Summer is here!

Whee!!!

We've been super-busy here at KWAP, surviving the end of the school year. DS1 is moving on to 1st grade, DS2 will be starting *gasp*Kindergarten! And DD may head off to preschool a bit early next winter, we'll see.

After school ended, we headed up to VT to visit my folks for a few days, which was really fun. At this point I'm quite comfortable doing the drive alone with the kids. DH didn't come with me, he didn't have the time off from work (it was last minute trip) and it was his father's day gift, to be home alone without kids. :) Since we came back, we've started getting into the summer groove: beach and friends. I'm building some reading and housework into the schedule too, and as soon as my friend gets back from RI, I'm getting her baby jogger and I'm going to start the boys running a bit.

I just had an inspiration for a craft project as well. I have a *ton* of kitchen cotton and I want to make a whole bunch of dish cloths, so I can ditch the sponges. I think that has been a plan before, and I did make a bunch but my mom decided she liked them so I gave them all to her. I am going to start off with some crochet, just to get in the groove. We'll see how it goes, I'm tired of sponges that smell like swamp.

1 Year Today

Happy blog-aversary to me! I can't quite believe it's been a YEAR since I started blogging. In some ways, this blog hasn't turned out to be what I thought it would be...more serious musings on life, knitting, parenthood, etc. It's turned out mainly to be a record of, well, my knitting. :) That's okay, it may just mean my thoughts aren't all that deep right now. I recently had this exchange with my older son:

Me: And after lunch, we're all going to take naps!
DS: Actually, mama, you're going to sit on the couch and stare off into space.

Busted.

Anyway, in honor of my 1 year anniversary of this blog, I thought I'd post a picture of an ACTUAL FO.

I feel like my knitting is sort of reflective of my life right now. I have a ton of projects in flight, I'm really nowhere close to finishing any of them, and they're piled fairly chaotically in the bin in the living room, as well as strewn about the couch. I need to get organized, I need to get some things DONE. I actually started this dishcloth almost entirely so that I could actually finish something! How sad is that?

On with the project.

Yarn: Sugar'n Cream self-striping in Baby Stripes
Needles: Size 7 Clover Bamboo
Pattern: Snowdrop Lace from the Dishcloth Boutique

I am not loving this, to be honest. I mean, it's perfectly FINE. But, I think I'd like this yarn better for a hat or something. I'm not sure the stripes and the lace pattern actually really work. It's pretty, and it makes me happy to use it, but I don't think I'll use any more of the striping Sugar'n Cream for dishcloths. I think I prefer variegated dishcloths.

There is one thing that I am loving about this though. Did you ever have someone do something really nice for you, completely randomly? Something pretty outrageously generous? Someone (who is fabulous) did that for me. She sent me a random box of wonderful PRODUCTS from Origins, a company we both love. This box included the Ginger Soap. I *love* the smell of ginger, especially now. I don't get a lot of downtime in my life, or a lot of pampering. As a full-time mom, I provide quite a bit of it, but I'm not so much on the receiving end. I find it ironic that when I *had* the space in my life for me time, I was not healthy, (emotionally) enough to enjoy indulging myself, but now that I am, there's no time! But anyway, I digress. :) There's something pretty neat about using a special gift on a cloth that you made yourself. Every morning, I use that soap and feel...taken care of.

And the best part is that after the first time, I burst out of the shower announcing "I smell gingerlicious!" Now my 2 year old has picked up the term, and uses it all the time. "You smell ginger-wishous, Mommy!"

Now I have to take my gingerlicious self off to work on (what else) a sock.

Jumping off the Bandwagon and some FOs!

So wow, I haven't posted in a way too long. I've actually been doing quite a bit of knitting - I've been on a dishcloth RAMPAGE! :) So, a few things I've finished.

First, the funny looking dishcloths:

What is there really to say about these? They're funny looking. The bamboo cloth is also just smaller than I like. Oh well.

These next two, I'm much happier with. I think I wrote about needing more dishcloths, so I bought a whole bunch of variegated yarns on sale at AC Moore ($1/ball!). I really like the bee stitch cloth in this yarn, the colors are fun and happy, sort of like fruit stripe gum! I originally started the DW pattern in this yarn but it just didn't work, and I think it looks much nicer in this stitch. I also just love this garterlac pattern. I've got more to do, but these are so fun and easy.

By jumping off the bandwagon, I mean...I think I'm going to frog the Jaywalkers. I just don't love how these look, I'm concerned at the tightness of the fabric, and well, I'm not into them. So, I figure it's better to cut my losses and just be done with them. *sigh* I know the knitting blog-o-sphere loves these, but the pattern just isn't doing it for me. There are other patterns I'm more interested in that will suit me better, I think, and I also just need to do some straight up, plain old stockinette socks. I want to get more done. So, rather than not start something that I really want to be doing because I haven't finished the thing I'm not enjoying, I'm just going to call it off. I can't decide if this is a good thing or not, but I do feel measurable relief at the idea of not finishing the Jaywalkers. I think it's the right decision.

I am so skilled!

No, really I am.

I finished two dishcloths today. The first one was another attempt on the Bamboo stitch variation cloth that I frogged earlier. I didn't find it anywhere near as annoying as I did the first time around, though it's still more intricate than I like. I did manage to finish it but it look sorta...funny. The bottom is all wiggly and not even at all. I have *no* idea what happened!! I also had to tink and redo a couple of row several times, as I was apparently spacing out while knitting it and doing things like forgetting the YOs! Oops. Ah well.

Then I decided to finish off some Crystal Palace chenille that I had (I think it's the "baby" colorway) and whip out a diagonal washcloth (you can see where this is going, can't you?). I miscalculated on how much yarn I had left, and ran out, so now I have a penta-cloth. This yarn is lovely but it does not rip out well at all, and I just am so over this ball of yarn and needed it to be knit into something! It actually doesn't matter at all because it's for me, and I'll use it and love it. It's nice and wide, and the flat side sits nicely on your wrist, so maybe I'll pretend it's a feature, not a bug. HEY! Maybe it'll become a trend!!

I'm out of handmade washcloths because when my mom was visiting to take care of the boys while I had jury duty, she told me how much she loved the cloth I had made for her for Christmas and in a fit of gratitude I gave her every cloth I've made for myself. I want to churn out a bunch of cloths, since I want to stop using sponges and switch over to using handmade dishcloths for my dishes. I think I need to put my sock obsession on hold for now and focus on things that I can actually finish.

I'll post pictures when I'm not about to go to bed. I gotta take a picture of the blanket-in-progress too, it is so beautiful, it's almost enough to make me have another baby (except I just know I'd have another boy and it's really more of a girly blanket so someone I know has to have a baby girl soon).

Have I mentioned lately how profoundly grateful I am for the place that knitting holds in my life? It's a hobby that I feel I have some skill at, but so much to learn, so many ways to grow. It allows me to spend time doing something productive yet enjoyable, and perhaps the greatest gift it gives to me is it helps me quiet my mind. The spiritual practice I am most drawn to, and have been for years, is Buddhism, but I am so not there yet. I'd love to have a serious meditation and yoga practice. Maybe someday. Knitting is really quite meditative for me. I have so many blessings in my life, I am so lucky.