like the possibility of redemption and hope after despair. We did baskets with the boys and it was really neat to think about creating traditions for them.

Well, when I started this post it was about my frustrations with doing lace with my much-beloved Addi Turbos. I was doing Wendy's Generic Feather and Fan sock on 0s, and trying to modify the pattern so I could do the lace on the foot as well. I was getting really frustrated and my gague was obviously off by enough that I frogged it. Basically, the Addis aren't pointy enough. I haven't actually done any socks on DPKs yet, since I don't really like using them. I decided I'm going to do a different sock pattern for now, and maybe try a DPK pattern at some point and see how aggravating I find it, before investing in the Lace Addis. I think I'm going to do some Jaywalkers in the Lorna's Laces in the Amethyst Stripe (I think that's what it is, it's purple!!). I've got all this lovely sock yarn, and a strong desire to wear handmade socks, I just need to knit the darn things!!

I just started a pair of Fetching for myself since I loved the ones I did for SIL so much. (By the way, she told me that she LOVES them, loves the color, loves the style, wears them in the theater all the time, which was what I hoped for, so that made me really happy!)

My friend just asked me to knit her child something for his birthday, so I think I might do a big version of the pumpkin hat I just made. Or maybe an acorn hat. I need the yarn for that though.

I'll be casting on another NICU hat tomorrow as well. I want to get one done per week (at least) so I can get another set dropped off for them.

Lots to do!!